Sweet dreams ARE made of this!

What happens when 5 men & a large group of women take over a casino for 3 days?

Pure MAGIC!

I was in Maine visiting with my family for the week leading up to the Hammond concerts. Thursday morning my daughter and I hit Logan airport for our flight home.  I suspected that there was a decent chance that I might run into one or both of the Knight brothers at the airport since I was flying an airline I know they frequently use, and since I knew that they would also be traveling to Chicago.  I didn't actually bump into them because they were on the flight after mine, but I did come very close to colliding with Kevin (@krunchtastic) walking through the terminal.  I was too shy to say hello to him & opted to send him a tweet instead.

As soon as I got home I had to rush off again to go pick up my friend from California at her hotel in the city and take her to a BH BBQ at another friend's house. I'd come down with a sinus infection on my last day of vacation, and the flight had really messed with me but the girls took great care of me. We had a blast chatting, trying to spot Donnie & Joe at the Lakers/Celtics game, and singing Karaoke (badly).

(finally giving my gal Brandie hugs in person!)

(The Joe girls! Brandie, Trisha, Steph & Me)

On Friday I was full of nervous energy. I knew that my friends from all over the country were arriving in Hammond & I couldn't wait to get there and start hugging the heck out of people.  Unfortunately, I had to wait for my husband and my friend Jess to get off work.  I finally arrived at the casino around 6:30 pm. Jess & I wandered around the casino for a few minutes figuring out where everything was, and then I went to find 2 of my favorite videomates at the bar. I hadn't seen Elizabeth since we left Burbank in October, and I was dying to catch up with Heather! I had to chuckle when I walked into the bar and saw Kevin sitting there chatting with my friends.  I told him I'd seen him at the airport but had been too shy to say hello. He laughed & said he'd been in a bad mood so it was probably better that way.  Elizabeth, Heather & I really wanted to get a pic of us together, but we had to do it quickly because there were gambling machines in the bar, so cameras are prohibited. Sadly, this was the best we could get without getting ourselves in trouble.

(videomates reunited! Elizabeth, Me & Heather)

We ran into our friend Julie as we were heading upstairs to the Venue. Julie had just come from her 5* and we were dying to hear how it went.  Julie filled us in on her awesome experience and we giggled and squeee'd and hugged like a bunch of crazy teenagers.  We were all just so happy and excited to be together. It was perfect.

Take 1 

(Heather, Renee, Karie, Me, Julie)

Take 2

Take 3

(sorry, we're just really happy)

Joe's Happy Girls

Finally, it was time to head in and find our seats. I knew that mine wouldn't be terrific, but I was a little sad to see that I was in the 2nd to last row of the 1st tier.  They were still great seats, but after leaning my elbows on the stage in January, being so far back was hard to get used to. I knew that I still had 2 more days of shows and my 5* floor seat ahead of me, so I decided that I was going to enjoy the hell out of the show no matter where my seat was.  Once the lights went down I was in heaven.  The guys hit the stage with a vengeance as they always do & the energy was amazing. I tried to take a few pictures, but they were all coming out blurry so I gave up and decided it was better to take it all in anyway.

I was dancing & singing along and having a great time when the guys started singing Tonight.  I knew that they would be coming out into the audience, but I wasn't sure exactly where they would be going.  It felt like chaos and I couldn't see where any of the guys were really, when all of the people around me started freaking out and I realized that Jon & Joe were headed up the aisle right next to me. I was only 4 seats away from the aisle, so I tried to get over to them, but I'm not a pushy person and neither one of them saw me.  Then Joe got up to the aisle that runs behind the 1st tier and he wasn't sure where to go.  He started wandering back & forth trying to figure out what to do, and I saw my golden opportunity.  There was no one sitting in the seats behind me, so I had the perfect situation. I'd been holding onto my "I heart EG" towel since the show started, just hoping for the right moment to hold it up...THIS was my chance!  I quickly whipped that sucker up, and the motion caught Joe's eye.  He looked down to see what it was, read it and started to walk away and then immediately did a double take.  His face lit up, his eyes got huge & he screamed "HIIIII!!!" at me.  I waved like and idiot & screamed "HIIIII!!!!" back at him.  Then, he turned to the security guy with him, and said "I HAVE to hug her!" and my heart skipped about 30 beats. I'm sorry, WHAT?! Did you just say you HAVE to hug me Joe? Well alright then!  And then I was standing there trying to figure out how the heck I was going to get close enough to hug the man.  Silly Shannon! I should have known I needn't worry.  Joe grabbed onto the security guy and quickly climbed over the railing and the row of seats to get to me.  He stood on the seat behind me and leaned over and gave me a hug as all of the people around me shrieked and freaked out.  I think my friend Jess might have had a minor stroke.  After we hugged, Joe stood back up and looked around to see where the rest of the guys were.  They were all in the audience too, so he stayed right where he was while they continued to sing.  I was so shocked by this turn of events that my brain turned to complete mush.  Joe was the last to get back to the stage, and at the time it seemed as though he'd held things up just to get our hug in.  After watching video of the show, I realize that wasn't exactly the case...but he was definitely thrilled to see me, and certainly made a specific point to come and hug me once he knew I was there.  Either way, I will NEVER forget the look on his face when he realized it was me.

