I’m getting to that point in my life where drinking multiple cups of iced black coffee actually keeps me up at night – which isn’t a smart thing to do at 11pm. I knew I was supposed to get up early to head out to the Mercedes Livestock Fair Grounds pretty early but there I was…on my third cup of coffee getting home and packing up the gear, why am I this way…why? I woke up 3 hours later, double checked my bag and got to the track at around 8am because I’m a punctual nerd and I always hated showing up to things late because everyone looks at you and well that’s not fun.

It’s been a while since I’ve had to experience the whole “first day of school” jitterz when you’re a kid, but I remember the feeling all to well. You’re checking your backpack to make sure you got all your things, make sure you have enough #2 pencils so you don’t have to ask anyone for any, you got that 64 pack of crayons with the sharpener so all the kids can stare at you and obviously talk bad about you behind your back. And after you go through your checklist multiple times (maybe only I did this, whatever), you get in bed…and you can’t sleep. I don’t sleep much these days anyways but the night before this show, I was definitely feeling the exact same way I was when I was a kid getting ready for the first day of school.