The Kwanicles

I know I've set my entries to private lately, but I'll leave this public for now!

Yay, I finally have a chance to update on the BACKSTREET BOYS concert!!! It was an amazing, fun, exciting, CRAZY, unique and unforgettable experience!

My sister and I got there at around noon (show starts at 8). Our tickets were general seating, so basically it's first come first serve. There were already people camped out there, not surprising. So we waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited some more. It actually got to a point where we asked ourselves if this was worth it because let's face it... The Warfield is not located in the cleanest or safest area of the city.

But anyway, after seven long hours, they finally started letting us in a little past 7. Well, they let all the VIP fans go in first... so everybody was like WTF?! That's not fair... we were all standing there MUCH longer than they were! But I guess if you're willing to pay $40 a year for a VIP membership... I'm not.

So we get inside... and more waiting. We managed to get spots stage right, about four or five rows back. It wasn't as close as we wanted, but it was still pretty freakin' close. We waited for about another hour and then the opening act came out... Christian TV. I have no idea who they are, and I don't think anybody did. They performed three songs and left... leaving everybody excited for BSB. During their performance, there was a little pushing, but it wasn't that bad. I had some room to move a little bit (at least move my arms) so I thought to myself, "well, this isn't so bad." So after the opening act finished, to everybody's disappointment, they turned the lights back on and we had to wait MORE. Another 45 minutes at least... the show didn't officially start until almost 9 I think. Pretty ridic.

BUT... when it FINALLY started... I honestly, seriously, HONESTLY did not think I would get as excited as I did when they came out. Like... OMG... I was sooooooo excited and then people just started PUSHING from behind... we were sandwiched! I was laughing really, really hard because I've never been lifted off my feet like that before, and I realized I would probably never ride the wave of the crowd like I did that night again.

I was jumping and screaming and singing at the top of my lungs like all the other fangirls there... I couldn't believe it! Then during their little dance in "Everybody" AJ smiled and waved at me (because I waved at him of course... it was a half-wave because he was dancing) and I swear I almost fainted. I probably swooned, and I'm glad nobody I know witnessed it! The little 12-year-old fangirl in me surely exploded. Well, halfway through the song, I realized I have been separated from my sister! I hoped she was holding her own, because I had problems of my own all around me!

There was this little group of fangirls who were really, really rude! Before the show even started, they were like, "can you guys move over just a little? we need some space!" and we looked at them and said, "um, and WE don't?" So we just ignored them. They had plenty of room... not more or less than the rest of us. So when the show started, they were pushing like crazy! I felt bad for the people in front of me because they kept pushing me (they were behind me to begin with) so it made me push the people in front of me and I was trying not to. I kept apologizing and they said it was okay.

During one of the old medleys, they came out with towels. Howie was right in front of us, so the girl wiped him off, he pointed at ME and she threw the towel at ME. Of course, everybody grabbed at it, but the girls in front of me eventually let go. HOWEVER... this big bitch behind me would NOT let go! She was dragging me down! She was reaching over my shoulder for the towel! I started dragging other people down with me, so I just let her have it... But I was SOOOOOOOOOOO mad! Ugh, she was in that same group that was pushing earlier. Fucking bitches... They eventually pushed their way in front of me! I was like... WTF! Have some manners! Everybody's there to have a good time... you're not special! Nick doesn't even know you exist, you dumb bitch!

Ugh, but I tried to not have them ruin my good time. At this point I'm still looking for my sister... had she not been separated from me she could have helped me get the towel (it was Howie's towel, too... I would have given it to her lol). But... moving on. The rest of the concert was really fun! They sang a lot of the classics, which was so awesome! I don't really like any of the newer songs, but they are catchy. Somebody threw a bra on stage! I LOLed so hard! It was a BIG bra too... my goodness. AJ picked it up and did a little dance with it. Oh AJ... you don't know where that bra's been!

