My friend called in and won tickets on the radio to see a rock show in Anchorage, Alaska by answering the cheeky question "What color is a red light?"
After she won the two tickets instead of thanking the radio station, she asked if she could have two more to bring all of her friends. (Only she would be brave enough to do that!) After a brief hesitation they granted her wish.
That show was for a band called The Posies. We knew they had put out a record called Failure some years before but we did not know they had put out any records since then. When she first told me I was going to this show with her, I must admit I thought she meant the band who wrote that Monkey song, but after a while I figured out it was that band who wrote that I may hate you sometimes song off of my favorite mixed tape.
Since I had not really gone out because my daughter had only just turned 1 year old the day before, I was quite hesitant to go to the show. I never really did the rock show thing at that point. I was way more into going to goth night at dance clubs. (That statement makes me laugh now, because you could not drag me into a goth dance club and rock shows are my life! Funny how things change.) After much convincing on my friends part I gave in. She did almost get in an accident trying to get home to her phone to try to win tickets after all! (This was a little before everyone had cell phones in their cars. heck, this was nearly before regular/non techi people had the Internet!)
I got my dad to agree to watch my daughter and my group of 4 mommy friends got all dressed up and went to the show. It was like Mommy and Me goes rock-n-roll! Three of us had children under 2 and the 4th, our friend who won the tickets, her daughter (My daughter's half sister) was almost 5. Got it? Good.
The club we went to was a place called Gigs music club in Anchorage. It was an all ages club that had a designated beer garden style area upstairs.
The ladies wanted to go up to the beer garden to avoid the overwhelming amount of crazy teens there. I don't think I had ever seen that place so packed before or since. I was told later the show had been sold out. They had a three night stint there and this was day #2 the next night was supposed to be a strictly 21 and over show.
My friend who won the tickets and I were stopped dead in our tracks when we saw someone that we thought momentarily could have been the jerk of an ex that we had in common (The reason our daughters are half sisters) Upon closer investigation, it was not him, it was one of the band members. (Later we found out his name was Ken.)
A few minutes later she spotted another boy talking to the ex's doppleganger, but this one she fancied. We could tell was not anyone from our tiny town (As we knew all of the cute boys) His name was Brian. She didn't talk to him, but was able to figure out he was in the band.
The rush down to the stage started a few minutes later and we went down to secure our spots. The place was packed. The only standing room was all the way in the back or the little "secured area" to the side of the stage. This venue also had these huge monitors that were the size of a table top sitting in the front of the stage. My friend grabbed my hand and worked our way up to the secure area on the side of the stage. Security was a little lax here so no one harassed us (It was Alaska after all!) The band got on stage and started playing. We were on the side of the stage where this cute boy with purple hair was playing. He looked like a purple haired Antonio Banderas. We also noticed he was wearing a wedding ring almost immediately so the fact he was cute mattered not. One of my friends, determined to get a better view of the drummer decided she was going to climb up on one of the big speakers and start dancing. There was plenty of room, you could have easily fit two people on them, and moments later my other two friend proved this by jumping on the other speakers on Ken's side of the stage.
Seeing as I am not the worlds biggest exhibitionist, I sort of ducked back to the side of the stage and watched my friends get their boogie on. The band was rocking out and jumping all over the small stage. Jon was flinging his guitar chord all over the place, which was quite a bit longer than he needed for this sized stage. The next thing I know it flings out and whips me right across the face! He saw what he did and looked me in the eye with a really horrified apologetic look. I just shrugged it off and he kept rocking.
A few more songs later my crazy friend grabbed my hand and pulled me up on her speaker. I figured they had been doing it for the whole show I could at least take a chance and give it a go. Of course the minute I get up on the speaker the next song is REALLY slow! (I found out later it was a song called Coming Right Along) MAN ALIVE this song was slow, so I busted out with the serious slow moving Goth moves! Oh yes! Contorted body and flailing hands, the whole nine. Thank God my friend dancing next to me was the same, so it was dandy. If you are familiar with this song you might also know that it lasts like 10 minutes, or at least that is what it felt like when I was trying to dance on that speaker! By the time the ended the song, I was ready to get back on the floor. The guys left stage, came back for an encore and then disappeared down the hall to the side of the stage where I got hit in the face. At the end of the hall there appeared to be some kind of small greenroom area. My friend, determined to investigate the drummer situation a little more thoroughly looked at me and said, "Wait here a minute!" and took off down the hall and disappeared into the small room.
I stood there waiting, at this point a little annoyed because I had already been away from my baby longer than I ever had, and I think I was still feeling a little conspicuous due to the silly speaker dancing and just the fact that I was still not completely used to my body since having a baby. (I never really had boobs before and at this point I was a nursing mom and I was sporting quite a top heavy look if you know what I mean! Another thing I have totally embraced over the years but made me feel very self-conscious at barely 21.) So I was just generally uncomfortable. As I stood there staring down the hall getting increasingly annoyed, the guy who looked too much like my ex came up to me and said, "Hello, hold this for me!" and handed me a large Slurpie cup. I took the cup more out of shock than anything and stood there while he vanished into that back room as well. I looked in the cup and realized it was full of beer. I hate beer, so it would do me no good, not to mention the fact this was an all ages show and this was not the designated beer area. The last thing I needed was to get thrown out of the first club I went to after turning 21 for having beer in an all ages show. I don't know if it was the fact that he reminded me of the ex or the fact I was just on crazy postpartum hormones, or that I got smacked in the face that night but I was over it.
I stood there fuming when I caught a glimpse of purple hair, I grabbed his arm and he turned around, I said, "Hey, this belongs to your friend, will you take it please?!"
He said, "Oh, hey, I wanted to talk to you! I am so sorry for hitting you with the cord..."
We chatted for a bit. I don't really remember what was said, but I remember this distinct feeling of being pulled in, sort of like being hypnotized. That is the only way to describe it. I was having an internal monologue about the fact that I could not be interested in this guy because he was married, but there was undeniable chemistry while talking to him. I could literally feel something in the world shift. The night progressed and there was a lot more talking and hanging out. One night turned into the next four days, it was all very innocent though.
It was still several months down the road before we even kissed for the first time, but that moment, on the side of the stage at a rock club in Anchorage, Alaska that no longer exists, over a Slurpie cup full of beer that was not ours is when we locked eyes and spoke for the first time and the rest is history. (A long drawn out history with years of craziness, ups and downs, distance, doubt, questions, silence, other relationships, music....)
That moment ten years ago was the first paragraph on the first page of the history of us.
Angelita - Jon Auer SFTYOOD:
"It was a beautiful sight
all in the blink of an eye
like at the end of the night
when the darkness turns to light.
With the promise to be
You kept it burning for me
Like the sun in July
when it hurts too much to see...
You were the only one who knew all of the hell I put you through
you were the tested tried and true...
Angelita
You were the only pair of eyes clear enough to recognize
you were the first to realize
Angelita
I kept you hidden away
seven years to the day
The 27th of May...
You were beautiful then
you're astonishing now
as much as life will allow...
Angelita
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Oh Idaho...
Boise was pretty cool, of course the best part was getting some serious quality time with my man, but there were other highlights!
It was fun being in another state and having all of The Posie women together. Dom was feeling a little under the weather, but she was hanging in there like a trooper and Christine was being her normal sparkly self.
The flight there was uber bumpy, but there was a nice guy seated next to me who chatted me up and kept my mind off of the fact that I was fearing a little for my life. I don't recall having a lot of experience with small planes. At least this one was a small jet unlike the prop plane on the return trip. Never again!
I arrived and the weather was stunning. The town looked sleepy and every third person I ran in to had to ask me some ridiculous question about my hair. "Is that permanent? Is that real? Where did you get that done? Do you do it yourself?"
Or else random compliments that were delivered in a tone that said to me they were surprised they liked it,
"Wow! I REALLY like your hair color! It looks really good on you!"
OK, I know I can't give an example of the tone that these were people were using but the best example I can come up with is imagine the above sentence being delivered as sincerely as a person might say
"That third nipple in the middle of your forehead is surprisingly attractive!"
and I think you will get what I am saying. I started to feel quite self-conscious by the time I checked in the hotel.
The Hotel was great, all of the cab drivers were super chatty and sweet. No scary revisit to Boston cabs.
We were in Darius' home town so we were treated to the best dinner at his mom's place. There was Indian food galore. The place was full of like 20 of his family friends. It was awesome! They have such a beautiful house as well!
After dinner we went back to the hotel for a little down time together before Jon had to go play his show. We hung out and caught up and stuff and then when we got the call we wandered across the street for the show.
They were playing with a band that night called Hopewell which I suggest any Posies fan check out. I really liked what they had going on. Cool music. they were doing a spot on Bowie cover when we arrived. The music was very cool. I wish they were playing the Seattle shows because I think they would have done quite well here! I will be looking them up on Myspace and adding them ASAP! (You should too!)
The venue was weird, it was like a mall of bars or something. The stage was blocked by this big pole so you really had a skewed view unless you stood right in front. The building was also hosting a class of 1985 reunion that night Shelby and I were having fun people watching and trying to figure out who each person was in High School. For a moment i toyed with the idea of going down and grabbing an unused name tag and pretending I was the foreign exchange student that no one remembered. See if anyone pretended to know me, I bet they would! But I figured I would not quite fit in the class of 1985 just yet, I was the class of 1992 after all!
When we arrived at the club, Jon left to the restroom and I was immediately accosted by this couple that were so excited by the color of my hair they thought it gave them licence to hug me not once, not twice but three times, one being a sandwich hug! I kid you not! I just thanked them and ran off as quickly as possible. They seemed nice enough, but I am just not a big fan of unsolicited touching. Maybe I didn't get hugged enough as a child or something? Whatever the reason, hugs from friends, fine and dandy, sandwich hugs from random strange couples, no thank you! I am not that kind of girl!
The run down of the show itself:
The number or people who paid: I would guess around 30
The number of people who wandered in from the reunion: around 25
The number of sandwich hugs I received: 1
The number of people who told me they think the singer guy likes me: 4
The number of people I said "I hope so since I am married to him": 3
The number of people who asked about my hair color: I stopped counting
The number of times I considered dying it black that night: At least 6
The number of songs played: 13?
The number of times Matt walked off and I wondered if he was coming back: 1
The number of Oranger fans that showed up and were upset there was no Oranger: 8
The number of encore songs: 3
The number of fans there named Mary: 1
The number of picks Jon gave away: about 5
The number of people Mary made kiss Jon's pick: 3
The number of people who told her no: 1
The number of times I thought she might faint when Jon looked at her while singing Suddenly Mary: 4
The number of girl fights: 1 (and I missed it!)
The next day we wandered around and found out the city is pretty much a ghost town and every place there closes on Sunday. We ended up going to the mall and doing a little shopping but more hanging out together.
All in all it was a fun trip!
Now I am gearing up for my very Posies week...
It was fun being in another state and having all of The Posie women together. Dom was feeling a little under the weather, but she was hanging in there like a trooper and Christine was being her normal sparkly self.
The flight there was uber bumpy, but there was a nice guy seated next to me who chatted me up and kept my mind off of the fact that I was fearing a little for my life. I don't recall having a lot of experience with small planes. At least this one was a small jet unlike the prop plane on the return trip. Never again!
I arrived and the weather was stunning. The town looked sleepy and every third person I ran in to had to ask me some ridiculous question about my hair. "Is that permanent? Is that real? Where did you get that done? Do you do it yourself?"
Or else random compliments that were delivered in a tone that said to me they were surprised they liked it,
"Wow! I REALLY like your hair color! It looks really good on you!"
OK, I know I can't give an example of the tone that these were people were using but the best example I can come up with is imagine the above sentence being delivered as sincerely as a person might say
"That third nipple in the middle of your forehead is surprisingly attractive!"
and I think you will get what I am saying. I started to feel quite self-conscious by the time I checked in the hotel.
The Hotel was great, all of the cab drivers were super chatty and sweet. No scary revisit to Boston cabs.
We were in Darius' home town so we were treated to the best dinner at his mom's place. There was Indian food galore. The place was full of like 20 of his family friends. It was awesome! They have such a beautiful house as well!
After dinner we went back to the hotel for a little down time together before Jon had to go play his show. We hung out and caught up and stuff and then when we got the call we wandered across the street for the show.
They were playing with a band that night called Hopewell which I suggest any Posies fan check out. I really liked what they had going on. Cool music. they were doing a spot on Bowie cover when we arrived. The music was very cool. I wish they were playing the Seattle shows because I think they would have done quite well here! I will be looking them up on Myspace and adding them ASAP! (You should too!)
The venue was weird, it was like a mall of bars or something. The stage was blocked by this big pole so you really had a skewed view unless you stood right in front. The building was also hosting a class of 1985 reunion that night Shelby and I were having fun people watching and trying to figure out who each person was in High School. For a moment i toyed with the idea of going down and grabbing an unused name tag and pretending I was the foreign exchange student that no one remembered. See if anyone pretended to know me, I bet they would! But I figured I would not quite fit in the class of 1985 just yet, I was the class of 1992 after all!
When we arrived at the club, Jon left to the restroom and I was immediately accosted by this couple that were so excited by the color of my hair they thought it gave them licence to hug me not once, not twice but three times, one being a sandwich hug! I kid you not! I just thanked them and ran off as quickly as possible. They seemed nice enough, but I am just not a big fan of unsolicited touching. Maybe I didn't get hugged enough as a child or something? Whatever the reason, hugs from friends, fine and dandy, sandwich hugs from random strange couples, no thank you! I am not that kind of girl!
The run down of the show itself:
The number or people who paid: I would guess around 30
The number of people who wandered in from the reunion: around 25
The number of sandwich hugs I received: 1
The number of people who told me they think the singer guy likes me: 4
The number of people I said "I hope so since I am married to him": 3
The number of people who asked about my hair color: I stopped counting
The number of times I considered dying it black that night: At least 6
The number of songs played: 13?
The number of times Matt walked off and I wondered if he was coming back: 1
The number of Oranger fans that showed up and were upset there was no Oranger: 8
The number of encore songs: 3
The number of fans there named Mary: 1
The number of picks Jon gave away: about 5
The number of people Mary made kiss Jon's pick: 3
The number of people who told her no: 1
The number of times I thought she might faint when Jon looked at her while singing Suddenly Mary: 4
The number of girl fights: 1 (and I missed it!)
The next day we wandered around and found out the city is pretty much a ghost town and every place there closes on Sunday. We ended up going to the mall and doing a little shopping but more hanging out together.
All in all it was a fun trip!
Now I am gearing up for my very Posies week...
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Boise or Bust!
Jon wants me to go to Boise still. He doesn't care what it costs. I have a ticket reserved that he will pay for by midnight tonight. I woke up this morning and the glands on my neck are swollen, I think my cold has morphed into something worse like an inner ear infection. I feel like my ears have water in them. My doctor won't be able to see me till monday, he told me to go to some US Healthcare place which to me sounds like the equivalent to McDonalds doctor.
I am trying to decide if I just tell Jon, I am sorry, I must stay home as I am afraid my ears will 'splode on a airplane right now or just hope the swelling in my left neck gland is gone by Saturday afternoon.
Jeannine saved me by agreeing to play mommy for me for the night. I love her and owe her bigtime for this!
I am trying to decide if I just tell Jon, I am sorry, I must stay home as I am afraid my ears will 'splode on a airplane right now or just hope the swelling in my left neck gland is gone by Saturday afternoon.
Jeannine saved me by agreeing to play mommy for me for the night. I love her and owe her bigtime for this!
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
inspiration...
I want to taste the world
before it slips away
and play with things
before they break
and show you things
you've never seen
and watch your eyes
in the reflection of all new things
Would you taste like imagination?
or memory?
or bits of broken everything?
Because I saw what could have been,
and stopped before it ever was,
it never was
it never was...
Your shadow makes me lonely
and my secrets kept you safe.
Expression and excess turning to exasperation.
I've swallowed what you never taught me.
All I see is borrowed time
and these ghosts that follow me.
Let me play the advocate
and you can be the treason.
Divide me
times three
to find one whole person standing.
before it slips away
and play with things
before they break
and show you things
you've never seen
and watch your eyes
in the reflection of all new things
Would you taste like imagination?
or memory?
or bits of broken everything?
Because I saw what could have been,
and stopped before it ever was,
it never was
it never was...
Your shadow makes me lonely
and my secrets kept you safe.
Expression and excess turning to exasperation.
I've swallowed what you never taught me.
All I see is borrowed time
and these ghosts that follow me.
Let me play the advocate
and you can be the treason.
Divide me
times three
to find one whole person standing.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Silliness on the bus...
There I was, standing at the bus stop waiting for my ride home. The bus pulls up. I wait for the people who are getting off to exit so I can get on the bus.
The first guy gets off the bus and says, "I love your hair!"
I say, "Thank you!"
The next guy gets off the bus and says, "Wow! Your hair is really cool."
A few more people exit without incident.
Then the last guy gets off, looks at me and smiles and says, "Wow! I LOVE your hair! Now you better try not to burn the whole world down!"
I said, "I will do my best!"
What I want to know is what is it about my bright red hair that screams I am a pyromaniac?
The first guy gets off the bus and says, "I love your hair!"
I say, "Thank you!"
The next guy gets off the bus and says, "Wow! Your hair is really cool."
