Justin @ MindSay

Friday night, after I got off work, I met Justin in St. Paul. We were headed for the River Rocks Music Festival out on Harriet Island.

I gotta tell you, Friday night was an amazing night to go to an outdoor concert. It was like 80 degrees with a slight breeze and it hardly cooled at all after the sun went down. It did rain briefly, before we got there, which had the effect of making the ground too wet to sit on, but so what?

Justin and I went because he had heard the O.A.R was playing. They were the closing act on Friday night. Being one of the few musical influences that we both wholeheartedly agree on, we went. They were supposed to start at 8:40 pm, but our tickets got us in to the whole festival. We arrived in time to catch the end of Ozomatli, (a band I have never even heard of) and then we caught Jakob Dylan's entire show.

I happen to like Jakob Dylan (who, if you don't know, is the son of the legendary Bob Dylan and former frontman for The Wallflowers) I was always a fan of the Wallflowers and I have liked his sound since he went solo. Turns out, his sound is unfortunately repetitive. Every song sounds exactly like the one before. Which is fine for the most part, he is just pretty mellow, but listening to the same mellow-ness for over an hour can be a bit dulling. Believe me, we were more than ready for the next act.

This is a picture of Jakob Dylan (he is the one that is not red) and his band, performing their newest song, Something Good This Way Comes.

Finally, O.A.R. hit the stage and that is when things started to rock. It was pretty clear that everyone there that night was there for O.A.R., just like we were. Our formerly spacious patch of grass, about 20 rows back from the stage, shrank to miniscule proportions. We were jostled, we were bumped, I got stepped on, and we made hosts of new enemies, while having an absolute blast. Justin thinks I got a contact high from all the people around smoking pot for hours on end....and maybe I did-who knows? There were certain annoyances; we were standing center stage and people kept pushing and shoving while cutting through our space on the way to wherever. That got a bit annoying for us and the couple next to us, so she and I formed a wall, which Justin behind us as the reinforcement. It was relief for a short while.

This is a picture of the band as they stepped out onto the stage. It was the last time I was able to see anything. There were very tall guys in front of me. I got a pretty decent idea of what it must be like to go through life as a short person. Sucks. But the show was great. They didn't sing my favorite song by them, Heard the World, nor did they sing Justin's favorite, Hey Girl, which is disappointing, but what can you expect from a band with several albums and only an hour and a half of play time? At least the sound was great and I was able to hear everything. And feel a lot as well, the ground beneath us was vibrating and several times, the drums got to pounding so hard you could feel it in your heartbeat. It was great. At the end of the night, we both left happy because we saw them, the concert was outdoors, we had some beers, and it was a gorgeous Friday night.

Oh Boy.

What a weekend. (and it isn't over yet!!!)

First off, let's start with Friday when Mindy celebrated her birthday (Happy Bday, Min!) and Justin and I crashed their porch and celebrated with her and Tom until the wee hours.

On Saturday, that is when the real adventures began. I got to see several friends, Kristi for appetizers, Justin for dinner and drinks, and Niki (her 2nd time out since Finn was born in May!) for drinks. All of these events overlapped one another, making it a slightly more hectic but very festive evening.

So let's get to the reason I am telling you what I did this weekend.

Well, Justin and I were having cocktails at Sunsets, with Kristi having just departed and he mentioned dinner. I was game, though not starving, when he said he wanted to go to Akita. Which is the new Sushi/Hibachi bar in Woodbury.

Yep, he wanted sushi for dinner. Now, me, I don't so much eat fish. Ever. Cooked or uncooked. In any format. My general rule is "if it ever lived in water....I won't eat it". And Justin knows this. So why he thought I would go eat sushi is beyond me. Yet, when he asked me to go, I said sure. Either he caught me in the perfect mood or else he has this strange power over me. I am guessing it is door number two, because he got me to actually go fishing as well. But then again, it could have just been the vodka kicking in. Who knows?

Okay, fine, so we left and went to Akita. I have never even been inside a sushi place before. I will say that it smelled really good when you walked in, which is a good sign in a restaurant. We got a seat at the bar, right in front of the guys who were rolling, smushing and generally creating the sushi. At one point I said to Justin, "yay, we get to watch them cook" which cracked him up, cause cooking doesn't happen so much at a sushi restaurant.

We ordered beers and then we looked at the menu. Well, I glanced and then closed it because I had no idea what I was doing or ordering and I was a bit afraid I would chicken out if I read too closely. So another new experience was letting someone else order for me. That part was actually pretty cool. It was great to just sit back and not have to make a decision. Which I kind of suck at anyway.

