new website

go here instead: www.miranduh.com

Who's got scabies?

While Jen and I were riding on the subway back to Herald Square, we noticed a rather large tube of ointment on the seat. Who loses a large tub of ointment? Wouldn't you notice it fall out of your pocket? And it was on the seat, not the floor - how do you overlook that?

Regardless, we didn't touch it, but Jen did digitally document it so we could see what disease the owner of the ointment has.

http://www.drugs.com/PDR/Elimite_Cream.html
Scabies. Ouch.

Broadway, Akiva, & Matties

This past Sunday, Tanya and I trekked into NYC for an afternoon of shoe shopping. We didn't find the rainboots or cute work shoes that we were looking for, but we did pop in and out of stores, dodged the tourists, and bought sidewalk wares on Broadway.

After a few hours and many blocks later, we needed pizza and coffee. Tanya and I popped onto Houston and got sustenance and caffeine then headed to Piano's to catch Akiva's set. We met up with Angela, Gia, and Andrew and grabbed a table near the back and ordered a round of drinks. Akiva's set was great, and the sound was good. Oddly enough, the last time I saw him perform was in the spring - where the hell did all the time go? He busted out a few unreleased songs and emerged with some Onyx at the end with David McMillan. Two white boys with acoustic guitars shouting out "SLAM!! Duh Dah Dah!!!" is a sight to see. I swear, is Akiva's rock star dreams falter, he always has a rap career to fall back on. He rocked a great LES shirt for the venue that he picked up at the fashion show he performed at a few weeks ago. It meets my rock star fashion approval. Tanya enjoyed David's set, so we stayed for that as well. I remember hearing his tunes when he contacted Marlon Spike last year, but I hadn't seen him live before this date. It was also great seeing the Akiva posse out, especially those who I didn't think would recognize me who haven't seen me in NYC yet. Hopefully we will all meet up again in December at The Cup.

As Akiva and David were wrapping up their last song, we dodged out so that we (minus Tanya, the show had sold out :-( ) could run up to Irving Plaza for the Matt Nathanson show. While we were waiting for the subway, we ran into Nick & Jesse. You know you've been somewhere long enough when you run into friends at the subway station.

At Irving, we managed to catch the start of Matt Wertz's set and managed to position ourselves in the midst of the anti-Matt Wertz club. We still enjoyed the set and Angela and I both got the songs we enjoyed.

During the set break, we met up with Judy, Ginger, Regina, Dan, and Bonnie and headed to the other side of the stage. We were all kinda concerned that we would be the oldest people there, but strangely enough, we were all pretty equal - nice. I hadn't seen Matty Nathanson since days of yore at the Point (now closed) in Bryn Mawr. Matt has always been a favorite of mine and he is still one of my favorite lyricists and performers, but I just never desired to him tackle a full out venue. Oh wait - I did see him when he played at UD a few years ago. I guess I was jaded and also didn't have my Matty N crew with me whenever he was around before. Now I have one in NYC. :-)

But the show was hands down phenomenal. Matt rocks, and it is fabulous that he is selling out venues in light of getting dropped by Universal. They just didn't know what to do with him and his rabid fan base. He isn't just another sing-songwriter, and the trends followed him. He never sold out, but he did put out a great album two years ago under that label. We all sang along to every song and it brought back so much to me. Matt Nathanson was pretty much the soundtrack to the solace that I found in rock and roll during college. I'll always remember this show - thanks girls.

Afterwards we came out into the city streets and it was a hell of a lot colder than it was earlier in the day. I shivered all the way home and made phone calls during my trek since I didn't have my ipod on me. Everyone got weird and long messages, especially when I saw a hooker getting picked up a few blocks away from my apartment.

25th Birthday

Hello from the rock I have been under.

Last Sunday, the inhabitants of 192A hosted our first apartment party. The occassion being a welcoming to our apartment as well as Tanya and my 25th birthday celebrations. Usually we attract quite a crowd, but the Sunday evening (we all had off on Monday) and monsoon kept people away except for a handful of loved ones.

We got enough food and booze to keep a small army nourished, which was plenty to go around for our crowd of less than twenty. We also purchased two birthday princess hats that went around to Tanya and me.

I learned that apparently I can walk down the streets of Jersey City with a beer in my hand and no one looks twice. I gave up my yuengling for a tailor made Dan Drink - half peach vodka, half cranberry juice. (this will hit me later).

We all played Magic Stick. Tanya and Shaun brough Magic Stick into our lives. One takes a stick, holds it vertical in front of him, and spins around while others in a circle around him count to sixty. He then throws down the Magic Stick and jumps over it. Now this seems juvenile and no fun, but trust us, when you are inebriated, it is quite a joy for the participants. Dan toppled down. Chris L. used the whole damn circle to stumble around. I fell into Carolina and Chris. Carolina ran into the restroom after she spun around. Jesse did have the most gleeful expression out of all of us combined. Good stuff, I highly recommend magic stick at your next function.

For the rest of the evening we ate, chatted, listened to good tunes, and enjoyed the merriment. For a good portion of the evening, I was collapsed on the bathroom floor. Amy went to save me and fell victim to the boozey concoctions as well.

I think around 3 am we all crashed. Apparently I like to stick my ass on other people who share the bed with me and steal the blankets. Sorry, Amy - ha!

UD Homecoming 2k5

aka "Good God, Will It Ever Stop Raining"
10/8
(I haven't had time to blog, so I totally ganked this from Miss Jen's blog. My additions are in purple. Enjoy)


We wake up to a dark and stormy Newark on Aurora's floor and start to get ready (after falling asleep to bouncing ping pong balls a la beer pong). Miranda goes to the bathroom to straighten her hair (because straightening your naturally curly hair during a monsoon is intelligent), and comes back up a few minutes later waking up Aurora to tell her that she blew the fuse. Aurora tells us that someone else will take care of it. We chat a bit more and head over to Jay's. (outside of Jay's door, Damien showed us the dead bird wedged in the awning, it's beak was open and it was nasty)

Miranda, Jay and Epler each bought food to bring tailgating, and while there were only four of us there, we carted along enough food to feed about thirty-five thousand. Two types of bagels with the trimmings, doughnuts, burgers (meat and vegetarian), chicken, hotdogs, buns and condiments, 3 types of potato chips, potato and macaroni salads, sodas, juices, a bottle of champagne, a case of Smirnoff Twisted Cranberry malt beverages, a case of Miller Lite, and a case of Yuengling. I'm sure I left out plenty. We loaded all of this and a grill into Jay's truck, and then realized that a truck only seats two people, so Miranda and I jumped into the truckbed for the ride.

If you know anything about Miranda and I, we aren't exactly renowned for our coordination or practicality (especially not after 3 hours of sleep). We stumble onto the cooler, and figured that it would work well as a seat. The cooler was high enough so that we were sitting level with the walls of the truckbed, so there was nothing keeping us from toppling out. Stellar reasoning skills, I know. We hold onto each other as the truck starts to move, and the 5 inch puddle that resided near the cab of the truck (remember, it hadn't stopped raining since Friday) flowed towards, getting our feet wet. We whined, as if this would be the only time our feet would be wet that week.

Jay had to stop at the studio to grab a camera, so we got to see the old control room and check out the editing prowess that he learned at NFL films. It's always thought provoking to walk into a place that you haven't been in over a year that you used to spend all your time in. We head back out in the rain to the stadium, and Jay goes about 50 over the bridge on South College, and Miranda and I scream in terror (we did, and we almost toppled out and the propane went flying). We pull into the lot discussing the legality of riding in the back of a truck (they think it's legal in DE, I think it's legal if there's seatbelts in it) while driving past the police.

We grab a spot between the ice rink and the ag department, and find a bit of grass to pitch Epler's $10 tent on (hehe, dirty). For some reason, Jay insisted we move the tent over to a bigger area on the other side of the tree, which will prove to be The Lowest Point In All Of Delaware, as the rain from the entire state would drain into the swamp under our feet. We proceeded to spend the next hour in its entirety trying to put up the tent (as people watched and taunted, but we are all fighting blue hens so it is out of love). By the time we were finished we were so drenched that it didn't seem to matter that we were under canvas. There was grilling, there was eating, there was drinking, there were a few friends that stopped by, there was enough food left over to feed the football team (if it wasn't a monsoon, people were supposed to be at our tent in droves).

I need to add a whole new paragraph. Ok, one homecoming everyone who played in the mud at Homecoming got a rash. I was one of them, and ever since then I was scared of the mud at UD. They pump so muh chemicals in the ground so the UD lawns are perfect, and needless to say, that irritates the skin...let alone whatever crap was in the mud that year (i.e. pee, chlamydia, addition chemical run off...). Now for Homecoming Monsoon 2005, we were all sitting and walking in the swamp and mud that was known as our tent. We were all certain that we had herpes of the feet. I accidently dropped my bottle in the water, and that was a goner - no way I was putting that on my lips.

Speaking of the football team, they sort of suck now. My senior year we won the division 1AA national championship, and now we.. well, we lost to Hofstra, people (I went to almost every home game during my college career, and we were quite awesome...now not so much, we have really bit it this season). Granted there was lots of rain and mud (which was sort of fun to watch) and that half of the attempted passes bounced out of hands (probably because of the rain), but the other half were thrown to no one in particular, and we derserved our loss. Not many people came out due to the deluge, but it was nice to hear the fight song and and see a band member fall on the medal student stands and drop his tuba. Tuba down! (I actually think we pointed and snickered until we realized that the adults around us were actually concerned for the fallen tuba. We did take a picture of the injury and aftermath though, because we are cruel.) For the second tuba sighting of the afternoon, on the walk back to the truck we got stuck behind the band, and Miranda saw a bunch of tubas with blue "condoms" on them. We decided that they were just practicing safe tuba.

The only thing in the universe that would have made us happy was to get dry and warm again, and Aurora offered us use of her shower. We pulled up to her house and once again, there were people drinking on her porch, it didn't look like the party ever stopped. We were about to walk in when a boy held the door closed and said to Miranda "Were you the one who blew the fuse this morning?" We tried to get past him as he whined that he was the one that fixed it. We ran upstairs and I jumped in the shower.

