birthday weekend!!!

I had a pretty darn good weekend.

Friday, while I was at work the car died. It had been giving us problems, and after Jay dropped me off at work, it finally went kaput. Let me tell you how much that screwed up our plans. We were supposed to hang out that night with some friends to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup (which the Wings lost, btw. Boo!). Since we were now carless, we had to go somewhere within walking distance. We tried the normal place, but it was so packed you couldn't even see the floor, let alone sit down. We tried one other place before giving up, and that place actually had seats. In fact, it was the same little divey Irish pub that we spent St. Patrick's Day in. Whatever, it worked. Our friends came out there with us, and maybe we had a few shots and beers. We went back to our place and hung out for a while before they went home.

Saturday was the day we had a lot of plans. Jay had an important appointment that luckily he was able to put off til this week, and we were going to do a shopping run for my bday party. Instead, we pretty much sat around all day until some other friends came over. He brought his Wii, and I played Wii Punch Out for the 1st time ever. I did pretty darn good, too - I made it all the way to the 3rd guy on my first try, and I only lost that fight by decision. I never actually got knocked out. Then we Wii bowled and played Wii hula hoop, and those things have convinced me even more that I need a Wii. There was a trip to the grocery store that involves us getting yelled at by the cashier while trying to buy some expensive liquor that I don't feel like going into right now. We didn't do anything wrong - the cashier just didn't know how to do her job and was mad at us because we weren't doing it for her.

Sunday was my bday party. Because of the car situation, the morning was a bit hectic. Jay had to have the car towed to his friend's house to get it worked on, and I had to arrange a ride for myself and the 2 friends that had stayed over, plus a quick grocery trip. All that got worked out, but we were still running later than Jay and I had planned on. I called the friends from Friday night, and they were already at the park. The spot we originally wanted was taken by then, but they found us a nice spot real close to that one so people were still able to find us. Jay was able to get the car fixed for cheaper than he expected and joined us not too long after we got there.

There was a lot of people and food and cake (and booze) and I think good times were had by all. Our park spot had a good amount of shade, so there were no sunburns (though f course I was prepared for it). In fact, the weather was absolutely perfect all day, right up until 9pm. The park closes at 9, so we few remaining stragglers were packing up when it started to sprinkle. We got everything in the car and headed home. When we arrived, we had time to unload the car and walk the dog before it started pouring. I love when the weather cooperates, and it's been doing it a lot lately for me.

Monday I was off work, and thank goodness because I needed a recovery day. I wasn't hungover or anything, but I think the stress & excitement of my birthday just wiped me out. I slept about 12 hours, and when I woke up my arms were very sore & stiff, probably from the Punch Out on Saturday. After a nice leisurely breakfast (though it was definitely lunchtime) we decided to go over to the mall. I had some gift certificates that needed spending - Victoria's Secret and Godiva Chocolate. Do my friends know me or what? So I bought some new panties & a bra and a ton of chocolate. So far I've been very good and have not eaten it all, though I easily could and I really really want to.

So that was my bday weekend. There are a bajillion pictures, but I am too lazy to post them. Use your imaginations. ;)

hangin with the band

Our last show in Detroit was last night - Backyard Tire Fire. We saw them open for the Reverend Horton Heat a few months ago, and they put on a heckuva show, so when we heard they were headlining for the 1st time in Detroit, we were all about it.

We got to the bar, paid our $10, got our hands stamped, and we were the only people there. I mean literally, there were the people that worked there, the bands, and me and Jay. We meandered to the merch station to buy a cd and the drummer from BTF, Tim, came over and started talking to us. I don't know if he recognized us from the Rev show (where we also hung out with him for a little bit) or is just a super friendly guy - probably both. Jay bought a cd, and Tim went to go get the other 2 members of the band so they could sign it for us. Since there was nobody else around and the show didn't start for a little while, the band hung around with us drinking beers and chatting. We told them of our upcoming move, and it turns out they are originally from Asheville. In fact, Jay's favorite song, "How the Hell Did You Get Back?" is actually about their move from Asheville back to Illinois. Jay was wearing his Big Lebowski shirt, so we took turns quoting that movie for a little while. Eventually they headed backstage and we found some seats.

