h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just a warning, this journal is long, ranting, and boring. I am writing it when I really should be asleep, so the chances it will make any sense is very little. Thankyou.




The Big Day Out was today (or at least the Melbourne one was), and for all those who don't know, the Big Day Out is Australia's biggest music festival. It was soooo awesome!

After a nice long car trip to the city, listening to Joeseph singing about how he's the supervisor (Infected Mushroom song) and Tara trying to read a map while being yelled at to give it to someone who isn't female, we arrived. After getting through the delightfully long line we went straight to the main stage. I am not sure who was playing at the time, as we were all too busy looking at the little guide thing.

After getting soem extremely s*** slurpies which we only drank because we were all melting in the extreme heat, we then started trying to figure out where Stuie was. He had sent a text saying something like "wen yagedeer cum 2 2nd cetner point sign" (which means "When you get here, come to the second Centre Point sign") We couldn't find him, as we had no idea why he was telling us to meet him at a sign, instead of a building, and in what way was the sign the second one? Second from where?

Eventually we gave up and went to the Hot House (the area where all the hip hop music is played) where Blake, Tara and I sat down and watched some crowd members break dancing until Tara spotted Stuie's head in the middle of the crowd and ran off to greet him.

Decisions of in which order we should eat, get merchandise and go to the toilet took far too long than it was worth because Tara kept changing her mind, and Blake obviously had to obey because (as we were pointing out all day) he's whipped.

When we first got into the line to get into the D barrier, the John Butler Trio was playing on the Orange Stage (there are two main stages, the orange one and the blue one, they're side by side and alternate throughout the day.) Blake was holding onto Tara, and seemed to be worried about me and got me to hold onto him with two fingers through one of the things on his pants which he is meant to thread a belt through. This was all good until we got somewhere in the middle of the queue and people were pushing from all sides. Blake was being pulled away from me, which I didn't mind, just I was finding it hard to get my fingers out of the little loop. My two fingers were completely numb by the time I got them out, and my middle finger still feels weird now, hours later.

The people in the queue around me seemed really nice, and were always asking the people around them if they were ok, as we were all extremely squashed. This was very reassuring, although the fact that they guys around me were making comments directed at me about how they wish everyone there was naked so it could be a giant orgy wasn't quite as reassuring... Luckily I got into the D barrier while Grinspoon was still playing. The fac that by that point I was drenched in other people's sweat was irrelevant.

I met up with Blake again and talked to him while waiting for Grinspoon to go away and for Slipknot to come on. As soon as they took the stage, I lost Blake again, which once again didn't matter to me. The crowd for Slipknot was delightfully violent. There probably wasn't a moment where they didn't have one of those circles where all the guys just run in and beat the f*** out of each other (I am not sure what they're called...) and most of the time, I was standing right at the edge of one of these circles, watching the fight, and every now and then have a three hundred pound guy running into me as he left the circle.

Blake was relieved that I was enjoying the violent crowd instead of being afraid of it. And I was a little disappointed that the crowds weren't as violent for any of the other bands. And for System of a Down, as we had to move over to the Blue section of the D barrier then, we weren't even close enough to get squashed at all. In fact, Tara and I were just sitting on the ground for most of it, that's how roomy it was. The good part about sitting was I got completely shielded from the sun, which decided to burn me a bit today, despite my constant sunscreen application.

When System was done, we had to stand around for 45 minutes while Powderfinger played on the Orange Stage. This gave Blake, Joe, Tara and Phil a chance to get at the very front for the Beastie Boys. I stayed a bit back, as I was really thirsty and thought I would probably leave the D barrier mid-Beastie Boys. I probably should have gone a bit further back than I did, as it was still quite difficult to squeeze through the crowd back to the water tower (which was between the orange and blue stages, though back far enough so it was just outside the D.) I had to wait for the Beastie Boys to finish, while sitting near the water tower. Despite the fact there are people sitting on the ground everywhere, people tend to not notice them. I had three people step on me who said sorry, and one guy who kicked me right in the back and exclaimed "F***!" before being really apologetic. I just smiled at him and said "That's ok." while I could feel my back bruising.

The Beastie Boys was the last act we saw, although before we left, Blake had to go get a Slipknot shirt now the merchandise lines weren't so long. We had another nice long car trip back (there was much argument about how nice Blake should be when letting people in), with a stop at Maccas for dinner, which made us all feel sick, but we were hungry and wrecked. And speaking of being wrecked... I should go to bed. Goodnight everyone. Sorry for the rant. If you actually did read this all, then you're insane. *waves to everyone before collapsing onto Blake's bad (as Blake is sleeping at Tara's tonight)*

I read it all, so I must be insane
I have no idea what it is all about, though

I read the first line and skiped the rest.

Traveller in Time removing the sound barriers after reading the field work
"Sounds like you have had a great time at the annual (?) 'Big Day Out'. The only part I miss from my concert experiences is you can not communicate with eachother by the blasting sound of the bands.

Perhaps an idea: can you write a Guide Entry about this eventfull day? It seems like a part of the local cultural events. "

Not sure how that is meant to qualify as a rant... It's more of an account.
The whole people running at each other thing comes under 'moshing', don't much like that part of moshing myselfm find it quite annoying when people barge me.

Congratulations to GB for being sane.

Hmmm... my writing skills aren't good enough for me to have the confidence to even try to write a guide entry.

You take that back, I was never sane!

Tough. You're sane.

hi i read about 5 lines yay im smarter than someone

I'm still the smartest.

well yeah you probably are im very dumb

I read it (slightly late, I admit, but I've had school!) My friends for Ober went to BDO too... I'm not sure i'd even enjoy it which is why i can never be bothered saving the money to go...

Cat

I think you'd enjoy it, but then again I don't think I can actually judge that.

WOW sounds like u had fun... i really wanted 2 go this year...