Thursday, March 31, 2005

my virgin genius bar experience!

Those of you who don't use macs are all, "what? a genius idea for a bar? cooL!" or "what? a bar full of genius'?" But no, the Genius Bar is where you go at your local Apple store to get your gear fixed. Hech hemm... not that Mac stuff *ever* breaks or has any problems, of course. ;)

So on Monday, after my client meeting and then stopping off for a delicious Cafe Venue lunch (my favorite place to eat downtown), I had stopped by there to see if they could fix my Powerbook's keyboard (some keys had fallen off & it was sorta peeling up on one side.. it looked sad) and had my first genius bar experience!

First of all, I had heard there was a wait whenever you go, so I was prepared. I went in, registered & then hopped out to run a few more errands while I was downtown: #1. Head to Sephora, to research packaging design for the current logo/custom illustration/packaging design project I have going, and #2. To pick up more Origins face lotion while I was down there. (I never get downtown anymore)

So I ran my errands, and came back - all to find they really hadn't gotten anywhere with the list somehow - and my 4:40 appointment, slowly transformed into a 5:40 appointment. BUT no biggie, because I had my laptop and they have wireless & comfy chairs you can sit & plug into (power).. so I was all set! Once I was called up it took maybe 20 some odd minutes talking with my Genius Bar guy, Ben. When I first showed him what was going on, he initially had said that he was going to have to charge me for the repair, because it wasn't technically covered under the Apple Care Protection Plan. :( oh no! screamed my budget conscious brain! I told him how I would have never done this to my own little powerbook, as it was my baby - and what's more my main business tooL! And I told him how I had switched and how I was so pleased with it for the most part, etc... (insert more mac nerd talk here). So next thing I know... Ben thinks a bit & looks to see if they have this part in stock.. and thinks a bit more and says since I have recently switched, and this is my first time there, etc... he will see what he can do to fix it for me. YAY!!!!!!

AND he said usually repairs like that he'd make me drop it off & come get it in a few days, but that since I need it for my business, and he understands I can't be w/o it... he would see if he himself could go back and take care of it, as soon as so&so got back from break. YAY!!!!

So I had to kill another hour... which I did by going to Old Navy and using the gift card I have had for months (!) and bought a couple skirts for Coachella (which I may end up taking back a couple of them because they'll never get worn here in SF!).

But I cannot tell you HOW HAPPY Ben made me that day. The fact that I got it fixed for FREE, and in the same DAY! (albeit several hours) and now my Powerbook looks brand new!!! wooohooo!!!

So, in thanks to my rad Genius bar helper... go check out Ben's band: The Uptones. :)

Also - he gave me a link to MP34U.com, which I hadn't checked out before... but he said it was pretty cool. So there ya go.

jem's a year older and DFA rocked!

Monday night Jem & I begrudgingly carted our sick bootays (she's really sick, too - our whole band is - woohoo! and I was still on my Sinex high, thinking I was getting better) to the Independent (for the 4th time in 5 days) to see Death from Above 1979 and it was f*in incredible! And check it out, I've even already posted my photos from the show!

We only caught the last song of Controller Controller, but what we saw, we liked... mostly cuz the lead singer was up there shaking her stuff and it was good. :) However, it was hard to get any good photos of her shakin it, due to the low/red light... but there's a few.

Death From Above 1979 rocked us (and the entire audience) SO HARD and I was sweatin by the time I got out of there! It was a kick ass show!! Misty also has a review up.. and Hez has a blog now, too! yay! So here's Hez's review. Jem hasn't posted a review of this show yet, but she does have some great reviews posted about all the other gazillion shows we hit in the last week. :)

:::

Speaking of Jem, Tuesday night we all went out for Jem's Birthday dinner at Emmy's Spaghetti Shack! I had some tasty ceaser salad and the best spaghetti & meatballs (what I get every time, it's so damn good!) and all rejoiced in our lovely friend Jem. :) Happy Birthday, Jem!!!! Here's a few photos from the dinner.

dreams

I had a dream that I was at a music festival. I used to have these dreams all the time when I was with Rick. It got to be funny how many times I'd wake up and be like, "ooh, you & I were at this concert, and it was like a music festival..." :) my favorite place to be.

So lastnight's dream sorta started with me being with Lucia and someone else.. and we had come back to my friends place really late at night to crash there, but my friend had kids, so we had to try to be really quiet. At some point for some reason I put this small black bra on over my clothes, and of course that's when all the sober parents woke up and came out & "caught me" being so silly. I slinked it off, but then had to help one of the kids back to bed... and our trip back to his bedroom, we went through a bunch of really wild rooms because I didn't know which one was his. The first one was full of games and all this really cool stuff. But that one wasn't his... so we kept walking. Every room got cooler and more outrageous. Seriously like the COOLEST bedrooms a kid could ask for - or at minimum he's stoked if his bedroom is even right next to it. One was so huge it had an arcade, and I think even a soda fountain bar and a mini theatre screen on the wall. But that wasn't his room either.. so we kept going. His room turned out to be this room where all you could see was this big spiral column going up for what was probably 200ft to the ceiling. And we had to get in this little gondola/elevator thing to get up to the tippy top. But even then it was all enclosed so that when you looked up the spiral you couldn't see how people got into the bed at the very top.

After I tucked him in, I had to change to go out to one of the shows. And wherever I was changing my Mom was there, and I realized I had forgotten a few things when I packed, but then remembered I had all these new t-shirts, I had just bought, to choose from. It was fun picking through them - and before I finally found one I liked some guy peeked around the corner and said hello. And there I was standing in my bra. Again - black. hahaa. So I thought maybe I should cover up? But then I thought 'eh, what the hell, who hasn't seen a girl in her bra these days?'... so I said hello back and chatted with him, mentioning that I guess I hadn't seen him since SXSW, huh? etc..

When I left I promptly met up with Misty - who was dressed in a bunny costume. We're talking head to toe fuzzy bunny. And then I ran into another friend (but I don't know who he is) and we kissed and said hello - and he was in some crazy furry animal costume. I looked down & realized my costume was that i had a jacket on, but no tshirt on underneath. hmm.

We were waiting to get past this big crowd of people, but the officials weren't letting us down the street into the clubs yet, where the shows were going to start. Misty & I started plotting how we could get around them and get into the club before anyone else... but then they let us all go, so it was fine.

We got in the club & I saw another costume, which was someone dressed up like a chalkboard. Umm... that might be it.

However, there was an earlier part of the dream before all that where I had decided to go to this aerobics class with my friend, but somehow we decided to go naked. And when we got there, everyone else was dressed. But of course, I tried to play it off like it was no big deal. People are naked all the time, right? Whatchoo lookin at?

Then there was another sad part of my dream where Rick & I were holding eachother and kissing eachother passionately, and he was crying. And then I went to talk to my friend about it - and realized that as sad as it was. We couldn't even go there again.