Here's my bit of advice for the day: it probably isn't a good idea to take up the bathroom for an extended period of time during a house party. I was drying off when someone started pounding on the door, telling me to "hurry the fuck up". I got out a few minutes later and was face to face with an angry frat looking guy who was about twice as tall and wide as me. I tried flirting with him so that I didn't get pounded into a wall, and a few seconds later I was being told that I had such pretty eyes and did I want him to get me a beer. I don't know how I averted his charms and made my way back to the room.

Mir and I went to Homegrown! with Maryann and Dave Pittenger (we are bff again after our short little rift of hatred...apparently ;-) ), both of whom are fun and friendly (and that is why I love them) and one of whom told me that CNN was the Communist News Network and told me what a racist Wolf Blitzer was. That was entertaining. I gorged on my crab dip with apples, strawberry lemonade, and the garlic chicken sandwich with mashed potatoes, and was never so warm and happy. And then we left the restaurant and returned to dark rainy Main Street.

We tried enjoy the rest of the night in Newark, we really did. We tried calling around to get people to meet us at Deer Park, but no one wanted to venture out in the nastiness. We took a picture of the Omnisoul poster in Trabant and reminisced about those crazy college times. But then we thought of the awful weather, and the angry kids back at Aurora's, and the fact that things are definitely just not the same, and ran to find solace in Starbucks (Starbucks, oh Starbucks and oh how we have changed and found truth in ourselves while sitting in a cafe on a rainy Saturday night in Newark). We hung out and chatted for a bit, found out Dave P's show was cancelled in Wilmington, and headed back to New York.

John Faye of IKE at The Goldhawk October 5

wonderful friday night at logan house

I left work a little early and met with Tanya and Dan at Subway for dinner before hitting the turnpike. He would buy the dinner, I would buy the booze – we have a wonderful system.

I grabbed the backseat so I could organize my life as we drove. And by organizing I mean making crucial phone calls. We listened to great music on the way down, including, but not limited to: Ryan Adams, James Blunt, Quick Step John, Ashlee Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, and Justin Timberlake. Needless to say, we sang very loudly.

Once we hit the bridge, I filled my half drunk cup of Coke with raspberry vodka. Tanya said she had noticed that the vodka bottle had gone down considerably since she saw it this afternoon and didn’t think I had a morning drinking problem. She added the berry goodness to her redbull and the last 15 miles were ridden in style with JT’s “Senorita” playing.

Rarely have I gone to the Logan House without having some sort of ordeal with the door guy. Argh. Tim and Andre were behind us and we said our hellos once inside. Wow, I can’t believe I have known Tim for nearly seven years now – craziness! And he always reminds me of home, good stuff. We run upstairs and immediately get slammed in the face with homeness again – Tyler, Jamie, Josh, and Tracey!! Oh fun! It was good to catch up with the Omnisoul guys more so than what AIM and email allow. Jay, Epler, Maryann, and Marissa were already at LoHo as well. Hands needed to be full, so the bartender opened my credit card for abuse.

Nate, Judy, Angela, Fetus, Chuck, Eric, Kristen, and Shaun came in right before the band took the stage. LDE finally discovered the green room upstairs. As the band played, I bounced around trying to catch up with everyone. I love all of my home friends and unfortunately life gets in the way of keeping up to date with everyone. We celebrated Nate’s birthday, though he didn’t want to wear the hat Angela and Judy got for him. I wore it and claimed myself to be a unicorn. I wasn’t drunk, just being silly.

Maryann caught me up on all the drama and we all had a shouting match with Jay on why guys are dumb. He went off on a tirade and it was classic. True and classic. Nate and I had many talks on the porch, which reminded me a lot of our random Newark bar nights. I love being so carefree at home, though hearing about all the home and high school stuff made me relieved to be away and not trapped. Fetus revealed to us that he is the non- Jewish Seth Cohen. Someone should record the LoHo conversations we all have, they’re classic.

I found the NYC girls during In The Water and we danced and sung and were silly. LDE played London as the last song of their first set. The crowd went insane and I loved it. That song is going to be a hit, I call it. And I have a damn good track record for calling hits ;-). Some guy wore fuzzy slippers while dancing and another wore something to the effect of pajama pants.

Speaking of clothing - Donnie won my “best dressed” award. He had on great pants, a nice shirt, and was newly shorn. Certain members of the band like to make faces at me (cough:::cough:::Doug:::cough::::Rusty::::cough) while playing, so I reciprocate. I swear we must look like complete dorks. Angela and I noticed that Chris did not take all of the opportunities that were given to him, though Phil certainly has done a great job of taking his opportunities. Oh! And no Two Step! Phil definitely listens!

Afterwards, Chris averted my attention from the creepy guy who continued to follow me. I thought he was someone else earlier in the night and after I said hello, I was done for. We hid behind the merch table and enjoyed a short conversation. I was also graced with a back massage which may have been the greatest thing at the moment due to all of my stress. He said that I should come back to DC with them, how little he knows how much I would love to just vanish sometimes. My friends wanted to go, and Phil wanted to converse. So I got the brief breakdown od all recent events and upcoming fun. We plotted October, then I was dragged out.

Jay gave me a piggyback ride to the car as we collected our things. I brought my laundry down with me from NYC so I could do it in a real washer and dryer instead of the ghetto one near my apartment. Jay claimed he could carry it on his own and ended up spilling my underwear all over the parking lot. Awesome. Epler drove Marissa and me to Marissa’s and Jay back to his house. Marissa and I haven’t had a chance to hang out recently, let a lone a sleepover, so this was definitely a highlight of the night. She also promised to make an awesome breakfast, so I was sold. As we stayed up till past 3 am talking, we were interrupted by a Wawa themed phone call. Props to Chris from remembering the exit and the toll avoidance on the way to MY wawa. I chatted with Amy before submitting to slumber on the couch underneath purple blankets.

Saturday to be blogged soon…

GBF showcase and other adventures

This past Tuesday, Gran Bel Fisher showcased at the Mercury Lounge. Thanks to all of you who came out, it was an awesome evening.

Dan and I hung out at the (open) bar as I mentally noted who was walking through the door and being checked off the list. Judy, Angela, Steve, Scott, and Laura joined shortly after Dan and I had our second drinks. Socializing and rock ensued and texting is better than walkie talkies. It sounded fantastic and the room was hot and packed.

The Merc has cider on tap, so of course I bypassed the PBR on tap for that. This guy standing next to me had ordered a vodka tonic, saw the bartender pouring my cider, then asked if that was cider to me. I said yes and was asking if he was making fun of me. He said no, that he loves cider and that he didn’t want his vodka tonic anymore. I noticed that he had a wristband on, which meant he was a part of our party. I introduced myself to him and realized that I’ve heard his name and have talked to him on the phone before. So we chatted it up and he brought me onto the floor to meet some of his colleagues.



I went back to my friends and continued talking when J.A. came back to me and invited me to a model party (it was also fashion week). I asked if I could bring Dan, Steve, and Scott and we all met outside. I met some more of J.A.'s co-workers, who told me that I need to get out to L.A. – ha! We said goodbye to Rich and headed off to Prince St.

We dodged the long line and velvet rope. J.A. talked to the doorman, grabbed my hand, and I grabbed my friends’ hands to drag them in while the doorman was trying to get our attention. We did a walk around, lost the Windswept guys, and headed to the open bar. We lasted about 20 minutes until it became boring. Our group reconvened and decided to hit up the Sanctuary Management party at the Down Time (it was also CMJ week). We all pile in a cab, until the cabbie told me to get off of Dan’s lap and someone had to get out – so I did, and hopped into the cab behind us. I had no idea who the guys in the cab were but they were going to the same party we were. They were also at the GBF show. It was a semi-long drive uptown, so I entertained them with my babbling. At a stop light we saw the guys ahead of us all smoosh towards Dan and take a picture. Good stuff.

We got out, walked in front of the velvet rope, and strolled right on in. I found out later that this was one of the hottest parties of the night and apparently exclusive and a lot of people got turned away. Nice. This place was a sauna and plenty of good sights all around. I heard that George Clinton was there, but I didn’t see him. Dan and I saw people that we recognized, but I forget now. We missed the open bar here, but took advantage of one last beer for the evening. There was live music and indie DJs spinning throughout the building. We caught the last few songs of Say Anything. Idlewild was to play after and I love me some Idlewild. I made it to the front and we stayed for enough songs to make me content before we left for the PATH since both of us had to work the next day.

On the walk back to the PATH I could barely walk since my sandals were not conducive to gallivanting on city streets. I weighed the options of walking on hurt feet in uncomfortable shoes, or walking barefoot. The shoes won out. On the way, Two college DJs were lost and we escorted them back to the PATH. On the subway we all talked about music and wawa – a great combination.

“Everybody say ‘cougar!’”

Last Saturday morning, Meredith, Amy and I continued our slumber on the sand of Dewey Beach. It was a great few hours of laziness…chatting, napping, reading, and making fun of people. Ew, these nasty guys, or more appropriately, old men, set up their blankets in front of us, looked back at us, then said, “picking your spot on the beach is just like when you chose your cabin – it’s all about the view.” Then they picked up their gear and moved ten feet behind us and continued to ogle and make comments for the rest of the afternoon. Ew.

We went into the water and of course I acted like a five year old girl afraid of the water and not going any deeper than my knees. I was quite content with my depth though. Unfortunately Meredith did not fare so well with the waves. We called it quits on the beach and vacated to the pool. Oh, and also the entire time Amy kept confusing Meredith and me. She shortens our names to Mir and Mer and needless to say, that often times get blurred into one. And somehow my nickname of “ho face” spawned, so I also responded to that.

After soaking up some rays and waves we decided we needed money and food, so we drove up to Rehoboth, and while driving my ears were blessed with Dane Cook. It was the first time I heard his routine and I think I laughed so hard I cried. Naturally we caused a ruckus in the grocery store and it seemed like the scene in Half Baked where they grabbed everything in sight. While Amy was talking to Koesser, we got lost in the parking lot and I realized that apparently I didn’t graduate from Sunscreen 101. I had red splotches all over my legs!

