ATP World Tour Fan...ME...Riding High On the End of Year Results with the #Underdog.
Everybody who follows the ATP World Tour will remember this year as the year Rafael Nadal won the comeback of the year award and earned the year end #1 ranking. Rafa is amazing! This time last year most people would have said we miss him but we won't be surprised if Rafa doesn't come back. That is a huge story. I am now a big Stan Wawrinka fan. Not because he is such a shining star. He sparkled at the Australian Open back in January. I tend to follow a lot of my tennis idols on Twitter and Facebook. I actually write them fan mail all the time. I am floored at becoming a Stan fan at the precise moment he became the miracle of the year. Rafa recovered...Stan has transformed... I call him an underdog and he is by every definition of the word THE UNDERDOG in the final four this year at the ATP World Tour End of Year Championship. Back in January I told Stan I was rooting for him to make it to the final top eight players for the End of Year Championship. And a few d
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I don't know why I love The Cure so much, but I do. I don't even try to keep track of all their songs and everything they do, but I saw them the first time at the Kabuki in San Francisco maybe 1984. The Love Cats was my favorite song after that. I was a volunteer student usher for Bill Graham Presents. I saw a lot of shows. But the Cure endures. I missed them the times I know of that they played at the Santa Barbara County Bowl.
My101 took me down to the Vine exit. Got a primo parking spot and a T-Shirt $5 each. Was going to eat a steak at Dillon's, super nice wait staff, drank coffee for the drive later...maybe that had something to do with 2 bites and pack it up. Too nervous to eat. It was a super special night.
I didn't know if I would know the songs, but I did. I couldn't sit down. I stood the whole time. I couldn't control myself...I danced the whole night. The Pantages is not exactly like twirling around in your living room. I was very fortunate to have a couple empty seats near me...the Hispanic guy next to me did not fit in his chair (and he wasn't fat just linebacker big). I didn't know when to move and when to be still. When they first came out on the stage I was so excited I just followed the drummer but I felt like maybe it was too fast. I had to pace myself...3 albums and all. The first set went pretty quick. He said back in 5 minutes and I believed him. I had primo beeline to the Mezzanine ladies room. I was among the first dozen in and back in my seat...had to be 5 minutes. After the second set he said back in an hour...I didn't leave my seat..it was maybe 7 minutes. The third set melded in with the 2 ovations...then the 3rd ovation was b sides then the last set was hits...couldn't hardly handle it...no room to dance...I didn't start screaming at the end of songs until about the 3rd set. Honestly from start to finish I was on another planet. There's no way I could meet Robert Smith. It would be too unreal. He's just not human to me. Who does what he does the way he does it? Maybe anybody he imitates and everybody who imitates him.
It was such a personal experience. I had to look at the crowd a few times to see others reactions. I felt it was uniquely my own experience. I felt like I needed to be still several times in order to not disturb others around me or distract the performers. But I felt the need to express myself and be involved in my body movements. I was in the absolute last row. The Pantages is SUPER ornate and the wall behind me was angled around and the floor seemed to tilt like a bowl towards the stage...I was in the ozones, the last row, and grateful for it. I was very glad for the wall because I needed to twist and stretch and bend and I had amazing balance. I felt very strong in my body, but my emotions kept getting away from me. Thank got for my breathing and yoga practice.