OK, time for coffee.

would it be weird...

to wear an apron to a show? because i love this. or maybe i'll buy it for when i'm doing crafts!

more places who sell these (they all carry various styles) are listed here. and yes, I got this off today's daily candy. :)

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

plugged up & plugged in...

mental note: bring earplugs when working at a cafe.

I went to the doc's this afternoon, and the diagnosis: Snotitus. hahaa.. no.. she said one of my ears looks like it's planning an Infection Party (so she prescribed some antibiotics), and that she could clearly see all the pressure goin on in my face. And today STILL, my upper teeth are aching - which I cannot express enough how frickin painful it is! I am doing the 'I'll do whatever it takes from here on out for the rest of my life to avoid this pain again!' pleading to the SnotGods above. And lastly, my lymph nodes are chock full and working hard, and consiquently very tender (because they apparently take on the brunt of the drain). Oh ya... being sick is HOTT!

I asked her if there are lymph nodes taking on stress in my upper back :) and when she asked if I was stressed tears came to my eyes. Jesus, Willo - pull it together! So anyway - she said that I may have used the Sinex stuff too much - which she can see how easily that could happen. Or she said it could just be that due to all the circumstances involved, that I had some sensitivity to it. Another thing is that I feel like because of our lush gardens out back and all the rains, that I'm exposed to more mold than usual in this new place - and that could be why I find myself so sick every January, as I could have some kind of allergy to that. Who knows. Anyway - I'm on the road to recovery - it simply can't get worse than this.

This is officially the worst sinus thing I think I've ever had and I feel for all of you who have written in commenting about your allergies, and religious steam/flushing methods. I am *so* doing that as soon as I get home. But for now, I'm sitting at Canvas Cafe, and then after this I head out to the Sunset for BAM.

I'm cranky though.. I was formulating complaint notes about the girl who rang me up for my drink here. You know when you feel like yelling, "HEY! Aren't customer's #1 here!?!?". hahaaa. and then I thought, "Wow, I'm cranky."

evan dando revisited...

Hey! Remember when I went to that Evan Dando show awhile back? Well this guy, Roo (cute name), runs this Evan Dando fan site and emailed to request permission to post my photos on the fan site!

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

the things we learn...

Today I learned that you shouldn't take Echinacea for more than a few days or it starts to not work/have a reverse effect. So basically it's best to take right when you feel a cold coming on, but to switch gears if the cold comes on full force and start taking herbs more related to the symptoms. Today in Real Foods I was recommended Yin Chiao Chieh Tu Pien to help strengthen my immune system right now. I actually thought I was getting better, but turns out a couple of the cold remedies I was using backfired on me, which you get to read aaall about below. woohoo!

Oh, also, once you start diving into the herbal/homeopathy side of things you start to learn that certain herbal combinations "activate" eachother, etc. Like Goldenseal/Cayenne, which my Mom swears by. I also picked up a new 1 a day women's multi-vitamin (I was out) and another bottle of herbs that are for when you're starting to feel a cold coming on.

Anyway -I'm obviously in full blown cold, so I picked up the Yin Chiao stuff to hopefully help balance/boost my immune system - but what I realized when I got home and did a quick search is that I basically have symptoms of sinusitus. :( Ya, you might think it sounds bad, but it's not just bad, it *sucks*. It is sooo frickin painful, I can't believe it.

Sinusitus basically happens because you're stuffed up for too long and it's not "draining" properly. Which is real sexy I know, but I'm happy to teach you the error of my ways so you can avoid this pain! And basically I know I have it, because my jaw and teeth are ACHING. And your sinus' actually are all throughout your face, so if they get infected or inflamed, then you start feeling it in your jaw... and oh my god it SUCKS!!! I have seriously felt like crying several times today because of the pain. :*(

So, here's what happened, and I'll start from the beginning (for my own documentation if anything, cuz I'm a big geek like that):

Last Wed night/Thursday: Sore throat - which for me is the onset of a cold every time. I also know that this was specifically triggered by staying up waaaay too late on a couple previous nights combined with it being 'that time of the month' (which in case you didn't know, women's immune systems are much more fragile during this time) AND some other emotional stuff and probably some stress, etc. All of that wrapped up into one and my fragile immune system collapsed under the pressure.

Friday: Thankfully the horrible sore throat went away, but (typical next phase of the cold) I was immediately a snot factory (Sell ya' a jar for $1!). So, in order to breath and function and try to kick this thing as fast as possible... I got on my trusty routine of DayQuil/NyQuil/Vitamins/Lots of Water/Lots of Sleep/Fresh Foods/No Drinking/No Sugar/No working out (my "workouts" are standing at a show, drinking water - which I feel is actually good because it's at least *some* exercise, if you can even call it that, considering otherwise I sit here all day!).

However I was out of DayQuil, so I ran to the pharmacy and since the head cold was feeling so major (and I sounded horribly stuffed up on the phone with my clients) I thought I'd look into some kind of nose spray type of thing to help clear up my sinus' better... like Vicks VaporRub or something. So I looked around and found this spray they have called Vicks Sinex "for sinus relief/decongestion", so I bought it & thought I'd try it. Friday I start on that & some DayQuil, then at night NyQuil. (btw - both Wed. & Friday I'd left the shows early and came home to get in bed)

The Vicks Sinex worked great (but there is a BUT/WARNING coming up, so don't stop reading there) and I was actually sooo surprised that this spray actually was working better at decongesting me than my DayQuil was!

Saturday: So, I started using the Sinex more, instead of DayQuil. And Saturday night I was actually feeling so good I decided to not take my NyQuil before bed, because I thought I could just use the Sinex, and if I woke up not being able to breath through my nose - the Sinex would take care of it & I could go back to sleep! Great plan!

Sunday: I was still stuffy - but Sinex to the rescue - and that night, same thing, I decided to hold off on my NyQuil again. Wild because here I thought I was getting better! I felt good - but I have to admit, I was a tad weary as to why I was still blowing my nose so much and if I was getting better, why my cold hadn't gone through it's usual course of into my chest. hmmmmm.... Then again, technically I was only in the 4th day of the common cold, so blowing my nose is no big deal, right?

Monday: Big client meeting downtown - so Sinex + DayQuil! busy, busy, busy day downtown - didn't get home till late... but for some reason my jaw was starting to hurt! hmmm... Have I been so stressed I'm grinding my teeth or clenching my jaw during the daylight hours and not even noticing it? Also at this point, I know the Sinex bottle says to not use it more than 3 days.. so I vow to stop using it the next day (today) or ask someone about it.

Tuesday: I happened to have a Doctor's appt this morning anyway - and asked her about it, and it turns out that products like this are not only addictive, but WORSE is they have a backlash effect (which is totally what's happening!) that can happen where you get stuffier than you were before! So, it's kinda like treating the symptoms (and boy did it work great! I was addicted to how awesome it worked!), but underlying it all it's practically "breaking" your body's natural function to drain it out and therefore can cause an infection. waaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!