We unloaded our snacks in our room and headed down to the Starboard to meet the guys: Koesser, Dougie, and Parker. I gave Amy a thumbs up and Meredith and I scoped out the credit cards on the wall. The six of us broke the ice at the outside bar, beers in hand and the sun still shining above. Yay hometown brew of Dogfish Head. In addition to not being able to apply sunscreen correctly, I also can’t walk. I must have tripped at least a dozen times over the weekend. My latest tumble resulted in a cut foot. I didn’t realize that my foot was bleeding until at the bar, but that’s ok because a Scooby Doo bandaid saved the day. One of the guys friends flipped over the railing and subsequently cut off. We all had just met (or re-met) and we all hit it off famously…an interesting night was sure to be in store.

The girls know how to do things right, so naturally our hotel room fridge was stocked. We invited the guys back to our place, where pregaming ensued. Sprawling across two beds, mixed drinks in hands, I think we all lost our minds and laughed till it hurt. Dougie saved the day by scampering out and getting ice and a cork screw. Wine…soco & lime…smirnoffs…they all lead to jumping on beds. Parker and I practically made it a sport. I can’t even remember what conversations we had, but we did master the word “poontastic” and thought of several situations in which the word would and would not be appropriate. Marla and Ed (and Peyton) also joined in the festivities. Peyton wanted to smear hair product all over the window, as any well-reared DC girl should do. After almost all the booze was gone and the Soco was kicked, we decided to break and get ready for the night, which included more boozing and socializing, just at another location.

Amy, Meredith, and I threw our clothes all around and decided that Amy was the most “WYFM?” of all, but Meredith and I came in close behind. The Southwinds was right above Grottos, the natural choice for dinner and drinks. We were all slightly hurting though we still ordered pitchers of Yuengling and two veggie pizzas (thanks, guys!). Parker was missing and we think he got caught in a trap at another bar. Cougar traps are all around Dewey. Simply put, cougars are older women who prowl on younger men. Amy and Chris were visiting in July when we found a guide to Dewey Beach, which included cougars – so naturally on this outing, we went cougar hunting. The boys gave our waitress a semi-hard time, and we met another waitress from Louisiana who found refuge from the hurricane in Delaware. So random the stories people have if you just ask.

We lost Parker to another bachelorette party and we headed up to the Rusty, all of us holding hands. We may lose one another. Koesser got us drinks and we headed to the dance floor to scope out the crowd. We had some drama on the upper level, but it was all entertaining in hindsight. How is it that the guys we know don’t take risks and over analyze implications? We spotted cougars on the prowl and Amy documented them in action. Koesser and Dougie took a picture with two females, one way older. Amy took the picture and said, “everyone say ‘cougar!’”. I think Meredith and I almost choked, Dougie’s mouth fell open, the cougar got pissy, and Koeeser said, “’cougar…?’ what does that mean?!” As if he had no idea… It was classic and a great Amy-moment.

On that note, Amy, Mer, and I joined the crowd and dance and sung along to an awful cover band (Kristen & the Noise). We were surrounded by creepy guys, all of who wore the same outfit: khaki cargo shorts and a blue collared crew shirt. Individually we all tried to fix the drama, then decided to get more drinks instead. We found the jello shot girl and brought her over to the guys so that they could buy us and the cougar shots. So heinous of us. There was a super hot guy from Grottos who was dancing near us, so I tell Amy how hot he is. So she gets his attention!! Me = mortified. I tried to escape, but I couldn’t, so I turn and say hi, he skakes my hand, and I think I turn extremely red. Dougie saved us all so we danced with him for the rest of night and made up our own words to Mr. Brightside.

At last call, we couldn’t find Koesser or Parker, so Amy, Meredith, Doug, and I left without them. Dougie decided to stay in our room for the night since Amy and Meredith were taking him back to MD. He didn’t have a key to his old room, so we sweet talked the hotel lady into letting us into his room. Well, not so easily. I tried to coherently get a key from the lady, but since I am not a Koesser or a Parker, she wasn’t having it. Doug was faced, but somehow got a key by telling her (Koesser’s first name is Doug as well) that the guy (Parker) who booked the room must have put the reservation under his former name, and that he is going through a messy divorce. WHAT!??!?!? Somehow, that worked and we all got into the mold infested room. No, seriously, there was mold everywhere and it was gross. So grab Doug’s stuff, a shower cap, and other fun goodies, and headed down the block back to our hotel room, taking silly pictures en route.

Doug and Meredith were walking ahead of Amy and me. When we got to our hotel, they went up to our room as Amy and I looked at pictures on the digital. We see a guy in a Red Sox hat singing to himself, so I think we smiled, waved, and cheered him on. Bad idea. He comes over and we take a picture of the three of us together…which could have also been the “last picture taken alive” photo that they flash on news reports. He tells us that he is from Silver Spring, MD and graduated from Good Counsel High School. How fucking small is this world? He then invites us to a party in a “six million dollar home”, so naturally our drunk asses our intrigued.

During the walk over, mystery guy tells us that he worked in the Secret Service (from now on, he will be called Secret Service Agent or SSA for short) but had to get out of it because his wife did too and that there was super secret secret service drama and lives were at stake. He also has three kids. Halfway there we didn’t think that this was a good idea, but what could we do? As we walk up to the huge house, he points out his car, with the special SSA sticker in the corner. I think that was code for, “I could kill you and dump your bodies in a place never to be discovered if you run away.” We get to the “party” and everyone was crashed on the floor. It was around 3 am, so we didn’t blame them. There were handful of people still up and we were frightened, but made the best of it. I don’t even think I can talk about it. But SS kept playing a song (Amy, what was it?!?!). Since they were from around DC and the owner of the house was associated with Universal music, we tried to pimp out LDE. As Amy was looking for a pen, we both noticed that the nice, bubbly girl we were speaking with had a prosthetic leg. Ok, we aren’t mean people, and that is very unfortunate, but taking the circumstances that we found ourselves in, it was hilarious. I think we realized it at the same time because Amy said, “Miranda…” and I was like, “no, Amy, I know…” and she said, “no, but…” and I replied, “oh I know…” And maybe you just had to be there, but the others probably thought we were talking about the pen, but instead we were making sure that we were both well away of the situation around us. And on that note, we peaced out. SSA decided to walk with us home. As we are talking about his kids and sports, we look up and see a cop. Amy and I were fine, then SSA was heading the other direction. WHAT!?

So as we are trying to figure out why this is our lives, we enter our room and see Meredith sprawled out on one bed and Doug, the naked Asian guy, sprawled out on another (in his and Mer’s defense, he wasn’t naked, just in boxers, though we couldn’t tell). What were we to do? So we stole the old hotel room key back from Doug and headed back over to the moldy hotel. This would have been fine and dandy if Koesser and Parker weren’t also staying in that same room. And who hadn’t left the Rudder. Which means they are either macking it with some girls in the room, or macking it elsewhere and will come back in the morning. Both situations are equally as embarrassing. So we bit the bullet and trudged over to the hotel as it’s nearing 4 am. Lucky break, the boys weren’t back.

We changed into our pajamas and grab the bed closest to the door and set the alarm for 9:30 am, hoping that if they have to leave by 11, we can leave before they get back and no one will ever know. I had a killer headache so I searched the room for any type of pain relief. Instead I found big boy condoms. Amy and I were doubled over in laughter at the magnums. Some cougar must be getting lucky. The guys returned sometime before our alarm went off. Amy and I sat in bed hoping that the incessant knocking would go away. It didn’t. They didn’t seem too phased, probably because the cougars wore them out – rawr! Parker had to do the Walk of Shame three times, once back to the hotel, then back to where he was at since he left his cell or wallet there, then back to the hotel. Classy!

Amy and I got dressed, which was the same outfits as Saturday night, which aren’t really our Sunday best. Our Walk of Shame was going to be great, even though we just slept with each other. The guys saved us and we got the Ride of Pride as they headed out to the Redskins game. We get upstairs and inform Doug and Meredith on how we almost died and how we didn’t ditch them. Oh yeah, and Amy’s cell phone died so there was no communication to anyone at all even if we did get into real danger.

Instead of napping, we all hit the beach. Amy, Mer, and Doug hit the waves (Meredith won this time) as Terry and I talked about the previous night’s adventures. We decided to fill the afternoon up by walking to Rehoboth for lunch. We made Doug honorary Cougar bait. Greasy food is great when you are tired and hurting – yay Nicabolis. Poor Doug nearly passed out. He tired to order and it took him five minutes to just say “give me that.” We walked back, cleaned up, packed up, and said our goodbyes.

I could have just gone back to MD with Amy, and she offered. But I had to pick up Dan at Marissa’s then back to Jersey City. Dan and I listened to Dane Cook on the way home and it was fabulous. I love having my go go cabrio, it makes me portable.

mini temper tantrum

This is how I feel right now:

“When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
could it be worse?” Fix You – Coldplay

I’m too mentally and emotionally tired to write, but I will, just to catch you up on some of my thoughts…

I was on the beach today chatting with Amy, Meredith, Doug, and Terry when my mom called (that will be blogged tomorrow). As of today, I no longer have my horses. Talk about a wonderful time coming to a screeching halt. So many thoughts going through my mind, but obviously I wasn’t in the right situation to just ponder. And needless to say I was kinda quiet and distant for the remaining few hours of the trip.

I don’t even know what to begin with. Though I am in NYC and knew that I will never have my horses up here, it was always comforting to know that they were still in my life. Alexcia and Leaf were also the last thing I had from my pre-2005 life within reach. Everything else has been slipping away and I have no control. Just everything that I once had or had been involved in isn’t there anymore or changed so much that it isn’t the same. There were three main entities in my life – STN, Rainbow, and riiding. STN obviously I do not do anymore and it has changed so much from the good ol’ days that it isn’t the same. Though we all remain BFF, the station just isn’t there for most of us. Rainbow isn’t Rainbow anymore. The glory days are gone and there has been a regime change. (More on Rainbow later, after 25 years, the owners peaced out). That was the big one…the slap in the face that there was nothing to return home to since home was Rainbow. And now my horses…or lack thereof.

Alexcia & Leaf were the one constant in my life, through the ex boyfriends, the fights, the school struggles, the graduations, the bands. No matter what conundrums I got into, there were two beings who needed to be taken care of every morning and who would always listen to me. When everything else would fall apart, they were there and the one part of me that never changed.

