Come On, Listen Along With Me

Wow, I haven't blogged in like 12 years. I took a last minute trip to London (which was fab, don't have the photos at the moment), been crazy busy at work, and just lost any motivation for writing.

For those who care, I went to the following gigs recently:

Elbow at Webster Hall - They were good but played lots of new stuff and old songs I didn't know. I'm a huge Cast of Thousands fan, and having to wait the entire set for 'Grace Under Pressure', it was great but I was sad to literally not recognize anything else except one or two other songs. They were good live (that Guy Garvey is quite the chatterbox), it's one band I can now tick off the list though I don't know if I'd run back to see them again due to the mellowness and my lack of knowledge of their material.

The Verve at WAMU Theater - I was so ridiculously excited when I found out that The Verve had reunited and were touring again. I saw them at Hammerstein in 1998 and that was a total religious experience for me. This time around it was a bit different as my seat was practically on 7th avenue. Also, the idiot couples surrounding me on all sides would not shut up for the duration of the show.*

Anyways, from what I could hear, I thought the band were awesome and in excellent form. In the middle of 'Weeping Willow' I realized I was just standing there with the biggest grin on my face (I probably looked like a dumbass but I couldn't get it to go away.) I was sad about the 'History' and 'On Your Own' omissions from the set list (especially when I found out that they played 'History' the night before) but I'm over it. Also, I thought the two new songs were great. The final one which was dance-y was a nice turn for them and fit them well. 'Lucky Man' was terrific, here's a bit:

Wow, could my photos be any more shit? (Answer: NO)

Seeing The Verve play this theater was pretty cool for me, since the first time I ever saw Oasis it was there and Richard Ashcroft came out as a surprise opener - except at the time, I had no idea who he was. Thanks to the enthusiastic people surrounding me (I was probably in the same block of seats as this time around) shouting "OH MY GOD ITS THE GUY FROM THE VERVE!!!" and practically falling onto us, I went out and bought A Northern Soul. Funny how things have come full circle for me in terms of Verveness.

Marcus and I went to see Passing Strange. Not your typical Broadway show - the band was on stage at all times with a narrator which I thought was cool, and the music for the most part was good (kind of rock/bluesy/soul.) I was not a big fan of the storyline though so if you're into traditional stuff I would not recommend as it's VERY different from the norm.

I did NOT get to see Flight of the Conchords at Town Hall. I found out about the show after I got back from the UK and missed the online sale. According to reviews it was great which pissed me off even more. I'll just have to make due with rewatching the DVDs for the 18 gabillionth time which is fine.

I went to The Slipper Room a few weeks ago to see a Burlesque Show. I expected some tassled boobs but I definitely got a bit more than that. Let me just say that the part with the guy in a wedding dress and a giant dildo almost made me throw up my entire day's worth of meals. I don't suggest going to a burlesque show unless you have a strong stomach.

Songs I love right now:
The Fratellis - Mistress Mabel
The Pigeon Detectives - This is an Emergency

Okay so I never got to discuss Big Brother even though it ended about 85 days ago. James was my pick and he won like 397 Head of Households and Vetoes. I always pick the awesome guys who win a bunch of things in a row and then get voted out close to the end because they are the major threat. Speaking of that, I picked Erik as my winner during episode 1 of Survivor Micronesia. Even though he got kicked out 5th to last, he did make the dumbest move ever in the history of Survivor so I should get some type of credit for that.

Ryan's birthday was two weeks ago. To kill time before Bowlmor, I bought some cute stuff at Forever 21 and Filene's. There was some "Free Tibet" thing going on in Union Square and I had a cool view from DSW so here's a photo:

We went to Bowlmor which cost me about $284 between drinks and bowling. I did poor but still better than most people (both games around 100.) Here are some photos:

Morgan Ryan

Ryan's Harem Check out Ryan's awesome bowling skills. Sit tight until the second throw.

