June 6, 2015- Lady Antebellum Concert

I was close to deciding not to go to this concert like the day before but I changed my mind. I was thinking that I could pretend that this would be like one of the holodeck adventures of my dreams. I am braver in the fantasy world than I am in the real one.

   I was semi-freaking out at the very start of the journey. The bus was making a turn towards Cranford. I thought that maybe I was on the wrong one. The passenger who had been waiting at my stop told me that at certain times of the day that the bus goes down that road before heading towards Linden. I felt so foolish for thinking that this, the only bus that comes into our town, wasn’t the right one.

   I got to the train station just in time for the 3:55 train. If I had tried getting the ticket out of the machine, I probably would have missed it. Luckily, they don’t charge extra for your ticket if you have a disability card like I do. I had to ask the conductor about the transfer from one train to another in Woodbridge. I was nervous but did okay, I suppose.

   Once I got to the Aberdeen station, I sat on a bench and ate my cheese sandwich and apple. I saw the building that the shuttle bus is supposed to be in front of but it wasn’t there yet. I saw a few other people waiting there and asked the one girl if she was going to PNC. She said yes.

   A cab driver told us that the shuttle bus wouldn’t be there for another 45 minutes. I decided to take that taxi with 5 other people; the driver charged us $5.00 a piece which was good. I was already worrying about the trip back to the train station after the concert.

   I hung out with 2 guys and a girl before the show. The one guy offered to drive me home. He had to pass my exit on the way to his town. He seemed trustworthy so I accepted. I think that he might have been interested in me because he mentioned that he is looking for the right woman. I told him that I am not interested in finding a boyfriend.

    Even if he had been younger- he looked about 60- and I was physically attracted to him, I still would have said that. He did seem like a nice guy. He has a huge and varied music collection. His car is a Camaro; I always liked that kind when I was a kid.

   I didn’t tell Mom, Mike, or even my own therapist about this. I did confide in Sharon because I feel as if I can tell her anything. During the show, I did have a little worry that perhaps I had made a bad decision in accepting his offer and I was also thinking of things that I might say to him during the ride.

    These and other thoughts were a bit distracting. I was picturing that I was sitting in row N of 101 section instead of 303. I also imagined being that close at this venue for the Duran Duran 2005 concert. Chris Young was on my mind too.

   The girl had encouraged me to go over to a cop in an unmarked car to ask about the cab and shuttle bus situation. The info on the site was wrong- the last shuttle leaves at 10:45 not at 11:30; that does not seem right because you definitely would have to leave a show early to catch it.

     I am not really sure when this one ended; it might have been 10:40. By the time we walked to the guy’s car in the boondocks area, it was 11:10, I think. They were making people go back there just like at the Brad Paisley show even though there were spots in the regular area.

    The music seemed very loud and something seemed off about the microphones and sound system. The best part was the 3 acoustic songs because the sound quality was good plus they were performing them on a platform that was near me, about 10 seats to the right. It was like a side angle but still great.

   I didn’t use the binoculars at all throughout the show. I was just too tired and didn’t want to be bothered doing so. It was overwhelming enough without them. I did look at the screen occasionally during each song.

    Sam Hunt and Hunter Hayes were the opening acts. I knew 2 songs by the former and a few by the latter. The girls in front of and around me were standing the entire time then but I didn’t feel like it. I only did so for the songs that I knew.

    My view was blocked when I was sitting so I had to look in between a couple of people and at the screen. Sometimes I had to do just the latter because there was no space in between the people. At times, even the screen was blocked by them. Occasionally, Smartphones did block my view during the entire concert.

   Those two guys came back on stage for a few Lady A songs, Hunter for two and Sam for one- both were doing the cover version of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”. It seemed sort of odd that they had picked this song to perform.

   They had played songs over the stereo system before the concert. Why did they only do a very little bit of Chris Young’s “Aw Naw”? I would have loved to hear the whole thing. I hope that nothing bad happens to prevent me from seeing him next month. I definitely will be using the binoculars during that show.

   Right after that was Luke Bryan’s “That’s My Kind of Night”. Nearly all of it got played, I think. The girls around me were really getting into it and also “Uptown Funk”. I used to like the latter but it’s been overplayed so now I am kind of sick of it.

   I went to the set list site but there were a couple of errors on it. They only did 3 songs on that B stage and a cover version of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” was not one of them. Hillary did sing a cover version of a female country artist but I don’t think it was a Shania Twain song and if it was, it wasn’t the one that was on this.

   I already put this, the Lady A photo, and the ticket into my concerts and events scrapbook. It is filled up now so if I do go to the Chris and LB concerts this year, I will have to use the smaller scrapbook that has my Mets tickets, Turtleback Zoo postcards, and other stuff in it for those tickets and hopefully photos too.

     I only got about 4 hours sleep last night. I needed to be up at 5:30 a.m. to drive my brother to the carnival grounds at around 7:00. He was working at the flea market there. I was home by 12:10. I was too tired to even brush my teeth.

    Mom was still awake then so it was hard getting to sleep. I heard her opening her snack drawer and placing her mug on the nightstand like at 12:45. She shouldn’t be snacking then. I was too afraid that she would be mad at me if I asked her to please settle down. But don’t I have the right to a good night’s sleep?