They Played My Song!

I publish this knowing the considerable risk of being called a fanboy or groupie...

I was lucky enough to go see a concert in Chicago last weekend. I've been saving up and hoping my work schedule didn't prevent it for months now.
Well, as of Wednesday night, I was able to clear all little conflicts and pull the proverbial trigger.

We flew all day, landed in the Windy City just in time to change our shoes and head on over to the gig.
We hung out outside the gate, watching the band arrive:


And a little thing it was. 200 tons of lighting, audio, video and effects equipment dangling over an 80 foot round stage.

So as we wander the floor, my lovely wife hooks us up with passes for the center section. WOOHOO!



This was our view of Snow Patrol. It was cool. I got to stand behind all the Snow Patrol audio and stage crew off the side of the stage, watching them do all the stuff that I (sometimes) do at work. Approx. 4 songs into Snow Patrol's set, I decide that the whole trip is already worth it. I don't know how things could get any better.... Unless perhaps U2 play my song....

A little backstory: I have been a U2 fan for over 25 years now... I've been waiting most of that time to hear my favorite U2 song live (the song is called 'Bad') I saw the Vertigo tour shows several years ago more than once. In fact, I saw it 4 times in 4 states. Hoping. Nope. Although in Denver I would have seen/heard it if I had stayed for the second night. Grrrrrrr.

We are pretty close, but not in the crush of being down front. We get numerous (I mean 20+ close encounters with the band (the Mrs is particularly happy to have made eye contact with Mr. The Edge more than once.)



So the concert is going along, and I'm having a great time, not expecting much, but I see one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen:


Show cruising along, I'm still hoping to hear it. Things start winding down. Certain things happen that almost preclude the playing of the song I'm here to hear. I give up, decide to walk to the back to take a few pictures. As we walk up the stairs..... I squeal like a rusty hinge and head back into the pit. This is the vantage point I was able to secure:



So then.... The show ended. Things were good.

I should sometime tell you about night #2....

Coincidences

I've noticed lately a disturbing trend:
It seems like when I see someone that either annoys me or attracts me, that person will be a major factor in my short term life experience.
An example: I can't count the number of times that I have seen a family or person in an airport that annoy me: a family of uppity high-maintenance ski people... They get in my way in the ticket line. I can barely hold back my disgust as they butt into the security line in front of me. They end up taking 30 chairs at the departure gate, and eat stinky food (think Cin a Bon or something with extra onions.) The same family ends up sitting around me on the plane, being generally obnoxious- wrinkling wrappers, whiny kids and the poor tortured mother trying to keep everyone happy. Believe it or not- they are usually the people, 2000 miles away from home, that try to snag my bag. Arrrrgh.
Or what about the lady that gets on the parking shuttle in her obnoxious rayon leopard print shirt? Holds up both the ticket and the security lines. Takes half an hour to decide what kind of burrito to order, ends up right in front of me on a plane and LEANS BACK HER SEAT!!!! After trying to avoid her at the other end, she barrels through me to get her zebra print luggage off the roller before I can get mine.
Here's a completely true story that happened the other day:
I was approaching a parking spot at Costco. Suddenly, a minivan comes screeching around the corner, almost hits me and races toward the door. A person jumps out and hurries to the door of the store. Meanwhile I calmly exit my vehicle and walk inside.
The person from the minivan suddenly realizes that she has forgotten her purse, so she runs loudly to the van (which is blocking my walking path) and gets her purse, wallet, shopping list and the Costco mailer ad.
She hustles into the store. I think to myself: "That person is in such a hurry, I'd be willing to bet we have several issues here.
Sure enough. In walking around the store, this lady is stomping and grunting from sale item to sale item with all the grace and finesse of a stampeding herd of water buffalo.
I get some bread- here she comes- a high-speed, u-turning mission to pick up the sale muffins.
I go to find some paper towels, she screeches up behind me and nearly plows me over while picking up some cat food.
When I escape to the frozen food area, I can hear the distinctive tromping of her pseudo-designer shoes, coming to cut me off, to u-turn in front of me and then stop suddenly.
After no less than 5 near-death experiences, she finally races off to the checkstand. Wow. barely survived that one...

So what is it? Why do I have repeated encounters with the people who bother me the most?
I do have the same thing occasionally with people that I like or don't bother me. But usually it is people that make me craaaaaaazy.

Coincidence or cosmic conspiracy?