And they were also the one thing I had left in Delaware. This is kinda like the final straw and the final realization that I have nothing left in Delaware except for memories and the few good friends that I consistently talk to still straggling around (hi Nate, Maryann, Jay, Marissa, Aurora, and Chip). But people don’t count because they are portable. There really is no home and I don’t know what to call home since I don’t really have anything anywhere anymore.

I think I am just frustrated because nothing is becoming easier. I have been here for 9 months now, and no positive ramifications are coming from it aside from things that are work related. Not only is nothing becoming easier, but my distance has been striking me left and right, by no choice of my own. Lately I have been feeling that I abandoned everything and possibilities for the off chance of something amazing that hasn’t happened yet. I really can’t and don’t want to write anymore. I’m just confused. And tired.

apt 192 late evening conversations

This is another post of roommate conversations that occurred tonight…

A few Mondays ago I posted how Jen and I think that owning a deep fryer would be beneficial to our lives…Dan informed me on our ride back to Jersey City that my wildest dream will come true…Nick will be hooking us up with a deep fryer in the next few days. Only good can come of this.

“Hey Tanya, we’re getting a deep fryer for our apartment” – Dan

“(points at me) SHE is NOT allowed to use it. There needs to be supervision and a child safety lock on it for Miranda” – Tanya

Shaun also told Tanya online that we have the capability to deep fry anything…like sneakers. He also said that the deep fryer is a great reason to visit our apartment.

Moments later…

“Ugh, I so don’t want to shower. It takes so much effort, can someone do it for me?” – me

“(giggles) I haven’t showered since Friday.” – Tanya

We are so hot.

yet another trip to SS MD

Greetings from 192! It’s not even midnight and I am exhausted. I wonder why…Oh yeah, because I rolled into Jersey City at 5:30 in the morning then stayed up for an hour beyond that and woke up a little after noon. Over the past two days I contracted anal herpes, got a jagged sunburn, got close and personal with hair grease smear, now answer to “ho-face”, and saved Amy from being severely crushed.

This weekend I visited my second home, as Miss Amy calls her place. Judy and Angela haven’t been passengers in the Go Go Cabrio for more than 5 miles before and I forgot to warn them until after I almost hit a woman with a stroller and weaved in and out of traffic on the turnpike. There were only a handful of screams during the first half hour of the trip. We also did our good deed of the day by donating money to the hot fireman hanging out in the intersection taking collection by way of the helmets. Judy then said that we have clearance to be bad.

We waved to Newark as we passed the 273 exit and I “dazzled” them with my multitasking: driving, shifting, sandwich eating, singing, and talking on the cell to Amy. We were on Georgia Avenue when I look over and see an SUV full of guys hanging out calling out to us. I turn to the girls and warn them to not look. Of course I turn back around, they were still staring and yelling, so I said hey and waved. Judy and Ang yelled at me and there proceeded to be a chase down Georgia. Ew.

We get to Amy’s (in about 3 ½ hours including a lengthy stop at Wawa) and meet Mr. Kominski, then ran upstairs to be girls and get ready for Notty’s…which pretty much meant brushing teeth and changing shirts since that’s all we had time for. The blue room has been established as my room. Phil picked it out for me last time and I have now taken up residency.

We caravanned it to Nottys, said hellos, and grabbed drinks. Notty’s is like the Logan House on crack. We took silly pictures and made fun of the creepy guys around us, as per usual. Amy and I both had victims, both of who escaped us and left. Oh, it goes without saying that Lloyd Dobler Effect was playing Nottinghams. They have two new songs, Spain and Empty Reach that I have been listening to, but didn’t really want to judge before hearing. I still am not feeling Spain…it’s got the same kinda vibe as Victim and Stranger. I just feel that it’s a little bare, but we’ll see how it progresses. On the other hand, I really enjoy Empty. I can see that one being up in my new list of favorites soon.

I met a bunch of the hometown LDE posse and put a bunch of faces to names. I also met Terry, another Kominski. Judy and Angela celebrated their birthdays and we tried to lift Dave’s spirits. At the end of the night, Amy and I escaped outside…where we proceed to critique everyone walking out and the drunk guys wandering around the front trying to pick up someone to go home with that night. We didn’t try to be quiet because we assumed that everyone was either too drunk or too far from us to pay attention to what we were saying. Nope – this guy turned to us and told Amy and me that we were the meanest girls ever. We tried to defend ourselves, then Amy and the random guy discovered that they knew each other from swimming.

Chris came out around that time and joined in on the mocking. He introduced a new phrase into my life: “I’m glad that’s not my life”. Or something to that effect when it comes to the people we were surrounded by. Oh look at me, I am awful. I am not even from there and here I am knocking it. Oh no, wait, I can – because when I spent half the night deflecting dirty comments and inappropriate touching, I have every right to be mean. But yeah, the guys all looked the same, the girls were half naked, makeup was caked on, hats were tipped, and I’m sure none could utter a complete intelligent sentence. It’s great though, it provides fodder.

We sad our goodbyes, loaded into the car, and headed back to Silver Spring. Oh yeah, LDE bought a new van. This one not only is fairly new, but the seats work, and it comes with such luxuries like heat AND air conditioning. Stylin’ and profilin’. On the way back I got an odd text from Jay, so naturally I was intrigued. We had cake complete with a Barney candle (how old is that?!) then upstairs for a few hours sleep until the sun rose. I was entertained via text messages from Newark until I passed out.

I think I kicked Amy out of my blue room when she sat on my bed. I can’t remember…but I do remember Angela giving me an awesome massage before we all convened in the kitchen for coffee. I played DJ on the way to the Metro so we rocked 50 Cent followed by Augustana. As we entered the subway, I received the good news that Omnisoul was added to the IKE CD release party bill. What a fabulous day already!

Yeah, so the metro was being fixed so we have to take a bus part of the way, then back onto the metro. While on the bus, we spotted a bakery called La Fonda as well as a guy picking his nose. We got onto the second metro and I grabbed a window seat. While staring out the window at the graffiti laden buildings wondering where I am going to dump the bodies, I noticed a spooge-like substance on my window. Amy informed me that it was hair grease. GROSS! Maybe it was because of my tiredness, but I think it was one of the funniest things of the morning.

As we trekked across the Catholic U campus, my mom called, also at the same time a van of CU guys hollered out the window at us. Nothing like jumpstarting her and our morning. We tried to get in one area of the field, and the cop told us to go around. Amy turned around and said, “I hope you get shot!” a lot louder than I think she anticipated. She really is a nice person, honest, we were just punchy! There was a show, it was fun. We realized that CU’s football field is smaller than our high school football fields – hell, mine even had lights for night games! After the show, the band defaced Amy’s thunderstick and the girls rocked playing catch with a frisbee, football, and tennis ball.

On the return trip, I had hair grease on my bus window. We took a detour to Panera for our usual lunch. Somehow I think the subject turned to the hurricane or florida or hobags or swimming when the girls told me how Doug almost drowned when they last played Spinnakers. This really isn’t funny, but I laughed so hard I was crying. I think it was because we mimicked the guys so well and provided them their dialogue. In the midst of our boisterous laughter, we notice this half dead woman at the table next to us. We seriously didn’t know if this woman was conscious or not. She had a newspaper in her lap and she was contorted in a way that surely wasn’t comfortable. She had bags beside her and a full plate in front of her. We weren’t sure whether we should help her or not, or what we would even though. All of a sudden, she jerked up and started scurrying around and shoved food down her mouth. About 2 minutes later, she hunched over again and became motionless. WHAT!?!? Of course we laughed very hard again and I think I cried again. On that note, we left.

We dined on caffeine at Caribou in Olney for over an hour as we delved into our sordid pasts. We have come to the conclusion that if you are a boy, don’t be an asshole and cheat or say dumb things. There ya go, not that hard to follow ;-). Back to the Kominski house to dabble in band talk and to talk about other artists. Amy and I came up with an LDE plan. I said that they were going to disown us, in which she replied that they can’t disown her because she is blood, and they won’t disown me. The evil plan is on!

We headed off to eat and I was introduced to yet another Silver Spring haunt. There was a Latin musician serenading us with um, awesome, um, music. We had the great idea to leave Pedro a love note from Chris in the tip jar. We tiredly ate while discussing more of life’s problems. We spoke of coworkers and jerky bosses (no worries, Hoffman crew). Oh yeah, I also don’t know how to sign a credit card slip apparently. That is documented as well.

Judy, Angela, and I said our thank yous and goodbyes and headed home with a few jaunts along the way. I almost passed out while driving. I haven’t driven that tired in a while. We stopped at Sheetz for sucky coffee and cheap gas. We all got dfferent items though it came to the same total each. Trippy. Angela tried to keep me awake by playing sing-along-songs. I made it to the Fort Dix Wawa for more coffee and a bathroom break and it was full sailing ahead. Rolled in to JC a little after 5am.

labor day

Dan just gave me the 4 minute rundown on Laguna Beach. I think I understand. At least there are three episodes on so I can catch up.

I love random holidays. Today I cleaned, went for a run, went to Target…twice, and watched Zoolander. Now I understand Blue Steel and Chris’s Blue Steel website – nice work! ;-)

Oh yeah, I think I will start a running list of things roommates should not say. I thanked Dan for washing the dishes over the weekend (our dishwasher broke so we had a lot of dishes). He said no worries, he didn’t wash the silverware. Tanya and I looked at each other and made the facial expression for gross. We saw the big pile of silverware and assumed they were clean and put them back in the drawer. Dan quickly saved himself by explaining they were clean by soaking and rinsing, not by scrubbing.

Shaun also came up for the weekend to visit Tanya and during his visit we decided that we need a video camera to document our antics.

In the vein of antics, I put a ban on me using candles in rooms that I am not in. I will not document the events (hi Tanya and Dan!), though I did admit fully to Amy the course of action…but for now, the details will not be divulged. There was just a slight inferno in the bathroom. That is all. Nothing happened.

CNN.com - Katrina slams N.O. music scene - Sep 5, 2005

CNN.com - Katrina slams N.O. music scene - Sep 5, 2005

reason #348 why i shouldn't play with fire

Today was Danielle's 23rd birthday - so we got her a cake in the office because we all can never deny sugar. They are not aware of my ineptness with things that are hot and flammable...until now...

Laura got a small cake and a pack of candles. Did you know that candles have directions on them? Well neither did I until today.

