This Feels Like High School, But Nothing's New

I don't tend to dwell on my highschool days too much. I think of them as a blur of AP flashcards and kneesocks, and leave 'em back in the recesses of my memory. Yet because I saw a bunch of friends from highschool over Thanksgiving weekend, I've been thinking about it more. My 5 year reunion is coming up this Spring, which is incredibly bizarre. Almost as bizarre as the fact that four of us, getting together, realized we'd forgotten way more people than we'd remembered. After 5 years in a graduating class of 62. More than anything, it helped me remember that all pain is passing.

When people ask me what social life on tour is like, I usually compare it to middle school...with a class of 8...stuck in a van. And yet, suddenly, somehow, it feels more like highschool. Primarily because Thanksgiving break gave me a new lease on life. Like highschool, I now feel like the end is in sight. There's a goal - not graduation, but December 24th. And I can totally, totally get through that. While we were rolling the sound cable box up the ramp, Other Actress said "you just seem so happy." And compared to where I was last week, I am so much happier. I feel like we're all getting along better, or at least everyone I had been upset with is pissing me off a lot less. Granted, it's only Monday. But I seriously feel like I'm back in senior year mindset - body in highschool, head already at college. If you know what I mean.

We were in Dover, Delaware today, and the show was sort of a challenge...due to what I'm going to tactfully refer to as "transit complications" Sound Boy didn't make it back. And our crew didn't show up. That puts us down to 7, and no crew. Did I mention it was a 7:30 load-in, not an 8? Yeaaah. But we all pulled together and everyone just got that shit done. With surprisingly cheery attitudes.

The show was kind of like highschool too - in that the stage was scuffed blond wood, the set didn't fit on it so we were doing an awkward side-scootch ballet the whole time, most of the sound cues were late (no judgements SM did the best he could filling in), the audience was small, and unresponsive. Mmm, just the Bedford Gymnasium/Auditorium of my youth.

Maybe we just needed to get away from eachother. Maybe it's the holiday spirit. But as we sat at the cutest restaurant in downtown Dover, under the pressed tin ceilings and next to the christmas, slurping our giant bowls of soup, I was happier than I've been on tour in a while.