The ___ Days of My Birthday

On the seventh day of my birthday, my friends did give to me

• Firepits at the Lei Lounge (7th)
• Wings with the Toms (6th)
• TACO TUESDAY!!! (5th)
• Pizookie with my parents (4th)
• Shamu and the dolphins (3rd)
• Switchfoot at the Bro-Am (2nd)
• And a "Lost" themed surprise party (1st)

It's been such fun times this whole week, man. I already blogged about last Friday. The fun continued on Saturday, when Andy and I went to Moonlight Beach for some fun in the sun and the awesome music of Tristan Prettyman (who I haven't seen in ages, it feels) and Switchfoot. This latest show of theirs totally erased the bitter taste that came from the last time I saw them (full band style) at X-Fest a few years ago. They brought a saxophonist too that added such depth to some of their hits, like "This Is Your Life".

Sunday - After a good message and meaningful worship at Flood, the OSF couple and I had some pho and fro-yo before heading down to Sea World. Both of them got annual passes, so we can have fun down there on a regular basis. And they revamped the sea lion and otter show, which has always been my favorite because they poke fun at Sea World and pop culture.

Monday - My parents wanted to take me to dinner on my actual bday, but I proposed moving it a day earlier, which was fine with them. They'd never been to BJs before, but they are fans now. Totally grooving on the appetizer platter and their salmon and salad. I had the Irish root beer (with whiskey, Baileys, and schnapps - that's how I roll) - and we shared a pizookie. Fantastic!

Tuesday - The actual birthday. #25... Started off the morning at work with a fantastic gift from Kasey/Tiff - "True Blood" on Blu-Ray! Can't wait to start watching that... after a chill work day, met up with Weezy and the OSF couple for happy hour drinks at Chevys and a round of Mario Party on the Wii back at the apartment.

Wednesday - After baking my popular cake (Black Russian) to bring to work the next day, I headed out to San Diego Brewing Company. Johannah and Jared wanted to meet up with me since they couldn't make it to the "Lost" party, so I proposed SD Brew Co to have some blueberry beer. Wednesdays are also 40 cent wing night, so we went to town. I loved spending time with them, and I hope Jared will be around with us more when he returns from deployment. And I'm glad that Johannah is amped to figure out summer road trip plans with me too. Fingers crossed that it all works out!

Thursday - Melodi was raving about the Lei Lounge in University Heights, so we went there with a few other coworkers. The place was down the street from Twiggs - the old coffeehouse that we used to check out regularly for acoustic concerts. The Lei Lounge was a very nice atmosphere and I loved the food. The crab macaroni and cheese tasted delicious, and I tried Kobe burgers for the first time. It was a bit pricey (yeahhhhh), but now we know what days they have specials, so I can't wait to head back. We even got to eat our dinner around a little firepit too! So great. It was a downtown vibe without being downtown.

Next up for tomorrow, which will be Day #8: Downtown fun at The Yardhouse and possibly bowling? I thought it was awesome when they proposed heading down there, so I can't wait...

AND! [TM Zack Morris and the TGO] I got my new driver's license in the mail today. My picture is much better than my previous one. It's the little things. :)

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.