A few more people exit without incident.
Then the last guy gets off, looks at me and smiles and says, "Wow! I LOVE your hair! Now you better try not to burn the whole world down!"
I said, "I will do my best!"
What I want to know is what is it about my bright red hair that screams I am a pyromaniac?
Friday, October 07, 2005
Guitar go boom!
Jon just called me and told me he accidentally totalled his guitar, just happens to be the guitar I gave him for Christmas last year. He said he threw it up, he went to catch it and missed, it hit the floor and he thought, "Oh god, my wife is going to kill me." So he decided since it was already broke, he would go all rock star on it and obliterate it.
Oh well, boys will be boys. Maybe next Christmas I will buy him a neck tie.
Epiphone RIP
2004-2005
Oh well, boys will be boys. Maybe next Christmas I will buy him a neck tie.
Epiphone RIP
2004-2005
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Some of the photos from the road.
After the NJ show watching the merch booth.
Jon and the doggie at NYCD
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Swoon...
Jon called me last night from the show and held the phone up so I could hear Lou Barlow sing Legendary. Swoon. I love that guy! (and I love Lou too!)
Today The Posies will be staying at my dad's place after the show.
Today The Posies will be staying at my dad's place after the show.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Sunday, October 02, 2005
My Posies tour- One day at a time...
Wow- The last five days are going to be really hard to write about because it felt like we squeezed in five weeks in that short time frame.
Day 1-
Arrived in NYC early in the morning. Got to the hotel and found out that check in time was not until 3PM (It was 7AM) we had requested early check in but there was nothing available yet. They suggested that I leave my luggage up in the closet and check out the neighborhood. I decided I would change and then give up my bags and head to a nearby diner that looked promising.
After beautifying a little I went to the diner. A lot of suits there on their cell phones eating alone. I was feeling quite conspicuous with my bright red hair and sparkly scarf.
I sat down at a kitchy little booth and started looking over the menu. A man walks up and leans in and says, "Here, breakfast is on me." and hands me a gift certificate for this place. I say- Wow! Thanks! and he vanishes.
The waitress comes up and informs me that this paper will get me anything on the menu and a coffe and OJ. She says, "What a nice man!" I say, "Indeed!"
I have an omlette toast OJ coffee and leave a huge tip. Welcome to NYC!
I then set out on checking out every store on our block, figuring out the best places to shop when Jon gets to town, pinpoint all of the nearest espresso serving coffee joints for the next morning and a nearby bakery to get Jon a piece of birthday cake the next morning.
I check back in with the hotel, still no room open. Bah! So I decide I am going to get my nails done. This was a BRILLIANT idea! I go to this place and get the best manicure I have ever had. they soak my hands in real rose petals and spring water. I get a hot towel treatment and while I am sitting at the dryer she gives me a full neck and shoulders rub!!! All for the measly price of $8!!! Seattle could learn a thing or two from NY!
Try the hotel one more time, the nice lady at the desk does have a room for me! Yay! I am so happy!
Jon checks in by phone, tells me to take a nap and then go to the venue to meet him around 6PM I think this is a fine idea. I decide to take a bath first. I strip down and am jamming to the MTV tunes. I am dancing around my little room when I realize there is a small crowd forming at the window directly across from mine in the next tall building. I guess dancing around naked on the 25th floor didn't seem like a problem to me. Well, that was a mistake. I was in NY for 5 hours and I already managed to flash at least 6 unsuspecting business men! EEK! I closed the shades and took my bath and fell straight to sleep.
When I got up and got ready for the show, I went to the front desk and asked them about getting a decent priced cab to take me to New Jersey. They set me up with a $40 town car. Nothing like cruising through the big city in a little limo! Woohoo! I felt like rock royalty. (It doesn't take much to get me excited)
Jon was standing outside waiting for me to arrive. I planted big old kisses on him and we went inside. Maxwells was a super cute little bar/club. Pretty small, but totally kitschy. I was told the first ever baseball game was held outside the club. interesting. The place seemed to have a lot of history.
They served me a fantastic grilled cheese sandwich and fries. Nummy! They were not even on the menu, they made them up special for me.
Then we went down to TBD Tunes for an in store. It was a really cool little venue all painted silver. They sang without mics and played acoustic guitars. I was blown away. It has been a long time since I have heard them like that. I was so impressed I almost got choked up. (It was probably the jet lag) They played about a half dozen songs and plugged the show and new record. We hung out for a while, got some CD's and then headed back to the venue. I insisted we got a cab since the hike to the CD store was a lot longer than my 4 inch heals were going to replay after walking all over the city that day already and only getting about 3 hours of sleep. It was a $5 cab ride so I was cool with it.
I love the Deathray Davies! They have been opening this leg of the tour and were such a fun band! Their songs are super catchy and they are so cute! Much love for these texas boys, you must check them out sometime. I know they are on myspace! http://www.deathraydavies.com/
Next was Oranger (http://www.oranger.net/ also on myspace). I have never seen them live and was very much looking forward to it since I have known Matt for a while now and I really like the CD. This venue was a little small for them as they seemed a little loud for me, but I have to say I was impressed with Matts vocal abilities as I never really heard him sing until these shows. Also a cute band and totally good mesh with The Posies. Really they had a perfect bill with these three bands traveling together!
I only caught a few songs of each set this particular night because I was so tired and there was no place to sit in the band room. Jon and I snacked on french fries and many people were buying us drinks. I was ingesting many stoli vanilla cokes. Yum.
The place was damn near filled to capacity by the time the guys went on stage. Ken convinced me it was a good idea to run the merch table. I said only if I got a chair out of the deal which Jon arranged. I was happpy to see that when the guys played songs off of older records people would come up and ask me what record it was of of and see if they could buy that one! Yay! Too bad the stuff from the Geffen days wasn't available. Told them to check out Best Buy.
Sold a few shirts and CDs. I got to meet Ian and his wife Cait in person. They are such a pretty couple. We didn't get much of a chance to talk this particular night, but I totally chatted them up the next night. Hopefully they will be coming to Seattle soon for a visit! Yay! More on them later...
They sang Happy Birthday to Jon right after midnight and we snuck out shortly after the show to go back to the hotel and passed out. Oh beautiful sleep! How I love thee!
Day 2-
Jon's official birthday! I woke up earlier than Jon and got dressed and out the door before he was up. I went to Starbucks and then to the Bakery to pick up a slice of cake for the boy. I brought this all back to the room and woke him up and said Happy Birthday!
He was a little bleary eyed but smiled and worked his way out of bed. I waited for him to shower and get dressed. We drank our coffee and shared the cake and headed out. We revisited the diner that I had been to the morning before and ate lunch. I ordered a burger this time. The thing was the size of my head! I could only eat half. Jon had a very nice looking BLT.
After filling ourselves up I took Jon to see the store that sold designer men's shirts for under $5. It was some form of close out store and on the same block as our hotel. We found some great shirts for Jon as well as picked out some really fun ties. I have one favorite in particular, it is a tie that looks like a peppermint. I will post a photo of it soon!
We then traveled down to a shoe store where Jon bought a new pair of black converse with red stitching. Super cool. and then to my new favorite store: H&M. I bought some pretty cute stuff that I will have to break in at upcoming Posies shows.
By the time I made my final purchase at H&M we had to get to the Bowery Ballroom for load in and sound check and then off to NYCD for an in-store. The Bowery folks were nice enough to reserve a table for the show, so I once again managed to avoid having to stand in my very high heels.
We had some time before the in-store and Ken said he was going to find coffee. I told him I would go with him. We ended up walking REALLY far and only finding a Starbucks. Ken didn't want to drink their "burnt" coffee. (I tend to feel the same way, but noticed Starbucks was the only espresso choice many times in NYC) I finally told Ken that I was not going to keep looking and I was heading back to Starbucks, burnt or not. He gave in and went with me. We picked up the coffee for Matt, Joe and tea for Jon and headed back. Ken wanted to stop off at a wine store and pick up a nice bottle of champagne to toast Jon's birthday with. Then we went back.
We grabbed a cab to NYCD. It was a pretty long trek and our cab driver apparently just got his license. I was writing my last will and testament in my head as we were narrowly escaping death over and over again as he cut across roads and so on.
We got to NYCD and the place was quite packed. There was even a very large dog in attendance that ken kept going on about. The dog was loving all of the audience attention. Jon made a joke about how the second they started playing the dog was trying to head out the door. Too funny. We got more CD's and I got to meet the owners, very nice people. We had to take off to make the Ryko dinner at a place called Mexican Radio. (I had that song stuck in my head for 12 hours at least due to the unfortunate name of this place!)
We got there and they were serving the best Sangria I have had in a while followed by pitchers of margaritas! I started with two glasses of the Sangria and matched that with two and a half glasses of margarita while nibbling on a very salty chicken enchilada. needless to say by the time we finally arrived at the show I was already pretty toasty.
The show started up and everyone was having a great time. I went up to the dressing room to find a computer so I could send a little happy birthday greeting to my friend Chris. and then Jon checked his email. Our old friend Sean Haskins showed up and I got to catch up with him a bit. It was great seeing him! I love that guy!
Then it was time for The Posies to go on. I went up to the reserved seats for the first half of the show. The set was tight and I was a lot more awake than the night before. The crowd was a pretty good size and everyone seemed to be having fun. People kept buying Jon shots for his birthday but he has sworn off the hard stuff on this tour to save his voice. He is a strictly white wine guy right now.
At the halfway point the guys got on the floor to play a few rockers, I decided to go down to the front of the stage at that point. Everyone was dancing around and stuff. Great fun. The guys decided they wanted everyone to get up on stage for the last song. Jon insisted that I get up. Trust me, nothing sounded better than bouncing around in high heels after walking around all day! (sarcasm intended there) But when Jon said "It's my birthday!" I had to give in. How could I say no to my boo? So up on stage I went with about 15 other people. as soon as they started playing and everyone started bouncing around I managed to sneak to the back and watch from just off stage. Joe gave me Jon's guitar to give him for the changeover. At the end of the song I brought his guitar he gave me a big kiss. Awwwww....
After the show I got to talk to Ian and Cait more. I was already pretty tipsy and they made the mistake of asking how Jon and I met. Man is that a long story and they managed to stay awake through the whole thing! (kidding) they were actually super sweet about it and both got really excited about it and said it was a great story which made me even more warm and fuzzy. We chatted about all sorts of stuff and it ended in me inviting them to come stay with us in November. I hope they come! I love them! Cutest couple ever! (Ian is also a fantastic musician, I will have to find a web addy for him and post it so people can hear samples!) *edit* http://www.myspace.com/ianmcglynn
Ken gathered everyone over at the merch booth where Jon was winning salesman of the year awards. Then he ran and got the fancy champagne he bought and passed out teeny glasses full to everyone to make sure they had enough to go around. he poured Jon, myself and himself pretty good size cups full though and then he made a very sweet happy birthday toast to Jon and said, "We have now officially known each other for 23 years!" Jon looked very moved and he gave Ken a big kiss on the mouth and they said happy birthday!. It was really pretty moving, too bad I had run out of film in my camera!
The champagne pretty much was the last thing I could consume for the night. I can't be held responsible for anything that came out of my mouth at that point. Luckily Jon was smart enough to get me out of there and back to the hotel. I was having giggle fits in the cab back and at some point around 4AM I thought it was a good idea to try to find an Internet connection. Instead I just sent drunken texts to Jeannine and passed out shortly after. No more tequila for me!
Day 3-
I woke up early with a fantastic hangover. I slipped out before Jon woke up again under the guise of “getting coffee” I thought the Macy’s next door opened at 9AM so I was out the door by 9:30. I wandered over to Macy’s and was very sad to find out they didn’t open until 10AM so I decided to go to H&M one last time (twist my arm) I tried on a few things that I didn’t the morning before and found two great tops and a bunch of really cute socks in fall colors.
I wandered over to Macy’s when they opened. I picked up the Ralph Lauren Silver cologne that Jon loves. They had a special going where I got the spray, aftershave and deodorant as well as a free Ralph Lauren travel bag. I had them wrap it and brought it back to the hotel with a couple of Lattes, vanilla for me Soy for Jon. He woke up to gifts being spilled on him. He seemed delighted.
We got our stuff together and headed out. We had to meet the rest of the guys at their hotel about 6 blocks away.
We hung out and waited for the guys to show up, one by one they filed into the hotel all looking not quite awake. Then Joe pulled up outside with the van and trailer. I was pretty impressed that he was driving that thing through the city! I would have never been able to do it! They were getting things situated and we all ran down to the hot dog vendor for breakfast. Yummy.
We were off, on our way to Northampton, MA. It was a beautiful drive, lots of great East coast scenery. I would say it was about two hours but I wasn’t really watching the clock so I could not tell you for sure. I napped a little and just watched out the window the rest of the way.
As we rolled into town I could not help but notice what a picturesque place it was. Very ideal in a lot of ways. I had to giggle when I realized we were driving down Pleasant Street and every other place was called Pleasant Market or Pleasant Deli and so on.
When we arrived at B-side records everyone woke up and poured out of the car. The guys there were super sweet and very welcoming; they gave us all t-shirts right away. (In fact I am wearing mine as I type this!) It was going to be a little while before they did the in-store, so I decided to take a wander down the ideal streets to get a feel for the place.
I went into quite a few little stores, picked up some coffee and then wandered into a store called Faces. I loved this store, it was a cross between Urban Outfitters and H&M but super inexpensive. I bought a great top and sweater that I ended up wearing to the show that night.
Jon called my cell to ask where I had wandered off to and told me they were about to play so I went back up the street and found my way back into the store. It was another remarkable acoustic set by the guys.
After the set Jon and I wandered through this idyllic town. We went from store to store, perusing clothes, books, shoes, jewelry and so on. Jon bought me a couple of really adorable scarves and a pair of earrings. We decided to try out a Tibetan food place as neither of us ever had Tibetan food before. We had chicken curry and a plate of dumplings. Everything was very clean tasting and really salt free, delicious. The dumplings were the best. They are something that I am sure I will find myself craving at some point. I guess I will have to see if there is a Tibetan food joint in Seattle someplace!
We decided it was time to head down to the show. I was getting pretty sleepy since I was still sporting a bit of a hangover from the tequila fest in NY the night before. I thought it would be best if I didn’t drink too much at this show. Jon bought me a Malibu and pineapple juice. That was a perfect chaser for the Tibetan dinner. We watched the Deathray Davies put on a great show and then Oranger went on stage. Jon told me he had to go do an interview so he left me at the bar with a fresh drink. Before he left he introduced me to the kind folks we would be staying with that eve. Ilyssa made sure to warn me that they had 4 Dobermans. But they seemed nice enough and I was certain that any dogs they had would be of the sweet variety so I was not worried. About half way through the Oranger set I decided I had to go outside to let the cold air wake me up a bit. I have never been happier there was an early curfew on a show.
I went outside and walked around the block. The temperature had really dropped. I was very happy I had purchased the cozy New England sweater earlier that day and decided to wear it!
I didn’t see Jon anywhere, I figured they must have gone to a coffee shop to do the interview. I went back to the club and ran into the singer Dethray Davies. He was sporting his hat and glasses that eve and I told him he had a Ben Folds thing going on. He was very sweet. We ended up gabbing about our significant others. Turns out he is happily married as well so we exchanged out “stories” the second time in two days I got to tell Jon’s and mine. I really enjoyed hearing about his as well. Don’t believe the hype people, there are happily married people in rock!
When I saw the Oranger guys coming outside I knew it was time to go back in and catch The Posies. They played a very short set. The club was right across the street from the local police HQ so they had a very strict curfew/sound ordinance.
After the show was over the guys went outside to sell the merch from the back of their truck. Apparently the club wanted a percentage if they sold it inside. Too bad it was freezing outside and the guys were wet with sweat! I brought Jon’s coat out to him and dug his scarf that I made for him out of my bag and wrapped him up so he didn’t get sick. There they were hawking their wears in the dark from the street. (I got photos to prove it)
We packed up and made our way up to Kurt and Illysa’s place, or at least we started to but Ken noticed his bag was missing. It turned out it was packed up in one of the other bands things. We tracked it down and went to the hotel to retrieve it. After our late start we finally hit the road. The drive was a little scary and dark with big trucks that didn’t like sharing the road, but we made it to our hosts place in one piece.
Their place was something straight out of a bed and breakfast catalog. They had even set aside a beautiful little room with a big fluffy bed for Jon and me to have all to ourselves. It was perfect and we both slept so well. I could have probably stayed in that bed for a week!
Day 4:
Woke up the next morning to a picturesque New England landscape. I was the first one up. I could not believe how it went from freezing to BEAUTIFUL in such a short span of time. The sun was beaming the place smelled of bacon and fresh brewed coffee. Sigh. It was totally vacation!
I got up and wandered out in my Powerpuff Girl PJ's and poured myself a cup of coffee. I found our host slaving over bacon and huge slices of French toast. I went outside to investigate the area a little more as it was pitch black when we rolled in the night before. They had the cutest painted pony that I paid a little visit to. So here I am, in my PJ's and slippers sipping coffee and petting a painted pony, not very Rock-n-roll but very cool nonetheless!
