LolaGeek

I had a hot and busy weekend. Because of last weekend’s rain, we ended up having three concerts in four days.

On Thursday night we had the most (or maybe second most) uncomfortable concert I’ve ever played in. It was hot and incredibly humid, with no breeze or anything. Plus we were on a stage at this park, with hot lights on us. I was surprised how many people were actually in the audience, it was so opressive out.

Friday after work I was free, so I just did a bunch of stuff around the house I’d been meaning to do. Also, my unpaper towels arrived, and I went to Ikea and got a basket to keep them in. It’s a nice woven basket, and I think it’s supposed to be an office supply, but it’s the perfect size to lay them all in a flat pile, so I don’t even have to fold them to put them away.

On Saturday, GG and I went to the farmers’ market and the supermarket, and then took a brief nap before I had to get ready and leave for my concert, which was about an hour west. This place has us play literally in a field – there is no shelter or any sort of acoustics. We were horrible. However, the audience probably didn’t notice because they wanted to sit in the shade under trees about 50 yards away. Before the second half we convinced some of them that it had cooled off enough for them to come sit closer. But mostly that venue is just weird. And someone needs to come teach them how to be an audience, because they are just really bad at it.

Yesterday was our final concert of the summer. This one is about an hour north, and these people know how to be an awesome audience! They make the drive up there worth it, and make up for the people out west. It was still hot and humid, but there was a nice breeze. Actually, the wind picked up a bit at times, and blew around a lot of music. Luckily, I have a pretty good set-up now with my heavy music stand and plastic sheet, so I wasn’t worried about any of my stuff blowing away.

I’m slowly working my way through When You Are Englufed in Flames. It’s hilarious, which I thought would be a problem because I usually read before bed, and I was worried that laughing would not be conducive to sleep. I underestimated my awesome sleeping abilities, because I can get through about one chapter, but when I start a second one, I zonk right out. It’s taken me a week to get halfway through what should be a quick read. I am definitely enjoying it, though.

After Conan, the rest of my week seemed pretty lame, I guess that’s why I didn’t blog about it. Starting next week, my whole (former, I guess) department at work is going to be sitting in two different buildings, so everyone was packing this week and the office was just a weird and depressing place to be. On Wednesday I worked from home and I don’t know what happened, but I just felt yuckier and yuckier as the day went on. By the end of the day, I was definitely sick. Luckily, the weather was cooler and I could drink some hot tea with honey. We had our first band concert of the summer Wednesday night – it was actually kind of bad, but I don’t think the retirement home audience noticed. On Thursday morning I seriously considered staying home sick, but I actually had to go into the office, so I stayed as long as I could but left after half a day. This was the first sick time I’ve taken since probably sometime in 2008. I spent the rest of Thursday on the sofa, trying unsuccessfully to nap (it’s hard to sleep when you can’t breathe). On Friday I again had to be in the office, but I already had planned to take the afternoon off, so I knew I only had to deal with sitting there for four hours, and I managed to get through it. Then I came home to nap the day away again.

Saturday was a really nice day. GG and I went out early to do some errands, including going to the new farmers’ market by our house. When we went on opening day, it was crowded and insane. Now, a few weeks later, there was hardly anyone there! It was fantastic! Also, now that we’re a little further into the growing season, there was a bit more of a selection from the produce vendors. We got a bunch of good stuff: asparagus, strawberries, lettuce, sugar snap peas, a couple kinds of goat cheese, and cherries from this really cool guy who’s farm we might have to visit this fall because they have apple picking! When we got home, GG helped me build this hall tree hook bench thing I got to put in the laundry room to hang our coats and put our boots in the winter. It looks really good! Then I went out to take my grandmother to dinner and see this year’s Savoy Company show, Ruddigore, at Longwood Gardens. The show was outdoors and there was a chance of thunderstorms – it actually started spitting rain at one point – but the bad weather held off and we got to see the whole show, which was fantastic! Ruddigore is definitely my second-favorite Gilbert & Sullivan operetta (nothing will beat Pirates). Also, I was feeling better, health-wise, and then when we sat outside in the humidity it was like my nose filled up again, and then halfway through the first act (which was like 90 minutes long) I had a horrible cough and felt so bad for bothering everyone around me, but I couldn’t help it. If it had continued I would have gotten up (there were drinking fountains at the back of the theater area), but luckily I got over it and then I was fine for the rest of the show.

