I wore my foolish beloved ho boots and did a bit more walking around Athens than I would have liked, but oh well. Brookie and I got to Athens and met some losers at Starbucks, then went to Junkman's Daughter's Brother, where there were no Burt's Bees products much to my chagrin. We then hung out in front of the Moron Theatre and gossiped like bitches. Then some more loser friends of ours showed up and we all waited together and had fun. Betsy's friend who wrote the Jump subculture article knows Anna from high school. Freaky.

When the doors of the lovely little theatre opened we went in and found our seats. It was Megan, myself, and Erin sitting in a row, in, uh, the third row.

The opening act, Owen Beverly, easily won over the Jaygirls with a Jeff Buckley cover and threw in some Radiohead in case he hadn't gotten them all the first time. He wasn't my type of thing though. His lead guitarist apparently taught Ward how to do construction work so you have to give him props for that, after you stop laughing.

Ward wandered on stage and tuned up, and then Matt did by himself in his shiny clothes while people shrieked at his fine self. Jonny came out and said some things, and looked all dapper. Then finally Jump walked on stage and their reception was so enthusiastic that they pretended to walk back off for a moment as if they were done. Maybe you had to be there.

This was the setlist, with severe editing after an Opium post:

Violent Dreams

Made it Fine

Habit

Vertigo (the quartet came out here and stayed; starred songs are ones they played on)

Lovers' Greed*

Forget My Loss* [loud gasps in our section]

Singer [dude, I don't do well during this song; I had to concentrate on Jay's shoes; oy]

Mountains So Grand

Where She Lies* [so close to the Dock Street '00 version, I almost cried]

Yearling*

Pank [yay! The song that made me love them, weirdly enough. Ward made us do The Wave]

Midnight [dude, yes]

All Those Days Are Gone

Words of Wisdom

Body Parts* [Erin guffawed during this, it was great]

Too High [excellent rendition]

Cathedrals*

encore: You're All I Want For Christmas [god, that ruled. I love them]

second encore: uhhh.... stepdancing. No, really. The weird part was, before the show, Erin and Megan and I were discussing how they should have harnesses, and headsets, and choreography. Uhhh, big brain.

So it was the best show I'd seen in a long time. I don't care what people say, I like Evan much better with his stupid new short dark hair. When Erin and I were talking to Matt, I actually told him something like, Hey, it's weird, I actually kind of have a thing for Evan now.

So after our nice tipsy Matt time (one of the longer, better discussions I've had with him), once Vance had ordered him to get his stuff, I saw the wonderful Lauren, who was looking for a place to change. She called me "superwoman" and asked about my job. I *heart* her. We walked over to the Park N Fly area and I met her sister. Did I mention that Lauren rules? I think it was when Megan and Erin were talking to Ward that I felt someone poke me in the back. I turned around and it was Evan.

I basically never talk to Evan and he never talks to me. So, this was weird especially in light of what I had just said to Matt. True, he was holding some whisky, but still. So I patted his hair and complimented it. And Megan talked to him about his cowboy hat, which has been retired. And then I think we left for the Grill. Uhh, not with Evan.

At the Grill we had a bitchy waitress; imagine that. Then I went with Brooke and Allen to get my stuff from Brooke's car so I could go to Nicole's, and when I got back everyone was done eating and I didn't want to ask the bitchy waitress for a box since I wouldn't eat it anyway, so I had to shell out the buckage. But what I had of the chocolate milkshake was good. You haven't lived until you've seen Erin and a Grill chocolate milkshake interact.

As we were leaving, I think, anyway it was near the exit, I saw Naked Dave again (earlier he'd told me that something I wanted to see and had been invited to had been rescheduled, but sadly I will be busy that day, dammit!) and quietly asked him where Ward was. (I still had that Sleater-Kinney article to show him.) "Ward? He's --" "Shhh," I said, practically hopping up and down. "Heh heh heh," Dave said. "Shut UP, it's not FUNNY," I said. "Yes it is. Heh heh," Dave said. Then Dave had to go outside. Dave rules.

Then, Evan who was leaving grasped my hand, and said something along the lines of See you later. And I was like, Yeah, the Atlanta show, it's my birthday show. And he asked how old I would be. hahahaha. I said 23. Had I my wits about me I should have pointed out that that makes me too old for him, but he still had my hand. It was real sketchy. Uh huh huh.

So then Nicole and I drove to her place. I didn't get much sleep and I hadn't eaten much at all but since I had a nice Jump high it didn't really matter. See, if you don't have a Jump high, you're just tired and starving and depressed. If you do, it makes up for it. See how that works?

I think that's it. Well. The next show is my birthday show. That should be interesting.