Ahh, Jersey

I made it to Jersey. I was beginning to doubt I would get here on one piece, but I made it. Let me explain why:

To begin with, I don't mind doing some things on the spur of the moment, but big things (say, travelling out of state for four days) I like to have some kind of a plan and an itinerary. It doesn't have to be planned to the minute, but I like knowing, for instance, when I'm leaving, where I'm staying, what time I'm coming home, how much it'll all cost, etc. I don't think that's too OCD. So, Harry and I'd been kicking around this idea for a few months and he wanted to do all the planning for it. Having extremely little extra time on my hands, I agreed to let him do it.

Where things became a problem is, even though I repeatedly asked for information on where we were staying, flight times, etc., I got no information or even a response. Come Wednesday of this week (we were supposed to leave Friday), I flipped out and told him that unless he gave me some concrete information, I was NOT getting on a plane on Friday. Luckily, that got me the information. However, I was dismayed to find that he decided to book us on a flight out of Flint (much closer to him than me) at 8am. This meant I had to get up at 5am in order to make the one hour drive as well as be there early enough to get through security. Now, I tend to get up around 5am on weekdays anyways, so this wasn't too awful. What was disturbing was that he'd initially told me we'd be leaving from Detroit in the afternoon (all the while patting himself on the back for "letting us be able to sleep in"). I suppose he wasn't being dishonest about the Detroit in the afternoon bit because, from Flint we flew to Detroit where we sat, waiting for our plane to LaGuardia until 2:3o pm. A total of five and a half hours.

The flight to NYC was less than comfortable as well because I got sandwiched between two big guys who had no concept of personal space. I was smooshed. One of the guys had BO. They kept pushing over onto my seat. I tried to sleep, and managed for a bit, but woke up enraged that I got stuck in the middle of them. The descent for landing was bumpy and at this point (4 pm) I hadn't eaten since 9am and the combo of the bumpy flight and no food in my stomach was making me nauseous. Of course we're at the back of the plane (a 747 I believe) and it takes a million years to get off. Initially I'd been told (this will become a theme I think) that we were getting a ride from the airport to Jersey from Harry's friend Andy. However, now that we're in NYC I'm told that we're taking the bus to Penn Station and then the train out to Jersey. I've done that kind of thing plenty of times before and I've travelled enough on my own to new places that this kind of thing doesn't phase me a whole lot. What irritated me was how it seemed I was initially told one thing and then not told that things changed until the last minute. THAT upsets me.

Of course we'd just missed the bus to Penn Station and were told another was coming at 4:30. Well...it was late. Now we're trying to get to Midtown Manhattan at 4:45 on a Friday. You can imagine what that was like...However, I will say this. It was pretty cool getting to see a little bit of NYC. I think the weirdest/coolest part was getting to see signs and stuff for all these places my parents talk about since they used to live there. I really wish I could have gone and explored the city. The skyline was unreal. I know DC is a pretty big city, but it is NOTHING compared to New York. There's no skyline in DC, it doesn't even have the same feel to it.

Ok, anyways. We're on the bus that I was told would go straight to Penn Station. Wrong. It drops you off at Grand Central where you have to take another bus to Penn. The other bus? It took at least half an hour of waiting before it got there. Now I'm beginning to really feel sick because it is 6pm and I haven't eaten. I feel shakey and want real food, but having no idea when bus #2 will get there, I wasn't about to run down the block to get food. Bus ride #2 was insane. I am amazed we didn't kill anyone or hit any cars. Again, the best part of that was getting to see some bits of New York.

Finally at Penn Station, Harry is at a loss for how to figure out a)what train we take and b)how to get a ticket. I am tired. I am hungry. I am so annoyed that I kept being told one thing and finding out it was gonna happen differently. Again, having ridden the train in DC as well as taken the train in England (both the tube and their national rail system) I took over. I got our tickets (not rocket science) I found our platform and train. It took about an hour to get to New Brunswick. Andy picked us up from the train station and asked if we wanted to eat. I was like, OMG, yes, I HAVE to eat right now!! Alas, my hopes were thwarted because he had to pick someone else up. He dropped us off at his house and then went to get this other guy. By this point it is 9pm. I am exhausted, annoyed and feel like I will be sick if I don't get some real food extremely fast. I admit, I was also feeling extremely sorry for myself (again, I blame the lack of food and fatigue).

FINALLY, we go eat. I felt so, so, so much better after I had food in my stomach it was unreal. We got back to Andy's and I went straight to bed and slept like a rock. I woke up retardedly early this morning (6 am!) but refused to get out of bed till at least 7:30, which was, in my mind, still too early but I always feel weird about sleeping in at other people's houses. Now I'm basically killing time until we go over to the Meadowlands for Bamboozle.

It's going to be 70-degrees and sunny here. The day looks gorgeous. I'm going to get to see lots of music, especially MCR. I have no idea if I'll be able to get in with my camera (I hope so) but at this point all I want is to get to wander around and check out all these bands. Today I'm going to try and see:

Silverstein
Bayside
Say Anything
New Found Glory
Muse
Permanent Me
Men, Women & Children
The Audition
Meg & Dia
The Hush Sound
My Chemical Romance!!
(the "just for starters" list)

Sunday I'm going to try and see:
Mae
Young Love
Killswitch Engage
Jack's Mannequin
Daphne Loves Derby
Lordi
The Oohlas
Catch 22
Drive By
Monty Are I

I have to see how this will all work out, but my priority, above pretty much all else is to see My Chem and The Oohlas. Anything else will be icing:)

I just want to get going at this point, I'm tired of sitting around and waiting but it's only 8am, so I guess I need to keep killing time.

More stories as they come up...

Wasting time

Rather than finishing grading tonight, I just spent the last hour reading over old blog entries. It's kinda interesting to see what was going on, where my head was, what I was excited or upset about. A few things I'd like to comment on:

1. I came across an entry where I listed my top 10 desert island discs (Sept 1, 2005). They were:
1. Sarah McLachlan "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy"
2. Nirvana "Nevermind"
3. Green Day "American Idiot"
4. Garbage "Garbage"
5. U2 "Joshua Tree"
6. Soundtrack to "Garden State"
7. Soundtrack to "Hilary and Jackie"
8. Tori Amos "From the Choirgirl Hotel"
9. Mazzy Star "So Tonight That I Might See"
10. The Cranberries "No Need to Argue"
It's interesting to see what music I felt was "vital" in my life at that time. I think the list would be almost 100% different if I made it now. I might keep #2, 4, & 5 on there, but I'm not convinced. Maybe some night when I've got nothing better to do, I'll come up with my new list.

It's also interesting and kind of funny to look at early posts where I was totally in awe of photos by Chris Schwegler and other Detroit music photogs. Funny that I've actually met Chris and MCR and other band photos I used to drool over? Well, I think I've taken some pretty damn good band photos (including of MCR) of my own:)

As I was going through, I came across a drawing that, thinking about it now, might make a really cool tattoo. Maybe this is the design I've been waiting for? Must think about this some more...

Some things haven't changed however. I still desperately want to move out. I did some math the other night and, with a little careful saving, I can save a year's worth of rent by the end of August and, thus, move out! Yay! I hope my math wasn't wrong.

I look at comments I'd made about people who I thought were friends, people who have become very good friends, someone who is more than a friend and the ups and downs I'd gone through with relationships of all kinds. It was rough, that's for sure. I feel like things are settling down though. It isn't easy feeling like someone who once was a really good friend isn't really that person anymore, but that's the way it goes I guess.

It was kind of fun to look at the music recommendations I'd made. Some I still agree with, some I've gotten over.

Yeah, so, kind of interesting. I probably should have spent the night grading, but this has it's purpose too:)

Hey, someone stop this crazy thing...

Well, quick round-up of life since I last posted:

Fina and I survived the weekend Jon was in DC. I'm pretty proud that neither of us were scarred or died in the process;)

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity:
Friday: Jon and I went to the school musical (West Side Story-very good production), were sighted together walking around town by a student (giggle, giggle, giggle, OMG, what were you two doing together??!) and enjoyed a visit to Tower.

