Ozzfest West Palm Beach, July 26th, 2002:

After everything that happened for me today I am so grateful and happy and proud. It's really cheesy but I actually can get that happy over a person that I don't even really know.

AWK recognized me out of the crowd ::ME:: and came off of the stage, grabbed my hand, and gave me the mic. That was crazy in itself, but what happened after was incredible.

I was on the verge of passing out (because I really did "party hard") when AWK came out and said, "Come with me, I have to go over here." I followed him to the autographing booth (security separated us once and I had to yell "Andrew!" and then he's like, "Come on" and the security dude was all, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were with Andrew WK.") and he signed a couple autographs and then did mine. You might not know, but AWK takes his time and writes each letter so deliberately and just makes you feel so special.... he took about 15 minutes with mine. I spoke to him and he told me about his place in Tampa and how my name is pretty, and I told him that his music makes me happy and so on and so on... It was all so surreal. I found a friend with a camera to take a picture of us. Normally AWK poses with his arm on your shoulder and the other arm in a "thumbs up," so when he put his arm around me I put my thumb up, but then I realized both is arms were around me! Then he realized I had my thumb up so he put his up too :p I thanked him and I was about to go when he asked for my address! I wrote it down for him and he read it back to me and everything! I hope to god he doesn't lose that paper. Oh, and he asked how old I was too (as we all know, I'm 16).

So that was the end of my encounter with mother fucking Andrew W. K. After that I felt so euphoric. I hung out with Jaymond and the white guy from Audible (local band). Jaymond said they're recording is September or something, and that they might go to holland.

Rob Zombie was good, but System of a Down came after and completely blew everyone away. You don't even understand just HOW GOOD they were. They were incredible.

My day was incredible.

(and the chick from OTEP is butch as fuck)

That's the entry. I failed to mention the Obituary tribute, though. It was fucking great, but not many people appreciated it. There were a lot of people in the crowd, the pit was basically packed, yet most people weren't entirely into his show. I was one of the few to actually let loose and *ahem* "party hard," even though some people kept looking at me like I was a freak. They got all wide-eyed and jealous when AWK came right to me, though. It was the best. I was basking in pride. heh heh.

-liann casey