Hey! Pay Attention!

I don't know about you but I have noticed a lack in the attention span of just about everyone around me. Everyone is constantly checking their phones to see if someone called or texted. (is the past tense text or texted?) People in a bar with a tv seem to be drawn to it. Even if it's something that they're not interested in, they tend to look at it over and over again. I'm definitely guilty of this myself but I know when to really pay attention.

Case in point, I went to the R.E.M. concert on Friday, I was dancing and singing throughout the entire concert. Even if they were playing songs that I didn't really know, I sang anyways. Unfortunately, I could not say the same for everyone around me. There were so many people that were sitting there texting people all concert long. It seriously looked like they weren't having a good time. Then there were the eaters. I saw this one group of guys that had popcorn, hot dogs and ice cream all in the two hours R.E.M. played. Do you really go to a concert to eat "ball park food". I have to say that the worst people were those who rented a sky box. There were several boxes that had the Cubs game on. Seriously? Why would you pay several hundred dollars to watch the Cubs game at a concert when you could do that at a bar or at home? Watch the concert! That's what you're there for. Michael Stipe is pretty entertaining to watch...so watch him. Forget about your friends who aren't at the concert, food or the game for one night. Just live in the moment. You can't truely have a good time if you aren't invested.

That's another thing that bothered me at the concert, there were so many people just sitting there, like they were being paid to fill the seats and hated the fact that they were at "work". It reminded me of the audience members at MTV Unplugged concerts. Those jerks just sat in chairs, maybe bopped their heads or tapped their feet to the music. There were no expressions on their faces. They really didn't look like they were having fun. Come on! Why would you pay for a ticket to a concert and hear live music, just to go there and seem uninterested? Get up, dance, sing at the top of your lungs! That's what it's all about! Don't sit there and force the people next to you to stand sideways so their butt isn't in your face. (That's what I had to do, stand sideways so I wasn't getting in the face of the lady next to me...in case you're wondering.)

After experiencing the lamest crowd I have ever seen in my life, I have decided to make more of a conscious effort to live in the moment; enjoy the company of those around me, instead of escaping to my cellphone and trying to include people that aren't there; and be all over more invested in what I'm doing, hearing or seeing. I encourage you to do the same.