Finally, a break

Wow, it's been so ridiculously busy, I don't even know where to start. Guess we'll just go in order:
Last Wednesday : 89x Nutcracker with Fall Out Boy. Harry was supposed to do an interview with Cobra Starship but that fell through so he decided to go to a different show. I, however, decided to go to see FOB anyways. I made friends with a security guard and he let me up as close as he could without me actually being in the photo pit. I handed out business cards. I got amazing photos of the bands. I had a blast and (still) heart Pete Wentz:)

Thursday: The Night 89x Stole Xmas. Amazing fucking show. Well, let me rephrase that, most of the bands were amazing, I wasn't all that impressed with Angels and Airwaves. The photo pass didn't come through but I got some good pics despite shooting totally blind (holding the camera over the crowd and just shooting. I got a lot of pics of the crowd, or cut off the performers heads, but I still managed to get some good ones.) My Chem was fucking unbelievable...totally amazing, words can't really describe their show. I lurrrved it:) I *was* pretty comatose the next day, but it was totally worth it.

Friday: ended up at Tower Inn for drinks with Jon and Brandon. My dad has taken to calling us the Three Musketeers. It's kinda funny...yet another late night. I think I've been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night. Must work on that.

Saturday: Went with Jon to see a few of my students' bands who were playing for another girl's 16th birthday. I was *really* nervous beforehand-I mean, I had no idea what to expect, and here are two teachers invading their space. In the end, it went really well. The kids (the ones in the bands at least) were actually very excited that we showed up. Jon and Brandon insist that I'm the "cool" teacher, but I still don't see it. I've never been cool in my life, why on earth would people think I'm cool now?? The kids were really excited about the photos I took and have already posted them liberally on their band's myspace page. They did make very sure to find out what I wanted my photo credit to say, which was kinda cute. Speaking of myspace, a bunch of students found my facebook page. Luckily there isn't anything particularly interesting or inappropriate there, but it still weirded me out a bit.

Monday: All American Rejects show at EMU. Harry had an interview with Boys Like Girls that I got to tag along for, so that was fun. We also got photo passes from GLB, so we were able to shoot the whole show from the pit. I got a ton of pics, but AAR kinda sucked. I'm not a big fan to begin with, but they just played into every concert gimmick in the book and spent WAY too much time talking. Hardly the greatest show I've been to, especially since the 89x shows (and even my students' show!) were better.

I made it through the rest of the week, barely. It has been nuts with getting my work for school done, writing my weekly album reviews, adding in concert reviews, trying to have a social life, AND writing blurbs for Static's top albums and singles retrospective. I was honored that my editor asked me to do a few more than other people (I interpret that as he likes my writing, not that I'm a total pushover), but it was one more thing to fit in. Oh well.

Went to see the school Christmas play last night. It was a hoot-the kids were really good and it was quite funny. We (the three musketeers) almost didn't get in b/c the show was sold out, but luck was on our side and we got in. Hung out with my boys afterwards and had a great time. It was a good night:)

Did a little Xmas shopping today but I probably spent more time running around trying to track things down than I actually did legitimately shopping. There are still a couple of people I need to get things for, but at least I know what I want to get them:) good start, eh?

Ok, a few photos from the many, many shows. I think I need to just post a ton of them on my flickr account, but this will do for the moment.
Those of you that I don't talk to before Christmas-have a great holiday!
Listening to: "The Sharpest Lives" My Chemical Romance