The rest of the guys wandered out not long after and we all took our turns checking email and taking showers. It was a truly rejuvenating experience. I kept telling them they needed to turn the place into a bed and breakfast. They totally could, but I guess it would be sort of weird having strange people stomping through your house all of the time. Regardless, I am grateful for their hospitality and hope we can take them up on their offer to visit again someday!
After my shower and third cup of coffee we all got in the van and hit the road. It was about a half hour drive before we rolled into Cambridge. I was expecting more from this prticulr city, especially after experiencing the beauty of North Hampton the day before, but I was very disappointed. I found the city to be ugly and dirty and not very friendly.
The first thing that happened was we got out of the van and stumbled right in the middle of a screaming match between what looked like a homeless guy and an Asian woman yelling at him in broken English about how she gave him food and then he came back and hit her friend? I didn't know what to think of it. Once we established that it had nothing to do with the club and the guys opened the back door for load in, i wandered inside to check the place out. The Middle East seemed like any other club in the daytime. Empty and smelling of stale smoke and beer. It had a nice look to it though and seemed to have a pretty decent sized room.
After doing my initial walk through I decided I would head down the street for my usual "check out the local stores/colour" walking tour that had been doing in the other cities. I step out the door and head down the street when Jon yells at me to "Get back inside."
I looked at him and asked, "What?" As my husband is not one to order me around I was pretty confused by his sudden command.
He told me again, "Get back inside now, go in and wait for me!"
Something in the tone of his voice told me I had better listen, but I also thought he better have a really good explanation for talking to me like that.
Well he did. No sooner did I get inside the club did he cell on my cell phone and explain that the guy who was fighting with the Asian lady when we arrived has started talking to the guys. He was hovering around or something and the guys asked him to take a hike. I guess as he was wandering and not leaving he pulled out a huge hunting knife. Darius called the police and the guy was quickly picked up. Jon just didn't want me wandering out there until the guy was picked up.
Once Mr Personality was taken away I got the green light to go check out the hood, so I did. The stores were dirty and unkempt. They had a thrift store which I noticed on the ride in and was pretty excited about checking out, but it was more like a shelter exchange than a thrift store. I didn't find anything there I would want to buy. One would think that being a college town there would be more, but really it was pretty scary. There was a shouting, spitting, or mumbling to themselves crazy person on every block! I made it about 4 blocks down the street before I decided it was not a neighborhood I wanted to be wandering around in on my own. So I went back to the club.
Seems I got back just in time because they had just served up Humus and Falafel and Pita, Yum! I snacked and then watched Sound check. The sound guy seemed really on task. he took a lot of time making sure the vocals were on top of the guitar sounds. I was impressed by how he seemed to take his job very seriously. It was a pretty live room, so it was good to see him taking his time.
After sound check Jon and I went out into the neighborhood for a little wander. We came across one store I missed on my initial investigation which turned into the only store we purchased anything in. I have a real weakness for cheap dangley earrings and sparkly scarves which this store had in spades. Jon bought me some goodies and a shirt for himself and then we went to find coffee. Starbucks again, and again it was WAY too hot and not done well. I swore that I would write a letter to Starbucks corporate office when I got home demanding a refund for all of the burnt Lattes I had on the East Coast. I still might. What a waste!
We took a short nap in the van and headed in to watch the Deathray Davies as it was their last show. Near the end of their set everyone got on stage and they had a 3 band Jam. The guys were hanging from the rafters (Literally!) It was pretty funny. The same thing repeated for the Oranger set as well as the Posies set.
This particular Posies set was probably the liveliest/craziest of the bunch that I saw of this leg of the tour. The guys literally trashed the stage and then Joe got it set back up so they could trash it all over again. There were several time where the guys defaulted to using Matt's Mic because they had knocked theirs into oblivion. They never missed a beat, and it was seriously some pretty amazing balls out rock-n-roll! It was the perfect show to leave on.
After the show the guys were being rushed to get out. Seems Cambridge has some law where everyone HAS to be out of the club by 2AM no exceptions. Everyone was trying to say good-byes and trying to get things out the door.
There were the usual hangers on. In fact I found a small group of scantly clad girls trying to hide away near the back door. I decided they were probably up to no good and took it upon myself to tell them it was time to hit the road. They looked less than pleased with me. Jon said it was because even though the words that came out of my mouth SOUNDED polite, it was very obvious they translated to, "Listen band hussys get the hell out of here!"
He was probably right, I tend to put the lean on people without even realizing I am doing it when I think they are up to no good. But they did leave, so I guess I had some effect. In fact they marched down the street in a huff. My heart was breaking for them, it really was.
In the van ride back to the hotel I got to sit in the middle while a drunk Matt and a drunk Ken volley really funny jabs at each other back in forth. At one point there was candy corn being thrown. It was all pretty funny, but in the "you had to be there" sense so I won't even try to go into detail about it. Jon said it was like watching a tennis match sitting between them.
We get back to the hotel, the guys to settle down for the night, and for me to wait about 45 minutes before I was off to the airport. There were moments on the trip that reminded me of being back in Alaska in the house full of men that I grew up in, the hotel was one of those times.
Jon was fading fast so we called the cab and said our so longs. I was already missing them all as the cab was pulling away and thought that was the end of my adventure, but much to my dismay it was not.
Day 5:
The cab through Boston to the Airport was one of those moments in my life where I really thought there was a great possibility that I might actually die. After a few pretty frightening sexual harassment type experiences in cabs over the years I now always make sure to make a mental note of the cabs license, name and cab number as soon as I get in. This cab had none of these things displayed.
He asked me several very pointed questions about what I was doing in Boston, if I was visiting family and so on. All the while I was noticing just how dark the streets there seemed.
Just about the time I had started to realize this guy was giving me a hard core case of the willies, he jumps on an off ramp and tells me he wants to take me on a little diversion because "We have time"
I immediately whip out my cell phone and start dialing Jon, get his VM and proceed to pretend to be talking to him on the phone anyway.
I am trying really hard to see street signs in the dark so I can yell to the 911 operator where I am and I am having absolutely no luck. I am in a scary ass cab, on a very dark street in a city I know NOTHING about. I was mortified!
The cab driver starts telling me, "You know the old nursery rhyme Over the river and through the woods to Grandmothers house we go... Right?"
I say, "You know I really should be getting back on the main drag and getting to the Airport."
He says, "No, I want you to see this." and he proceeds to pull off into this dark wooded area. At this point my finger is hovering over the 9 on my phone.
He pulls up to this colonial style house and stops the car. He points to the river and explains that this is the house the poem was written about. he tells me there is a plaque if I want to get out and read it, it is just up the drive.
It is pitch black outside. I thought I was gone, that was it, start saying my prayers and preparing for the great beyond. I was looking up and down the street for any sign of other people and slipping my heels off so I would be able to sprint. I had my escape route mapped out in my brain and decided I would take chance and directly confront this guy.
In my best stern mommy voice I say, "Listen, I don't know if this is intentional but you are seriously freaking me out with this detour. Get this cab back on the street NOW and get me to the airport!"
I decided at the very least if he was some kind of killer, he would realize I was not about to be an easy victim.
Without a word he started the car back up and got right back on the road. I practically threw my money at him when we got to the airport. He told me to have a nice trip and that was that.
The rest of the day was uneventful, lots of sleeping on planes and so on. I got home hugged my girl, called my man and fell asleep for the next 17 hours.
Day 1-
Arrived in NYC early in the morning. Got to the hotel and found out that check in time was not until 3PM (It was 7AM) we had requested early check in but there was nothing available yet. They suggested that I leave my luggage up in the closet and check out the neighborhood. I decided I would change and then give up my bags and head to a nearby diner that looked promising.
After beautifying a little I went to the diner. A lot of suits there on their cell phones eating alone. I was feeling quite conspicuous with my bright red hair and sparkly scarf.
I sat down at a kitchy little booth and started looking over the menu. A man walks up and leans in and says, "Here, breakfast is on me." and hands me a gift certificate for this place. I say- Wow! Thanks! and he vanishes.
The waitress comes up and informs me that this paper will get me anything on the menu and a coffe and OJ. She says, "What a nice man!" I say, "Indeed!"
I have an omlette toast OJ coffee and leave a huge tip. Welcome to NYC!
I then set out on checking out every store on our block, figuring out the best places to shop when Jon gets to town, pinpoint all of the nearest espresso serving coffee joints for the next morning and a nearby bakery to get Jon a piece of birthday cake the next morning.
I check back in with the hotel, still no room open. Bah! So I decide I am going to get my nails done. This was a BRILLIANT idea! I go to this place and get the best manicure I have ever had. they soak my hands in real rose petals and spring water. I get a hot towel treatment and while I am sitting at the dryer she gives me a full neck and shoulders rub!!! All for the measly price of $8!!! Seattle could learn a thing or two from NY!
Try the hotel one more time, the nice lady at the desk does have a room for me! Yay! I am so happy!
Jon checks in by phone, tells me to take a nap and then go to the venue to meet him around 6PM I think this is a fine idea. I decide to take a bath first. I strip down and am jamming to the MTV tunes. I am dancing around my little room when I realize there is a small crowd forming at the window directly across from mine in the next tall building. I guess dancing around naked on the 25th floor didn't seem like a problem to me. Well, that was a mistake. I was in NY for 5 hours and I already managed to flash at least 6 unsuspecting business men! EEK! I closed the shades and took my bath and fell straight to sleep.
When I got up and got ready for the show, I went to the front desk and asked them about getting a decent priced cab to take me to New Jersey. They set me up with a $40 town car. Nothing like cruising through the big city in a little limo! Woohoo! I felt like rock royalty. (It doesn't take much to get me excited)
Jon was standing outside waiting for me to arrive. I planted big old kisses on him and we went inside. Maxwells was a super cute little bar/club. Pretty small, but totally kitschy. I was told the first ever baseball game was held outside the club. interesting. The place seemed to have a lot of history.
They served me a fantastic grilled cheese sandwich and fries. Nummy! They were not even on the menu, they made them up special for me.
Then we went down to TBD Tunes for an in store. It was a really cool little venue all painted silver. They sang without mics and played acoustic guitars. I was blown away. It has been a long time since I have heard them like that. I was so impressed I almost got choked up. (It was probably the jet lag) They played about a half dozen songs and plugged the show and new record. We hung out for a while, got some CD's and then headed back to the venue. I insisted we got a cab since the hike to the CD store was a lot longer than my 4 inch heals were going to replay after walking all over the city that day already and only getting about 3 hours of sleep. It was a $5 cab ride so I was cool with it.
I love the Deathray Davies! They have been opening this leg of the tour and were such a fun band! Their songs are super catchy and they are so cute! Much love for these texas boys, you must check them out sometime. I know they are on myspace! http://www.deathraydavies.com/
Next was Oranger (http://www.oranger.net/ also on myspace). I have never seen them live and was very much looking forward to it since I have known Matt for a while now and I really like the CD. This venue was a little small for them as they seemed a little loud for me, but I have to say I was impressed with Matts vocal abilities as I never really heard him sing until these shows. Also a cute band and totally good mesh with The Posies. Really they had a perfect bill with these three bands traveling together!
I only caught a few songs of each set this particular night because I was so tired and there was no place to sit in the band room. Jon and I snacked on french fries and many people were buying us drinks. I was ingesting many stoli vanilla cokes. Yum.
The place was damn near filled to capacity by the time the guys went on stage. Ken convinced me it was a good idea to run the merch table. I said only if I got a chair out of the deal which Jon arranged. I was happpy to see that when the guys played songs off of older records people would come up and ask me what record it was of of and see if they could buy that one! Yay! Too bad the stuff from the Geffen days wasn't available. Told them to check out Best Buy.
Sold a few shirts and CDs. I got to meet Ian and his wife Cait in person. They are such a pretty couple. We didn't get much of a chance to talk this particular night, but I totally chatted them up the next night. Hopefully they will be coming to Seattle soon for a visit! Yay! More on them later...
They sang Happy Birthday to Jon right after midnight and we snuck out shortly after the show to go back to the hotel and passed out. Oh beautiful sleep! How I love thee!
Day 2-
Jon's official birthday! I woke up earlier than Jon and got dressed and out the door before he was up. I went to Starbucks and then to the Bakery to pick up a slice of cake for the boy. I brought this all back to the room and woke him up and said Happy Birthday!
He was a little bleary eyed but smiled and worked his way out of bed. I waited for him to shower and get dressed. We drank our coffee and shared the cake and headed out. We revisited the diner that I had been to the morning before and ate lunch. I ordered a burger this time. The thing was the size of my head! I could only eat half. Jon had a very nice looking BLT.
After filling ourselves up I took Jon to see the store that sold designer men's shirts for under $5. It was some form of close out store and on the same block as our hotel. We found some great shirts for Jon as well as picked out some really fun ties. I have one favorite in particular, it is a tie that looks like a peppermint. I will post a photo of it soon!
We then traveled down to a shoe store where Jon bought a new pair of black converse with red stitching. Super cool. and then to my new favorite store: H&M. I bought some pretty cute stuff that I will have to break in at upcoming Posies shows.
By the time I made my final purchase at H&M we had to get to the Bowery Ballroom for load in and sound check and then off to NYCD for an in-store. The Bowery folks were nice enough to reserve a table for the show, so I once again managed to avoid having to stand in my very high heels.
We had some time before the in-store and Ken said he was going to find coffee. I told him I would go with him. We ended up walking REALLY far and only finding a Starbucks. Ken didn't want to drink their "burnt" coffee. (I tend to feel the same way, but noticed Starbucks was the only espresso choice many times in NYC) I finally told Ken that I was not going to keep looking and I was heading back to Starbucks, burnt or not. He gave in and went with me. We picked up the coffee for Matt, Joe and tea for Jon and headed back. Ken wanted to stop off at a wine store and pick up a nice bottle of champagne to toast Jon's birthday with. Then we went back.
We grabbed a cab to NYCD. It was a pretty long trek and our cab driver apparently just got his license. I was writing my last will and testament in my head as we were narrowly escaping death over and over again as he cut across roads and so on.
We got to NYCD and the place was quite packed. There was even a very large dog in attendance that ken kept going on about. The dog was loving all of the audience attention. Jon made a joke about how the second they started playing the dog was trying to head out the door. Too funny. We got more CD's and I got to meet the owners, very nice people. We had to take off to make the Ryko dinner at a place called Mexican Radio. (I had that song stuck in my head for 12 hours at least due to the unfortunate name of this place!)
We got there and they were serving the best Sangria I have had in a while followed by pitchers of margaritas! I started with two glasses of the Sangria and matched that with two and a half glasses of margarita while nibbling on a very salty chicken enchilada. needless to say by the time we finally arrived at the show I was already pretty toasty.
The show started up and everyone was having a great time. I went up to the dressing room to find a computer so I could send a little happy birthday greeting to my friend Chris. and then Jon checked his email. Our old friend Sean Haskins showed up and I got to catch up with him a bit. It was great seeing him! I love that guy!
Then it was time for The Posies to go on. I went up to the reserved seats for the first half of the show. The set was tight and I was a lot more awake than the night before. The crowd was a pretty good size and everyone seemed to be having fun. People kept buying Jon shots for his birthday but he has sworn off the hard stuff on this tour to save his voice. He is a strictly white wine guy right now.
At the halfway point the guys got on the floor to play a few rockers, I decided to go down to the front of the stage at that point. Everyone was dancing around and stuff. Great fun. The guys decided they wanted everyone to get up on stage for the last song. Jon insisted that I get up. Trust me, nothing sounded better than bouncing around in high heels after walking around all day! (sarcasm intended there) But when Jon said "It's my birthday!" I had to give in. How could I say no to my boo? So up on stage I went with about 15 other people. as soon as they started playing and everyone started bouncing around I managed to sneak to the back and watch from just off stage. Joe gave me Jon's guitar to give him for the changeover. At the end of the song I brought his guitar he gave me a big kiss. Awwwww....
After the show I got to talk to Ian and Cait more. I was already pretty tipsy and they made the mistake of asking how Jon and I met. Man is that a long story and they managed to stay awake through the whole thing! (kidding) they were actually super sweet about it and both got really excited about it and said it was a great story which made me even more warm and fuzzy. We chatted about all sorts of stuff and it ended in me inviting them to come stay with us in November. I hope they come! I love them! Cutest couple ever! (Ian is also a fantastic musician, I will have to find a web addy for him and post it so people can hear samples!) *edit* http://www.myspace.com/ianmcglynn
Ken gathered everyone over at the merch booth where Jon was winning salesman of the year awards. Then he ran and got the fancy champagne he bought and passed out teeny glasses full to everyone to make sure they had enough to go around. he poured Jon, myself and himself pretty good size cups full though and then he made a very sweet happy birthday toast to Jon and said, "We have now officially known each other for 23 years!" Jon looked very moved and he gave Ken a big kiss on the mouth and they said happy birthday!. It was really pretty moving, too bad I had run out of film in my camera!
The champagne pretty much was the last thing I could consume for the night. I can't be held responsible for anything that came out of my mouth at that point. Luckily Jon was smart enough to get me out of there and back to the hotel. I was having giggle fits in the cab back and at some point around 4AM I thought it was a good idea to try to find an Internet connection. Instead I just sent drunken texts to Jeannine and passed out shortly after. No more tequila for me!
