I painted John a painting for a housewarming gift. It looks quite smashing above his bed.
I am glad that he liked it! I will get a better picture of it soon and add it to the paintings page. Till then, enjoy it here, or on flickr!
Hope everyone’s weekend is going well! Last night was John’s housewarming party, and it was a blast; even though we were 1 hour and 45 minutes late because I literally painted up until the deadline. I am just glad I could get it finished!!!
So, as I mentioned yesterday afternoon, we had the pleasure of seeing the fantastical Shiny Toy Guns, live, at The Loft, last night.
First of all, if you haven’t been to the Loft, it is really tiny, and it is actually a kind of cool place to see a band, because you can literally get right up front if you want. I managed to find a great spot right over on the right side of the stage, and I stayed there all night.
I took tons of pictures, all of which you can see on my flickr page. If you click the picture above, it will take you to the flickr page for that picture, and then you should see a set over on the right. If you want to see all of them, I suggest you check it out. I managed to get some pictures I really liked.
One final note about the show, while Shiny Toy Guns were AMAZING, and totally lived up to my every desire and exceeded every one of my expectations, the bands that opened for them were total shit. I don’t know if they picked them, but the band that went on before them was especially bad. They were called Hourly Radio, and I don’t get why so many people in the audience liked them; I know bad music when I hear it. Oh well, to each their own.
If we didn’t have to sit through the opening bands, the night would have been perfect. I will definitely want to see Shiny Toy Guns again in the future.
Side note: If you are at the Loft, and you want a liquor drink, getting the larger size is only $1 more. Good to know.
Hope everyone is having a kick ass Saturday!
So here it is, back from New York with a few stories to tell, and some slowly healing shin splints. I didn’t come home with much else, other than a ton of photos, which are now up, and getting attention on flickr. Check them out.
Alright, so here’s where we start: I got the closest spot to the terminal I have ever gotten in the parking lot on Sunday. Nothing monumental, but something I was excited about, both on Sunday, and then again on Tuesday, so worth mentioning, I guess. After flying up to NYC, I checked into my hotel, and wandered around Manhattan for a while. I walked to the Empire State building, and back up to Times Square. It was kind of cool not having an agenda, and being able to wander around and take pictures of the city. It was a lot of fun. It was then, that I wished I had brought my SLR, but I am even more glad I didn’t; I didn’t want to have to deal with it to be honest.
After my adventure around the city, and after an hour spent in Virgin Records (oh the love I have for this store), I met up with my good friend Steve for dinner and drinks. It was a good first day in New York, especially considering the last time I was there; it was freezing, raining, and I was very sick. Thank God that is not how it went this time!
Now on to the first day of working in NYC. I was supposed to meet my team around 8:30, upon which time we would travel over to the site for the site visit. I called them several times, but got no answer, so I figured I would just head over to the hotel. I had forgotten which hotel they were staying in, but quickly fixed that with a call to my buddy Deb. Just as I am about to head out to the hotel (after waiting 20 minutes for them to call me back), I get a call. It’s them. They are already in Brooklyn. Fuck. So, I walked up to the subway, and took the 2 train to Brooklyn. Now, I wasn’t nervous or anything, because I have done public transit in England and France (as well as here), so I pretty much knew how it worked. But, I made a mistake and got off 2 stops too early. That meant I had the wonderful opportunity to wonder around the ghetto in Brooklyn, and walked like 10 blocks to get to the site. All that, and no apology for leaving me. Nice. 
That night, after having drinks with my coworkers is a cute gay spot in Chelsea (which I still think it is hilarious that my cute lesbian coworker took us there… my other two coworkers are straight, married men), I bought a ticket to see Avenue Q. I was fourth row. It was fantastic. I had the cast recording, so I knew what to expect, but it was better than even that. I loved it. After that, I went back to the hotel and crashed. Walking around the city in the wrong shoes is not a good idea.
After heading back to the site the next day, and having the best bagel ever, we headed back to the airport to come home. I had a great trip, got to see a great friend and a great show, and got to really enjoy New York, unlike before. I can definitely see the appeal of the city now… before I was blinded by blistering cold, torrential rains, and hallucination-inducing sickness. And, I had to stay in Newark last time, so staying near Times Square made everything just so much better. And that was my trip to NYC.
