30th
Third Day Rocks Sea World….TWICE!
Yesterday was a LONG but FABULOUS day! Went to see Third Day at Sea World with Rose & her family. We left at 7:30am….yes, am! Arrived at Sea World about 8:30, and they kindly opened the park at 9 for us (it was scheduled to open at 10) so the wait wasn’t too long, but it definitely would’ve been nicer had it not been 40 degrees out!
First thing we had to do was get our hands on the wristbands for the show, so we get in line and wait…again. Got our wristbands for the first show. We’d wanted to go to both shows so we asked & they said after the first show we could come back and see if there were any wristbands left for the second show.
After a quick coffee stop & a visit to the shark tank, which I’d thought was the underwater tunnel I always see on tv & was so disappointed when I found out it was not, we were on our way to the venue to check things out.
We head over in that direction & this guy stops us & says we can’t go there because none of the rides/shows start till 11. At the time it was about 10:15 so guess what we got to do….more waiting! :p
When they finally let us in, we walked around a little, got lost a little, then finally found our way to the venue where there was already a line of more than 50 people! So we decided to jump in it & stay put. Of course at this time it’s about 11:40 & the show doesn’t start till 2:30 so you know what that means! Yep….more waiting!!! We made the best of it though. Lots of conversation, food, and even a few star sightings :) Luckily, they opened the doors way earlier than we thought! At 1, they open the gate and the stampede began! We hightailed it to the front where there was a nice long row of wheelchair seating all the way around! Of course, I had a few missions in mind that I needed to accomplish…one being to get a Mark Lee guitar pick. I collect them & I had 2 Mac picks but no Mark pick :( So we claimed our spots right in front of Mark’s microphone. It then dawns on us that there are several feet of emptiness in front of us where people might be tempted to rush the stage during the show. We asked the security guard & she said they were allowed to go up to the line, which was about halfway between the stage and the front row. Not cool! So we said we’d jump up there if people started heading that way.
Meanwhile the rest of the Gomer gang shows up! We’re all standing around chatting when this guy comes up & at first glance I thought it was Mike, so I went back to what I was doing. Then I hear this thick Australian accent & I knew who it was…Nigel! :) See, the second mission I had was to get Nigel to autograph his book that he wrote about the band. I had brought it for the guys to sign at the M&G but I hoped and prayed that Nigel might also show his face at the M&G so I could get him to sign it. Little did I know that I’d be standing right next to him at the venue before the show :p So one mission accomplished! :)
We all settled in our seats then noticed there were several people at the stage. We thought “That’s not right…they’re not supposed to be there. So we went and asked the security guard (a different one from before) & he said it was allowed! *Gasp!* I ran up to the stage and claimed my spot LITERALLY right in front of Mark’s microphone. I start joking that I should Twitter Mark & tell him to throw me a guitar pick. Everyone said to do it, so I jokingly did it and this is what happened….
I tweeted: @marklee3d Im right at the stage on your side. I need a Mark Lee pick! ;)
Not two minutes later I check & see this!: @kellygirl27 I’ll do my best, although my pick tosses are far from accurate :)
I tweet back with this: @marklee3d Hehe. I’m literally AT the stage so you can just hand it to me ;) My catches arent great either :p
I was even MORE determined to get that pick now! And with that, the show began! Revive came out & rocked it! NeedToBreathe came out & rocked it! Then Nigel spoke. We had a prayer and when I looked up after the prayer, I noticed that Mark’s microphone had disappeared! Not cool! So I squeezed over to where it was moved to & I was set! Third Day came out & literally ROCKED IT! :) They didn’t do a whole lot of their slower stuff, but they DID do my song!!!! :) During the show, Mark looked down at me and waved in a way that I could tell he was acknowledging that I was there waiting for my pick. But I just pretty much figured that by the end of the show he’d be so into it that he’d forget, or he’d throw out all his picks on accident & not have another one to give me. But lo and behold, the show ends, the picks start flying, my hope starts dwindling, then Mark steps out to the edge of the stage, bends down, and hands me a pick! Yay!!! Tweet and ye shall receive! :)
After the show we were treated to a private Shamu show! :) So cool! I love Shamu! We then decided to just sit outside the venue and listen to the second show. That’s when Kelly (for those of you who don’t know there was another Gomer with us also by the name of Kelly…and yes we had fun confusing people with that all day! :p) told me that Revive had just finished their set and was supposed to come out & sign! So we waited for them to come out and as we’re waiting, we’re told there are wristbands available for the second show! So we hightail it over to the booth, grab our bands & go back to meet Revive. Got to talk to one of the wives…Dave’s I think? Kelly? Help! Hehe. Anyways, she was SUPER sweet! Finally the guys came out & I handed them my pre-release copy of their CD. They LOVED it! Dave goes “Wow, what’s this? I don’t even think WE have one of these!” They asked if it was a radio promo & I told them I’d won it in Corrine’s contest :) I wanted to get a pic with them, but as we were chatting, they’d gotten bombarded with stuff to autograph, so we let them be & we were on our way to the SECOND Third Day show of the day! :)
Unfortunately this time we had to sit in the very back, but can I really complain, given the seats I had for the first show? :p It was AWESOME! They completely changed up the setlist & did a lot more of the slower stuff, so it wasn’t at all like seeing the same show twice. Not that there’s a THING wrong with that ;) I just liked it cause I can literally say I’ve now seen THREE Third Day shows!
After the show it was M&G time! They had a whole buffet set up for us with coffee, bottled water, cookies, crackers, & chocolate! Wow! If that’s not service, I don’t know what is! So of course, we got to meet each of the guys separately first. I even got to meet Scotty this time, which was actually an unspoken mission #3! :) I have to say though, I didn’t feel as talkative with the guys this time. Last time I carried on so many conversations with them…but this time, I felt like there was a lot of awkward silence. I’m sure it just had to do with me being CRAZY tired by this time! But when Mark came up to me, he goes “Hey! It’s kellygirl27! I’m gonna come talk to kellygirl27 now!” He reached out to shake my hand & I go “Dude, we gotta hug on this one!” & he goes “Alright! Let’s hug it out!” :p I thanked him for the guitar pick & he was like “Yeah man, we were just getting ready to head backstage when I got that Twitter & I almost just came up & handed it to you cause you were right there” I thought “Now THAT would’ve been rockstar to have a musician find you in a crowd & hand you their guitar pick!” I can’t even imagine what I would’ve done if Mark had come up to me in the crowd at a concert & handed me a guitar pick! Hehe. But I liked it better this way! :) Then I asked for a picture & he bent down & goes “Alright, I’m gonna get my picture taken here with kellygirl27!” Hehehe. I so wanted to fit in a “marklee3d” somewhere but I’m just not that smooth :p And again, I was EXTREMELY tired, so it didn’t happen :(
After all that jazz we lined up for the group pics & I asked Derek to be in mine with me & Candace joined us too. The guys were just, ummm…well, weird! :p I think we were all just exhausted and delirious from the awesomely amazing but LOOOONG day!
Can we do it again? :p