Fine, so our "food" comes after a few minutes and I made Justin give me instructions so I wouldn't screw up or look stupid while trying to eat this. He was very sweet and, I am pretty sure, waiting for me to back out and say "no way am I eating this". The first thing I tried was a Crispy crunchy tuna roll or some such thing. After doing the sauce dipping part, I popped the whole thing in my mouth and chewed. And swallowed.

And it wasn't so bad. That first bite was more mental than anything else, just trying to silence my brain from screaming "raw fish, RAW FISH!!!" as I chewed. After that though, I ate two more and found that they were pretty good. I liked them.

Then we tried something else, (and at this point I just want to say that I really don't know what anything is called so don't expect much) which was rolled up but had a piece of raw salmon on top. I gamely tried one and that was not so good. Tasted super fishy and I didn't enjoy it so much. So Justin kindly peeled the raw salmon off the top of another roll for me so I could bear it and he wouldn't get stuck eating them all.

Then we moved on to actual "sushi" which also had a name, but I have no idea what it is. And it is basically a ball of sticky rice topped by fish. Your choice of fish. Yikes. At this point, I think Justin was pushing me, just to see what he could get me to try. We got three different ones, a mackerel, tilapia, and crab. Justin gave me my choice and right away I told him to go to town on the mackerel, it just looked scary. Then I sampled both the other ones and decided on the tilapia. I picked it up and popped it in. And it was like eating a mouthful of raw fish. Why I expected something different, I will never fully understand, but somehow I seemed to and.....oh boy. But I ate it.

Then we had another rolled up thingy which was different from the first one we tried. This one didn't have fish on top, but was stuffed with some....crab I think. I tried it and it was, again, too fishy for Olivia. But I learned that putting fresh ginger on it can pretty much cut down on the taste of the fish. It won't kill it, but it will make it bearable.

And that was it for me. I felt that I had really pushed my limits. And, damn it, I thought I was pretty brave to be trying all these crazy things that I never really planned on trying.

Justin mentioned that he was pretty impressed. I was too. I grew up with my dad always saying that we had to at least try everything once. Which is a great policy and one that I adhere to. But I have never really been tested before, not like this. So I was impressed with how well my game face held up and how willing I was to just go ahead and do it. I did find that I have my limits. I was not in any way willing to try octopus or eel, but I don't think that is too unreasonable.

Would I go back? Sure. I would try it again, provided whoever is accompanying me is as patient and understanding as Justin. And as willing to eat anything that I don't like, so we aren't wasting what we're paying for. Next time though, I am trying the chicken teriyaki sushi.

Wow, i had the most amazing conversation with Justin last night. He really proved his love for me. He's the perfect guy for me, he knows exactly what to say and when to say it, he knows how to make me feel special. He tells me that i'm the prettiest girl he's ever seen. I know that's not true, but it still makes me happy to hear him say it.

I remember the first time we started talking. It was almost four months ago. He was at university. I knew from the minute i saw him and heard his voice that i was going to fall for him. We talked for a few weeks before anything really progressed, although we both knew that we loved eachother, he wasn't sure how it would all work. But i knew from the start that everything would be okay.

I remember i would stay up all night talking to him, and he'd stay up waiting for me to come on before i went to work. That one " I love you" before i left the house, made my day.

We did have a few disagreements but here we are four months later.

I dream about him all the time. I would love to lay with him, on the grass at night watching the stars sparkle in the sky, my arms wrapped around his body, him whispering into my ear that he loves me and me not being to help but smile. Then him leaning over me to gently press his lips against mine, my heart beating so fast almost skipping a beat. Then i would lay my head on his chest, listening to him breathing, hands intertwined.

Ah, i guess i've always been abit of a dreamer. I'm just so in love with this boy. He's amazing, he's loving, kind, helpful, cute, everything you could possibly want in a boyfriend.

I love him with all my heart and nothing is going to change that.

i aint write yesterday...im sick...n i slept all day...but i dont kno if mom knew that...so i came to school today so i dont get grounded for anotha month...

yesterday wuz their anniversary so she probably aint even notice that my stuff wuz still at home...if all my stuff is home theres a good chance that i am too...duh.