Saturday: We headed out to Ferndale to celebrate Kelly Jean's graduation. Excellent party and we cooked chutney in front of everyone. It was pretty fun hearing "oh my god, that smells so good" anytime someone walked in the kitchen. We even got asked for the recipe.

Sunday: I attempted to work at ERC and get some grading done but I was thwarted in a number of ways. 1) I was somewhat hungover. 2) I really didn't have any motivation to get the papers graded. 3) Shannon called and it was way more fun talking to her than grading vocabulary sentences. I gave up relatively quickly and headed over to Jon's for a bit. While there, we got an invite from Kelly Jean to meet a bunch of people over at Tower and so we did. Good times.

Monday: Trivia night. We got a lot of points but other people got a lot of points too. 'Twas fun nonetheless.

As for the rest of the week, I head out to New York City on Friday and am hitting Bamboozle (woot, I get to see MCR again!) on Saturday and Sunday. Here's the thing...I do want to go and I kinda don't. Long story, most people have heard it so I'm not getting into it right now.

I've also been guestlisted for Mando Diao (at the Blind Pig) and Bright Eyes in the next few weeks. I'm counting down the days of school and really just want it to be summer. I'm tired, the kids are tired and no one really wants to be there. Alas...something like 30 days to go. I guess it could be worse.

Listening to: Jack's Mannequin, Everything in Transit

Adventures with Fina

Well, you all probably by now know I'm more of a cat person than a dog person. Most of this is because any dogs my family has had have not been well trained and have lots of annoying habits (not the dog's fault, but still annoying) mostly due to my parents. So, when Jon asked if I'd watch Fina for him while he's in DC, after immediately agreeing, I started to get a little scared. She's a big dog, a German Shepherd, and while I like her a lot, and she's quite well trained and has a very sweet nature, she's still a BIG, VERY STRONG dog.

Jon left yesterday. I went over to take Fina out after school. Having gone on walks with her and Jon before, I thought it would be fairly easy.

Was I ever wrong.

Ok, it actually wasn't that bad, but I felt like she walked me more than I walked her. What should have been about a 10 minute route according to Jon, took us about half an hour. As soon as we stepped out the door, three things happened that got me and Fina off on the wrong foot.
1. A guy on a bike rode by right in front of us (Fina lunged and took me with her, she hates bikes).
2. She tried to eat a plastic food container lid that was on the sidewalk (I got it away from her).
3. A surveyor was doing his surveying right in the middle of the sidewalk maybe 30 feet from the door. Fina was VERY interested in what he was doing and, took me with her.

I give Jon a lot of credit. He really makes walking her look extremely easy. I feel like she stopped and sniffed EVERYTHING which I don't really remember her doing when I've been out on walks with her and Jon. It's nice out, so tons of people are out, or they have their dogs in the yard which is a huge distraction for her. As the walk progressed yesterday, I think we got more used to each other, but for the first part of it I was thinking "OMG, what have I gotten myself into" and "I'm going to absoutely ruin all her training because I, apparently, can't even do something simple like walk a dog."

Today went much better, but I was the one that still got walked part of the route...I bet we'll have it down just in time for Jon to come home:)

She is sweet though and she was SO excited to see me when I went over this morning, though maybe she was just excited to see a person, it didn't matter that it was me...

So, it's been a bit of an adventure thus far. I don't mind doing it at all, but I really hope I don't screw up all the training Jon has done...

Listening to: The Electric Soft Parade, No Need to be Downhearted

Rough Day

Well, today was definitely not the day I'd expected it to be. At about 7:45am another teacher came into my office and said we all had to go upstairs to the multi-purpose room because a Virginia Tech threat had been found in the school. Apparently, some kid (now known to be a 17-year-old boy) wrote "virginia tech today" in one of the boys bathrooms this morning. I'll admit, when she said we had a threat, I felt a chill. What if it was for real? What if some kid brought an arsenal to school and was going to try and kill people? Very scary. We spent a good few hours in the MPR waiting to hear something further while at least six police cars pulled up out front of the school. There were detectives questioning kids, bags and lockers being searched and very little information given to the teachers. Ultimately, school was cancelled for the day and the police believe they have the kid that did it. Because he's 17, he'll be viewed as an adult for this. How stupid...the kid probably just ruined his life for something that was meant to be a prank. I just don't get it. You can't joke about shit like that, not in this day and age.

At the same time I feel sorry for the kid. I mean, there's the possibility that he really needs help and I suppose if this gets him some help before something horrible happens to him or he does something horrible to someone else... I don't know. All I know is that it was scary to think something could have happened at our school.

Tomorrow should be interesting. The police chief said they're certain it is safe to have classes tomorrow. I guess we have to believe him. I just wish tomorrow wasn't the anniversary of Columbine.

I'm so glad nothing actually happened. All along they believed it was just a prank, but I'd rather they treat it as a serious threat and have nothing happen than the other way around.

The school was hounded by the media after this happened too. Apparently the phone was ringing off the hook and I saw at least two helicopters (Fox News, go figure, and Channel 4) as well as a Channel 4 van outside of the school. I also heard it made the noon news on Channel 7. Guess we'll be on tonight too...

Yeah, not the day I was expecting.

Stay safe.


Listening to: Dido, Life for Rent

Burning a hole in my pocket

Guess what I just ordered? I just dropped an insane amount of money (courtesy of my tax refund, thank you US government) on a Canon 400D digital SLR, an 18-55mm lens, a 50mm f/1.8 autofocus lens, a Domke bag, another 1GB flash card and an extra battery.

I'm thrilled, though it was a little scary spending that much money... I think I may have it by Friday. How sweet would that be??

I can finally give Ben his camera back too:) Yay!

What a week & the end is nigh

As usual, I am utterly exhausted. Other than the cold I've managed to get, the exhaustion is actually ok. I've covered three shows in the last week and a half, I will probably get to see my photos used on promo material for Static, I've had the house to myself for almost three weeks and things are good.

So, last Saturday I covered Taste of Chaos. For those of you that don't know, TOC is a BIG deal in some circles. It's basically the Winter Warped Tour and the funny thing is, I'd thought about going last year but was too chicken to do it. This year not only did I get to go, my ticket was paid for by Victory Records, I had a media pass AND I got to meet and interview one of the bands. I have a number of students that are VERY jealous that I met three of the guys from Aiden :) It was a long night, but pretty fun. I took over 800 photos (I SWEAR I'll get your camera back to you Ben!!!) but by the end of the night I was so ready for The Used to take the stage so I could shoot their first three and go home.

The next night was Snow Patrol and a bit of a nightmare since Wrestlemania was going on at Comerica at the same time. Two hours after leaving A2 and a shady parking spot later, Elana and I made it to the State Theater. The show was ok and I got that "oooh, why does SHE get to have a camera in here? Oh, she's press" comment more than once from other audience members. SP was ok, I used to really like them ("Run" came along at a time when I was VERY wallowy about life) but now they don't impress me as much. Oh well. Drive home took at least an hour and a half, so I was a WRECK the next day at school. Damn Sunday night shows. Elana was complaining bitterly about how late it was but I had little sympathy since a) I was driving, b) she got into the show free b/c of my pass and c) welcome to my life.

Monday I discovered the tickle in my throat that I though might just be because of fatigue was really because I had gotten sick. I was a total baby about it, came home from work and slept from about 4pm until 10 when I decided to go to bed "for realz" and slept for another seven and a half hours. Still felt crummy most of the week but hung in there as best I could. Didn't hurt that we only had a three-day week because of Easter vacation.

Wednesday night was The Feeling at St. Andy's. My pass there was set up rather last minute by the band's PR firm and rather than have my tickets waiting for me at the box office, Fed-Ex'ed them to me. Except, I forgot they were being mailed and almost left A2 for the show without the tix. Luckily I remembered to go home and get the tix off the front step before heading out to Detroit. I liked the band a lot, way better than the headliner who reminded me too much of Dave Matthews. Drive home was a nightmare because the roads were so awful. I saw at least five cars in ditches and drove most of the way around 30 mph. fun fun.

