January 3rd, 2012
RIP Critter <3
RIP Critter <3
feminine!
sufihjsaeognutiwekglrm
Here’s a really great picture of AVA in which Tom looks completely fuckable, that I have yet to see on here, but will inevitably be everywhere by the time I finish this sentence. You know I have better commentary. Notice Tom’s nipples, thank you. :D
<3
(Source: tomcharmedmarkssnake)
How would you know??? You don’t even know how to spell the other members’ names….
Whoever submitted this, actually made the post, and reblogged it should just fucking kill themselves……
This isn’t I-Empire AVA, this is We Don’t Need to Whisper AVA. YES! It very much so DOES fucking matter as this picture contains Captain Vicodin in place of Tom DeLonge, and Ryan Sinn in place of Matt Wachter, which is in fact spelled
W-A-C-H-T-E-R
See? http://modlife.com/angelsandairwaves/bios
He’s not a watcher. WTF you guys think this is Buffy or some shit??? How fucking worthless are you???
This has been a bitchy correction post. Fuck you. :D
This will be a long story, with a happy ending. Please bear with me.
So towards the end of 2006 I dated this guy, who after a month just dropped me to get back with his ex. I realized this after he told me about this secret Angels and Airwaves show I didn’t know about, but had to go to with her because he “bought the tickets together”, not that they were seats, and I stopped hearing from him. When that happened I bitched him out in a myspace message, telling him I understood why he got back with her since they had been together for a while, but he could have just straight up told me instead of avoiding me. I didn’t get a response, but after a few days his girlfriend called me to inform me that they never broke up, and I was one of five girls he had apparently cheated on her with, as there were four other messages on his myspace that he had her check. She was very cool and understanding as she had gone to high school with my best friend, so she knew that meant I was not sleazy at all. Due to this weird ass circumstance, we decided to meet up and hang at the AVA show.
Now I was 19 at the time, but as you’ll all learn soon enough, being 18 doesn’t mean you’re an adult in the slightest fucking way, it changes absolutely nothing, and if you continue to live at home, your life will be exactly the same as it was before, so your parents will still be in charge of everything. I say this so you’ll understand that at 19 I still wasn’t allowed to go to concerts alone. So I tell my mom about the AVA show, and she’s not exactly happy that I want to drive alone and meet someone there. She starts asking why I can’t ride with the girl, or if I can go with another friend and meet her there.
“No! None of my friends like Angels and Airwaves! Hell, I don’t even like them all that much! I just wanna go so I can see Tom, since I’m not allowed to go to concerts in another city, and he hates Jacksonville because he was arrested here. Tthis is seriously the only chance I’ll probably ever have to see Tom in concert! I know I’m not suppose to go to a show alone, but there is NO ONE for me to go with, I’m 19, I do know someone who will be there, AND IT’S TOM DELONGE, so you’re just gonna… well, you’re just gonna have to deal with it.”
A moment to appreciate my mother not kicking my ass.
I go to my first Angels and Airwaves concert on December 2, 2006. Get there early, get on the barricade all the way on the left side, and learn from texting Merlita, the now ex-girlfriend of douche, that she’s bringing him because after how long they’ve dated she wants to remain friends. When she gets there she finds a spot in the back, and asks where I am to meet her up. I tell her I’m up front and we agree to meet up after because she’s 4’11” and doesn’t wanna be smothered, but I want as little space between me and Tom as possible. For the most part the show is incredible, and makes me really love AVA. I filmed 7 videos (which you can watch on youtube.com/user/trainablegirl) and take 4 still undeveloped rolls of pictures. LOOK MOM! NO HANDS!!! The only thing I hated about the show was the part where the security guard got bored, got drunk, and sexually assaulted me during Start The Machine.
After the show I meet up with Merlita outside, but douche isn’t there so I ask where he is. She tells me he’s buying merch just before he walks up, hands her her shirt as he says “here you go”, and turns around to walk outside. Apparently in order to keep a show secret, you have to let out in time for the club’s normal activities to occur, so it’s like 9:30pm. We start talking about doing something, and douche informs her that he can’t because he needs her to take him to get his paycheck. She says ok, but that won’t take long, and he just goes “no, you need to take me to get my check”, before he turns around again. To be smart, Merlita then goes “Hey Nate, you remember Briana, right?”. He turns around says “yeah”, and then walks away. She apologizes, says good night and follows.
As soon as he began walking away I thought about how easy it’d be to run up behind him and tackle him, but I didn’t do anything. I stand there for a minute, unsure of everything, thinking about how I didn’t kick his ass when I had the chance, until the bitter cold makes me go buy an AVA hoodie. Then I sat on the curb off to the side trying to figure out why I didn’t kick the ever loving shit outta this guy! I didn’t even have an urge to, what the fuck was wrong with me??? Then I saw two girls walk past me, and go to where the buses were. I thought it’d make me feel better to see them get kicked out by security, so I sat back and watched…
They weren’t kicked out by security. I decided to join them.
One of the buses was parked so that you couldn’t see the back door or anything that went on back there from the parking lot. As I came around it I saw a mob of people, and the members of Angels and Airwaves that weren’t in Box Car Racer. Walked up to a guy who was by himself and asked what was going on. He told me that the guys were coming out to the buses, but stopped to sign autographs. Atom and Ryan were there, and David had just gone on the bus, but swore he’d come right back. I freaked. “Wait… David James Fucking Kennedy was just here? But he’s already on the bus??? Omg, where is Tom???” He assured me that David was coming back, and Tom hadn’t come out yet, before he offered to take pix of me with Atom and Ryan to pass the time we waited for David and Tom.
First, I met Ryan Sinn. This was very awkward as I knew who Ryan was before AVA, but was not his biggest fan. I actually could not stand him. I saw the Distillers open up for No Doubt on October 27, 2001. Again, I was the little girl on the far end of the barricade. I was on Ryan’s side, and since this was back during his disgusting drug addict days, he acted accordingly. He kept spitting onto the floor in the area between the stage and the barricade, except that was the area right in front of and almost hitting my 14 year old self. Needless to say, I did not like this experience or him for it. I played nice, and went up to him as there was no one talking to him, he seemed bummed about that although I’m sure it was because he had met everyone, I was going to take the opportunity to meet an entire band, and I knew Tom would want me to make everyone in his band feel good, even if it was just for him. Ryan did not say a whole lot, but he was actually VERY sweet. I said hi, and asked him to sign my ticket. He asked me if I knew who they were before the show, and how I liked it. I told him I did listen to them before that night, I found them through Tom, which got a “Yes, I know” type of head shake, and that I thought they did so amazingly it actually made me just completely fall in love with them. They were so wonderful! He sincerely thanked me, before I asked for a picture, and wished him a good night. (Please refrain from making comments about my scene kid self. I was 19, and I’m very aware of how retarded the red red eye makeup is NOW.)

