Reality check! : - }

Goodness where do I begin? Well, Fri. Jamey went to work an hour early so he could get off early and we could beat the 5 o'clock rush. We got going about 4:30 and were about to Jackson, an hour away from us, when we got hit by a giant rain storm. Jamey usually goes the speed limit, which is 70 out here, but that rain took him down to driving about 45 if not slower. We also had to put our hazard lights on so the people behind us could see the car. We drove in those conditions for about an hour before it cleared. The only other time I've seen it rain that bad was when my family and I were going out to Ohio one year. After that it was a pretty boring drive. We got to Nashville about 7pm and got to the restaurant about 8pm. There were a couple stars there already, but none of whom I knew. About 8:30 Heather Cox from season 5 showed up and came over to Jamey and me and introduced herself. She was the only Idol that showed up for that party. The other stars that were there were from Big Brother and Gilligan's Island... We ended up sitting at the table with the Canadian filmmakers and a guy named Tennessee Edwards. Tennessee is a producer and produces the Ultimate Fighter. He was a really nice guy and kinda attached himself to us for the weekend, mostly because we were one of the only people other than the Idols that weren't drinking. There was one guy that definitely stood out... Howie Gordon from Big Brother. He has almost no tact when it comes to pretty girls. Heather Cox was talking to us and he came over and mentioned what a rockin' bod she had. Heather was ever a lady and just smiled and talked politely to him. He was going to be one of the interesting ones on this trip.

About 9:30 we headed over to another party hosted by the people that were sponsoring the convention this year. That party was a little more rowdy, cause there was more beer and the ones that were drinking at the other party were sauced already and drinking more at this party. We didn't stay long at that one, cause we had to go find John's house. That's who we stayed with this weekend. He's an old college friend of Jamey's and a super nice guy.

Sat. I woke up about 4:30am. Not because I wanted to, but because the bed was too soft and I couldn't sleep on it. We started to the convention and stopped at a Jack-in-the Box for breakfast. I thought my nails looked nice and the lady at the window thought they looked nice too. At least I thought she was a lady... :~O After we got out of the drive thru, I mentioned that was nice that the lady liked my nails. Jamey then informed me that was no lady, he had back hair! EWWWW!!!! Does this mean my nails are gay? Hmmmm... Anyway, after that frightening experience we showed up at the convention. We got there about 8am and practically no one was there. Scott Savol's people showed up first. Then Dani McCulloch from season 6 showed up. She is just adorable! Very friendly and very talented. After she showed Heather came. Dani, Heather and I kinda bonded through out the day Sat. Will Makar didn't get there until about an hour after it started, cause he wasn't feeling well. One thing I want to say... how hard is it to tell the person in charge that you can't make it? Heather Piccinini, the Maynard triplets and all but one of the Nashville stars didn't show. That was just from our booth with the musical people... there were a whole bunch that didn't show for this event. But the ones that did made it worth our while. They weren't all there when it was supposed to start either. All of the stars trickled in from 10am to noon. I felt sorry for the people that came early to see their stars, cause most weren't there at that time. About 1pm Perla Meneses showed up. She was a little on the diva side, so I didn't get to know her as well. All but one of the panel discussions were canceled for Sat., cause there weren't enough people to do all of them.

A couple of the people we met included the guy from American Inventor, who invented a shovel that with one scoop would fill a sandbag. He was cool. The other one that we couldn't help but notice was Jonny Fairplay. He is from Survivor and the worst alcoholic in the group. He showed up at 10am Sat. with a beer in hand. Nice! Then there was Howie again. He kept wanting to sing all day and annoyed the crap out of me.

Saturday night was the concert. The place the concert was being held I guess was famous, but all it looked like to me was a small bar and an even smaller stage. I felt so sorry for the Idols. They were upset that it was so small and even more upset when we had to go looking for a mike so they could sing! That and the acoustics were terrible! Jamey had to run a manual karaoke machine and the speakers that the sound was supposed to come out so the Idols could hear it on stage were broken! However they were very professional and performed like the stars they are. Boy can those Idols sing! Dani was the best of the night, but they all have excellent voices. Jamey was in heaven, cause he got to not only run the sound he also got to introduce the singers. Oh, did I mention they had no air conditioning there? Yep, we were all sweating our butts off. Howie was there and being loud and obnoxious. Jonny Fairplay was there also. He had started drinking that morning, so he was completely wasted by this time. He got out of control when Jewels Hanson of Nashville Star sang, and was dancing like a stripper to Scott Savol's songs. Scott gave Johnny death stares through out the performance. As soon as the songs were over the Idols and Jamey and I left. We went back to John's house and talked to him and his wife for a while before going to bed.

Sunday was a little easier, cause we got more sleep. We got there about 9:30am this time, and waited for Jon Peter Lewis from season 3 to show up. Jon and Rupert from Survivor were only there for Sun., so there was kinda a crowd for them. Heather told us Sat. that she would be there for the panel discussion, but that she needed her rest. Dani had to be somewhere Sun. for school. So a few of the stars that were there for Sat. weren't there for Sun., including Scott and Perla. I'm not sure why Scott wasn't there, but I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't show because of the situation Sat. night. Jon Peter Lewis was the only one there for Sunday. Heather came for the discussion, but they had cancelled those for Sunday and so she left. She had somewhere else to be. Will wasn't feeling well so he didn't show up Sunday either. Rupert had a long line of people for a while, and Big Brother was a draw all weekend. The only one that I was really interested in at all other than Idols was Rupert. He looked goofy and he won Survivor, so I had to get my picture with him. If it hadn't been for Jamey they wouldn't have had any Idols Sun., and only two Sat. Only one of Jamey's didn't show and that was Heather Piccinini. Jon stayed till about 3pm, then left. He's a really great guy. We left right after he did.

On the way home from the convention we went to the church in Jackson where Jamey's college friend goes and got to visit with him and his family.

I've never been so happy to see home! :~) I had a good time, but it's good to be home. Now I just have to clean before Sarah and Danny get here! :~p