Our day wasn't off to a very good start... we'd been stuck in traffic on highway 99 for a good while, and it was officially "road rage mommy" day. But Don, mom, Brandon and I finally made it to The Paradox. I wasn't too impressed with what I could see on the outside, but didn't really care. It had been a while since I'd seen the most glorious band in the world. We park the car about a block away, and walk up to see Jamie walking Eno around and Aimee walking around on her cell. After she gets off, we show her our huge-ass banner that we made for them. She does the awe thing a little, and the 2 girls (STILL don't know their names) that are almost always there say "You guys make us look bad!" So I'm like, I'm sorry! Aimee says something like "Screw that, you guys make US look bad! We don't even have OUR banner with us!" Jamie peeks a little and I tell him we got pretty high off sharpie fumes to show our devotion. He says something like "Yeah, those things are lethal." Aimee and I discuss the Brandon-attacking that is inevitable. Hehehe. I sent mom across the street to get me batteries for my digi, and we just kinda hung out for a long time. I got really really bored after Aimee, Jeff, Jamie, Puke and Brian went to get food, so I decorated the trash can and phone booth with Scorpion King stickers that I modified with Echo Obsession's URL. They included messages like "Worship Echo DAMNIT!" and "GOOOOOO! NOOOOWWW!" While I was doing that, a cooole chick named Stephanie came over and chatted with us for a bit.

The venue opened, and we got our stamps and whatnot. Walking into the theater area... very disappointing. The Paradox needs some renovation... badly. The wall outside under the main sign was falling off. The venue itself is an actual theater, so there were fold-down seats like at the movies. Half of the seats had no... SEATS. More on that crap later. The bands started up and I had to pee really badly at the time. Don and I had no idea there was a restroom, so we walked like 4-5 blocks to a really nasty Jack In The Box where I ended up using the men's room. Hehe. Don buys food, bla bla. When we get back, mom and Brandon are waiting outside, wanting to leave 'cause the opening bands were kinda sucking ass. We left in search of a burger king. We thought, "Hey, it's Seattle, there's gotta be a burger king on every block!" No burger king ANYWHERE! Not near the venue anyway. So we find ourselves in Ballard eating at Taco Del Mar. This has nothing to do with my review. ANYWAY. We get back with about 30-45 mins to spare. Sitting outside... this really drunk guy in a blue plaid shirt who looks about 19 starts hitting on me and my mom. Very disconcerting. "Hey, I see you brought your sister with yooooo!" -Drunk guy to me. "Uhh.... no?"-me "Oh, is she your daughter then?" You get the point.

We go back inside to escape, and I buy a start wars tee for Brandon, and an "Eno" shirt for me. Don started feeling pukey and headed to the bathroom. theSTART was about 5 mins away, so I haul ass to my usual spot, front and right. I would have been in front and center, but drunk guy was there. *shudder* They start with either The 1234 or Los Angelos, I don't remember. The whole setlist was changed. Drunk guy attempts to crawl onstage and grope Aimee throughout the whole show. That poor woman. He shows up in half of my live pics. The vibe was kinda weird. It was completely silent in between the first and second song. You know, Aimee usually does her witty stage banter thing... but no. Silence. Don eventually shows up behind me, feeling better, and me, him and the Stephanie chick start dancing. I wish I could remember the setlist this time. Aimee dedicates DVS to Bush and Greta Van Susteren's new facelift. At this point, all the "punks" there were leaving ("Uh-oh! She's talking about politics!"). They play Her Song, and this makes me happy 'cause I hadn't heard them play it since Bellingham. At the end of Hi Flyer Jeff growls and Aimee fucking SCREAMS "LOOOOOOOOK ATTT MEEEEEEE!!!!!" It gave me chills. So that's all I can remember about the live set.

Afterwards, we go outside to smoke, and I catch Jeff and get a pic with him. Don has him sign stuff. Feeling accomplished, we head back inside to bug Aimee. I buy a patch and the DVS EP again. She starts talking to Yalan of Dame Fate, swapping phone numbers n'shit. Jamie signs our flyer, studies the pic on it, and yells to Aimee, "Hey! Whatever happened to this shirt? It was cool!" (the dizzying black and white tank top with polka dots on the back) I say "Yeah, that was a damn cool shirt!" Aimee doesn't respond to him, and he looks kinda exasperated and says "She's not listening..." Afterwards, Jamie vanishes (he's a ninja), and Don and I talk to her, about what I can't remember, and we show her our new start circles tattoos. I have never seen this woman get so wide-eyed, ever. She calls Jeff and Jamie over, and they gawk. She reaches over the table suddenly, grabs me by the shoulders and is like, shaking me, I dunno! It was like a spasm or something. I get my pics with her, one where she's leaning her head on my shoulder all sexy-like, and one of us showing off our tats. Don goes to get his, and Aimee says "Are we getting our prom pictures now?" A crowd is forming around Aimee, so we just kinda stand there and wait for it to disperse. It doesn't. Some guy says Aimee looks like that chick from Pretty Girls Make Graves. She asks me if she really does and I say it's just that their hair is similar. They discuss dopplegangers. Don donates $5 to Herry The Happy Heretic Head, and we say bye and leave. No Brandon-attacking this time :( We'll just have to wait until next year... *evil grin*