So I put the whole damn pack of 20 on the small cake because that is fun. 8 of the 20 were sparkler candles - candles that not only sparked but also were trick candles. With Rich's and Laura's help, we ignited all 20 candles...then they started to spark and there was a slight inferno on top of the dessert. I called out to Danielle and told her that her cake was about to explode, we sang a very fast "Happy Birthday" and watched her spread the fire, not extingushing it with her breath. She can't blow any more and the cake is still on fire.

We bring the cake into the supply room and we try to get ride of the fire, but it just isn't happening. I quickly grab some water, but it into a used coffee cup. We pluck the candles and toss them into the cup only burning our fingers a few times...all while trying to avoid the sparks flying at us. Needless to say, I dropped a lit candle on the carpet and slightly freak out.

Wax was everyway on the table and our fingers were burnt - but luckily nothing was ignited aside from the cake. And I wonder why Tanya and Dan said it was imperative that we put 9 volt batteries in the smoke detector...

miss juliana in the news

most of you know about my infatuation with juliana hatfield. i got my hands on a tape of hers while i was in middle school and it changed my whole outlook on music. i <3 jh.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Juliana Hatfield on a twisted trip to 'China' By Dean Goodman
Tue Aug 30, 9:02 PM ET

Even when she's in love, Juliana Hatfield is miserable. Not that she always realizes it.

The durable singer-songwriter, who says she is "always frustrated and anxious and pissed-off and depressed," has just released a cathartic, aggressive album with sonic dissonance worthy of Neil Young or John Cale.

Life was actually going well when Hatfield, 38, recorded "Made in China," a low-budget effort on her own label, Ye Olde Records. She collaborated on the project with her boyfriend, a guitarist 15 years her junior, and says she was "having a great time" with the youngster. But her subconscious had other ideas.

"In looking back at the relationship, I can see that there are all these things happening, that I didn't want to admit or acknowledge, and I think that stuff got into the music," Hatfield told Reuters in a recent interview before playing to a small but ardent hometown crowd at the Paradise club.

"You can feel that in the music, just the unease and the distrust of the things that satisfy people, and make people feel good."

ALONE AGAIN, NATURALLY

Several months after the album was recorded, Hatfield and her boyfriend, Joe Keefe, ended their 18-month romance, by mutual consent, she says. It was her longest and most fulfilling relationship, and now she has a lasting souvenir: he played on eight of the 12 tracks alongside his bandmates in local band the Unbusted, and co-wrote two of the songs.

Hanging out with Keefe and his equally youthful buddies was a pleasant experience for Hatfield, who sought his help in harnessing a deep source of energy she says has been trapped inside her since she was 12 years old.

Now she is back to her default setting: alone, sharing her digs in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her Labrador retriever and tomato plants. Her eerie, newfound skinniness notwithstanding, she swears she is not miserable, and has even cut her therapy sessions to twice a month.

Only one song on the new album is about Keefe, "Digital Penetration," a joyous ode to her "island boy." Keefe is from Martha's Vineyard, and he saw her perform there when he was 14, though Hatfield stresses they did not meet then.

Her favorite song from the album is "Oh," one of four tracks on which she plays all the instruments. It sounds as if it could be a Neil Young outtake, which was not a conscious style choice. But she cites Young, as well as the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis as her favorite guitarists "in that they're all sorta sloppy."

Hatfield claims to be a "disgrace to guitar players everywhere" because she never practices and is insecure about her inability to play fast.

ALIVE, NOT BITTER

The album title is drawn from a line in the song "What Do I Care," in which she disdainfully recalls her days as a commodity on Atlantic Records in the 1990s.

Back then, she enjoyed such hits as "My Sister" and "Spin the Bottle," and it seemed that Hatfield -- along with female rockers like Liz Phair, Aimee Mann and Bjork -- might become a permanent resident on radio playlists.

That was not to be. Hatfield returned to the indie world, and an accordingly more selective audience, but she doesn't mind. It's another theme that comes through in the song, with the line "You're over me, but I'm alive. So what do I care?"

"I'm totally fine with my place in the universe, even though sometimes I question it and I get frustrated," she said in the interview. "I still think that the path I'm on is the path I'm supposed to be on. I really do. I'm not bitter."

Still, she is sick of touring -- which is not really a big money-earner anyway -- and plans to focus more on recording, writing and drawing, as well as "my own development as a person, just getting healthier in my head and heart."

Her talents as a photographer are evident on the sleeve for "Made in China." The cover is a shot of her torso, one of a series taken a few years back as part of a bizarre experiment "to lose weight just to see what happens." Inside the sleeve, she is sitting naked in the bathtub of a posh European hotel, having just had a good cry because she was, yes, miserable.

Reuters/VNU

a nice mid day conversation

On Augustana.......

[12:26] jaypass0313: dude, i love this band
[12:26] jaypass0313: are you sure they arent a mirandaband???
[12:26] jaypass0313: they should be
[12:26] jaypass0313: you know that, right? they damn well should be
[12:31] mirgoes2eleven: i will def check them out
[12:31] mirgoes2eleven: what do they sound like?
[12:32] jaypass0313: piano driven rock
[12:32] jaypass0313: or whatever
[12:32] jaypass0313: very...miranda-ish
-------------------

[12:35] jaypass0313: so do you like them?
[12:35] jaypass0313: because you better, we're seeing them in concert
[12:35] jaypass0313: they're playing at the mercury lounge on oct. 11...dont you go there alot?
[12:40] jaypass0313: seriously, i'm in love
[12:41] jaypass0313: 'boston' is my new...life.
[12:42] mirgoes2eleven: uh oh - STN may get jealous!! see this is why i dont bother with boys, music is always there for me
[12:42] jaypass0313: i need lyrics for my away message/profile, ASAP
[12:42] jaypass0313: hahahaha
[12:43] jaypass0313: yeah, music should count as a significant other
[12:43] jaypass0313: as should stn
-----------------
[12:58] jaypass0313: so can i brag about discovering a mirandaband now???? :-D
[12:58] jaypass0313: is it bad that thats like, an accomplishment to me
[12:58] jaypass0313: like, i feel like my day is complete
[12:58] jaypass0313: like, i actually was able to do something with my life

goodbye tuesday

I am almost unpacking except for a few non-essential boxes and my box of band stuff to go into the office.

Dan set up the airport speaker thingies so we can all rock our itunes and hide our laptops, as Dan put it, "where beer cannot be spilled onto them".

Both online Tetris and Simon are addicting and a great find.

I have a headache. And I do not lick things...as per Tanya's myspace picture and the subsequent comments. I do bite though when things get loose.

Good night!

my take on monday hodgepodge

If Jen can do it, well so can I!

- Note to self: purchase mace
- 2nd note to self: purchase Spanish/English dictionary, because I can dabble in Italian and though I do know the catcall “hollllaaa chiccccaaaaa!”, I am sure the catcalls will become a lot more colorful
- Both Jen and I think that owning a deep fryer would be beneficial to our lives
- “Jay Pass” does exist in Vermont and there will be a road trip there during the winter months where it will be both life altering and threatening (note to everyone else in the world not associated with STN: Jay’s screen name and email and everything else is “Jay Pass” due to his name being “Jay Passarella” and Jen’s find is fabulous)
- Why the fuck did my PATH card not work this morning causing me to be 10 minutes late to work this morning?
- Why the fuck did my subway stop and chill for 10 minutes before a stop causing me to be 20 minutes late for work this morning?
- Why the fuck did I get off at some random stop while coming home to wait 15 minutes for the next train to Journal Square to come?
- I discovered everywhere you cannot park your car in Jersey City
- I miss Newark at the end of August
- Tanya rocks when it comes to straightening things up and putting things away in the apartment
- I don’t think twice when it comes to anything STN related - STN GAmeday, bring it on!
- I still have no idea what to do with my upcoming 3.5 day weekend
- “Heartbreaker” by Ryan Adams is one of my top five albums of all time
- There needs to be a word in the dictionary that defines “beyond frustration”
- Akiva has badass merch coming out, and that’s no bull
- I listened to a fabulous CD today that isn’t out yet and the creator of said CD is super great and we are going to book next years VMAs – ha!
- I think “That 70’s Show” may be my favorite non-reality television show
- Don’t assume someone is a man if they have a feminine name, though someone else who you thought knew this person said that she is a he
- Shaun gave Tanya “rockstar scented” candles…we can’t really imagine that being a selling point of the candle – in our experience, “rockstar scent” is beer, sweat, and cigarette smoke, which does not seem appealing in candle form

two girls, a guy, and a betta fish

Helllllllo from 192A!!!

I am too tired (um, hi - Eva Longoria is wearing lingerie on stage) to unpack any more. I really don’t have too much to go, just boxes of CDs to shove under my bed (don’t worry – they’re all on the ‘puter and iPod already), a shelf to put up (once my door is on), and picture frames to hang. Hmmm…I have four rolls of film still to develop since I have moved here, maybe I will do that this week as well.

I went home to Delaware on Saturday to bring my car back (I hope it’s ok in the Spanish Harlem that we now live in…). Same ol’ one traffic light, one gas station town, no Starbucks (!), town. We hit up the bear Wal-Mart around 10 pm on Saturday to pick up some new apartment essentials such as toiletries, storage crap, and cleaning stuff. 10 pm Saturday night was prime date night at the Wal-Mart in Hickville. Entertaining to say th least. Again, it reaffirms that if you watch “Sweet Home Alabama” that is my life (and my cousin is in it ;-) ). You know, there’s a whole great big world out there. We grabbed Chinese take-out and went home to watch SNL. I also don’t have a room any more and slept on the air mattress in my mom’s living room.

Woke up early to a great home cooked meal of omelettes, fruit, coffee, and orange juice. I hit the road for north after I loaded the Go-Go Cabrio with my clean laundry, groceries, and apartment items. Rarely do I listen to the radio, especially since they took y100 off the air, but flipped around the stations for nostalgia’s sake. I do have love for WSTW and WXPN so I had to absorb it all while still in range. Crazy when I got back into my car with Wawa coffee in hand (they have newly designed dome lids!) Mellencamp’s “Small Town” was playing on WSTW.

