Today is the greatest day I've ever known

Imagine the perfect concert experience:

Your favorite band.
Front and center seat.
Favorite songs played.
Amazing lightshow with a giant psychadelic globe.
Great crowd.
Lead singer ackowledges your existence.

This happened to me on Wednesday, 10 October 2012.

I traveled via bus alone to Everett, Washington to see my favorite band of all time: The Smashing Pumpkins.

No sir, this is not zoomed in.

You may not recognize their name. But listen to this song, this song, or this song and you may have heard them on the radio once or twice.

The setlist was amazing. The opening band got us jazzed up real good.

Billy Corgan (lead singer: man who kept me alive through his lyrics for much of my angsty teenage years; lyrical god) had some commentary in between songs (such as "without beautiful women there wouldn't be ugly men" and "Part B of my life is Part A in this set; Part A in my life is Part B of this set") to which, us fans of course, cheered at his wisdom.

At the end of the show, I was staring at Billy as he was saying goodbye to the crowd and put my hands in a pleading position with big puppy dog eyes... and he smiled, nodded, and tossed his guitar pick to me, which has since been tucked away until I can find the perfect display case for it.

Excuse the post-concert hair. Headbanging is vicious.

Then on the 7 hour bus ride home, I started showing symptoms of the flu and have been in bed since I got back.

And thus, I completed #52 on my 101 in 1001 list with the best band I've ever known.