catching up AKA, all of Night of Joy

So I haven't been consistent over the last few days. But, in my defense, I've been traveling!

We went to Night of Joy on Saturday night and it was quite nice.
We didn't stay on property, which was alright, I guess, because all we did was sleep there. I still felt like something was missing. However, had we taken the bus from the hotel, we wouldn't have seen Bryan there (and his wife) and that was cool for mom.

We drove up, leaving a bit later than I intended, but earlier than the last minute. It gave me a few minutes to be able to stop in at the Black Market Mineral store at Old Town in Orlando. I finally found some of the beads I had been looking for since July.
They're ones I've had forever, and don't remember where I got them. I can't find them anyplace, and they had the same style, but in bracelet form. But since the bracelet was only 2.50, I bought all of them. It would have been the same, or cheaper, than buying them "loose" I was happy. Overall, oops, I spent too much. LOL. But they've got stuff there that I can't find any place else... at least that I know of at the moment!! Besides, I love that place. I found it the first time when we first started going to Night of Joy.. so the two are kinda intertwined for me.

We got in the park just before 6. That was a bit later than I would have liked, but still early enough that we got to catch most of the High School Musical3 street party show. :-D Yeah, I'm a dork like that. I was entertained!! Then we headed to Toy Story Mania... we got there at a good time, b/c it was just shutting down for regular guests, so the line wasn't too long... by too long I mean, about 3o minutes.

Because it was just me and mom, we took it easy the rest of the night. There wasn't too much that I "HAD" to do, and mom was just there for the fun. So we stopped at the coffee shop, sat down, chatted with some folks, got some water and cooled off. From there we went shopping.. .window shopping, cause, well, we don't NEED anything, and without my discount, even the cute things aren't cute enough to pay full price for! By the time we got down one side of the street and up the next, it was time to go see Mandisa. I knew i had to at least see a bit of her show...

We made it over to the Beauty and the Beast stage with just a few minutes to spare, which was nice. We didn't worry too much about seating, I had dad's camera, and we just wanted to see her perform a bit. I also had the telephoto, so that made things even easier! lol.. She did really well, I was happy we went. I wish we could have stayed for the entire thing, but we had to go b/c the line would be starting for Conversations with Jars of Clay.. and you know me.. ;-)

As we left the theater, the rain started just a bit. not too badly, just spitting here and there, but i know how it goes, so I opened up my umbrella. The drier I stay, the happier I stay. I can sweat enough as it is, if the rain drizzles on me, it just makes me more miserable!!!

We got over to what used to be the Hunchback of Notre Dame venue... it's since been enclosed and air conditioned, which is super awesome. We were early enough, tho that they weren't letting people inside yet. They did, however, move the line over to the covered part of the line for Muppets, so that was good. There might have been 20 people in front of us... iwasn't too concerned. Right about the time we got there, the NOJ twitter dude (john, I think) started his game of finding him for a prize. So I left mom in line. I knew exactly where he was, but a fat girl in the rain and heat ain't gonna run! Unfortunately some dude got there before me, but since I had told him my 18 year story already, he gave me a prize too, yay!! I got to pick a CD, and I went with Josh Wilson, who was gonna perform just after Jars' convo, so yeah, good choice for me!

Finally they let us in to the theater. We got "good" seats.. It wouldn't have mattered much anyways, as we all just sat there, but it was good, none the less. Out came the "hosts" or question moderators.. The disney folk in charge, and lo and behold, one of them was Mary!!
We love Mary! She did a few of these Q&As back in the day when they started.. I saw one with Jars and one with PlusOne. Plus she had been a host for Tarzan before they went with voiceovers, and she also hosted Millionaire. We LOOVE HER!! :0)

There were also two DJs from Z88.3 as well. I didn't know them. There were several people to ask questions, and I didn't think I had one, I mean, it's been so long, there's not much new I need to know, but then I came up with a good one, and went to stand in line.. And then, as the dude before me went to ask his question, they were like, "Ok, last question" :-( I tried to play the "But I came all the way from Tennessee" card with the guy, but he wouldn't have it. It *IS* Disney afterall, gotta stay on schedule.