I enjoyed the little movie clips, but I couldn't hear any of it! I actually could barely hear them sing and I was starting to wonder if they were singing at all... then I saw clips of people standing further away and it was a LOT clearer. I heard Brian and AJ sing most of the time... not from the speakers but just when they were up close lol Brian was so cute! He was being funny and making funny faces for the cameras! I loved how he was on our side most of the time (so was Howie, to my sister's delight). It was very entertaining! He's such a sweetheart, and he never changes. It's good to have a constant! AND he was wearing a "This Is London Calling" t-shirt. That was so awesome! Nick was being naughty with the mic. All the fangirls LOVED it of course lol

So basically, the entire time I was squished between sweaty bodies. Yes, it was just as disgusting as it sounds, but I didn't care! I will probably NEVER be that close to BSB ever again. I will definitely never forget this experience... and whenever I'm in crowds of any type, I will think to myself, "this is SO not that bad..."

I was incredibly sore yesterday... which was funny because I felt fine on Tuesday. I guess it takes two days for the effects to take place. I went to the SF/SPCA yesterday with Meesh and I think it helped me stretch out a little bit, even though it was exhausting! My legs surprisingly don't hurt... Working for 8 hours straight on both days this weekend probably helped me prepare for all the standing on Monday. My neck was really sore from looking up, and my sides and abs hurt... either from the singing or thrashing, probably both. I feel better today, which is good because I have practice later.

I can't believe it's already July! June has been really busy, and I don't think July will be any different.

Now the question is... was BSB better than Garth Brooks in concert? No, of course not, but I still had a blast! Garth is in a completely different category of awesomeness... Because with BSB, I just had to satisfy the fangirl in me, to fulfill a childhood dream of mine. I will not mind going to see BSB again, but I will probably get seats AWAY from the crowd next time lol

Wow, this was a long update. I left out a lot of details, but you don't need those. Just the highlights. My sister took all the pictures, so they're on her Facebook.

This is beautiful.

From: Warren Ellis
To: Bad Signal mailing list
Subject: [Bad Signal] Steam
Date: June 27, 2009 - 7:17 pm EST

Back in my hotel room to write this talk, and I put
Glastonbury up on the tv while I write. Springsteen’s
on. Not a huge fan of the man, though I admire
his industry. The man puts in a day’s work on stage.
And he’s sweating, working hard. Got his foot up
on an amp as he sings. It’s just him, right now, the
stage is blacked out, and there’s one spot behind
him. And he’s hot, and it’s cold night out there, and
he’s steaming. And he’s just blown the authenticity
thing and gone into supermystification, because it
looks like he’s got an electromagnetic halo, curls of
glowing, pearly white light rising up from and playing
around his head and shoulders while he stands there
in near-silhouette….

He looks like he’s The Last Rock Star, the Ascended
Master who glows in the dark.

Linked here.

Bea Arthur passes away.

I'm so sad. I absolutely love Bea Arthur. Her portrayals of Maude and Dorothy are such inspirations for me. It's not like I don't already watch Golden Girls everyday, but I'll be watching it all day today.

First it was Estelle Getty last year, and now Bea. My Golden Girls are disappearing :(

I am in the last stage of my last Spring Break ever (hopefully). Time to put my big bottle of Captain Morgan away and replace it with buckets of green tea. Time to roll up my video game controllers and find my backpack and books again.

I was lucky enough to have it extend to today since I don't have class on Mondays, and today is Cesar Chavez Day. Leave it to these hippie schools to have today off instead of Presidents Day.

My Spring Break was very, very chillaxed. I spent most of it with my sister, which is cool because we don't spend enough time together. Well, it starts getting creepy after about ten minutes whenever we see each other because we start finishing each other's sentences and saying the same stuff. And laughing about the same stuff. A lot of laughing.

I came back from staying at my mom's to a very neat and clean living room. Let me tell you. This place was a mess when I left. Aaron likes cleaning when there's nobody around. Maybe I should go out more? Haha...

I'm trying to do my part in not making a mess again, because I suck at cleaning. There can be nobody home or a ton of people. It doesn't matter. I can't clean. So I'll do my part in trying to not leave my crap everywhere like I usually do. It's just easier for me to find stuff when it's where I left it. Now I can't find some of my books, and they're probably in that neat stack over on the table, but yeah.

