Breakfast with Amber

March 2020: The Last Time Things Were Okay

I know what you guys have been thinking while the first seven months have been going on: "When's it gonna happen? When's it gonna happen?" Well, guys, it finally happened.

My parents and I went to the rodeo over spring break.

It all started while we were still in Hawaii. It was a do-nothing morning, and we were all on our phones. That's when Mom piped up with a, "Hey, Daphne, it looks like there's a K-pop group performing at the rodeo this year. Have you heard of it? It's called NCT 127."

"Yeah."

"Would you be interested in going to the rodeo over spring break and seeing them perform?"

"Sure."

What I didn't tell her was that I had only heard of NCT 127. At this point, I had not heard a single NCT song. I just wanted the chance to see any K-pop group perform live. This gave me two months to become an NCTzen. I immediately pulled up an "unhelpful guide to NCT 127" on YouTube and added a bunch of their title tracks to my playlist. If I was going to go to this concert, I was going to be so educated on these boys that I'd be able to recognize each of their faces.

Fast forward to March. I'm just coming home for spring break, I'm looking for Japanese language programs to apply to, and I've got a busy Tuesday ahead of me: a dentist appointment in the morning, then we go to the rodeo for the entire afternoon and evening, and to finish the day off, a concert by NCT 127.

The dentist appointment was at 9:30 am. It was probably my second time at a grown-up dentist. They put the TV on the wall instead of the ceiling, and it was muted, so goodbye to the days of watching Cars while getting my teeth cleaned. Also, the dentist found two cavities, and I'd have to go back for fillings the next day, but that's neither here nor there. After lunch, it was time for the rodeo.

I cannot state enough that this was no small-time rodeo. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is probably the bumpinest rodeo in the entire world. They hold it at Reliant Stadium, which is where the Houston Texas play, which means it gets NFL levels of daily attendance. It's a three-week long rodeo tournament where the winners take home a gigantic cash prize, and that's just the beginning. There's a carnival sprawled across the parking lot, a livestock show, and an exhibit called Agventure that's meant to teach kids about agriculture, but people mainly just come to see the baby animals. I should know because I'm one of them. To end the night, as mentioned before, there is a concert, which often draws in more people than the rodeo itself. It used to be just country acts, but it's clear that the event has gotten popular enough to draw in non-country acts including but not limited to NCT 127. The actual rodeo might not start until 7, but the fun lasts all afternoon.

We started out at the carnival. I feel like with each year I go to the carnival, there are fewer rides I want to go on, and I have to walk around looking for ways to use up this massive ticket book we bought, and it doesn't help that a lot of these rides are the kind that spin you around and turn your brains into a fine smoothie.

I went on some of the roller coasters that didn't go upside-down, and they were a little rickety. Of course, these roller coasters were designed to go on the road, and my main source of ride experience was Disney World and their top-notch, sturdy-as-all-hell roller coaster tracks.

Another favorite of mine is the Euroslide, which is literally just a gigantic slide with eight lanes, and they also give you a blanket to sit on top of so you don't get chafed or anything like that. There are also no stairs. You have to go up a ramp to get to the top, which always gives me anxiety because with how smooth and how steep this ramp is, I'm always afraid I'll slip, and there's nothing stopping me from falling all the way to the bottom. However, when it comes to taking pictures, my Mom was more interested in the two boys in front of me who were wearing Cypress Woods (my old high school) shirts.