Offline Blogging

...but to be posted online soon. I'm at Starbucks, per our usual Coffee Tuesday outings, and currently unable to go online because Wi-Fi isn't really free at Starbucks. They want you to buy something at least once a month using a Starbucks card, and doing so grants you two free hours of Wi-Fi access.

It's been more than a month since my last purchase, apparently.

But it's okay. I can still type this out on my word processor and upload it whenever I get the chance. That'll work just fine, I feel. And I need to take my mind off work and this "how to" book for Microsoft Access...

Random musings:

1. Three amazing concerts last week: (a) Loney Dear and Andrew Bird, (b) Duncan Sheik and Lauren Pritchard, (c) Tonic and Gin Blossoms. "B" of course being the most legendary, if you didn't know... I haven't had a week like that in awhile, when I used to go to shows with a greater frequency. I even found my old list from 2004, when I kept track of every show I saw, even the small coffeehouse ones.

2. I wish I had the keen eye that Jordan and Brit have when it comes to photography. Our photo outing last Saturday at the Mission San Diego de Alcala produced some pretty great shots. Picture days are some of my favorite days in recent memory - Old Town/Seaport Village, Gap Day, Julian... I really want to start taking pictures on my own, but (a) need a good camera and (b) don't know if I have that skill to find a good shot in any given environment.

3. I keep listening to this one song called "Lead Me to the Cross". It's originally by Hillsong United, but I have a (stealthily taped) live recording of The Gate Called Beautiful performing it at Flood last year. They choose songs that fit with Matt's message, and the combination of her voice, their music, and the song's lyrics... it's often very moving (to me). I was at The Rock this last Sunday, and worship has been an important part of church for me and theirs just wasn't working (among a few other reasons that have nothing to do with this point). I really do need to be more consistent with where I'm going though.

4. I'm ready for March 9 to get here already. Come on, March 9...

Pics!

Because I'm too tired to figure out how to intermingle these pics with that latest blog entry below...

I'm on a high, on a high...

...there's nothing more to it. 

Song lyric: "On A High", by Duncan Sheik

And I choose it because today ended up on quite a high note! After being annoyed, bummed, and stressed out at work earlier, I was ready to hit up Anthology for my 2nd concert of the week. Jordan and I planned on going to Anthology to see Duncan Sheik. Now, I like Duncan and have wanted to see him live for awhile, but this wasn't just any ordinary show.

No. The stars were aligning (I feel)... because Lauren Pritchard, who played the original Ilse in some Broadway show, was performing with him.

Yeah. That's right. "Spring Awakening". Original cast member AND the composer of the music that I practically listen to everyday? (Okay, not practicallly... I really do listen to some portion of the soundtrack on a daily basis. Love it.) But to have them both together, in San Diego, when I am able to go see them with my fellow Guilty One... it was so meant to be. Especially as neither Jordan or I were super committed to going initially and only just bought our tickets online the day of the show. 

I'd been to Anthology one other time before, with Chris and his friend Mike and my friend Ria. We had dinner and wine while seeing Matt Nathanson perform, and that was a good time, so I had high hopes for tonight. And it did not disappoint! We were on the third floor but with a prime view of the stage as we were directly above stage left and could still see everyone. We ordered food while we waited, and the food was fine (not legendary status, but I enjoyed it). But then the show began... 

Lauren came out with a girl named Holly Brook - who my friend Sarah (Chris' sister) introduced me to her music back in the day. They had some other guys with them too, and they all performed as a band - taking turns playing their own music. Lauren really impressed me, and I really wish Holly played the songs I know of hers, but she was still great.