My parents came home on Friday and so my much-loved freedom is at a bit of an end for the time being. However, I did get my tax-return and other than spending some of it on a shiny, new, beautiful digital SLR, I'm socking the rest of it away for getting an apartment this summer. Summer can't come soon enough.

I got to meet some more of Jon's siblings this weekend. It was pretty hilarous seeing them all together...I can just imagine what it's like when everyone is there. I do feel bad for giving Jon the cold I got (he says it probably wasn't me since everyone seems to be sick, but I'm blaming myself on this one), I know his weekend wasn't very fun with hacking his way through it :(

I'm loving vacation right now though. The chance to read books that aren't assigned for school! The chance to sleep late! Getting to wear jeans and black nailpolish every day! Taking a nap in the afternoon if I feel like it! Man...it's fantastic. Unfortunatley, I have a huge pile of papers to grade since grades are due the Monday we come back. Ugh...I HATE grading.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to print for the time being.
Peace out Starving Nachos

PS-will post photos from various shows sometime this week...I promise.

I am SO glad this week is almost over.

This has been one of the worst weeks ever I think. Here's what has happened (and why I think I'm cursed).

Sunday: Hungover. Tired. Totally behind on work. Still somewhat pissed about the fact that some asshole fucked up my sideview mirror. I notice Midnight (our 22 year old cat) is not acting normally. At one point I found him in the bathroom sleeping on the floor which is not his usual place to sleep. He was hard to wake up and seemed lethargic. He wasn't interested in eating and just wanted to drink water. A lot of water. Now, having had a dog that had diabetes, I know this is not a good sign. I manage to get him to eat a little tuna fish but he still doesn't seem quite right. I decide to take him to the vet the next day.

Monday: After school I race home and pick up Midnight. We go to the vet and the news is far from good. He has kidney failure. His body temperature is low. Really low. Not good low. He is dehydrated AND he's 22. The vet says that they can give him IV antibiotics to help with the dehydration, but whenever she's seen a cat with a body temp that low, it doesn't end well. She says they can try some things, but at most he really only has a month to six weeks to live. I was afraid of this...I asked the vet what she, in all honesty, recommended. She said it might be best to put him to sleep. I called Husband and we discuss the situation. We decide that the kindest thing to do is to put him to sleep. Husband and Wife head out to Ann Arbor to be there. Jon came to the vet's to offer his support too. It was so hard...I think one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. The vet was really nice though, not condescending, friendly but not overly perky (as would not be appropriate for the situation).

Remember too, my parents are in Germany. I called them to let them know what was happening and it was heartbreaking to hear my dad cry. They both agreed though this was the right thing to do for Midnight.

So, the plan then is for me and Husband to go home and bury Midnight. Wife will follow us to the house and Jon had to go home and take care of Fina. As Jon is leaving the parking lot, his car makes a horrible noise and the driver's side wheel is at a really wrong angle. We all get out of our cars to see what happened and it is not good. The front axle has broken and the wheel is off. Wife calls AAA to get his car towed and Husband and I head home to bury Midnight.

Jon and Wife get to the house and tell us the car has been taken to a local dealer. The car has to be junked at this point, so now Jon is out a vehicle. Husband and I bury Midnight in the woods behind our house and, though I'd been relatively ok when they actually put him to sleep (had a meltdown prior to that but held it together for the actual deed), having to put poor Mr. M in his little grave and then put dirt on top of him broke my heart. I bawled my eyes out. It was awful.

Back inside the four of us decide we should probably eat something as it is now after 8pm. Husband and Wife take off before me and Jon to the local Chinese place. As I'm closing the garage door it stops and seems to be at a funny angle. I think maybe something has just gotten jammed and we just need to move it. Turns out, the garage door broke. Jon manages to get the door down and, at this point, I say fuck it. I am NOT worrying about the garage door on top of everything else. It can be fixed when my parents get home. I don't bloody care anymore.

I slept horribly that night and felt emotionally hungover the next day. It was so hard to make it through school, but I somehow did.

Now we get to Wednesday...I get an email from Jon while I'm at work that the car dealer wants his car off the lot and they are charging him a storage fee every day it's there. Jon needs me to drive him to the dealer and take care of this. Luckily, when we do get there, they decide not to charge him. Now it's an issue of where to move the car so Charity Motors can pick it up. My house is around the corner, so that's the logical place. I call AAA and we get it towed for free to the house, so that was good. What began as a potentially rotten situation actually ended up ok, so that was good. Since he'd had a rather stressful day, I offered to cook for him-so we went to his place, I cooked curry (yum), we drank wine and watched the Tenacious D movie. It was a really good night and easily the highlight of the thus far fairly shitty week. However, I didn't get home till after 1am and was a wreck this morning. It was worth it though:)

Today was ok despite being horrifically tired. Tomorrow is Friday and that is a really good thing. I'm having Jon, Husband and Wife over for dinner tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be nice so I'm grilling tostadas, making margaritas and we're going to do a little relaxing after the week we've all had. I'm pretty excited about tomorrow actually. Made an expedition to Meijers to get everything and I'm feeling good about it.

I am SO glad tomorrow is Friday. What a week...
I miss Midnight. It's so weird without him. Poor guy :(

Peace out, Starving Nachos.

I think I'm getting too old for this

Aargh, I definitely am getting too old to be surviving on how little sleep I've gotten in the past few days. I feel exhausted, kind of shakey and somewhat hungover. So, here's the rundown of the past week:

Monday: Trivia night as always. I finally got to meet Mike's girlfriend, Stephanie, who I've heard so much about. She is very sweet and cool. She's got a totally cute look too. They're a ridiculously cute couple. Good night.

Tuesday: Drove my parents to the airport (woo hoo!) and guitar at Ben's. I still feel horribly self-conscious playing in front of other people. I'm working on this and Ben is very patient with me.

Wednesday: Latest issue of the school paper came out and I am waiting for the fallout from it. The kids did a good job with their articles, but the front page story was quite critical of school policy. The principal gave the go-ahead on the article (he was interviewed for it and saw it before we ran it) but I know there are other teachers and other people in the administration that will NOT like it. Left school waiting for the emails and phone calls from parents to start. On the spur of the moment I invited Jon over for dinner-we concocted this chicken/peppers/onions dish with rice and salad. Had a bottle of white wine and 'twas a good, relaxing night. However, I went to bed MUCH too late and was horribly exhausted the next day (it was worth it though). At this point? About 5 hours of sleep that night.

Thursday: My dept head comes to my room first thing. I know it will be about the paper. The good news? She LOVED it, thought it was great and loved that the kids are finding a voice. The bad news? She agrees, I will have pissed quite a few people off with this issue. Waiting for fallout... Guitar lesson went pretty well considering I haven't been practicing nearly as much as I should.

Friday: Still waiting for the fallout. The librarian said she loved the issue but I also heard that I pissed off the vice-principal and his secretary for being "too negative" in the issue. Dept head says they should ask themselves who the paper's audience is. Them or the kids? She's still backing me AND the prinicpal liked the issue, so I guess everyone else can go fuck off. Jon and I cooked dinner again (spicy shrimp, pasta, crusty bread and wine) and then headed to a Purim party where we watched this horrible but very funny kung-fu movie. Again, too little sleep that night.

Saturday: Recovery from the night before. Had breakfast with Jon (he made me pancakes! They were really good:) He definitely spoils me) and then crashed for a while trying to make up for the lack of sleep I've been getting. Was supposed to go to the Billy Talent show with Husband and Jon but the show got rescheduled so Husband, Wife, Joel, Jon, Ben and I hit up Dominick's since the weather was so nice. The sangria was good, the pizza was yummy and the company was great. Sometimes I think Ben and Jon try to compete to see who can be more outrageous, but it's highly entertaining to watch:) We headed over to Ashley's for a bit and then all of the sudden I was EXHAUSTED. Like, I could have fallen asleep in the bar for real. We get back to my car to find someone hit the side-view mirror on the sidewalk side of the car (I was parallel parked). I was SO pissed. Completely fixated on who would be such an asshole to do something like that. I had this happen once before with my old car, and while it isn't as bad this time, it's still a huge inconvenience to now have to deal with the insurance company, get it to the dealer to get it fixed AND somehow do this all on my own AND get to work. Too little sleep again.