Afterwards I went out for a Fire Island gathering of all the people who will be in the house this summer (even though my share is solely with my friends.) One dude got mad at me because we talked for literally two minutes and he was asking me how I was going to bring guys back with me because of the strict guest policy and I said I didn't have to worry about that because I have a boyfriend. So in response he's like 'Well I have a wife!' all pissy and walks away. Later on, I was talking to his friend and he walks by and is like 'She has a boyfriend' (more like 'Don't bother talking to her') with a roll of the eyes. Um, am I supposed to be flattered by that? I spoke to the guy for a minute and a half and he's already getting defensive? Anyways, here are some photos from the evening:

Faith & MegracitaMe & HeatherFlip Cup

I played in my first softball game with my work team last week. We kind of got totally clobbered (and by MTV2 no less which is slightly embarrassing.) I got two hits but they got caught (at least I didn't strike out, phew.) All in good fun though!!

I've lost a total of 15 lbs. since January. Very happy about this and losing the weight honestly has not been that hard. That just reminded me that I should probably clock the two WW points for that unnecessary piece of chocolate I had last night. I'm just going to count it as a point and a half though (shhh.)

Hi, so they are totally playing "Shooting Star' in the commercials for Grey's Anatomy this week. GREY'S ANATOMY! Now every single woman between the ages of 15-65 is going to know Air Traffic! Maybe that's a good thing? I'm still pissed that they are playing Knitting Factory when I'm in Fire Island.

Thom's 30th surprise party was on Saturday night. The Galway Hooker was like sausage fest central, I am NOT kidding! I suggest that any single ladies in NYC looking for a man head to the upstairs bar on Saturday night. Oh, here are some photos:

Rachel, Robyn, Vicki, Me Lauren and I

Dave is arriving in NY in 5 hours! He's on the plane right now and I'm all WOOHOO!


*you could tell they were only there to hear 'Bittersweet Symphony' which is fine, just have some respect for those around you who care about the rest of the set. It really pisses me off that people paid a decent amount of money to see a band that comes around very rarely and these idiots have the audacity to babble throughout the show. And on top of that, when the chick in front of me's boyfriend went to the bathroom, and the girlfriend of the adjacent couple did as well, the girl left standing started up a conversation with the solo boyfriend about his fucking iPhone! UGH!!!!

Laundry Service

Binghamton (the city, not the university) got a shout out in The Metro this morning!
Now it's known for more than The Twilight Zone, woohoo!

From Wikipedia (for those who did not attend Binghamton University, or for those who
are (gulp) residents of the fair city):

Binghamton (and The Twilight Zone) -
Mentioned and shown in various episodes. Rod Serling's home address in Binghamton was used in the episode "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar". Serling was famously fond of the city and based the Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance" on the carousel near his childhood home. A plaque placed in the ground near the carousel commemorates this and there is a plaque commemorating Serling in front of the Binghamton High School on Main Street.

For those of you who missed out on the Binghamton experience, here are some photos so you can get an idea of my college life.

Middle of Nowhere, Upstate NYMidnight food shopping at the best supermarket everLost Dog Cafe Quality Department Store ShoppingI won tickets multiple times to see the former minor league Rangers (turned BC Icemen the year I got to school, typical.) I won these primarily because no one else in the entire city could give a rats ass about this team. I still haven't figured out what the mascot is supposed to be.

And who could forget Wal-Mart!

I tried to find "ironic" photos, but am in a crunch for time. Hopefully some of those will follow next week and you can get a "real" feel for this place.

Try To Find Some Money Then You Die

Jarvis Cocker is going to be playing Music Hall of Williamsburg (and Terminal 5) in July. I will most likely not be going primarily because I think the ticket is way overpriced. Also, I'm definitely not going to the Brooklyn show because I am seeing George Michael that night.

The reason why I am writing about this is because I wanted to make all potential ticket buyers aware that they really should buy them in advance. This is because the prices are:
$39.50 advance
$40 day of show

Don't get ripped off people, please buy them in advance!

In other ticket news, it was brought to my attention that Verve tickets are now officially selling for half price due to (unfortunate) crappy ticket sales. I called Ticketmaster to get a refund for the difference which is of course the right thing for them to do, but which I figured they absolutely would not agree to because they are major jerks. The woman on the phone did not sound positive about my situation, but after putting me on hold for 20 minutes and investigating, I have in fact received the difference! A Verve ticket for $35 as opposed to $50 does a happy Meredith make.

Do you want to know what does not a happy Meredith make? Air Traffic playing the Knitting Factory on Memorial Day Weekend when I'm at my Fire Island house...GRRRR! Who schedules a show for a holiday weekend, seriously?! Tell your tour manager to get his shit together and postpone by three days, PLEASE!