Then came Duncan, who I had no idea what to expect of him as a live performer, but I felt his vocals were top notch. CD quality vocals but his arrangements (both vocal and music) were different, so it wasn't like just listening to a CD. He opened the show with songs I already enjoyed and one that I really love now ("For You" - which I think is a great song to serenade a girl with, if I could play guitar)... and then he brought Lauren back out (as she was the only member from the previous opening band's set that wasn't on stage) and they went into the "Spring Awakening" portion of the evening. Songs as follows:

Mama Who Bore Me

Touch Me

The Dark I Know Well

Don't Do Sadness / Blue Wind

As a fan of the show, it was such an amazing treat to hear these songs performed live by the composer and one of the original Broadway cast members. How often does that happen?!? And they all sounded spectacular. I kinda wanna learn the cello now, so I can play "Don't Do Sadness"... anyways, after that short part of the set, Duncan then launched into his "Whisper House" songs. Guess this is the next musical project of his, and it'll premiere at The Old Globe next January. So far away... but now we can get to say we heard it here first. I don't remember too much of the premise, but the music was fun and the story sounded interesting... needless to say, I'll be "acquiring" the CD. (Oh heck. I'll legally download it off iTunes with my gift card. Especially since Duncan is my current mancrush now.) 

We were determined to meet Duncan and Lauren, and get our "Spring Awakening" official companion books signed. So we parked ourselves by the merch table and first saw Duncan. We had him sign our books, and then we were hoping to find Lauren. I moved away from Jordan and towards the other side of the merch table, since I wanted to take a better look at the shirts. I stood there for about a minute, and turned around and there was Lauren - and I was so startled, and said "ohhh!" And she said "ohhh!" And it was confusing, until I realized I had my book and pen in my hand and managed to spit out something to the effect of "you're awesome, can you please sign my book?" And she did. I tried to motion over to Jordan to come over too, but she didn't see Lauren until she started walking away.

Anyways - with our books signed, it kinda felt like "mission accomplished". But then there was a shirt I really liked since it said "Don't Do Sadness" on the front, so I bought it... we started to leave and noticed Duncan was still around, and then realized we didn't take pictures with them. And I really wanted a pic with my new mancrush, so I worked up the nerve to get back to greet him again and get a pic with him, which Jordan took. And I felt glad. I thanked him, shook his hand, and we moved towards the exit. And as we're about to exit, Lauren was just coming back inside, and so with Jordan's camera still out anyway, we asked her if she could spare a moment to take pics with us, and she kindly obliged. We finally stepped outside, took final pics with the marquee, and went back to the car, singing along to the soundtrack on the drive to the apartment. And at the end of all that, it really did truly feel like "mission accomplished".

What a fun day... I'll just put pictures in another blog entry... since Blogger here isn't as cool as I'd like it to be.

Bookcase Buzz!

We have a bookcase! And this darn site won't let me post this blog how I really want it to look, and all the text that I typed out just won't copy/paste back to where I want it to go... 

So to sum up:

1 - Andy and I had many books and DVDs.

2 - Those items needed a home.

3 - I found a nice Ikea bookcase on craigslist.

4 - The OSFs accompanied me to PB to acquire said bookcase.

5 - I put the items in the bookcase, and it was good.

Damn website... or it could be the Safari browser that isn't letting me have it's way. Whatever... here are pics! In backwards order though. Like I said, damn website/browser!

Bye bye, home!

It's Moving Day! (Who cares about Valentine's Day - it's Moving Day!) After nearly 7 months of being back home, I'm back out of the parents' house today. Last night was the unofficial moving day, when we signed the rental paperwork and got our keys, and then christened the new apartment with our first gathering of friends, which was fun. (The agenda: pizza, drinks, and The Office trivia game, and touring the new place and finding out where the cable line is.) And I was quite happy! Been looking forward to this day for quite some time... 

Also making me happy at the moment is this video. It's Carrie Underwood and David Cook performing a duet to Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way". It's a pretty fun little ditty and is making me smile while I'm typing this and it plays in the background. It's a song that makes me wanna karaoke... which I haven't done in ages. 

Time to load my truck a bit now... 

List of things that Ryan needs to do...

- play basketball

- learn to ride a bike

- learn to swim

- rollerblading

- soccer

- how to handle my green sauce

The above list is for the OSFs. Not that I know what that even means. 

In other quick news...

- I love Wahoo's Fish Tacos. But the green sauce does not love me. 

- Moving day is Saturday! And I hope it doesn't rain. 

- Apartment "christening" is Friday! (i.e. pizza and alcoholic beverages in our empty apartment)

- TV Thursday returns with a vengeance next week!

- I still want to see "Rachel Getting Married".