Surprisingly I didn’t hit beach traffic – but I did ht another Wawa to grab lunch for tomorrow. Jen is correct when she preaches that soggy Wawa is better than no Wawa at all. As I neared NYC, I realized that I had no idea how to get to my new apartment. If you ever have driven with me…you could guess that I really didn’t care and just decided to wing it. Yeah…I am sure there is a quicker way than the way I went. Came home and unpacked. Exciting.

Around 4:30, Tanya and I got restless, went to Target and filled up a cart of things we needed and didn’t need but looked fun (such as cookie ingredients!). It is so awesomely wonderful that I have my car here. Hopefully it’s ok…we live on the “main street” and we can park there anytime during the weekend, but during the week it has to be elsewhere. I found a spot two blocks away and I just have to move it tomorrow night for street cleaning…so I guess it’s ok…

We’re now watching the VMA’s and they suck. Hey, you know what? Manhattan is outside of our window! I think we said that about 28 times this weekend. We cracked open a Yuengling earlier in the night and toasted to ourselves for being awesome (sorry Dan, we thought of you…).

Back to the VMA’s…seriously, we all understand that most of the performances are lip synced – but does it have to be blatantly obvious? Specifically, R. Kelly and Mariah Carey…I heard their voices, but their mouths were closed. Ugh. For the most part, I agreed with the winners. I’m especially critical of music video – especially since I thought I would end up doing that. Did you see the trainwreck that was Jessica Simpson? First of, her hair looked like mine in the morning before I straighten it. Second, half her outfit was missing. If I walked down the streets of Manhattan like that, my friends would not walk with me. On that note, it’s time for Friends with Tanya and then off to bed. Yay for the Killers and My Chemical Romance performance…yay for Green Day and Kelly Clarkson winning (Billie Joe Armstrong – wanna make out?).

This is like a sleepover! But the sleepover lasts all the time!

Just another day in Taradise

Last night after work I went over Maryellen’s for our last night of Hoboken fun where I can actually walk to her apartment. We celebrated with cake and milkshakes. Though we spiked our black and white milkshakes with chocolate coconut rum.

As most of you know, I am a sucker for “reality” television. I do not believe all of it, it just solidifies why I dislike most of society and I usually end up screaming at the TV, sometimes throwing stuff.

Last night we snacked while flipping between “Rockstar: INXS” (God, kill me NOW – though Mig is hot if you look at him straight on, from the side he looks like that moonman guy from McDonalds a decade ago) and “So You Think You Can Dance”. Needless to say, Maryellen and I tore everyone up…as if we can either sing or dance. But then…Taradise on E! All I can say is that I feel pain for the editors. For every hour of broadcast, they sat through about 40 hours of raw footage of that idiocy. Not to say she isn’t a good person, or that she doesn’t seem fun to be around – but there was no substance and it was extremely dull and moronic. I think the best part was when she talked about how there should be no war and no one should hate and all the haters should be put on one country and how everyone in Monaco gets along. On that note, I left and went home.

Talked to Amy and Jay for a bit when I got home. Jay and my conversation was worth saving, but I forgot. We pretty much acknowledged that STN is our BFF. He was saying how he has no friends outside of STN and how when he interviews the athletes, he should ask if they’ll hang out with him. I said that I went though the same thing, alas, Center Stage! Just the other week I shouted to Morita how I have no real friends, just music and STN people. And granted I love you all and you are all amazing, I just think that it is funny that there is no one that I confide in or talk to on a consistent basis that doesn’t play music, promote music, book music, go to shows with me, or have filmed with me. I love it.

Gran Bel Fisher

JJ & LDE at Arlene's Grocery - Aug 10 recap

I’ve waited most of the summer for August 10th to come. JJ Appleton and Lloyd Dobler Effect were playing Arlene’s - a show I can walk to, plus a fun venue!

At seven I bolted out of work and hopped on the subway to Houston. Our posse decided to meet at Nice Guy Eddie’s. I’ve been going to this place before shows in the LES ever since we discovered it before and Omnisoul show last year. They have half priced booze until 8 pm and good, cheap eats.

I met up with Maryellen and Morita and quickly start a round. It was almost near 8 pm, so once Moses joined us, our waitress just brought out about 12 bottles and glasses for our whole table before the special ended. CB was calling from the road and I was able to give the van directions in the city without questioning myself, nice!

We ordered our food and listened to Maryellen’s stories about New Orleans and Morita’s adventures with the band Honestly. Judy and Angela joined us and I barely had started eating while everyone else was nearly done. They made fun of me for talking too much, though I had lots of important things to say. See…my friends are so mean. ? jk.

I accidentally sprayed Moses with my coconut lime spray stuff, but that’s ok because he grabbed my boob….multiple times. The waitress loved us and brought us out free shots, then we departed down Houston towards Arlene’s. We approached Arlene’s, which had a huge group of people out in front, excellent!

We get in and say our hellos to everyone. So many people to see and talk to. I reintroduce LDE to my friends and sit and chat with Phil and Chris. I was the fashion consultant and hairdresser for the evening, have to have the guys looking their best. I think the venue probably thinks I’m the band whore since I went into the backstage bathroom with the guys individually at least once.

Phil and I sat down and talked about businessy stuff as best we could despite the people and loudness. CB looked dejected, but that’s ok since he is always included. I joined his table afterwards and showed the boys the mint condom someone gave me at the Coldplay show. Of course we have to read it and laugh as if we were in fifth grade. This prompted a conversation about road sex, in which CB trumped me. Touche.

Donnie and I shared a few rounds and I met Johnnie’s very extended family. Then it was time to rock! JJ played a great set, as always. And LDE shared the same packed room. So glad some of the JJ fans stayed for LDE and some of the LDE fans came early for JJ – it was a great crowd. I caught up with a lot of people and met even more faces. Thank you all for coming out on a Wednesday night ?.

Lloyd Dobler Effect played the best show I have seen them play since they headlined the 9:30 Club in March. The setlist was perfect and Evan and John manned the sound board the best yet. Their energy and presence on stage was unstoppable, I don’t think I stopped beaming once. This is what rock is all about.

Afterwards we packed up the van and met a bum. The girls were outside talking to Phil as Mike the Bum started to should out obscenities. Instead of getting feisty, we asked him to join in the pictures. Instead of just posing, he started to take off his shirt. Johnnie took this as a competition and came over and started to unbutton his pants… I’ll stop this paragraph now.

We trekked down the block to the market. Phil stole my accessories. Johnnie and Phil took scandalous pictures. We hopped in the van and drove through Manhattan. We took Corrine and Vicky to the train station, but my distracted mind directed CB to Port Authority, not Penn Station. Whoops – sorry girls! CB then yelled at us for one of us to join him in the front, but instead the rest of us conversed in the back. Sorry, but it was too much effort!

CB got me to my apartment in Hoboken without any directions and navigated through town like a champ. When I got upstairs I looked at the clock and it was almost 4 am. How in the hell did that happen on a weeknight?!

Lloyd Dobler Effect to play Jammin Java Aug 19

First leg of the Roanoke trip

Hello from Route 581 North. We almost just died. Some ass face decided to go super slow and break ahead of us as a tractor trailer was starting to merge into out lane and on top of Morita’s Civic. I just tried to burn Maryann CDs but my crappy laptop won’t recognize my CD drive, though I just used it the other day. Hopefully I can just reinstall the drivers and not have to take it in anywhere. We’re listening to Green Day’s American Idiot CD as we start the first leg of our trip home – to Dave’s in Frederick, MD; to Chris’s in Pennsauken, NJ; Maryann will take me to the Trenton train station; then I hope on the PATH back to Hoboken; mile walk home. Fun.

Sunday nights are my least favorite day of the week because that usually means the end of a great weekend. Maryann, Morita, Epler, and I packed our bags and headed to Roanoke for the weekend for a Saturday filled of Lloyd Dobler Effect. Plus none of us can deny a good roadtrip through seven states (NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, WV, VA).

We were all really quiet, staring out the window. I was contemplating on how awful Sheetz dark roast coffee is, but I am drinking it anyways. Epler just started at his cup and verbalized my thoughts and we all concurred. We all need it though since it was like a sleepover last night. We were watching Boy Meets World at 3 am on the Disney Channel all in our beds gossiping. I think we ended up crashing around 4 am, waking up at 10. The night before we got about 4 hours of sleep. All this week I haven’t gotten more than 5 a night. This crappy coffee is necessary.

Oh, maybe I could write about the trip now. I have ADD to the extreme. It’s hot as balls in this car. No one wants to go to the Safari with me off of exit 180. They have giraffes!

Ok, back to the trip, starting on Friday. I slept on the hour train ride to Trenton, so that was uneventful. Met up with Maryann in Trenton at 9 pm and thug boys hollered at us as I was on the phone with my mom. They knew we didn’t belong in the ghetto. We pulled a few minor traffic violations and made it onto 295 with almost getting into an accident only once. I’m really bad luck when it comes to driving, and apparently me being a passenger affects our bad luck. I really am an awesome driver, I don’t know why people fear their lives.

We only got slightly lost going to Moritas so we call him and I think he thought we were drunk because we were loud, high pitched, and couldn’t stop laughing. Get to his place and stop at the Wawa for cash, caffeine, and dinner. I swear, I really am smart…I had a full ride to college, I had top honors in high school, I got a 1490 on my SATs…but I say some really dumbass things a lot of the time. They had the iced coffee machine out and I stare at the two nozzles…contemplating the difference. After not being able to figure it out, I turn to Maryann and ask what the difference is between original and….original. Maryann asks if it sugar and stuff already in it, and staring at it, I say I don’t know. Until I saw that it was blatantly written on the machine that milk and sugar were already mixed it. We caused a moronic scene. But nonetheless, the iced coffee is the best frosty treat ever. It almost made the impending traffic jam bearable.

We seriously were stuck in construction traffic on 95 in PA for an HOUR. It was all fun and games at first until we all got antsy. I was rolling down the window yelling until they banished me from my window privileges. I unlocked the door and used that as my opportunity to yell – then Morita put on all the child safety locks. Around 11 pm we finally started rolling again.

American Idiot is over…Epler handed me my ipod since he doesn’t like being DJ. I loooove being DJ and everyone else usually hates it because I def rock out the Coolio followed by Hootie then like, the Veils. It’s good times. I just clicked to the Beasties. License to Ill…this should get us awake.