And today? I need to do all the grading and planning that I've put off while feeling kinda crappy. All I want to do is go to sleep for a bit, but I know that if I even allow myself a nap, I'll be out till 5pm and get NOTHING done. Oh well. I'm definitely getting too old for this.

Taste of Chaos and Snow Patrol next weekend. Better than that though? Only 8 more days of school till spring break! I can't wait. The kids think they're looking forward to vacation? They don't know the half of it;)

Recovery...

Well, it was a fun St. Patrick's day. The first bit of today was a little on the rough side, but I survived:) So, yesterday Jon and sallied forth to Dominick's for the first sangria of the season. Sure, it was a little cold sitting outside, but we were on the back patio which is sort of enclosed and we were in the sun, so it really wasn't too bad. By the time it DID get cold, I'd had enough sangria in my system that I didn't quite notice. Greg joined us for the festivities and I know at least I had a good time (I think they did too:) However, I sort of forgot how you only really notice how hard the sangria hits once you stand up. Needless to say, heading home for St. Paddy's day dinner with the parents, Husband and Wife while being rather inebriated was an interesting few hours:) Oh well, I had fun, I don't care.

Today after spending a good three hours grading papers at ERC, Jon and I ventured around town to do some shopping, had lunch at Red Hawk and then blew some money in Borders. 'Twas a fun afternoon and I really have to say that, no matter how much I love covering live shows, it was pretty great NOT having to drive out to St. Andrew's or Clutch Cargo's or the State Theater for the first weekend in maybe 6 or 7 weeks. However...next weekend is Billy Talent with Drive By and The Cancer Bats and the weekend after that is Taste of Chaos and Snow Patrol (separate shows...I can't quite see Snow Patrol and Aiden playing the same show;)

The past week was heinous though. Monday I had honors testing after school till 5:30, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday most of the day was spent doing ACT/MEAP (aka the new MME) testing. You'd think watching a bunch of kids take a test for 4 hours wouldn't be draining, but it is SO mind-numbing it was painful. I was ready to ask for a copy of the test so I at least had something to do (you really aren't supposed to do anything besides watch the kids so they don't cheat-no reading, grading papers etc.) By day three, the other teacher in my room and I didn't give a fuck and brought reading material. Friday afternoon I had more honors testing till 5:30, which was definitely the last thing I wanted to be doing on a Friday afternoon. After that I made a quick grocery run and then took over Jon's kitchen to cook us dinner (angel hair pasta with a cream sauce that had swiss cheese, asparagus, shrimp, scallops and fresh mushrooms in it. I think it came out ok.)

All in all-very fun weekend, crazy busy week. I don't feel recovered enough to go back to school tomorrow, but I guess there isn't much I can do about it. However, I AM feeling much better and was able to get to the doctor's on Thursday and she releived many of my ridiculous fears. I think much of it was actually psychological since I tend to work myself into phenomenal tizzys over things. What can I say, I'm a worrier. Can't help it and I probably won't change at this point.

Maybe best of all is that as of Tuesday evening I will have the place entirely to myself. The parents are going to be gone for almost three weeks and I am stupid excited about this. I'll be busy and all, but I just looooooove the idea of having some space...and no one waiting up for me when I get home;)

Will post photos from all the recent shows sometime soon...
Peace out, starving nachos.

Listening to: Nightmare Anatomy, Aiden

Kudos to me

Good news. A few weeks back I did a live interview (my first in a few years...) with two members of theAudition. I shot their show, wrote the feature and fired off the article and photos to my editor. The article and pics went up over the weekend (read it here) and I got the following email from my editor yesterday:

Hi,
I just wanted to send a quick email and let you know that Victory Records was EXTREMELY pleased with your feature on theAudition!
I already received two emails from people over there and a third from the Victory promotions/touring manager who set this up. See below!
Thanks for doing it! - Sherri


Sherri-

This is wonderful! The story is great, the pics are great! It’s going in my reports to make sure the whole staff takes a look at this!

-Maygen

Not to brag, but yay me! I'm pretty psyched that Victory was so happy with the article and photos. This may mean that they'll be very willing to guestlist and photo-pass me for other artists on their label.


It's been a nuts week. The MME is tiring, I've got an insane amount to do and I feel a little icky. I'm hoping I'm just run down, but of course I worry about all sorts of things. I'm trying to get in with the doctor tomorrow because I'm getting a little worried about this since I've felt sort of icky for a bit over a week. For a while I felt like I was getting better, but today I felt gross all over again. Please let it be nothing. I hate it when I feel gross enough to start to worry but not so gross that I can just say, "oh, full out cold, again, boo hiss. That sucks but it'll be gone in a few days." My problem is, growing up with a mom that's a nurse, I tend to have the attitude of "oh, it isn't bad, it'll go away on it's own." Usually that's a fine attitude, but occasionally it is bad (er, like the time I was in 8th grade and had appendicitis but didn't tell my mom about the fact my right side was killing me for a good 24 hours. It ruptured.)

Well, I have to churn out a few reviews tonight and I want to get them done so I can take a nap. I'm exhausted.

~S

I could be clever, but I'm too tired right now

Ridiculous that I'm blogging at 6am really, but if I don't do it now, I won't have time later. Things have been off-the-map busy lately and I don't forsee them slowing down a whole lot. Sorry to have to do the whole summary post, but that's the way it goes...

Last Monday: Won trivia at Conor's. A bit unreal and really, really fun.

Tuesday: Tired from Monday, general catching up on things. MME meeting after school. WHY did I agree to be part of this committee?

Thursday: Scissor Sisters show. Pretty fun once the stupid house-techno DJ got off stage. Band didn't start till 9pm but I was there at 6 pm...Wasted time, that's for sure since I abhor house techno. Got some good pictures I think, once I have time to process a few, I'll post some. Totally not my usual crowd, lots of gay men, women in boas and maybe even one or two cross-dressers. Not an emo kid in sight. I felt a little out of my element.

Friday: School, nap, general exhaustion but then Ben's birthday at The Brown Jug! I think everyone had a fun time and I got lots of compromising (and, if they'd been other people, potentially embarassing) photos of Ben and Jon. Good times.

Saturday: Recovery, some paper grading (hardly enough, I am SO behind), then Jon and I went to see 300 (pretty good even though gorier than my usual movies), hit Meijers for groceries and I let him cook me dinner. I'm still not entirely sure how it happens, but we always seem to end up taking forever to cook (maybe we talk too much while cooking? Who knows) and thus end up actually eating dinner at 9 or 10 pm. Oh well, I get a huge kick out of cooking with him, and I'm always the recipient of excellent meals, so I'm not complaining:)

Sunday: Open house at school (translation: waste of time), quick "dinner" at home and then I went out to Pontiac to cover the Cartel/Cobra Starship/Boys Like Girls show. I was the ONLY one on the list with a photo pass and Harry had a lot of trouble getting in. As much as it might make me a bit of a shit to say it, I LOVED the fact that for once I was able to easily get in and he, who usually can talk his way into anything and is more than happy enough to do so, had a little trouble. Sometimes I feel like he likes me being totally dependant on him for getting into shows, and I have to admit liking the fact that I'm NOT so dependant on him anymore. I totally appreciate his help, guidance and advice, but I also don't like feeling beholden to people. Is that weird?? Anyways, show was pretty good, lotsa emo kids and a few creepy dads. Got to help with an interview with The New Atlantic (nice guys, pretty hot lead singer;) but we had to do it in their van because, as usual, the security at Clutch Cargo's were being morons. Late night though AND I got mixed up heading home and added at least an extra 15 minutes onto my trip.