Day 3-
I woke up early with a fantastic hangover. I slipped out before Jon woke up again under the guise of “getting coffee” I thought the Macy’s next door opened at 9AM so I was out the door by 9:30. I wandered over to Macy’s and was very sad to find out they didn’t open until 10AM so I decided to go to H&M one last time (twist my arm) I tried on a few things that I didn’t the morning before and found two great tops and a bunch of really cute socks in fall colors.
I wandered over to Macy’s when they opened. I picked up the Ralph Lauren Silver cologne that Jon loves. They had a special going where I got the spray, aftershave and deodorant as well as a free Ralph Lauren travel bag. I had them wrap it and brought it back to the hotel with a couple of Lattes, vanilla for me Soy for Jon. He woke up to gifts being spilled on him. He seemed delighted.
We got our stuff together and headed out. We had to meet the rest of the guys at their hotel about 6 blocks away.
We hung out and waited for the guys to show up, one by one they filed into the hotel all looking not quite awake. Then Joe pulled up outside with the van and trailer. I was pretty impressed that he was driving that thing through the city! I would have never been able to do it! They were getting things situated and we all ran down to the hot dog vendor for breakfast. Yummy.
We were off, on our way to Northampton, MA. It was a beautiful drive, lots of great East coast scenery. I would say it was about two hours but I wasn’t really watching the clock so I could not tell you for sure. I napped a little and just watched out the window the rest of the way.
As we rolled into town I could not help but notice what a picturesque place it was. Very ideal in a lot of ways. I had to giggle when I realized we were driving down Pleasant Street and every other place was called Pleasant Market or Pleasant Deli and so on.
When we arrived at B-side records everyone woke up and poured out of the car. The guys there were super sweet and very welcoming; they gave us all t-shirts right away. (In fact I am wearing mine as I type this!) It was going to be a little while before they did the in-store, so I decided to take a wander down the ideal streets to get a feel for the place.
I went into quite a few little stores, picked up some coffee and then wandered into a store called Faces. I loved this store, it was a cross between Urban Outfitters and H&M but super inexpensive. I bought a great top and sweater that I ended up wearing to the show that night.
Jon called my cell to ask where I had wandered off to and told me they were about to play so I went back up the street and found my way back into the store. It was another remarkable acoustic set by the guys.
After the set Jon and I wandered through this idyllic town. We went from store to store, perusing clothes, books, shoes, jewelry and so on. Jon bought me a couple of really adorable scarves and a pair of earrings. We decided to try out a Tibetan food place as neither of us ever had Tibetan food before. We had chicken curry and a plate of dumplings. Everything was very clean tasting and really salt free, delicious. The dumplings were the best. They are something that I am sure I will find myself craving at some point. I guess I will have to see if there is a Tibetan food joint in Seattle someplace!
We decided it was time to head down to the show. I was getting pretty sleepy since I was still sporting a bit of a hangover from the tequila fest in NY the night before. I thought it would be best if I didn’t drink too much at this show. Jon bought me a Malibu and pineapple juice. That was a perfect chaser for the Tibetan dinner. We watched the Deathray Davies put on a great show and then Oranger went on stage. Jon told me he had to go do an interview so he left me at the bar with a fresh drink. Before he left he introduced me to the kind folks we would be staying with that eve. Ilyssa made sure to warn me that they had 4 Dobermans. But they seemed nice enough and I was certain that any dogs they had would be of the sweet variety so I was not worried. About half way through the Oranger set I decided I had to go outside to let the cold air wake me up a bit. I have never been happier there was an early curfew on a show.
I went outside and walked around the block. The temperature had really dropped. I was very happy I had purchased the cozy New England sweater earlier that day and decided to wear it!
I didn’t see Jon anywhere, I figured they must have gone to a coffee shop to do the interview. I went back to the club and ran into the singer Dethray Davies. He was sporting his hat and glasses that eve and I told him he had a Ben Folds thing going on. He was very sweet. We ended up gabbing about our significant others. Turns out he is happily married as well so we exchanged out “stories” the second time in two days I got to tell Jon’s and mine. I really enjoyed hearing about his as well. Don’t believe the hype people, there are happily married people in rock!
When I saw the Oranger guys coming outside I knew it was time to go back in and catch The Posies. They played a very short set. The club was right across the street from the local police HQ so they had a very strict curfew/sound ordinance.
After the show was over the guys went outside to sell the merch from the back of their truck. Apparently the club wanted a percentage if they sold it inside. Too bad it was freezing outside and the guys were wet with sweat! I brought Jon’s coat out to him and dug his scarf that I made for him out of my bag and wrapped him up so he didn’t get sick. There they were hawking their wears in the dark from the street. (I got photos to prove it)
We packed up and made our way up to Kurt and Illysa’s place, or at least we started to but Ken noticed his bag was missing. It turned out it was packed up in one of the other bands things. We tracked it down and went to the hotel to retrieve it. After our late start we finally hit the road. The drive was a little scary and dark with big trucks that didn’t like sharing the road, but we made it to our hosts place in one piece.
Their place was something straight out of a bed and breakfast catalog. They had even set aside a beautiful little room with a big fluffy bed for Jon and me to have all to ourselves. It was perfect and we both slept so well. I could have probably stayed in that bed for a week!
Day 4:
Woke up the next morning to a picturesque New England landscape. I was the first one up. I could not believe how it went from freezing to BEAUTIFUL in such a short span of time. The sun was beaming the place smelled of bacon and fresh brewed coffee. Sigh. It was totally vacation!
I got up and wandered out in my Powerpuff Girl PJ's and poured myself a cup of coffee. I found our host slaving over bacon and huge slices of French toast. I went outside to investigate the area a little more as it was pitch black when we rolled in the night before. They had the cutest painted pony that I paid a little visit to. So here I am, in my PJ's and slippers sipping coffee and petting a painted pony, not very Rock-n-roll but very cool nonetheless!
The rest of the guys wandered out not long after and we all took our turns checking email and taking showers. It was a truly rejuvenating experience. I kept telling them they needed to turn the place into a bed and breakfast. They totally could, but I guess it would be sort of weird having strange people stomping through your house all of the time. Regardless, I am grateful for their hospitality and hope we can take them up on their offer to visit again someday!
After my shower and third cup of coffee we all got in the van and hit the road. It was about a half hour drive before we rolled into Cambridge. I was expecting more from this prticulr city, especially after experiencing the beauty of North Hampton the day before, but I was very disappointed. I found the city to be ugly and dirty and not very friendly.
The first thing that happened was we got out of the van and stumbled right in the middle of a screaming match between what looked like a homeless guy and an Asian woman yelling at him in broken English about how she gave him food and then he came back and hit her friend? I didn't know what to think of it. Once we established that it had nothing to do with the club and the guys opened the back door for load in, i wandered inside to check the place out. The Middle East seemed like any other club in the daytime. Empty and smelling of stale smoke and beer. It had a nice look to it though and seemed to have a pretty decent sized room.
After doing my initial walk through I decided I would head down the street for my usual "check out the local stores/colour" walking tour that had been doing in the other cities. I step out the door and head down the street when Jon yells at me to "Get back inside."
I looked at him and asked, "What?" As my husband is not one to order me around I was pretty confused by his sudden command.
He told me again, "Get back inside now, go in and wait for me!"
Something in the tone of his voice told me I had better listen, but I also thought he better have a really good explanation for talking to me like that.
Well he did. No sooner did I get inside the club did he cell on my cell phone and explain that the guy who was fighting with the Asian lady when we arrived has started talking to the guys. He was hovering around or something and the guys asked him to take a hike. I guess as he was wandering and not leaving he pulled out a huge hunting knife. Darius called the police and the guy was quickly picked up. Jon just didn't want me wandering out there until the guy was picked up.
Once Mr Personality was taken away I got the green light to go check out the hood, so I did. The stores were dirty and unkempt. They had a thrift store which I noticed on the ride in and was pretty excited about checking out, but it was more like a shelter exchange than a thrift store. I didn't find anything there I would want to buy. One would think that being a college town there would be more, but really it was pretty scary. There was a shouting, spitting, or mumbling to themselves crazy person on every block! I made it about 4 blocks down the street before I decided it was not a neighborhood I wanted to be wandering around in on my own. So I went back to the club.
Seems I got back just in time because they had just served up Humus and Falafel and Pita, Yum! I snacked and then watched Sound check. The sound guy seemed really on task. he took a lot of time making sure the vocals were on top of the guitar sounds. I was impressed by how he seemed to take his job very seriously. It was a pretty live room, so it was good to see him taking his time.
After sound check Jon and I went out into the neighborhood for a little wander. We came across one store I missed on my initial investigation which turned into the only store we purchased anything in. I have a real weakness for cheap dangley earrings and sparkly scarves which this store had in spades. Jon bought me some goodies and a shirt for himself and then we went to find coffee. Starbucks again, and again it was WAY too hot and not done well. I swore that I would write a letter to Starbucks corporate office when I got home demanding a refund for all of the burnt Lattes I had on the East Coast. I still might. What a waste!
We took a short nap in the van and headed in to watch the Deathray Davies as it was their last show. Near the end of their set everyone got on stage and they had a 3 band Jam. The guys were hanging from the rafters (Literally!) It was pretty funny. The same thing repeated for the Oranger set as well as the Posies set.
This particular Posies set was probably the liveliest/craziest of the bunch that I saw of this leg of the tour. The guys literally trashed the stage and then Joe got it set back up so they could trash it all over again. There were several time where the guys defaulted to using Matt's Mic because they had knocked theirs into oblivion. They never missed a beat, and it was seriously some pretty amazing balls out rock-n-roll! It was the perfect show to leave on.
After the show the guys were being rushed to get out. Seems Cambridge has some law where everyone HAS to be out of the club by 2AM no exceptions. Everyone was trying to say good-byes and trying to get things out the door.
There were the usual hangers on. In fact I found a small group of scantly clad girls trying to hide away near the back door. I decided they were probably up to no good and took it upon myself to tell them it was time to hit the road. They looked less than pleased with me. Jon said it was because even though the words that came out of my mouth SOUNDED polite, it was very obvious they translated to, "Listen band hussys get the hell out of here!"
He was probably right, I tend to put the lean on people without even realizing I am doing it when I think they are up to no good. But they did leave, so I guess I had some effect. In fact they marched down the street in a huff. My heart was breaking for them, it really was.
In the van ride back to the hotel I got to sit in the middle while a drunk Matt and a drunk Ken volley really funny jabs at each other back in forth. At one point there was candy corn being thrown. It was all pretty funny, but in the "you had to be there" sense so I won't even try to go into detail about it. Jon said it was like watching a tennis match sitting between them.
We get back to the hotel, the guys to settle down for the night, and for me to wait about 45 minutes before I was off to the airport. There were moments on the trip that reminded me of being back in Alaska in the house full of men that I grew up in, the hotel was one of those times.
Jon was fading fast so we called the cab and said our so longs. I was already missing them all as the cab was pulling away and thought that was the end of my adventure, but much to my dismay it was not.
Day 5:
The cab through Boston to the Airport was one of those moments in my life where I really thought there was a great possibility that I might actually die. After a few pretty frightening sexual harassment type experiences in cabs over the years I now always make sure to make a mental note of the cabs license, name and cab number as soon as I get in. This cab had none of these things displayed.
He asked me several very pointed questions about what I was doing in Boston, if I was visiting family and so on. All the while I was noticing just how dark the streets there seemed.
Just about the time I had started to realize this guy was giving me a hard core case of the willies, he jumps on an off ramp and tells me he wants to take me on a little diversion because "We have time"
I immediately whip out my cell phone and start dialing Jon, get his VM and proceed to pretend to be talking to him on the phone anyway.
I am trying really hard to see street signs in the dark so I can yell to the 911 operator where I am and I am having absolutely no luck. I am in a scary ass cab, on a very dark street in a city I know NOTHING about. I was mortified!
The cab driver starts telling me, "You know the old nursery rhyme Over the river and through the woods to Grandmothers house we go... Right?"
I say, "You know I really should be getting back on the main drag and getting to the Airport."
He says, "No, I want you to see this." and he proceeds to pull off into this dark wooded area. At this point my finger is hovering over the 9 on my phone.
He pulls up to this colonial style house and stops the car. He points to the river and explains that this is the house the poem was written about. he tells me there is a plaque if I want to get out and read it, it is just up the drive.
It is pitch black outside. I thought I was gone, that was it, start saying my prayers and preparing for the great beyond. I was looking up and down the street for any sign of other people and slipping my heels off so I would be able to sprint. I had my escape route mapped out in my brain and decided I would take chance and directly confront this guy.
In my best stern mommy voice I say, "Listen, I don't know if this is intentional but you are seriously freaking me out with this detour. Get this cab back on the street NOW and get me to the airport!"
I decided at the very least if he was some kind of killer, he would realize I was not about to be an easy victim.
Without a word he started the car back up and got right back on the road. I practically threw my money at him when we got to the airport. He told me to have a nice trip and that was that.
The rest of the day was uneventful, lots of sleeping on planes and so on. I got home hugged my girl, called my man and fell asleep for the next 17 hours.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Lula said today we would be talking in code....
Which is fine by me. Here is my code:
I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN!
Thank you very much.
oh and I am flying to New York in 8 hours. Woohoo!
i'm sure you understand. ;-)
I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN! I WIN!
Thank you very much.
oh and I am flying to New York in 8 hours. Woohoo!
i'm sure you understand. ;-)
Happy Birthday Mr President...
I created a little "birthday card" for Jon on his webpage for his birthday this week. Please swing by and sign it if you like! Thanks!
http://www.jonauer.com/happybirthday.html
http://www.jonauer.com/happybirthday.html
Monday, September 26, 2005
Got video?
http://rykodisc.com/video/theposies/small.html
Check it out! It is the new Posies video for your viewing enjoyment!
Check it out! It is the new Posies video for your viewing enjoyment!
Boohoo.
The last of the gerbils is gone. If my gerbils were people CPS would have locked them up by now.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Making my list and checking it twice...
I am doing things to get ready for my trip on Tuesday. Figuring out what to bring, making checklists so as to not forget anything. I am very much looking forward to seeing my husband and to seeing four back to back Posies shows!
This has led me to creating a list.
Things NOT to do when attending a Posies concert (By Michelle):
1-Sing louder than the band from the audience so that everyone can hear you during the softer parts. It isn’t a three part harmony, and lord knows I will pay to go see your band if you are that good of a singer.
2-Don’t go so crazy in the front row thrashing around that you smack the mic stand and almost take out one of the singer’s front teeth. Those things are HARD, so please thrash, just do it within a reasonable distance of anything that has the potential of making my husband look like a Jon-O-Lantern!
3-I don’t care HOW MUCH you have had to drink; spitting booze into my husband’s mouth is strictly prohibited.
4-If Ken strips, don’t take that as a sign that you should strip as well unless you are a swimsuit model. One act of public nudity is enough to try and divert your eyes from other hairy guys joining in leads to several years of therapy.
5-If Jon hands you his guitar while on stage don’t leave with it! Also, don’t have a conversation with him about it while you are holding it. I don’t know if you notice, but he is in the middle of a song and wants you to toss it back to him when he gives you the signal.
6-If you see something backstage that looks like it might be lyrics or anything else scribbled out by the band that is NOT a setlist, don’t think it is OK to take it, because it isn’t.
7-(edited for adult content) ;-)
8-Don’t throw stupid crap up on stage like your shoes, your toys, your ice, your cups, or whatever other random shit you think would be funny to throw on stage. It isn’t funny.
9-Don’t heckle the guys incessantly. Maybe a little banter once is funny, but if you run your mouth between every single song, it gets old really fast.
10-Don’t stand around like a lump on a log! Dance, get your boogie on, go up on stage when they invite you and show that you are having a great time! I promise, the better the audience is, the better the band plays!
This has led me to creating a list.
Things NOT to do when attending a Posies concert (By Michelle):
1-Sing louder than the band from the audience so that everyone can hear you during the softer parts. It isn’t a three part harmony, and lord knows I will pay to go see your band if you are that good of a singer.
2-Don’t go so crazy in the front row thrashing around that you smack the mic stand and almost take out one of the singer’s front teeth. Those things are HARD, so please thrash, just do it within a reasonable distance of anything that has the potential of making my husband look like a Jon-O-Lantern!
3-I don’t care HOW MUCH you have had to drink; spitting booze into my husband’s mouth is strictly prohibited.
4-If Ken strips, don’t take that as a sign that you should strip as well unless you are a swimsuit model. One act of public nudity is enough to try and divert your eyes from other hairy guys joining in leads to several years of therapy.
5-If Jon hands you his guitar while on stage don’t leave with it! Also, don’t have a conversation with him about it while you are holding it. I don’t know if you notice, but he is in the middle of a song and wants you to toss it back to him when he gives you the signal.
6-If you see something backstage that looks like it might be lyrics or anything else scribbled out by the band that is NOT a setlist, don’t think it is OK to take it, because it isn’t.
7-(edited for adult content) ;-)
8-Don’t throw stupid crap up on stage like your shoes, your toys, your ice, your cups, or whatever other random shit you think would be funny to throw on stage. It isn’t funny.
9-Don’t heckle the guys incessantly. Maybe a little banter once is funny, but if you run your mouth between every single song, it gets old really fast.
10-Don’t stand around like a lump on a log! Dance, get your boogie on, go up on stage when they invite you and show that you are having a great time! I promise, the better the audience is, the better the band plays!