Our friends Michael & Lisa showed up, which is cool because I love them. Then the show started. The opening band was called Dirt Road Logic, and they looked like they were having a good time up there. The music wasn't bad, but I still prefer BTF. While DRL was playing, BTF was in the audience with us. (There were more people now, but I think it peaked around 40 or 50.) Jay bought them a round of beers, and then they went on stage.

What's that, you want pictures? These were taken with my phone cam because we forgot to bring the real camera. (Lay off, I was sick yesterday and not thinking clearly!)

It was a good time. I just want to point out that the drummer looks like Neil from the Young Ones, the singer looks like Luis Guzman the actor, and the bassist looks like the singer (they ARE brothers). After they played, we got to hang out with them a bit more. I had mentioned earlier that I wanted to get a tank top, because as we all know, I'm a sucker for a cute tank top. Tim asked if I had gotten it yet, I said no, and he gave me one at a discount. This is it:

BTF said they play Asheville all the time, so we'll definitely see them again. We'll probably hang with them again too, because I have a feeling they'll remember us. But if you ever hear of them playing in your area (Midwesterners, I'm talking to YOU!) definitely go see them. They are a very good time.

surprise concert!

 lot of my friends in various places across the country have been going to the NIN/JA Tour, which is Nine Inch Nails & Jane's Addiction. Everyone has said it was a good show. I thought it would be, and I was jealous of all those people that got to go. Then the other day I heard on the radio that the tour was coming to Detroit May 31. I let out an audible gasp and looked at Jay. I knew we couldn't afford to go, but I really really wanted to. Jane's Addiction has been one of my favorite bands since I was like 15. I have all their cds and even a movie they made. NIN is cool too, though I haven't bought a cd of theirs since I was a freshman in high school. But I knew they would both put on a good show, if only I had the $22 - $96 required. Jay even tried to win tickets for me, but no luck.

Then yesterday morning, I received a text from my buddy Max asking if anyone wanted to go to the show that night, free of charge. My phone happened to be right next to me, so I texted him back immediately. (Part of the benefits of having a full QWERTY keyboard phone is my lightning-fast texting skillz.) I was the first to respond, so I was going to the concert.   

The very first band (which we only caught 2 songs of) was Street Sweeper Social Club, fronted by Tom Morello and Boots Riley. Not really the style of music I usually go for, but they put on a damn fine show. During the break, we walked around DTE Theater, which I'd never been to. It has a giant lawn (those are the cheap seats) and lots of trees and plants. Quite a nice place, actually. (It used to be called Pine Nob, for any old-skool Detroiters out there.)

We came back to our seats in time for NIN. The sun was still out, and Trent Reznor made a crack about how these songs are written in the dark and meant to be performed in the dark, but here they are bright as day, so to speak. The only disappointment I had was that Trent cut his hair. I think it showed his age more and I preferred when he looked like Professor Snape.

Cameras were allowed, so I took full advantage of that, believe me. I've posted only a few here. The rest are viewable on my flickr account. (Link to come later today.) I also got a few videos. (Link also to come later today.)

NIN used a fog machine, and the effects were kind of lost in the daylight. But the brightness allowed some good pictures. (As always, click to enlarge.)

Jane's Addiction was much harder to photograph. Not only had the sun gone down, but they used a lot of blue lighting AND they were running around like crazy people, even though they mostly played mellower songs. It made for a really awesome show, but also a lot of blurry shots. Here are a few of the better ones. 

So that was the show. Thanks again to Max for bringing me along and giving me an early ( 2 weeks!) bday present. He didn't say it was for my bday, but I like to assume that it was. 

Here is the link to my flickr with the rest of the photos, and my Youtube for 5 videos (2 NIN / 3 Jane's).

movie time

The other day I was eating some apples and peanut butter while Jay was cleaning up in the other room. A commercial came on that said "this weekend is your last chance to see Coraline in 3-d." Even though he was in another room and my mouth was full, he knew that I shot him a panicked look. "Don't worry, we'll go see it." he shouted. So today we did.

See? 3-D glasses.


That's the snow from outside reflecting in mine.

