audio: "i want you back

audio: "i want you back (readymade 524 mix)." the jackson five.

am finally getting around to lots of things i'd put off, including listening to some of the CDs people have sent me via Burn, Baby, Burn!.

am on Drew's Burnt 2002 mix...and dude. again, i am forced to conclude that Konishi Yasuharu singlehandedly GENERATES the world's crack supply. he *must*. there's simply no other way to explain it.

...that being said, am having loads and loads of fun.

[note to self: stop neglecting guitar. it misses you. XD]

perhaps more later...

audio: "you're so great." blur.

audio: "you're so great." blur.

forgotten bits of amusement from this weekend...

on the way to the band thing Friday night. Jon had picked me up and we were driving in to pick up Dale and were then going to head over to Mike's from Dale's house. on the way to Dale's, i mentioned the Terry Hall/Electronic connection, cos i knew he'd care. at least, about the Terry Hall part. XD but i had to explain Electronic *again*. this is probably mostly paraphrased, as my head is NOT a bloody tape recorder (despite the alleged resemblance...XD). but i've got the gist of it, i'm sure...

Jon: ...i don't know if i'd like them. that Smiths thing. too angsty for me. you can't tell me the Smiths weren't incredibly angsty.

me: ...but i wouldn't say Johnny was the main source of all angst. that was mainly Morrissey's gig. f'rinstance, his stance on listening to other people's music...and how it was absolutely unthinkable that anyone in the band could go out and buy, say, a New Order record. simply cos it might push the Smiths' record down a notch, someone having bought that ONE EXTRA record from the competition.

Jon: ...that can't possibly have been a good environment. O.O;;;

me: indeed.

Jon: ...but, say. that's a really good idea. THAT'S IT...i'm decreeing from here on out: you are NOT allowed to listen to anything other than SWEK music anymore. i don't care that we don't have records out...you're not going to pollute yourself by listening to other people!

me: O.o;;; (trying not to laugh)

Jon: ...oh wait, we don't *have* any of our own music! nevermind...XD

perhaps it was funnier at the time...? XD

and what else...hrrm, there was the moment when Spaz decided we should go buy a farm and raise a herd of alpaca. and i swear there was something else i wanted to mention, but i can't remember it just now. --;;; oh well.

i got most of the pictures from Acen scanned up last night...just have to scan up a few more, then it's FTP fun for me and also trying to make them into some sort of coherent thing for public consumption. XD in the meantime, i give you photos of the hair, as it is now.

as a bonus, you also get to see my favourite coats. some of which i've mentioned here randomly, cos i'm very proud of them. a) they're cute, and b) i think all three in total cost me around $40. so i'm proud of my skills at *something*. XD i also appreciate these pictures (though Spaz doesn't, and he's the one who took them) cos they let you see me...but not, all at the same time. (yes, i am indeed pale, but i'd like to think i'm not quite *that* pale. XD) and the colour of the hair is accurate to what it is in real life, unlike the last pictures i showed you. be entertained. if not by that, by the fact that i obviously like what others consider to be bad photography. XD

(and yes, i know the furry coat is missing a button. thing is, with something like that, you're going to end up replacing ALL the buttons, cos you're not going to find one that exactly matches unless you're very, VERY lucky and/or have a whole lot more time on your hands to search than i do. so i've been on the lookout for a set...in addition to the 6 that should be on the front, there are two more on the back. if anyone knows where i'd be able to find some big, nice antique coat buttons in a set of 8, i'd be eternally grateful if you'd let me know...sankyuu. ^-^)

audio: "excuse me while i

audio: "excuse me while i drink myself to death." spent.

(thanks to Beeru-chan for making me think of the above. she's the *real* lush, not me. XD )

fairly decent weekend, all told. Friday night, we had a band party. gathered at Mike's and ordered pizza, listened to the recording of the show from last week, and watched a movie. (well, some of us watched the movie. some others of us drank a teensy bit of Bass and fell fast asleep on the floor. yessirree, typical party for me. sleep is a party in and of itself, and don't let anyone tell you differently. XD)

as for the recording, it's not so bad. Jon had me thinking it was really terrible...and while it's not the most ideal thing in the world, it's not nearly as bad as i'd been expecting. some MP3s will be up sometime soon...whenever Jon gets around to making them. i will of course keep you apprised. but i wholeheartedly second, third, and fourth the notion that we INDEED need stage monitors with a group this size...'specially for the horn players. >.<;;;

saturday, made some chicken satay for Rob's party...also finally perfected sweet (as opposed to hot) peanut sauce for the satay. Spaz can't handle hot foods, so this was a necessity...and it turned out REALLY nummy. and still has red curry paste in it! w00t! i will get my evil curry into you one way or another! mwahahahahhah! XD

(just goes to show that if you grow up in a combination of households serving american, indian, and thai foods, sooner or later, you WILL foist curry on everyone. i have a biological need for curry, don't you know...XD)

i think it's the best satay i've ever made...AND i apparently soaked the skewers long enough this time, as they indeed did not catch fire. XD yay for lack of chicken pyrotechnics! ^^

the party was fun. Rob and Nancy's house is very nice, and they have very friendly cats. in fact, i started mewling at them as the evening wore on, which woke them from sound sleep curled on the couch in between Nancy and Maggie and made them come and congregate (can two individuals congregate? XD) at my feet. looking at me strangely. they'd never seen a pink cat before, after all. XD

Rob made excellent gazpacho and some sort of salad...Maggie made some sort of rice thing that was really good, and EXCELLENT flan. my god. i could've died quite happily while eating this flan. ^^ some neighbours of Rob and Nancy's brought strawberry shortcake, which was also excellently good. and Rob broke out some nummy spumoni. much dessertish goodness was had...which was, of course, the most important part of the meal. or of any meal, really. so it was fun.

got home, fast-forwarded through the tape i'd set for Top of the Pops. watched small bits...the Doves song seemed pretty good, if a bit long. they seemed a bit nervous. Pulp's song ("Bad Cover Version," for the curious) dragged on a bit, but at least it was performed LIVE. i shall have to go back and watch again, but i do believe the only two songs that weren't in fact performed live were whatever song Holly Valance did...and New Order doing "Here to Stay."

a severely truncated version, too. pared down even from the shortness (relatively) of the radio edit. *glares* and mimed badly. which was partially entertaining, and partially sad. mostly sad. and Hooky looked like he was going to fall over...though the one point when he was playing the electronic drum kit and looked like he was going to attack it at any moment with his teeth was kinda funny. XD Stephen just looked...annoyed. and Barney can't lip-synch...he was totally out of time. XD the hopping around was kinda funny, though.

and right after were the chart announcements...and then Oasis. doing "The Hindu Times," of course. ( Kimmie, if you want a copy, let me know. i already know some others of you will want one, and shall oblige...soon. XD) as TotP is 40 minutes long, there was a 20-minute-long "Little Laters" thing on afterward (truncated Jools Holland) featuring the Stereophonics, which i also taped but haven't yet watched...

so the TotP thing was slightly disappointing. i'd known it was going to be mimed. and evidently when they did "Crystal," they mimed that, too. but they used to have a policy wherein they refused to go on if they couldn't perform the song live. this policy apparently did them no favours when they did "Blue Monday" live, but i thought it was rather cool that they'd stuck to that. so, kinda sad...especially since this was the first time i'd gotten the chance to see one of their TotP performances. i end up torn...good for exposure, yes, but this performance prolly won't do them any favours in terms of getting people to go out and buy the singles and/or the soundtrack to 24HPP...

