Essay/Term paper: Personal writing: our trip to see the band "last one standing"

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Essays

Personal Writing: Our Trip to See the Band "Last One Standing"


This past Friday I traveled down to Burlington with my friends Justin,
Jamie, and Steve. The purpose of our trip was to see Justin and his band, Last
One Standing, play at his old high school in Colchester. We all met around
three o'clock, then piled into Justin's black, Volkswagen GTI, behind the
Senators dorm. His car being a little used, it took fifteen minutes to actually
be on our way. We put on some fast-paced driving music, a band called
INTEGRITY(they're a hardcore band), and left the worries of Johnson behind us.

The trip was a lot smoother in good company, even though our driver,
Justin was getting a little frustrated while driving in heavy traffic. He has a
short temper, and following a line of cars that are going thirty-five miles an
hour in a fifty zone does not help. A sigh of relief passed through the car as
we came into Burlington. Justin dropped me off at my house in Burlington at
four o'clock, a few hours before his show started. I made my plans with them
for later and sent them on their way. Something about being home makes me feel
much more relaxed. Walking into your house and immediately recognizing that
perfect smell of freshness (my mom keeps a clean house), flopping yourself onto
your comfortable bed, now this is what makes me feel at peace.I was relieved to
be home, knowing that I was going to see Kristie,a friend of mine that I'm
quite fond of.

A few hours slipped by with no significant happenings. I was really
looking forward to seeing Kristie. She called around six, and made plans to stop
by at seven. I was more than excited to see her, and when she showed up I
couldn't stop smiling(I was really happy to see her). We talked for a few hours,
which let me forget about my plans with Justin and the guys. It had been
snowing since early that afternoon, and by nine-thirty we had three or four
inches. Kristie lives in Shelburne, which is south of Burlington, and
realizing the long drive in front of her, we decided to take off. We headed
towards Colchester High School hoping that her car would make it there, and
back to her house. It wasn't a problem, it only took us longer than we had
expected. Kristie gave my a hug, a few kisses, some cigarettes, and we said
our good-byes. She drove off into the snowy night, and already I missed her.

There seemed to be hundreds of people at the high school that night, but
I soon learned that there was a basketball game that had just ended. It took me
a few to realize that I had gone in the wrong entrance, and the music jam was in
the other side of the school. I entered the right side, thinking that I would
have to pay, but there was no-one to take my money. I'm not one to complain in a
situation like this; it saves money. So I went in just in time to see Justin's
band.
There were about a hundred kids gathered around the stage watching in
adoration as Last One Standing jumped all over the stage blowing out all their
frustrations, while Justin screaming out lyrics like "True to yourself", and
songs that preached unity for all. The first person I found was Steve, standing
directly in front of the stage, getting into the music as much as the school
would let him. This year the school passed a policy stating that no-one could
slam-dance or mosh. I joined him as soon as could make through the crowd of
almost rowdy high school kids, who were getting more and more anxious to dance.
The bands' set lasted about one half hour. They sounded great, and the crowds'
applause showed this. Steve and I went to the side stage to greet Justin, and
tell him how "cool" he was. We like to poke fun at him and give him a hard time
so his ego doesn't skyrocket. But his band was really decent.
Jamie met up with Steve, Justin, and me, fifteen minutes after Last One
Standing's set had ended. Two more bands were playing, and then the music jam
was going to end. Steve and I were anxious to leave, but Justin had to stick
around and help clean up after the show. The other bands were all right, but
not as well rehearsed as Justin's band, or as energetic. There always seem to
be trouble-makers at school functions, and this school was no different from the
rest. Some kid, I'll call him "the stupid kid", decided to bring a bottle of
liquor to the school and get drunk. He was later having some argument( I
witnessed the argument before I knew he had liquor) with a young lady. In the
middle of his argument he threw up his arms, and the bottle dropped to the
ground, exploding on impact with the linoleum floor. The sound of breaking
glass was muffled by the band that was playing. The unknown young lady took "
stupid kid" by the arm and dragged him out as quickly as possible. The whole
time he was being escorted out, he just stared back at the broken glass, and the
large wet spot where it lay. What a dumb adolescent.
The music jam ended around eleven o'clock, and by this time most of the
kids had left. We waited for Justin to do his duties, and were headed back to
Johnson State College. We got outside to find five to six inches of snow on
Justin's car; we had quite a trip in front of us. I mentioned earlier that his
car wasn't in the best shape, and now was the test to prove how good it was.
The drive home wasn't that bad. The roads were icy (Vermont's road crew
are always behind), and we had problems with hills. But most of the trip wasn't
that harsh. It took us one hour and twenty minutes to arrive in the town of
Johnson. We passed this time with some deep conversation regarding nuclear
weapons, and the STAR WARS mission(not the movie). It was pretty late; most of
us were on our second and third wind for the day. I don't think we were too
coherent, and a large part of what we were saying might not have made sense to
anyone else. We got to the school, went to our rooms, and later met back in
Steve's room. It was a normal evening, nothing went wrong, and we all had fun.
We spent the rest of our evening playing video games. When the night was over,
we shut the t.v. off, and I still missed Kristie.