Valentine's Day

It's a lonely Valentine's Day. Don't cry for me Argentina...

I have never been a big fan of the holiday, even when I have had a girlfriend. My most vivid memory of Valentine's Day was 3 years ago, when I was in Sydney. Before we had arrived in Sydney, Roy, had purchased tickets for the Pearl Jam concert on Feb 14th, in the hopes of having someone to go with. When he told me about it, I jumped at the chance.

This was the birth of Stonefeld (due to possible future use, I cannot explain it in detail because I don't have it copyrighted). Rather than rewriting the story, I am placing my diary from that day in this submission (somewhat edited).

I had to get up early to get a hold of the OMB person if he didn’t reply to my email and also contact the person in the Ford program, so I was up and at ‘em before 8. I paid for internet access before I got to school because I knew I wouldn’t arrive until after nine, then I realized that it would be unprofessional to talk on the cell phone as buses whizzed by. I arrived at school all excited to try out the wireless card to make sure it work, but I had to call Steve since he didn’t respond to my email. Luckily, he was at his desk after 5 PM EST and we cleared everything up and I set up an interview for next week, still wasn’t sure if it wasn’t going to be on Wednesday or Friday.

The wireless worked! I took full advantage until Roy and I played basketball. I started on fire on the court, but then I deflated. Roy noticed a flaw in my shot. With his expertise, we improved my form and I began to make my shots. Hopefully, I can keep up the momentum the next time.

I was going to head to the beach, but still had a few things to check online including the opening act for the Pearl Jam concert to see if it was worth it. As expected, I really didn’t see a need to head there early. By the time I headed home, it was cloudy, so I took a much-needed nap. I awoke from my slumber and showered before heading to Roy’s. I was dying on the bus. It was bringing me down. Then the weirdness began. Did you ever notice that sometimes when it gets really loud somewhere, it happens all of the sudden? It happened on the bus. It was quiet one second and all of the sudden everybody was talking at the same time.

We got off the bus and took a taxi the rest of the way because there was no direct bus to the Sydney Entertainment Center. Located near Darling Harbour and Chinatown, the cabbie dropped us off and we looked for an eager buyer. Roy was only looking for face value. We offered the ticket to the first guy who was looking for the ticket. He started at $40 for a $90 ticket. Roy obliged the offer, but was taking no less than face. The funniest thing was that Roy never left his offer and the guy finally took it.

Now the rest of the night will turn into a short film with different scene, which I will explain afterwards.

The Water

We were feeling pretty good but didn’t want to head in yet. We decided to sit down by a tree on the concrete circle surround a tree. We sat down and I noticed bottled water between Roy and I. I was feeling pretty thirsty. I sort of wanted it. Roy could see it in my face that I wanted to drink out it. I was trying to deny it by saying I felt self-conscious because other people would see me drink something that I didn’t buy. I finally decided to go for it, but only if it was unopened. Unfortunately it was open, so I didn’t touch in lights of it having something it.

Then, a guy asks us if he could use our water. We reply that it isn’t our water and he could use it to his discretion and we would not be held responsible. He replies by saying that all he needed it was for his water bong and we respond by saying that it should work wonders for what he needs it for. Not the response we expected to hear especially because we were in a public domain. Then, we start chatting with them as they smoke away on a small plastic bottle bong (similar to a Juicy Juice bottle), and it turns out he is a professional skateboarder and sponsored by the same people as the shirt Roy is wearing (Ezekiel). Good people and we venture off to head into the amphitheatre.

The Concert

You wait in line to get inside, but they don’t check your ticket. They only check for weapons, etc. After Roy returns from the bathroom, we decide to get in line for beers. Since it is 8:30, we decide to obtain two beers each so we don’t have to leave our seats and miss any of Pearl Jam’s set. The line for beer/liquor is very unorganized compared to US concerts. It’s more like waiting for alcohol at a bar, but once you get near the front, the lines form some sort of semblance. Roy waited away from the line since he ordered his beers first. When I meet him, he tells me someone complemented on his Baltimore Orioles old school hat, which was a little weird. As we near our seats, we decide to finish one of the beers before heading in since Pearl Jam isn’t on yet.

After finishing the first beer, we get in line in our entrance (which is where the entertainment center finally asks for the tickets) and they tell us we cannot bring alcohol into the venue. That is totally not like a US concert, but we oblige and finish the beer and finally head in. It was a very nice place and it was a full house. We were on the right hand side of the stage in the second level. There was a little confusion when we headed to our seat because other people were in them. After we figured out who was in the wrong seats (not us), we sit down.

The ticket we sold to that guy was sold to at least another person who might have been the person who sat in the seat. Roy starts talking to him and decides to lie about himself. Since he had the Orioles hat on, the guy (who is American) asks him if where he is from and Roy tells him he is from the Baltimore area, specifically Bethesda. It turns out this guy is from that area also (not sure if he was lying). Roy has to stumble on his story by saying that his parents now live there, but he grew up in Rochester. During that conversation, he turns to me and shakes his head. Before hearing the story, I did not know why.

Pearl Jam finally comes on. They rocked the house. They played lots of songs from the new one (obviously) and plenty of old stuff especially from Ten, Versus, and Vitalogy. Eddie Vedder mentions that the show is on the radio, which was pretty cool. They played two encores. The crazy thing about the show was that the crowd was lame. I don’t believe half of the crowd stood up during any part of the concert. It was probably because they couldn’t bring drinks in!

After the concert, our options were limited because we were dressed pretty casual, wearing shorts, but I decided to show Roy Kings Cross. Nonetheless, he enjoyed the scenery. While we were sipping on a brew, we decided that the night could be a movie, with little shorts. The section titled the Water Bottle was one scene. Another scene would have been the ticket. But the way that would have been set up is it would have followed the path of the ticket (meaning it would have left us after we sold it to the first guy) until Roy had talked to that patron that was actually sitting in that seat. And incorporated in that scene would have been Roy telling me prior to us entering the arena, that we could have sold it for more. Now, the crazy thing about that scene would be that in the background you would notice the water bottle from the other scene.

After we couldn’t get in anywhere worthwhile in Kings Cross, we headed back to the Coogee Bay Hotel for a few drinks and ran into Michelle and some first year student. Michelle was wearing her new hoochie outfit which was at least from this decade that Kelly Stone helped her pick it out. We stayed until about 2 went for some pizza and headed home.