rusty_halo

In brief:

Saturday I went to Atlantic City to see Alice in Chains. I took the train to my parents' house and then my mom drove me down to Atlantic City. In return I gave her a free ticket to the show. (I *really* didn't want to take the bus again.)

I got us a great spot, front row on the far right. Perfect view of Jerry, and no one pushing us. Mom kept sneaking off to gamble, though. I'd say she's developing a serious problem, but she gambles such tiny amounts that it probably doesn't matter much. Still, after spending time in Atlantic City and in Las Vegas, I've come to realize that I really, really hate gambling. (I hate that people spend so much time on something so ugly and wasteful and pointless when they could be doing something interesting or creative or thoughtful. And I hate the culture that springs up around exploiting them. And I hate the garish loud smoke-ridden casinos. On and on.)

Anyway. But I got us a great spot and she stayed for most of the show. (She skipped the encore to gamble again though!) She claims she really enjoyed it, and I believe her; she was singing "Man in the Box" all the next day. My mom is so weird. (She knows all about Alice in Chains because I've talked about them incessantly since I was eleven.)

The show was good. Amazing, actually. I was really into it and actually managed to not cry for the whole beginning part. But then they caught me off guard with a video tribute to Layne Staley and then an unplugged set, so I spent the whole middle part crying like I haven't cried since ... oh, since the last time I saw Alice in Chains. Then at the end they came back playing heavier songs, and my mom had left by then, so I was jumping up and down and screaming and feeling annoyed that the Atlantic City crowd was so lame that not everyone around me was doing the same.

AIC is my favorite band, my music, in a way that nothing else is. I don't know exactly how to describe it; I like a lot of goth music, but have never really felt quite at home in that scene. I don't even dance, which makes me constantly out of place. But at Alice in Chains, you don't dance, you jump around and headbang, and that makes sense to me.

Anyway, it's hard to describe, and I'm sort of embarrassed at how emotional I get over it, but it is what it is. And I'm seeing them twice more (Wednesday and Thursday), so hopefully my sore neck and banged up knee will recover by then.

(They played "Don't Follow!" And "Got Me Wrong"!! And "Rotten Apple"!!!!!!!! They had the crowd sing the Layne part of "Down in a Hole" and they turned on the house lights and had the crowd sing the "I haven't felt like this in so long" in "Got Me Wrong" and they were perfect, unbelievable.)

And today I had jury duty. I had to sit in a jury box and answer a bunch of questions, and it was somewhat terrifying, but then I didn't get selected. Yay! I have to go back tomorrow, and if I get out of it again, then I'm free. *fingers crossed*

And now I'm at work, because deadlines don't care that I have jury duty. :P

But tomorrow: Halloween! And Courtney Love is signing books at the Astor Place Barnes & Noble, and then I'm seeing Evil Dead: The Musical, and then the next two nights I'm seeing Alice in Chains.

And are the Daily Show and Colbert Report back? They'd better be, because I need my Stephen Colbert fix tonight.