eh, whatever. but either way, the distinct lack of Gillian seems so very wrong...;.;

audio: "shadowplay." (live, from les

audio: "shadowplay." (live, from les bains douches.) joy division.

there's actually not too much more to tell, so i can prolly condense this, since i've rambled on so long about last weekend...XD

SATURDAY

dunno when we actually got back to the con, but we knew it would be a zoo. since there were people everywhere. and really, most of it passed in quite a haze...got to see Heather's tea ceremony demonstration, and watched her niece Amber for a little while as Heather was setting up her equipment and waiting for Mara to arrive and help her.

oh, wait...Amber!

i nearly forgot! it was SO GREAT. Amber is about 6, right? and very, very adorable. and she was dressed up as Sailormoon. and earlier in the day, apparently she and Heather had stopped by one of the egg-encased-toy machines over at Anime Jungle's booth and picked up a little Sailormoon figure for her to play with.

problem was (and you'll find this if ever you've played with one of these types of toys), parts of her kept flying off whenever you tried to play with her. and she wouldn't stand up on her own, either. XD

Amber, for her part, was having a really great time playing with this. she'd be going (in a high-pitched voice, as Sailormoon), "Oh, it's time for me to go to school...aaaaaah! My legs fell off! I have to go get them!" and on and on. you get the idea.

i was highly amused. but of course, made the mistake of saying that since it all fit together with little pegs that were all the same size (and therefore interchangeable), if it were *my* toy, i'd probably put her together all wrong on purpose. so Amber diligently did so, which ended up in Sailormoon's head being up her skirt and her legs coming out of her neck. XD

(it got even better later on...i've got some great photos of Dale playing with the Sailormoon doll. will post them up later, along with all the other ones i've been promising. XD)

oh, and the Food Chain moment! was in the main hall, and i see this trio of girls dressed in GORGEOUS costumes that were either from some visual kei group or from Angel Sanctuary...was really difficult for me to tell. ^^;;; at any rate, i wanted photos. so i was chasing them down when my phone rings; it's Kev, looking for us. i inform him that i'm chasing some cosplayers to take a photo, and will have to call him back. chase them, get a couple photos, and turn around to go back over by Spaz, who is waiting patiently for me over by a large plant at the side of the hall, out of the stream of people.

...and get a mad tapping on my shoulder. "Excuse me, can i have your autograph?" a girl who was quite a bit taller than me asked me, rather shyly. and thus, the food chain. XD

went around, met up with friends...went through the dealer's room again...bought some Tarepanda hair clips and some cute stationary, which rounded out the extent of everything i actually bought from the dealer's room that weekend. shock, shock...spent under $40 in total. ^^

...and sometime, in the dealer's room, a very strange thing happened.

i was glomped, randomly. by a girl who i did not know. not knowing what to do, i hugged her back...she seemed harmless enough, and i'd not felt a knife stab into my ribs or anything as she hugged me. XD by way of explanation, she squealed, "...you're the SWEK singer!"

O.o;;; er, yes. she then said she really liked our show, and some other boys behind her said the same and shook my hand. and a bunch of people had indeed seen me and said similar things, but i've never had someone i didn't know randomly glomp me before...so please excuse my surprise. she really was very nice. XD

more congoing stuff, more congoing stuff...and then i had people actually FREAK OUT over me. they were dressed up really nicely, too...one dressed as Li Syaoran in full battle costume, and another dressed up as Pyoko from DiGi Charat. both were having a nice conversation when Spaz and i walked by, and then they started spluttering and freaking out and staring at me. i smiled and kept going, and then one of them said "It's the SWEK singer! It's the SWEK singer!" and was hopping up and down and pointing at me. by this point, i was a little further away, so i waved and smiled...unsure what to do. and then Pyoko asked very politely if she could take my picture, and i said sure. and she did. but...weird. O.O;;;

i mean, nice. these people are nice. but the reason i find it particularly odd is that these aren't our songs. we're having fun doing them, and i'm certainly glad people like them, but i think i'd feel a little less weird about it if we'd actually written these songs that people are freaking out over, y'know? it just seems...strange to me.

and so, on it went. and i also did an interview later on. Ganymede has an anime show he does in Cleveland (which may expand...he'd like it to) and was there with press passes and had a nice press setup in a room near ConOps. Mara interviewed me, and we were placed in front of a green screen...much speculation has been had over what's going to be chroma-keyed behind us (free pr0n! w00t! XD), of course. as he handed me the release form and the questions sheet to look over, Ganymede said, "wow, this is weird...i don't think i've ever handed one of these to a friend before." XD true enough. strange. XD they'd interviewed Crispin Freeman and Jessica Calvello earlier, too, apparently. and this was Mara's first day interviewing. they promised me a copy of the tape (and of our show, which they also taped) so i can see how dorky i appeared. XD

after all that, we went out to dinner again. this time, it was Spaz, Caleigh, Ganymede, Heather, Mara, Amber, and me...and we went to the Bowl House! ^_________________________________^

god, i love the Bowl House! so nummy! Amber was taught how to use chopsticks, and Caleigh had just come for some green tea ice cream...much food was enjoyed and random weird discussions were had. after Amber had been picked up by her mother, of course. there was a great one about how cleavage apparently echoes...something about how Mara's car is really a gay man, and i pointed out the wrongness inherent in her riding inside a gay man, and Caleigh declared that her hair is really a gay man, so she's got him sitting on her head...and, uh, this was all without the aid of alcohol. XD but it was loads of fun, and very, very good food. have i mentioned lately that i love the Bowl House? because i DOOOOOOOOO...*.*;;;;

oh, and before Priya punches me, the Takahashi brothers. there was a family who had come in shortly before us to the Bowl House, and there were two teenage boys who were obviously brothers in this family. and i SWEAR, they were the spitting image of the Takahashi brothers from Initial D. and i didn't even notice it at the time...Spaz pointed it out to me the next morning! and really, they *were*! O.O;;; and here i just thought they were very pretty boys...while all the time, they could've been at the cosplay we were boycotting and winning the entire show! XD

SUNDAY

knew it would be sort of a downer, as Sunday of the con usually is. called up Priya to see when and where we should meet up, got ready, went to the hotel and went upstairs to wake Caleigh up (as we'd promised her the night before). she was already up, and we told her we were going to get breakfast with Priya and asked if she wanted to come with. she did, and we went downstairs to find Priya and co. in the dealer's room.

went and hung out with Priya at Sally's (again), wherein Priya half-strangled me when i told her i'd learned how to play a certain something on my keyboard. (much like FioFio, she insisted that i must record. i made no promises. XD) nummy breakfast was had, and we all went our separate ways...was nice to meet Priya, and she is indeed quite a Special individual. XD

afterward, went back to the hotel. and waited. and waited. and wasted more time. and waited. ran into Terra again. and waited. and waited. and watched Caleigh do her flop-dancing (pictures to come, i promise). and watched Sarah drag Caleigh around the dancefloor by her feet (pictures, i swear!). why were we waiting?

had to get our stuff loaded out after closing ceremonies were over. (which netted us lots of free chocolate, BTW. ^^) so much waiting was done. eventually, we got most of it loaded into the Explorer Jon had brought with and the old Jetta we'd brought with. drove it (and Mike) back to Jon's house, dropped a bunch off...Eric and Sarah and Caleigh had gone home, and Dale and Mike went to go get food before heading back to pick up the rest of our stuff. Jon and Spaz and i went to Omega (mmmm...ravioli and REALLY GOOD bread...o.o;;;), and that was that. all told, Sunday was the most exhausting day of the weekend, really.

conked out, woke up with a sore throat and thoroughly exhausted Monday morning, so was absent from work. drove a bit, and was doing better...and obtained myself an Invader ZIM faceplate for my cell phone. which is really, really cool. and has purple buttons. ^.^

...and now it's friday again, and what have i got accomplished?

not much. XD

we'll be listening to the MD of the performance at practice tonight (which isn't really going to be practice...just a gathering, morelike). if anything is worth it, MP3s will hopefully be made available soon. should try to post pictures this weekend.

to Keito-chan, Jae Young, Fifichu-chan, and Beeru-chan, and to anyone else who wished me good luck...THANK YOU very, very much. i really, really appreciate it. and much love to you all. and to everyone, really.

for if i am not full of love, what *am* i full of, really?

