But at Thirty Years of Age, Through Frolic and In Rage

I'm going to see 311 tonight. I'm excited because they put on an awesome show.

Or at least they did three years ago. I went to that show with my brother, who was so excited his face was pretty much permanently as you see above.

This time, I'm going with Raw and Casey. Casey seems to be pretty excited about it, but Raw is not.

"We're going to be the oldest people there."

Yeah, Raw is feeling pretty old lately. I didn't want to make a big deal about it because I know she wasn't happy about it, but apparently I'm in the doghouse with Casey because I didn't mention it. And that's bullcrap. I can never win.

Raw had one of those milestone birthdays recently. Which one? Well, I'll let her tell you.

Just One of Those Corners in My Mind

I am seriously disappointed in my friends!

How can you not remember PM Dawn?

They're coming to Wichita on Friday and I totally want to go. But nobody remembers them and therefore won't go with me.

How can you want to miss out on this:

Those moves? Hot!

I'm not kidding. You hobos had better start volunteering to show up!

A Pounding in My Brain, It's Driving Me Crazy

When I was in sixth grade, my parents bought me a ticket to my very first concert.

I was really excited. So was everyone I knew, especially my mother. She even bought me a new outfit.

It's weird that I remember this, but I got a white tunic sweater with a black turtleneck and black and white flowery pants. Totally hot! Thanks, Lerner!

On the day of the concert, I walked around like I was hot poo. Everyone wanted a piece of the awesome chick!

School finally let out. My parents and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then dumped Marcus off. he wasn't cool enough to go with us.

The concert was at Bramlage Coliseum. We herded in with the rest of the cattle and ended up face-to-face with the speakers on the side of the stage.

I waited anxiously for the show to start. And then they finally took the stage!

That's right! Damn Yankees!

Quit laughing at me!

This was way back when that song was really popular! It was awesome!

Bad Company was the other band. I don't remember hearing this song before the concert, but ever since, it's been one of my favorites:

Sitting in front of us at the show were three college-kid-lookin' types. Of course I was trying to look cool because I was at that age when you want to look older.

I saw them pull out their lighters. And then I noticed their smoke smelled funny.

My parents were hoping I didn't understand. But I knew. I was officially hanging out with potheads!

The next day at school, that was my main story. I didn't talk about how Ted was crazy or how my ears were still ringing. It was all about the stoners.

I was, like, totally, the most popular girl.

Until sandy went to see Poison the next week.

I was telling this story to a friend the other night and we went hair band crazy!

Cheap Trick, Enuff Z'nuff, Kiss, Vixen, Great White, White Lion, Whitesnake . . . I'm pretty sure we thought of every great power ballad.

But I'm not completely certain. I'm making a Power Playlist and feel like I'm missing something.

What was your favorite hair band love ballad?

You Look Like a Monkey

This post is part three in a series of four. If you haven't started from the beginning, please click here.

I am the queen of drawing my birthday out over weeks and even months.

Every year, I start talking about it months in advance. I make plans and ensure there are several different celebrations. I even had seven cakes one year!

This year was no exception. While I only had one cake, I did start planning early and continued celebrating well after the big day.

Last weekend, I headed up to the KC/Lawrence area so my pals up there could celebrate my birthday.

The peak of the weekend was the Tool concert.

Tool was the first concert I had ever been to without my parents. It was awesome and nothing has ever really compared.

This time around, it seemed like maybe both the band and I had matured. I wasn't on the floor, so I wasn't risking my bones by shoving my way to the front. Maynard wasn't wearing a mask. He did pull out a cowboy hat, though . . .

After the show, Marcus, Raw, Casey and I headed to Westport to meet my cousin, Allison and her friends. In honor of my birthday, my brother drank Black Russians with me.

Since I was sitting at the bar, I became the official "drink orderer" for my crew. I was doing pretty well until Allison came up and asked me to get her a gin and Diet Coke.

"Gin and Diet Coke???" I wailed. "GROSS!!! I mean, gin and juice or maybe gin and tonic but Diet Coke???"

"I don't like regular Coke."

"Okay," I tried to reason. "That's fine. But who mixes gin with cola???"

She shrugged and I told the bartender what she wanted. His face screwed up and I held up my hands as if to say "Hey I tried to tell her she was crazy!"

Allison turned to see him pouring the drink and shouted "No no no! JIM and Diet Coke!"