Monday: more trivia. This time it was all Irish trivia. We didn't win :( but I feel like I made some vital contributions for once. Nice to know that all those tuition dollars for my Irish Lit classes and a summer semester in Ireland paid off:)

PSYCHED for the warm weather, even if it won't be around for that long. I'm also pretty excited that I don't have any shows this coming weekend. I had offers for at least two and turned them down. I want a weekend off AND I want to have some fun on St. Patrick's day. It's silly, but I really like St. Patrick's day, maybe there's a bit of that Irish nut still in me yet:) Maybe I just like a socially sanctioned opportunity to eat soda bread (mmmm) and drink beer. :) Dominick's is open...maybe I can convince a few people to brave the cold for some pre-season sangria...


Oops, crap. Gonna be late...MME time. Blech.

Woot! We are winners!

Ok, if you've never been to Conor's for trivia night, you might not appreciate this...however, our team WON THIS WEEK! WOOT! We've done well in the past and felt pretty good about making 4th place, but to get 1st!? Pretty fucking sweet. Seriously. We won $100, but better than that is the fact we got 1st.
I'm pretty psyched. To say the least.

Great night:) I get such a kick out of trivia. I just wish it wasn't only Monday (boo hiss).

Finally, a chance to slow down

What a week and a half...it's been a lot of fun, but I was exhausted today and managed to sleep through most of the day. I probably won't be able to sleep tonight now, but I'm still tired, so maybe I'll luck out. Here's the rundown:

Friday: Dinner with Jon at Tower and then the Taking Back Sunday show at EMU. I ran into two students and the band only let photographers up front for two songs. You guys aren't that amazing to justify being dicks about how many songs we can be up there. Come on...three songs is the standard, let's stick to that.

Saturday: I got invited to check out Ganon at the Blind Pig so after letting Jon cook for me (what else is new:) we had some crap beer in the 8-Ball and then headed upstairs for the show. It was fun to finally see Ganon play since I've heard so much about them...I also got hit on as I was heading into the 8-Ball. It was kind of funny and weirdly flattering. Whatever.

Sunday: Dinner at Palio's with my parents, Husband, Wife and Jon for my belated b-day dinner. We drank a ridiculous amount of wine and then since I didn't have to work the next day, Jon and I headed to Conor's for karaoke. I refused to sing but also discovered that Jon is really good at karaoke. I learned something new:) I still don't think I could do it, I try to avoid public humiliation, but I had a lot of fun watching. Long talk with Jon afterwards, things are ok. I got home at 3am. My mom and dad were less than amused.

Monday: Writing, grading papers, hit the gym and then a celebratory dinner at Prickly Pear with Jon because he got the job at JSTOR. Then we hit trivia night at Conor's and kicked some ass. Fourth place baby! Not bad:)

Tuesday: Writing, grading papers, gym and the first early night in days. It felt like a Sunday night, boo hiss.

Wednesday: Horrid mandatory pro-life lecture at school. I wanted to cringe, argue and walk out all at once. Ugh. The joys of working in a Catholic school. MCR concert that night was amazing...Jon and I got lost on the way (you'd think I'd be better at finding my way in Detroit by this point). I get a call from Husband on the way there that they're being dicks about letting cameras in. I get really nervous because I'm supposed to have a photo pass, but what if the band's PR person screwed up? I'm also horribly anxious because I'm supposed to be on the guestlist +1. I had already gotten a ticket, but what if I wasn't on the list? Then I will have dragged Jon out to Joe Louis and wasted his time completely. I feel like I have elephants, pterydactyls (sp?) and some other large, horrible animal catapulting around in my stomach. Getting lost didn't help.

So, we finally make it to Joe Louis, find a parking spot and begin the hunt for Husband and Wife. The doors aren't open yet, so they're waiting outside sans coats among the hundreds and hundreds of angsty emo kids and their parents. Jon and I go to find the box office and get our tickets. No problem there but I then find I have to go to the media enterance to get my photo pass. We end up waiting almost half an hour to get said pass, but at least it was INSIDE and we essentially got to jump the whole line. I had to virtually sign my life away, but at least MCR granted photographers three songs unlike TBS.

Rise Against opened. I didn't care a whole lot but I got some good pics. MCR was amazing...I'm happy with the photos I got and still can't quite believe I was THAT close to them. They did two full sets...22 songs or so. The entire first half was The Black Parade, the second half was all stuff from Three Cheers. I loved every second and sang along like a total moron. Husband, Wife and Jon are all very good to put up with my silliness.

Thursday: Rough morning but not too bad. Then I had an interview with Bayside out at St. Andrews before their show. I got to do the interview on their tour bus which was pretty fun (first time I've ever been on a tour bus). The guys were nice and I think the interview went well. I had a photo pass to shoot the show and all went well until my back decided that I was an ass for essentially standing two days straight (work, MCR, work, Bayside). I was in agony but held in there to shoot the last band of the night and then took off to collapse into bed.

Friday: Frantically finishing TBS review for Static. It's now up and I got my first photo credit for them. Check it out here. Quick nap and then more cooking fun at Jon's. Great night overall.

Saturday: Frantically writing MCR review for Static. My editor wanted between 500-1,000 words. I sent him 1,300. The review and photo just went up, check it out here. Ran at the gym with Jon for a while, home to talk to my mom for the first time since Tuesday, finished MCR piece and headed back to Jon's to let him cook red beans and rice for me. Another excellent evening.

Sunday: Recovery. I have no attention span and didn't get shit done today. I needed to get a lot done but didn't. I know it'll be a busy week, but I don't think it'll be quite as awful as last week.

However, I did get offered the chance to review the Scissor Sisters show at the State on Thursday. I wasn't expecting that, but I'm not gonna turn down two free tix to the show. I may also get to interview and pretty definitely get to cover the Snow Patrol show in April (I think). I have two jobs. I just only get paid for one. BUT, I think I'm going to do quite well with my income tax refund, so I've been able to upgrade the digital SLR I want AND I should be able to get it pretty soon and have a hefty hunk of change left over. The rest I'll sock away for other big dreams of mine... (though getting another tattoo is awfully tempting...) I'm also thinking I'll work this summer at plastic surgery for the extra money. I really want to move out (I know, dropping a pile of money on a digital camera shouldn't come first then, but it does) and this will be a good way to do it. I hate the idea of working there, but the extra money is too tempting.

Mom and dad leave for Europe in 15 days, but I'm not counting. I can't wait. I guess I should go and try to finish up my crap for tomorrow now that it's 10:00 pm...

Oh, and a few of my favorite photos from MCR:





Listening to: Bayside, The Walking Wounded

i think i'm going to die

A certain someone has been out to too many concerts this week.
Last Friday: Taking Back Sunday at EMU
Saturday: Ganon at the Blind Pig
Wednesday: MCR at Joe Louis
Thursday: Anberlin, Bayside, and Meg & Dia at St. Andrews + interview with Bayside before the show (I got to go on their tour bus, so that was sort of cool:) Ok, pretty damn cool, allow me to be silly for a bit).

MCR was insane and I loved every second of the show. I have tons to say about it, but it'll have to wait for a bit. Lots of photos lately too and, though it's silly, I look at some of them (especially some of the ones of MCR) and I have that sense of "wow, what a cool photo. I wonder who took it since I could never take such cool shots or get that close to my favorite band." I'll post some photos from this plethora of shows too...probably over the weekend.

Right now I just feel like I'm going to die I'm so tired. I wish I didn't have school today. Oh well, at least it's Friday, and I DO do this to myself.
It's worth it:)

Listening to: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, MCR

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

OMG. Best news ever today. I got an email that I not only got guestlisted and a photo pass for the Taking Back Sunday show this Friday at EMU (which is going to be a pretty packed show) but I also got guestlisted +1 AND a photo pass for the My Chemical Romance show next week!!!! This is (for me) one of the coolest of all cool things:) I am SO excited. Ridiculously so. To be that close to a band I adore beyond sense and to get (hopefully) some great photos of them that I can put my name on....beyond amazing:)

Yes, I'm a little excited. This is gonna be awesome. I was psyched for that show to begin with and this just puts things over the top.