(Joe standing on the chair behind me & singing Tonight after our hug)

The rest of the concert after that is pretty much a blur. I missed half of it because all the oxygen had left my brain at that point. I did make a special point of trying to focus my attention when Joe came out for his solo. It was the first time I would see it live...but I was still in such a haze and the thought that I had helped inspire such a masterpiece was just a little too much for me to take.  I watched & thoroughly enjoyed, but I didn't truly take it in.

As always, the show was over far too soon.  I didn't stick around for very long after the show because I had to drive Jess home and I knew that I had 2 more nights of little to no sleep ahead of me.

Saturday afternoon was sort of a bust for me.  I drove back to Hammond early in the afternoon hoping to have some time to hang out with friends before the show, but ended up sitting by myself in someone else's hotel room waiting for people to return from the BH luncheon due to a mix up with the front desk over room assignments.  I didn't want to mess up another person's hotel room, so I really couldn't even use the time to get ready.  Lucky for me, I had my phone and twitter to keep me company.

Eventually everyone returned and my friend Michele arrived at the hotel as well.  I hadn't seen Michele since January, so I was excited to have a chance to catch up with her. There is usually a lot of chaos whenever Michele and I are in the same place and we never get a chance to chat so it was nice to have the opportunity to gossip for a change!

Eventually we made our way to the casino. I bumped into a bunch of my friends while waiting around for show time.  I absolutely love that going to a NKOTB concert has become more like going to a family reunion. It was so nice catching up with old friends and putting faces to names of people I've been chatting with on twitter for months.

(Michele, Mel, Brandon, Tara & Me)

 Finally, show time arrived! I headed into the venue to find my seat.  I had bought a single ticket for this show and was supposed to be sitting next to a girl who I had met once before in the same section that I'd been in on Friday night...but through fortunate circumstances I ended up on the floor about 3 rows away from the stage.  I was all the way at the very end of the stage so some of my view was obstructed, but I couldn't have cared less.  I was with good friends and having an amazing time.

 (Trisha & Me hanging at the show)

The guys hit the stage and the rest of the world disappeared.  I thought that I might be able to get some decent pictures since my seats were so much closer, but I was foiled by the lighting yet again. I decided I was ok with it.  I knew tons of people would take pictures and I was quite content to just relax and enjoy the show.  I pulled my "I heart EG towel" out of my purse so that I would have it handy in case the right opportunity presented itself.  It wasn't long before I found my moment.  Joe headed over to the corner of the stage and I got the towel up just as he looked in my direction.  He pointed at me and made the most adorable smoochy face at me for about 20 seconds.  I pointed right back and grinned like a fool.

I enjoyed every second of the show.  I finally focused on Joe during his solo and was completely blown away.  That man just belongs on a stage...period (& if he wants to be half naked up there, well...that's ok by me!)

After the show I spent some time chatting with friends and we were wandering around when we discovered that a DJ was playing in the hallway outside the Venue.  There was a decent sized crowd and people seemed to be paying a lot of attention to an escalator just behind the DJ booth. Every so often people would look up to the top of the escalator and scream.  We weren't sure exactly what was going on, but we decided we'd stick around and see.  After a few minutes Donnie came down the escalator and joined the DJ for an impromptu "After party".  It was crowded & crazy and I couldn't even see Donnie...but it was still fun.  Even more fun was discovering that my friend Maria had made the last minute decision to drive all the way from NYC for the show!  Hooray for surprise hugs!

