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". 

"It's so absurd, you wanna laugh."

That's what Chris thought this blog was called. And it was so absurd that Jordan and I laughed. :) One day he will be properly introduced to "Spring Awakening".

Well, I may have a new hobby for 2009: going to the shooting range! I went out there for the first time last night. Trent and Brittany graciously offered to take me, as he has a healthy supply of different guns and they go on a regular basis. I thought it'd be a fun new thing to do. The place was just like I thought it'd be - which is like the indoor shooting ranges you see on TV. I'd never held a real gun before (only the BB gun my cousin used to have), and I was shaky. When Trent said to "lean into it", I leaned forward and moved my head forward... which isn't what he meant. And I was not prepared for the recoil for some of those guns (like the old Russian rifle... or whatever it's called)... but it was awesome, I had a blast. Tried out three pistols and three not-pistols (rifles? shotguns? I don't know)... but I loved the one with the scope on it! I tried to play tic-tac-toe by shooting the squares on the target. Heh. Also there is some video footage of this excursion too - because I look very shocked with every shot and jump back a little bit. 

Trent also taught me about bullets (because I know squat about any of this stuff and I was curious) while he tried to open a Russian ammo box that was supremely sealed. Good times. He also let me borrow some gun magazines (as in reading magazines... not the type that has bullets, because apparently some guns have magazines) so I'll be perusing those later... 

Twas a good day. :) Thursday, I mean. Friday was just work and now relaxing at home. I need to finish my book of the month, then maybe workout. 

As for tomorrow - Ikea day! It's about 20 days until *fingers crossed* escrow closes on the condo. 

It's the [beep] of living...

[beep]. Just the [beep].

Tracks 4 and 15 on the "Spring Awakening" soundtrack, y'all. 4 and 15. (Thanks Jordan.)

I thought everything was on track for me to move out this Saturday. We gave the deposit, got furniture plans ready/ordered, I was so amped about it... looking forward to moving day... and making plans for being back outta the parent's nest again: plans to have TV Thursdays officially reinstated, being able to DVR our TV shows again, Rock Band / game nights, and hitting up McGregors after work and the gym on the weekends... 

Well, just when you think things are going to work out a certain way, something else happens. Not necessarily something bad or something wrong. Just something happens that throws a wrench into plans. 

And that wrench is... the bank taking the offer on the condo. The condo that I thought was not going to happen and had given up on, which led to deciding on the apartment. 

We'll see what happens. The condo is the smart move, and it's in a nice location, has a great view of Cowles Mountain, and has everything we need (more than the apartment, but minus the cool neighbors and the bar down the hill). So we'll see that it completely goes through, and if it does then we can move out in mid-February. 

Which isn't as good as moving out this Saturday. But fingers crossed that this all works out quickly...

You wanna laugh, it's too absurd...