I almost bought my camera today and then decided that because I got an unexpected $400 bill from MSU because of some billing screwup from last semester, I should wait and see if I mightn't need some of that extra stash o'cash to pay that bill. I know it was the responsible thing to not drop the money on a camera I don't need just yet, but I reaaaalllly want it. Soon enough. Soon enough.

I am thrilled about these shows:) TBS should be ok, but the MCR show is gonna be off the map. I can't wait.

Listening to: Hedley, Hedley

Photos

I got to cover the Jack's Mannequin/The Audition/Head Automatica/We Are the Fury show at the State on Saturday and got tons of photos. I also got to interview The Audition before the show which was fun and they're really nice guys. But, I'll save the whole spiel for another day since it's late, but in the meantime, here are some of my favorite photos from the night. I have tons more (shot over 400 photos) which I'll share more of, but my computer is being a bit slow right now. I got a lovely, wonderful, fantastic 80 gig external hard drive as a b-day present (this shows how nerdy I am, that I am SO psyched over getting a hard drive for my b-day!) and my computer is busily transferring over 20 gigs of music and my final 4 gigs of photos to the new drive. It is taking hours, but my laptop will be ever so much happier since last night I got the dreaded "disk full" message. I never thought I'd fill my hard drive...this birthday present came along just in time:)

Please, please, please, please.... (fingers crossed)

This never gets any easier.

We are supposed to be inundated in snow tonight. The drive home from the gym (yes, I actually went to the gym again! Woo hoo!) was lousy. The snow was coming down pretty hard.

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want tomorrow to be a snow day.

Probably more than the kids want one.

Puhllllleeeeeeeese, oh great snow gods...please let tomorrow be a snow day.

Of course, our prinicpal already told the students (though I wonder if it was more directed at the teachers) not to get our hopes up for a day off tomorrow. Grr. I bet I'll have school.

Ugh, I really don't want to do work tonight but I guess I better go on the assumption that we WILL have school tomorrow. This is one of the things I miss about living in DC. EVERYTHING would have stopped with this amount of snow. Not so here in Michigan, the inverted bowl of darkness.

Ugh.
Please? Pretty please?
:)

Listening to: Until June, Self-titled

Tiiiiiired...and I'm really short

Ok, busy, busy weekend. I felt like a total social butterfly. It was a ton of fun though and I have some stories to tell (including running into students at the Magic Stick last night). However, I'm tired and it's after midnight so a couple of pictures and then I'm going to bed. The stories will have to wait.

I've finally realized I'm fucking short. I sort of knew that all along, but now I have photographic evidence to back that up. Me, Harry & The Fall of Troy:






They are definitely nice guys and the interview went well. However, it is clear that the top of my head barely clears anyone's shoulders. I am officially short. aargh. oh well.



Wife sent this one to me from the Gatsby party. I like it quite a lot and think I look pretty decent in it. And I'm not flicking the camera off. I look ok AND it's family safe. Hint. Hint. Hint. :)



Ok, bed time. I have a fair bit I need to do tomorrow and I also need to cram in some slacking off. Busy day. Don't know how I do it:)

Listening to: AFI, Decemberunderground

The Great Gatsby

Well, I am officially now in my last year of being in my 20s. It feels a bit weird to think about, so I'm not going to dwell on it:)

Anyways, the party was a hoot and I don't think I poisoned anyone, so, bonus:) Everyone dressed to the nines and I *hope* everyone had a good time! After an epic shopping trip to Sam's and Meijers on Friday, I spent most of Saturday cooking and cleaning. Luckily I had some excellent helpers and Jon was awesome (and infinitely patient) and spent a good chunk of the day helping me get stuff ready after already having been dragged on said epic shopping trip. The iDJ contest went well, lots of people brought entries and in the end, Wife's crown went to Jon and Husband got second place, which isn't shabby at all:)

Here are a few photos from the night:














I still can't quite belive how much gin we drank...and I have the feeling that I am responsible for drinking a good portion of it (hence the pounding headache the next day). Husband and Wife got me a fabulous red purse and a Rolling Stone book which will be wonderful reference material for my writing. I got a number of other fun things as well, including an iTunes gift certificate from Ben & Jessica with the caveat that I "don't spend it all on emo music," which made me laugh quite a bit. (Does Fall Out Boy count as emo? If so, I better figure out something non-emo to spend the rest of it on;) The night ended a little weird, for reasons I'd rather not go into at the moment but I think some of it was in my head and partly because I'm generally a bit paranoid, partly because I had been drinking vast quantities of gin and partly because the last time I looked at the clock it was 6am... things are good though, so no complaints.

My "real" birthday wasn't terribly exciting (at least compared to the night before) but it was a good day once I was able to get rid of the feeling my head was going to explode. It was pretty great though that I didn't have school on Monday because of an "energy incentive day" (aka-the school is trying to save money on heating) and then ANOTHER day off (unplanned) because it was so damn cold. Of course after getting spoiled by a four day weekend, I really was hoping school would get called off today, but no such luck. Oh well:)

It looks like it should be another fun weekend, if not quite as crazy as last weekend. I'm heading out to dinner with Wife and Mindy for some girl time on Friday (mmm, Prickly Pear...yum) and then Saturday I get to see Dora, one of my college roommates whom I haven't seen in years. She'll be in town for a wedding so we're going to meet up for brunch which should be a lot of fun. I can't wait to hear what all she's been up to! Sunday I'm probably having a birthday lunch with Elana since she couldn't make it to the party. I'm also trying to decide if I want to brave the Magic Stick on Saturday night for the Fall of Troy show. I'm a bit hesitant because I'm 100% sure a few of my students will be there and I don't want to seem like a stalker...maybe I can con Harry into going...

So, all in all, it was a good birthday with few complaints. I really feel like things are kinda coming together in various areas of my life. I've got some awesome friends who came into my life within the last six months as well as some old friends who I can't imagine life without. Ok, lest I get too sentimental, I better go:) Can't have too much sap in one day.

Peace out, starving nachos.
~S
Listening to: Fall Out Boy, "Infinity on High"

PS-I totally forgot, as always, a number of quotes were written down. I'll include some in the next post. There were a few great ones.

Ok, now I'm scared...

I've hit the point where I'm beginning to freak out about the party. This always happens...you know, those little doubts like "can I honestly pull this off without poisoning 19 people??"

Yep, that's right, 17 for sure, two more "maybes." Can I do this? Can I cook for that many people? And this ain't pasta either...it isn't a difficult meal, but it IS more work than pasta.

I hope I can do this.
I hope I don't kill anyone.
I hope I don't make an idiot of myself.
I hope everything tastes good and people have fun...

Aaagh.

Listening to: My uber-mix for the Gatsby Party.

Good News in Photography

So, this is pretty damn cool, but Husband got himself some photo credits! Check out his sweet pics of Thomas here. Fuckin' awesome! Yay, Husband!

I also was just given a pretty sweet opportunity. Victory Records contacted Revolt and wants coverage for their bands. I got to pick a bunch of upcoming shows by Victory artists and I've been guestlisted for them as well as getting a photo pass AND a chance to interview the bands before the shows! So, I will be seeing:

The Audition along with Jack's Mannequin & Head Automatica @ The State Theater on Feb 17
Bayside @ St. Andrews on March 1
Aiden (along with The Used and 30 Seconds to Mars!) @ Cobo on March 31.

I'm psyched about them all, but to be guestlisted for the Taste of Chaos tour is really sweet. Victory also really wants us to do an interview with Aiden so I will even get to go behind the scenes at Taste of Chaos! Woot!

I was going to get to interview Kevin Lyman (founder of Warped Tour) but that fell through...would have been kinda cool though!

Gatsby party in just two and a half days...the countdown is on. I think it is gonna be awesome! It looks like we'll have about 16 or 17 people there! Crazy...I've got serious grocery shopping to do on Friday though. I'm pretty excited about the menu though, so I'll probably have fun with it.