Friday, September 23, 2005
The perfect birthday mixtape....
I made three versions of Jon's birthday mixed CD, but I think the third time was the charm. That was the perfect one.
The first one had a couple of songs that I didn't realize were on the anniversary mix until after I burned it so that was trashed.
The second one I had amended that but then felt like there were a few obvious oversights (Wonderwall being one of them. Long story behind that one, but it has lots of happy memories for us) and after playing it a few days in a row decided to drop a few songs because they didn't "feel" right for this mix even though I love them.
So I did some moving around and adding and subtracting of songs and today I finally have the perfect, most meaningful birthday mix CD (That I can fit on an 80 minute disc) for my honey!
Greetings In Braille 3:50 The Elected
Honey And The Moon 4:44 Joseph Arthur
Wonderwall 4:18 Oasis
Natural One 3:09 Folk Implosion
A Girl Like You 3:55 Edwyn Collins
Since You've Been Around 3:18 Rosie Thomas
Vanilla Sky 2:46 Paul McCartney
Somebody 4:36 Depeche Mode
Lipstick Vogue 3:31 Elvis Costello
Sugarhigh 2:37 Coyote Shivers
Anything, Anything 3:21 Dramarama
Mental 4:01 Eels Beautiful Freak
Bright As Yellow 3:33 The Innocence Mission
Erase-Rewind 3:38 The Cardigans
hidden track 3:51 Russian Teammate
Last Tide 2:55 Sun Kil Moon
You've Been Loved 4:11 Joseph Arthur
The Sound of Settling 2:14 Death Cab For Cutie
Wild World 3:19 Cat Stevens
Stations 4:14 Denison Witmer
Homeward Bound 2:29 Simon & Garfunkel
Feel Good Inc. 3:43 Gorillaz
OCT 19 I will have known him for ten years. Wow! So hard to believe, it feels like just yesterday!
The first one had a couple of songs that I didn't realize were on the anniversary mix until after I burned it so that was trashed.
The second one I had amended that but then felt like there were a few obvious oversights (Wonderwall being one of them. Long story behind that one, but it has lots of happy memories for us) and after playing it a few days in a row decided to drop a few songs because they didn't "feel" right for this mix even though I love them.
So I did some moving around and adding and subtracting of songs and today I finally have the perfect, most meaningful birthday mix CD (That I can fit on an 80 minute disc) for my honey!
Greetings In Braille 3:50 The Elected
Honey And The Moon 4:44 Joseph Arthur
Wonderwall 4:18 Oasis
Natural One 3:09 Folk Implosion
A Girl Like You 3:55 Edwyn Collins
Since You've Been Around 3:18 Rosie Thomas
Vanilla Sky 2:46 Paul McCartney
Somebody 4:36 Depeche Mode
Lipstick Vogue 3:31 Elvis Costello
Sugarhigh 2:37 Coyote Shivers
Anything, Anything 3:21 Dramarama
Mental 4:01 Eels Beautiful Freak
Bright As Yellow 3:33 The Innocence Mission
Erase-Rewind 3:38 The Cardigans
hidden track 3:51 Russian Teammate
Last Tide 2:55 Sun Kil Moon
You've Been Loved 4:11 Joseph Arthur
The Sound of Settling 2:14 Death Cab For Cutie
Wild World 3:19 Cat Stevens
Stations 4:14 Denison Witmer
Homeward Bound 2:29 Simon & Garfunkel
Feel Good Inc. 3:43 Gorillaz
OCT 19 I will have known him for ten years. Wow! So hard to believe, it feels like just yesterday!
The Power of Three....
We have THREE gerbil babies today! Yay! Let's hope this batch makes it!
I think we should name them after the Charmed sisters or the three stooges...
I think we should name them after the Charmed sisters or the three stooges...
Thursday, September 22, 2005
You've been loved
I love the weather today, crisp and sunny. In my book this is perfect weather. In fact, I would be thrilled if this was the climate year round with a little rain now and then to keep things blooming and clean. (Because we ALL know how bad Seattle smells when it hasn't rained in a while!)
Why does it seem every time I am getting ready to fly somewhere there are loads of plane crash news on the television? Did you all see that thing about Jet Blu last eve? My god! at least everyone landed safely! I fly out on Jet Blu next week! Makes me a little squirmy thinking about it. I am thrilled to be finally hooking up with my man though! I miss him so much.
Today was picture day. My daughter is not a big fan of picture day. She is a very lovely girl, but when faced with a camera and told to smile she makes the strangest faces. Cocks her head to the side closes her eyes and smiles without showing teeth. It looks so odd. I don't know why she does it. It reminds me of that Friend's episode where Chandler could not smile right in photos. It is a mental thing. She also hates the amount of time it takes to get ready in the morning on picture day. She doesn't like having to stand still while I do her hair and add a little mascara to her eyelashes to make them pop better on camera.
Make-up is the secret to good class photos. The first few years we didn't use anything and she always looked a little sick and washed out under the bright lights. Last year I used a little light powder and some mascara and she was picture perfect. So now we will do that ever picture day. It only makes sense. They use the same big bright lights as a pro studio.
I am surprised they don't provide some kind of makeup for the amount they are asking for their packages! They are not cheap! And let me tell you, there is nothing like spending $50 on a package of photos where your kid looks nothing like themselves! I would prefer going to Sears and paying $9.99 at least they let you pick the photo you pay for!
Oh, and this year, they snuck the class photo into every pack! Charming. You HAVE to buy one, no choice! All I am saying is since I am paying the extra $$ for it one of her classmates best become famous someday so we can sell that sucker to Extra! :-)
Why does it seem every time I am getting ready to fly somewhere there are loads of plane crash news on the television? Did you all see that thing about Jet Blu last eve? My god! at least everyone landed safely! I fly out on Jet Blu next week! Makes me a little squirmy thinking about it. I am thrilled to be finally hooking up with my man though! I miss him so much.
Today was picture day. My daughter is not a big fan of picture day. She is a very lovely girl, but when faced with a camera and told to smile she makes the strangest faces. Cocks her head to the side closes her eyes and smiles without showing teeth. It looks so odd. I don't know why she does it. It reminds me of that Friend's episode where Chandler could not smile right in photos. It is a mental thing. She also hates the amount of time it takes to get ready in the morning on picture day. She doesn't like having to stand still while I do her hair and add a little mascara to her eyelashes to make them pop better on camera.
Make-up is the secret to good class photos. The first few years we didn't use anything and she always looked a little sick and washed out under the bright lights. Last year I used a little light powder and some mascara and she was picture perfect. So now we will do that ever picture day. It only makes sense. They use the same big bright lights as a pro studio.
I am surprised they don't provide some kind of makeup for the amount they are asking for their packages! They are not cheap! And let me tell you, there is nothing like spending $50 on a package of photos where your kid looks nothing like themselves! I would prefer going to Sears and paying $9.99 at least they let you pick the photo you pay for!
Oh, and this year, they snuck the class photo into every pack! Charming. You HAVE to buy one, no choice! All I am saying is since I am paying the extra $$ for it one of her classmates best become famous someday so we can sell that sucker to Extra! :-)
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
I HATE Homework!
Why? Look at the name- it is WORK at HOME! No fun since I WORK at WORK all day. When I go home I want to veg out and eat a leisurely dinner, chat with some buddies and then chill out with my kidlette.
So last night, Darian and I sat down and started doing homework. I thought it would be a piece of cake since she is technically in the fifth grade. Boy howdy was I ever wrong.
This was some advanced math! Seriously folks. I HATE math, I swear I cheated my way all through math and then in college our professor was totally OK with us using a calculator so I went out and purchased the best scientific calculator ever and could even do complicated Algebra on it. It took a while to read all of the instructions, but I am good with that, I just don't have any patience for the "Show your work" part of math, but give me a machine and I will find an answer!
Anyhow, this had fractions and algebra and square roots and all sorts of fun stuff.
WTF! There were like 14 pages of it!
We went through all of the pages, did an awful lot of googling a little bit of cheating and got through it by 11:40 last night. YES- my WHOLE NIGHT was spent on math homework with a short break to go to the store and get dinner and one more to chat with Jon on the phone briefly.
In between problems I was looking up tutoring places and pricing them out. I was ready to hire someone on the spot! I was stressing because most tutors listed in the phone book are like $45 per hour!
Too much suck!
The best part of this story: After I was ranting about how if this is how this new teacher was I am going to change classes and so on. She gives me the rest of her papers that needed to be filled out and signed and sent back.
As I am going through the papers this little note falls out of the pile:
"Dear Parents-
You may notice the math homework is stuff that the children may or may not even be familiar with. This booklet was copied straight out of the high school standardized test. The children only need to do 3-4 problems from the booklet so I can get an idea of where they are at. They may need to ask for your help with those problems."
WHAT!!!!!!!!
So basically after we finished the ENTIRE 14 page booklet we found out that we only needed to do 3-4 problems!!!!
Darian and I laughed so hard we cried and then went to sleep. We were still laughing about it this morning!
So last night, Darian and I sat down and started doing homework. I thought it would be a piece of cake since she is technically in the fifth grade. Boy howdy was I ever wrong.
This was some advanced math! Seriously folks. I HATE math, I swear I cheated my way all through math and then in college our professor was totally OK with us using a calculator so I went out and purchased the best scientific calculator ever and could even do complicated Algebra on it. It took a while to read all of the instructions, but I am good with that, I just don't have any patience for the "Show your work" part of math, but give me a machine and I will find an answer!
Anyhow, this had fractions and algebra and square roots and all sorts of fun stuff.
WTF! There were like 14 pages of it!
We went through all of the pages, did an awful lot of googling a little bit of cheating and got through it by 11:40 last night. YES- my WHOLE NIGHT was spent on math homework with a short break to go to the store and get dinner and one more to chat with Jon on the phone briefly.
In between problems I was looking up tutoring places and pricing them out. I was ready to hire someone on the spot! I was stressing because most tutors listed in the phone book are like $45 per hour!
Too much suck!
The best part of this story: After I was ranting about how if this is how this new teacher was I am going to change classes and so on. She gives me the rest of her papers that needed to be filled out and signed and sent back.
As I am going through the papers this little note falls out of the pile:
"Dear Parents-
You may notice the math homework is stuff that the children may or may not even be familiar with. This booklet was copied straight out of the high school standardized test. The children only need to do 3-4 problems from the booklet so I can get an idea of where they are at. They may need to ask for your help with those problems."
WHAT!!!!!!!!
So basically after we finished the ENTIRE 14 page booklet we found out that we only needed to do 3-4 problems!!!!
Darian and I laughed so hard we cried and then went to sleep. We were still laughing about it this morning!
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Why some people need to spank their children...
My weekend thus far...
Friday- Went and saw The Brother’s Grimm. Was not too bad, but not really great either. It was kind of a midlevel movie that would be a fun rental if you have kids. Darian said it had some cool parts, but for the most part was pretty silly.
Saturday- Went to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose- This was totally on a whim. Darian had saved up her allowance money from keeping her room clean to buy the new Inuyasha video so we were downtown at Suncoast and then just wandering around in the mall. We went by the mall theatre and she asked if we could go see a movie. I said sure why not. She wanted to see this particular movie. I said no, it is probably rated R. Guess what, it is PG-13! That pretty much sealed the deal.
The movies started out promising but two minutes after it started this flood of teenagers started to fill in the seats all around us. Before you knew it we were stuck between three rows of them. They all stuck their legs up on the seat in front if them and all started talking. One guy was reading every name that came up on the screen in opening credits. I think they were on drugs. (Like- Hey I know, let’s all eat mushrooms and go see a scary movie!) I leaned forward and told them to kindly shut the fuck up. They turned around probably expecting to see an old lady sitting there and found me, which completely confused them so they turned back around before saying anything smart back and were quiet for about 5 minutes. Then the talking started again, the entire theatre shushing them, it sucked. Darian and I finally moved to the other side of the theatre.
I don’t think I could tell you if this movie was good or not just because every time they had a build up scene the kids would talk or else their cell phone would ring and 4 of them would leave the theatre to take the call and then come back a few minutes later. They were sitting really close to the front so no one could miss this. Their cell phones rang loudly at least 8 times. (Their parents should have spanked them more growing up! Flipping brats!)
Needless to say I complained after the movie and got two free passes for another movie. I started a trend because as I was getting my passes people were lining up behind me to do the same thing.
The manager just sat there with the passes and handed them out saying, “I’m sorry” “I’m so sorry”… The end.
I told Darian to take a long hard look at those teens. I told her, “You see them, if you hang out with them in high school you can look forward to an exciting adult life of making $5.75 and hour.” She understood what I meant. Scared straight I tell you!
Oh and the funniest moment on Saturday- At the mall some guy walked up and shoved a flyer in my hand. It took me about five seconds to realize that it was a scientologist flyer. I chased him down and handed it back and said "I'm sorry, I don't need this, I don't aspire to go into acting."
The look on his face- Priceless!
Today, we are going to do the Puyallup http://www.thefair.com/
One of our friends invited us along, so I said, why not? I have a coupon that I need to use anyhow!
Friday- Went and saw The Brother’s Grimm. Was not too bad, but not really great either. It was kind of a midlevel movie that would be a fun rental if you have kids. Darian said it had some cool parts, but for the most part was pretty silly.
Saturday- Went to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose- This was totally on a whim. Darian had saved up her allowance money from keeping her room clean to buy the new Inuyasha video so we were downtown at Suncoast and then just wandering around in the mall. We went by the mall theatre and she asked if we could go see a movie. I said sure why not. She wanted to see this particular movie. I said no, it is probably rated R. Guess what, it is PG-13! That pretty much sealed the deal.
The movies started out promising but two minutes after it started this flood of teenagers started to fill in the seats all around us. Before you knew it we were stuck between three rows of them. They all stuck their legs up on the seat in front if them and all started talking. One guy was reading every name that came up on the screen in opening credits. I think they were on drugs. (Like- Hey I know, let’s all eat mushrooms and go see a scary movie!) I leaned forward and told them to kindly shut the fuck up. They turned around probably expecting to see an old lady sitting there and found me, which completely confused them so they turned back around before saying anything smart back and were quiet for about 5 minutes. Then the talking started again, the entire theatre shushing them, it sucked. Darian and I finally moved to the other side of the theatre.
I don’t think I could tell you if this movie was good or not just because every time they had a build up scene the kids would talk or else their cell phone would ring and 4 of them would leave the theatre to take the call and then come back a few minutes later. They were sitting really close to the front so no one could miss this. Their cell phones rang loudly at least 8 times. (Their parents should have spanked them more growing up! Flipping brats!)
Needless to say I complained after the movie and got two free passes for another movie. I started a trend because as I was getting my passes people were lining up behind me to do the same thing.
The manager just sat there with the passes and handed them out saying, “I’m sorry” “I’m so sorry”… The end.
I told Darian to take a long hard look at those teens. I told her, “You see them, if you hang out with them in high school you can look forward to an exciting adult life of making $5.75 and hour.” She understood what I meant. Scared straight I tell you!
Oh and the funniest moment on Saturday- At the mall some guy walked up and shoved a flyer in my hand. It took me about five seconds to realize that it was a scientologist flyer. I chased him down and handed it back and said "I'm sorry, I don't need this, I don't aspire to go into acting."
The look on his face- Priceless!
Today, we are going to do the Puyallup http://www.thefair.com/
One of our friends invited us along, so I said, why not? I have a coupon that I need to use anyhow!
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Too much crazy!
I was listening to a radio ad in my car on the way to work today. They were talking about Bipolar disorder. I realized that probably 80% of my friends could answer yes to almost all of those questions!
Seriously folks, I know Bipolar disorder is not something to make fun of, and it can really be horrible for some people, but these ads! My god! They are so sensational and just about anyone could relate to them. And really, if someone truly had the disorder, do you think they would realize it by hearing the ad? Because when you have a mental disorder, isn't part of the mental disorder not knowing that you have something wrong with you?
I think FOX news writes the ad text!
Seriously folks, I know Bipolar disorder is not something to make fun of, and it can really be horrible for some people, but these ads! My god! They are so sensational and just about anyone could relate to them. And really, if someone truly had the disorder, do you think they would realize it by hearing the ad? Because when you have a mental disorder, isn't part of the mental disorder not knowing that you have something wrong with you?
I think FOX news writes the ad text!
Thursday, September 08, 2005
This is the sound of me aging quickly...
Mom "So how was your first day?"
Kid "I made a new friend!"
Mom "Really! What is your new friend's name?"
Kid "His name is Mac!"
Mom "Let me guess, Mac is the super cute mini hipster boy with the dyed black hair right?"
Kid "Yeah! How did you know?"
Wow, she is more like me than I would have guessed!
Apparantly they hung out all day and had lunch together. She said she thinks he is cool because he likes all of the same comics as she does.
awesome.
Kid "I made a new friend!"
Mom "Really! What is your new friend's name?"
Kid "His name is Mac!"
Mom "Let me guess, Mac is the super cute mini hipster boy with the dyed black hair right?"
Kid "Yeah! How did you know?"
Wow, she is more like me than I would have guessed!
Apparantly they hung out all day and had lunch together. She said she thinks he is cool because he likes all of the same comics as she does.
awesome.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
The first day of school...