(none of you answer that, please. XD)

Sumy? i very, very, VERY

Sumy?

i <3 you. you are so very, very, VERY WRONG.

XD

more later. wherein you'll get to hear about my fangirls. o.o;;;

audio: "when you wake, you're

audio: "when you wake, you're still in a dream." my bloody valentine.

FRIDAY NIGHT: THE AFTERSHOW GATHERING

so, we'd invited Mariam, her mom (who sang at me when she saw my shirt...which i greatly appreciated. XD), Damon, Kevin, the rest of the band, whoever they wanted to bring, Sarah, Caleigh, Heather, Ganymede, Mara, Denise and her friends...basically, a whole huge bunch of people to converge upon the Mongolian Stir Fry. having contacted them a couple days ago, they said we didn't need any reservation even though the group was going to be rather large...and since they closed at 10:30 Friday night, we would have plenty of time to eat (as we needed to be out of the room by 8pm at the very latest, as the next event was going on then).

did we think everyone would actually go along with us? no, of course not. usually NO ONE goes along with plans Spaz and i come up with. usually.

but this time, to our shock and delight, EVERYONE decided to come with...'cept Denise and her friends, but they'd already said they might not be able to make it since they wanted to go to the yaoi panel later that night, and were afraid they wouldn't make it back in time. so no big deal. ^^

even bigger shocker: Jon's dad was apparently so impressed by the show (and/or feeling really, REALLY generous...we're still not sure which) that he said if we went somewhere reasonably priced, he'd buy us all dinner. O.O;;;; i told Jon what this place cost (around $12.95/head plus drinks, but it's all=you-can-eat and has such a variety that EVERYONE is happy), and he relayed the information to his dad, who nodded but didn't say anything.

as we'd all planned to pay for our food anyway, i don't think anyone really cared. off we went...also minus Mariam's mom, cos she was tired and wanted to go home.

and despite how many carloads of people ended up going, everyone ended up at the right place and no one (except briefly for Nathan) got lost. O.O;;;

and even better...we all had a really great time! Mariam and i decided we needed alcohol. which is an odd occurrence for me, but we thought if we split a drink, it'd be fine. thing was, the drink menu was one that didn't really tell you what was *in* anything, and we wanted to choose something we hadn't had before...so we chose a scorpion. which basically turned out to be like a much stronger amaretto sour.

the waitress showed up with *two* drinks, though. one was a mai tai...and no one knew who'd ordered it. as we were at this point the only ones in the restaurant, Mariam decided she'd buy it anyway. so we kept rotating the two back and forth...and both were VERY strong. add to this the fact that Mariam hadn't eaten all day, and you end up with a very drunk Mare-mare. XD as for myself, i only got rather tipsy and red-faced, but not full-on drunk. thank you very much. XD

(this is of note mostly because i'm usually much more of a lightweight than she is...i drink a WHOLE lot less often than she does, and i never had much of a tolerance to begin with. i get drunk quite quickly, go to sleep, and/or end up vomitting quite easily. whee. now you know why i don't generally drink much. XD well, that and i don't usually like the feeling of being completely trashed...haven't really done that since i was 16. but. i've digressed. XD)

...and actually, i can't remember all that much from the rest of the night. (perhaps i was more drunk than i thought...? XD) i know Spaz and Rob were amusing each other endlessly, and Mariam kept teasing me with bits of stories about Mme. C but then not telling me the rest...Kevin and i ended up singing the opening theme from Aqua Teen Hunger Force several times...i changed the lyrics around accidentally to "livin' in my car, drivin' like a star,"...Mariam and i sang bits of the christmas carols we'd reworked years ago for X-files purposes ("Walking with the Cancer Wunderkind," "Away in a Silo," and "Hark! It's Krycek's Retinal Burn!" come immediately to mind...XD lyrics provided upon request, 'cept for "Hark!", cos we lost the bloody things soon after writing them! ;.; it was all about seeing Mulder in the infamous red speedo, though...>.<;;;;)...oh, and when Mariam had to go to the bathroom and needed me to go with her so she had someone to lean on whilst stumbling there, i FINALLY got her to admit (albeit, she *was* very trashed at the time) that a particular photo of a particular individual from a particular issue of Les Inrockuptibles was indescribably beautiful. *coughs* hah. victory is MINE, i tell you! XD

the food was good. we had some sort of pudding at the end, and Mariam and i couldn't quite decide if it was rice pudding or tapioca pudding, but it was really good in any case. fortune cookies were served and read, ending each (of course) with the obligatory "...in bed." (note: somehow, i do believe that if ever FioFio and i were to be in a similar situation, we'd end it with "with a goat," or possibly "barney goat kissy kissy!" instead...XD) i forget what all else. oh, i wished i'd had more shots left in those disposable cameras, for Kev looked absolutely smashing! his hair is v. long now, and mostly black...'cept for two bright blue streaks at the front, and he had a blue satin tie that matched. along with blue bits on his boots. ^-^ was very, very nice. but he usually has a lot of fun dressing, so no surprise there.

i don't remember what all we talked about, really. band stuff...other random stuff...changing our name to "Free Pr0n" and/or "Pikaho!" (there was this girl who i'm SURE YOU'LL SEE PICTURES OF elsewhere dressed up as a Pikaho. and a guy with her dressed up as Pimpin' Ash. with feather in his cap, a pokeball on his cane and the works. oi. XD) everyone thought Mariam and i should get a bit drunker, as Mariam's quite amusing when drunk and no one there had ever seen me drunk before, but to their sadness, this did not happen. XD hahha! Rob and Jon left early; Rob cos he wanted to go home, and Jon cos he wanted to get back to Priya's parlor panel of 3v331. oh, and Jon's dad did indeed pay for all our food...we paid for our drinks. i'd thought he'd just meant the band, but he paid for EVERYONE. my god, what a nice man! O.O;;;;

we had to go back too, both to drop off Mike at the hotel and also to pick up some of my stuff out of Jon's room. so i went in, called Jon, got the room key, went and retrieved my stuff. went back downstairs to the yaoi panel to return the room key, and Jon was already up at the front, actually sitting *on* the panel (which he hadn't yet been when i'd left).

so i went, gave him the key, and he punched Priya in the back to get her attention (as she was talking and gesticulating wildly to someone else...Karen, maybe?). she turns around and Jon points at me. and i say, "Yes. Now you know the face of your enemy!" XD

to which Priya responds, quite calmly, "I will destroy you." and then turns around and goes right back to whatever conversation she'd previously been having.

