sometimes the music was so unbearable that I felt like tearing off towards the stereo and crushing the power button!! (I was hearing some really nasty jams at the time, I just didn't know that they meant to do it).

Anyway, at some point he broke me... I decided to go to a show with him and a bunch of friends. After all, it was in our hometown, so how could I refuse!? We drank some fungus shake and headed off to the show.

I had to sit in a different section than Tim. Two thirds of the show was like a movie in fast forward, and the middle third was so slow, heavy, and thick, that I couldn't raise my arm off the armrest!!! How did that happen?

Six years later, I am at my own graduation party (Masters in Special ED!!!!) and talking to my old friend Tim. We laugh about the crap we've done over the years, and what adventures may lie ahead. We start to imagine what we (and it) will be like when Phish ends their hiatus, and we meet up for their first show back.

Of course, no announcements had been made yet, and we were just practicing wishful thinking, but it was still fun. Now, in Colorado and not Florida anymore, I check my email at 12:30am on 9/18/02, and yell an, "oh my god!" so loud that I can hear my echo off of the opposite apartment building's wall. I will be spending NYE with PHISH!!!!!!!!!!!!

But who else will get tickets? There must have been a hundred thousand entries into the lottery, and what are the chances that someone I know got tickets?? I decide to call Tim. Guess who got NYE tix too?

None of our other friends got tickets for NYE..................................1st show ever, 1st show back!!!!!!

- Phill R.