After a month long build-up to the Blues Traveler concert, it ended up not happening. We went to the festival, walked around, I bought a pink McCain/Palin t-shirt (what the hell is happening to me?) and tried to find a good spot in front of the stage.

All around us, people were sitting in chairs absconded from the cooking demonstration tent. We figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go grab some, too, since the concert didn’t start for another 2 hours. The security guard standing next to the tent had a different opinion. When asked why there were approximately 75 of the chairs sitting on the green and not under the tent, the response was ‘If I could go out there and get them all back, I would.’ Seems to me, this should be an easy task. Or the other option would be stop acting like a dick and let the people who paid good money to come to this thing use the chairs that weren’t going to be put to use again until the next day. He apologized for doing his job (half-assedly, I might add) and walked away. We did the same.

That is, until, the guy we were with decided to throw his weight around and show his badge. His Alabama police badge, that he didn’t have a permit for (not on him, anyway). The Good Ol’ Boys of the Panama City Beach Police Department don’t like to be questioned, especially by an out of towner. He was placed in cuffs, then he was uncuffed, then we were asked to leave. Not just to walk out on our own, but with a special police escort off the premises. I have done some stupid shit in my life, been so drunk I had to be carried to the car, and I have never been kicked out of anywhere. I was completely embarrassed.

I feel like I should stop trying to make new friends and just be comfortable as an anti-social intellectual, surrounded by books and music. These people we hung out with seem like genuine, good people. They are friendly and funny and don’t look at us strange when we make our usual string of inside jokes. They also accept us for who we are and how we choose to live. I need to work on getting over things like this and just start to chalk them up to being part of the grand plan.