Back to the Future

I feel like this entire week has been one big April Fool's joke and I can't tell what's real and fake.

The other day, I spontaneously decided to book a trip to the UK for this Tuesday. I actually got a fantastic deal - $450 round trip and direct as well so I am super pleased! I needed this trip like nobody's business. Also, it's Kuwait Air which I am actually excited about. If it's anything like Etihad, which I took to Thailand, (Kuwait has got $$$ after all), then I will be a very happy flyer.

Then something really random yet really good happened at work (which I will not reveal on here just yet), but I will say that I am no longer looking for employment which makes me sooooo happy! Also, I can still join the first official MTV Program Enterprises softball team which is the most exciting part.

I went to Donovan's for dinner with Julie yesterday. It was the first time I'd been there since it's makeover. It looks really great now; it has a very warm atmosphere compared to how it was before. My only problem with my dinner, was that my meal cost me $110 (despite them having the best burgers in Queens, it still was not worth it.) My meal broke down something like this:
Hamburger - $8
Diet Coke - $2.50
Tax - $2
Tip - $2
Parking ticket - $95

I am so mad right now I could punch someone! I parked in the municipal lot where Julie thought the meters ended at 7:00 pm. Despite the millions of times I used to park there when I was a member of Lucille Roberts, I wasn't thinking and didn't bother to check the sign and just assumed that time was correct. The meters end at 10:00 pm, and they issued the ticket at 9:51 pm (I got to the car at 9:57 pm.) I HATE THAT!!!

The only other time I've gotten a parking ticket was due to my stupidity as well. I drove into the city on a Friday night and parked near Melanie's old place on East 29th St. I was thinking it was a Saturday night for some reason, and therefore the meters wouldn't charge that night or the next day. Being that the next day was actually Saturday and not Sunday, I got a ticket - and that time they got me right before I reached the car as well (they issued the ticket around 12:15 pm and I got to the car around 12:30 pm - AND they didn't check it all night.) That one cost me at least $110 if I remember correctly.

You can fight or pay these things on the internet now, but I am having trouble of thinking of ways to fight it. When I get home I'm going to inspect every inch of the car to see if they mislabeled something on the ticket (though I need to do this discreetly as I don't want my dad getting all up in my face about it.) I already noticed that the car is listed as GY (grey?) and our car is a gold/tan color. Maybe I can get it reduced for a color misidentification at least?!

The funniest thing that happened this week was that I received an email with the subject line saying "Meredith, This Is an E-mail Sent from Yourself, remember?" which came from "EmailCapsules." The body said this:

Dear Future Version of Me,

On April 2, 2007, you were bored out of your mind temping at MTV, though it paid well. It's 4:28 and you are all out of ideas of things to do, which is why you are sending this e-mail. You are listening to 'Valerie' by the Zutons on MiXFM. Dave is coming to visit you in less than 3 weeks. You met Liz for lunch and had a mozzarella and tomato panini. Tomorrow is passover.

Love,
Yourself
Written at Mon Apr 02, 2007

It really took me like 10 minutes to recall having done that last year. I'm going to do one next week because I found it so funny this time around.

Tonight I'm going bowling in the Port Authority again. We actually were able to round up a group of about 15 people so it should be really fun! Plus I enjoy the beer cylinder.

Current Music: Kaiser Chiefs - Angry Mob

Sparkling Toilet Anyone?

The one day I want to write a blog entry and have the time to do it, I have nothing important to say.

Although, I did just get this spam in my AOL inbox and it struck me as funny:

From: Clorox.ToiletWand

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He Said He Had Some Songs To Play

I have been to wayyyy too many gigs lately. There are positive and negative things about this.

Positives:
Cool for my image
Live exposure to bands I like
See some of my gig buddies

Negatives:
Late shows = bad commute
Extremely tired at work
My bank account has depleted

This has been my show line-up from the last two weeks:
The Stills @ Bowery
The Pigeon Detectives @ Bowery
Bell X1 @ Bowery
Ash @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
The Ting Tings @ Mercury
Longwave @ Mercury

And I have coming up:
Elbow @ Webster
The Verve @ Wamu theater
Augustana @ Bowery

Tickets pending:
Eric Hutchinson @ Mercury
George Michael @ MSG - I just heard about this, I am so freakadoodlingdoo excited!!!!