XD *that* was entertaining.

after that, went home. collapsed. and got ready to go back to the con and do it all over again...

[update: NOW i remember! Mariam and i slipped into Patsy and Edina mode again! we hadn't done that since high school, i think! or at least, since that one party at her old apartment, with the Night Train...XD how could i forget? it was amusing. heh. XD and i am not a lush. thank you. XD]

part five (in which i got randomly glomped by fangirls!) still to come...

attention, attention: bow down before

attention, attention:

bow down before the tune. the tune is god.

(that being said, we are now changing our name to "free pr0n." imagine all the interesting individuals who will show up to our shows! XD)

*coughs*

or, erm, not. XD

more Acen later. still have to tell you about dinner Friday night. XD

audio: "paradise." (more from reading

audio: "paradise." (more from reading '98) new order.

alright, so it was a bit mean to leave you hanging after that last bit. *snerk* here's the next...

FRIDAY NIGHT

so, i got all dressed up, Tony got all dressed up...and everyone gathered in front of Main Programming to get ready to do the show. plan was to gather there at 4:30 to be prepared the moment the Iron Guest competition was to let out so that we could immediately set up and get ready to play, as the more time we had to do so, the better.

Tony, for his part, looked absolutely amazing. he's got a ska band in Virginia, and therefore Knows How To Dress. (i have pictures to prove it, which i shall post here after i've scanned them. XD) the rest of us looked about as anyone who knows us would expect. Mike was shirtless again underneath his denim jacket, and i actually didn't realise this till much later, cos i'm incredibly observant. XD i was very tall, as the boots i was wearing (which kick arse, BTW) have very thick platformlike soles on them. so i was probably 5'7" or 5'8" or so in those boots. ^^

Iron Guest got out a bit late, so of course we ended up setting up late. and starting the show nearly on time, but late enough to where we ended up cutting songs out of the set...which was rather disappointing, as it was a GREAT AUDIENCE and we were doing quite well...and everyone was playing off of each other nicely, and all around, it was a great time. and the sound was really good this time round, too...unlike last year!

(the only real problem i had was that apparently the aux sends meant to let me hear my keyboard through my monitor weren't turned up properly. i tried to alert our sound guy to this [who, coincidentally, was our old keyboardist], but either i didn't communicate it clearly or he didn't hear me...so since i couldn't hear, i didn't play. >P )

but oh dear LORD. the crowd was HUGE. and very responsive, which was really cool. there were several songs which the audience got up and danced for, several more where arms were waved and people were singing along, and there was also a bit of a pit going up front! i saw at least three video cameras going, too...including one guy dressed as Parappa the Rapper who was right up front (excellent costume!). Ganymede later informed me that this guy apparently does an anime TV show somewhere on the west coast. (Spaz and Mariam were doing still camera duty for me with little disposable cameras, and i'll post those photos up later for your perusal. i'll also post up the set list later on, as i can't remember it completely off the top of my head! ^^;;;;)

one thing i do remember was that during "Blurry Eyes," two amusing things happened. one, i accidentally set off a drum pattern and didn't realise it until it was far too late...so there's this weird bossanova-like thing going on underneath it that confused everyone and which i tried to ignore. --;;;; argh. the other thing that amused most everyone was that my melodica kept falling to the floor (had been sitting on my keyboard) during the song. it got so that Rob (who, if you'll recall, was playing tuba for us) decided he would be Human Melodica Stand, and stood there off to my right holding it till it was time for me to play. XD

other assorted bits:

* Dale hopped down off the stage and utilised his wireless unit to its fullest advantage, chasing a few people around the room while playing for a few songs. again, there are photos and i'm sure video of this as it was going on...heh, what would we do without Dale? XD

* as had been previously planned, Tony got onstage to count us off for the Lupin OP we did (yay Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra! XD), and Alison also joined him and danced with me onstage. (only bad thing about those boots...they're very hard to dance in. =P) it was absolutely BRILLIANT. loads of fun, and the crowd again was amazing here. so happy everyone was dancing! ^-^

* someone offered to take the band out for dinner at the end, particularly Mike. XD

lots of good comments at the end, people chanting for an encore (which we couldn't give, due to time constraints)...people asking if we had CDs out, people saying they liked our version of such-and-such song better than the original (O.O;;;; now THAT, i don't believe at ALL. o.o;;;)...lots of stuff. Spaz remarked later on, "do you realise how many t-shirts you could've sold if you'd had them ready? O.O;;;" and he was right. they really liked us! ^-^)

so we started breaking down everything, and then Mme. C. hops up onstage to talk to me. now, Mme. C. has a long and sordid past with both my sister and a good friend of ours who was *also* there, called Kevin. shall not go into great detail here, but basically things between Mme. C. and my sister and also between her and Kevin aren't...good. but Mme. C either doesn't notice or doesn't care. in any case, she was there cos she was volunteering for the con. she hadn't realised i was in the band, and just *had* to talk to me after she saw us play.

Kev hopped up onstage and rescued me, which was nice. Mme. C went away, and all was good again. and of course, plans were in place for a huge group of us to go out to dinner at the fairly nearby Mongolian Stir Fry. fun, fun. exhilarated from a good performance and an excellent crowd (and hopefully a good recording!), we packed up and got ready to go to dinner.

[small update: forgot to mention that apparently my friend Marisa (dressed up as a lovely Faye Valentine in yellow vinyl) apparently was so into the show that she was bouncing around and her shirt accidentally popped open, so she ended up flashing us. Rob thinks only the horn players might have seen it, but man. poor Marisa...though i'm glad of course that someone was so excited about seeing us! ^.^]

part four soon to come...

audio: "shut off, curl up."

audio: "shut off, curl up." laika.

here's part two:

FRIDAY

after blearily stumbling around and getting myself together and showering and all that, a small group of us decided we needed breakfast. Rich kindly offered to drive, and Caleigh was quite sure there was a Denny's not far up the road.

problem was, she hadn't been there in about 10 years. since when she was 6. o.o;;; so, uh...we never quite made it there. we *did* find what we thought must've been a Denny's at one point (due to the shape of the structure and the shape of the sign out front), but which had since evidently turned into a Hooters. i realised we weren't far away from Sally's Pancake House, which has much better food and is much cheaper than Denny's anyway, so off we went...was Rich, Dale, Caleigh and i.

Caleigh didn't feel much like eating, but she was enjoying herself just the same. however, she *did* end up eating cos Rich's omelette came with a side of pancakes, and Rich apparently hates pancakes. Dale started guilt-tripping Caleigh ("oh, come on, those pancakes look so lonely! no one wants to eat them! don't you have any pity for them...?"), and so she ate the pancakes. i had nummy chocolate chip pancakes with a side of sausage links and a bunch of coffee. whee. ^^

boxed up what was left of my pancakes (no way i could finish them...i swear, pancakes are like sponges in your stomach!) and we drove back to the hotel. decided we all needed a little nap (Dale hadn't slept at all the previous night, it turned out), so we went back up to the room and all curled up in our various spots around the room to go to sleep.

after about half an hour, i was wide awake again. Dale couldn't sleep either, and Caleigh had been wide awake to begin with. Rich had been meditating again, but wanted to go out and explore...and Dale had wanted to paint his fingernails before the show. so Sarah, Caleigh, Dale, Rich and i went out to the chairs by the coffee machine and sat around painting our fingernails. XD (Dale wanted his to look like demons had been lapping at his fingertips, but it didn't quite work out that way...he just got stripes instead. XD)