Peace out Starving Nachos :)

Listening to: Unwritten Law, The Hit List

Feeling better

Well, the cold that might have been was merely an annoyance and other than me being a bit sniffly and very tired, I survived without it getting too full-blown. Phew:)

Exams at school went really without a hitch. I had some students that did great, some that did horribly and most in the sort of middle range. However, if I never see another essay on The Count of Monte Cristo, I won't be in the slightest bit upset. Reading 100 of those suckers definitely made me want to tear out my eyes after about the 50th. No school Monday as a sort of end of the semester break, so that's fun!

As for music, I think I mentioned that Husband, Wife, Jon and I went to The Hard Lessons show at The Blind Pig last weekend. Great show and it was fun to go to a show just to enjoy, no story to write and no photos to shoot. Not that I don't love doing all that, but sometimes it's just fun to really relax and enjoy the show in a different way (er, can we say drinking cheap beer??) Husband was learning the trials and tribulations of shooting live shows like that and got some good pictures which maybe he'll eventually post a few of. However, various candid type shots were also taken and after I do a little editing for size, I'll post some.

I also got an invite to the Ann Arbor Folk Festival on this past Friday and though it isn't my usual type of music, it was still a very good show. Rufus Wainwright was the headliner and he was awesome. It never ceases to amaze me when people can just go from one instrument to the next and play them all really well. I mean, the number of times people at the Folk Festival just went from playing the piano (amazingly) to picking up a guitar and playing it equally as well just blew me away. If only I had a tenth of that talent! I did get some pretty good photos though Hill Auditorium is NOT an easy place to shoot. I also got to use Husband's nifty new Nikon D-200 which was fun. I'm test-driving cameras for when I have enough money stockpiled to be able to justify buying my own:)

So, the big thing to look forward to at the moment is the Gatsby Party next weekend. I'm getting quite excited about it and I'm really psyched that people are taking the whole 15 minutes to DJ thing extremely seriously. While I won't compete (doesn't seem quite right), I'm still going to put together a 15 minute set for fun. Haven't a clue what will go on it, but I've gotten some theme ideas, so that is a good start. I'd started my mega-mix for earlier in the night after a bit of a brainstorm on the way to visit Husband and Wife the other day, came home, stayed up till 1am working on it (dumb on a school night, but what can I say) only to listen to it the next day and decide most of it was crap. I've scrapped a bunch of it, added some new stuff, but I'm still not sure if I'm satisfied with it. Guess I've got a week or so to come up with something better.

I've also gotten some more concrete ideas for what to serve in the ways of food. I wanted to go kinda authentic and glam without breaking the bank and I think I've finally come up with a bit of a plan. Hopefully I won't poison anyone:) I'm also torn on the whole question of what to wear...unfortunately some of the really cool things I've found are authentic vintage dresses and cost in the $500-$1000 range. Hardly something justifiable! I've got a backup plan but I'm not thrilled with it. We'll see... I'm excited about the whole thing though, I hope it turns out as well as how I envision it in my head. I'm honestly also a bit excited about it being my b-day party too, I haven't had a true birthday party in years, so I think it should be fun. Anyways, what is a better way to head into the last year of my 20s than with a Roaring 20s themed party??

Peace out Starving Nachos:)
Listening to: Depeche Mode The Best Of, Volume 1

Sick!

Grrr. Shortish (or at least easy week) with the kids taking finals. I get to go in a bit later, leave earlier and no kids on Friday. So what happens? I wake up this morning and I realize I'm getting sick. I hate being sick. I'm such a baby about it... However, I'll take my usual approach of massive doeses of Vit. C, asprin/tylenol and lots o' sleep to try and head this off at the pass.

I can't get sick. Too much fun stuff coming up...I'm hitting the A2 Folk Festival on Friday night. Harry scored/scammed us amazing tickets, I don't ask how he does these things (they're fifth row!) and it is probably better that way.

Gatsby party coming up! I'm pretty excited, though, as always, I need to do some serious planning for it since it isn't far away now. I'll probably spend more time obsessing over my playlist than anything else :) I love the fact that Husband has ALREADY started working on his list. That rocks.

I talked Jon, Husband and Wife to seeing The Hard Lessons with me last Saturday. Other than running into way too many people we know from school, it was a really fun night. The Hard Lessons rocked and the company was excellent. It was also kinda fun just going to a show & getting to let loose because I wasn't reviewing it. Not that I don't have fun when I go to shows to cover them, but there is also something about going and just getting overwelmed with the music and atmosphere-total abandon.

I went to my first Conor O'Neils trivia night last night. It was a hoot. I managed to help my team out on occasion, so I feel I made some ok contributions and wasn't a total leech:) I did surprisingly crappy on the music round (Come on, I don't remember shit like LA Guns...) but I think the very best moment was when a song clip was played, Jon got up, yelled "The Who!" across the bar and it was actually from a Franz Ferdinand song. I guess you had to be there but I was greatly amused (and though I don't know the Who v. well , the whole, overconfident about a song, yell it out and then realize I was COMPLETELY wrong, is something I'd do).

Ugh, don't want to grade this pile of essays on The Count of Monte Cristo. I want to go back to sleep (I slept for a few hours after school and I'm still tired...I hate being sick).

Listening to: Permanent Me, After the Room Clears

I'm okay

I think things are going to be ok. I'm VERY relieved. I was practically sick with anxiety today because I was such a brat last night and things were awkward and horrible and I didn't make things any better with how I was behaving. I can't change getting worried over things, but I'm going to try to change how I react to those situations (or the way my worry manifests itself). New resolution. And yes, even though it's loads past New Year's, it still counts because I say so. I refuse to let myself fuck this up. I am NOT going to let myself ruin things. I refuse.

And because I'm digging lyrics again big time:

Skylines & Turnstiles

You're not in this alone,
Let me break this awkward silence,
Let me go, go on record
Be the first to say I'm sorry
Hear me out,
Well if you take me down,
Or would you lay me out,
And if the world needs something better,
Let's give them one more reason now, now, now

We walk in single file
We light our rails and punch our time
Ride escalators colder than a cell

This broken city sky, like butane on my skin
and stolen from my eyes
Hello Angel, tell me where are you
Tell me where we go from here
Tell me where we go...
-MCR (of course)

Listening to: My Chemical Romance, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love

Not so good

Warning: this is going to be intentionally vague. I need to write but I don't want to get into things a whole lot. I am not expecting comments back, this is honestly more for me than anyone else.

Last night did not end how I'd expected. A long, honest talk that I ended up taking very personally. I understand these things take time but it also scares the shit out of me. I've been there. I know it takes a long time (it took me bloody forever) but I'm the kind of person that even though my brain knows it isn't personal, I will still take personally. Like there's something I should be doing, or doing better, or something I did to fuck things up...I overthink things. I know it.

I'm scared I'm just a rebound. I'm scared that someone better-less neurotic, less messed up, less nuts, smarter, prettier etc. etc-will come along and that will be the end. I know you have to take chances, but the last bunch of times I've put myself out there I've gotten stomped on. It's scary. But I'm willing to take the chance. Doesn't mean I'm not terrified though. But what if I'm the only one willing to take that chance? That pretty much leaves me with the short end of the stick...again. I dunno. It just was not at all the direction I thought last night was going to take. Things were great, lots of fun and then-WHAM-suddenly in this conversational minefield out of nowhere. I'm really scared. I can be patient, but I'm scared. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I really want things to work, but we don't always get what we want, do we? I don't want this to be one of those times where things don't work...

Emotional hangover today. I'm glad school was cancelled for the weather otherwise I'd have been a complete wreck. I had horrible dreams last night which definitely didn't help matters.

I haven't blogged lyrics in a long time, but I just keep listening to MCR's "Famous Last Words" over and over again. You know the idea that we all have a theme song? I think this is mine for so, so, so many reasons-not just this particular situation. Silly. Obsessive. I know, but I can't help it. I attach myself to songs and need a soundtrack for my life at all times. I feel like I need to keep repeating "I am not afraid" and eventually it'll be true. About everything in my life that scares me.

