This was my BEST Sick Puppies experience!! It all began when my friend called me and told me she just won tickets to the show. We were planning on going anyway, but who doesn't love free tickets?! Then, she dropped the bomb on me. A FREE PRIVATE ACOUSTIC SHOW!!!
I was ecstatic when she said, "No one would appreciate it more than you, that's why you're gonna be my date." Finally! My Sick Puppies obsession has paid off!!We get to the Pageant, and we wait in Suite 100 aka Merch room. We're there approx 10 minutes and they send us into the show area. We were told to just hang out there and the Pups would be out shortly. There are about 20 people just standing around, and before I know it, here comes Shim across the stage, and bouncing down the stairs. "Hey Guys! Everyone just relax. We're gonna say hi to everyone, and then play you a few songs." Then comes Mark and Emma.
They work their way through the group of people, and finally get to us. Shim approached me and stuck his hand out as I started to open my arms. Realizing that he's gonna shake my hand I quickly stop in my tracks.
He then says, "Oh give me some love" and then hugs me! 
I tell him that it's been exactly one year since I've seen the band, and he asks where I saw them. Then he asked me my name. He proceeds to say hi to my friend when Mark approaches. I give him a hug and say, "Dude! I love you're hair like this!" He sweetly says, "Thanks." Emma was last to come through, but she didn't approach us directly. She smiled and waved to us. 
They all took their spots on stage to give us our private performance. They performed Odd One, Maybe, and You're Going Down.
After they perform, we are told to line up, to get autographs. We were given the yellow live and unplugged lithograph and a Tripolar poster. I get my 2 items signed, and then I whip out my manila envelope. I look at Shim and say, "I have a special request." I pull out an 8x10 pic for him to autograph. (See my avatar.) As he looks at the picture he says, "Aww look. It's us." Once everyone gets their autographs, they send us back over to get a picture with the band. Now I'm really excited because I've been wanting this pic FOREVER!
ME: (Sorry, my hubby got all creative with my pic.)
My friend, Nikki
After our pics, they tell us it's time to go.
However, if we came back early, we would be let into the venue first. SWEEEET!! So my friend and I decide to take a trip to Walgreens to get my group picture developed and enlarged. We looked up the closest Walgreens on my phone and took off. WOW! This Walgreens was on Union Blvd, and you know you're in a bad part of town when Walgreens has a giant metal fence around it with a gate, and a GIANT for a security guard inside the store. We decided to go in anyway, because I HAD to get this pic!Killing time, while waiting on the pic to be developed.
YAY!!!
We grabbed some dinner, and went back to enjoy an amazing show!! I got to meet Draya and Zach while waiting to get back into the venue. Both were SUPER nice!
Once we were allowed to go inside, we of course went right for the rail. We saw Bad City, and then Alter Bridge. I tried to catch a guitar pick from Alter Bridge, but just missed it. It landed by the security guy! Good thing we made friends with him, because he picked it up and handed to us.And then came the moment we were waiting for!! SICK PUPPIES!!!!! I credit my friend, Nikki, with all of the pictures below. My camera crapped out on me.
Look at the fog to the left of Emma. It almost looks like rock horns
I love Emma's face in this:
I LOVE THIS PIC!! We caught her smiling! I think she heard me screamin!
Emma Abstract
Shim Abstract
Shim scream singing.
This is kinda cool. Taken from my iPhone, no alterations made to this photo.
Didn't get any good pics of Mark, but this is to show all of his hard work!
The show is over, and we decide to head to the meet n greet line. As we're standing there I see a familiar face.
I said, "Excuse me. Are you Paul?"
"Yes" he says.
"I recognized you from the movie, Rock Prophecies."
"I'm sorry" he says smiling.
"Hey! Can I get a picture with you?"
"Oh no! Why would you want to do that? I'm nobody."
"Yes you are! You're the Boss Man!"
He asks what I have in my hands, and I show him my two 8x10 pics. As we are looking at them, my friend gets our attention. She is holding up her camera, ready to snap a pic. Paul willingly poses for a pic with me.
Unfortunately he blinked.
While moving up in line, I got to meet Jessamy, David, and *J*. All of you were SO nice! Big hugs!
When we make it to the meet n greet table, I hand over my 8x10 pic to Mark and say, "Will you sign by you." He takes the pic and starts to sign it. "Uh oh," he says. I look down, and he started signing on Emma.
I say, jokingly of course, "MARK! Are you tryin to mess up my picture!" He puts a small "x" by where he had started to sign, and then signs it properly. I then say, "I guess I'll forgive you, and still come to your shows." 
Emma then takes the pic to sign. She says, "Was this from today?" I said, "Yes we took it to a Walgreens to have it developed." She looked at me in disbelief. "You really took it to Walgreens?" "Yeah." I wish I would have told her about the scary Walgreens story!! She then tells me, "Hey, I like your jacket." And I immediately replied, "Well, I LOVE your belt!" She smiled.
Shim then takes the pic to sign it. He says, "I drew you a little smiley face, since Mark screwed up your picture." I said, "Thanks." We started to walk off, and I had to throw this at him, "I like your tie. It looks really good on you." I smiled at him, and we left.
If you look at where the 'A' in Anzai is, you can see where Mark started to sign. Just to the right of that is the 'X' he put. It got cut off in this pic.
THE END!
Thank you to those who made it all the way through my rambling experience!