Today I went out looking for a few things and found none of them. Then I went food shopping, came home and did some chores, and took a nap. GG came home from work, and we went out to Petsmart to use up my coupon that was about to expire today. While we were there we were just checking out the new cat toy technology, and this woman who works there as a dog trainer came over and told us she got this certain mouse toy for her cats and they liked it, so we got one too (they were on sale). When you hit it, it makes a real mouse-like squeaking sound! Sacha went nuts over it when we brought it home – Ivan and Katrina were a little more skeptical. Then we went to Panera for dinner, and GG and I made friends with a couple guys working there, we had a nice little chat while they took our orders and mixed up our iced lemonade drinks. It was pretty funny.

Not much in the way of freak shows on TLC tonight – just “Extreme Poodles: Exploring the world of competitive poodle grooming.” Actually, that does sound a bit like a freak show, I may watch.

Last week I finished Bringing Home the Birkins which was recommended by Karen of Reasons To Be Happy That You Don’t Have Kids. It was semi-interesting, but really it just seemed like the author was bragging about his fabulous life, traveling around Europe and buying and selling handbags that cost more than my car. (I wrote a longer review on Goodreads, if you want to know more. Now I’ve just started reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck, and already I’m planning how I can get rid of everything in my house and start over from scratch with organic everything. Seriously, I’m barely a chapter in and I already know that my carpet, sofa, shampoo, cleaning products, and most other things I put on my face and body are killing me.

On Saturday I drove by myself through the wilds of New Jersey to MB and A’s house for MB’s birthday party. It was fun, very low-key (especially since GG wasn’t there – he was out with his friends seeing Norm MacDonald). I got to meet some of MB’s friends from home, and some MU students I never met because we traveled in different circles. The main event was playing games from the TV show “Minute to Win It,” which was actually pretty fun, except we did it on the back deck at dusk, and despite the citronella candles I’m still covered in bug bites! (They got the backs of my legs, even. I was wearing jeans – how does that happen?!)

Yesterday was my band concert. The week leading up to the concert is so stressful, with preparing everything to be printed, dropping off and picking stuff up, extra rehearsals, etc., and I was mostly concerned with the logistics of the concert, rather than caring how we played. We sounded fine. We had a reasonable turn-out. Thanks to some new procedures, we got a pretty accurate count of the number of attendees and our earnings. And I am super glad to never have to play that concert again! Some pieces will be nice to add to our summer repitoire (March to the Movies, For the Love of Three Oranges, Trombone Rag), but others I’ll be very happy not to see anymore (Beethoven’s Military March in D, mainly).

I’m not sure what this week has in store. It’s going to be very hot, and thanks to the rain, very humid. I really hate setting up the air conditioners before it’s even Memorial Day, and I don’t mind sweating it out at home, but I worry about the cats – they all have fur coats, and two of them also have thick layers of blubber. So GG and I might put them in on Wednesday. Other than that, no big plans.

I am currently in the midst of one of the longest periods of my life that I haven’t seen They Might Be Giants perform live (we last saw them on Dec. 31, 2008). Luckily, the awesome Tally Hall has been touring recently, so I saw them in December and then I saw them again this weekend! They played at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown, which I’d heard about but had never been to, so it was cool to be able to go.