i wuz fightin wit one of chelsies lil friends...jordan...sum lil prep...(i hate preps...they should all die)...but she made up 3 friends...grace claire n isabella...so chelsie would think she wuz more interesting...n she made up this stupid shit that i seen rite thru where supposedly "claire" took her fone...while coincidently she wuz in the bathroom...n txt chelsie...who she dont even kno...n told her this crap about her usin jordan n shit...n all of a sudden jordans back n txtn wonderin y "claire" is laffin n then 2 seconds later (she couldnt of read all them txts that fast) she kno y "claire" is laffin. n "claire" ends up misspellin chelsies name the same way jordan does too. but i started txtn from chelsies fone n shit n caught her lil lie...then jordan wuz sittin there askin me all this shit...cuz i wuz sittin there bein smartass n shit...n she wuz callin me lil girl...i wuz like excuse me im olda than u!...n all that bull...u kno how it goes...but n e wayz...shes 12...bouts to b 13...n im 14 in high school...i aint tell her how old i wuz n she guessed 15-18 (which i said no to all) n she wuz sayin im not in high school cuz im not one of them ages...then she tried to prove sum kind of point sayin shes gonna b in junior high next year...im in high school rite now!...but she aint really bother me much...but if i see her im goin straight to her face...n she aint gonna like it...lil prep wanna get smart wit me!? she'll wish she neva heard the name Dani...cuz she'll regret it.

Andrew n Lisa wuz fightin again yesterday...apparently ron n judy think we still have sumthin to do wit their house bein robbed even tho davids fingerprints r in they house...not none of ours...so lisa dont want judy to thro her a baby shower no more...cuz she says she dont wanna sit there around all they family when they think she had sumthin to do wit it n have them say like 'o...thats lisa' blah blah blah...n whisper stuff behind her back n shit...April told judy that lisa did sumthin...april fails to realize that david did it...even tho ron n judy went to aprils house (davids stayin at her place) n got justins movies out her house...that david had brought in...after he stole them. david sold justins ps2 to twins (my neighbor)...we kno cuz all of the sudden they got a game system n they aint got the money for that shit...so we finally got it out of them that david sold it to them...ron wuz sayin that they aint in trouble or nothin n they dont even want the system back...they jus wanna kno that david did sell it to them for proof that he wuz up in they house n shit.

i wrote sumthin monday on here...but it didnt end up publishin so i didnt...all it really said wuz stupid lil stuff about my weekend...which im sure wuznt all that important...i neva do nothin on the weekends anymore...always grounded...didnt do much before that...but it would b nice to have the option to go outside...

nick n alisha go out now...but they wanna keep it on the DL (down low...in case u dont kno) i can c y nick wants to keep it on the DL...but not alisha...id b proud to claim him...he tried to get wit me ova the summer but i wouldnt cuz andrew wouldnt get off my case if i did...jus cuz nick black...n i didnt wanna go wit him cuz hes younger than me...i think he only 12...he mite have turned 13 already...i dunno...ova the summer i wuz 13 tho...so it wuz kinda different...but still...nicks sweet...he acts all hard in front of his friends but if u get him by himself hes all nice...i probably woulda gone wit him if it wuznt for daddy...he even had ryan n his cuz come down to try to get me to go wit him...but nope...

i didnt eat dinner last nite...i wuznt hungry...i aint eat breakfast either...still wuznt hungry...i dunno y...usually my fatass is starvin...but not lately...

they bought a ps2 from brandon to put upstairs...lisa bought it for $100...she got 3 controllers...2 r wireless n 1 aint, 10 games, n the system for that much...thats a good price if u think about it for real...so now andrew n dad sit up there playin games all day long...but o well...i cant do nothin bout it...me n chelsie play sumtimes but we aint all like that about it...theres been a ps2 in the house...there still is...its jus in tommys room...n he dont want ppl in his room all day everyday playin games...but when he goes to his dads on monday n tuesday we can go in n play as long as we dont mess wit all his stuff...which i dont wanna mess wit his stuff...u dont kno wut hes got hidin around there...lol....

i broke chelsies guitar saturday...she had it sittin on her bed n i ended up fallin on it n snappin its neck n shit...but andrews gonna fix it for her...

andrews still paintin the bathroom...he has the dolphins drawn on n painted in...now hes paintin the sky n clouds...then he'll paint the water...after the bathrooms painted they gonna have to put up the shower n hang up all the lil pictures n stuff that they wanna put in there...

they didnt get that new couch from goonie n april...they landlord ended up throwin it away or sum shit...so lisas gonna buy a new one...thats gonna b real fun gettin that couch down the steps n out the door...n that new one in there. they still gotta get a baby bed n shit...they runnin out of room to put stuff upstairs...

i hope yall read this too...this is the longest thing ive put on here...seriously...usually i just post my stupid quiz results...i guess im jus a boring person...n aint got nothin else to do...i dunno...well if i think of nething else to write today ill jus update this entry...

Peace

Dani