Spaz showed up and we sat around a bit more. Dale decided he wanted to get a little more sleep and asked us to wake him up. we agreed...Sarah and Caleigh had gone off exploring and Rich had done likewise, so we decided maybe it was time to check out the dealer's room and try to get a program, to see if there were any events we wanted to go to.

saw a few people i knew, said hi...i believe this is when we ran into Juri in the hallway...? can't recall. anyway, was nice to see her again. ^^ she was on her way somewhere with some sort of beverage in her hand for someone else, so we didn't talk long. however, she did tell me a bit about the 3v33l Erasure sl0reage, so i of course had to tell her of the fount from which all 3v331 Erasure sl0reage in the world actually stems...XD

Anime Jungle came to the con! O.O;;; i was shocked! 'course, now they have that LA store...but they'd never been to Acen before! so dangerous and good! O.O;;; and Sasuga was there, and Kinokuniya...a bunch of people who hadn't been before. perhaps cos our con was always at the same time (or painfully close to) other cons in the past? who knows. anyway, 'twas exciting. i only bought one thing then, though...a used (but in REALLY EXCELLENT condition) copy of the special edition widescreen LD box of Perfect Blue. mainly so i don't have to give Mangle Entertainment my money, but still have a nice legit copy. XD the cel was of course missing from the box, but everything else was intact and in perfect condition, and i didn't really care. was $30. w00t. XD

wandered around a bit more...hit the con suite and saw that it was REALLY nice this year. ran into Heather and her friend Mara, and Heather was dressed up in kimono and was giving a tea ceremony demonstration...which i unfortunately missed the first time around, but as she was planning to do another on Saturday, i didn't feel too bad. the con suite was NICE this year, and Alison and CT were helping staff it, so it was fun to go and visit them as well.

after wandering around a bit more, tracked down Jon and went to go upstairs and change for the show. such lackadaisical congoers were we. XD

part three coming shortly...and my, aren't i a tease...? XD

audio: "touched by the hand

audio: "touched by the hand of god." (live, from reading fest '98) new order.

this weekend was, without a doubt, the best time i've had at Acen since the first year. and the first year was so cool primarily *because* it was the first year, and there was that whole first-year sense of wonder and amazement about it. this year...it was very laid back, all about hanging out with friends you never get to see except at these cons...and all in all, it was a great, great time. more than likely, recounting this will require at least a few entries. so here's the first...

THURSDAY NIGHT

right, so Thursday night is when it all began. i was allegedly to sleep on the floor of Jon, Eric and Tony's room so that we could have our practice at 5am Friday before opening ceremonies and all that. probably got to the hotel around...a little after 11pm or so that night. the main impetus for this was to make Spaz avoid having to get up and schlep my arse to Rosemont at 4am so i could go to practice, right?

sound setup in main programming was going on. we helped out where we could, but as Eric was in charge of sound for the whole weekend, and as Jon was also supposed to be helping (ConOps) and whatnot, we ended up sitting there for ages. and there was only so much we were allowed to/could do. i passed out across a row of chairs...which wasn't so bad, actually, as they were padded and i was quite exhausted. highly exciting. then Jon was ready to go upstairs, so we went up...and i later found out that Spaz didn't get to leave till 6am cos he was helping test out all the speakers and wotnot...>.<;;; so much for not putting him out any. but he didn't seem to mind too much...he did get into the con free, after all. XD

went upstairs, crawled into my sleeping bag, plopped my bunny pillow down on the floor, plugged earplugs into my ears, and went to sleep for about 5 hours or so. this was around 2:30-3am.

for anyone who may have done the math already, this does indeed mean we in fact did NOT have practice at 5am. Dale talked Jon out of it after i'd passed out, and actually most people (both in and out of the band) were betting we probably wouldn't, cos it would just be TOO MUCH. too exhausting. and Dale was just like, "if we don't know these songs by *now*, one more rehearsal isn't going to help us any. XD" which is true. so, sleep. sleep is GOOD. still needed more, but.

(poor Rich showed up at 4:30 though, thinking we were going to practice. and it had JUST been decided that we in fact were *not* right as he was walking in the door. ;.; so he meditated on the floor of Jon's room for awhile. and seemed pretty unperturbed, as it saved him from the parking nightmares to take place for anyone arriving at a respectable hour later on in the morning. XD)

part two still to come...

[slight update: upon careful reconsideration, the title of "touched by the hand of god" should really be changed to "touched (WHOOOOOOOOO!) by the hand of god" in accordance with the version i'm actually listening to. barney whooping. again. XD XD XD XD

more later on? perhaps... *sings* "...and if it wasn't for your big penis, i'd be a heavenly person today..." XD XD XD]

...no, Priya has not killed

...no, Priya has not killed me. nor (to my knowledge, at least) has she sucked my soul out and had done with the evil sl0reage entirely.

this weekend was mostly fun...in fact, the most fun i've had at a con since the first Acen, and that first time was mainly down to the sense of wonder at it being a) the first Acen, and b) my first anime con.

will write all about it later, when not exhausted. vitamin water saved me this weekend. *peers at Jae Young*

the show went well, and we did indeed record. whether or not the *recording* went well is another story entirely, but we had people dancing and a small mosh pit up front, so i'd say it went well. XD though of course i'm not satisfied. cos i never am. XD

also, it's v. strange to have people freak out over *you*. maybe it'd be less strange if we wrote our own songs...i don't know. but i have stories about this, as well. though of course, it being an anime con, i did end up blending in rather better (in spite of the bright fuschia hair) than one would normally expect...XD

didnae spend much money. prolly spent more on food than in the dealer's room, in fact. XD which is okay, cos i don't need more debt. really. XD

more later, but possibly not till tomorrow. i hope your and your Big Events went absolutely smashingly this weekend, and that your move into your nice new abode also went well! and to everyone else, much love. and exhaustion.

later...

RAR! right, so the Baldwin

RAR!

right, so the Baldwin Brothers are playing on Friday, 10th May at the Double Door. along with La Makita Soma. wunderbar, right?

wrong.

for that's the same night that Buffalo Daughter is playing. at the Metro. RAR!

*glares*

i HATE IT WHEN THIS HAPPENS!!!!

the Baldwins show is at 10pm. Buffalo Daughter starts at 11:30. wonder who (and how many) people they have opening...cos the Double Door isn't very far away from the Metro. if i were to be completely insane, i might try to make both...though i hate getting to shows late, cos then you can't get up front (which is good if you're me and therefore quite short), AND you've missed the opening acts. and i like to see everyone on a bill. you find out about good people that way lots of times. ^^

RAR!

and on that note...i'm off! see you when i see you! ^.^

audio: bis. this is teen-c

audio: bis. this is teen-c power e.p. (on endless loop all afternoon)

two things that either should never, ever, ever be let near one another, or else should always be imbibed together:

bis + mountain dew code red.

particularly older bis. wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! *zooms around on office chair*

*sings* i'm so hip...you're so square...i'm so cool...and i don't even care...all the boys...want me so bad...and i don't care...because they're all so sad...in the classroom...i'm just the best...and on the dancefloor...i just beat the rest...it's getting late! i've gotta go! on down! to the SCHOOL DISCO!

teehee. am excited about this weekend.

much love and gigantic heaping mounds (nah, too easy...XD) of luck to Jae Young and FioFio for their respective Big Events of the weekend! and big sankyuu and hug to Keito-chan for the wellwishing! and much love to everyone else who should know by now that i love them, too! ^^ (yes, that means you. ^^ ooh, penguins. XD)

will see you when i see you. bweee...