I had almost two weeks of break and I'm waiting until now to do my final research paper proposal for Global Immigration. It's just two pages, but I have to start researching now and come up with sources. Ughhh. Researching is such a pain. Why can't I just write? So I need to come up with a topic, and then research, and find at least four sources. What a pain.

Oh well. It's what I get for procrastinating. Now I need to start getting back into the school groove of things. Because from here on out, it's just the home stretch. Granted, a very long stretch. I need to get through the next few weeks and then... I'll be done. Finally.

Speaking of home stretch, Opening Day is a week away!!! My Junior Giants commissioner hooked me up with some tickets to the game on April 9th, so I'm happy about that! I won't make it to Opening Day or Night, but at least I'll see them play during that homestand. Baseball needs to get here!

SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING BREEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!

Ha. Give me a break, it's (hopefully) the last time I can say that. And I don't have much planned at all. I'm glad, though, so I can relax.

I got my Field Notes back, and got a 96% on them! I was really happy... All my hard work and bitching paid off. This is most good because I missed an assignment a few weeks ago that was 20 points, and I don't do well on the reading quizzes (because I don't read). I don't really care... I'm not aiming for an A. Those days are behind me. I want passing grades.

On Wednesday I got my Global Immigration midterm back, and got an 86%, B+ on it! I'm happy about that as well. I was getting scared because my professor was like... The midterms were okay, but I don't think many of you took it seriously. And as he was passing them out, I just saw C's. I was starting to get nervous, because of course mine was third to last. So I will take the B+ and be proud that I did better than most of the class.

I used these two grades as motivation to study last night. Because I honestly did not want to study anymore. I wanted to give up because I'm so done with school. I dragged through it last night and made a pathetic cheat sheet. It was so lame compared to everybody else's that I saw today. Not that it would help anyway. The midterm sucked the life out of me. I'm just glad it's over.

Tomorrow evening we're going to visit Aaron's mom in Greenfield, but before that we're making a stop in Newark to visit my mom and sister for dinner. We'll be staying in Greenfield for the weekend. Then on Tuesday I'm going back to Newark to take my sister to PASS her driving test, and I'll be staying in Newark through Wednesday. Thursday I'm coming back to the city, and most likely will be bringing my sister back with me for the rest of the week.

That's about it. I'm glad I have this break, because I need it. I feel fortunate to have an extra long break, since I don't have class on Mondays, and Tuesday is Cesar Chavez day. So technically, I have to go back to school in April. Woohoo! That's also Aaron's birthday. Not sure what we're going to do about that. He's working and I have class. Probably not much.

I hope those of you who are on break enjoy it. You all deserve it!

Aaron: So I see you bought a movie.
Me: Yeah I told you I did.
Aaron: I thought you said you bought milk.
Me: I did.
Aaron: No, milk milk. I opened the fridge today to get some milk for cereal this morning and there was none. I thought, what's going on here? Now it all makes sense.

I totally broke down and bought Milk at Target yesterday. I think it's a good investment. I was holding it and standing in line, and it generated some conversation with other customers. Only in the Bay Area would so much praise be made about a movie like that. Try holding that movie in the middle of the Midwest or the South in a Target and see what happens.

Yeah it's bias. So what. I watched Right America: Feeling Wronged and feel I have every right to think the way I do.

I'm probably updating my el-jay more these past few days than I did all year. I don't know why. I just feel like it I guess.

And maybe because I'd rather be rambling on here than do homework or study. Or it might be because baseball is just around the corner.

This past week has really been hell for me. I went to get some dranks tonight and felt it was the appropriate way to say goodbye to the week from hell. Fitting that I couldn't get the game on TV today. I was pissed, but I'm over it now.

We got some frames from Michael's so I can finally hang stuff up on the walls properly. Buying frames is complicated, I'll tell you that right now. Aaron saw some cases he wants for our autographed balls. I don't know, I see a lot of neat things at Michael's, but I know if I buy them, they'd just be sitting at my place. I wouldn't know what to do with them, or where to store them.

