I visited Casey in Sacramento

Written by Dean Norman
Saturday, 12 April 2008
This past week I went over to Sacramento to visit my buddy Casey. We did all sorts of cool stuff. This was probably the most subtly epic trip of my life. Read that again. Click "Read More" to see a slide show and read more about my trip... I went over to visit Casey for a few reasons. Because his wedding is coming up soon, I needed to get fitted for a tux. We knocked that out and we also needed to have a bachelor party - easy! He got me a ticket to go see Jimmy Eat World 'cause they were in town playing on Wednesday. So it started with Casey's dog. I took Grizzly for a walk about town. Casey lives in a COOL little house in a highly, HIGHLY accessible area of Sacramento. It's a well lived-in community with tall trees and a light, pleasant feel. I commented to Casey that it doesn't have the intense, "I've got to show everyone what I'm made of" feel that I've experienced in other urban areas. Not many flashy cars, loud music, or attitudes. Some, definitely, but not as much. The weather was unbeatable. Not too hot for what I'm used to and sunny. So I took the Grizz down to the park and Casey came out of the building he works in to say hi. He rides his bike to work - it's only like 10 block - and he works in a nice area. When Casey got off work we got comfortable and went for a cool little bike ride around downtown Sacramento and the surrounding neighborhoods. He showed me the places he likes to eat and bars he likes. The weather was awesome for it and, it seemed, everyone is courteous of bicyclists. There are also plenty of streets with little-to-no traffic to ride bikes on without any hassle. Before long Casey's brother, Cy, showed up from the East Bay. Cy is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. He's a blast to hang out with 'cause he's just mellow - easy. So Cy showed up and we started drinking. Then Mike cruised in. Mike is Shelley's (Casey's fiance) brother and an all around good guy. I knew Mike from Chico when Casey and Shelley first met. It ended up being a big reunion - it was GREAT! It felt so good to see everyone. And off we went... We went to get fitted and then had dinner and went to a few bars in Old Sac. The next morning Cy, Casey and I went to breakfast at the Pancake Circus. That was great! The morning-after-that's breakfast (pictured) didn't compare. I forgot about Rock Band! We ended up playing a good bit of Rock Band on Casey's PS3. He's got a BAD ASS set up for playing video games and we only ended up playing that one game! It's 3 player and you make a band. It's like Guitar Hero except it's for the whole band. Someone plays drums on a mock drum set, someone sings, and someone plays guitar or bass - your choice. I was not familiar with this, but it is awesome! Surprisingly, by mid-day I was feeling quite good and Casey and I went for another bike ride for some lunch. Again, I was surprised at how accessible things are there via a short bicycle ride. The day was beautiful and we took our time riding bicycles, walking the dog, and talking it up. For me, talking with Casey is an incredibly grounding experience. No matter how much time we spend apart, the guy knows me probably better than anyone in the world. No matter how well I try to display who I am to anyone else, no one can get me like Casey can. In many ways we are as good as friends can be. There is no way in the world that Casey rubs me wrong. You know those times you look back on and think, "those were the times."? I remember thinking several times that we were creating those moments all day long. It was blissful. Absolutely. Shelley got off work in the late afternoon. She came home and it was great to see her! In the almost-two days I had been there I had yet to see her. She'd either been at work or asleep. So we took a bike ride to get some food and got to re-acquaint ourselves. She is really cool. Really level-headed and gently opinionated. Easy going. A pleasure to be around. I'm genuinely happy for Casey and Shelley to have found each other and be moving in the direction they are. It's good for me to be around good people because so often I feel like I'm not. It seems people always have their motivations that are so transparent and not in anyone's best interest except their own. Being around Casey and Shelley it was clear that their only motivation was to enjoy their company. Good people. So by then we were all fueled up to go see Jimmy Eat World! I hadn't listened to a lot of Jimmy Eat World (JEW) prior to this concert, but I knew it was a band I liked. Paramore opened for them and it was a good show. The lead singer of Paramore is a woman and she needs to work on her presentation. The show was flawed - lots of things not working - and she made sure you knew about them. "Well, this is a bummer, but this keyboard is not working...well...that's okay...we didn't really need it for this song, anyway." Like the audience needs to know that? How's about a little showmanship!? Big deal. It was kinda fun to see a full-on production have it's flaws, too. This show made me feel old, though. The audience was mostly high school students - 16 to 20 years olds. Very few people had wrist bands on (able to buy alcohol). I'm 28, dude - well above the median age, I'm sure. The people we surprisingly civil, though. It wasn't quite a packed house. In the photos you can see some empty seats in the auditorium. I'm not sure if this is why or if I just have bad memories of being in what would be the "pit" at really intense shows (Chili Peppers, particularly) but right there, three people back from the stage, I hardly had anyone even touching me. Shelley tried to say that it was because I was a guy, or a big guy, but I'm not that big. People were just pretty cool. I could breath! We cut out at the last song and walked ten blocks home. It was a nice concert that didn't leave me feeling sapped. Cool way to spend some time with friends. And then we walked home! The next day I thought I was going to go home, but I decided to wait until the next morning. Casey took the day off work again and we just hung out like buds. More of the same - blissful. Friday morning I came home. A mixed blessing. I felt obligated to come back. Part of me wants to be there...
Last Updated ( Monday, 28 April 2008 )