I should be tired, but I'm not. I am on a music high right now. I love that.

Well, I'll continue from where I had left off yesterday. After I talked about hearing all the rumbling and the heavy rain hitting the roof of my workplace's building, the president's son came over and told me that a plane had crashed at Pearson International Airport. He thought that perhaps lightning had hit it. A few of us checked various websites for information. At that point, word was that the plane had slid off the runway after it had touched down.

You think that such incidents don't happen where you live. Sometimes, you get such a spike in what seems to be a calm in your life, and it makes you wonder. It makes you hope that everything will work out in the end. It makes you appreciate your life that much more.

The president's son decided to change out of his t-shirt and jeans that he normally wears when he works in the warehouse, and changed into a red shirt, a nice pair of navy blue pants, and black dress shoes. He looked good. He had just a hint of cologne splashed on it. It wasn't so overpowering that you had to hold your nose. Yet, you knew that it was there.

We both passed by the production manager's (DJ) office. It was dark, but I could hear a bit of rattling going on. I looked in, and he was getting ready to head out. I said goodnight to him. I suppose I'm more of an optimist that I tend to notice.

"It's a sad world," he stated just behind me.
"No, it's not. Are you thinking about the plane that skidded off the runway?" I asked.
"Well, I had witnessed a horrific car crash yesterday and then I hear about this," he said. He went on about thinking that there were folks kills in the plane crash, too.

I just nodded at what he was saying, although I didn't really want to believe that there were a lot of deaths from the incident.

So, the president's son (PS) got into my car for the first time. I've probably driven an eighth of the folks at work in my car by now. You learn a lot about folks when you chat with them as you drive. He's not a gadget person, which makes me look like a geek. There's always common ground hat you both can discuss. We both cracked each other up as we headed downtown.

The busiest stretch of road was between Sheppard Avenue and Ellesmere Road, along Victoria Park. Traffic going westbound was extremely congested. We both concluded that the plane crash must be backing up the traffic so badly that it was now affecting the east end of the city.

We got downtown just past 18:00. We parked in a lot. The guy was fussy. He told me to take the spot next to the van instead, for my car would be hit by another one that might park next to mine. So, I did. Funny, but coming back after the show, there was a van that was parked where my car was. No one parked next to it. Finicky parking lot attendants sometimes annoy me.

I tend to park away from major venues. It's simply easier to drive off, rather than parking next to the Air Canada Centre and wait to exit. Parking was seven dollars. It was decent.

We ended up having dinner at Le Bifthèque. We had looked at the prices at the Fisherman's Wharf and decided to walk across the street instead. The food was really good. He liked everything, minus the portobello mushrooms that were grilled with vinegar or something sour. He treated me to dinner, which was nice. Mind you, it kind of evens out in the end, as he was my concert guest.

The washrooms at the restaurant are clean and classy looking. He commented on how clean they were. I added that they were, unlike the ones at work. I was poking fun at him. He stocks the washrooms up with toilet paper and paper towel.

We needed the walk down to the Air Canada Centre (ACC) after stuffing ourselves with grub. The humidity was slowly dying down.

PS thinks that it was his first time at the ACC, but he can't recall. He was all pumped about seeing his first concert. I was thrilled to have seen another band or act kick off its tour in Toronto.

I had to get a t-shirt. I got a brown one that had the cities on the back, but towards the bottom of the shirt. That was neat. After the show, PS broke down and got a light blue one for himself. I have created a concert monster. He wants to see another concert now.

I have to confess that we both broke down yesterday. We hit the Tim Hortons within the ACC and bought ice cappuccinos. It's nice to know another iced cap lover.

We were probably in our seats by 19:40. A band was already playing. I still don't know the name of the band. It played fairly long songs. I was surprised that the opening act had started so soon.

We were seated up in the 300 level, but had an excellent view of the stage. PS felt that we were so high up, but it still seemed like the stage was extremely close by. Our section was full. We had a good bunch of folks around us, singing, dancing, and having the best time of their lives. I even got PS to scream at the show. How about that?

I lost track of time, but Coldplay must have got on stage at around 21:20. I was taking pictures, but failed to look at the time on it.

Coldplay came on stage, with a countdown happening on the big screen behind the guys. The band opened with "Square one". You just knew that the energy in the building was high and strong.

What I love about Chris Martin, besides how smooth and lovely his voice sounds, is that he has that uncanny ability to improvise lyrics. He sang, "Give me your hand, give me a high five, give me a plane crash where everybody survives." That was classy. You can immediately tell that the band loves and cares about Toronto.

I don't think you can get sick of hearing "Yellow". It was fun seeing these yellow, confetti-filled balloons bounce all over the place during the song.

There wasn't a bad song in the set. I had burned X&Y for PS, as well as a bootleg of Coldplay's show back in March. It was a good sampler to get him ready for this concert. I haven't screamed this much at a show since Duran Duran back in April.

Speed of sound was great. At the end, Chris was on his knees, facing us. He bend backwards while hitting his final note. Wow. There's flexibility for you.