Met up with my mom at the Delaware rest stop then booked it to Frederick, weaving in and out of traffic getting there around 1:30 AM. We took showers, checked the email, and plotted out our trip and called it a night. Maryann and I got the wobbly futon which was destined to topple over at any toss. Oh yeah, they all made fun of me so much, so my response was always, “I’m blogging that!” But now I forget what they all had said, so obviously I am not blogging it.

We bypassed the morning Wawa stop and started the 225 mile trek to Roanoke. It was pretty uneventful until we needed a Sheetz for gas and everything else. After about 4 exits with no Sheetz, I was thinking about calling someone who was online who could check for us…then Phil calls, I tell him of my dilemma and he hands off the phone to CB who informed us that the next Sheetz was at our next exit – exit 222. What a lifesaver! :-) We all rejoiced and basked in the bliss that is Sheetz. We got breakfast part two and a full tank.

We yelled at the cars on the highway, seriously now. Don’t be a fucking dumbass. Don’t got ten miles below the speed limit in the right lane. If you are a trucker, don’t be in the left lane. If you are handicapped, don’t be in the left lane.

We found our hotel without the help of directions and passed out for a 15 minute power nap. We had a Sheetz right next to us so we stopped for water then headed to the Microfestivus Beer Festival. It was only a mile walk, so it was ok aside from all the onlookers ogling us knowing that we didn’t belong. We didn’t sport the confederate flag gear that everyone else was in the Sheetz.

Microfestivus

Microfestivus is this annual beer fest held in Roanoke. They have bands play all day, and Lloyd Dobler Effect was the first band to take the stage, which was most of the reason that we drove all the way down to Roanoke for a Saturday. ?. Nothing like great music, good beer, and wonderful friends to help pass a weekend. It was $5 entry and you could buy beer tickets for $1 each. A beer ticket equaled 4oz of beer, which is a pretty sweet deal. They also gave you a wristband limiting you to sixteen 4 oz cups, though Maryann and I discovered that if you are nice and/or flirt, the beer givers would either give you more for your ticket and/or not cross off one of your cups on your wristband.
I started off with the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and we parked ourselves on the grassy shaded hill to watch LDE rock out. They played for a bit over an hour of their finest material. They seemed hot and a less energetic than usual, but I blame the 100+ heat index. We got up a few times to refill our cups, though I thought we would be able to leave unnoticed, but CB called us out on it later. Afterwards, Phil told me he thought of me while making the setlist – he purposely left off “Land Down Under” since he knew I would be around. My boyfriend came to enjoy the set a few songs in. My boyfriend was wearing a Budweiser tank top with big arm holes so we could see his man boobs. He also wore a fanny pack. As I was lusting after my hot boyfriend, he walked right up to the stage in front of CB, then talked to Amy. I called her and told her to stay away from my man. We almost had a girlfight over him.

The beers I tried, or had a taste of one of Maryann’s, Morita’s, or Epler’s cups, were (in no particular order): Satan’s Pony (amber brew with a malt flavor and low bitterness), Delerium Tremens (Belgian with an ABV of 9%), Raspberry Frambois (a traditional Lambic brewed with raspberries – this is what I drank a whole bottle of last weekend, though the black cherry version), Starr Hill The Love (a hefeweizen with hints of banana and clove), Virginia Hefeweizen (same thing as The Love, but better), Starr Hill Mojo Lager ( 2005 Gold Medal winning lager of the Great American Beer Festival), Imperial Stout, Oxford Raspberry Wheat, Lancaster Milk Stout, Merry Monk’s Ale (APV of 9.3%, that did me in while I was talking to Ross Copperman and couldn’t stand up from my seat at this point), and the Abita Purple Haze.

My favorite of course was the Lambic, followed by Satan’s Pony. Doug Perdue had asked me to get him something fruity and good – so I chose the Lambic, which everyone tasted and got addicted to. Everyone thrusted us tickets and Maryann, Phil, and I went back to the stand to get like, eight full sized cups. We toasted, enjoyed, then peaced out. Morita and Epler wanted to stay, so Maryann and I caught a ride in the back of the LDE truck with Phil. They usually don’t have a truck, but they had to rent one to pull the trailer since their van blew up on Friday. Of course CB peeled wheels, causing as all to fall all over the place for a mile back to our hotel. Maryann got bruised and I almost fell out.

We got back to the room and the room was spinning. We really didn’t drink much, but it was super hot. I had the bright idea to jump on the beds, which then turned into a game of us jumping from bed to bed. Yeah, not a good idea. Then we crashed and said we were dying. When the guys came back we walked to Sheetz and got a wonderful dinner consisting of lots of water, chips, and veggie subs as we watched Batman on tv.

LDE at Corned Beef & Co. in Roanoke

Lloyd Dobler Effect was playing for a full night at Corned Beef & Co. in Roanoke. I’ve heard of this place before since PMB used to play here back in the day and I have heard the stories of it through the band, Amy, and Doug. Something about a siren…

We get there and meet up with Amy and Julie and grab some drinks. Ugh – tummy full! I just needed the caffeine, no more alcohol! We walked around and scoped the place out, upstairs they were playing Amos Lee…my song no less ;-). Kick ass!

Before LDE even took the stage, we had a dancer. This guy could definitely rival Breakdancing Mike of the LoHo. This guy was insane and looked like a complete goon. You know he did this every weekend though. He soon had a much older female dancer join him. For the most part, pretty entertaining. Sad to say, I hadn’t seen either one of them drink, so you can’t blame being inebriated for their outward displays of ridiculousness.

LDE played a long, loud, great show. The long ones are always fun since they pull out the gems and their music is so varied. There was a pretty full crowd and everyone around us seemed into the music. Doug was taping, and also doubled as a body guard later. As the crowd started filling in, CB had quite a boy posse in front of him. Three guys in dfferent striped polos pumping their arms off beat and playing air guitar were smitten with Chris and the band. Maryann, Amy, and I all picked one of them for us.

During the set break they played really loud hip hop and implemented a siren at random times. What the hell was that all about??!?! Roanoke became a freak show as they all had sex on the dance floor. Oh, I would also like to mention that we scoped out the crowd and there was no one hot there, male or female. Johnnie brought two girls “on stage” and danced with them. As Doug and I were staring, he got pulled in and molested. He turned around and gave me this look of fear, but I apologize, there was nothing I could do. We joked after that hopefully he didn’t get an STD.

The crowd was ripe for set two. I was molested a few times. Ew, and this guy totally kept touching me, I kept moving away, then he asked me to dance to Stranger. NO! This isn’t a high school dance. Then suspender man came up and thrusted up a storm. He had to be near fifty, wearing suspenders, and doing the lambada. We changed “In the Water” to “In Suspenders” as we sung along. Our crowd was pretty much pushed all the way to Doug so we all spent most of the time rolling our eyes and making faces at the band. Good stuff, we appreciated it. The crowd was going nuts for them, which was eerily fantastic, it was like Logan House on steroids.

They did about a 30 minute Two Step, so I walked around and went to the bathroom. I come back to the stage area and just sea a sea of people jumping up and down and going crazy. I have a bruise on my arm now. Phil tried to get Morita to come up with him, but he didn’t, which is a good thing, because if Morita went up there, I’m sure the fratty brothers in the front would have thought it was an open invite to go up on stage. Ugh, speaking of which, some toolbag tried to grab the mic. Don’t be an ass face. Shortly after, some little girl came up and started gyrating to Doug’s mic stand. Why are people weird??!!?!?

After the show, the hip hope stared again and it was super loud. We talked for a bit but then decided to head out and reconvene at Sheetz since they still had to pack up and say goodbye to people.

I delivered the cookies to the boys at Sheetz and chatted it up with Phil about the upcoming week of LDE fun. Sheetz has milkshakes, but I opted for water. They were also out of forks, so coffee stirrers double as chopsticks. We said our goodbyes and headed to our respective homes for the evening. Sorry CB, I thought you’d be there.

Car ride home from Roanoke

I am on the train ready to hit the tracks to Newark, NJ, then catch the subway to Hoboken. I laughed so hard on the ride back from Roanoke that I cried, a few times. Want to know something that is more no fun than STAFF? Child Safety Locks are no fun! I am a bit spastic when I am in the car for long periods of time. That’s all I will say about that…

Sheetz coffee is not good, so I took my sharpie and renamed it Shitz coffee. We got to Frederick from Roanoke in 3.5 hours. Morita says that he doesn’t fuck around.

Speaking of Sheetz coffee…If you know anything about me, you should know that a) I fall and trip at least once a day… b) I lose…or “misplace” A LOT of my belongings… and c) I spill stuff. So here I am in the back seat playing with my coffee cup when BOOM! It just flies out of my hands. I don’t know how I saved it, but I did and coffee did not go anywhere and I caused a commotion and it wasn’t my fault. I was told to relinquish the cup and to stop playing with my coffee.

Alright, I’m going to stare out the window at the passing lights of life of New Jersey. Love ya, bye.
PS – I think I will have to carry duct tape around with me if I ever have kids. I am sitting behind a screaming child.

Coooolllllddddplay

I am listening to the Stereophonics because I love it. Morita and I are on our way back to Hoboken after the Coldplay show in Camden. I am battling a headache and yawns, so we’ll see how far I get before I pass out, and it’s only 12:11 am. I love my laptop. I have no more money via paper cash or debit…I wonder how we are going to pay the toll. Oh…Morita is pulling into a Wawa. Brb – I cannot pass up a Wawa stop….ohhhhh mac and chizeese!

Ok, this is fucking like an orgasm in the mouth. I had Wawa mac and cheese for breakfast at noon this morning and more than likely this will be the last think I eat until tomorrow morning. Oh hell yeah.

We went to Newark this afternoon and I got to play in the record store. Chris A. is moving into my old purple apartment – and he is so keeping it purple. Rock! I wandered around the store for a while – nothing I wanted was used, so I settled on the new Decemberists CD. There really is a lack of anything amazing that’s out. I almost got the Tristan CD, but figured I would wait, and we didn’t have the new spoon. My mom met us in the store, as did Raf – oh fun. I miss that place more than anything, even more than my horses.

New CD in hand, we left for Chip’s, then Capriotti’s. Capriotti’s, Wawa, and Coldplay in one day, could my life get any better!? On the way to Caps, we were listening to my new CD and track two says my name, so it’s my jam, yo.