Finally Sunday arrived! 5* DAY!!!! I was remarkably calm all day long.  We had to check out of the hotel by 1pm, so I had to get myself ready early.  Not ideal, but no biggie.  After getting ready Annie and I met up with Michele to go and get some lunch. We found out some friends were already at the Cracker Barrel right by our hotel so we went to join them.

As we were finishing lunch, I got text messages that my friends Manda and Rebecca had both arrived in Hammond.  We were getting ready to walk back over to the hotel to meet up with them and give them their tickets to the show when the sky decided to open up with a torrential downpour.  PERFECT! No way in hell I was going to go to my 5* looking like a drowned rat!  Fortunately Manda rocks and she came and picked us up and drove us back to the hotel.  Rebecca was sharing a room with Michele for the night, so we gathered there for a few minutes to catch up before heading over to the casino.

Once again, I was happy to run into friends and spend some time chatting with them while we waited in line to check in.

(Me, Sabrina & Heather waiting in line)

(Two giddy Joe girls ready to hug our guy!)

Finally, the time arrived and we checked in and went upstairs to the party.  There were only 6 of us in our group, so we were all anxious to find out who the final 4 people would be.  Heather and I were definitely nervous that we would end up with a Joe girl or two.  We were thrilled when we lined up and discovered that the girls wanted to stand with Jordan and Jon.  That was PERFECT! Our group had the rest of the guys covered already.  Heather and I were the last 2 to go into the room.  I was surprised to see how tiny the room was when I walked in and I was a little disoriented.  I looked for Heather's pink shirt because I knew that if I found her I would find Joe.  I quickly located them and walked over as Joe was reading Heather's shirt.  Her shirt said "Joe, I've put in my time" on the front and then on the back it said "Now you put out" and had a picture of lips on it.  Joe was loving it and had no clue that I was even in the room at first.  He finished reading it and he was commenting to Heather when it dawned on him that someone else had walked over.  He turned to look at me and I watched the sweetest smile appear on his face as he realized it was me.

Then he said "Oh! I get BOTH my girls tonight?" and reached out to give me a hug.  Heather knew that I'd never had a full on hug with Joe and she stepped back to allow me to have my moment.  As soon as I finished hugging Joe they called for pictures.  I went to step back and almost stepped on the girl standing next to me which totally threw me off.  Luckily I think the pictures turned out pretty well.

As soon as they finished taking the pictures they started telling us to leave the room, but Joe held onto us and I sure as hell wasn't leaving as long as he had his arm around me! Then he said "Now girls, you know I can't kiss you but here's the deal..." and he reached over and grabbed Donnie's shoulder to get his attention.  Heather and I both freaked out and said "NO!" and tried to convince him that neither of us had any desire to kiss Donnie.  I wanted to say "Joe you jackass! We can't kiss anyone for the same reason that you can't"...but I resisted.  We were talking when one of the other girls (not one of the friends we arrived with) came over and interrupted us. I just stood there & rubbed his back and arm as Joe gave her a quick hug and then dismissed her to get back to us.  He said "I'm sorry, but I just can't kiss anyone" and I said "No, of course not, but we just want to give you a kiss on the cheek" and he sort of smirked and said "The cheek?" and then stuck his neck out a little.  Heather and I weren't about to wait for an engraved invitation so we both quickly planted one on his scruffy cheeks.  At that point I knew that security was about to drag us out by our hair, so I gave his hand a squeeze and said thank you and started to leave.  As we were walking away Joe called out "Bye girls! I love you guys!" and my heart just melted.  I said "Love you too!" and blew him a kiss as I walked out the door.

Once we were out of the room I discovered that the "other" girls who had been with us had lied and two of them went directly to Donnie as soon as they walked in, freezing out the 2 girls in our group who had been planning on standing with Donnie for the pictures.  I was sad to hear that the rest of our group had not had a good experience.  I was also a little upset because my assigned seat was 10th row.  It was a terrific seat, but it irritated me to know that people had purchased better tickets for 1/4 of what I had paid for mine.  I knew going in that I was only guaranteed the 1st 10 rows...but it is a seriously flawed system.  If  I pay $425 for my ticket, I should not have people in front of me who only paid $115.

