Grants Pass Adventure

Oh my what an adventure I had this weekend!

My dear friend Nick, whom I dated when I was 17/18, got married this weekend. He and his now-wife hired me to come DJ the event and here's some honesty for you - I actually prefered working rather than just attending. I'm a terribly anxious person in social situations as it is and there's a lot of insecurities floating that come to the surface when one of your first major boyfriends gets married. Having a focused task let me fidget rather than obsess - or at least obsess on making the music *perfect*. Additionally, they had a theme of Super Heroes so you know I had to be the most extra and show up as pictured above (which was another focused task I could pour my energy into).
But the wedding was only a small portion of the adventure. For some ridiculous reason (it was the cheapest option), I decided I would leave Seattle around 7pm Friday, get in to Grants Pass, OR at 5am Saturday (the wedding being 2-8pm), hang out until the 3:20 bus home, and then return around 2pm Sunday afternoon. This saved me the cost of a hotel room for the night and timed out so that I would (hopefully) sleep for most of the journey.
The trip down went well - I got started on Joe Hill's The Fireman , got in some solid napping, and when I arrived around 5am I took in a long breakfast and double-checked that I had all the pre-requested songs for my set before killing time at the wonderful shopping selection of the 24 hour Wal-Mart. Attempts were made to go get my nails done but when I got to the salon 5 minutes before it was scheduled to open, I found that they were already full with a wall of manicures ongoing. So I sat and read a bit more Joe Hill for a bit before deciding that just under two miles couldn't possibly be *that bad* of a walk, especially since I could attach my laptop bag to my luggage and roll it most of the way. 

This was a bad idea. To be fair, I survived the walk and to be honest it wasn't that terribly awful, but it definitely took a bit longer than 45 minutes and there were many small hills that didn't seem too bad until you were walking up them one after the othe. By the time I got to the venue (after arriving at the opposite end of the golf course and having to walk with my head high as the solo, bright-haired goth girl wearing a dress covered in skulls. To be honest, the hardest part of that was making sure I kept my pace even as I was exhausted. Finally someone pulled up in a golf cart and made sure I was at least heading in the right direction, and once I got to the venue it was just a matter of taking a baby-wipe bath before I spent the next few hours getting ready.
The ceremony was beautiful and after only a few awkward conversations with family members I had met many years ago, I loaded up my gear again plus a potted plant that was a belated birthday gift from the bride and set out to wait until my 3am bus. While I was killing time, I discovered that a friend of mine was actually also in Grants Pass performing in a comedy show, which gave me something to do for a few hours. If you ever get a chance, make sure you check out Billy Anderson because he's a hilarious comedian and a super nice guy who let me hang out in his hotel room with some buddies until I rolled out to go wait at the bus stop.
One of the things about a small town that I actually like is that people are genuinely nice. I had planned to wait at the bus stop an hour before my bus arrived, as their website suggested. However, when I told my cab driver that he insisted that it was a bad idea and that I should wait at Shari's for a bit and he would pick me up closer to my arrival time. So I chilled and had a waffle and... the bus arrived early and drove right past me. Fortunately, the waitress at Shari's was the sweetest ever and, after I had cried it out a bit, brought me some tea and told me it would be ok if I waited until 10am when the next bus would come. There isn't much to say about those seven hours - I drank tea and messed around on my phone and got in some sleep, then walked back to the bus stop with mounting anxiety that the driver wouldn't honor my ticket. After another 30-40 minutes (the bus was late), the driver listened to my tale and took my ticket, letting me on the bus home.
On the way back I made sure to cancel my plans for the day, except for the one where I went to my partners place for (veggie) chicken nuggets and a nice long bath before rolling home to pass the fuck out (and put my poor plant in a nice spot so it can soak up some sun to recover from the journey).
It was an adventure to be sure and now that it's not actively happening I can tell the story with a laugh. Thank you to the new Mr and Mrs Amaranthus for inviting me to be a part of their celebration. Right now I need about 10 more hours of sleep to recover, but instead I'm going to throw back some caffeinated beverages because tonight I'm meeting up with a body painter and my wonderful photographer Phirebrand to get some more exclusive images for you folks! <3 Stay tuned, more to come.