As we have discussed before, "To truly live, you must destroy something beautiful." No "religious experience" comes without a price. To believe in a divine power, you have to give up logic (to some degree) and have faith. To see the Shins, you've got to cram yourself into a venue with 15,000 other sweaty hipsters in skinny jeans and watch some godawful Bon Iver cover band.

Also, it is a bit disconcerting to have to admit that your own experiences in the formative years of your teenage development were neither unique nor particularly helpful in establishing bonds with fellow *insert ostracized social caste here*. At the one-off level, those shared experiences are very helpful (see: a reference to Wrath of God making new friends) and can form new ties. However, at the 70,000 nerds in a room level, it becomes pretty damn hard to make friends, regardless of how many inside jokes and clever references you can make. Hell, with that many people in one place, it is even hard to find the friends you do have so you can all enjoy the event together. Perhaps, then, the expectation of merely surviving and seeing the things of personal interest is the best one can hope for in a large social gathering like a Con or a festival.

Inexplicably, I feel the need to listen to There's Always Someone Cooler Than You now. Ugh. That must be the tiny, emotional teenage girl inside of me creeping out again.