Aaron, on the other hand, is much more artsy-fartsy. He wants to paint and draw again, so who am I to stop him? I just wish his creativity isn't so expensive.

I'm done rambling. It is way past my bedtime.

I went to Extra! today in the Tenderloin for my class. It is an interesting paper. I might want to intern for them more than El Tecolote.

The most important part of my day? I saw those new Giants ads. I actually squealed when I saw the Aaron Rowand one. I had my headphones on, so I'll pretend nobody around me heard. I saw the others, too. I think there are only Bengie, Lincecum, and Brian ones? Am I missing any others? If not, then I saw them all. Today. I am so ready for baseball!

I wish I had my camera so I could take pictures of them. Oh well.

I visited Sandra at her cafe and I started hand writing my profile story. I knew once I got home I wouldn't work on it, so I finished most of it there. And of course, here I am. Not typing up the story when I should be.

So because this entry wouldn't be complete without some pessimism... This world is fucked up. This country is fucked up. This city is fucked up. The only way to fix it is to wipe out the current system and to replace it with a completely new one.

I should have joined the walkout yesterday. I heard it was fun and inspiring. Oh well. I'm acting like there won't be others. SF State protesting? No way.

FML moment last night... Aaron got carded. What's so special about this? Neither Mark nor I got carded. We're both younger than him. He's turning 30 in two weeks. I'm 23.

I think I'm gonna sit back and watch some Golden Girls tonight to unwind. I wanted to go to Target to pick up a few things (including Milk, which I finally watched earlier this week and loved as I knew I would). But I might just wait until tomorrow.

This has definitely been a crazy ass week. For those of you following me and keeping up with my Twitter feeds, you pretty much know what's going on.

On Monday I spent all day trying for the life of me to plan the week, knowing I had a ton of shit to do. Monday night I went to one of my favorite dive bars to do my observations. In a nutshell, on Friday I found out it would be close to impossible for me to get access to a sex worker clinic in the city for me to do my research. I was bummed about it, but the show must go on. I chose a different setting, and decided to make it a little fun, so I chose a bar.

It was very interesting. I was sitting there with my notebook writing almost everything down, and nobody asked me what it was for. It was also strange because I didn't order any alcohol. It was a nice, chilled place, and I was able to gather a lot of info. It was definitely an interesting experience.

On Tuesday I had two classes. My evening class was canceled because we're meeting tomorrow at a downtown newspaper. After class, I went to the Mission to interview for my profile story, and possibly for other stories. I'm not a fan of going to the Mission, because only numbered MUNIs go there, and I hate taking the numbered buses. I strictly stay with the letters. What's worse? Driving there is not an option either. Good thing Aaron was off, so he took me.

After all of that, I had to study for my Global Immigration midterm that was on Wednesday evening. I barely studied Tuesday night, of course, because I figured I could study when I wake up the next morning since my midterm was at 4. Well, with my luck, I woke up at almost 2. I had less than two hours to cram everything in. I was stressing out about that midterm all week. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad at all. I think I'll get at least a B on it, and that's just fine by me.

After my midterm, I rushed home because I had a crapload of stuff to do still. I had to read and then do my weekly anal. Those are such a pain. After that I had to do my field notes from Monday, and then a note on notes portion to accompany it. That took up the bulk of my night. I was surprised I finished before 2, and I'll admit I think I did a pretty decent job on them. I hope so at least.

Still in the works: The profile of somebody from the Mission. The interview is all done, I just have to write it up. I'll be spending my weekend doing that, and helping prepare an outline for my study session on Monday night. I have one more midterm on Thursday, and it sounds difficult. Hopefully the study session will help.

Tonight we went back to that bar and got some dranks. If anybody deserved one, it was me. I seriously worked my ass off this week, and I'm proud of myself, but I can't pat myself on the back for too long. There's still so much more work to get done.

Spring Break can't come soon enough. I mean it for reals this time. Well, it is going to be my last Spring Break. It will be kind of sentimental, but I don't have much planned for it.

Baseball is getting closer. My only salvation. I can't wait.

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