Sad (or "How not use your flash" and "Why I am a bad date")

Way back, LV bought tickets to see Gavin DeGraw when he came to New York. The tickets were stuck on the fridge for almost as long as the Hannah Montana concert-movie tickets. I would always look at them and think, "That's such a bad place for them." Did I ever move them? No.

At 3:50 p.m., LV says (in an IM), "you have to remember to bring the tickets from the fridge." Yeah, yeah, sure sure. I'm trying to figure out if I want extra insurance for my Zip car, when I can pick up the card, how long I should keep my rentals, if I've set a stupid plan, if the wedding couple will tell me they just want me there for four minutes... Tickets. No problem.

I'm supposed to meet LV at 6:30. I am way more on time than usual. I have no tickets with me.

Does this matter? Will we miss the entire show? We could have stopped to make dinner at home and then gone back to the show with the amount of time it took for the opening act to actually hit the stage. We have a beer, we laugh about some best of craigslist posts, we people-watch, we talk about how great it is we got to sit for so long on the train to and from our apartment.

Landon Pigg takes the stage. A few people know who he is. Many more people take pictures. The girl in front of me takes dozens of pictures.

The cameras in the crowd are practically all the same digital point and shoot. But the knowledge of the camera settings is completely different. I don't think knowledge of your camera settings is the be all end all of great photography, but this poor sap seems to have no idea what the night flash is or why she should be popping and dragging. I was way entertained by the number of times she (essentially) took a picture of the guy in front of her.

Sure, you can see Landon's shadow from the flash, but the camera doesn't see him. Her preview kept showing the guy in front of her surrounded by black. Dozens of times. Later she pushed up close to the stage to get a dramatic picture of the microphone and piano awaiting Gavin. It would have been great. But the piano is metallic and sparkly. Did she turn off the flash? Did she use a different setting? No. Go auto-flash. She got a picture of her flash reflecting off the piano. Her friend next to her got some good pictures. Maybe her auto is better? Maybe she put it on night settings? Maybe one should have asked the other.

Unlike Landon, Gavin doesn't really hold still. His head bobs around a lot. When he was holding still, he either made a hideous face or his guitarist seemed to be giving him a death stare. I don't like the flash on my point-and-shoot, so I was kind of screwed.

So, yay, I'm taking pictures, we're having a good time. And then all of a sudden I'm way too sick to be there anymore. I was so annoyed with myself. Sure, my face felt numb and the flashing lights made me want to curl into a ball on the floor, but I should tough it out. What if he plays "Overrated" like LV requested?

I'm still mad we had to leave because I don't sweat, I just overheat. Teach me not to drink throughout a show...