So ya... I'm in serious pain. I have done vapor steams today and I think in the last 8 hours I've drank about 15 glasses of water to try to liquidate it all. And I have a call into my doctor, because they say that there's a point that Sinusitus can just become this low-grade bacterial infection that can only be taken care of w/ Antibiotics. I know, LOVELY. But I don't care. I'm HUMAN! And I have a goddamn human cold! hmph. And I'm sharing my horrible experience with my fellow humanoids so you can spare yourselves the PAIN AND ANGUISH! I'm doing this for you, people! (insert donate link here)

Ya, so that's what MY day has been all about. My jaw ACHES and literally my whole mouth and teeth ACHE. I feel like I want to tear them out with pliers! I just want them to stop hurting!! :(

Sunday, March 27, 2005

ambulance ltd + autolux

Lastnight I had a great time! My "new friend" & I went out for some *deeeeeelicious* Godzilla sushi, that I was craving and it was amazing! My cold wasn't too bad at all, which was good. (aka, didn't get snot everywhere cuz we all know how attractive THAT is! hahaa...)

Then we walked from 'GodziRa' down to the Independent. It was a really nice night out! We got there super early, so we saw the openers from Philly: Dr. Dog. What a retarded name! It's waaay too much like a cross between Dr. Dre & Snoop Dog. And here they're like this crazy jam band. Granted, they sounded pretty good, if you're into that... and one of the lead guitarist/vox guys was pretty entertaining with his knees held high, marching around with these old silly sunglasses on. Anyway - we were glad when they were over, because up next...... AUTOLUX!!!! (and Jem arrived just in time, yay!)

Autolux f*in SLAYED. ME. I absolutely LOVED their set soooooo much!!! I love them! (I bought a shirt). I have been listening to them for a little over a month, thanks to DJ Ted, and on CD their drums are so powerful, so I was so stoked to see what that was all about in person. And, I am so delighted to report that it's a chic drummer!! aawww yaaaa!!!

Her name is Carla Azar (formerly of Ednaswap) and she's incredible (she does some vocals, too, and she has a beautiful voice). Their whole stage presence and chemistry is excellent... very dreamy and yet full of energy. I almost can't put it into words, but it was really, really great. :) I even chatted breifly with the lead vox/bass player, Eugene Goreshter, afterwards and told him how I felt about their drummer... but now I feel bad now I didn't also express to him how much I also *loved* his bass. It is really deep, dirty and powerful as well, and so between the drums & his bass (and yes the guitar, too), along with the dreamy lyrics and flow of the songs cultivates a really great sound. They're all really talented and put on a great show.

Ambulance, Ltd. were wonderful again! They're all such cutie boys, that I just feel like are all so sweet and humble, and yet incredibly talented and come off as really dedicated to making great music. They sang a few new songs, and they're just as amazing as their current album... I'm stoked to get a new release from them. They're from NY, and I told Jem maybe we could arrange to hang with them when we go out there. haha... they just seem like awesome guys, and their show was wonderful lastnight. We were right up front & enjoying every minute of it. And unlike Friday night when I left early, lastnight I *so* stayed through the encore, and they could have done another one & I would have been there for that. I love those guys!

Photos from the show! (I actually have them up at the same time as my post! huzzah!)

:::

It's been a really fun weekend so far.. and today I'm home to tackle my taxes! woohoo! Let's hear it for taxes! I have a TON to catch up on... My Quicken program has been on my PC, and therefore everythings gone into a "file me" pile and hasn't been organized for months since I payed quarterly taxes last Sept. oy! So I have my work cut out for me today. :) But, I've got the tunes on, an Airborne in my water and I'm ready to crank it out.

oh ya, it's easter!

I think I realized it was Easter about 4 days ago... funny how when you don't have some big family or dinner gathering around a holiday, it can easily sneak up on ya! But about a week ago I had planned to have brunch w/ Eric and his sister Natalie who just moved up to the city.

I invited my darling Lyney-loo (cuz I knew her & Eric would have lots to talk about with all their yogi-meditation shtuff), and Eric invited Ali, who invited her pal Leslie - and next thing you know we had a fun little Easter morning brunch crew! yay!

Upon Eric's request, we hit Cafe Gratitude. An incredibly *new agey* place that the 19-year-old soul-seeking-me would have LOVED, but this morning I was like "damn, no egg's bennie, huh?" :/ I'm not sure I'll go back.. but I suppose it's 'neat' they got their whole deal goin on... all positive & stuff :). I do love the whole "you create your reality" mindset... and really their food is incredibly fresh... uh, considering that's what they're all about. It's all ORGANIC, RAW food. And when you order, the meals are in I AM statements. So this morning, "I AM GREAT" and my peeps were everything from PASSIONATE to MIRACULOUS. Ya, no fatty omelets there with a side order of home fries. :)

It was great to see Ali again... and finally meet her friend Leslie who is just moving to the city, too. Ali writes music reviews for TinyMixTapes, and is (apparently, although she has yet to be making enough money to support her habit) a frequent show goer and music lover as well. Eric knew we'd hit it off, and so we went to the Scissor Sisters show awhile back, but hadn't seen eachother since.

It was fun to see everyone and meet Leslie & Natalie. Happy Easter, everyone!


UPDATE: There's a few more photos starting here. :)

Saturday, March 26, 2005

photos, photos and more photos

• Tegan & Sara w/ The Ditty Bops @ The Independent
  Mar 25, 2005
  I'd been wanting to see Tegan & Sara forever, so it was great to see them live! They were wonderful... and The Ditty Bops were pretty entertaining, too. Lyne, Jem, Tania & I went and found ourselves in a sea of women!
   
• Lucia's Birthday Gathering!
  Mar 23, 2005
  We all gathered together for an intimate potluck in Oakland to celebrate our beautiful Lucia! Also, see Lucia's photos on Flickr!
   
• The Kills @ The Independent
  Mar 23, 2005
  I missed the openers, but got there just in time to meet Jem in the front row & enjoy an awesome set by The Kills. I snapped a ton of photos so it was hard to narrow em down (and I didn't do a very good job, because I really loved a lot of them - but I did get it down to 44 out of 220(!). VV is HOTT!
   
• Xiu Xiu w/ Dead Science & Rum Diary @ BoTH
  Mar 03, 2005
  I thought I had lost these photos! I am thrilled to discover that I hadn't. Read my post about the show for more info.

Friday, March 25, 2005

I got my new SD500!!!!!

I'm soooo stoked!! Jeff brought it over for me yesterday, since he needed to send back the SD300 (which I was soooo incredibly stoked to have for a few weeks to try out & use while I was camera-less!! thank you jeff!!).

Jeff has been a TOTAL sweetheart in this whole deal. If you're just 'tuning in', Jeff has been a client of mine (I redesigned DCResource.com for him - check it out! Prime example of the great work I've done over the last year and 1/2 *gasp* that's not in my portfolio YET!), and over the last year we've also developed a cool friendship over mac and camera nerdery. :) He comes over & shows me his latest toys (digital cameras, video cameras, and yesterday the brand new Sony PSP!), and I have learned a lot about taking photos, and the cool features on these new cameras!