After that, Josh Wilson came out. I didn't know what to expect, I didn't think I had heard him before, but turns out I have. He's good.. And talented. I liked his stuff and I was glad I was able to pick up his CD as well. God's lookin' out for me.. I didn't have to spend $10+ on it!

Once we were finished there, we still had some time to kill before Jars went on stage, so we stopped into Pizza Planet and got something to share. The good news is that the pizza quality has vastly improved since I ate there last. Now would be a good time to mention how much I dislike The Studios. It's never appealed to me very much, and I'm still never really certain as to why that is!! Sure, Rockin Rollercoaster is awesome, and i do love the Tower of Terror... but outside of that.. there's not a whole lot that I like. The new Lights, Motors, Action stunt show is pretty good, but it's at the back of the park, and on a time schedule in a huuuuuuuuuuuge venue. Me no likey! There's no food worth mentioning, except the Brown Derby, and that's hardly ever in my price range. The shopping isn't any good either. Oh, i guess Fantasmic is good and all, but again, impossible to get into. So, when they announced that NOJ was moving back to the Magic Kingdom, I was ecstatic!! It's just laid out better for shows, seriously!!

So, anyways, we got a snack and then, it was time to go! Go get to the stage, I mean!! there was like, 30 minutes before they were going on, and I had hoped I'd be able to get to the front, but when we got there, there were already about 6 rows worth of people there. Not too shabby, but I still like the front!! The good news is that this was the first of 2 shows. So, they came out, played, and life was glorious!! Except for the dumb kid in front of me with super long arms and an iPhone. He'd hold his phone up there for like the entire song, but take only 1 picture!! Made it REALLY hard for me. But whatever..

First set done, people leave, YAY! so I was able to move up right to the the railing at the front of the stage. The one GOOD thing about (and only good thing) is that the stage here is much, much shorter than the Castle stage at MK. OH, they were playing front of Mickey's hat. Not the main stage at Studios.. that was out at Lights, Motors, Action... yeesh.. I can't imagine!!

I'm at the rail, yay.. So we finally get things settled in and there's a few minutes before the next set starts, and I look around and the guy behind me was one of the dudes who asked a question during the show, so I ask him what he ws asking about (cause I forgot) and we started talking, and that was kinda awesome.
I'll admit, I haven't been around the Jars World much lately.. or much at all, since 2000-ish.. I know the defining moment back then. It was choosing to go out west to Seattle for that +1/PC run of three shows instead of JOC at House of Blues. And from the boyband thing, it led into AI, and CA, and from 2003 until this time last year... and then work's been taking up any other time, and of course, living where the music is made means you don't get to see any live, and most of the radio doesn't care either!!

His name was John and his son was with him, so we talked Jar stuff, and surprisingly enough, neither of us had pens, so I just gave him my jars email, which is super easy to remember, so he could email me about some old songs that aren't available anymore.. I like being able to do that.

2nd show was better than the first, IMHO... Although, it looked as if they were having some mic probs with the drumkit, but i didn't notice. I have theories, but I shall keep them to myself on the awesomeness that was the 2nd show, cause anything I say makes me look crazy! :-)

They finished up, I went to find mom, and then get a pen from her, to get info from John, but by the time we went back, he seemed to be gone.. turns out he went and found Dan and got his pic taken, which was awesome for him, cause he hasn't ever met them before.

So, that was NOJ... I headed back on the road on Sunday.. Stayed overnight in Macon, watched the VMAs.. (Don't get me started!) and then Monday back on the road. I was about 30 miles outside of Murfreesboro, when my phone rang with an unknown number. I answered it and it turned out to be someone from a job I expressed interest in online thursday night! YAY! I talked with her, and then set up an interview! that's going to be TODAY!! I'm excited. It's something I think I could like doing, and it has travel with it. We'll see.. I'll post more as i know more!