currently drinking: power-c vitamin water

currently drinking: power-c vitamin water (dragonfruit)

audio: bis. "burn the suit."

mmm...this water is indeed nummy. and i could most certainly use extra vitamin power...and really ought to drink more water. so whee. ^^

surprisingly, both my new stand and those headphones got here yesterday...and both kick arse in countless ways. in fact, i'm a little scared of the headphones i got...they're the 20th anniversary Fontopia headphones, and they are VERY nice. of course, one would really hope so...a bit spensive. not nearly as much as really nice studio monitor-type cans would be, but still...enough. but they're absolutely PERFECT for what i need them for...the silicon earbuds (which are thoughtfully provided in two different sizes, with extras of the smaller size included as well) fit really nicely and comfortably, and the outside noise reduction is AMAZING. Spaz had the shop-vac running right next to me while i was trying these out, and i couldn't hear it. ^________^ and of course, i'd LOVE to be able to use these all the time...but i'd be scared that i'd break them and have to buy new ones. o.o;;; so, uh...v. nice to use for band-related stuff, and will be folded away with enthusiasm bordering on reverence the rest of the time. ^.-

also, i actually do know where i'm sleeping tonight. ^^ which is very exciting. will indeed be crashing in my handy sleeping bag on the floor of Shinji and Neko's room (and i think their friend Tony is staying there, too). which will be fine...considering we have one last practice run-through so bloody early in the morning tomorrow. o.o;;;; and if i can't sleep, i can always plug my headphones in and obsessively play with my keyboard...XD

not too much else to say, except i dunno how much you'll hear from me this weekend. i'll prolly post more today, but after that, prolly not much till after the weekend's over. looks to be fun, though. long...but fun. ^^

i shall keep my fingers crossed. and buy more vitamin water on the way home...as well as gatorade and various cans of liquid crack energy drinks. XD

right, then. slightly past due

right, then. slightly past due for me to post my Burn, Baby, Burn! playlist. a few extra copies are going to a few extra friends, as well...and i'll prolly post up my cover art later on, when i'm home and can thusly do so. XD

city confectionery summer delights volume one. hsl-03.

1.) Talking to the Universe---Yoko Ono & Ima (Cibo Matto remix)
2.) Nervous Breakthrough---Luscious Jackson
3.) Pacifics---Digable Planets
4.) What You're Afraid Of---Bis
5.) Twisted Tenderness---Electronic
6.) Aguas de Marco---Cibo Matto
7.) Butter of 69---Butter 08
8.) Bokura no Rekishi---Sakamoto Maaya
9.) Get Out of the City---Ivy
10.) I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend---Lush
11.) My Spine---Bjork
12.) The Universal---Blur
13.) How Do I Relax?---Butter 08
14.) Unemployed in Summertime---Emiliana Torrini (remixed by Tore Johansson, and thanks to Jae Young for making this possible! ^^)
15.) On the Sunny Side of the Street---Pizzicato Five
16.) Sun Beam---Yuka Honda
17.) Here to Stay---New Order & the Chemical Brothers
18.) Don't Falter---Mint Royale with Lauren Laverne

whee. ^^ perhaps more later. i will eventually post up reviews of the comps sent my way via B^3 as well. ^^

Shannon. ...damn you! XD as

Shannon.

...damn you! XD

as if i didn't already have enough ways in which to distract myself and waste my day! *.*;;;;

no entry for Cibo Matto. tsk, tsk. must change. they (after all) did covers of:

"Black Hole Sun" (Soundgarden)
"Sing This All Together" (the Jackson Five)
"Aguas de Marco" (er...actually, who *did* do the original? this has been covered so many times, i do believe i've lost count. was it originally a Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 or something, or was their version a cover too...?)

and none of Re:Movement is listed...nor Blue Order (although the less said about the latter, the better...XD). and everyone forgot that SP used to cover the Doors' "Crystal Ship" live, back in the day...

and some moron put down that Joy Division had done a cover of "She's Lost Control," allegedly originally by Girls Against Boys. --;;; submitted correction.

you never, ever, ever, ever, EVER should have let me at this site. EVER. i am far too anal and picky for this sort of thing. i will waste DAYS of my life there, if not months. damn you! XD

audio: ned's atomic dustbin. are

audio: ned's atomic dustbin. are you normal?

i really wanted to blog about this last night, but i got home too late to do so. just ate and went to sleep, really.

but i had the most amazing fucking haircut yesterday. EVER.

so, after work, went to go get my hair cut. was going to also get the fuschia touched up, as it had faded a bit, we've got the HUGE show this week, and i had about an inch of roots. (some people commented that they liked the roots, cos it offered a nice contrast, what with the rest of the hair being fuschia and my roots being v. dark brown and all. but.)

had an appt. with the girl who'd done my hair in the first place. but when i got to the place, i found out that she'd apparently moved to LA, and that someone *should* have called me last week but somehow didn't. luckily, someone else was able to take me.

that someone was a very lovely individual named Billy. who mixed an even better shade of fuschia than last time, READ MY MIND as far as knowing what i wanted my hair cut like (and it looks REALLY good now...there'll be pictures taken at Acen, so i'm sure you'll get to see it)...and is a musician and has his own studio in his house. *.*;;; and he'd been an art history/music performance major in school. so, discussion. do you like your job, what do you do for fun, etc, etc, etc. was okay. his business card is particularly entertaining. it refers to him as "Reverend Billy." and actually, with how great my hair turned out, i believe it! XD

and there was lots of fun stuff (and lots of crap stuff) over the speakers while i was there. including "Shellshock"~~~~! which came on while we were waiting for the dye to set in my hair. i poinged inwardly. and the Clash. and other stuff, including Ned's Atomic Dustbin's "Not Sleeping Around." which instantly snapped me back to high school. and seeing them live years ago was fun, too. not the best show i'd ever been to, but not bad, either...fun, loud, swirling guitars. and Mariam went with me, which was of course always a blast...we went to some great shows together, and/or had a great time just by going together. i <3 my sister. ^^ so i had a fit of nostalgia, and had to dig up a tape or two...

oh, and more stuff got here yesterday. whee, records! Spaz made fun of me cos i was getting yet more records and i still don't have a working turntable yet. ;.; i will! dunno how soon, but i will! and if i keep getting so frustrated, perhaps it will be sooner than you think...*snerk*

also got the Dreams Never End book. (from a nice boy in Salford~~! ^^ whee, i am a g33k.) so far, v. entertaining. and LOADS of really great photos. shall scan some up and distribute appropriately when i have time...which means probably next week sometime. this week is rather...jam-packed full of goodness. must practice more tonight; must go pick up headphones; hope my stand gets here today...and tomorrow night, i don't even know where i'm sleeping yet. and no speculation from the peanut gallery on that one, either. XD

(and as for fangrrrlism, or what have you, i have always maintained and will always continue to maintain that i will talk about whatever the fuck i bloody well please on my own blog. and if anyone dislikes it, tough. don't read. it's a blog, not a bloody dissertation. sankyuu. XD this is aimed at no one in particular; just a general observation.)

for anyone who reads this

for anyone who reads this and doesn't already do so, please go and read Jae Young's blog entry for today.