And get this: He got me a 'happy new camera' present: a fatty 1GB card!! WOOHOOO!!! So we're talking I can take 7 megapixel photos at 3072 x 2304 resolution - I can get ~320 photos on this card! WHOA! And (Lucia) at that 1600x1200 size - which is completely *fine* for anyone just printing 4x6's - I can get a whoppin ~920 photos on here! Plus, it's the Ultra, so it records the photos/movies faster! HOT DAMN! Ya, and speaking of vids... I can take really long vids w/ a 1GB card! No more "oh no, there's only 20 seconds left!". Well, then again, I will probably get there, knowing me. :)

I know I don't need to be taking such high res photos, considering I mostly shoot shows & party peeps - oh, and Kazoo, of course :) And I wonder if I shouldn't be, considering the files come out to be like 2MB each and that's a serious HD hog after a bit. However, I can't help but feel like as hard drives get bigger & bigger that I'll be glad I shot at such a high res. Case in point, the photos I took of Kazoobie when he was a baby, I now want to print a few out to make a calendar, but some of the shots are at such a low res, I'm afraid they'll be grainy or pixely when I do.

Anyway- either way I'm uuuuuuber stoked on this new puppy. The longer flash range ALONE is suuuuuuuweeeeet. And I can't wait to go up to the top of Bernal & take a panoramic (now that Jeff showed me that sweet feature!). I even got to pass on some tips to Lucia recently - and eventually will post a few here for you all, since I've had a few comments about people not knowing what they can do with their cameras. I didn't really know as much as I do now even a short 3 months ago, and they're really simple things you can do!

At some point, Jeff & I will go up to Twin Peaks for a little photo taking adventure, too. (Can you believe I have only been up to the top of Twin Peaks ONCE in my whole 9 years living here?!?! JEESHK!) And I want to do a little walking trip around the city snapping photos.. which again is something I'm soo amazed I haven't taken the time to do (and probably should have while I had my fisheye, but with this new camera I'm really looking forward to it!). And my show shots will improve, too! I already shot the Futureheads show w/ this SD500 & loved how they came out. YAY!

Ok - I'm going to run a few errands and then come back to work some more. Happy Friday everyone! xo

Thursday, March 24, 2005

cold sweat

Have you ever heard someone say they "woke up in a cold sweat"? Or maybe you've experienced this? Well, I never had until lastnight.. and I can officially say it is MISERABLE.

Several times lastnight I woke up with literally my entire shirt wet from sweat... but I was shivering! My god! What's the matter w/ me!?

Well, simply put: My burning the candle at both ends (aka rockstar lifestyle) has left me under the weather, again! But it boggles my mind, really, as I've been fairly low key, lately and getting myself good sleep! But with me all it seems to take is one night w/ a lack of sleep and it can hit me. It also may be a cold passed to me from a friend I hung out w/ in the week, who works with kids... or maybe it was even from Elana's kiddos on Sunday night? (kids are germy!) I don't know what it was.. but it's a total bummer.

So, in addition to the bad night of sleep I had lastnight, I have a horrible sore throat and the good ol' fashioned stuffy head. :( hmph.

:::

Tuesday I had felt pretty bad, but yesterday was feeling a tad better and so keeping with my plans (aka still probably trying to do too much), I made a tuna cassarole and went over to sweet Lucia's Bday Potluck in Oakland. It was great! There were a number of her friends there I'd never met, some that I had, and then all us girls: Jee, Jane, Kristin, Ashley & Hillary! And the last two girls I hadn't seen in forever, so it was great to give them hugs & (sorta) catch up.

A couple people even said they loved my cassarole! yay! (Thanks Kristin!) That totally made my night, because I was sure it hadn't lasted the trip over there. Between rushing out of here, running the small errand I had to make before getting there, and then the 1/2 hour or so before everyone dove into eating. It's small rewards like that, that make me want to cook more. Now I want to go buy a new cassarole dish!

Lucia loved my prezzie, which I was so thrilled about. She's a sweetheart and even phoned me today to say thank you & express her sentiments about how happy she is we've become friends and have been spending more time together lately (which is exactly how I feel!). She's a peach, and now just another year wiser. ;) Happy Birthday, Lucia!!!! xooxoxox

:::

After Lucia blew out the candles (and I passed on dessert, since no cold is helped by sugar!), I headed over to meet Jem at the Independent for a show we've had tix to for about a month: The Kills!

They just had their new album come out, so I was looking forward to seeing them a second time and playing at this larger venue, playing their new material, etc. I was pretty close to giving up on parking (it's horrible over there!) and going home, since I knew I was starting to feel bad, but I found a spot so I went in for a bit. Jem & I caught up a bit and then the Kills went on. They were fantastic and I got some GREAT shots, but it didn't take me long to feel so bad, that I think I left around 11:20 to come home & sleep!

Today I had a deadline all day long, which was tough since I'm not feeling that great. :/ But it's done & ready for review. phew!

Too bad life didn't have a 'pause' button. Cuz I have 3 more shows in the next 4 days. oy!

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Rise and Shine

Did you know that iPod has a sleep timer that lets you fall asleep to music? It's true. And if you like to wake up to music or to the sound of an Alarm Clock, iPod is just as accommodating. You'll find settings for the Alarm Clock and Sleep Timer in the Extras menu. Both features work very well, by the way, when you connect iPod to a pair of portable speakers.

I took this text off an ad... but thought I'd share. I'm so using this with my Altec Lansing Speakers! Recently I've been using them as a stereo in the bathroom while I shower. Only problem is if I have it on shuffle, all of a sudden some crazy dance noise rock beat comes on and ruins 5 minutes of my relaxing shower. :)

Sunday, March 20, 2005

loving...

- flickr tags: glimse

- my friend elana who i got to see, who has 2 kids now and is 12 years older than me and I'm almost 30, but we've known eachother for almost 9 years! She's a good friend and it was great to catch up. :)

- music. I'm so in love with my music collection!! hahaa.. Actually.. if some of you recall when I had a bunch of stuff stolen at the beginning of the year, one of the things was my 40GB iPod. And my car stereo. And for 3 months now, I haven't had a stereo in my car. But my iPod thankfully got replaced rather quickly up to a 60GB iPod Photo! aww yaaa. I only have yet to buy my new camera (SD500) and I'll be fully recovered from that painful memory. Anyway - I *finally* got a stereo installed! And it's sweet because it has a AUX IN right on the front to hook up my iPod directly. woohoo! It sounds great... and I have tunes again!

- special k cereal w/ vanilla soymilk. mmmmm.

- having worked out an awesome 3 whole times. hahhaa :) gotta start somewhere! I feel better all ready and am sailing through my book!

- future possibilities!

musical obsessions of the week: The 6ths, Low, Fiona Apple & Death From Above 1979. Oh & I heard Loquat playing in the LAC on Friday night & was so happy. :) And recently a Weakerthans song came on & sounded really good to me, but I don't have any of their stuff. Do any of you?

sxsw, coachella, toronto and nyc!