GG and I arranged to meet up with Coz (of HITS) and his girlfriend Angie for dinner before the show. I’d heard the food there was really good, and they use all fresh, seasonal stuff so they don’t really have a set menu. Also, they don’t take reservations. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait too terribly long for a table at 7:30 on a Saturday, though the place was totally crowded. It is very dark there. Our table had a tiny red lantern hanging over it, and some little colored lights embedded in it, which was cool, but we could barely see our food. Everyone got something different, and I think it was all good. Also, we were later joined by two more friends of Coz – luckily we’d gotten a big table!

After dinner, we went out to see if Tally Hall and the other bands were outside, because they announced via Twitter that they were going to play four square with people before the show, so under-21 fans could see them. We stood around for a couple minutes, and then saw the guys coming down the street, but after chatting for a moment they all headed inside, and since it was really cold out, GG and I went in, too.

We went upstairs to where the music venue is. (Johnny Brenda’s is actually kind of cool – the downstairs is a bar and restaurant area, then the second floor has a small bar and a stage, and there is also a third floor balcony, which we did not explore. It’s all very old-looking. Also, it is absolutely packed with hipsters. If you’ve got a plaid shirt and a beard, you’re good.) None of our dining companions seemed to be around, so we staked out a nice spot in front of the stage and watched the opening band, Skybox. They were pretty good, though the bass player’s wiggly feet were really distracting. (I don’t know how else to describe this dance move he did the whole time – it was like he was slipping around on ice? Here’s an example.) Eventually, Coz et al showed up. They’d been playing four square with Tally Hall after all! Oh well, it was too cold out for me anyway.

Skybox, sans ugly sweater

TH does a little psych-up spirit circle before performing

So Tally Hall went on around 9:45 maybe? Joe hasn’t been with them for this tour, but they got this other guy Casey to fill in, and he was actually really good – after proving he could do Joe’s part in “Ruler of Everything,” he got huge cheers from the crowd! The show was really good, including an introduction from their self-proclaimed “biggest fan” (I think she would leave them tied up in her basement for a while before killing them, though), and “Just a Friend” as a closer.


Standing so close, it was hard to get all five guys into one shot!

When Tally Hall was finished, GG and I headed out – we weren’t planning on staying to see the headliner, Jukebox the Ghost. They probably would’ve been cool, though. Everyone we’d been hanging out with had kind of slipped off by that point, but we were able to find all but one to say goodbye before leaving. And we were home in time to see SNL (though we both passed right out)! You can see all my pictures and videos from the evening on Flickr.

Arg. I’ve been putting off updating because I’ve been so busy, but I figure I should do it now because it’ll only get worse.

This week at work was pretty busy. My first major project of the month finished up, but in addition to project #2 coming up in a couple weeks, I have now picked up a third project! (I’m really not complaining! It’s good to be busy, and to give people a chance to see what kind of work I can do. Not to mention, I had many very boring months in the past year, so this makes up for that period.)

On Wednesday I went to the dermatologist to get another mystery bump sliced off of me. Luckily, GG was able to drive me, because I had to go to a different office about 30-40 minutes away, through some kind of unsavory areas.

I have to mention here that GG is so good. I’ve been really stressed out lately, and he’s so great at putting things in perspective for me. I am a planner and I like to know well in advance how things are going to be, and sometimes it’s not possible to get all the details ahead of time like that, or other things come up unexpectedly. Even though being a planner is not a bad thing, maybe I need to learn how to roll with things I can’t control a little more.

On Thursday I worked all day, went to a (different) doctor’s appointment right after work, and then went to a wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. This was for our friends E and K, and GG was a groomsman. He’d never been in a wedding before, and 1) didn’t realize what being a groomsman would entail (i.e. expenses and responsibilities), and 2) still doesn’t really understand social conventions surrounding weddings (e.g. bride’s guests sit on left, groom’s guests sit on right, that sort of thing). We got through the rehearsal in about an hour, and then went to a really nice dinner. I got to meet the rest of the wedding party, and I have to say, it was one of the most awesome groups of people I’ve ever had the opportunity to spend time with!

