Bye Bye Bye

I still can’t believe we did it

But we got on the bus

And went to New York

We were--

This was--

We were fourteen

At the time

Which is not--

I mean, no, though

It is

We were children

When you think about it

But we heard NSYNC were going to be

On TRL
Performing ‘Bye Bye Bye’

So--

I took my birthday money

And my friend Jess

She took her bat mitzvah money

And we bought the bus tickets

The guy at the counter

Didn’t even ask where our--

Oh--that was the other thing

We had to walk to the bus station

Which was, like, I think--

It had to be five miles

From our school

We got to school

We got off the bus

And then we just bee-lined

Down the street

Towards the bus station

And on the way there

We stopped at this pay phone

And I called out Jess

And she called out me

And the lady who worked in the office

She was like ‘Cool’

And then we got on the bus

Pretty much

I mean that’s the gist of it

And we made it to New York

No problems

Except for this guy behind us on the bus

Who was clipping his toenails

The entire time

But like--

I’m just realizing

This is probably not a good story

I mean, I thought it was when I--

Never mind

We get to New York

We have no idea where anything is

We’re fourteen

This is TERRIFYING

And then we’re like--

Okay, let’s just ask someone

So we ask someone

Where TRL is

No joke

No lie

That’s how we asked that question

And I think the person we asked

Was, like, a saint or something

Because they gave us

These perfect directions

To get to Times Square

And the directions were--

Walk that way

And then we were there

We were in Times Square

And we made it in time

For TRL

And we get there

And I say to Jess--

Did you tell your mom

You were coming to my house?

And she was like--

Yeah, did you tell your Mom

You were coming to my house?

And I was like--

Yeah

And so we think everything is perfect

And it turns out

That NSYNC was going to be there

THE NEXT DAY

We had the day wrong

Well, Jess had the day wrong

She was the one who got it wrong

I thought all along it was the following day

But it wasn’t, like, easy to look this stuff up back then

But we did get to request ‘Bye Bye Bye’

Which was pretty cool

But then when we got home

We forgot that we had been on, like, television

And my stupid cousin

Told my aunt

And she called my Mom

And we were so busted

But not dead

And I think my Dad was even, like,

Kind of proud that I managed

To get to New York and back

Without any major issues

But, like, he would never tell me

And now I’m a surgeon

And, like, I’ve operated on people’s brains

And stuff

But still--

That trip?

To New York?

With Jess?

Biggest thrill of my life

To this day

The biggest thrill