So, I'm trying really hard this week to not be totally depressed that I'm not at SXSW. For any of you that don't know, it's like Spring Break for music nuts like me. How could I not be there!? AAAG! The photos on flickr are slaying me. Those could be mine! Drinking a nice, cold Shiner Bock!? Oh how I miss you, Austin!!!!

Deal is, it just wouldn't have been the same this year. I (somehow) didn't have a crew of ppl to go with.. I mean, I knew some peeps going, but last year having my main squeeze, and best show buddy along for a week of ridiculous fun... there was just no way I could go there mostly solo. Even though something tells me I very well may could have met my future husband there. :p But hey! Obviously it wasn't meant to be. So lover, if you're out there resting up after your week of day in & day out drinking & seeing live music, and wondering where art thou your match is... I'M RIGHT HERE! Sorry I missed ya this year.

Right, so.. I think that this leads me to how I'm SINGLE right now. Yup. Who knew, after my months of brownie-eating-movie-watchin' hermitsville healing my little broken heart that I'd actually be ready to scream that from the rafters, eh? Well, we all did, I guess. It's hard to keep me down... and the silver lining of any dumb ol break up is that (thankfully) time heals. Eventually. And, slowly but surely, I'm getting there. Well, at least I'm getting out & having fun! These last few weekends I've been having the time of my life, really. Besides the fact that for the most part I think dating is dorky and painful, it's kinda fun having all those first date jitters, and meeting someone new and figuring out what they're all about. People are fascinating, really.

So speaking of... Guess what!? I went on a date lastnight! Well... "Drinks!" Which is like a date, but with that great unofficial caveat we could be like, "umm, ya - gotta go!" hahaa... Suffice to say it all turned out better than I expected. I wasn't that sure going into it, but instead of turning it down - I thought "aww what the hell, I'll just go have some drinks, I'm sure it'll be fun"... and the good news is, it was. So fun and good that we're now going to the next step and *dun du dun dun!* having DINNER. hahaa...

Alright - so back to my writhing in pain over not being at SXSW this year. I was even, if I had actually gone, going to hit the Interactive part, too. A ton of my geektabulous blogger pals were there. And the 4-eyed dorko within me is actually totally jealous seeing the sea of laptops and instantaneous relay of information between participants. I wanted to be a part of that!

BUT.. you know why it's all OK? It's all ok because of 2 wonderful trips coming up!

#1. Coachella baby!! My show ho pals ARE pulling through for this one, of course, and we've got a house booked and everything!!! Again, it will be different from last year's love induced high, but I'm open to the new and amazing experience - both from music and meeting kick ass people. It's going to be great! And I'm working out so I can be all ready to wear very little clothing. VLC baby! I look forward to wearing VLC any chance I can get.. so give me 100 degree weather, and let's peel it off! hahhaaa... I feel like I'm a VJ on MTV's Spring Break or something right now so I'll stop.

#2. In May I'm going to Toronto and NYC!!! And if there was any way to make my "woohoo" about a million times bigger and stronger and louder to express myself here, I WOULD! Picture that, and a *gazillion* exclamation points! :) I'm f*ing STOKED to say the least!

I have a ton of places I want to travel to, but NYC was at the top of my list of places I need to visit in the U.S., let alone all the jaunts I want to take overseas, so I am so thrilled to be finally getting there again! I have only been there ONCE. Can you believe it? And it wasn't even as fun as I KNOW NYC can go off... so I'm really looking forward to being there & checking out the music scene FOR REALS.

So, itinerary is: I'm hitting Toronto first for about 5 days, where I will be put up and exposed to the glory that is The Big Smoke by the *ZAZZERIFIC* one & only Kat the CRIPPLER!! Which of course will include: shows, drinks and bellyaches from laughing our asses off! aawww yaaaa, zazz sistaaahs.

Kat & I have never met in person. She's what I call a "internet friend". And I have a few of you out there, you know who you are! But Kat & I are convinced - as she said - we're cut from the same cloth. The girl is into the same music, we both love to party our asses off and just from her writing, our emails & IM's... she cracks me up. She came to visit SF once but we missed eachother... and when I wrote about wanting to get outta dodge, she suggested I visit her and I said "I'm so THERE"! And, believe it or not, it will be my virgin experience in the fine country of Canada!! SWEET! Yes, I'm making my friendly relations now for when I need to flee our god forsaken (republican laden, bushf*ck'd) country. :)

Alright, so after 5 site-seeing, show-goin, drink-drunken (and therin, hopefully not too hungover) days in the fine city of Toronto, I will be flying my arse down to NYC for another 5 days of fun in New York City!! And CHECK THIS OUT: My girls Jem & Tania are going to be there the same week!!!! waaahooooo!!! I get to experience the NYC music scene with my favorite show ho's?! Maaan, someone is looking out for me. That is just TOO COOL! Plus, Kat has a wedding there that weekend, so she'll be there... and I get to see my friend Sarah (and meet all her hott girlfriends :p) and my friend Karrie... hit the museums, I'm so excited!

The coolest part is that I am so mobile with my business, so I can work from there most of my trip! So while I'm staying with Kat & Sarah & Karrie, and they go off to work - I can work, too... and then at night: WE PLAY! However, I'm thinkin there'll be a good 4 or 5 days in NYC that I just allow myself a full force VK. Depending on how my workload is at the time - we'll see! :)

So yes... I'm not at SXSW this year.. but I've got some sweet trips completely dedicated to having fun and seeing music in other cities. And to that I say: aaaww. yaaaaa.

Friday, March 18, 2005

willotoons' recommended mac os x apps

Anniversary Edition! It's officially been 1 year that I've been a mac user! woohoo!

A lot of you were reading when I first started making the decision to switch from the pc. And then when I made the decision, and then got it, had some serious troubles, a slight learning curve, but overall was very happy.

Well, recently a friend of mine, and print designer, was telling me about how badly she needed to upgrade off her old mac (OS 9 still! *gasp!* :p), and was saying she was going to get a G5. And I was like "wha!?", as I feel like it's just so damn sweet to have the portability of the Powerbook G4! And truly, unless you're doing massive video or 3D rendering, it's just as powerful as the desktops we've been using the last couple years, which was why I was finally ready to go laptop. Not to mention powerbook - because they're awesome! So she went for it & is now the proud owner of a 15 inch like me! woohoo!