The wedding was on Friday, so I just took the whole day off work. Good thing, because I ended up sleeping way, way in. GG had to leave earlier, and then I had lots of time to get ready. I rode to the ceremony with another groomsman’s wife. It was a Catholic ceremony with the full mass and communion, so I was worried it would be really long, but it was only about and hour. And it wasn’t like I was bored or anything, there was always something interesting going on. Afterward, we went to a really nice country club for the reception. It was great. They had a really fantastic band – I don’t think I’ve been to a wedding before that had a live band, just DJs. The band, seriously, was awesome – wish I remembered their name! I think my favorite thing they played was Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling – they sounded just like the recording! But they played lots of good music. And at E and K’s request, GG and a couple other groomsmen played/sang one song with them. Oh also, the priest who married them was so cool! I met him at the rehearsal, so I got to see his personality then. He was cool and funny during the ceremony – he did a good job directing everyone, and just rolled with it when a couple little things went wrong (nothing major, just stuff like he lost his place in his book at one point, and was like, “I’ll be with you in a moment.”) But the most awesome part was at the reception, that guy could dance!

[Edit - 11:45 PM] I found the band, it’s the Rich Posmontier Ensemble. If you are in the Philly area and looking for a band for your event, I highly recommend them! [/Edit]

Even though Friday felt like a Saturday to me, I was happy to have two weekend days anyway. I spent today doing some cleaning around the house, as well as several errands – returned GG’s rental tux, got my eyebrows threaded, got a haircut, went food shopping. Yes, it’s been a few months since I had my eyebrows done. I was mad at my threading lady because she was kind of jerky the last time I was there. I decided today to give her another chance, but it turns out that she’s gone back to India, and all new people are running the place! The new girl who was working there was great, though, so I’ll probably start going regularly again.

Next week: only two actual “activities” on my calendar – so far!

Last night, GG and his friend and I went to a concert at the Trocadero. (I’d never been to the Troc before.) I’m not sure what genre I’d put the whole event into… I guess “progressive metal.” I would say the audience was like 98% male metal fans. The nerdy kind who are into all that technical stuff, not the violent kind. Then the other 2% of the audience was made up of more heavy metal fans and girls. I didn’t really belong there at all.

There were four bands, two of which GG wanted to see, and one I wanted to see. First up was Scale the Summit. I guess they were okay, but they do instrumental music, and as GG pointed out, if you’re not going to have lyrics, you need some sort of “hook” or catchy melody. They did not have this. Each song was mostly just a couple chords. I mean, they did it well, but I would never remember or recognize their music.

Next was the Devin Townsend Project. GG was very excited about this guy, and he’s been trying to get me to watch his videos on YouTube and stuff, but I’m just not into it. Not surprisingly, I was not into it live, either. But I have to say, that freaky looking bald guy can sing! (He really looks just like the guy who plays Frex in Wicked, and I was thinking, if he ever wanted to give up his various bands for a while, he could definitely hold his own on Broadway!)

Finally, Cynic took the stage. You may remember that their album “Traced in Air” was on my Best of 2009 list (but only got an Honorable Mention, since you can’t really sing along with it). They were so good! They ended up playing pretty much everything on “Traced in Air,” as well as an older song and a new one (new album coming out?!). GG mentioned later that Paul Masvidal was so quiet and nerdy, and I was like, “Really? Um, he was performing with his death metal band in front of a sold-out audience! I don’t think he’s shy or nerdy.” (He also agreed with me that Masvidal is a handsome man, and said he’d understand if I left him for the Cynic frontman, but he should remember his real competition is my imaginary boyfriend John Mulaney.) Anyway, they were really great and they played “King of Those Who Know,” the prettiest death metal song ever, so that made my night.

Believe it or not, this is the better of two pictures I took of Cynic.

