It's slowly getting closer...

Actually, the week has gone by pretty quickly-- and I haven't missed a day of blogging yet! Which is an accomplishment as it's hard to find time to write. Due to popular opinion tonight I will continue with my Tori Season journeys through the years. I wrote too much in my first blog and condensed many Tori shows into one lengthy post, when I could easily write a series of lengthy posts on each Tori show-- so I will do that starting with 2002: Scarlet's Walk...

2002 was a milestone year for me, I graduated high school and began college in Chicago. The wonderful thing about living in Chicago is that it is a guaranteed stop on the Tori tour circuit and this particular year was no exception. I was dismayed to learn that Tori was coming to Chicago around Thanksgiving. Now, I don't think I had made it home to see my family since college started-- (hi, daddy I think you are the only one who is reading my blog)but I sure wasn't going to miss Tori. So I stayed in Chicago over Thanksgiving and saw Tori at the Chicago Theatre the day before Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving. If Tori was spending Thanksgiving in Chicago, then so was I. But Tori didn't invite me to her Thanksgiving dinner, unfortunately-- I'm sure it was just an oversight. And I lived in the dorms so I couldn't really cook my own sad meal all by myself-- there was one other person in the dorms with me, and we went to see Harry Potter on Thanksgiving day at the bargain theater up the street-- shoutout to the Ghettoplex! A few days before Thanksgiving I was in my Christian Worship theology class and the Jesuit priest-- Father O. asked everyone their plans for Thanksgiving. In my account, I left Tori out, and said I had no where to go and eat a delicious meal, so sad, so sad.

Father O. took pity on me and another girl in my class who I knew, and who also liked Tori amazingly, and invited us to have Thanksgiving with the Jesuits. So the day before Thanksgiving when the dorms emptied out and everyone headed home, I hopped on the train and headed cheerily downtown to see Tori. The concert was amazing like usual. Tori played and played, I missed some of "I can't see new york" because I had to pee, but it was very moving. After the concert I knew I had made the right decision to stay and see Tori. The next day, I met up with my friend and headed over to the Jesuit Residence, affectionately referred to as the Jes Res. We were warmly greeted by the priests adn treated to wine and shrimp cocktail appetizers. Then the food-- heaps of deliciously prepared turkey, stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce, a million varieties of corn, sauces, gravies, potatoes, etc. It was a feast! I was told that one of the priests was also a gourmet chef; it was very nice. I was much confirmed in my decision to stay in Chicago for Thanksgiving.

To top off the meal-- dessert was authentic Italian pastries prepared by one of the Italian Jesuits-- oh, canolli-- it was so good. This was also my first exposure to expresso. I had never had good expresso before, and I thought the little cups were so cute-- so when all was said and done I drank 5 shots of expresso. I truly did not know any better-- big mistake. Another thing I love about the Jesuits is that they served me glass after glass of wine, fully aware that I was only 18 and not of legal age, but no matter to those crazy priests. So not only was I a little drunk, but also hopped up on caffeine like you would not believe. Then it got better- the Jesuit's-- givers that they are-- sent me home with 5 plates full of food- canollis and all! It was awesome, I ate off of that for the next week and a half-- hmm hmm hmm! So then I walked back to the dorm, and I felt pretty tired after Jen and I went to Harry Potter, but I couldn't fall asleep. So I went to the lounge and started watching the X-files marathon on FX. After 6 episodes, I still couldn't fall asleep, and around episode 4 I developed the worst headache I've ever suffered.

It was excruciating, finally I couldn't stand to watch any more X-files (which has never happened before I could watch X-files forever) so I went to take a shower, for about an hour and it still didn't help the headache or relax me at all. I stayed awake all night and through the next day, so by the time the Tori concert came I was exhausted. I crashed mid afternoon, but I was excited about Tori and nervous I would oversleep and miss her if I went to bed at that point so I stayed up. Tori was just as amazing, but I was so tired she seemed surreal. It was so warm in the theater that I almost fell asleep-- during a Tori concert!! Ludicrous, I know, but I usually fall asleep listening to Tori so I'm used to it. It ended up being quite nice, and when I finally got home that night I was never so relieved to see my bed and I had sweet dreams of Tori music all night. Lesson learned: go easy on the Expresso, it's not just little cups of coffee, it's way more powerful than that! But it was worth staying in Chicago- and I got to see my family at Christmas for a month.

Here's a clip of Tori from Scarlet's walk area 2002 from her Chicago "Soundstage" performance-- "A Sorta Fairytale"