(A)musings of a bro you know: Phishin'

Another hot mugtastic week in Bostonia and I'm slowly settling into a routine. The only problem with routines is, well, it's predictable. Wake up, eat, run, clean (highly optional), work, eat, Bruins, sleep. I don't like it, it's too comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that I nearly passed up a chance to go to my first Phish show.

Luckily, my friend El Derr cut through my monotony cocoon and yanked me out, saying that Phish was "something you have to experience". And damn, I guess he had a point.

Just rolling into the Comcast Center parking lot you could tell you were in a foreign, but fantastic scenario. Tents upon pop-up campers upon more tents that would put a Moroccan bazaar to shame. People walking around shirtless, painted, glittered (I was in the latter bunch thanks to the discovery of glitter cream?) and most importantly everyone smiling. Not a single unhappy soul in the place, a true microcosm of jubilation. Some people had dreamed for years about seeing this show, had probably sold countless family heirlooms to purchase tickets, and here I was, a ticket-holder by fortune.

Though I felt a little guilty, I definitely made the most of my Phish experience (no not the illicit drug use part), trying to soak up every minute detail, even bringing my camera along. Me, El Derr, and some of his friends from home met up with some school friends and got to bask in the Phish lot weirdness/greatness for a couple hours before the show, easily some of the best people-watching I've done, and that's saying a lot. I'm a pretty habitual people-watcher, observing is my game.

After an awesome show, (Derr's right you have to experience it for yourself), the school of Phish fans migrated to the parking lots where we were able to watch the Nitrous Mafia battle the cops for an hour or so while enjoying the launching of 20 or so floating lanterns, a very cool, peaceful and surreal end to our night.

Moral of the story and something I've preached all along, though sometimes I need a friend to help me remember once and a while: Don't settle, take chances, life is too short for routine. So your gamble didn't pay off this time? So what. You went for it. More than most of us can say at any one time or another.

Good looks Phish.

Selling beer from a scooter-propelled wagon in the parking lot..