David was still on the bus, and Tom was still inside, so after I met Ryan, I went up to Atom. Atom is the only member of AVA I had absolutely no opinion of prior to Angels and Airwaves. I knew he was an original member of Rocket From The Crypt, and I knew that meant he had talent and mattered to the music world, but that actually had no bearing on me in the slightest. I was, however, less hesitant to meet him than Ryan. This is when Atom Willard became the single greatest person I have ever met. I walked up to him, said hi, and in his normal, loud, excited way he said it back. Again, I asked him to sign my ticket, and he said “Of course! Absolutely! No problem! How’d you like the show?”. I raved about how just phenomenal it was, how it surpassed my expectations, and thanked him for playing here, since absolutely no one does. He liked my opinion, and then told me how happy it made him that they had such a great turn out in a smaller city at a secret show, and that the band was going to always do stuff like that to connect with the fans, he just didn’t know exactly what else. Then he asked me what I thought of his drumming, did he play well during the show? I told him he was spot on, sounded just like the album most of the time, and mixed it up perfectly when he needed to. He thanked me for that, and for buying the AVA hoodie. I told him it was no big deal, I wanted to buy something and it was freezing out, so I got the hoodie. He went “No, it is a big deal. How much did that cost?” I told him it was $50, and he thanked me some more before saying “I mean, I know we get like, what? $2 of that? But you didn’t have to buy it, and I, personally, appreciate you coming out to the show, and buying that hoodie.” I laughed and told him it was worth it before he laughed, too. This convo took like 20 minutes, but it was one of the most awesome experiences of my life, and Atom and I bullshit like this to this day. I love every second of it! Our convo that night of course ended with a photo.

After spending so fucking long with Atom, David had made his way back off the bus as promised. Me and Scotty, my new friend, fangirled over him like little bitches. Box Car Racer, Hazen Street and Over My Dead Body were awesome. Fuck you if you have a problem with that. I don’t remember this as much, as it was a short convo, and not one on one. I also feared for my life as I’m 5’1” and David is 7ft tall, but I completely adored this moment.