We walked out on the last band – the headliner! – Between the Buried and Me. I’d never even heard of them, and GG was offended that they were “bigger” than Cynic (Cynic is pretty much the granddaddy of technical death metal). I think the people behind us were glad to see us go, GG was really annoying. But there were other people annoying us (smoking in the non-smoking theater, etc.), so it all evens out. The three of us, plus two more friends we met up with at the show, went to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for a late dinner. I am definitely a fan of their fried spring rolls, but so far I’ve never had better than at Little Saigon.

Oh, and I have to add, GG is such a music geek! Listening to him talk to his friends and everyone about equipment and bands and stuff, wow. He knows a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff. (I’ve always been impressed by how he can participate in any converstaion on anything: music; movies; politics; sports, even!)

These are not necessarily things that were released this year (in the case of the TV shows and books and such), just things I experienced this year that had an effect on me.

Movie: District 9
I saw a lot of movies this year, but this was the one that really got everyone thinking and talking. It had gore, action, and social commentary, plus we learned that aliens love cat food!
Runner Up: Star Trek – pretty awesome, not to mention it featured ZQ and his awesome eyebrows! And because J.J. Abrams has now created an alternate timeline, he can pretty much do whatever he wants in sequels.

TV Show: Fringe
I loved season 1 of this show and was so excited for the second season, which started this fall, but unfortunately it aired opposite some other shows I watch, so I chose to catch up with Fringe online. Every time I went to watch it I would think, “Maybe I should just skip this, I watch enough TV shows,” but by the end of the episode I was totally hooked again, and all I could think was, “I love this show!” Like Lost, it seems to have a lot of mysteries that are carried throughout the series, which still haven’t been answered. But unlike Lost, it doesn’t make me angry. At the end of each episode, I can’t wait to see what they have in store next.
Runner Up: Parks and Recreation – I didn’t want to like this show, and I didn’t at first, but I stuck with it and by the end of the first season I was really into it. Season 2 had me from the start, and routinely has me laughing out loud.
Honorable Mention: The Office – only for the hour-long Jim and Pam wedding episode, which brought a tear to my eye for sure. The rest of this season (and actually, last season too) has been so depressing and weird. What happened to the goofy awkwardness?

Book: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
After taking a long break from book reading, I finally got a library card and got back into the habit late last year. I found myself reading mostly nonfiction, and out of all the books I read, I feel like this is the one I actually learned the most from. Now I know the origin of fortune cookies, the Chinatown bus, Americanized Chinese food, and why every town in America seems to have its own Chinese restaurant, and why they’re all so similar.
Runner Up: A Mercy – I’m not a huge Toni Morrison fan, but this was quick, interesting, and came together at the end in a pretty awesome way.

Album: Tally Hall, Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum
I discovered this band in the most random way, ordered their CD right away, and I am totally hooked. Their CD was in my car for most of 2009, and I never got sick of listening and singing along. (In my opinion, a good CD is one where you can sing along with almost every song in the car.) Seriously, I like every song on that disc – even the ones I don’t love, I can tolerate. If I had to have one CD stuck in my car radio forever, it could be that one. (And not to make this about the band over the album, but those guys all seem super great, their Internet Show is hilarious, and they’re fantastic live – even when they’re tired and sick!)
Runner Up: The Lonely Island, Incredibad – Okay, there’s a bit more cursing than I’m comfortable with, but how can you listen to something like “Sax Man” without at least chuckling? I think I know all the words to “Santana DVX,” which amuses my friends. And GG and I have gotten a lot of mileage out of the phrase “big ol’ bag of trash” from “Dreamgirl.”
Honorable Mentions: Traced in Air by Cynic and The Ladder by Yes both came to me via GG and I became obsessed with both of them this year, but they lose points for not really lending themselves to singing along.