Wow, 5th grade. Already? Really? Crazy.
Where did the time go? Am I really that old? Are you really the same little baby girl that I used to kiss your toes and smell your hair and cuddle with like a little dolly? Yes you are but you are a young woman now. Wow. Again, crazy.
We went to the school this morning to drop the girls off for the first day. I went to Darian's class and hung out for a while. Once again I was the youngest mom and the kids were much easier to talk to than the grown ups, but there is no surprise there. That always happens.
Her class this year is 6th, 7th and 8th. She is the only 5th grader but she looks as old as the oldest kids. It works well because she doesn't stand out as much in this group and I think that makes her feel less awkward. We walked by a 4-5 class and she commented on how all of the kids are barely as tall as her shoulder. This new class they are all the same size. She likes that.
As we walked through the hall several kids stopped to tell me I had really cool hair. Darian kept doing that whole, "That's my mom!" thing that she does. She is proud of me. Awwww! But when I tried to hug her goodbye in front of her friends she gave me the stink eye. Oh well, I guess we don't do that in 5th grade. Oops! I know better now.
It was kind of interesting for me to see the little boys this year. This is the first class she has been in where it feels like the boys took as much time getting ready this morning as the girls did. They had little Hot Topic outfits and dyed black hair. Seriously, mini hipsters! It was totally cracking me up!
But don't judge a book by its cover, they open their mouths and they are the same sweet adorable kids as last year, they are just mimicking the clothing style of their favorite bands. Their first love is still Manga and Pop Rock, so I am not worried.
Then there was the 8th grade girl who spent a lot of time pouting and posing and then glancing around to see if anyone noticed. She had her Anarchy patch pinned to the leg of her Banana Republic jeans and kept flipping her long straight hair while trying to look somewhat rebellious putting her feet on the chair and trying to participate in the opening "Introduce Yourself" song game as little as humanly possible. Oh yeah, her hormones have kicked in. No one missed how she lit up when the head to toe mini hipster boy walked in. She looked even less thrilled when he chose to sit next to my daughter. Uh-oh. Danger Will Robinson! Danger! It's a right of passage.
I am interested to see how this year shakes out. I am not afraid, my girl can hold her own, she knows how to deal with boys with crushes and with mean girls. No sweat! She was a little nervous but chatted easily with all of the kids as they came in the room. This will be a good year.
Where did the time go? Am I really that old? Are you really the same little baby girl that I used to kiss your toes and smell your hair and cuddle with like a little dolly? Yes you are but you are a young woman now. Wow. Again, crazy.
We went to the school this morning to drop the girls off for the first day. I went to Darian's class and hung out for a while. Once again I was the youngest mom and the kids were much easier to talk to than the grown ups, but there is no surprise there. That always happens.
Her class this year is 6th, 7th and 8th. She is the only 5th grader but she looks as old as the oldest kids. It works well because she doesn't stand out as much in this group and I think that makes her feel less awkward. We walked by a 4-5 class and she commented on how all of the kids are barely as tall as her shoulder. This new class they are all the same size. She likes that.
As we walked through the hall several kids stopped to tell me I had really cool hair. Darian kept doing that whole, "That's my mom!" thing that she does. She is proud of me. Awwww! But when I tried to hug her goodbye in front of her friends she gave me the stink eye. Oh well, I guess we don't do that in 5th grade. Oops! I know better now.
It was kind of interesting for me to see the little boys this year. This is the first class she has been in where it feels like the boys took as much time getting ready this morning as the girls did. They had little Hot Topic outfits and dyed black hair. Seriously, mini hipsters! It was totally cracking me up!
But don't judge a book by its cover, they open their mouths and they are the same sweet adorable kids as last year, they are just mimicking the clothing style of their favorite bands. Their first love is still Manga and Pop Rock, so I am not worried.
Then there was the 8th grade girl who spent a lot of time pouting and posing and then glancing around to see if anyone noticed. She had her Anarchy patch pinned to the leg of her Banana Republic jeans and kept flipping her long straight hair while trying to look somewhat rebellious putting her feet on the chair and trying to participate in the opening "Introduce Yourself" song game as little as humanly possible. Oh yeah, her hormones have kicked in. No one missed how she lit up when the head to toe mini hipster boy walked in. She looked even less thrilled when he chose to sit next to my daughter. Uh-oh. Danger Will Robinson! Danger! It's a right of passage.
I am interested to see how this year shakes out. I am not afraid, my girl can hold her own, she knows how to deal with boys with crushes and with mean girls. No sweat! She was a little nervous but chatted easily with all of the kids as they came in the room. This will be a good year.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
The little things...
The little things I forgot to mention from the last 10 days since my baby came and went.
1- Jon came home with an armful of adorable little trinkets from his travels all over the world including bracelets he bought on a beach in Italy which for some reason sounds so romantic to me. I am wearing them today. He also brought me several adorable magnets to add to my fridge gallery.
2- Jon mailed me beautiful post cards from all over the world. I love them, every one.
3- Had a sushi dinner with Jeannine and her new male friend who is just too adorable for words. We drank the Sake' that Sean brought back from Thailand as a Thank You gift for watching his crazy kitties last winter. We thought about calling Sean & his wife to invite them over and they showed up right after we were talking about him for something else. It was totally random and funny.
4- Participated in *Amie's Cha Cha birthday night which turned into a free Long Winters show at the Chop Suey and a large consumption in alcohol for me and many people telling me, "Wow! I don't know if I have ever seen you this drunk before!" oops. *I gave her a Kiwi with a pink bow tied around it as a gift :-) (inside joke)
5- Sitting backstage at Easy Street on the couch in the greenroom we were told that is the most people they ever had on that couch. Jon and Ken being the only boys on said couch. Go Figure!
6- Kelsea coming home from her summer away. Darian is so thrilled to have her back. She was our Bumbershoot guest. They both got all dressed up in their rock duds. It was super cute!
7- Darian got her first professional foil. Her hair looks so adorable. I got more red put in mine so it is all bright and happy again.
And that is all I can think of that I missed so far. I am sure there is more, but I just can't think of it right now.
1- Jon came home with an armful of adorable little trinkets from his travels all over the world including bracelets he bought on a beach in Italy which for some reason sounds so romantic to me. I am wearing them today. He also brought me several adorable magnets to add to my fridge gallery.
2- Jon mailed me beautiful post cards from all over the world. I love them, every one.
3- Had a sushi dinner with Jeannine and her new male friend who is just too adorable for words. We drank the Sake' that Sean brought back from Thailand as a Thank You gift for watching his crazy kitties last winter. We thought about calling Sean & his wife to invite them over and they showed up right after we were talking about him for something else. It was totally random and funny.
4- Participated in *Amie's Cha Cha birthday night which turned into a free Long Winters show at the Chop Suey and a large consumption in alcohol for me and many people telling me, "Wow! I don't know if I have ever seen you this drunk before!" oops. *I gave her a Kiwi with a pink bow tied around it as a gift :-) (inside joke)
5- Sitting backstage at Easy Street on the couch in the greenroom we were told that is the most people they ever had on that couch. Jon and Ken being the only boys on said couch. Go Figure!
6- Kelsea coming home from her summer away. Darian is so thrilled to have her back. She was our Bumbershoot guest. They both got all dressed up in their rock duds. It was super cute!
7- Darian got her first professional foil. Her hair looks so adorable. I got more red put in mine so it is all bright and happy again.
And that is all I can think of that I missed so far. I am sure there is more, but I just can't think of it right now.
Bumbershoot me!
This weekend was very magical for me in a lot of ways. Especially Sunday. We started Sunday off with a sigh of relief when we got the news that Alex was OK. The waiting was really hard. It allows for your imagination to run wild, while you are still trying to hold on to hope. I am so happy this slice of the horror story that has been NOLA these days had a happy ending.
Sunday Bumbershoot was crazy. It was pouring down rain by the time we got there. Jon dropped us off at the gate so I took the kids in the backstage tent and rode out the storm. This was the first Bumbershoot I went to where I never made it to the festival area. We were just praying the rain would stop by the time The Posies played and it did!
We watched the first few songs from the side of the stage and then we parked ourselves off to the back corner. From there we had an awesome view of the crowd. There were easily 2000-2500 people there. It was an amazing show, one of my top 5 favorites so far.
At one point Darian jumped up with her hands in the air and yelled, "Yay! That's my daddy!" So freaking cute!
My list of favorite Posies shows:
1- Anchorage AK at Gigs Oct 19 1995 (Where I met Jon and it was such a great show I actually hopped up on a speaker and danced all go-go style. The first and last time I have EVER done that! It was THAT inspiring! It was one of the last dates on their tour just before AD so they were well rehearsed.)
2- Bumbershoot 2005
3- The Farewell show at The Croc in 1998? They played for like 3 hours, it was amazing!
4- Neumos show in Seattle 2005. Great freaking show, it screamed "WE ARE BACK!"
Later that eve we went over to the Easy Street show which was also pretty inspiring. I think Amie said it best when she pointed out they mostly played different songs than BS so it was sort of like an extended Posies show in one day two venues.
This morning we said our goodbyes or as Jon put it, "It is not goodbye, it is see you later" and it is back to work.
Sunday Bumbershoot was crazy. It was pouring down rain by the time we got there. Jon dropped us off at the gate so I took the kids in the backstage tent and rode out the storm. This was the first Bumbershoot I went to where I never made it to the festival area. We were just praying the rain would stop by the time The Posies played and it did!
We watched the first few songs from the side of the stage and then we parked ourselves off to the back corner. From there we had an awesome view of the crowd. There were easily 2000-2500 people there. It was an amazing show, one of my top 5 favorites so far.
At one point Darian jumped up with her hands in the air and yelled, "Yay! That's my daddy!" So freaking cute!
My list of favorite Posies shows:
1- Anchorage AK at Gigs Oct 19 1995 (Where I met Jon and it was such a great show I actually hopped up on a speaker and danced all go-go style. The first and last time I have EVER done that! It was THAT inspiring! It was one of the last dates on their tour just before AD so they were well rehearsed.)
2- Bumbershoot 2005
3- The Farewell show at The Croc in 1998? They played for like 3 hours, it was amazing!
4- Neumos show in Seattle 2005. Great freaking show, it screamed "WE ARE BACK!"
Later that eve we went over to the Easy Street show which was also pretty inspiring. I think Amie said it best when she pointed out they mostly played different songs than BS so it was sort of like an extended Posies show in one day two venues.
This morning we said our goodbyes or as Jon put it, "It is not goodbye, it is see you later" and it is back to work.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
The tickets have been purchased!
I'm going to New York!
Sept 28 - Oct 2
Well, technically I am going to NJ, NY, & MA
For these Posies shows:
09.28.05 Hoboken NJ Maxwell's w/Oranger, The Deathray Davies
09.29.05 New York City NY Bowery Ballroom w/Oranger, The Deathray Davies (JON'S BIRTHDAY!!!)
09.30.05 Northhampton MA Iron Horse w/Oranger, The Deathray Davies
10.01.05 Cambridge MA Middle East w/Oranger, The Deathray Davies - Downstairs
Anyone on here going to any of these?
Sept 28 - Oct 2
Well, technically I am going to NJ, NY, & MA
For these Posies shows:
09.28.05 Hoboken NJ Maxwell's w/Oranger, The Deathray Davies
09.29.05 New York City NY Bowery Ballroom w/Oranger, The Deathray Davies (JON'S BIRTHDAY!!!)
09.30.05 Northhampton MA Iron Horse w/Oranger, The Deathray Davies
10.01.05 Cambridge MA Middle East w/Oranger, The Deathray Davies - Downstairs
Anyone on here going to any of these?
Monday, August 29, 2005
I spoke too soon...
The gerbil babies did not make it. :-(
Oh well, maybe the next time?
Or maybe it just was not meant to be.
I went to the dentist this morning. never a good way to start the day.
On a happier note:
We went school shopping for Darian over the weekend. She is now wearing teen sizes which we are finding are a LOT more expensive than the children's sizes. We spent over $150 on 3 pairs of jeans that looked like they were well used! I guess that is the style these days. (That comment made me sound old!) Darian also picked up a happy bunny sweatshirt that she is just in love with.
Welcome to the teen years, I look forward to being broke all of the time! :-)
It is so nice having Jon home, even if it is only for a few days...
Oh well, maybe the next time?
Or maybe it just was not meant to be.
I went to the dentist this morning. never a good way to start the day.
On a happier note:
We went school shopping for Darian over the weekend. She is now wearing teen sizes which we are finding are a LOT more expensive than the children's sizes. We spent over $150 on 3 pairs of jeans that looked like they were well used! I guess that is the style these days. (That comment made me sound old!) Darian also picked up a happy bunny sweatshirt that she is just in love with.
Welcome to the teen years, I look forward to being broke all of the time! :-)
It is so nice having Jon home, even if it is only for a few days...
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Why I am SO happy:
1- Jon gets home in 4 hours
2- Kodo just now gave birth to TWO gerbil babies! Yay! Since there are two there is a really good chance they will live! :-)
I am so happy!
2- Kodo just now gave birth to TWO gerbil babies! Yay! Since there are two there is a really good chance they will live! :-)
I am so happy!
Friday, August 26, 2005
But now I know I can't go back...
Severna Park just came up on my I-tunes and it is bringing back all of these silly memories from 1997. Those guys were so much fun to hang out with and their shows were always such a good time. That really was the end of a very magical time in music in this town. They were not the greatest band, but people and the shows were a lot of fun.
Growing up is the death of imagination. Even though I may look like an adult from time to time and even sound like one, never forget that I am really a tiger in sheep's clothing.
Growing up is the death of imagination. Even though I may look like an adult from time to time and even sound like one, never forget that I am really a tiger in sheep's clothing.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa.........
Do you hear that? I bet you can if you listen really hard.
That is the sound of me screaming in my head.
I am trying to stay awake.
I am trying to be patient.
Waiting for the clock.
Waiting for Saturday.
Waiting for my love to come home.
Waiting for kisses.
Waiting waiting waiting
I am so sick of waiting
That is the sound of me screaming in my head.
I am trying to stay awake.
I am trying to be patient.
Waiting for the clock.
Waiting for Saturday.
Waiting for my love to come home.
Waiting for kisses.
Waiting waiting waiting
I am so sick of waiting
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Adventures in Homemaking
I have been trying to renovate my bedroom before Jon gets home next weekend. I decided to paint my room purple and put up new blinds and get rid of a lot of the clothes I have collected over the years that I don't wear and get the closet all organized and thinned out. (Right now our closet is packed to the brim because I buy WAY too many clothes. There are things in there I probably have never even taken the tags off of.
So I start with the painting.
Our room is sort of a long rectangle. We have the bed up against the wall with the window and there is just enough room for use to walk up either side of it. It is such a weird shaped room, long and skinny. Jon doesn't like how bright it gets in the daytime as he works a lot of nights and tries to sleep in the daytime. I was hoping new blinds would help prevent him from hanging towels and other makeshift light blockers on my window since he didn't think the pannels I had hanging prevented enough light from coming in. Trust me there is nothing more ghetto looking than towels draped over your windows! I hate it!
I decided I would paint the wall around the window a dark purple with a high gloss finish and the other three walls a super light lavender color. This went OK until I realized I had to do a couple of layers of the high gloss to get it right and by that time I was blistered and tired so I got a little lazy and ended up getting a little on the ceiling Ugh! I bought some paint to correct that and it is looking totally fine now.
After I finished the painting on 3 of the four walls (I still have one light purple wall left to paint) I decided I hated our curtains and I was going to buy some of those pretty bamboo matchstick blinds to fix the lighting issue.
I brought them home last night. I could not locate my power drill anywhere so I had to manually remove the thing that was hanging our old blinds. This resulted in a lot of swearing and owies and these ugly little white squares in the purple paint that I will have to now touch up today. When I finally figure out that I was trying to hang the new blinds backwards, got them unraveled and got them up the right way I marked the wall and planted the brackets.
Did I mention my window is 8 feet long? Yeah, it is huge, I should not have been trying to hang these alone! So I get them up and guess what?!?! I hung them about 2 inches too far to the right so they did not cover 1 inch of the window! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! So I measured again, removed all of the brackets moved them all over and FINALLY three hours later got them hung up and working! yay! Victory! Or was it?
Last night they looked amazing against the purple. They blocked everything out just right and everything. This morning.... This morning the inside of my room looked like I had nothing hanging on the window. They are about as sheer as the window itself! How did I miss that? I am now considering starting a small bon fire out front this eve when I get home.
Maybe that is why they are called "Matchstick" blinds?
So I start with the painting.
Our room is sort of a long rectangle. We have the bed up against the wall with the window and there is just enough room for use to walk up either side of it. It is such a weird shaped room, long and skinny. Jon doesn't like how bright it gets in the daytime as he works a lot of nights and tries to sleep in the daytime. I was hoping new blinds would help prevent him from hanging towels and other makeshift light blockers on my window since he didn't think the pannels I had hanging prevented enough light from coming in. Trust me there is nothing more ghetto looking than towels draped over your windows! I hate it!
I decided I would paint the wall around the window a dark purple with a high gloss finish and the other three walls a super light lavender color. This went OK until I realized I had to do a couple of layers of the high gloss to get it right and by that time I was blistered and tired so I got a little lazy and ended up getting a little on the ceiling Ugh! I bought some paint to correct that and it is looking totally fine now.