Anyway - she's getting all her programs set up & stuff, and that's always fun (albeit, time consuming!) - but for her, it's ESPECIALLY fun because she's finally upgraded to OSX and there's SO MANY cool programs for it! So I started compiling a list of my favorite apps for her.. and realized, in the spirit of TGIF, I should just post them here. :)

Over the past year, I've posted about mac apps with more detailed descriptions - but for a quick list, here's my favorites (as of right now) that I would recommend to any mac user:

• Quicksilver - Simply a must have. Your entire computer is at your fingertips! See Merlin's QS tips to get even more out of it!
• Adium - great chat app for all 3: Y!, AIM & MSN. Plus, you know a chat app is cool when your dock icon can be a Domo-kun and you can use sound effects from Napoleon Dynamite. :)
• Default Folder - comes in handy, as the fact that open & save windows don't let you rename and move files inherently on the mac is just STUPID! As you can see, it's one of my biggest gripes about the mac. It just makes NO SENSE! Default folder makes this a bit more bearable for me, but still not as good as the PC.
• Cyberduck (FTP program) Cyberducky, you're the one!
• iBiz (formerly iWork) - I've been using this for my business pretty much from day 1... I love it!
• iScrobbler - reports what I'm listening to in iTunes (works with other apps too!)
• MacJanitor - good to have to keep things clean & orderly!
• MacStumbler - if you're a laptop user, this will come in handy *someday*
• ToDo X - this is my favorite application! :) You can even download this little widget to get your to do list on your iPod!
• SpamSieve - great for sorting out the spam!
• wClock - I almost forgot this one because it runs so seamlessly.. but I wouldn't want to live w/o it!
• Synergy - Controls iTunes from the menu bar
• LittleSnitch - don't let your apps report to the big guys without you knowing it!

These, below, I have tried and really like, but haven't pulled the trigger on buying them and/or I am trying something different now. But I do like them & recommend you check em out:

• PathFinder - this is very cool. The "drop stack" is great, but I really liked the built in image viewer (that tiger promises to have, apparently), and the way it shows where you're at like cookie crumb navigation. I just couldn't plunk down the money just yet...
• A Better Finder Rename - this comes in REALLY handy if you need to do some random batch rename on files. I downloaded the trial and it works like a charm!
• AutoHide - this is very cool, as it keeps things clean and tidy for you. However, it's a tad buggy when it comes to certain password pop up windows & such.. although there are work-arounds... but you have to know about them otherwise you'll go nuts because the only way to shut it off is to open the activity monitor! Spirited Away is a similar little app that hides programs that aren't being used after a certain amount of time... and you can set apps you never want it to hide... so I might try that now.
• Carbon Copy Cloner - a great way to easily make backups. I just got Retrospect Backup 6.0 though, and am going to try that out (after I call tech support because I'm afraid it's going to wipe out everything on my external drive, so I'm playin it safe!)

Are you a mac power-user and don't see a certain app on this list you think I *must* use? Tell me about it!

playing with the new digital rebel xt

My friend, Jeff stopped by yesterday and, as always, was toting some INCREDIBLE cameras along with him. So we went out & took some shots in my (overgrown) garden. Check out the ones I took: Canon Digital Rebel XT Album. A few even made Jeff's gallery! (he's working on the review now)



UPDATE: ooh! I just found out this is a succulent! NEAT! I love finding out what plants are called. And "succulent" is just a cool word! I discovered this by seeing this Succulents! Pool on flickr that Judith had added to, so I added mine! :)

p.s. Not to scare my Mom or anything, but right before Jeff got here, he got robbed! Really crazy, and when he arrived and told me that, it totally freaked me out! I mostly drive past this location, but it's literally only 4 blocks away from me. And this is my neighborhood! My quiet, and rather sweet little neighborhood. There are families and kids everywhere... and it's just so crazy to think this shit can happen in broad daylight! Even odder, is the place Jeff was robbed is on this REALLY busy intersection (Cesar Chavez & Folsom). There's immigrant workers standing everywhere (not like they would testify!), and tons of cars streaming by. Suffice to say, however, on one corner there's a Catholic Elementary School, and on the other there's low income housing. (the side he was walking past where it happened) :/

Anyway, I was totally shook up for Jeff, but sooo thankful they didn't take his other stuff he had with him. That would have been HORRIBLE! I'm glad you're ok, Jeff!!

photo album EXPLOSION!!!

Please remind me to not let myself get 3 _weeks_ behind on posting photos! HOLY CRAP! I am uploading 7 albums (from about 9 different events), and I still have 1 to go!

Check em out:

	Lulu's GDC Party Mar 12, 2005 Lucia & I had plans to just stop by Lulu's potluck, eat & then come home... but the party turned out to be a BLAST! I was stoked my friends Jee & Kat were there, and we all ended up having a great night!
	Misty's PNYE: 80's prom!! (and a few from zeitgeist on sunday) Mar 11, 2005 Every year my friend Misty has a Procrastinator's New Years Eve Party.. and this year the theme was 80's prom! Absolutely hilarious, fantastic music and everyone dressed up & ready to party. It was a BLAST!!!
	Random March Pics... Mar 11, 2005 brownie mix, scary brita, kazoobiesan, growing plants, CreativeCrew goes to the Animation Show, color swap features (using the SD500!) on my backyard, etc
	The Futureheads w/ the Shout Out Louds @ Slims Mar 10, 2005 Fantastic show - my first shooting with the SD500, and I think the photos turned out great! The Futureheads are incredible live - so much energy, they do not dissapoint! I LOVE THEM!
	Hamell on Trial & Rube Waddell w/ Lucia Mar 04, 2005 I'd been wanting to see Hamell on Trial forever. He's amazing, prolific, liberal and powerful on stage. It was a fun night!
	The Walkmen w/ 20 Minute Loop & Film School Feb 27, 2005 3 bands I was way stoked to see and they did not dissapoint! We were right up front and I was so close I could touch Hamilton (lead singer of the walkmen). I was so happy I could have cried! They're awesome!!!!!!
	Joanna Newsom, Micah Paul Hinson, Vetiver, Damon & Naomi Feb 26, 2005 Joanna Newsom was AWESOME - so beautiful and sweet and talented. Micah blew us all away!! I was glad he was at that show. Vetiver and Damon & Naomi were a tad too slow and sad for me at that point and I wasn't that stoked on being there.
I clocked the KB's where I started: 2962070kB (362MB) and now it's at: 3409282kB (416MB) = 54MB for 3 weeks of photos. oy! :)

Thursday, March 17, 2005

warning: IM virus

hey you IM'ers... read Trina's warning on IM virus'!

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

pocketparty!

cool, check it out: the ghetto blaster of 2005 :p

:::

I went & worked out this morning, and it felt so good. My neighbor, Emma, goes to the same gym - so while my regular gym buddy is in Singapore, me and Emma are gym'n it. I'm stoked to have someone to make a time with and make it happen. See you later brownie-laden-lovehandles!

Plus, I get to read my book.. and today I have to say my iPod knew I was sweatin, and played a kick ass string of songs that are perfect to workout to.

