we convinced our friend nopalita to go with us to the system of a down show in san diego so that takes care of our extra ticket. we picked her up, then picked up the kid from the long beach show, then headed down the 5 all the way to san diego. traffic was insane. i have never seen it so bad to san diego. it was stop and go the entire time. like one big rush hour. it took almost 4 hours, about twice as long as it should. we stopped at some vegan place we found online and had something to eat before going to the venue. it was pretty good. the kid works at mcdonald's and even he liked the food. on to the show!

we got to the venue and bad acid trip was already playing. the san diego sports arena is smaller than the long beach arena and even though there were quite a few people on the floor already, we got up in the front left side again. painfully stood through the mars volta's set again. only this time i didn't bail. at first i had learned to just live with the singer's voice--it wasn't so bad afterall--but then they just got really annoying again. definitely not my thing.

when system of a down went on, the crowd went apeshit. it was extremely difficult to try to keep my place and take pictures. i didn't want to separate from twiddle thumbs and nopalita, especially since somehow nopalita had managed to squeeze her way onto the rails. before their set started, i gave twiddle thumbs a piece of paper and pen so that she could write down the setlist because if the crowd gave way, i was gonna try to shove my way towards the middle and get some good pictures. once the crowd got moving though, i realized they are young and full of energy whereas i am old and tired of this pit shit. i'd much rather be on the rails where i don't have to exert as much energy and can breathe fresh air and maybe get some water from the guards.

system rocks progressively harder each night

after awhile, twiddle thumbs wanted to leave. it was getting too much for her. so i took nopalita's place on the rails and they sidestepped their way out of their for safer ground. while nopalita was on the rails, twiddle thumbs gave noting setlist duties to her, then i took over the duty once i was on the rails. nopalita doesn't really know system's songs so she only wrote the words she could make out. she did a pretty good job but in the confusion of things, somehow we missed writing down exactly when they played "needles", otherwise the list we made is accurate except that i don't write down the little intros daron does before songs because he often covers classic rock of which i know jack shit since i can't stand the stuff.

after the show, we decided we were going to go straight home but there was a line of cars to exit so why not kill time by waiting to see if the band will come out to say hi to some fans. sure enough, john was cordial and came out for autographs and pictures. we took another since the one in long beach came out like hell--must remember for night portraits to use the fast/sports setting instead of the night setting. nobody else came out. shavo did wave from far away but serj completely ignored us again. something tells me he's a dick. that's ok though. stadium gigs. don't expect anything!

all sweaty and looking like shit but john looks fine

no traffic delays on the way home. this is how the drive should be! had to drop off the kid home then take nopalita home. by the time we got home it was 3am. dirt and tired. i think my clothes are soaked with beer and my hair with pot. i hate that aspect of concerts. good-night!

setlist:
soldier side
byob
revenga
know
suggestions
deer dance
needles (this song may be out of order)
psycho
chop suey
kill rock n' roll
sad statue
violent pornography
mr. jack
cigaro
this cocaine makes me feel like i'm on this song
bounce
atwa
forest
lost in hollywood
question!
war?
prison song
roulette
aerials
toxicity
science
suite-pee
sugar