After I finished the painting on 3 of the four walls (I still have one light purple wall left to paint) I decided I hated our curtains and I was going to buy some of those pretty bamboo matchstick blinds to fix the lighting issue.
I brought them home last night. I could not locate my power drill anywhere so I had to manually remove the thing that was hanging our old blinds. This resulted in a lot of swearing and owies and these ugly little white squares in the purple paint that I will have to now touch up today. When I finally figure out that I was trying to hang the new blinds backwards, got them unraveled and got them up the right way I marked the wall and planted the brackets.
Did I mention my window is 8 feet long? Yeah, it is huge, I should not have been trying to hang these alone! So I get them up and guess what?!?! I hung them about 2 inches too far to the right so they did not cover 1 inch of the window! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! So I measured again, removed all of the brackets moved them all over and FINALLY three hours later got them hung up and working! yay! Victory! Or was it?
Last night they looked amazing against the purple. They blocked everything out just right and everything. This morning.... This morning the inside of my room looked like I had nothing hanging on the window. They are about as sheer as the window itself! How did I miss that? I am now considering starting a small bon fire out front this eve when I get home.
Maybe that is why they are called "Matchstick" blinds?
Monday, August 22, 2005
To find some beautiful place to get lost....
This weekend was interesting to say the least. Some of it was a little too slow for where I was in my head and some of it was well... There were moments where I didn't feel married, 31, like someone's mother or anything else that makes me remember to act responsibly.
I was 18 again staying out until 5AM with my girlfriend talking to cute boys and drinking a weird mix of booze from Gatoraid bottles at a party where the cops showed up three times to tell us to quiet down. (My girl was gone for the weekend visiting her grandparents so I had a license to get into a little trouble. )
The only difference was that I am 31 and don't have that strange awkwardness around boys or strangers as I did when I was a kid. It is a combination of being older and wiser and being married so there is no pressure because I am not looking to date any of these people.
I would love to go into great detail about the weekend just so I had it all written down to remember but really it would be so much to write and my hands are sore from painting my bedroom purple yesterday. I have the biggest blisters ever on my right hand right now. So you will just have to be satisfied with this:
The moon was full and we were full of mischief. There is nothing better than having a partner in crime who is in the same mental place when you are feeling that way. Now hopefully we will be able to channel that energy into the band... That is right, I said The Band!
Stay tuned! ;-)
I was 18 again staying out until 5AM with my girlfriend talking to cute boys and drinking a weird mix of booze from Gatoraid bottles at a party where the cops showed up three times to tell us to quiet down. (My girl was gone for the weekend visiting her grandparents so I had a license to get into a little trouble. )
The only difference was that I am 31 and don't have that strange awkwardness around boys or strangers as I did when I was a kid. It is a combination of being older and wiser and being married so there is no pressure because I am not looking to date any of these people.
I would love to go into great detail about the weekend just so I had it all written down to remember but really it would be so much to write and my hands are sore from painting my bedroom purple yesterday. I have the biggest blisters ever on my right hand right now. So you will just have to be satisfied with this:
The moon was full and we were full of mischief. There is nothing better than having a partner in crime who is in the same mental place when you are feeling that way. Now hopefully we will be able to channel that energy into the band... That is right, I said The Band!
Stay tuned! ;-)
Monday, August 08, 2005
on with it....
I feel like I should go ahead and do my birthday post now that I think I have milked the day for all its worth and it is time to stick a fork in it and call it done.
I must accept the day has come and gone and I am now officially in my thirties, no longer just thirty. I know, "Wha!" right?
Whatever, just don't come crying to me when it happens to you!
We started celebrating my birthday on Thursday eve at Midnight at the Teenage Fanclub show. Great show, if you missed it, you missed out! After the show we went down to the band room. The guys were all very sweet and gracious hosts. They made sure we were all set up with drinks and offered snack and so on. We toasted my birthday as it was now after midnight.
I look forward to maybe seeing them again later this year in Germany when they are on the road with The Posies!
Thursday night was my birthday. Wonderful Licia set up for everyone to meet at Ye Old Spaghetti Factory. loads of my friends showered me with love and many lovely scented gifts. I received a lot of different flavors of lotion and some pretty awesome chocolate. Is that because once you get to be "in your thirties" moisturizer is so much more important? I didn't ask, and I am not complaining. This is the good stuff. Also got a yummy CD that I have been dying to hear. Mmmmm... Great music, yummy lotion and amazing chocolate. That sounds like a good night!
Friday I was at work and I got a Fed Ex package from my darling husband (Who is in Sweden today I think???) He ordered from my favorite gift buying place www.ice.com. I am now the proud owner of my dream bracelet! It is a classic diamond and white gold tennis bracelet. I spent half the day like a crow mesmerized by the sparkle in all different light. What a good man. I can't wait until he gets home so I can properly thank him. He gives the best gifts!
Saturday I treated myself and my friend to pedicures and pampering which was much needed.
Sunday I went shopping. I was compelled to spend all of the money my mom sent me for my birthday. I bought myself some new sunglasses, a classic Luis Vuitton purse and a really cute Coach clutch. (Thus ending all purse purchases for at least 6 months. I think I have an addiction!)
Swung by Nordstrom and picked up some cute fishnet tights to go with my party dresses. It seems I don't have a problem spending my mom's money after all! Shocking I know! I still need to call her and tell her what she bought for me.
Sunday eve we went to Chop Suey for what was called Hipsters and Fags night. It was pretty slow when we first got there but started to pick up. There were $1 drinks so I spent a lot of time trying to get Amie loaded so I could convince her to sing Karaoke for the gong show. I think in an attempt to drink enough, we drank too much and decided to just call it a night without singing. The next time I will be doing my version of the Banana Boat song. I know you all wait with baited breath.
Thus ends my birthday week. I will now continue on with my thirties.
I must accept the day has come and gone and I am now officially in my thirties, no longer just thirty. I know, "Wha!" right?
Whatever, just don't come crying to me when it happens to you!
We started celebrating my birthday on Thursday eve at Midnight at the Teenage Fanclub show. Great show, if you missed it, you missed out! After the show we went down to the band room. The guys were all very sweet and gracious hosts. They made sure we were all set up with drinks and offered snack and so on. We toasted my birthday as it was now after midnight.
I look forward to maybe seeing them again later this year in Germany when they are on the road with The Posies!
Thursday night was my birthday. Wonderful Licia set up for everyone to meet at Ye Old Spaghetti Factory. loads of my friends showered me with love and many lovely scented gifts. I received a lot of different flavors of lotion and some pretty awesome chocolate. Is that because once you get to be "in your thirties" moisturizer is so much more important? I didn't ask, and I am not complaining. This is the good stuff. Also got a yummy CD that I have been dying to hear. Mmmmm... Great music, yummy lotion and amazing chocolate. That sounds like a good night!
Friday I was at work and I got a Fed Ex package from my darling husband (Who is in Sweden today I think???) He ordered from my favorite gift buying place www.ice.com. I am now the proud owner of my dream bracelet! It is a classic diamond and white gold tennis bracelet. I spent half the day like a crow mesmerized by the sparkle in all different light. What a good man. I can't wait until he gets home so I can properly thank him. He gives the best gifts!
Saturday I treated myself and my friend to pedicures and pampering which was much needed.
Sunday I went shopping. I was compelled to spend all of the money my mom sent me for my birthday. I bought myself some new sunglasses, a classic Luis Vuitton purse and a really cute Coach clutch. (Thus ending all purse purchases for at least 6 months. I think I have an addiction!)
Swung by Nordstrom and picked up some cute fishnet tights to go with my party dresses. It seems I don't have a problem spending my mom's money after all! Shocking I know! I still need to call her and tell her what she bought for me.
Sunday eve we went to Chop Suey for what was called Hipsters and Fags night. It was pretty slow when we first got there but started to pick up. There were $1 drinks so I spent a lot of time trying to get Amie loaded so I could convince her to sing Karaoke for the gong show. I think in an attempt to drink enough, we drank too much and decided to just call it a night without singing. The next time I will be doing my version of the Banana Boat song. I know you all wait with baited breath.
Thus ends my birthday week. I will now continue on with my thirties.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
I'll be your fanclub baby!
Licia, Amie and I hit the Teenage Fanclub show last eve. I had drinks. Since I don't normally drink, any amount is too much for me, but I think I may have overdone it. I am still feeling a little wooozy this morning!
The show was pretty great, really crowded, but the band sounded good. We ended up watching the 2nd half of the show in the room next to the show room only because it was so stifling hot and there was really no place to stand. (Unless you wanted to be pressed up against strangers) Oddly enough the sound was fabulous from that room.
Since The Posies are going to be doing some shows with them later this year and they are old mates from back when we were on the list to get in. Jon made me promise to thank to tour manager after the show for setting it up. So after a wonderful pop music show, I went and found the tour manager and he asked if we would be interested in coming down and saying hello to the lads. We said, "But of course!"
We grab our Capillaries friend Michael as well since he had shown some interest in meeting them if the chance arrived.
We went down to the band room. the guys were all very sweet and gracious hosts. They made sure we were all set up with drinks and offered snack and so on. Michael and I spent a good amount of our time down in the band room bending Norman's ear. He was so sweet and super funny.
After a few hours of gabbing and drinking it was time to head off for those of us who had to work early in the morning and for the guys to hit the road as they have to be in CA for a show today!
All I can say is that they are top Notch guys, it was a pleasure hanging out with them and I look forward to maybe seeing them again later this year!
Oh and it is my birthday today.
The show was pretty great, really crowded, but the band sounded good. We ended up watching the 2nd half of the show in the room next to the show room only because it was so stifling hot and there was really no place to stand. (Unless you wanted to be pressed up against strangers) Oddly enough the sound was fabulous from that room.
Since The Posies are going to be doing some shows with them later this year and they are old mates from back when we were on the list to get in. Jon made me promise to thank to tour manager after the show for setting it up. So after a wonderful pop music show, I went and found the tour manager and he asked if we would be interested in coming down and saying hello to the lads. We said, "But of course!"
We grab our Capillaries friend Michael as well since he had shown some interest in meeting them if the chance arrived.
We went down to the band room. the guys were all very sweet and gracious hosts. They made sure we were all set up with drinks and offered snack and so on. Michael and I spent a good amount of our time down in the band room bending Norman's ear. He was so sweet and super funny.
After a few hours of gabbing and drinking it was time to head off for those of us who had to work early in the morning and for the guys to hit the road as they have to be in CA for a show today!
All I can say is that they are top Notch guys, it was a pleasure hanging out with them and I look forward to maybe seeing them again later this year!
Oh and it is my birthday today.
Do a shout out!
The paper I work for has added a new Friends and Family section to their website. it is free to post shout outs to friends and Pet photos and so on. We have been encouraged to ask our friends to give it a try. If you have a moment and have a lover/friend/pet/fave band/shoe that you would like to give a shout out to, please swing by and do so! The more the better! (And hey! It is free!)
http://classifieds.thestranger.com/seattle/index
So Dooo iiit!
Thank you very much!
http://classifieds.thestranger.com/seattle/index
So Dooo iiit!
Thank you very much!
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
I've been having a love affair this week...
With this band called The Elected. Actually I am lovng this song in particular:
~Greetings In Braille~
If my senses fail, stay with me 'til they go
'cause I don't want to be alone.
Greetings in Braille, they'll describe everything,
colors aren't everything.
And if you see me down at the liquor store,
please don't tell my dad.
And if you see my dad down at the liquor store,
don't tell me anything at all.
And the people you brought
are just drainpipes bringing trash to the ground.
And the memories are just picture cards,
one night stands and breakdowns.
And you were cold, tired and old as you'd ever looked that night.
And we were warned, yeah.
We were warned not to stay out too late.
But some things were worth getting in trouble for.
So now that you finally failed
just like you said you would, down to the last detail.
Well, if living's such hell, here's to your dying days.
You won't have to be afraid.
And the heroes you met were just fiction,
yeah, with higher expectations.
And your friends grew up faster than you got successful,
told you to keep it up. Good comes to those who work.
And the stories they told you were true, babe.
Your mom really went crazy.
But that doesn't have to be you.
No.
And I miss Tara and Melissa, Allen and John.
And you'll never have friends like you did when you were young.
But our bodies were pulled away and swept out to the sea
and I'd call and say hi if I thought you'd remember me.
cause some things are worth leaving old memories for.
If my senses fail, stay with me 'til they go
'cause I don't want to be alone.
Greetings in Braille, should describe everything
'cause you can't see anything from here.
From here, you can't see nothing at all.
~Greetings In Braille~
If my senses fail, stay with me 'til they go
'cause I don't want to be alone.
Greetings in Braille, they'll describe everything,
colors aren't everything.
And if you see me down at the liquor store,
please don't tell my dad.
And if you see my dad down at the liquor store,
don't tell me anything at all.
And the people you brought
are just drainpipes bringing trash to the ground.
And the memories are just picture cards,
one night stands and breakdowns.
And you were cold, tired and old as you'd ever looked that night.
And we were warned, yeah.
We were warned not to stay out too late.
But some things were worth getting in trouble for.
So now that you finally failed
just like you said you would, down to the last detail.
Well, if living's such hell, here's to your dying days.
You won't have to be afraid.
And the heroes you met were just fiction,
yeah, with higher expectations.
And your friends grew up faster than you got successful,
told you to keep it up. Good comes to those who work.
And the stories they told you were true, babe.
Your mom really went crazy.
But that doesn't have to be you.
No.
And I miss Tara and Melissa, Allen and John.
And you'll never have friends like you did when you were young.
But our bodies were pulled away and swept out to the sea
and I'd call and say hi if I thought you'd remember me.
cause some things are worth leaving old memories for.
If my senses fail, stay with me 'til they go
'cause I don't want to be alone.
Greetings in Braille, should describe everything
'cause you can't see anything from here.
From here, you can't see nothing at all.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
last days of new beginnings
So tomorrow is my last day of 30. No more 30. Starting Friday I will have to answer "31" when people ask me how old I am.
I read somewhere once that when you die, no matter how old or young you are, you will always appear as 30 if you are ever a ghost. Now I know this is complete Bollocks, but it did make me have a major "What If?" moment. Of all of the ages I could appear to be for the rest of eternity it would so NOT be 30! I would probably have to say I would choose to be the latter half of 18 and beginning of 19. I wasted so much pretty on the louse I was with back then, but alas, had I not been with him, there would be no Darian, so I should just count my blessings.
My mom always says that you should not complain about getting older because it sure beats the alternative. I just thought by now I would know what I wanted to be when I grow up. So far I have concluded that I only really enjoy not working, playing with children and playing guitar. And no I do not want to be an elementary school music teacher! If the position of Rock n Roll Martha Stuart was open, I would be the first to apply!
Maybe I should just start a cult? I hear there is big money in that.
I am going to rock it with my girls at Teenage Fanclub tomorrow for a little early birthday celebration. The Posies are doing some touring with them later in the year so I was able to get the list hookup. Very cool indeed. Shows are so much better when you don't have to pay for them!
Oh and for the record My husband + large quantities of booze + a camera phone =
I have never been more attracted to him!
I read somewhere once that when you die, no matter how old or young you are, you will always appear as 30 if you are ever a ghost. Now I know this is complete Bollocks, but it did make me have a major "What If?" moment. Of all of the ages I could appear to be for the rest of eternity it would so NOT be 30! I would probably have to say I would choose to be the latter half of 18 and beginning of 19. I wasted so much pretty on the louse I was with back then, but alas, had I not been with him, there would be no Darian, so I should just count my blessings.
My mom always says that you should not complain about getting older because it sure beats the alternative. I just thought by now I would know what I wanted to be when I grow up. So far I have concluded that I only really enjoy not working, playing with children and playing guitar. And no I do not want to be an elementary school music teacher! If the position of Rock n Roll Martha Stuart was open, I would be the first to apply!
Maybe I should just start a cult? I hear there is big money in that.
I am going to rock it with my girls at Teenage Fanclub tomorrow for a little early birthday celebration. The Posies are doing some touring with them later in the year so I was able to get the list hookup. Very cool indeed. Shows are so much better when you don't have to pay for them!
Oh and for the record My husband + large quantities of booze + a camera phone =
Monday, August 01, 2005
Peanut RIP
Peanut is dead. I came home and he was only a head. It was very very sad. Hopefully the next litter has more babies. We can't say we didn't try, it just was not meant to be this time.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Baby Watch 2005...
Since there was only one gerbil pup it's life expectancy is not too high. As soon as I posted I left to go to the pet store and buy some replacement milk and a teeeeeny bottle. I tried to suppliment the baby. He wanted only a few drops. Kodo didn't seem to care that I was messing with her baby, probably because I am always picking her up so she is used to my hands in the cage.
So we are hoping that fate favours us and she can feed the baby enough to get him through the next few days. I read that if the baby lives that long it will be easier to suppliment feed him and he will live. We are calling him Peanut. I guess the first 24 hours are the hardest. Send little Peanut good vibes!
So we are hoping that fate favours us and she can feed the baby enough to get him through the next few days. I read that if the baby lives that long it will be easier to suppliment feed him and he will live. We are calling him Peanut. I guess the first 24 hours are the hardest. Send little Peanut good vibes!
