Semi-Charmed Life: Chili Cook-off 2009

My summer break has officially begun and for a moment, I stepped back in time.

I went to DC101's Chili Cook-off and instead of acting like the "mature 20 year old" that I am, I acted like I was still a 16-year-old punk rock chick crashing Warped Tour. No joke. I got dragged into the concert by my sister's friend who happens to be my age. I told her, "DO NOT CROWD SURF, my phone is dead and I'll never be able to find you."

Well, guess what? She crowd surfed which left me in a massive pit of sweaty 20-somethings jumping, pushing, slamming and punching their way closer to Puddle of Mudd. I'm not used to this, I'm way too fat for this, I thought as I literally felt like I was going to die from heat exhaustion.




I got out of this -- alive -- and somehow found Alex when I pushed my way out of the crowd when the set ended. When I found her, she was missing a shoe, phone and camera and like me, was covered and dirt and sweat.

But, no sweat.

We migrated. Walked around. Looked for people. She asked everyone -- and I mean everyone -- if she could buy their shoe from them. I wasn't amused. In fact, I was irritated, thirsty, hot and every part of my body was soaked from other peoples sweat. I thought it was supposed to rain all day?

So Alex and I found a t-shirt stand and both bought shirts we couldn't afford. She bought a hat to use as a shoe. Actually, she took the hat and used her old sweaty shirt to tie it on with.

We found the Mystic Piercing tent and we were apparently over our exhaustion because we both decided to get piercings. This is when the 16-year-old punk rock chick came into play. We got in line without knowing what we wanted to get pierced. We got up to the table and I realized.. Oh my God, I don't have my ID on me.

This inevitably led to ME asking anyone that looked over 35 to sign for me. They didn't and wouldn't believe that I wasn't a minor.

BUT THEN, I find Kerri.

"HEY! KERRI! Give me your ID, QUICK! I'm getting my nose pierced. Stop asking questions and just give it to me!" Apparently, in that moment, I realized that I wanted to get my nose pierced for the THIRD time because I had had so much luck the first two times.

So, I got my nose pierced and they gave me a lollipop.

"What is that line on your forehead?" My brother-in-law asked when I ran into him.

It was then that I remembered that crowd surfer who crash landed into my head (this BUMP is finally gone now).

Okay so I'm going to skip over the rest because it was pretty uneventful. Well, sort of. No, you know what? It was pretty damn eventful. We found everyone, I got a wristband (because I had Kerri's ID) and was reuniting with people from Berwyn Heights.. at least some of them.

When finally.... THE RAIN CAME!! Oh, it was beautiful. Imagine playing in the rain with thousands of drunk people.. it's a great time.

By this time, Third Eye Blind was about to come on and even though we had missed almost ALL of the bands performing, we all made it to see them.



My favorite thing about concerts is when the entire crowd is singing. The singer stops, the band keeps going, and no one skips a beat. Your forever bonded with those people. You look around and when your part comes up, all of a sudden everyone starts jumping at the same time, somehow managing to jump, throw their arms in their air and sing all at the same time. It's pretty amazing.

And I realized this is the reason I loved going to concerts when I was 16 - Even though it's hot, you inevitably get injured and at some point fear death, it is all worth it in that moment.





And, I have one last question to ponder: Why do people think it's okay to bring babies and children to a rock festival?