I can definitely say, that now, I too love New York. I want to go back soon…
First of all, before I get to the frivolity of gushing over the pure pop deliciousness that is Lily Allen, and go on and on about how wonderful her concert last night was, I feel the need to address the petty drivel that continues to go on about the expressing of opinions, both by me, of me, and of others. AGAIN, for like the billionth time I have said this, I am going to say whatever I want, and if you want to disagree with me, cool! I welcome your opinions! If you want to blog about it on your blog, awesome!! I say go for it! But, if you are going to be sneaky, and blog about it on your blog, especially if you are going to do so by taking my words out of context and developing an opinion of me without addressing me, then you are going the coward’s route by talking about me behind my back. Just because the internet is a “public forum” doesn’t mean that talking shit about someone on your blog without their knowledge isn’t talking about them behind their back. If you want to do that, AGAIN, I am 100% fine with whatever you want to say or think about me, I have tough skin, and trust me, there is little you can do to hurt me. But just know that you are a ball-less coward, because if you really had the stones, you would just address me on here, where we could probably actually discuss it. But again, that’s your choice; just don’t accuse me of “preventing you from saying what you want”, because AGAIN, that is completely inaccurate. Jesus I am sick of talking about this shit, it is really frustrating talking to people who don’t listen.
Alright… Now on to Lily Allen!!! Last night, we went to the Loft (which I don’t know if they have changed the name to Center Stage again or not, it was actually a bit confusing) to see Lily Allen, and I have to say, she was bloody marvelous. I was a little nervous, mainly because I have never seen her live before, and I usually like to get an idea of what someone sings like live before I head out to a show, but Lily was fantastic. I absolutely loved her stage presence; she swears, she takes shots, she smokes, and she tells it like it is. I went into the show really liking her, and left loving her.
One of the things I love about concerts, is when the artist gives little quips about the songs that he/she/they are about to perform. Giving some story or some little anecdotal bits about the songs make them more meaningful, and sometimes, even clarify what the song actually means for me. Lily did that wonderfully, talking about the boyfriend who had a little penis and who didn’t know how to use it (“it’s the motion in the ocean, right ladies?” she asked, “not!” she quickly replied), and getting even with the girl that gave her shit in school (“this song’s about a girl that was like that bitch from Mean Girls.” she said, “I wonder what she is doing now… I’m playing to thousands of people in the ATL! HA!”). Overall, I loved Lily’s voice, and her singing is spot on. Add in the comedic quips, and you have a very entertaining show. I highly recommend that you pick up her CD if you are still living under a rock and haven’t heard of her. I also recommend that you kick yourself for not going last night, and try to catch her next time she is in town. This broad is great!
Something funny and weird happened at the show that was too interesting not to blog about. Basically, the Loft is standing room only, save for chairs that stadium up the back and sides of the main floor. Most of the people opted to stand, because being a small venue, you actually can get quite close. We were standing towards to side, and were by no means crowded or uncomfortable, but we still managed to get pushed enough to be annoyed. Finally, one girl aggressively pushes my friend Stu, and I was like, “Geez, why not just push him down! You could at least say, Excuse me.”, to her, loud enough that I knew she heard it. She immediately turns around, taps me on the shoulder, and seriously said, “Look, my father has cancer. We are going out tonight drinking because I am upset about it. I’m sorry, but I am being a bitch tonight.”, and then stormed off. Seriously. Her dad has cancer, so she gets to push her way around a concert like a bitch. Um, whatever sister. Dad + cancer does not = a free ride without manners in life. Think of some other excuse, or just be more polite in the future. Even her friend said, “Did you really just say that?”. Um, yeah. Other than miss prissy pants, the night went off without a hitch. The concert volume wasn’t too loud (which I HATE when it is), we met some friends at the show, and the concert ended early enough for me to get home and be in bed at a reasonable time. What a great night, eh!? I have put some pictures I took at the show up on my flickr page; be sure to check them out!
