life is good when you wake up at 12 in the afternoon, realize that it's 55 degrees and raining in chicago in the middle of december, work for two hours, and go to a great show where you see friends that live in a different state, far away from yours.

i went to my first sound check today, and it was pretty neat. shawn and tyler (who is making funny faces at the time) notice the three of us from the stage, and after finishing their sound check, gabe and shawn come over to talk to us, to say hi. we watched all the kids from every high school around chicago file into metro while gabe warmed up by playing his drumsticks against his leg. and we didn't worry whether we were missing the first band or not, because until the minute they went onstage, they were standing right next to us. northstar rocks my rocks, and it's nice that we consider each other friends. tyler, who's birthday it was today, dedicates a song to "annelise and her two friends", because we all know that he has an illegal crush on her. i tell her she better be happy because of the dedication, to which she shrugs and gives me a confused look. don't give me that fucking look like you don't know what i'm talking about. i'll punch you. tyler runs around the stage like he's trapped on a very small mountain.

the night was spent with northstar and metro security. emily is my new favorite because she's cynical, happy about life, and just plain old nice. rob and i have become better acquaintences, and i was given a project by him. jeremy is all too approachable, and ridiculously nice. i barely stayed through TRS's set and was only around for a few starting line songs.

it was nice to be the girls in the backstage area, while the ones that try a little too hard, stayed on the other side, waiting desparately for the boys in the bands to come out.

after much excitement while riding a circus bike and watching an overly exciting kenny bounce about, we all (us girls, northstar, brian from TRS, matt and mike from TSL, and adam, sean, and john from TBS) went to clarke's to eat (per our request). there was lots of good talks and new learnings about "rockstars". the goodbyes were long and comforting, and the night was one of the best. one more good memory that involves northstar... one more good memory taht involves the girls.