Well, as I certainly hope you've all noticed, I was out of town for the weekend. What was I doing, you may ask? Well, for those of you who, for some odd reason, do not yet know, I have loved Jackson Rathbone (best known as Jasper from Twilight) for almost an entire year now. And, for those of you who do not yet know, he has a band, called 100 Monkeys. As a birthday present, I was able to head out and see them perform live - but that's not the best part.

No, the best part was having them talk to me over the phone.

See, my dad was walking around town when he saw a group of guys on the opposite end of the street. After a few seconds, it hit him that one of them may be Jackson Rathbone (at this point he knows nothing about the other band members). So he calls me and describes the others, and after he's sure it's them, he manages to catch up with them. The following conversation, from what I hear, was something like this (for privacy reasons, I shall refer to myself only as Cinnamon):

Cinnamon's dad: Are you the 100 Monkeys?

Monkeys: Yeah!

Cinnamon's dad: Would you say hi to my daughter Cinnamon? We're going to your show tonight. (holds out phone)

Monkeys: Hi, Cinnamon! See you at the show!

Cinnamon: (long silence) ...COOL!

As you can imagine, I was ecstatic. My dad apparently was, too - he told random people in our hotel elevator and the people behind us in line for the show. And this is my basic review of the concert thing:

The opening act, Tin Tin Can (unless I heard the name incorrectly somehow), was pretty good. They played about six songs, then 100 Monkeys came out. I believe that they opened with the song Ugly Girl, and Jackson started out on keyboard, but knowing my memory you probably shouldn't take my word for it. When they first came out, I was so excited. "There's Jackson!" I thought. "Adorable!" ...I don't know WHAT was wrong with me. Either I was sitting too far away or my contacts failed me, because a second later I realized, "Oh... he's over THERE." That sucked away my excitement a bit.

The band was amazing, and they really sound much better live than on a Youtube video or whatever. Their songs "Keep Awake," "Wing on Fire," and Jackson's newer song "Prayer" were some of the best of the night. Jackson was adorable as always, especially when he took off his hat (at one point he bent his head and his fluffy hair flopped completely over XD). Problem is, our camera died before the show ended, so no pics of him hatless could be recorded He also ended up running around without his hat at one point, and that was probably one of the highlights of the night. I know that the man loves his hats, but he's so adorable without them...

(A few memorable Jackson moments from the show:

"This is a song. This IS a song. This is A song. This is a SONG."

Fans: I love you Jackson!!!
Jackson: I love you too! ...Voices in the crowd!)

Although I was staring at Jackson most of the time, I watched Ben Graupner often too. You really can't help it. Jackson and Ben both get so into it... Jared Anderson, Ben Johnson and Uncle Larry, the other band members, really did not seem quite as into it as Jackson and Ben G. And Ben is totally insane. At the very least, he's the craziest sane man I've ever seen in my life - and he runs faster than any human I've ever met. (This, by the way, is the same Ben Graupner who bought a Jasper pillowcase, which scared poor Jackson; he ended up ritualistically burning it. After experiencing Ben's insanity live, I can totally see him buying a pillowcase with the intent of scaring his buddy.)

The show was amazing, and you could really tell what a sweet guy Jackson was; for instance, he gave their producer a great big hug. My dad said that the entire band (minus Ben G., who he doesn't remember being with them) seemed really nice, someone working in the building where the show was called him the "nicest young man," and hey, he talked to me on the phone...

Best birthday present EVER.

UPDATE: Tryin' out my new skin!

UPDATE 2: So check out my mood XD

UPDATE 3: I REALLY love this whole free skins thing!!!