Now I know, that I can't make you stay
But where's your heart, but where's your heart
But where's your...

And I know, there's nothing I can say
To change that part, to change that part
To change...

So many, bright lights they cast a shadow
But can I speak, is it hard understanding,
I'm incomplete.
A life that's so demanding, I get so weak.
A love that's so demanding, I can't speak.

I am not afraid to keep on living,
I am not afraid to walk this world alone,
Honey if you stay I'll be forgiven,
Nothing you can say can stop me going home.

Can you see? My eyes are shining bright,
'Cause I'm out here on the other side,
Of a jet black hotel mirror.
And I'm so weak, is it hard understanding,
I'm incomplete.
A love that's so demanding, I get weak.

I am not afraid to keep on living,
I am not afraid to walk this world alone,
Honey if you stay I'll be forgiven,
Nothing you can say can stop me going home.

These bright lights have always blinded me
These bright lights have always blinded me
I said...

I see you lying next to me,
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid,
Asleep or dead.
-MCR

I hate everyone

Well, maybe not everyone. But stupid people. People like the *real* yearbook teacher whose job I'm sort of doing since she's on maternity leave. Problem is, she either needs to do the damn job herself or let me do it. Right now she keeps sticking her nose into things when it is convenient for her. I'm the "real" teacher when she needs me to do the dirty work but she's the teacher the rest of the time. Problem is, I'm the one in the classroom. Either let me teach the damn class or let me be a babysitter. I'm not getting paid enough extra to take this shit.

I hate parents too. They suck. I get a message from a parent who is bitching about the school newspaper. She is pissed at the fact that the cross country team didn't get enough of a mention on the sports page b/c they did well at States. She is pissed because the team's name wasn't bolded and the other teams' names were. She told me how to do my job and said "maybe your student reporters need to be better at what they do."

Back off, bitch. My kids are doing pretty damn well. And you know what? We're an 8 page newspaper. We come out once a month if we're lucky. It takes them a MONTH to put together a paper because they (oh my god) AREN'T PROFESSIONALS. OMG. OMG.

I was so pissed. I didn't call her back because I knew if I did I'd say something that would make the situation worse. This job would be great if it weren't for some of the parents.

Grr. In a pissy mood now...I know I should just blow it off, but I can't. I need to work on that.

I want it to be the weekend. NOW. I don't want to take this fucking MTTC test on Saturday. I don't want to get up at 5am tomorrow. I don't want it to be so bloody cold. I don't want to teach/babysit yearbook anymore.

I'm so goddamn whiny right now I irritate even myself. Sorry for my foul mouth and pissy attitude.... feel free to ignore me.

Listening to: Placebo, Meds (though I think I'll switch it to something more pissed off. Maybe some From First to Last...)

More reviews & such

My review and photos of the Fall Out Boy show are up at Revolt. Check em out here. That was also the New Found Glory & Cobra Starship show. I hadn't really listened to much NFG before the show, but I've been listening to a lot the last few days and can heartily recommend their album Coming Home. :) I quite like the photo of Pete Wentz that my editor chose to run too...

Also, my blurbs about a few of the top singles of the year are up on Static. I wrote the ones on "Dani California" (RHCP #17) "Call Me When You're Sober" (Evanescence, #16) and "Welcome to the Black Parade (MCR of course, #12).

And...I can't remember if I ever posted the link to my review of Sugarcult's latest. It's here.

Might get to hang with Elana tonight. It'll be the first time I've seen her in ages. Things still feel weird between us, we'll see if she bails on me tonight or not...
Not happy that vacation is almost over:( Boo hiss.

Listening to: New Found Glory, Coming Home

Here's looking at 2007...and looking back at 2006.

Hard to believe 2006 is over already. I can't quite figure out how the year went by so fast, but maybe it's because I've been so busy:) Real quick first though, I've got photos, top album blurbs and reviews to foist on you all:

• My review and photos from the MCR show are a featured review on Revolt! Woot! Read it here & check out the pics.
  
• My review of Spitalfield's album is up at Revolt too...wow it was bad.
• My blurb on The Raconteurs' Broken Boy Soldiers (which made Static's top 10 albums of the year-woot!) is up at Static.

Weirdly enough, I don't really have many shows on the radar at the moment. At least not in the immediate future. However, The Hard Lessons are going to be doing a show at The Blind Pig at the end of January that I'd like to check out. Husband, Wife and I saw them open up at the 89x Show and they were pretty cool (and I saw them just hanging out at the AAR show which was sort of neat). Harry and I have our plane tix for New York, so Bamboozle is a certainty (woo hoo!) and we'll be covering Taste of Chaos at the beginning of March (we're already on the guetslist to see The Used, 30 Seconds to Mars, Aiden...), so that will be pretty sweet.

Ah, now for New Year's Eve and it's aftermath....Jon invited me to a party at Kelly & Peter's house so we headed out to Ferndale with Fina in tow. It was a ridiculous amount of fun, his friends are great and really welcoming. I was very nervous before getting there, I generally don't feel too comfortable going into situations where I know one person, but they were awesome. However, maybe I should resolve to give up red wine for the new year... :) I have no idea what time everyone finally went to bed but I do know that I was sending text messages at 4:49 am and that was still at least half an hour to an hour before things wound down. No wonder I felt a bit like death the next day... Also, Kelly & Peter have the most awesome Pomeranian, Telly. I wanted to just put her in my purse and take her home. She amused me to no end:)


We headed back home to pretty much turn around again and go to Husband and Wife's for a Rose Bowl party. Now, I'm not much of a football fan, and the loss SUCKED, but I think everyone had a great time, even those of us who aren't terribly into sports:) The food was great (especially husband's buffalo wings...mmmmm) and by that point I really didn't feel like death anymore, so it was good.

Thinking about 2006...well, it had its good points and its bad points, that's for sure. Having no *real* job for the first half of it pretty much sucked. However, starting all my writing for Revolt & Static really made up for the fact that I had a shit job where I was treated like an idiot most of the time. I feel like I've got some really good friends to hang out with and, somewhat surprisingly, made more when I started teaching again (at the last high school I worked at, the staff was very closed to new people & I had one friend on the staff, that was it). I've really begun to see who of the people I thought were friends really are, and who probably isn't so much of a friend anymore (as sad as that is). I've seen a ridiculous amount of live music-sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. I love that I've gotten back into photography, and concert photography at that. And I'm not much of a resolution person, but looking at the ones I made last year, I think I actually did pretty well:

1. Be more brave (which relates to #2) I think I've gotten a lot more brave. I mean, I'm still quite shy, but I've done a lot of new things this year, so I feel good about this. However, I think I'll carry it over into 2007. Never hurts to be more brave (esp. for me).
2. Try new things (um, I'm not talking new things like skydiving, more like, new restaurants, new places, new music, books, bars, etc.) Yup, lotsa new things this year...more in 2007:)
3. Get in shape (yeah, I know, me and everyone else, but I've got a gym membership now, so more impetus to get off my ass) Ok, now this I was doing really well with until I got a real job and had to drive to MSU 2 nights a week. Now that MSU is finished, I've got to get my ass back to the gym.
4. Go to NYC/do some more travelling (sort of goes back to #1 & 2) Um, hello...I think the trip to NYC in May and the trip to Italy in July should count since the plans were made in 2006.
5. See more live music Sheesh, just read the blog entries from the last year:)
6. Get a real job--hopefully a journalism or good teaching job Done and done.
7. Get a tattoo?? (goes back to #1 and #3...) have to think more on this one. Two! Thinking about a third...

You know, I feel quite good about 2006, at least the second half of it. I'm feeling pretty good about 2007 for lots of reasons too. Maybe this year will be a good one, maybe not, but right now things are going well and I'm really happy, so I'll just go with it :)
~S
Listening to: A Heartwell Ending, Trust Us We Lie