At any rate, it was a wonderful night and I don't regret it at all.  I am thrilled to have had the experience.  I feel confident in saying that I will not be buying another 5* ticket.  I can't see spending that much money when I didn't even have the opportunity to say hello to any of the other guys (yes, if all I wanted to do was hug all 5 it could have happened, but that hardly seems worth it to me), and I can get a better seat by just waiting until the last minute to buy one. (rant over)

The show was AMAZING!  I felt like the guys brought it even harder than they had either of the other 2 nights.  Joe was DEFINITELY more evil than I'd ever seen him for his solo.  It was pure bliss watching him in his element.  I watched with an odd mixture of pride & lust.  I swear the man is going to be the death of me one day.  He knows it too. Brat.

The show ended and we spent some time chatting in the bar before heading home.  Donnie performed in the hallway again, but we were tired and we knew that the crowd was going to be insane so we skipped it.

I was sad that the weekend was coming to an end, but I was also exhausted and couldn't wait to get home to my bed to begin the recovery process.

I just want to say thank you to all of the amazing women who were a part of a my magical weekend.  I love you guys!  Also, in case you happen to play stalker & come read this... THANK YOU JOE! xoxooxo

The Best Weekend EVER (so far)

Alright Jen...you asked for it girl!

Here is the tale of my crazy NKOTB weekend extravaganza!

Before I can tell the story I'm going to have to give a little bit of background info.

Anyone who has ever read my blog is already aware of the fact that I am a HUGE Blockhead. (If you have never read my blog you can go back to the October archives to find the blogs about the 2 concerts I went to last fall if you're interested.)

Last fall after attending the concerts I began visiting the fan forums on nkotb.com. At first it was just for kicks to see what was going on, but I ended up meeting some really cool women there and before long I realized that I had become addicted to the site! The forums were a wealth of information about the guys, their concerts, their projects, etc. They were also just REALLY fun! I was having a blast chatting to these amazingly witty women! We quickly became great friends, chatting with each other til the wee hours almost nightly.

Then the boys announced the Spring leg of their tour. This time they were going to be hitting the smaller markets. I quickly discovered that several of the shows were within reasonable driving distance for me and I spent a few days trying to decide which show I should buy tickets for since I could only afford to do one. I spoke with the friend who had gone to the previous concerts with me, and we decided that the best choice for us was the show in Grand Rapids, MI. It's roughly 3 hours away, and the show was on a Saturday so we would not need to take any time off work.

THAT was the plan. Simple right? 1 concert with my friend. Nothing big.

That was the plan until I was chatting with my friends on yahoo and discovered that a few of them were planning to attend a show in Des Moines and had just upgraded their tickets to 12th row center...and that there were still seats available in the very same row! Oh my! Dream seats AND a chance to meet some of the women I had been chatting with for months? This was just not an opportunity I could pass up! Did I care that it meant driving 5 1/2 hours by myself? Did it matter that I was going to have to request time off work AFTER purchasing the tickets and hope for the best? NOPE! Didn't matter one bit! I was going to sit 12th row center if it killed me. So I spoke to my husband and he reluctantly agreed that I could buy the ticket.

Ok...so now I'm going to 2 shows. Oh, did I mention that they were 2 days apart and in totally opposite directions? Crazy? Perhaps...but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

Fast forward to the Thursday before the first of my 2 shows. I'm driving to work and one of my friends sends me a text that she's at O'hare waiting for her connecting flight to take her to Moline for that night's concert. I texted her back and said it was cool that she was so close, and that I wished that I could go with her to the show. Then she asked me if I thought I could make it to Moline by showtime, because one of our friends still had an extra ticket and if I could get there she would buy it for me. (Blockheads freakin' ROCK!)

WHAT?! A free ticket to see my boys and all I gotta do is drive for 2 1/2 hours by myself, and then drive home again right after so that I can be at work the next morning? Ok, so I MIGHT be a little tired, but COME ON! How could I pass up such a sweet deal? Oh, and going to Moline also meant meeting some of the friends I'd be seeing in Des Moines a few days later.

Lucky for me I was scheduled to be off work at 1pm that day and getting to Moline by showtime would not be a problem! I dropped my daughter off at home with my husband, changed my clothes, and hopped in the car without a second thought.

The show was amazing! We had really good seats, just to the side of the stage. I don't have any pictures because I left my camera in the car when I was meeting my friends for dinner. When we left the restaurant my car was on the opposite side and I decided that it might be cool to watch a show without looking through a lens for a change! I was right...it was cool. Meeting the girls I had been talking to for months...even more cool!

