it was just after 23:00 on saturday night that i made a choice to get out, and while it turned out to be unnecessary and resulted in a long day, i don't regret doing it.

the after party i wanted to go to got cancelled due to concerns about a police raid (and what they're looking for is alcohol, even though drinking at these places is actually usually quite sparse), and i did drive by there and they weren't there, but i found a back up party at a space i won't advertise, although i'll say it was advertised. i'm sorry, but with all the cancellations, i need to be quiet. as is usually the case, it wasn't hard to find. i was a little iffy because i wasn't sure if it was going to be the kind of music i like, and i didn't know how late it would go, and i didn't want to wait around all day for sunsquabi....

i was going to skip the night and head out early for the marching festival, but the more i looked at the forecast, the more it didn't make any sense. they weren't calling for a possibility of rain on sunday, they were calling for steady rain all day and over night, starting around noon. the radar was backing them up, too. so, if i was going to go, i'd have to try to get there early, meaning i'd have to leave at like 10:00.

and, it was going to be a nice, hot night, too.

so, i caught the last bus over - at 00:30 on sunday morning - and hit the after-party, which lingered on until around 8:00. apologies to the people trying to get home, but my plan was to push it to as close as 12:00 as was possible, and it was raining, and those other guys were stuck and not leaving, anyways. and, they kept passing blunts to me, so it seemed like good luck for me, if bad luck for them. i wasn't eating breakfast until almost 9:00.

those other guys...

they got bailed on, apparently. steve. they were very upset with steve. steve was their ride back to a satellite city (and detroit is like that, a metro with a lot of small cities around it), and had, from what they could tell, left without them. i had to caution against this understanding of things as steve had left his phone and who does that? my analysis of the evidence was that it was more likely that steve stumbled off somewhere fucked out of his mind (hence the lost phone) and he'd call them when he regains consciousness, but that didn't make them less angry or less willing to smash his phone (which i didn't actually observe, at least). they were convinced he drove off with a female accomplice, and that made them that much more upset, as they were lacking female accomplices themselves, you see.

they were both complaining about being too stoned to roll, so i think my own analysis is more spot-on. and, they fluctuated from offering to take me out to deep michigan with them and wondering why i was still there, even though i told them....

after some probing questions about my own sexuality and age (you're, like, what? 25?) that got them answers they didn't want, they ended up deciding to try to find some female accomplices of their own at the casino downtown. they thought it would be better if they wait until close to noon, to maximize chances. so, i wished them good luck and bicycled off to get breakfast...

i made it to the russell around 13:00, thinking i was lucky to beat the rain, and just sort of waited for it to come in. and i waited. by 15:00 or so, it was very hot, but it did not rain. so, i waited. and waited. eventually, the band comes on around 20:30 and we're just dealing with little drops by the end of the set, so small as to barely notice. so, was this a huge waste? in some sense, it clearly was, but i'm not upset about it as i got something out of it on more of a personal level. one of those guys knew the space the party was in fairly well, so, through what was somewhat of a tour, i was able to get a bit of a better understanding of my surroundings, which i think will be of good use moving forwards.

the dance party was fun. the wait was long, but helpful in some sense. and, sunsquabi was on enough. so, it was fine.

and, i caught the 23:40 bus back on sunday night.

the actual event was a fundraiser for art supplies in detroit schools, which is maybe a little bourgeois, but more interestingly organized by a large head shop in the region. so, it was a giant pot party to raise money that should really be being raised by taxpayers. let's hope a few of those kids can put the bong down long enough to create something worthwhile.