Restaurant: Amada
GG and I had wanted to try this place for a couple years, and we finally got to go for dinner on our anniversary. It. Was. Amazing. We were still talking about some of the things we tried there months later. I even tried to re-create a couple of the dishes. And maybe it was just that we didn’t order anything crazy and extravagant, but the total bill was not as high as we’d feared it might be. If I went again, I’d make reservations well in advance so we could get a better seat, but actually sitting at the bar by the kitchen was really interesting because we got to watch all the food being prepared.
Runner Up: Tastebuds – We stumbled upon this New Hope restaurant kind of by accident, and it’s now totally our favorite place in town. I’d go there four times a year just to try all their seasonal menus. (And I still haven’t given up trying to make my own version of that asparagus ravioli.)

Vacation: Portland, ME
I went on more overnight trips this year than I think I ever have, so I had a bunch to choose from, but without a doubt our “big trip” to Maine was the best vacation I took this year. We planned it well in advance and by the time we left I’d made up an itinerary that really mapped out our schedule for each day. Some would say that’s insane, but it was tremendously helpful because we made sure we got to do the things we wanted to do while we were there. And of course we could break from the itinerary if we wanted! Portland itself is a great town, and despite my worry that there wouldn’t be enough to do there to keep us busy for a week, we ended up with a lot of stuff we didn’t have time to do! I’d definitely go back (if only it weren’t so far away)!
Runner Up: OCMD long weekend with my Brothers – I was on the beach longer than I had been in probably the last 10-15 years, total. And we just had a lot of fun and ate a lot of stuff and had a good time together.

I saw Tally Hall live last night! They were at The Note in West Chester, Bam Margera’s club. GG and I headed down as soon as I got home from work and changed, and lucked out with a free parking spot on the street. (Well, the meters stopped at 5 PM and it was like 4:50, so I think he threw in a quarter.) Then we walked over to the Iron Hill Brewery for dinner. GG had a beer sampler. That was a mistake! I finally realized, the reason he acts like a jerk sometimes when we’re out is because he had beer beforehand. Not that he’s drunk, but even just one beer turns him from amusing and weird to mean and rude. Sigh.

After dinner we walked a few blocks to The Note. I just had a big sweater on because I didn’t want to be dealing with a jacket in there, and luckily it wasn’t too bitter cold, because we had to stand outside for like 45 minutes until 7 PM, when the doors were supposed to open. But they didn’t actually open until like 7:20. While we were waiting outside, GG struck up conversations with a group of girls standing in front of us, and two girls with a set of parents – the dad was as weird and embarrassing as GG, so the mom and I commiserated and I was like, “Do I have a lifetime of this to look forward to?” Also, every time someone came in or out of the club (especially a Tally Hall member), GG would shout, “Tally Hall! You guys should be the headliners! We’re walking out after you!” etc.

When we finally got inside, as I predicted, most people headed to one of the two bars, so there was lots of room to get up close to the stage. We were one layer of people away. The girls with the embarrassing parents were actually right in front of us, and GG tried to talk to them between acts. The opening act was a band called Crash Kings, they just kept saying, “We’re Crash Kings, we’re from Los Angeles.” Their bass was so strong, it made my sternum and hair vibrate. It was seriously uncomfortable. In a different situation I might have enjoyed them, but not there. GG was really interested in this keyboard instrument they used, which had sort of a whammy bar on it. I was distracted by the barefoot drummer.

Finally Tally Hall came on and took their time setting up. Right before they started playing, one of the guys from the previous band stuck his head out from backstage and from GG’s lip-reading, asked, “Has anybody seen my bass?” Uh oh. (It later turned up – it had been leaning right against the front of the stage in its case!) Here’s all the songs I remember them playing, not in any particular order:

• Good Day
• Welcome to Tally Hall
• Spring and a Storm
• The Whole World and You
• Turn the Lights Off
• Never Meant to Know
• Sacred Beast
• A Lady
• Cannibal
• &
• You and Me