Chris poked fun at Céline Dion, saying that "Warning sign" was written for her, but she had rejected it. He apologized later for that and sang "Everything's not lost," to make up for it. It was cute.

I thought about my IT guy when the band did "Clocks". He used to have that as his ringtone. We knew he was at the show, for he had told us that he had splurged on floor tickets through eBay. I never asked how much he had paid for them, but I'm sure it must have been expensive. I admire his spirit.

"The Scientist" was the interactive band-crowd song. I loved it. "'Til kingdom come," which was written originally for Johnny Cash, was beautiful. I could go on and on. It was one of the best shows I've seen so far this year.

Coldplay ended with "Fix you," which is such a poignant song. Chris had stopped the song a quarter of the way through and said, "It's the first night of the tour and we f*cked up that song up royally. People of Canada, forgive Coldplay for messing up. The Rolling Stones would never do that." That was hilarious and cute. PS had to ask me if he had heard that correctly. I simply nodded. There was also a red overhead light swinging away during that song. I didn't know if that was planned or if it had fallen down by accident. Luckily, it didn't hypnotize me. Only the music did that.

"Tears stream down your face." I nearly did after seeing them leave the stage. You wanted the show to go on. We were both so happy and on such a wonderful high.

Here's the setlist:

Coldplay - August 2, 2005
Air Canada Centre

Square one
Politik
Yellow
God put a smile upon your face
Speed of sound
Low
Warning sign
Everything's not lost
White shadows
The scientist
Till kingdom come
Don't panic
Clocks
Talk

Encore:
Swallowed in the sea
In my place
Fix you

We walked back to my car, tempted to stop by the 7-Eleven on the corner. You don't see too many of them around the city. I drove him home, partially taking the DVP. He lives in a nice area. He wrote me a cheque for the CD player that he took off my hands last night. It was a great night out. It was roughly 23:50 when I had dropped him off. It took me twelve minutes to get from him place to mine. Mind you, the roads were fairly bare and, at times, I was going 20 km/h over the speed limit.

I finally went to bed at 01:30. I woke up a few times during the night, still pretty elated from the concert experience. I'm fine. I'm a happy camper. I played my Coldplay CD on my way to work. I can't stop singing or humming today.

I saw DJ this morning as I was going to sign in. I said good morning. He reciprocated. You can tell that it's going to be one of these days where he wants to chat right off the bat. I said good morning to the receptionist, talked about the concert, wished her a good day, and left. I suppose that DJ was listening to our conversation. He stepped aside to let me walk through the door before he entered it.

Even though I don't feel like chatting with folks sometimes in the morning, I did when I saw PS this morning. We get along well. After an evening out last night, we are hardly sick of each other. That's always a good sign. He had questions about his CD player. We solved one of them. We've got some troubleshooting to do on a particular CD skipping. I'm going to give him my lens cleaner CD, to see if that's what it needs.

Sometimes, I wonder about DJ. We were walking towards each other and he ended up breaking into song, as he generally does.

"Her name was Watty. She was a showgirl," he started off.
"I was?"
"About seven years ago. When there were showgirls then," he predicted.
"Funny, but I don't remember that..."

I went out for lunch, getting a gift bag and some candy. I'm getting addicted to the local dollar store. You can find some good stuff sometimes.

DJ and I exchanged a couple of shots today. He came over to my department and sat down. He asked us if we wanted to be a character with superpowers from the Fantastic 4, which one would each of us be? I elected to go with being invisible. He said to me, "But you already are, Watty." Compliance woman (CW) was there to protect me. "The next time he says that to you, go smack him." She's sweet. He then tried to make things better by saying that he didn't "mean it in a bad way."

Later, he returned to talk to the guy from Selkirk. When he was done, he said something like he was in the loser's room of the casino.

"Fitting," I said, as DJ walked away.
"That's mean, Watty," said the guy from Selkirk, snickering.
"Goodnight, Watty," DJ said as he was slowly walking away.
"It takes one to know one," I said, opening it up a bit.
"What? That we're losers?" he asked.
"Nope, that we're mean people."

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The receptionist made the most interesting remark today. I called her on the phone, indicating that I was going out for lunch. She said that I should go to more concerts, because I'm more giggly. Not that I'm an unpleasant person or anything, she immediately hinted. She finds me to be calm and cool. She enjoyed seeing me up on a cloud today.

On that note, I'm going to crash soon. But, before I go, I am now drooling over an amazing computer accessory. For all you Mac lovers, check out Mighty Mouse. I am in love with it already. It'll go nicely with my future Mac mini.

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Song that's stuck in my head: Coldplay's "Fix you"
Yummy food eaten today: Orange Mentos
What I crave: Diet coke with lime

Recent thoughts:
Readings, lights, and random thoughts - 2009-03-15
Thoughts about work, school, and peeps - 2009-03-09
Working from home and a mini life update - 2008-12-19
The weekend is here! - 2008-01-06
A new year - 2008-01-01