Immediately after the show I got back in my car for the drive home. I was completely exhausted, the entire drive was nothing but fields, and it was raining that night. Thank goodness I had one of my friends in California to talk to while I drove or none of you would be reading this blog right now. The things I do for those boys! I am proud to say that I did manage to make it to work without incident the next morning. GO ME!

Saturday morning I woke up and was on the road to pick up my friend to drive to Grand Rapids by 9:30 am. My friend isn't really a very big fan, but I convinced her that we should drive over to the arena to see what was going on. We quickly found where the buses were parked and went over to see what was up. As we arrived at the parking lot Danny was just walking out of the arena and getting onto his bus. He gave a quick wave to the crowd, and my friend was hooked! (He's her favorite). Convincing her to stick around for more was a piece o' cake!

After a little while Jordan got off his bus to go into the arena for the M&G's. He did a cute little dance for us and waved to everyone, but didn't stop to say hello.

Next Jon came off his bus, pulled his hood up over his head and ducked between the buses for a smoke. Apparently he wasn't in the mood to play. He rarely is. He's really funny, but pretty private.

A few minutes later I was rewarded for my persistence as Joe and his family got off his bus to head into the arena.

We were able to witness a very sweet moment between Joe and his wife before they came out of the bus. Again, there was limited interaction, but he was friendly and seemed to be in a good mood as he waved to us. Even his son Griffin got in on the action!

We waited around for a few more minutes to see if Danny would come back out, or if Donnie would make an appearance, but we needed to go to the hotel before the show and it was getting late so we left without seeing them.

The Grand Rapids show was on the Anniversary of the NK reunion and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. The energy was amazing!


Donnie got all choked up about the reunion and what it has meant to them and us. It was a great moment. I'm so happy that I was there for it!

We met up with some of my friends from the forum again after the show and decided to go back over by the buses again. This time there was a huge crowd. After a few minutes Joe came out and quickly waved to the crowd before getting back on his bus. A few seconds later Donnie came out and started saying hello to people. I was able to get close to him, but the crowd was huge and I wasn't about to push people around to get closer. I tried to take pictures, but they didn't really come out because it was dark and I had trouble getting around the crowd. My friend wasn't feeling the crowd at all, so we headed back to our hotel for the night.

The next morning we drove back to Illinois. I dropped my friend off at her house, went home for 2 hours, and then got back in the car for my 5 hour drive to Des Moines. I was staying at the home of one of my friends from the forum. Another one of our friends was flying in from Seattle that night. Her flight wasn't due in until after 11pm and then she had to drive for a few hours to get to Des Moines. While we were waiting for her to arrive, Mel and I chatted like old friends and made signs for the concert and just acted like 2 teenage girls at a slumber party. We had so much fun! Then Sarah arrived and the party just kept right on going. We ended up staying up all night!

The next morning Mel's 2 friends arrived and we all watched some old school NK videos while we got ready for the concert. We dressed Mel's 12 year old daughter up and even put some make up on her. She looked adorable!

Once everyone was ready we headed off to the venue. We took 2 cars. Sarah drove her rental car with Mel, Mel's daughter and me as the passengers, and Mel's other 2 friends drove together. When we arrived at the arena Mel suggested that we drive around the building to see where the buses were. When we pulled up to the corner next to the parking lot I looked over and saw a small crowd, and a man wearing a sweatshirt and baseball cap was standing on the corner near the barricades. I did a quick double take and then managed to spit out "Um, guys...That's Donnie". Then all hell broke loose!

I sat there for a few seconds trying to figure out what I should do while my friends tried in vain to get out of the car. After what was probably 20 seconds of listening to them rattle the door handles I said "I'm sorry guys, but I'm out!" and got out of the car, crossed the street, and joined the crowd as Donnie walked down the line giving hugs and taking pictures.


Mel and her daughter were right behind me. Poor Sarah who was in an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar city was abandoned! She floored it around the corner and drove up the block where she ran a light as it changed to red and whipped into a parking lot on the other side of the street. Then she ran as fast as she could back to the corner to join us. While all that had been going on, I had been walking the line with Donnie trying to get his attention and failing miserably. My friends got their hugs, Mel's daughter got an extra long snuggle and a kiss on her head, and I was there to take Sarah's picture for her while Donnie hugged her.


