Tom Petty said it best.
I hate waiting, and yet I know that waiting makes everything that much better. Come on, what’s Christmas Morning without the sleepless night of anticipation on Christmas Eve? Three years ago, Christmas came early: I bought two general admission tickets to see U2 play at Phillips Arena here in Atlanta. At the time I was still at college in Nashville, so I had to wake up at 9AM (way too early for college standards), eight months before the show, to snag the tickets through Ticketmaster. Over the next eight months as I scoured message boards, watched DVDs of previous concerts, and listened to every live bootlege I could find, I became addicted. The more I watched and listened, the more I needed to watch and listen. I simply couldn’t get enough.
Once November finally came around, I drove down from Nashville and met my sister Emily at Phillips. Even though we were 18 hours ahead of schedule, people had already begun to line up to get into the venue first. Knowing this might be the only time we might ever get to see U2, we parked ourselves outside the arena and “slept” on the sidewalk. Em managed to get a few hours of sleep, but I couldn’t sit still: the anticipation and nerves – plus the fact that it was SNOWING – kept my eyes open and heart racing.
Hands numb, faces wind-burned, and legs wobbly from exhaustion, we finally entered the arena to find a spot in the front row (Yes, I took that picture) for the greatest moment of my life; author’s note to future wife and first born child: you have big shoes to fill. After the Edge played the final few notes of “Bad” during the third encore, I knew that it was the eight months of waiting and eighteen hours of sidewalk-sitting that made this concert so special. Had I won the tickets earlier that day and wandered into the arena thirty minutes before the show, I wouldn’t have nearly the same amount of appreciation and excitement.
Because I didn’t start working for Sixthman until December of 2007, I wasn’t involved the creation, onsale, and upkeep of each of our 2008 events. Once hired, I had enough time to sit down at my desk, meet everybody in the company, and then immediately get whisked away to the Caribbean for five cruises in six weeks. I know, what terrible luck. Now as I sit here at my desk building websites, emailing pre-sale tokens, and scouring message boards, it feels like U2 all over again. This time however, instead of one band and one concert, it’s dozens of bands and hundreds of concerts, on five cruises over twenty five nights at sea.
Eight months to go.
-Steve
Book of the Week: The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. I read this book back in 2nd grade, and completely forgot about it until finding it a few weeks back. A great story that showcases the power of imagination. We’re all kids at heart, right? You’ll finish it in one sitting.