I'm in love with Kissing Tigers.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

hech hemm

in case you didn't know yet.. you can finally hear the long awaited album by fiona apple! I love her & hole heartedly agree with with jem's capital letter emotions to sony in this post. (and also click there if you want to go download fiona's new album for FREE! :) weeeeee!!!!

debaucherousity

I am delighted to report that I had a delightfully wild and crazy weekend! wahoo!! I hope to get around to posting aaall the photos later tonite, but I am way too overdue to at least give you a sneak peak:


Out of my raucous bandmates (Hez, Jem, and Misty), I obviously went as the more "innocent and sweet" 80's girl... maybe the oh so innocent one who ends up getting drunk, skipping curfew and passing out in the backseat of a car with her boyfriend in the HS parking lot? Well now, that may have been last Friday night or it may have been 12 years ago, I'll let you figure that one out. :) BUT the most hilarious thing is that my prom dress from my freshman year (1989/90 - it counts!) is strikingly similar to this one! I've emailed Dan (my hot senior boyfriend who showed me the night of my life and what prom is *really* all about) to see if he'll send me the pic again. Pretty funny!!

Anyway - wait till you see the rest. There are some real classics. Oh & yes, that is a side pony-tail I'm sportin' there. It was a big hit. ;)

UPDATE: Photos posted!!

:::

In other news, my trees & plants are growing like gangbusters in lieu of Spring! woohoo!



The one on the left here is actually a iris beautiful orchid that Jee gave me for my birthday last June! It was beautiful for 3 months after I got it, and then went dormant and I wasn't sure if I'd ever see it come back.. but LOOK! It's about to sprout! yay!!!

And my big huge tree has 4 baby sprouts up top! They're growing like crazy - I literally can see them getting bigger every single day, which is just cool. But, I'm concerned because I added new soil recently, but it looks all ashy (see pic). Anyone know why that is? I think I need to re-pot this huge tree!

Friday, March 11, 2005

deadline city

I've launched 2 sites this week (!), and am on another deadline for this afternoon.

I'm excited though, because I have 2 projects starting next week that are really fun! One is custom illustration/packaging design & the other is a homepage revamp w/ a fun Flash element. Two jobs I'm totally stoked on creatively, which is so great!

::::

Today's another beautiful day out and I'd love to go up for another hike before Jeff comes to take the SD500 back (for a week or so, so he can finish the review).. and then I think I'm going to buy it! Lastnight at the Futureheads show (which was FANTASTIC!!!!), I realized it can zoom while taking videos! And the videos are so quality! It automatically adjusted to the light when I moved it around to focus on different members on the stage... the image is really clear... all this in a club! Great low light video + zooming while you record + no limit on the movie time (just as much space as you have left on your memory card) = KICK ASS CAMERA! So ya, I'm sold.

I'll post those photos at some point this weekend, I have a ton (back through 2 weeks ago - the Walkmen show) that I need to sort & post. This weekend for sure!

UPDATE! Photos Posted!

::::

SO STOKED! Hez had extra prom dresses, and I went over & tried em on lastnight & am happy to say I have a prom dress to wear to tonite's party!! Wooohoooo!! I can't wait to see everyone's 80's get up... photos from tonite are going to be good!! And I might even meet my friend Sarah at her Zeitgeist Happy Hour gathering in my full 80's prom getup. aawww yaaaa :)

Are you listening to Bagel Radio's Live Show today? If not you should :)

Happy Friday all!

Thursday, March 10, 2005

wooooooweeeee!

...the last 72 hours have been BUSY!!! I had a rush job come my way that took every little last second of my time. Had me up till 4am one of the nights, and yesterday - crunch time for getting the site ready to launch - I realized around 9pm that I was shaking because all I'd had all day was a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. I forgot to eat!

Needless to say, it's a rewarding relief to say that it's done & launched! And lastnight, after putting on the final touches around 11pm... I got to sit on my couch and eat a pizza and watch a movie. :) aahhh... Except the Netflix movie I got was skipping too bad, making me miss all the cute flirty things being said (which is like the best part!), so I stopped it & I'm going to have to return it for one that works. Has anyone else noticed Netflix DVD's doing that more lately? Maybe I need to clean my DVD player?

::::

It's been SOOOOO GORGEOUS out!! After the 2 calls I have coming in this morning, I really want to get out & take a hike up Bernal Hill (with my iPod, awww yaaa). However, I have an appt later today, so it'll cut my workday short - but after all the work I put in over the weekend and the last few days - I NEED SOME SUNLIGHT ON MY FACE!!!!

Tonite is The Futureheads show - WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Ya right! The day I mess up, will be the day pigs fly!

Have you seen the infamous flying pig error page on my site? Well, you would have if you'd ever clicked on a broken link, but let's hope that's never happened! :)

Truth is, it's bound to happen.. hence the fancy custom 404! However, I was always annoyed with my own 404 page because it would totally redirect you to it - and if I had typed in the URL and got it only slightly wrong, it would redirect me and I'd have to type it in aaall over again. Annoying! Thing is, I thought that's just how it worked! But when I noticed the 404 behavior on another site I work on didn't do this, I realized what was happening! Turns out in my .htaccess file I had the full URL to my 404 page, instead of just a root relative link. Ah ha!! So I fixed it & now it doesn't redirect! yay! Ok, geek talk is over.. sorry Sandy & Jem. :)

But, get this! It turns out the URL (to my portfolio, even!) in my email signature was getting sent out with some extra (invisible) character on the end of the URL, causing anyone on a PC to think the link was broken. aaggg!! I say only PC's (and possibly only certain PC mail clients), because I've never experienced the error when I try to click on it using my mac, so I never caught it. Darnit! Thanks a lot Mac Mail! *raises fist!*

Oddly enough, over all this time, I had heard maybe 4 people mention it, and most of them only recently - which made me finally take some time to get to the bottom of it! But wait a second... Only *4* people cared enough to tell me about (fairly major) error, out of all the emails I've sent? Man! I send off feedback/fyi emails to websites, that I find broken links and typo's on, all the time. Speak up people!

And for the record, I would like to personally thank Jeff and Burt out there who have showed exemplary WilloToons QA reporting.. you guys RULE! :)

i wish we could talk like we used to

Today I had to give Rick his LOMO back. He's headed out on a business/vk to Europe tomorrow, and wants it for that. I'm not even sure where he's going... I didn't ask.

It's so hard for us to talk to eachother now... and I didn't even want to see him today. I had wished I could have just left it at the front desk. It's just too difficult and akward. I know it's painful for us both. Today was no different.

He walked up to the window and put a package down on the seat... and tried to akwardly explain that it had been part of my Christmas present. I barely remember saying Thank you... and looking back I can't even believe I didn't open it right there, or ask him if I should open it.. looking back I could hardly think... and just remember feeling like I wanted it to be over because I didn't know what to say.

blah!!

He got me this really awesome book, Art of Modern Rock: The Poster Explosion, and it looks amazing. I had to come home & start working on this deadline I have been working on all day, but I can't wait to look through it.

I also need to write him some kind of thank you email. I'm feeling like a big baby about the whole thing... I think it's just because I wish it would all go away and I don't want to feel it or talk about it or him anymore. But I can't... and I just have to wait for it to slowly fade.. or something.

Image credit (and title of this post) goes to: Exploding Dog.