The movie was good. (For the record, everything is better in 3-d. It was like looking through those old skool viewmasters.) I read the book and really had to try not to freak out with things were different. Like when they invented a supporting character! Or that the family was now from Michigan instead of England. But the handmade animation was cool. It was a nice mix between the Nightmare Before Christmas, the Others, and Beetlejuice. It was creepy enough to be entertaining, but a kid could still watch it. I recommend it.

So now, I've seen 2 movies in Michigan. Both of them were in 3-d. This is a good trend. However, last time I must not have gone into the bathroom. I'm pretty sure I would have remembered this:


There's a giant curved red bench that you can see in the corner there. But I really like that whole "infinity" effect what with the lights and mirrors and space and whatnot.


(As always, click on the photos to enlarge.)

home again home again part 2

First, read part 1 if you missed it.

So I woke up in my fancy hotel room around 7ish (but I was still on Eastern time, so it felt like 10). My BFF was supposed to leave her house around 7:30 and head over to pick me up so we could start our long drive north. This gave me time to shower and head down to the restaurant to use my $15 meal voucher. As the host sat me, I heard him point out to the waitress which tables were using the vouchers, and it was a good 75% of them. I noted this so I would be sure to give a good tip, which wasn't included in the voucher. I had a veggie & cheese omelette, coffee, pineapple juice (yum!) and a plate of fresh fruit. Lemme tell you, even though it's winter, California still has the best fruit out of anywhere. What I didn't gobble up, I got in a to go box - which I promptly forgot at the table and had to come back and get. Fortunately, the host was waiting for me, fruit in hand.

Bout this time, BFF called. There was less traffic than she had expected (it was MLK day) and was on the street of the hotel but couldn't find it. I hadn't actually seen my surroundings in the daylight yet, so I looked out to this:


If you ignore my reflection, you can see the SF bay and the airport directly across. I described the area to BFF by naming the other hotels, the 76 station, etc. She said she was at the 76 station and couldn't see the hotel. I told her that she must be at the wrong place, because she would definitely be able to see me. Turns out that 2 cities in the same area have the same address & street, only with different hotels. Confusing Bay Area. We got it figured out and she came and got me.

I'm not smart so I didn't leave the camera out for the 6-hour drive. Thus, no pictures of highway 101 or the redwoods or even the pizza place we ate lunch. We stopped at that pizza place because I remember it from when I was making this exact drive all the time - it's exactly halfway and very yummy. I didn't remember what it was called, but I described it well enough to BFF that she was able to find it no problem.

When we got to Eureka, we drove by the motel we would be staying at and then continued on to my parents' house. When I got there, my nephews were playing in the yard with someone I didn't know. Nobody else was home. I was like hi... I'm desiree... and she obviously knew who *I* was and introduced herself. (She turned out to be my stepbrother's girlfriend.) Since nobody I knew was home, I said I was going to show BFF back to her motel and I would call later.

When we got back to the motel, there were 2 cop cars in the parking lot. During the course of our stay, we would see 3 more. At least we were safe, right? I unlocked the door and immediately stepped back because I had just been knocked out by the smell of cat pee. Awesome. Then we saw the best bedspreads ever:


Please click on this picture, because it really needs to be examined closely to appreciate its greatness. BFF's bedspread even had a cigarette burn hole in it though it was supposed to be a non-smoking room. We opened the windows all the way, and I sprayed some lavender room spray that I had gotten as a gift from the last hotel. (You know, the nice one.) I'm not one to judge a motel purely on it's odor or bedspreads, but I should have run and run far. The toilet handle broke off so the toilet itself couldn't be flushed. We had the maid come fix it, but still. Then the water pressure in the shower was so high that taking a shower was painful - especially on that sensitive "nipple" area. BFF is too nice to ask for a new room, so we stuck with it. Oh well, it was just a place to sleep.

My sister wasn't getting into town until the morning, so I decided to stay with BFF that night instead of going back out to the house. I assured everyone that I would be there to go to the airport, but as BFF and I were pulling up to the house, they passed us on their way out. I was a little upset that they didn't wait for me (and in fact had to drive around us to get out of the driveway) but I also understood that there were other things going on.

I hung with my Uncle Snot, who was on his best behavior. To get an idea of why we call him Uncle Snot, look at this picture from my sister's wedding of me and Jay:


It makes me laugh, but you know.

