i stand at the crossroads of high roads and low roads...

hmm, lots to say, where to start? (oh, happy 1 month til my bday day to me!)

thursday was horrible, to say the least. finally left work around 3pm and walked to rebecca's office in victoria to wait on a cab with her. went to her place in portobello to calm down a little bit. got some dinner and watched 'mean girls' (surprisingly hilarious), before turning on the news again to return to reality. very very very sad. very lucky that no one i know personally was hurt, although 2 of the affected tube stations (kings cross & russell square) and the bus explosion all happened within 100 yards of melrose place.

after many many phone calls and consultations with various transport websites, helen and i agreed to go ahead with trip to liverpool to see travis. it wasn't an easy decision, and reminded me of going to see ben folds just after 9/11. makes you feel silly going to see a band after such tragedy, but you can't stop living your life i suppose.

got the 8am bus (£9 - love that fare!) to liverpool and arrived just after 1pm. helen had found us the GREATEST hotel... literally next door to the venue!!! :) walked around liverpool for a bit before joining the queue at 6:30pm. helen warned me that the liverpool crowd might be a bit more 'rough' than the london audiences, i wasn't sure what she meant but i quickly found out...

got a great place dead center in front of the stage, about 3 ppl in. i was wearing heels so i had no problem seeing over everyone, but my feet were DYING by the end of the show. still recovering from all the dancing/bouncing. the venue, of course, didn't have air conditioning, so about 20 minutes into the set the crowd was a big fat ball of sweat. gross! the wonderful fran healy insisted water be brought out, because he's just that concerned about his fans. i held on to my water for dear life for the rest of the set. SUCH A good show!!! i think they were about 3 seconds into the first number "sing" when dougie looked at me and smiled... hehehe. *blushes* what a hottie. i turned to helen, "i'm SO GLAD we decided to still come!!!"

i was initally in front of 2 cute tall boys from denmark, which made me feel good b/c (a) i like cute boys, and (b) i was approx 9 feet tall since i was wearing heels, but they could still see over me. when suddenly tall cute boys are replaced by a standard middle-aged on-a-first-date couple. there are a million reasons why i don't like being near couples at shows, but the main reason this time was that it became clear that the dude was both drunk and totally unaware of personal space. during the opening act i tolerated a hand on my ass for about 2 seconds before glaring at him and posing in a way that was so awkward any fool would have realized i didn't want to be touched. any fool except that one.

so forgive me but i must digress where to comment on what i believe is the saddest result of man versus nature. it's a trend we're all familiar with, but sadly i got to witness/feel it first hand during the show. i'm talking about Short, White, Middle-aged Men Dancing. (SWMMD). You know what i'm talking about, and if you don't, go to any DMB show and linger by the corporate boxes halfway up the venue, during one of DMB's more peppy numbers. You'll see what I mean. It's very disturbing. I haven't seen the movie "hitch" starring will smith, but I know from the previews that it address the issue of SWMMD as will tries to help that guy from 'king of queens'. based on this scene alone, i can only assume that "hitch" is a fantastic movie and should probably receive an nobel peace prize for trying to stop the spread of SWMMD.

i wasn't expecting to encounter any SWMMD at travis, especially up at the front, so imagine my joy when the music picks up a bit and i realize from the flailing against me that drunk dude is dancing. and he's not just a SWMMD, he's a UBSWMMD!! (Ugly Balding Short White Middle-aged Man Dancing!!) this is without question the worst type!!! in additon to bumping into me repeatedly, he bopped about, moving his body all at once, as if totally incapable of moving his upperbody independantly of his lower body, and definitely not in sync with the rhythm of the music. all this was done with a tall beer in hand and the middle-aged woman with him seemingly oblivious to the fact that such dancing is NOT normal, and definitely not attractive! just before the water was handed out to the crowd, i realized UBSWMMD was now sweaty as well, and i started to feel ill. the illness got worse as his lady-friend joined him in the bop-dancing-crapola. why oh why are people allowed to carry on in such a manner? ugh ugh ugh. will someone think of the children??

i don't know what happened to this specific SWMMD after the show, but i'd like to think that (like most SWMMD's do after shows), he went home with his lady friend and made some sweet sweet love and secretly congratulated himself on wooing her with his stellar dance grooves. thinking this makes me want to vomit, but it's the sick, sad circle of life, i suppose.

if anyone runs into me in the 2040's in a corporate box at a show and i appear to be enthralled with a SWMMD, please don't blink or hesitate for a second, just break out your hand gun and shoot me in the head. trust me, i'll be better off that way.

anyway, travis played a great set, full of hits, and one new track 'closer'. fran commented before 'love will come through', that the next song was about "real love, not hollywod love. real love is like a mountain range, full of ups and down, not all pefect like in the movies." hmmm, i love fran healy. way to sum up all my delusions in one sentence.

i'm a little disturbed because, for the life of me, i can't remember who i saw them with at the 9.30 club in oct of 2003. yusef? sarah?? bueller??? ugh, i'm getting old.

helen and i went back to our room and changed after the show, before returning to the venue to give our regards to the band. got some great pics, will post soon. we were happy to discover the opening band chilling at our hotel bar after the show, hehe.

beautiful saturday in liverpool, walked around the town/harbour for a bit before my train. couldn't help thinking that despite the overwhelming stress of terrorists, money, boyz, life decisions, and the eternal struggle of man v. nature, it's a pretty amazing world we live in. how wonderful it would be if we all got along.

the rest of the weekend basically spent at melrose, which is offically the most annoying place to get to now that 1/2 of bloomsbury is blocked off after the attacks.

happy monday,
courtney

"If I told you a secret
You won't tell a soul
Will you hold it and keep it alive
Cause it's burning a hole
And I can't get to sleep
And I can't live alone in this lie"
~travis