Me and my best friend, Derek, were psyched when we heard about V3 tickets going on sale. We didn't care how much, we didn't care how far, we just cared that we were gonna go!

And the infamous Saturday hit, and from 11:55 until 3-something, we dialed and dialed to receive nothing but busy signals, error messages, and occasionally the voicemail for VA's offices. Bummed and upset, we guessed that unless by some miracle someone swindled tickets onto Ebay, we suddenly weren't going. But quicker than a ray of light, Kev jumped on the boards and announced the possibility of day 2, and we got all excited all over again.

Then the following Saturday came, and after 2 hours of busy signals, Vincent answered, and here's the transcript:

Vincent: "Vulgarthon."

Tim (Me): "Sweeeeeeeeeeet."

Vincent: "Yea it is pretty sweet to get through isn't it?"

Tim: "Hell yea, you better believe it, I needs me 2 tix."

There's more but I'll spare you, you get the idea. Let's skip ahead to 2 months later on Monday, January 7th, 2002...

Me and Derek jumped in his Jetta about 10 AM Monday morning and embarked from Harrisburg, PA to Tinton Falls, NJ. Shortly outside of Philly, our mode of transportation decided to die on us, so we spent the next 4 hours sitting in a Texaco garage with a bunch of guys who didn't speak English, trying to get this Jetta back on it's way to V3. We ended up having to have one of these guys drive us to Jersey to retrieve the part we needed from a VW dealership, and that was an adventure in itself. This guy drove like a maniac, think a real live version of Crazy Taxi and you got the idea. Anyhow, to cut that story a little short and get on to the goods, we were back on our way to NJ at about 5:30 PM.

Cut to an hour and a half later, and we were checking in to the Holiday Inn in beautiful Tinton Falls. After dropping our stuff in the room, we called Walt at the Stash to see if they were open past 6 due to the occasion. He told us to come on down, that they'd be open til 10, so we set off into Red Bank.

Our first stop was the Stash, which we were surprised to see had changed a lot since our last visit. It was great to see the Bluntmobile and the GWH2 poster among other cool JSBSB props. I of course picked up a copy of the B&C graphic novel, and a JSBSB screenplay and a Day 2 T shirt for good measure. Then it was off to the theater to get our tickets.

We got inside the theater and heard the oh-so-familiar sounds of "I am the CLIT commander! No one rolls a clit like me..." bellowing from the theater as we snagged Vincent as he walked by to get our hats, which I thought was a cool idea for a ticket (kinda reminds me of Dick Tracy's opening night, where the tickets were Dick Tracy t-shirts they gave out at the door, haha). We decided to get out of the theater and head off for other adventures, when as soon as we walk outside, this really familiar-looking guy who's smoking a cigarette nods off a "Hey guys" in our direction. It was a total Brodie/Stan Lee moment as me and Derek acknowledge Kev's hello with a "DUDE! No way! What's up?". We hung out and smoked about 3 cigarettes while we chatted it up with Kevin, telling him everything from us being Jay and Bob for Halloween and promising him a picture of it to letting it slip that seeing Jay and Bob at V3 would be my 10th time theatrically (call me a fanboy, I love the flick,! it's just as funny the 10th time as the 1st.). Kevin then excused himself inside after about 20 minutes, and lastly asked us if we'd be hitting up the bowling alley later, we replied with a yes and he said he'd catch up more with us there.

Already enthusiastic as to this being a stellar outing in NJ, we headed to the Quick Stop to see it hasn't changed at all since last summer (probably the same food as then too, heehee.). Ironically I bought a Gatorade and a Tastycake Koffee Cake without noticing until we were halfway back to Red Bank that I'd purchased a Gatorade and a "snack cake".

We got to the bowling alley a little early, at about 10:40, and there was already about 25 people there. We were walking around checking the place out, when a tall and statuesque woman walked by us, looked me straight in the eye and said hello. Kinda dumbfounded, I said "Hey there." back, and after she walked by, Derek leaned over and said "Who was that?" After a moment it came to me, and I was like "Wait, I know who that was!". So we 180'ed and catched up to Jen Smith, and I can't tell you how awesome she is to talk to. We talked to her for a good 20 minutes, snapped some pics, and shared some stories. She was incredibly open and easy to chat with, so much that I mustered up the gut to ask her what was up with her and Ali's make out sessions being cut from the flick. She laughed and told us all about it, absolutely an awesome woman. As 11:30 drew near, the bowling alley got packed and Merrick began their awesome set, and we had the best seats in the house, right up front ! next to Jen, where we talked with her more as we clapped the band on. Towards the end of the set, we mingled around and chatted with Walt and Bryan, then found our way over to Jeff for a quick conversation and some snaps. We made our way over to Kev then, and talked with him some more about the upcoming Day 2 events, and Jen introduced us to the girls in Merrick, which made my night for one, as she chose to introduce me as "Tim...the nicest, coolest guy who really dug your show." That indeed, was sweet. Shortly thereafter at about 1:30 we left the alley for the comforts of the hotel, and after a few short moments of roaming the halls, we got the scoop that 509 was the place to head, so head we did.

509 was, in a word, rememberable...between knocks on the door every 5 minutes, warnings of calling the cops, this really drunk guy dancing and jumping on the bed (before being kicked out), and meeting a slew of cool people, it was certainly a swinging shindig. We bounced out of there shortly before the cops showed up and hung out in the lobby trading stories and hellos with the 20 or so other people down there. At about 4:30, we called it a night, as we still had a big day ahead of us tomorrow, and headed to the comfort of the room for a few hours sleep.

That's when things started to suck. I woke up at 8 AM Tuesday morning, and let me tell you, my head was throbbing and I expunged a few cookies into the porcelain pot a few times. I have no idea how I got so sick, I hadn't drank the night before, and from what I hear I wasn't the only one at V3 to get violently ill for no reason whatsoever. So, in all sadness, I sent Derek to V3 without me, and I sadly missed "Now You Know" and Lee's Video while I was lying in bed puking in a bucket (there's a good mental for you). Still very sick but determined to make it to the show, Derek came back for me after Now You Know, and we got to the theater at about 2:00 and hung out outside and chatted with Brian O for a couple minutes, then went in and saw Big Helium Dog...funny funny funny shit I say.

As the day wore on we were treated to Angry Naked Pat (our first time, and we loved it) and Vulgar, which was quite disturbing yet oh-so-intriguing (aren't you sick of those double-sided critiques?).

We caught up with Kev outside again during the break before Jay and Bob, and had him sign some stuff this time around, and as I had promised, I gave him a picture of me and Derek as Bob and Jay for Halloween, which Kevin seemed to find quite humorous and definitely dug.

Then we watched Jay and Bob again (10th time for me, 5th for Derek), and laughed and loved being able to see it with a room full of fans. Then came the real treat, the deleted scenes and outtakes. Seeing Jay's second Rap, Brodie imitating Jay and the GWH2 outtakes were golden. Kevin did his final Q & A after the show, which of course I had plenty of questions for (Everything from the Clerks Animated movie to the Roadside Attractions segments). As our View Askew trip drew to a close for all intensive purposes, we were already psyched for next year.

We headed back to the hotel afterwards, and hung out in the lobby chatting it up with other fans until 4 AM, then hit the hay for our trip back to PA the next day.

The following day upon checkout, we left the fun we had back in Jersey, and came home with the stories and pictures which I share with you all now, and we will definitely, definitely (busy signal permitting) be back next year.