I forgot my camera for The Stills and Pigeon Detectives (still can't believe how good The PD were live. When asked what they sound like prior to the show, I answered with "They are a band that in a year from now I'll have been embarrassed to say that I went to see them live.) It's good, basic British pop and they were so energetic live, I defo recommend. I only saw the final two songs by the opener, Your Vegas, and I'm pissed that i didn't see the whole thing as they sounded pretty good.

I did remember my camera for Bell X1. Before that though, we did phony St. Patrick's day at Fiddlesticks and Ulysses (my first time in a financial district bar - quite nice I have to say.) I had the most awesome dillyboppers ever - two drunk leprechauns made out of felt with surrounding shamrocks!!

Jenn, Meg, Moi, Travis, Kristine

No Irish car bombs for me, I have issues chugging under pressure.

My St. Pat's BFF Deanna is to my right. I did not get any photos of Kristine and her sister pole dancing on the 6. Unfortunate!

I paced myself throughout the day (5 beers in all) so I'd still be alive for Bell X1. The singer told a story about how their sound engineer (I think) lost his luggage courtesy of the airline, had to buy all new clothes, then the band's tour bus (formerly Tim McGraw's) caught on fire, and all of the poor guy's clothes went up in flames. You can read more about that here (explained better.)

The band were good, as they have been the few times I've seen them. I still cannot get over how the singer is like 7'4" and the rest of the band is about 4'7" (combined.) But of course height does not a good band make.

They played 'West of Her Spine' in response to a request during the encore. That filled me with glee!

It was an Irish-filled weekend for me as on real St. Pat's I saw Ash. I should have been more excited for this (as if eating at Sea wasn't enough to put me over the edge, so yum), I was just tired, and the band going on at 11 pm did not put me in the mood. Ryan and I watched part of the first opener, Levy, who were okay. Nightmare of You were next but I sat my lazy ass on the couch downstairs and kept my ears open for 'My Name Is Trouble'...which they never played!...Glad I got my spot on the sofa!!

The second Ash came on, all of my tiredness and laziness went away. With every song I got more and more excited, and they once again reinforced why they have remained in my top bands for the last 10 years. I wish I could pick a favorite of the evening, but everything was so awesome that I absolutely could not narrow it down unless if forced to by gunpoint (though I prob still would refuse to.) And, they played pretty much a greatest hits set which was totally my dream come true - everything from 'Jack Names the Planets', to 'Goldfinger', to 'Renegade Cavalcade.' (No 'Sometimes' - my favorite Ash song, well tied with Renegade, but all was forgiven.) I can even bring myself to say that I like Twilight of the Innocents now (sorry, but I just could not get into it when I bought it over the summer.) Speaking of, they initially came out to the uber pretty Twilight music which made my heart go aflutter. Ahhhhh.

Also, the venue was not crowded at all! I was probably about 5 standing rows back with tons of space around me. (I also realized that I definitely still suffer from the (fill in the blank depending on show, in this case Tim-Wheeler-is-singing-every-song-directly-to-me syndrome.)

Have some "Oh Yeah"

Look into my tired eyes

OR...Giving me the Evil Eye?

OR...Chromium Lips and Metallic Eyes

Here's to Uncle Pat

On Tuesday night, I went to see The Ting Tings with Ryan at Mercury. A show starting at 7:00 pm was something I definitely could not pass up, plus I love 'Great DJ' (I kept hearing it every 2 seconds on XFM and finally found out who it was a few weeks ago.) They opened with that, and although I didn't know any of their other material, all of it was quite catchy and the chick is mesmerizing to look at.

Hot lead singerHot drummer too

She can actually sing AND dance

I don't know what this song is called

Although there was a backing track, it only helped (how far can a sound go with just a guitar and drums anyway?)

I would see them again and I definitely recommend.

On Friday night, I went to Jen's after work and ordered sushi while she forced me to watch America's Best Dance Crew. Faith and Kristine came over to tell us about their new apartment and I took photos just because.

Faith wore her "I heart life" shirt to work. Oh the irony (poor Faith has been working 7 days a week.)

Me, Jen, Faith

Maximillian & Er

Then we went out for a bit for Jon's bday. I think I can safely say that he drank a lot.

