Utterly exhausted today. I stayed up way too late trying to get little things done, and in hindsight accomplished little, but I feared if I went to bed, I’d lie awake and fret about everything that needed to be done.

I slept poorly anyway.

We’re not leaving for the War ‘til Friday morning, though (rather than Thursday evening), so that gives me something of a reprieve. I’ve printed out the packing list, but I’m not going to worry much about it until Friday morning. Ken’s handling most stuff, anyway, and we don’t need camping gear or anything like that. I plan to travel light. At least I’ll be able to sleep in (she says, adding ear plugs and an eye mask to the packing list).

Silly War. I don’t really want to go—if I volunteer, I’ll feel bad that I’m not doing more and that we’re not running it next year. If I don’t volunteer, I’ll feel guilty. If I take classes, I’ll want to do more art stuff. If I go shopping, I’ll want to buy things that will make me want to play SCA. Bitch and moan, bitch and moan. I’ll go, hang out with my friends, and maybe even lock myself in the nice air-conditioned RV and write a bit. And read. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to curl up with a book for any length of time.

<>-<>-<>

So, all this stuff going on. Three Styx concerts, whoo! I’ve been riding on the adrenalin ever since (except it’s kind of waning today)—when I’m flagging, I just call up that picture of me and Lawrence and get a little jolt of giddiness.

The Key Club show was fantastic. The concert was part of the Mark & Brian KLOS radio show (syndicated, so some of you non-southern-Californians may have heard of them). Styx did a warmup of “One With Everything”—which thrilled me because it’s my favorite song and they’ve stopped doing it in concert in favor of new songs from Big Bang Theory (which are also fantastic—I don’t think I’d give up “I Don’t Need No Doctor” for “OWE”)—and “Lorelei.” During commercials, Mark & Brian wandered around the stage and chatted, Styx wandered around the stage and chatted. They also took questions from the audience to ask on air, but I couldn’t think of anything that didn’t involve trying to get a towel from Lawrence or whether he was wearing underwear. (Cut me some slack—I’d been up since 3 a.m.) Tani thought of a great question—Styx has been selling signed photos with 100% of proceeds going to hurricane relief, having made a deal with some venues such that the venues aren’t taking a cut of the sales of the photos. So she mentioned that, and asked how much they’d made. (They weren’t sure, but today I heard it’s $7000 so far. Yay!) Someone else asked if they’d ever play older songs and mentioned an obscure one, and they promptly did a little of it. Something I never thought I’d hear. DJ Brian sat down at Lawrence’s keyboard and played a few bars of “Lean On Me,” and the next thing we knew, the band was playing along and singing, and the entire audience was singing, too. The venue was small and intimate; I was close enough to touch the base of the spinning keyboard (although it was high enough that there wasn’t fear of being knocked unconscious, because you just know if something like that were to happen, it would happen to me.)

The next day, the concert was at the historic, Art Deco Wiltern Theatre. Gorgeous, beautiful place. Stage is too high, though—I could just rest my arms on it, and I can’t imagine what it would be like if I wasn’t tall. The group of women I hang out with at concerts (and other times, too, but we mostly see each other at concerts) collectively call themselves the Styx Heaux, and I’ve been adopted into the group. There were eleven of us (one person couldn’t come, sadly)—and Ken, who has been dubbed our Heaux Security Guard. The Wiltern Show was on his birthday, and the Heaux outdid themselves. Tani made him a shirt that says “Heaux Security,” and Sheri made him an Italian charm bracelet (the kind that has little rectangular charms, not dangly ones). She’s made them for a number of women, all with Styx-related charms. For Ken, she made one with all of our pictures (as well as Sarah’s), a charm of Ken’s bike, a charm that said “I [heart] My Wife,” one of the cover of the Paradise Theatre album (his first Styx album), one that said “Heaux Security Guard,” etc. It’s fantastic! She did an awesome job, and Ken was just thrilled. There were multiple cards, too. I’ve put a picture of Ken and his Heaux up here.

We Heaux had a cunning plan for this concert, since there would be so many of us. Since Lawrence sings “I Don’t Need No Doctor” as part of the encore now, we stepped in as potential nurses. Ken made all the hats, because he is The. Best. Husband. Ever. (we volunteered, and then I admitted that my life was insane). White hats with red crosses, except mine, which was a red circle with a white cross, because he said I was Head Nurse. (Pun intended…) Helen obtained red stethoscopes for all of us, and we had a variety of other accoutrement: giant plastic thermometers, an IV bag, a sponge (because I had a sign that said “I’ll give you a sponge bath if you give me a towel”), etc. Hee. We couldn’t entirely tell the band’s reaction, but later found out that they loved it. (Although Ricky said, “You could bump it up a notch,” which led to an interesting discussion amongst us.)

Lawrence didn’t see my sign in time, and gave the towel to someone else, although the sign made him laugh. He also dropped his water bottle on my head. I did get another Consolation Polaroid, though.

Okay, tomorrow I’ll write up about the Palmdale show (and afterwards, including the picture!), Serenity, Ken’s 40th birthday party, Mirrormask, and, um…everything else I can think of.

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Currently Reading: The Goth Bible, Nancy Kilpatrick
Lately Listened To: Ken typing
Recently Watched: a very creepy Medium