I’m pretty sure they started with “Never Meant to Know,” and I know for sure they ended with “The Whole World and You,” but besides that I have no idea of the order or if that’s even a complete list. Anyway, they were really good and put on a great show. It made up for any suckiness of the earlier events of the evening. They had some good audience banter, too. Andrew confessed he was afraid he wouldn’t hit his high note. Zubin apologized in advance to the people standing in front of him in case he coughed on them because he was sick. (Side note: wouldn’t it suck to be sick while touring the country with your band? Ugh.) Rob had a little conversation with some girl in the audience in which he said she’d been raised in an “idea barn” because she just shouted out her comment rather than raising her hand. And Ross sat quietly behind his drum set where I couldn’t see him the whole time because Joe’s crotch blocked my view. (Speaking of Joe’s crotch, why were his pants so much tighter than the other guys’? I think if they’re going to go matchy-matchy with the shirts, vests, and ties, they should also wear the same style of pants.)

All my pictures from last night, as well as links to two videos (“Good Day” and “Spring and a Storm” – incomplete recordings) are on flickr.

We got out of there as soon as TH was finished – they weren’t even off the stage yet. So yeah, obviously we didn’t stay for the headliner, Rooney. But hey, we were home by 10 PM!

Oh I am so far behind on TWoP, don’t expect any timely Duggar-related updates from me unless there’s really some major emergency that makes the mainstream news, heh.

I had a nice, busy weekend. On Friday I did a little Christmas shopping on my way home from work. I really need to get on top of that, Christmas is less than two weeks away now and I feel like I don’t have anything done yet! Then I came home and baked. I only bake once a year, and it’s the same thing every time: mint chocolate chip cookies and peppermint bark.

On Saturday I just had to do a quick post office errand (and why is there always some dumb person right ahead of you in line who acts like they’ve never mailed anything before?). Then GG and I left for a Christmas party that was two hours away. That’s four hours of driving time, round trip! But it was worth it, it was good seeing everyone and we had a lot of fun. I’m so lucky that I have friends who like GG, too! (In fact, I think my friends might appreciate him more than his own friends do!) This party really illustrated how people either love him or hate him: there were a couple people who just had grumpfaces on while he carried on with his antics, but there were even more people who were totally amused and one guy turned to me (while GG was rapping with the microphone from Rock Band) and was like, “Does he belong to you?” Haha!

On Sunday I spent a few hours in the morning cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry and stuff. It was a horrible, rainy day, and perfect for napping, but I did go out food shopping when it seemed like the rain had let up a little bit. I got stuff to make vegetable soup, now I just need to find the time to put it together…

Now I have three concerts in three days. Two of them I’m playing in, one I’m going to watch. I’m so excited! New venue, new second-favorite band (sorry, but unless they majorly screw up, TMBG will always be my #1 favorite), and maybe we’ll find somewhere new to eat dinner beforehand…

I got a copy of our fall concert CD last night and listened to it as soon as I got home, and I’m listening now at work. Besides the screaming, shrieking children who were in the audience, we sound so good. Even last night when I played “The Witch and the Saint” for GG, I knew he didn’t really want to listen to it, but then he was like, “Wow, you guys sound really good!” And he’s also happy we now have some percussion players who sound powerful enough, in his opinion. (He sat in one time when we were rehearsing Christmas music, and gave the bass drum a pounding!)

It’s also cool to listen to a recording because it really does sound so different than what I heard for months from my side of the band – you notice all kinds of other stuff you didn’t know was going on.

I have to say, though, we did one piece where we kind of sang/chanted in the beginning, and I and several others suggested that we just have a small group do that part because with the whole band doing it it would sound like mush to the audience. Our director really wanted everyone to do it though, and had us practice the words and enunciating and accenting and all that. Listening to the recording… I can tell what we’re saying because I already knew what the words were. But GG, who didn’t know the words and wasn’t at the concert, had no clue what we were mumbling about. …I told you so?