Monday, March 07, 2005

crazy busy..

Wow, I haven't posted since last Wednesday.. yes (Dan, who needs to work on his site! :p), that is unusual for me! Thanks for the reminder... here's a little somethin for you all.

So last week, on top of lots of work I did manage to go to a show! Surprising, huh? No.. that's no surprise. That's all I do! sleep, eat, work, show, sleep, eat, work, show. :) Not such a bad life I lead! Oh, and lately add a few more "eats" (which desperately needs to be balanced out by some "workouts") and a few movies here & there, too! I've decided it's important for me to up my movie watching quota, and I think I'm doing a great job! yay for me!

Ok.. so the show: Thursday night Jem & I had tickets to Xiu Xiu w/ The Dead Science. Wow, I haven't even updated you on this yet!! Crap! I need to just start taping what I tell people, because 2 strange guys chatting it up with Lucia & I on Friday night heard the whole story. Quite entertaining, really... here's the reader's digest version:

Dead Science: So fucking weird, I loved them. Weird in a "the lead singer is probably a serial killer, but I wonder what kind of serial killing he does? poison? plotting for years, carefully cutting up into little pieces?" way. However, he had this endearing effeminate thing going on that made him a sweet, sweet, serial killer. I wanted to hug him and be his close friend. Maybe smoke a cigarette with him after his first kill? I was inspired! Not to mention the adorable long bang'd bass (even stand up bass, too) player on the right with the big fat polka dotted tie. The tie was big, the dots were small. And colorful. I loved his profile, and his big lips. mmmm. Lately I am obsessed with the lips on the stage. I stand in the audience fantasizing what they're like to kiss. (why can't we just kiss everyone?) And with the Dead Science.. I was entranced and giddy with how wonderfully weird they came off.. and that maybe just maybe 85% of the audience didn't get them at all, but I did.. and I just wanted to hug them!!! Ok, so this is getting long, and probably sounds NUTTY, but you so know I don't care.. so here's the end of this grand story:

So after they're done, I hit the bathroom and on the way out, lo & behold there is the lead singer! Instantly I gave him a little side hug squeeze and told him how much I loved him and though they were great. :) yay! I hardly ever get geeked out on a band like this... and this was a whole different feeling than say, for Communiqué, who I just want to ask the lead singer to come home with me. (oops, did I just write that?) I just really felt like these guys were up there doing what they liked and I liked it and that made me want to hug them and I did!! woohoo! So THEN! I keep walking and boom! "bass player, cute profile, nice lips, fat-colorful-polka-dotted tie" dude is walking towards me and - yup you guessed it! I told him how great he was, too! I didn't hug him, I gave him more of the "soft loving squeeze on the shoulder", just so ya know. But the whole thing was synergistic! I felt like I would have never been so geeky that I would have sought them out to say hello and give them my praise.. so it was wonderfully weird all on it's own that "the universe" put them right in front of me so that I could shine my praise upon theee!!! hahaa

totally NOT readers digest, right there. jeeeshk! I knew it, I missed blogging! :p

Oh & before I forget - Xiu Xiu was really good, too!

UPDATE: Photos uploaded!! I thought I had lost these, but I found em!

::::

Ok.... so then Friday night was Hamell on Trial (opening for Rube Waddell) at (the very cool) 12 Galaxies. My friend Lucia came over for pre-drinkies... how fun is that?! I love pre-drinkies! I gotta start doing that more. It's fun to get that pre-party action goin, and host friends here in my little home that I'm so often alone in... plus, the drinks are free!! weeeeee!!!

I had a tasty gin & ginger w/ lime - awww yaaa. 2 of em, actually. How's THAT for savin money!? :) And Lucia had the house special: Bailey's on Ice. mmmmmmmmmmm!

Hammell on Trial was INCREDIBLE!!! I had heard he has an awesome stage presence and that he does! He's amazing on the guitar.. seriously mind blowing - and his lyrics are poignant and fast and completely entertaining! Lucia & I loved it & stood up front enjoying every minute of it!! I have some pics and vids - but of course - they're not up yet. My Walkmen photos aren't even up yet from a week ago! I'm so behind!!!

Ok, so that was fun - and Rube Waddell was fun. Totally diff than what I expected, even though I could have sworn I had some of their stuff.. but searching my iTunes proved me wrong. I love that I can check so fast! Anyway, the coolest part was that all of a sudden the crowd TOTALLY changed when they went on & we were instantly surrounded by these artsy, creative, bicycle rodeo, burning man types, except some of them looked like they were out of the 30's or something (which rube waddell's music lends itself too - prohibition, squeezebox, washboards, trombones and crazy drum set ups.. suspenders, hats, etc) really fun! But we only stayed for a few of their songs & then came back here to finish up the night right with a small after party. Who rocks the party?!

UPDATE: Photos Posted!

:::::::

Saturday I went down to Brisbane and saw an old friend and got to see their "treehouse". Literally there house is *in the trees* cuz it's the top floor and set up on a really high hill (and you have to walk about 65 steps up to their door!) Absolutely amazing views! And what did I do? I forgot my camera!!!!! oh well. :) It was still a VERY nice visit, and Sally made us all a very nice little brunch and we ate out on their amazing little deck where you can watch the black squirrels run their little courses from tree to tree.

Oh, bonus is that her boyfriend's a huge geek like me (actually more, he takes apart iPods & stuff) and even works at the magazine, MacAddict! So we showed eachother our work & shared tips and stuff, and that was fun, too!!

Saturday afternoon I worked and worked until like 7:30 when my friend Jeff came over and brought me a shiny, new SD500!! woohoooo! I'm SO FRICKIN STOKED ON THIS THING!!!! We were supposed to go to dinner, but I wasn't hungry (and a little out of it and stressed out from a day of work, i think, sorry jeff!). Then around 8:30 Lucia came over (yes, again :) I chose to hang around sweet Lucia all weekend, and I'm glad I did.. she's so easy to be around and we had a good time!) and we geeked out a little on the computer (err, she watched a little while I finished up work) and then we watched a movie: I, Robot - which was good! Makes you scared about our future though :) Thank goodness we have Will Smith! ha!

:::::

Sunday - work + work and more work, with a small break for a matinee: The Animation Show at the Lumiere. Where I was met by 4 of my incredibly talented artist/illustrator/animator/painter friends:

Brian, Darren, Eric & Taylor

I hadn't switched the setting before handing it over to an innocent bystander to take this... so it's in "color accent" mode, that I had just set to blue (pulling it from the sky!) :) Pretty fun... awww yaaa new SD500!! :)

I got a great email from Brian today, who said Eric was joking it was like a version of Elimidate. And Brian added, "except ours was better because nobody threw insults, everyone had fun, and nobody got eliminated." hahhaa!! They're all very cool guys that I'm so glad to know. I used to not have any friends that were in the animation/illustration/graph/painting/filmmaking world... and now I do! yay! We all went for (yummy) Victor's Pizza afterwards, and