Eventually everyone got back from the airport, so my sister and I sort of "teamed up." There was nothing we could really do to help with anything because all the rest of the family (not my stepmom) was taking care of everything. I was actually relieved I didn't have to do anything, but I also felt useless. BFF was still in town, so I went out to dinner with her at Tomo, my favorite Japanese restaurant. It was delish as always. We also went to the Lost Coast Brewery which has one of the few types of beer that I like (Great White).

Ok, stay tuned for part 3. I'm not sure if that will be the actual memorial party or the trip home, but you know it's gonna (continue to) be a great story.

new year's eve

I woke up this morning with an ice cream headache, that I did not have the pleasure of earning by eating ice cream. I'll admit, it's probably from going over my drink limit last night, but when your limit is 2 drinks, it's fairly easy to do. (I had 4 rum & pineapples.)

Yesterday I had to work, but I got to give Kaitlyn her bday / xmas present. She seemed to enjoy it, and I enjoyed watching her wear it. When I got home, there was a couch nap to be had. This caused us to leave the house a bit later than we wanted to, but luckily we were only going a block. Not coincidentally, we discovered our local karoke bar exactly a year ago, and because we are suckers for tradition, we went there again.

This year there was a $5 cover. Since we didn't know about it, we didn't plan for it. Jay had 5 dollars in his wallet, but I had used my own $5 for lunch. I don't know why we were each allotted only that amount of money, btw. We got to the door, IDs in hand, and Jay sweet talked the bouncer and ended up paying only one cover, getting me in for free.

There can be great people watching at a bar, especially at a celebration. The best were the 2 couples directly across from us. They were having lots of pre-midnight makeout parties, and it was far more entertaining than any "regular" kissing ever could be. I understand that when you're drunk things can get a little sloppy, but this was ridiculous. Rather than confining the kiss to the lips, the guy had grabbed the girl's head and was literally nomnomnomnoming her whole face. I think there was some unintenional eyeball licking as well. But the chick was into it, so good for her. (I tried getting pictures to show you all, but alas and alack, I had not brought my camera and even though my phone cam is awesome, it's one shortcoming is distance pictures - especially in dark bars. I think Jay and I will have to do a re-enactment so you can see the kissing in all it's glory.)

Next to the makeout party was the pass-out party. They had their moments of lucidity, but it quickly devolved into the chick talking on her cellphone using only the words "fucking bitch" - but not in an angry way, in a drunk chick talking to her friends way - and the guy slowly letting his eyelids droop until they were all the way closed. At first he was swaying back and forth to the music, but soon that stopped and he was just out. I didn't really want any of them driving home, but that guy least at all. When it was time for them to go, a fairly large group of people had to help that guy walk out the door, eyes still closed.

In that group were a few other characters: the bartender who may have had a few himself and was dancing behind the bar all night, generally having a good time. He looked a little like my old boss, who in turn looked like Wolf Blitzer, but I wont hold that against him. There was also the odd pairing of the long haired stoner dude from Dazed & Confused and his buddy, the Jersey guido (complete with gold cross on a chain outside his tight black t-shirt) that sang like Sebastian Bach. There was the guy who got up to sing some Bon Jovi* and his buddy who sang backup for him. It's only fair, I mean every Jovi needs a Sambora, but it was a little ridiculous and therefore hilarious.

Jay got up and did his standard ACDC's "Big Balls," but for some reason the music was especially quiet so it didn't get the reaction it deserved. I think the KJ didn't want to get in trouble with that song because she had been reluctant to play it in the first place. So even though mine may have been louder, I didn't bother doing my Stray Cat Strut. The audience (what was left of it) was pretty much doing their own thing anyways, so not long after that we went home to begin the new year.





* I learned in NYC that no karaoke night is complete without a little Bon Jovi, but there it was always "Livin on a Prayer". Last night Jovi and Sambora sang "Wanted Dead or Alive" (and if you know the song you can imagine the backup vocals very easily).

Also no karaoke night is complete without "Piano Man" by Billy Joel to close out the night in a big group sway, and as soon as I made a comment about it, it happened. It was a good way to prove my point.