I brought my camera to the Longwave show, but I was too embarrassed to use it. Just not the appropriate crowd ya know?

So, I only had the first cd of this band from a couple of years ago, I have no idea how I had heard of them or why I bought it, and I haven't listened to it in ages (except for 'Tidalwave' which I love), but I always remembered it being good, hence buying a ticket for the gig. Over the past week I've been listening to The Strangest Things again and it really is a great album. I copied the second cd from a friend, and it's not as good, so if you listen to 'Tidalwave' and like it (you will), then you should check out album numero uno.

I went to Tiswas afterwards and I danced to the correct DJs this time.

Current Music: The Automatic - Monster

Spitting Games

You can learn how to act like the singer of The Pigeon Detectives by following these easy steps!

What you will need:
1) 1 stage (or just some space should do)
2) an audience
3) 1 microphone with a very long cord
4) 1 case (24 bottles) of water
5) 1 t-shirt that can be disposed of
6) 1 drunk Scot

Please note that in order for your imitation to work properly, you must be very outgoing!

Step 1:
Get your audience together. If you are shy and want to practice your moves first, gather some inanimate objects instead. Stuffed animals will work, as long as they are in a large quantity and look lifelike. Other examples of a lifelike audience include packaged food products with people on them, magazines and newspapers, or photos of your friends.

Step 2:
Enter the stage with your band (Don't have a stage? You may want to make some space in your bedroom or backyard.) If you do not have a band, just grab anyone off the street, or play with an imaginary group/imaginary instruments, but if this is the case, just be sure you have backing music.

Step 3:
The opening song may be "Romantic Type" if you are going for a straight out imitation. Be sure to swing the microphone across the stage right from the get-go. When you become more advanced with this move, you may want to throw it in the air and catch it, or do some other tricks, like twirling the cord. Be sure to do this throughout the entire set, but NEVER make it look like you got anywhere close to smacking someone with it.

Step 4:
Pull at your shirt. Pull at your shirt A LOT. Pull it by the neck. Then pull it by the bottom. The singer doesn't actually pull it over his head and cover his face, but that would be quite amusing so try that as well (don't lose your balance though!)

Step 5:
Drink water. Don't drink all of it! Be sure to spit it out - at least half of each bottle. Practice spraying it in a big circle. Then try arches. If you really want to go nuts, go for short spritzes in a sprinkler-like motion. You MUST spit water on the audience in order for your imitation to be a success. If you are in a good mood, give one or two of your germy bottles to a lucky audience member for consumption.

Step 6:
If there are fake technical problems during your fake set, you may want to throw some comedy into your routine to kill time and make things less uncomfortable. Try giving a shout out to the opening act - even going so far as to comment on what a fantastic gene pool they came from (if you are lucky enough to get an imitation band of Your Vegas to open for your imitation Pigeon Detectives, then hopefully they do have a great genetic make-up like YV, and you won't just be saying that for a time filler.) To keep the audience interested during the technical snafu, recommend someone come up and make a joke. Try grabbing a drunk Scottish guy, preferably the one who is so wasted, no one can comprehend a single word he says. Then act like the cool imitation lead singer you are, and throw him back off the stage for being so shite.

If you can master all of these steps, then you should have no problem getting yourself an imaginary Pigeon Detectives gig. Congratulations on your success and keep on spritzing!

I'm Stills In Love

On Saturday night I saw The Stills at Bowery with Alex, Emily, and Marcus. WOWEEWOWEEWOWEE they were so great! They played the first few songs pretty much in the dark (just a few vertical fluorescent bulbs in the background) which made the stage look really cool. During 'Still In Love Song' the disco ball started spinning which made the lighting even cooler. The new songs were great, esp all of the guitar parts. My fave of the night was a new one, I didn't catch the name but I know they played it after another new one titled 'Eastern Europe.' Also, they did the disco ball spinning thing during 'Lola Stars and Stripes' which sounded most fabulous (they had the audience sing part of that as well.) This was the best time I've seen them by far. Not sure what Ryan and Gareth were talking about when they said they wanted to kill themselves all sorts of ways last time they saw them. I forgot my camera, boo, but it took me only 22 minutes to get home. I heart the Williamsburg bridge!

