Wandering Aimlessly

I am sufficiently exhausted. I think I had a total of seven hours of sleep, spread over three mini rests, in the last two days. And then there were the thirteen hours of standing (in line, in the lobby, in line, in the show, in line, in the second show...), and the dancing, and the walking, and the singing, and the...

Yeah.

Work today was not fun. *laugh*

But there has been a whole lot of good in the last forty-eight hours!

1. T did manage to arrive (at 5 am) with her two friends in tow. She finally made it to Chicago. Yay!

2. I got a promotion! And a raise! Left on my voicemail (is that weird to anyone else?) while I was standing in line. Completely floored me, as I just GOT a raise in March, but hey. I'm not complaining. This is me, not complaining. *g*

3. Gave in and attended both shows, against my better judgment and pocketbook. This'll probably be rather long. I just want to remember it!

JC Chasez; May 7, 2004
House of Blues: Chicago

Due to "pass the line" with a meal from HoB, we were able to get a decent position on the floor for the first show. About five people back -- not close enough for touching, but certainly close enough to see flying drops of sweat and that nearly-blinding twinkle in JC's eyes when he smiles real big. Closest I've ever been at an *NSYNC-related event, and boy was it wonderful. Aside from the wildly-flailing arm in front of me, and the big-haired blond girl that forced her way in between me and the rest of my group. Oh, and the girl behind me who felt it necessary to lean (literally, with all her weight) against my back. Over and over and over, while I tried despearately to shoot her dirty looks and shift around and push back. She finally let up. Grr.

As expected, JC's parents were there. The show was (as compared to the second show) decidedly PG-13. I won't say PG, because it was still plenty dirty, and he still spat "bitches" during "Some Girls", and he still rolled his body obscenely, but it was toned down. I had my little disposable camera, and I took at least one picture during each song. They turned out alright, I suppose as well as can be expected with a disposable... I'll scan and upload some in a bit.

By far the most adorable part of the show came during "Dear Goodbye" when, after taking a little pause in the song, JC promptly completely blanked on the words he was supposed to sing as he started back up. He tried to fake it, but gave up, dissolving into laughter as he tried to get the audience to cover for him. And I got to see the full-on JC grin up close. Crinkly eyes! And it would have been fine if it had ended there, if he'd let go of it and moved on, but of course, being JC, he couldn't. He was embarrassed that he'd forgotten the words in front of his mom (but, he pointed out, she loves him for his faults, too), and kept coming back to it. It took him a good while to let it go and just get completely back into the performance. I think that, more than anything, put a huge grin on my face.

We'd heard soundcheck for "100 Ways," so it really wasn't a surprise when he started it, but my god. A thousand times better than hearing it on the CD, and I quite enjoyed it there in the first place! The whole place rocked out, and his insane energy levels seemed to roll off him into the audience. Throughout the entire show, I thought there was a false floor. You know, the kind of thing they cover the "good" floor with to keep it all safe and sound. The floor was bouncing that much. Turned out that no, no false floor. The audience was just that into it!

Went to 7-Eleven in between shows for Slurpees, and then up to Shelley's room to rest our feet some. Decided to just get in the regular line for the second show, rather than buy more food and "pass the line" a second time. I wasn't prepared to be squished again, and was content to view the late show from the back, up a few steps and over people's heads. And that's exactly what we did.

The view was still excellent, even if we couldn't see JC's pores anymore. Since his mom had gone to bed, he upped the dirty and went all-out with this show. This is me, so glad I gave in and got tickets to both!

JC seemed truly surprised at how full the second show was, and thanked us for coming out again. I can't begin to imagine how he managed to pull off two shows in one night, let alone with the energy level he has! Amazing! I was exhausted just watching him! If possible, he was even more energetic during the second show.

I don't remember which song it was during, but JC tripped at some point and went sprawling across the stage, a la Nick Carter of a year and some ago. Hee! The stage there must just jump up and try to trip people. *g*

There were a few points (most memorable of which, I think, was during "Some Girls") where I just stared open-mouthed at the gestures. Holy moly. I'd thought the first show was plenty dirty, but JC proved that he was out to have a good time and be crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, CRAZY! God bless 'im.

Amazing. AMAZING. The whole experience was just wonderful. He was having the time of his life up there, throwing himself into the performance 200%. I got to see the show from two different perspectives, with two (slightly) different audiences. I got to see him play nice in front of Momma, and then get down and dirty when the 'rents went to bed. I got to experience his music coming at me from every direction, live and full of energy, and I can still feel it today.

And however tired I was, however much my feet and knees hurt, however much I wanted to call in sick to work today, it was worth it. I'd do it a hundred times over again.

Thank you, JC!