no, such events should always have the power to shock, no matter how cynical one becomes in such matters. although a lot of people wouldn't categorise me as the most "Chinese" looking person they've ever met (and indeed, if people who have seen me speculate on my racial background, they either have no clue at all that i'm any part non-white, or else they guess that i'm either Chinese or some sort of hispanic, actually...o.o), i've gotten nice, offhanded little remarks, too. i think most people who don't fit everyone's image of the perfect little WASP generally do, at one point or another. but if such instances lose their power to shock, people become complacent and don't do shit about anything. thus, the situation becomes progressively worse, and worse, and worse...and it all ceases to matter.

as long as things of this sort continue to occur, any person with any sort of conscience at all should be shocked. and particularly if that shock spurs them into action. it's trite and cliched, but also true: the more people reached, the more difference made.

people are fucking ugly. >.<;;;

hahahahhaah! XD see, all of

hahahahhaah! XD

see, all of this b4rn3y l0v3 is not entirely my doing after all! ^^

as Jae Young says, credit where credit is due. while i will fully admit that you and you (partially) are my fault...really, in the end, what does it come down to?

not me, my friends. no. it has nothing whatsoever to do with me and/or my meager powers of sl0reage.

nay...it's quite simple. in the end, Barney sells himself. he needs no help. if you are in need of Barney, he will find you.

(note: tongue placed firmly in cheek [MY cheek, thank you] for that last statement...=P )

this has been a public service announcement. we now return you to your regularly scheduled cracktastic blog mainlining. ^^

(it's a damned shame comments are down. i'd love to know what you'd have to say to this. XD oh, and that reminds me. penguin yaoi? that's a BRILLIANT idea. i think i'm going to have to write some now. sankyuu. ^^)

netcomments is down again. till

netcomments is down again. till Saturday, probably. so if you want to say something to me, e-mail me, like before.

sorry for the hassle. =P

audio: the baldwin brothers. cooking

audio: the baldwin brothers. cooking with lasers.

...speaking of synthtastic goodness (they call it "junktronic," actually. ^^)...here's a good argument for the return of the Fender Rhodes organ if ever i heard one. they're a really great live band, too. i highly suggest you check them out if you get the chance. yay Chicago bands! ^^

...you thought you were through

...you thought you were through with me for the day, didn't you?

you thought wrongly. obviously. mwahahhahahaha. XD

this message is just to say that i <3 FioFio. ^^

you may go now. ^^

all that buildup and nothing

all that buildup and nothing else to say!

well, v. quickly...must hug Keito-chan. i hope everything works out well with the boy...sounds like it went as well as it could've. and i hope you keep having a fabulous time in Japan. ^^

argh. rushed and didn't get to read everything i'd wanted! BTW, i wouldn't be surprised at all if you didn't see the accustomed gigantic pile of posts from me this week...must prep like crazy for Friday. and must practice. o.o;;;;

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...and if my headphones don't get here by Wednesday, there will be hell to pay. *shakes fist* my keyboard stand as well. *glares*

heh. h0, h0, h0...

well, i did end up

well, i did end up paying for how brilliant yesterday was overall. got *maybe* an hour, hour-and-a-half of sleep at *most* last night. >.<;;;

strangely, i'm not all that tired. i did take a little nap on the train on the way in, as i so often do...got my favourite seat and curled up on my backpack like i like to do. and the coat i keep mentioning, one of the other beautiful things about it is that it's got a nice big hood on it, so i can pull that over my head and over my eyes and be nice and warm and dark on the train. something so soothing about trains...very lulling and good for sleep. as long as there aren't loud, obnoxious passengers riding with you...but in that case, there's always headphones. ^^

shall see how the rest of the week goes. and need to figure out what's going on Thursday night/Friday morning...hopefully before either time actually hits.

more later. doing work (gasp!) and still need to catch up on blogreading from over the weekend...

got home from band practice

got home from band practice about an hour ago. and it was one of the best practices we've had since i can't remember when.

am pretty tired, but satisfied. i actually have confidence that we are going to do well on Friday now. which is good. and everyone had fun today...EVERYONE...*and* we sounded the best we ever have. about fucking time. XD

right, so...what i really want to say is, anyone who's thinking of taking up any sort of career singing? particularly when other loud instruments are involved, thus necessitating you using a mic, and thus also meaning that unless you've got some sort of monitor, you won't be able to hear yourself?

those floor monitors everyone uses. that a lot of venues have at the front of the stage.

...WHY?

they're useful for some things. but usually they result in the omnipresent problem for people singing, which is that you still can't hear yourself at all. and therefore, you sing off key. or screw up in other ways. you don't have the proper distance between yourself and the mic, and therefore the vocals are too muddy, or too quiet, or too...whatever. all things that you *could* solve, were you able to actually hear yourself sing. and things that shouldn't be on whoever you've got running sound, because they are things YOU can solve.

...right, so Shinji got an ear monitor for me. had i the ready cash, i would have looked into *something* like this a looong time ago, though perhaps i wouldn't have been bright enough to get this particular thing. but man. it seriously has solved a LOT of our problems. before, i was just plugging in heavy-duty earplugs so that i could at least hear myself in my own head. but i had no idea really what i sounded like, what with a rather extensive drum kit (which has now been stripped down, but still), two electric guitars, an electric bass, and a bunch of brass instruments going on around me. bloody impossible to sound very good.

so i know it may seem rather obvious...you hear yourself, you sound better. but what seems amazing to me is, why don't MORE vocalists use ear monitors? if this is a constant problem, the idea that the person singing is unable to hear themselves properly...why not? they're not exactly cheap, true...but they're not out of line with whatever else you're spending on equipment if you choose to go into doing music live, really. unless it's just you and an acoustic guitar, but then you wouldn't be having this problem in the first place, would you? XD

seriously. this isn't even a wireless...and in fact, i wouldn't want it to be, cos wireless equipment generally tends to run into more problems anyway. it's one more thing to go wrong. and unless you're some super-choreographed thing, you're not going to need a wireless unit anyway.

(er, had i a spare $200 around, i would perhaps mail one to certain people who i'm sure would have less of the "singing off key" problems were said people able to hear themselves. though i still maintain that they're cute when they do it, but that's cos i'm on crack. XD and besides, said people should really be able to afford their own ear monitors by now, ne? XD oh, don't mind me...it's late, i'm tired, and i'm coming down off of an INSANE rush from a damned lot of caffeine and a really fucking brilliant practice session. ^^)

in short, ear monitors make EVERYTHING better. my god. and Shinji is thusly my hero for today. yay Shinji! ^^

so, on the way to

so, on the way to the grocery store, drove way the hell out of the way to go look at a Mini in person. O.O;;; oooh, do i want one. specifically one that is silver and black (black roof to go with the black accents around the windows, etc.) Kimmie, have you seen one in person yet? if not, you should. gorgeous! adorable! and damned if they wouldn't be a bitch for one to detail the interiors of...XD you know how i like to be difficult. *coughs*

and heh. Jae Young, perhaps what i do would not be "sl0ring." because usually all i have to do is "suggest." and then provide with the first fix. usually, the music (as it's usually music i do this with, though sometimes that does change) in fact speaks for itself. requiring little to no extra pushing from me. XD i'd like to think i do what i can, to help people i like and music i'm fairly sure they'll like find each other. it's a bit like...matchmaking, really. XD

and speaking of which, isn't that cover GOOD? they don't really do covers very often, but it does seem that they do a good job when they do. which is good. now, must hear the rest of that blasted 12". wanna know what they've done...^.^

and you don't want to get me started on the whole "ooh, NO is using synths in an unhealthy manner" argument by some segments of JD fans. cos it would just be bad. well, that, and you already pretty much know what i'm going to say, so it'd be pointless, too. XD

oh, and we broke out the grill last night. had brats and chicken. and oh god, were they good. O.O;;; granted, we were both pretty hungry. BUT. why is grilled stuff soooooo yummy? o.o;;;;;

ooh, and Snickers ice cream. ^-^ num.

yep, i'm afraid i'm with

yep, i'm afraid i'm with Kimmie on this one...

