country music is a funny thing. you either absolutely love it, or you absolutely want to van gogh your ears off every time you hear it playing.

and i can totally sympathize with the non-country crowd, because five years ago, i was your queen. living in oklahoma, one can become quite fed up with country songs and the fact that they add fuel to the "all oklahomans are trailer park, wife beating, beer loving cowboys" fire. as your average suburban princess, i quickly grew tired of being inundated with questions like "do you have running water?" and "do you ride your tractor to school?" yes, we may have a pony, but he lives far outside of the city and about 30 minutes north of our home. and although oklahoma may have more than its share of wide open spaces, we live in a regular old neighborhood with no farms in sight.

so i used to hate country. hate! i used to mercilessly mock anyone who listened to country, and it's not terribly difficult to do with songs like "she thinks my tractor is sexy." only after hearing a few good artists, (yes, there are a few,) over and over again at our old barn did i finally begin to appreciate what country has to offer. after all, as you are driving through the more rural parts of oklahoma, the strokes just don't seem to fit the mood. you simply must have a little tim mcgraw streaming into your car as you pass by the corn fields and the grazing cattle. (although trace atkins is never ok under any circumstances. sorry mom.)

anyway, whether you love or hate the new country, everyone must have some appreciation for the old country greats. which is why you must be a teensy bit jealous that i had the chance to see willie nelson last week, with my dear friend katie. there's willie on the stage behind me. let's all pretend we can see him, ok?

katie and i won the tickets on the radio, strangely enough. we were studying for our beatles final, (beatles class requires much more studying than you would think,) and rocking out to KOMA oklahoma oldies. the dj was in the midst of a ticket giveaway, and no one calling in could come up with the answer. the question was, according to some prestigious university study, "which food is the hardest for dieters to give up?" immediately katie and i knew, just as any self respecting sorority girl would know, that the answer was cheese. a few phone calls later, and we were headed to see old willie.

and the concert was great, with a few exceptions. one, the opening band. billy bob thornton, you can not sing. you only have this opportunity because you are famous. so thank willie, torture us for a couple of songs, and get off the stage! the two hour opening session? not necessary.

and holy trailer trash batman, but i had no idea "willie nelson concert" meant "scary stereotypical oklahoman convention." don't believe me? witness the cowboy and the.. i'm not sure what she is. i tried to blur their faces to protect the not-so-innocent, but i'm just not that good with photoshop. so behold, the oklahomans that all the country singers like to talk about, in all their frightening glory.

but anyway, yay willie! yay KOMA! and yay cheese!