Yesterday at the University of Florida, RUB (Reitz Union Board) presented a free concert, which featured Jump (formerly known as Jump, Little Children. I guess since everyone else has short, one-word names, they felt they needed to change with the times). Since this was a very rare Florida trip for Jump, I couldn't pass up the chance to see them, especially at my alma mater. I must say, its much easier to drive only a couple of hours to see a show as opposed to, say, 8, 10, or evey 12 hours (and that's just going one-way).

The ETA got pushed back a couple of times, so I left St. Pete around 3:30 and arrived on campus at 6. The plan was to meet at the Orange and Brew for some eats, but sadly it was closed. (Apparently, its only open on Sunday during football season). So instead, I met up with Olivia at the Brew, then we walked through campus to Kotobuki for some sushi lovin'. While walking through campus, I was reminded of my college days, and all the memories of... studying.. and.. um.. grocery shopping. (What the hell did I do with my college life?)

The service at Kotobuki was slow, but the suhsi was good. I got the salmon, the conch, and the "rice crispie", which was a tempura tuna and crab roll. Yum! The special sauce it came with was very, very good, but spicy! So, after my first bite (the one I doused in the sauce), I had to be less liberal with the sauce. I then proceeded to take the last section of roll (the roll was huge, btw), and put it all in my mouth, rather than trying to bite into it. Olivia equated it to stuffing my fist in my mouth. I'm just glad it wasn't a date, otherwise it probably would have been the last one. ;)

After much sushi and catching-up, we made our way to the Reitz Union to see the show. There was a pretty good turnout, which surprised me since it was a Sunday night, which is techically a school night, and all these kids had class the next day. Anyway, the room was nice, with a blue velvet curtain with the University seal draped behind the stage. They started the show late (natch), and the show was pretty good, if not a little short. they mixed up the playlist to include the less "poppy" songs from Magazine and Vertigo, and played some new songs from their upcoming CD "Between the Dim & the Dark" (In stores April 20!). It sounds like they're trying to shift their focus on the more rock/pop stuff, but they still did "Body Parts" and "Habit", though I wanted to hear "You Can Look".

Ward told some really bad jokes, and got engaged (I think... I'm actually assuming, literally, they were to be "mated for life"), on top of that, one lucky audience member won a free Jump DVD because he could read Latin (the band was curious as to what the latin motto on the university seal meant.. no one answered until the offer of a free DVD was made. btw, the answer is "The welfare of the state rests on the character of the people", in case you were curious.)

I tried taking some pictures for Olivia, but I think I screwed most of them up. Kathy's digital camera is, like, um, complicated and stuff. I think I got some good ones, but most probably came out crap for crap.

After the show, we loitered around a bit to chit-chat with the band. We chided them for not coming to Florida more (all good-natured), and more photos were taken. They're such nice boys.

Sadly, it was time to go. Olivia had to start her new jobby-job (which she's actually at right now), and this was the final leg of a "I quit my crappy job" celebration tour, only to have to turn around and start another job again. On the upside, this new gig should me much sweeter than her previous one. I'm happy for her. Yay!

I, on the other hand, planned ahead and took today off, so I could sleep in and just enjoy myself. I'm not sure what I'll be doing today, other than finishing laundry, getting measured for my tux (for David's wedding, which will be about a month from now), and um... not sure what else.

And a good time was had by all.

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