Welcome Peanut! We have been waiting for you!
I woke up early this morning but I laid in bed staring at the ceiling for at least two hours before I was finally motivated to move. The cats know when my eyes open. Maybe they have such heightened sense of hearing that they can hear my eyelids as they slam open. How they are in my face meowing within seconds of my reaching consciousness leads me to believe so. Or it is just the predictability of my natural body clock. I have been working the same shift for so many years, I can’t stay asleep past 9AM to save my life, unless of course I have stayed up drinking until 4AM and then maybe I will sleep until 10AM. It is stupid.
I stared and they circled me like little hairy Piranha. They head butted me in the face, tried to burrow under my blankets, stuck their wet noses to the exposed skin parts of my body. They basically did their best to drive me out of bed and into the kitchen since I am the one with an opposable thumb.
Maybe it is my birthday that is getting me down? It is only a few days away, and I am now officially out of the age bracket where you say, “Woohoo I’m turning _ today!” I think I may be entering the age bracket where I start lying about my age, but my little preteen looks like a teen daughter would never allow me to do so, and I refuse to be one of those, “Hey let’s pretend we are sisters!” kind of mom’s even though most days strangers ask if we are anyways. My darling daughter always says, “No, she my Mom!” and draws out the “O” in mom with a tone that can only say, You are an idiot!
OMG! As I am writing this I just noticed some commotion in my gerbil cage! We have a baby! Yay! There is only one though, and what I am reading online is that it’s chances of survival are not so good because mom may not be able to make enough milk. I guess only time will tell…
We named the baby Peanut. I hope she can make it live!
Wow, what a mood swing that was... I could go back and edit, but decided not to. It is more fun this way.
I stared and they circled me like little hairy Piranha. They head butted me in the face, tried to burrow under my blankets, stuck their wet noses to the exposed skin parts of my body. They basically did their best to drive me out of bed and into the kitchen since I am the one with an opposable thumb.
Maybe it is my birthday that is getting me down? It is only a few days away, and I am now officially out of the age bracket where you say, “Woohoo I’m turning _ today!” I think I may be entering the age bracket where I start lying about my age, but my little preteen looks like a teen daughter would never allow me to do so, and I refuse to be one of those, “Hey let’s pretend we are sisters!” kind of mom’s even though most days strangers ask if we are anyways. My darling daughter always says, “No, she my Mom!” and draws out the “O” in mom with a tone that can only say, You are an idiot!
OMG! As I am writing this I just noticed some commotion in my gerbil cage! We have a baby! Yay! There is only one though, and what I am reading online is that it’s chances of survival are not so good because mom may not be able to make enough milk. I guess only time will tell…
We named the baby Peanut. I hope she can make it live!
Wow, what a mood swing that was... I could go back and edit, but decided not to. It is more fun this way.
Friday, July 29, 2005
He is my pretty pretty...
Jon has a new song called Cemetery Song. I love it so much. I listen to it over and over again. It is so sad it just breaks my heart. The guitar is acoustic and pretty and simple and his voice is so sad. It makes me want to cry every time I hear it. It is so frustrating to me that this record is not out yet. I just want to talk to people about it. Out of all three records, I think this one is the best that is coming out this year, it blows the new Posies out of the water, and Big Star has got nothing on it. I'm so proud of him.
There's no wondering where you are now
Your so far now
That you can't get any father away....
There's a red sunset on a movie screen
with every shade of evening in between
This is how you will always be to me so it seems
And in your arms I learned to breath
you brought me up and you let me be
Dared to let me go, to set me free...
There's no wondering where you are now
Your so far now
That you can't get any father away....
There's a red sunset on a movie screen
with every shade of evening in between
This is how you will always be to me so it seems
And in your arms I learned to breath
you brought me up and you let me be
Dared to let me go, to set me free...
Thursday, July 28, 2005
pretty pictures...
http://www.jonauer.com/Tour2005.html
Just posted Jon's little tour diary via his cel phone on the website.
Pretty silly stuff. Feel free to check it out! :-)
I plan to keep adding them as I get them.
Just posted Jon's little tour diary via his cel phone on the website.
Pretty silly stuff. Feel free to check it out! :-)
I plan to keep adding them as I get them.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
What's been going on?
Well let me see..
My husband is traveling, so my daughter and I have been spending loads of time being girly and doing girly stuff like Shopping, hanging out and gossiping. It has been a lot of fun. I feel like it is such an important time in her life, and we have been given this great gift of having a really solid relationship. It has been great. We do miss Jon quite a bit though. When we do things like go shopping or go out to eat we always miss him. It is like we forgot to bring him along. In ways I am learning that missing someone is quite similar to mourning them. The first few days of it gave me a panicky feeling because I have dealt with so much loss, but this time I know the lost person is coming home to me again.
Something to do with summer and pheromones or something has caused all of the crazies to find me highly attractive. Earlier this week I had a pimp tell me I was gorgeous and then give me his whole line of yadda yadda before I could escape. I thought he was going to offer me a job!
And then today on the way back from my doctor I was followed down the street by a group of guys going on and on about my hair, my shoes, my booty. They were making a lot of racket and whistling. I suddenly started seeing images from A Clockwork Orange. It made me laugh and a little bit afraid. Listen guys, if you find a girl attractive, following her down the street and yelling at her is not a way to get good attention. However, it is a good way to get pepper sprayed.
Speaking of the doctor, I got my clean bill of health today. I had some drama over the last few months which I was keeping under my hat just because I wanted to suss it all out before I went public with it. I remember when I was a kid and got the Chicken Pox, I didn't feel sick until somebody told me I was. I guess I was afraid the same thing would happen here if I went and told everyone what was going on. So I just went on business as usual until it was all over.
Basically I had a big old chunk of cells removed that were precancerous. There was a minor surgery involved just before our anniversary and a helluva a lot of doctors appointments and testing. I got the pathology results today and the doctor told me that had I gone to see her any later I would have full blown Cancer and I was REALLY lucky I went when I did. What an eye opener that was! She said I have to come in every few months to be checked on, but she said that there is a 95% chance I caught it in time and am "cured".
Funny enough, the only reason I went when I did was to break in my new insurance for my new job, so in essence my job saved my life. How ironic!
So having said that, I would like to tell all of you to go to your regular doctors appointments and get your check ups, don't wait until you are sick because if you do, it may be too late.
Now I am putting it all behind me.
Whew.
All of this really made me take a long look at my life, and I have to say, I am OK with it. Life is good and I am a very lucky girl.
In happier news, I turn 31 next Thursday! What happened to the last year? It all went so fast! I am really proud of the last year and how it turned out, so I don't have any regrets. I can only say it was one of the more eventful years of my life!
I walk away from it older and wiser, but mostly older.
That is all for now. Catch you on the flipside!
My husband is traveling, so my daughter and I have been spending loads of time being girly and doing girly stuff like Shopping, hanging out and gossiping. It has been a lot of fun. I feel like it is such an important time in her life, and we have been given this great gift of having a really solid relationship. It has been great. We do miss Jon quite a bit though. When we do things like go shopping or go out to eat we always miss him. It is like we forgot to bring him along. In ways I am learning that missing someone is quite similar to mourning them. The first few days of it gave me a panicky feeling because I have dealt with so much loss, but this time I know the lost person is coming home to me again.
Something to do with summer and pheromones or something has caused all of the crazies to find me highly attractive. Earlier this week I had a pimp tell me I was gorgeous and then give me his whole line of yadda yadda before I could escape. I thought he was going to offer me a job!
And then today on the way back from my doctor I was followed down the street by a group of guys going on and on about my hair, my shoes, my booty. They were making a lot of racket and whistling. I suddenly started seeing images from A Clockwork Orange. It made me laugh and a little bit afraid. Listen guys, if you find a girl attractive, following her down the street and yelling at her is not a way to get good attention. However, it is a good way to get pepper sprayed.
Speaking of the doctor, I got my clean bill of health today. I had some drama over the last few months which I was keeping under my hat just because I wanted to suss it all out before I went public with it. I remember when I was a kid and got the Chicken Pox, I didn't feel sick until somebody told me I was. I guess I was afraid the same thing would happen here if I went and told everyone what was going on. So I just went on business as usual until it was all over.
Basically I had a big old chunk of cells removed that were precancerous. There was a minor surgery involved just before our anniversary and a helluva a lot of doctors appointments and testing. I got the pathology results today and the doctor told me that had I gone to see her any later I would have full blown Cancer and I was REALLY lucky I went when I did. What an eye opener that was! She said I have to come in every few months to be checked on, but she said that there is a 95% chance I caught it in time and am "cured".
Funny enough, the only reason I went when I did was to break in my new insurance for my new job, so in essence my job saved my life. How ironic!
So having said that, I would like to tell all of you to go to your regular doctors appointments and get your check ups, don't wait until you are sick because if you do, it may be too late.
Now I am putting it all behind me.
Whew.
All of this really made me take a long look at my life, and I have to say, I am OK with it. Life is good and I am a very lucky girl.
In happier news, I turn 31 next Thursday! What happened to the last year? It all went so fast! I am really proud of the last year and how it turned out, so I don't have any regrets. I can only say it was one of the more eventful years of my life!
I walk away from it older and wiser, but mostly older.
That is all for now. Catch you on the flipside!
Sunday, July 24, 2005
One Fantastic Bore...
Darian and I went to see The Fantastic Four. I have been looking forward to it since I saw the preview before Batman Returns. I think Jessica Alba is hot and Julian McMahon from Nip Tuck is hot, and Michael Chiklis from The Shield is just a full on badass (and a little hot) so where did they go wrong? It should have been named the Fantastic Bore.
It reminded me of one of those God-awful Disney Channel original movies. I think The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was more entertaining and that is so not hot.
It reminded me of one of those God-awful Disney Channel original movies. I think The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was more entertaining and that is so not hot.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Second hand news
I am going to put on my writers cap and update the website for Jon today. He is far away from a computer and traveling so much right now he just would not have time to write, but he checks in with me regularly so I figure the least I can do is pass along some of his road stories so far.
He said Paris was three-showers-a-day hot and muggy, but it was a lot of fun. This was the first show to launch the tour. He said they sold quite a few T-shirts (I guess they have special Euro Posies shirts just for this tour) and the crowd was awesome! They had not practiced in a few weeks so it wasn’t perfect, but it went really well for the first show of a tour.
They played with Cheap Star (The band that Ken has been working with and that Jon is going in the studio with for a week before they leave on the US tour at the end of August.) He said during the show both Jon and Ken joined Cheap Star on stage. They are a band to watch if you are in those parts. Jon played the CD for me of rough mixes and it was pretty cool! Funny story, I guess they were late for sound check because the van was “misplaced” Someone in the crew moved it to a safer area for parking and then got turned around when going back to find it. Eventually it was found and they got started. Sounded like the usual first day jitters type of thing to happen. I thought it was pretty funny!
Day two was in Switzerland. There was trouble finding a phone so I didn’t hear much about this particular show.
Show 3; day 4 they are in Dublin, Ireland. Jon called me after the show a little tipsy, but in good spirits. He said that the drive was like 30 hours in the van and on a ferry. I guess the navigator got lost a few times, which made the drive that much longer, but they made it to the venue no worse for the wear. He said they sold several CDs. The crowd seemed very friendly, even while we were on the phone I could hear people coming up saying “Great show!” He called me on Darius’ cell. I am sure we will be hearing from D when he gets that bill! Those silly boys!
So really, they are all in great spirits! Maybe a little homesick, but having a good time and still working out the bugs that come with the start of any tour. It looks like Ireland for the next few days. I will pass on any more show info as I get it.
He said Paris was three-showers-a-day hot and muggy, but it was a lot of fun. This was the first show to launch the tour. He said they sold quite a few T-shirts (I guess they have special Euro Posies shirts just for this tour) and the crowd was awesome! They had not practiced in a few weeks so it wasn’t perfect, but it went really well for the first show of a tour.
They played with Cheap Star (The band that Ken has been working with and that Jon is going in the studio with for a week before they leave on the US tour at the end of August.) He said during the show both Jon and Ken joined Cheap Star on stage. They are a band to watch if you are in those parts. Jon played the CD for me of rough mixes and it was pretty cool! Funny story, I guess they were late for sound check because the van was “misplaced” Someone in the crew moved it to a safer area for parking and then got turned around when going back to find it. Eventually it was found and they got started. Sounded like the usual first day jitters type of thing to happen. I thought it was pretty funny!
Day two was in Switzerland. There was trouble finding a phone so I didn’t hear much about this particular show.
Show 3; day 4 they are in Dublin, Ireland. Jon called me after the show a little tipsy, but in good spirits. He said that the drive was like 30 hours in the van and on a ferry. I guess the navigator got lost a few times, which made the drive that much longer, but they made it to the venue no worse for the wear. He said they sold several CDs. The crowd seemed very friendly, even while we were on the phone I could hear people coming up saying “Great show!” He called me on Darius’ cell. I am sure we will be hearing from D when he gets that bill! Those silly boys!
So really, they are all in great spirits! Maybe a little homesick, but having a good time and still working out the bugs that come with the start of any tour. It looks like Ireland for the next few days. I will pass on any more show info as I get it.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Another day another dream..
This one consisted of a not pregnant co-worker finding out she is pregnant and then FF to her having a baby girl. We were having an office baby shower for her after the baby was born (In my dream she came early) It was in the Spring next year. It was a happy dream, and pretty vivid. I am just glad it was not another creepy anxiety dream like I had been having!
Last Night:
Darian and I rented the latest season of Dead Like me that came out on DVD yesterday! I am so happy! It seemed like we waited FOREVER for that to come out! We had a slumber party in my room last eve and watched them until I seriously could no longer keep my eyes open. This morning came early and I was TIRED. Of course my little night owl of a child could have watched the entire season! We made it to the 7th episode, tonight we will watch the rest.
It is such a fun show. We love it! And really, I needed to laugh at/make light of death after the last week. It is fantastic for that!
Last Night:
Darian and I rented the latest season of Dead Like me that came out on DVD yesterday! I am so happy! It seemed like we waited FOREVER for that to come out! We had a slumber party in my room last eve and watched them until I seriously could no longer keep my eyes open. This morning came early and I was TIRED. Of course my little night owl of a child could have watched the entire season! We made it to the 7th episode, tonight we will watch the rest.
It is such a fun show. We love it! And really, I needed to laugh at/make light of death after the last week. It is fantastic for that!
Monday, July 18, 2005
Welcome to my pity party. (I am getting on my own nerves I swear!)
It is 10 PM where Jon is right now. He is probably just arriving at the club they are playing in Paris and getting ready to play. I have been listening to Songs From the Year of our Demise all day and missing him.
I feel like all of my emotions are boiling right under the surface. I have started to tear up an embarrassing amount of times all day. I am usually a pretty tough cookie, but I think I have reached the line.
My emotional cup runneth over.
I am hoping to work out extra hard at the gym today. Sometimes it helps to physically exhaust myself to the point where the emotional exhaustion doesn't matter so much.
So much has changed, another friend is gone, and I am a million miles away from the one person who's hugs always make me feel safe from it all.
Days like this make it hard not to feel completely tiny and insignificant.
I feel like all of my emotions are boiling right under the surface. I have started to tear up an embarrassing amount of times all day. I am usually a pretty tough cookie, but I think I have reached the line.
My emotional cup runneth over.
I am hoping to work out extra hard at the gym today. Sometimes it helps to physically exhaust myself to the point where the emotional exhaustion doesn't matter so much.
So much has changed, another friend is gone, and I am a million miles away from the one person who's hugs always make me feel safe from it all.
Days like this make it hard not to feel completely tiny and insignificant.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
This is horrible news…
My friend Michael has died. I worked with him for years at LizardTech. He was often times my lunch companion and he was my mentor on many things when I was learning the wonderful world of technology. He was a really sweet person. The last time I saw him was at the airport in Chicago in the middle of the night, I was leaving and he was flying in. We chatted for a bit and said our goodbyes. I have not been in touch with him since then. I read this on his band Silkworm’s message board today:
Author: tmidgett
Subject: semi-official word on Michael
Hello all,
First of all, thanks for your thoughts.
Second of all, here is the sum total of what we know right now:
Michael and our friends John Glick and Doug Meis were traveling from Shure to someplace for lunch.
They were behind a car at a light.
A young woman, bent on doing injury to herself, ran into the back of the car at a high rate of speed.
Evidently, all three guys were killed instantly.
I'm sure more details will come out over time. But those are the facts as I understand them presently.
I don't have much else to say. Except, again, thank you, all of you.
Love,
Tim
-------------------------
Here is the NBC link on the accident
and She was the one trying to kill herself.
Author: tmidgett
Subject: semi-official word on Michael
Hello all,
First of all, thanks for your thoughts.
Second of all, here is the sum total of what we know right now:
Michael and our friends John Glick and Doug Meis were traveling from Shure to someplace for lunch.
They were behind a car at a light.
A young woman, bent on doing injury to herself, ran into the back of the car at a high rate of speed.
Evidently, all three guys were killed instantly.
I'm sure more details will come out over time. But those are the facts as I understand them presently.
I don't have much else to say. Except, again, thank you, all of you.
Love,
Tim
-------------------------
Here is the NBC link on the accident
and She was the one trying to kill herself.
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