We are on mile 39 on the Turnpike and because the Stereophonics are done, the ipod is spinning. I didn’t want to think of what to play, so I have my “hot day running” playlist on shuffle. Green Day’s “American Idiot” is on.

Chip, Joe, Morita, and I tailgated the Coldplay show in true Delaware fashion – yuenglings and capriotti’s subs. (Switchfoot’s “Gone” is on). The parking lot was like American Eagle threw up – it was so weird, were we at a DMB show?! Crazy weird, this is when I realized why I don’t usually go to shed shows, I have already seen that band headlining the shed at a smaller, more intimate crowd before the mainstream sodomized them. (Black Eyed Peas “Where is the Love” – shush, this gets me through my four mile runs)

We enjoyed some good conversation and laughs on our little area of the pavement. Oh!! So the douchebag award goes to the tool the car next to us. So this guy with a hat, khaki cargo pants, and a red shirt that said something about committing a sin tonight, was all jacked up and had complete attitude and thought he was hot shit. He was probably younger than me and looked like every other guy there. I go to the bathroom and when return he is so on our blanket in my spot strumming Chris’s guitar. Ew. You know he thinks he is awesome. Every time he passed us he gave Morita the nod as if he was accepted into his little secret society. He was the epitome of CB’s definition of a Haus Bro.

Yeah, Morita (Kate Voegele – “Only Fooling Myself”) so picked up so many boys with his guitar. I also tried to play which attracted a crowd around me asking me to play, to which I obviously declined. A group of guys saw Joe’s Delaware Swimming shirt and said his sister (OK Go – “Don’t Ask Me”) went to Delaware. Joe said he knew her, and the guys friend said, “yeah she’s a slut” – to which, Joe replied, “yeah, then I DEFINITELY know her.” So damn funny. Oh yeah, did you know that when you pee, you fill up two beer bottles…though it is impolite to miss and get the back seat damp…

Coldplay was nothing short of amazing. I was surprised on how many old songs they played. I reallllllllllly wanted to hear “See You Soon”. Last time I saw them (TLA) they played it and I was stoked. That song seriously may be one of my all time favorite songs. I got it on the damn Blue Room EP imported in Boston years (Kings of Leons – Molly’s Chambers) and then it was fucking released on the live Coldplay CDs. It’s one of the few songs that makes me cry…the other one being Fix You. The first time I heard Fix You I cried. Just so you know, I am not a huge crier – I don’t cry over people, just circumstances. The lyrics and mood just hit me. Coldplay always had (Rilo Kiley – It’s a Hit) a special place in my heart. The song just pretty much sums up my 2005 and it’s so damn amazing. Of course it’s the second single. Boo AND hiss. And I absolutely freaking love the fact that every damn person I knew at the show, including the Omniposse, texted me right before or during the encore during Fix You to remind me that it was mine. Yes.

But what a beautiful concert.
And now here we are on mile 70. Oh yeah, so walking out of the show I got a Mint Tingle Trojan condom sample.

getting lost in jersey and omnisoul at the HOB

I woke up early on Saturday and punched out a lot of things before the noon hour…all compliments of Samatra Starbucks coffee. Have you ever seen “First Daughter” with Kaite Holmes? Neither have I until Saturday, where it played back to back in English and Spanish. I still haven’t seen the beginning nor the end, but it was decent background noise.

My mom met me in the ‘boken and we lunched. Then we thought that taking 130 all the way to Morita;s would be swift. No. But it was ok, I rocked the iPod and informed her of all the new stuff I am spinning.

Morita and I headed off to Matt’s to carpool over to the Omnisoul show at the House of Blues. We totally got the directions messed up and we ended up going in the exit and hanging a left at lube zone. I talked to Phil and met Lisa via cell phone, so that was entertaining, but didn’t help our lost cause any.

We made good time to AC and swiftly made it to the House of Blues. I was on the Omnisoul guestlist…who keeps the lists not at the door?!!?? Back downstairs. We missed the first Omnisoul song, which is the one I wanted to hear the most: “Live Like Your Last Day”. Well, fuck.

We made it up near Jamie and totally rocked out. I was in fucking bliss and my smile must have taken my whole face. I am so extremely proud of these guys. They sounded huge and the audience was loving it. Kinda funny though, they rearranged some of theis older tunes…so here I am singing along, and totally not singing along to the right parts anymore. Jamie didn’t have his awesome horn solo part in “Home to Home”, but Derek still delivered the shaker love during “Scare the Night”. Ha, remember when I was shaker tech, for like, a night?! Nothing but love. I think “Not Giving Up” is fantastic and totally haunts Derek and my quest for the rock star dream.

Naturally they shouted out a song to the U of DE posse, then the whole crowd exploded for “Waiting (save your life)”. This song still sends shivers up my spine. Wow, and having the room jump up and down, arms pumping in air, cell phones up, singing along to every word will always remind me of the Stone Balloon in December where both Omnisoul and my fates were signed, sealed, delivered, welcome to the industry,

Lifehouse played after and were not as fantastic. Of course I am biased, and Lifehouse reminded me of every other band I like, but they lacked the passion and stage presence. They weren’t awful, but they weren’t great.

Chatted with Jim for a bit as well as Josh and Derek. So beamy faced.

After the show, we filtered out and decided to try our luck on the slots. Both Morita and I won a few quarters, but gambled them back. We drove over to Tropicana and met up with Cindy and her posse. Morita had his first buttery nipple, which reminded me of many a college night, especially Slut Fest 24K.

Around 1 am we called it a night and headed back to Pennsauken. We were both pretty quiet, then he says, as he is driving on the Atlantic City Expressway, “I need to pull over so I can get sick”. So he does. We went drink for drink and I was fine, just tired, so I won’t blame it on his lack of drinking skills, although whenever he does hang with me, he ends up puking.

This prompted a conversation this weekend about my drinking. See, back in Newark, was pretty much getting shit faced every other night. Mostly because of the company I was with – Aurora, the Rainbow crew, and the Marlon Spike crowd. And honestly, I really had no reason not to – I was at an extremely low point in my life and there was no reason for me to be responsible. Now I actually have a reason to wake up and be quick-witted, which saves my fiascos to the weekend.

the depressing part of the week, with a pick me up

Well Thursday was one of those day's I won't forget ever. A lot of tension and stress and frustration was released by all parties and as a result, our artist roster is not the same as it was Thursday morning. And that is all I am going to say about that because people involved read this and it really isn't public knowledge.

So yeah, it was kinda like the calm after the storm, though no on really said much. Some Lloyd Dobler Effect things were rolling in the evening and I am really excited about what I am laying down in prep for the fall.

Needless to say after just a mentally daunting day, I came home and grabbed a beer. So much was racing through my mind and I had so much to do. In the middle of talking to Cheryl about the 105 crazy things that had happened to me that day, my phone rings...

Mr. Jim Johnson - oh what a great phone call! Out of everyone that could have been on the other end of the line, the was not a more perfect person. Not only is Jim a fantastic person and a role model, but I consider him a mentor and always enjoy conversing with him. Jim and I owned Philly rock ;-). Jim now has his hands fun managing Omnisoul though we still keep in touch with e-mails, though our bands, and phone calls. Jim was calling to let me know that a few of the Omnisoul guys were chilling with Jealousy Curve and was going to give me the address, but I had too much to do. I gave him a brief synopsis of my sad day and we talked industry chit chat and about our bands. It was great to talk with him, we're on the same level and of course it's always nostalgic. Funny, we were talking about radio and promotion and the guys visiting certain US and Canadian stations, which snowballed to general radio play. Jim asked me how I felt having most of the bands that I have liked and supported for years finally break on through, not talking about radio, but just popularity in general. Midas touch...it's definitely reawarding, but still frustrating. He's full of passion and the next chapter is approaching. So exciting!

But yeah, Jim and Omnisoul and super keen and hooking me up with comps for their show at the House of Blues tomorrow night. I can't wait, I feel like it's Christmas Eve. Though I have seen the guys at the Merc and stopped by the studio and there is always AIM - I am in dire need of a full fledge Omnisoul rock show. I need my face rocked off - Grape Street style. Hahaha - remember when our body parts would be rocked off?!?! That's a great one, Matt.

I'm so happy.

saturday apartment hunting and cavorting around the city

On Saturday I went apartment hunting with my mom...we found an awesome apartment and Tanya, Dan, and I move in the last week of August. I dropped off the security deposit today, I can't even tell you how excited I am, so I will save it for another blog...

I came home and shortly after Ken cam rocking his spirograph shirt and Chris wasn't too far behind. Chris and I exchanged music and boozed. He had Beamish and I started the...um...I don't even know what it was, it was a liter (i think...?) or black cherry belgian beer.

I told Ken some interesting news which caused us all to chuckle and Ken to call up people. I put the remainder of the cherry beer in my water bottle, not without the guys making fun of me, and we walked to Ken's car and off to the city. Some ass face side swiped Ken's car!!! At least he left a number.

We make it into the city while talking about rock stars and relationships.

Honestly was playing the main room at the Knit. We only missed one song and we were amidst quite a young audience. They played an AWESOME set. More on Honestly later...their recent news is deserving of their own post.

We hung out in the bar room for a bit then met up with Chris's friend Meghan from college. No idea where we were going in the city, we drove and wandered around Greenwich Village before settling on the White Horse Tavern where we enjoyed good conversation and laughs. Mostly we made fun of other people and relationships...such as certain Jersey cops. We also passed a black man in a skirt and princess tiara on. He waved at Chris.

Meghan told us of this tranvestite bar across the street from her boyfriend's apartment...which is also right right to the fatty bar. It was too good to be true and we didnt beleive it until we saw it with our very own eyes. There was a man with a half leather skirt, blonde wig, and a whip. We couldn't help but stare...until the two women who must half weighed half a ton together strolled on pass and entered Goddesses BBW. Ken told us that BBW means Big Beautiful Women. We seriously sat on the corner and watched for a good 15 minutes till the passerby caught on to our game.

Then we got the hell out of dodge and back to the 'boken.

Oh yeah, and I lost. Ken and Chris won. I kissed a girl on New Years two years ago so now that has to be my myspace page. Hardy har har.