(Didn't feel so bad about abandoning her after that!). My friends were on cloud 9, but Donnie went back into the arena without giving me a hug. I was a little bummed, but let's face it...he was not the one I was there to see!

I'm a little fuzzy on the order of the rest of the events of the afternoon, but we were lucky enough to be able to see all 5 guys that afternoon. Donnie was the only one to come around and give hugs, but the rest of the guys (with the exception of Jon) interacted with us from a distance.





Joe was easily the most playful of the guys. The first time we saw him he was coming out of the arena to get on his bus. As he walked out he shushed all of us acting like we needed to be quiet for his son...and then laughed and told us that he was just joking and that Griffin was awake. He didn't come near the barricade, but he told us that he would be back out later.

Quite a while later the head of security went onto Joe's bus. Then he came back out and told us that Joe would be coming out with his family and asked us to please not take any pictures of the baby. As Joe walked off the bus he yelled "Shaaaaaaaaadup!" at us and then started laughing. He helped his wife with their son, and then walked his dog. We all started shouting things to him while he was walking Duncan. In a fit of insanity (ok, not really- it was totally planned) I shouted "Joe, you know those jeans are killing us, right?!" (For those not in the know- he has a particular pair of jeans that we all LOVE, and he wears them constantly. He happened to be wearing them at the time) He was looking down at the time and I couldn't see his face, but my friends told me that he smirked after I said it. Mel asked him about a stuffed animal that is in the window of the bus and he answered her, and some girls asked him to sing particular songs during the show...he told them to go listen to the cd. (Sarcastic SOB!)


Then he and his family went into the arena and my moment was over.

No hug :(

A short time later the security guy came back and told us that Donnie was going to come back around again. He asked that anyone who was there earlier and got a hug please step back and allow the rest of the crowd to have their turn. Sarah gave Mel's daughter her hat to wear, and she got another great hug from Donnie, then Donnie spotted Sarah and asked if he'd seen her earlier (she was over the moon!), Donnie accidently kicked a can of Mtn Dew on one of my friends and apologized to her while giving her a hug...and then it was my turn. I said, "I was here earlier, but I never got my hug!" He looked at me for a second then said "Yeah, ok" and opened up his arms. Mel's daughter was able to take a picture of the moment.


After my hug he moved on and Mel asked if she could get a kiss. He said that he couldn't kiss her on the mouth because he didn't want to make her sick, but then gave her a smooch on the corner of her mouth. I swear I've never seen a happier woman in my life.

The show was AMAZING! 12th row center turned out to be 8th row DEAD center because of the part of the stage that juts out into the audience. I was mesmerized the entire show. I've honestly never had so much fun in my life.










The best part of the whole experience was that I got to share it with some really great friends. It took me a week to recover, but it was truly a magical weekend and one that I won't soon forget.

Stay tuned, because THIS weekend they're coming back! My friends from all around the country are flying in and we get to be together to see our boys! I'm so excited!!!!! I promise I won't wait quite so long to tell the story this time.

Round 2

Last night was the 2nd New Kids Concert.

This time our seats were on the side of the stage. We were a lot closer to the action (except for the B stage), but we were so far back that I spent the majority of my time staring at Joe's ass (which I'm totally ok with!). We could also see a lot of the backstage action, which was pretty cool. Whenever one of the guys was on stage doing something solo, one or two of the other guys would stand backstage and watch the action on the big screen. I tried to get a pic of them doing it, but they didn't come out very well because of the lighting.

I think that I had more fun at the first show, but this one was a lot of fun too. The guys seemed more relaxed this time around. I was hoping for some funny practical jokes & hi jinx, but I didn't notice any. They were funny and engaging though. Donnie put on quite a show when he dropped trow and gave the audience a close up view of his white boxers.
Update: I stand corrected...all he showed was his white PANTS. He was wearing two pairs of pants because he has to change so quickly between songs.

I did actually bring a camera with me this time. I decided not to bring my good camera because it's huge and I didn't think I'd be able to smuggle it in. Plus, I didn't want to spend so much time focused on my camera that I would lose out on the fun of the show. (I failed btw) I got really aggravated because the camera that I brought sucked. It wouldn't take pictures when I wanted it to, and when it finally did take them, the quality wasn't great. I did get a few good ones though, and some video as well. If you'd like to see them you can find them here.

However, here are a few of the better pics for those of you who don't feel like taking the time to click on the link.