After we met David, Scotty and I went and joined the crowd of scene kids by the back door waiting for Tom. A security guard was protecting the door, and began to scream at us that we needed to leave because “the parking lot is about to fill with fucking niggers who come here every night, kill people, and drag their bodies into the middle of the expressway”. At the same exact time, all 50 of us waiting for Tom took one giant step closer to the door, as to huddle together for safety. Just then the silence was pierced with the sound of a door closing, followed by screaming. The crowd became a line, and I stood there trying not to lose my place, but make sure what I thought was going on, was for fucking real going on. That’s when I saw him, Thomas Matthew DeLonge Jr. …. I lost all the air in my lungs. While AVA was on stage I somehow managed to disconnect my mind due to the boy drama, trying to operate two cameras, and being assaulted by security, so this was the moment that everything hit me. This was when I realized that the man who I watched growing up, the man who made me laugh instead of kill myself, the one who inspired every aspect of me as an individual, gave me the strength to be proud of who I am and show it to the world, and who’s music held me while I cried, made sense of the world, and kept me going when I was alone and even my parents made fun of me, was A REAL LIFE, ACTUAL PERSON. It’s hard to explain this feeling unless you’ve felt it, but realizing your idol is really a person is, I imagine, the same magnitude of realization Adam and Even went through upon eating fruit from the Tree of Life; it breaks down every wall of existence and makes you feel just naked and exposed. My heart and mind raced, my body trembled, and the only reason I didn’t cry was because everything was spinning so fast. As the line moved forward I focused on breathing, but as I reached the front the line became a crowd, and someone jumped in front of me. I was pissed, but I ignored it. Then another person skipped me, as my trembling made it hard to move. I was such a nervous fucking wreck that I hesitated again, and was skipped a third time. All I could think was “No, no, no! Oh my fucking God! Do not tell me this is really happening! Don’t tell me that I have gone through all of this, and stood RIGHT in front of this man, and I’m not gonna fucking meet him!”, and I started tearing up. Just then Tom, who was standing on steps that went down to the club door, making him just as tall as me, kept his head down, but looked up with his eyes as he was signing an autograph, looked right at me and said “don’t worry, you’re next!” as he pointed at me. I felt sick to my stomach. He kept eye contact with me as he finished the autograph and handed it back. When the guy who skipped me said thank you, Tom looked at him briefly, said “uh huh, yeah”, looked back at me and said hi. I stood there frozen for a moment until I blinked my eyes. When I opened my eyes after blinking, which only takes a fraction of a second, I didn’t see Tom anymore. Then I noticed I had my arms around someone’s neck. I turned to my left, and saw that person was Tom DeLonge. My heart sank, and all I could do was say “Oh my God, I am SOOOO sorry, but I’ve been in love with you since I was 11.” I pulled away slowly, squinting my eyes to shield them from the pissed off look on Tom’s face until I was far enough back to see that he was hysterically laughing. I smiled and laughed too before saying “Can you sign this?” and handing him my ticket. He said “SURE. SURE. OF COURSE!” and I thanked him. I asked him for a picture, too, and he said while laughing “Yeah…. Which one are we???” as he looked around at all the people and all the cameras going off. I responded in the same manner “we are this one” as I pointed to Scotty and leaned in for the picture.

After that I faced him again, and said “thank you, can I have a hug?”. He laughed, agreed, and put his arms around me. As I hugged him tightly for a moment I said in his ear “Thank you so much. This means the world to me.”, then I thought to myself “Briana, this is probably the last moment you will ever spend with this man, MAKE IT COUNT.”, so as I pulled away I kissed his cheek as close to his mouth as I could justify due to the fact he’s married. His face was scruffy, and it tickled. I can still feel it. Again, I pulled away nervously, but this time he wasn’t laughing. He was standing there, completely still, before he got this cocky smirk on his face, began looking around at everyone, and pointing at himself as he shook his head up and down, like “Oh yeah… bitches love me”. If you watch the part of Making the Video: Feeling This where Tom humps the fence, it’s the SAME cocky smile…. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj-7j34y1TQ&feature=related) He continued his nod until we made eye contact again, when he smiled and we both busted out laughing. I said “Bye Tom” and waved, and he said “bye” as he continued to laugh and smile. I ran to my car. My knees kinda gave out, but I caught myself and kept going. As I unlocked my car door I started to cry, but it wasn’t until I was sitting in my car and put everything together that I fucking lost it.
It was the greatest day of my life. I fully believe that I was being rewarded by God for taking the high rode with that asshole. Had I jumped him, I would not have met AVA. The end.
Can I just bring this back??? LOL


While I try to find my immunization record, y’all try to find Travis in this Box Car Racer photo….