...i WANT!!!!

O.O;;;

(if you must know, specifically the S...oooooh.....)

audio: bis. "love will tear

audio: bis. "love will tear us apart"

thanks to the truly wunnerful FioFio, i'm getting to finally hear this. and it's actually quite good, as far as covers of this song go. mostly cos they did something DIFFERENT with it...it's recognisable, sure, but it doesn't attempt to be an exact replica. which is good. i think the problem with their live version of this is that it is too similar to the original, and as such it's just like everyone else's. yay for bis and vocoder fun. it really is a truly gorgeous song. if a bit overadulated. XD i'm glad they did a cover of it though, cos with so many really and truly crappy ones, it's good that someone did it justice. ^.^

as for the headphones, will have them either Monday or Wednesday at the latest. which kinda sucks, but at least i'll have them in time for the show. need them for the ear monitor i'm using. still need to get a different keyboard stand, though...shall have to run around some later today to poke around and see what i can find.

went out driving last night. which was better than the other night, and by the time i drove us home, it was actually almost okay. i still need to relearn the clutch on this car, cos it's been replaced since last i was learning on it. plus, i'd been away from driving stick for a couple of months (lessons were of course on an automatic, cos most schools don't seem to teach on sticks anymore...=P) the need to be smoother and faster is pretty much what my biggest issue is right now. take that as you will. >D

maybe breakfast would be a good thing. am doing laundry and preparing to make CDs (i think).

hope everyone's weekend is splendiferous! ^-^

on the way home, i

on the way home, i enjoyed my very first bottle of vitamin water. it was Energy...tropical citrus flavour. and it was quite tasty. and energising. as the name would imply. XD

but more importantly, it is entirely your fault. just in case there was any doubt. ^^

now, must scoot off to go harass people about whether or not they have the headphones i'm looking for...need them before practice. which is sunday this week. o.o;;;

...i'm afraid i must protest!

...i'm afraid i must protest!

*whispers* 'sides, Hiiragizawa-kun is just jealous that Barney's knees are cuter than his are in similar shorts.

*cackles*

(there, that ought to earn comments. comments here, please...not over at Shannon's this time. XD )

and i did warn that my head is like a sieve. though i'm ashamed that i forgot something to do with music of any kind. i think Shinji will probably aid Priya in beating the crap out of me now. thanks a LOT, Jae Young...XD

*clears throat, takes deep breath*

*clears throat, takes deep breath*

*sings in most angelic voice she can muster*

i am Shannon's little h0
for the pirates tell me so
synthpop sl0res to her belong
she is weak when music's strong

yes, Shannon sl0res me!
yes, Shannon sl0res me!
yes, Shannon sl0res me!
the pirates sold my soul tell me so!

*takes bow*

sankyuu, laddies & gentlepeoples...no autographs, please. XD

(and get your grubby hands off my crackpipe *right now*. thank you.)

before i forget, everyone should

before i forget, everyone should wish Ann a gigantically wonderful and incredibly cracktastically HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

off you go, then. do it! ^.-

BTW, in case anyone who

BTW, in case anyone who would care hasn't noticed, comments are now unbroken. 'tis highly exciting.

...now, perhaps, i can stop hijacking poor Shannon's in order to sl0re people. and perhaps she'll decide turnabout is fair play. XD

oh, and i got more of the stuff i'd ordered today. including the Heart and Soul box. o.o;;;

...er, i might actually be away from the blog for awhile. cos i'll be busy in a music coma and poring over the liner notes.

maybe someday i'll expound upon how much i enjoy good liner notes. and then again, maybe not. we'll see. but for now, i'll merely say that i ADORE good liner notes. they make me very, very happy.

will go drool elsewhere now...and should go eat something. hooooongry. >.<;;;

audio: danceman. "netanone." Shannon, darling.

audio: danceman. "netanone."

Shannon, darling.

...what the *hell* have you done to me?!?!?!

(see? sl0ring goes around in big, big circles. take some down, pass it around...)

'scuse me. i need to go dance around with my bunny in my arms while i clean her cage. need to make her dansusagi. ehehehhe. XD

BINGO. zero to totally sl0red

BINGO.

zero to totally sl0red in ONE DAY FLAT.

i am SO proud. granted, it wasn't very difficult. she was already on the edge, as she fully admits. but. i have sl0red the ubersl0re...i am now well equipped to handle practising my driving this evening! >D

so i ended up splaining

so i ended up splaining about Lord of the Cock Rings at break, right? which was amusing. and then we moved onto other topics of conversation.

...later on, R mused that he wished he had a cot under his desk, cos he wanted to take a nap. A turned bright red and nearly exploded in laughter.

i leave you to draw your own conclusions. XD

also, it's become apparent that the mystery yogurt smoothie from 1938 that i was imbibing earlier has obviously come to me by way of a transdimensional vortex. this same vortex is infecting me with dust (no, not *that* sort of Dust) from different time periods...which is why i keep getting sick with all these minor illnesses!

but we've also determined that apparently, the vortex requires some sort of sacrifice. if something is taken from it, something must be given in return. it's been theorised that this is where my coworker J must have gone, for he's been MIA all afternoon, and no one has a clue where he could've gotten to.

A's response to this theory was along the lines of, "I think that was a fair trade, the bottle of yogurt in exchange for J."

...now, do you understand why i LOVE the place i currently work? XD

back from attempted sl0rage. and

back from attempted sl0rage. and only spent a grand total of $2.16 on a Jesus and Mary Chain single with b-sides i didn't have. am proud...but really, there wasn't anything there i wanted to tempt me.

saw the infamous Hyde Park parrots, though. there's apparently a big group of parrots that escaped from somewhere or other around here and are now living permanently in nests they've built around HP. they're very loud. and pretty. and green. and hyper. but i suppose i would be too, if i were a parrot living here and it were as nice out as it is now.

but i found out R's (quite surprisingly, actually) never heard Buffalo Daughter. teehee. i know what i'm bringing to work tomorrow. ^.^

heh. sl0retastic. XD

right, so R asked at

right, so R asked at morning break if anyone wanted to walk up to 53rd St. with him at lunchtime, cos he needed to return a record to 2nd Hand Tunes (they'd apparently sold him this record which had been shrink-wrapped, but which had the wrong record inside the jacket...^^;;;;) and to Radio Shack (needs a new soldering tip or something, i think). A said no. J. was at class, so he wasn't even there. i said i usually don't take lunch, cos...well, i don't. (gets me home earlier. ^^)

...but then R goes, "I bet A won't even miss you." and then A goes, "No, I wouldn't even notice you were gone. You should go."

i laughed nervously and said, "what, you just want me to spend more money, don't you?"

convo came up again a minute ago, as apparently he's leaving in 15 minutes to go record shopping. and again, my boss is enabling me. O.O;;;

dude. this will be a test of self-control. it will be lovely to go outside in the sunshine, but. why must everyone tempt me so...?

*whimpers*

*grins* ehehehehehhe.