Last Saturday in Hoboken was a bust. I got to the Path and each queue for train tickets was about 20 people long. I spotted a sign that said that the convenience shop sold tickets, so I got off to buy one there thinking I was outsmarting everyone. I didn't think of the obvious though - that the shop would be sold out of single tickets and I'd have to get back in the machine line. Two women had done the same thing and we figured why don't we grab 8 more people and then we could get an 11 ticket card and just pass it back. We did that, giving the cashier $2 each (no one realized a Path ticket is only $1.50), and the two bitches I planned this with kept all of the change! I think it was only about $7, and I couldn't be bothered to say anything though so it's partially my own fault, but still grrrr!

So I got to Hoboken, found Kat and attempted to find Erica and Jenn and the 10343 other people they were with. It was basically a game of cat and mouse (me and Kat going to meet them, we'd get to the spot and they'd left) until we gave up and decided to go into the bar with the shortest line. We waited 20 minutes, got to the front and found out it was a $20 cover. Um, yeah right, I wouldn't even pay 12 cents to get into some crappy Hoboken shithole. Turns out the girls actually paid $30 to get into the first bar at 11 am which is totally ridiculous.

Kat and I turned around (can't believe we left the state for that) and headed back to the West Village. We spent the day drinking in Fiddlesticks instead, took our drunk asses to karaoke where not one person applauded us as we laughed through all of 'Unwritten', met a supposed drug dealer at No Malice Palace who was telling me how he goes to dominatrix houses and plays "Scrabble" (whatever that means), and then we (me and Kat, not me and the drug dealer) stuffed our faces with brickoven pizza at Three of Cups. I had a great day in the end, just wish I didn't haul my ass to Jersey in the first place. Note to self - Do not go to St. Patrick's Hoboken ever again!

Um hi, they played Air Traffic on One Tree Hill AGAIN last week! This time it was 'Never Even Told Me Her Name.' Stop jocking their sweat, how many times do I have to tell you they are mine!

On Friday night I went with Celine to see her brother act in a Fordham show. I knew it was by the writer of the Vagina Monologues but it didn't make me expect anything out of the ordinary. It turned out to be 10 monologues mostly about rape, abuse, and degradation of women which is always a blast on a Friday night. It was mostly depressing, though I couldn't stop laughing to myself at the end when the final person declared 'NEW ORLEANS IS THE VAGINA OF AMERICA!' I am now going to call Ryan "The Vagina Warrior" for the rest of his existence (he totally set himself up for that.)

The final thing I have to say is that I've lost 9.6 lbs. in two months, yay! Okay bye.

Lost and Found

I misplaced a few important things over this past year. I couldn't understand where they went and it was really starting to get on my nerves. Last Sunday I tore apart my closet looking for my Vera Bradley bag which I only just got for Hanukkah. I didn't find it, but my cleaning did prompt me to finally throw out about 7 pairs of shoes that I used to wear to Sweet Sixteen parties back in 1995.

The other day I went into my room (I knew something was up immediately since my door was closed and I hadn't left it like that.) You can imagine what I found in a neat pile on the floor...

1 Vera Bradley bag
1 Banana Republic suit jacket (that I usually wear on interviews)
1 pair of INC trousers (that I usually wear on interviews)
1 pair of black leather Nine West heels (which I only wore for a month until they disappeared last March)
1 CD of old photos
1 black Primark bag (not that important and definitely inexpensive but that is so not the point)

They were all under a pile of crap in my brother's room. Can someone please explain to me how he did not spot this bright, girly bag in his junk?
I haven't been to a gig in ages, now I have a ton coming up. Unfortunately a lot of them are on Saturday nights (I thought that was annoying at first, but now thinking it over maybe that's a good thing.) In the upcoming weeks I have Pigeon Detectives, The Stills, Bell X1, Longwave, and Ash (Wombats are playing the same night grrr.) I still want to go to Elbow (anyone?), I plan to get Verve tickets tomorrow (fingers crossed), and I'm going to get Kooks for June. I'm now debating going to All Points West Crap on the Friday as well, but that's not till August. This is because I know that when August 8th rolls around and everyone is going to see Radiohead except for me, I'll think back to this day and wonder how I could have been so stupid as to not buy a ticket.

Meghan and I got free passes to see Semi Pro on Tuesday. That was two hours of my life I'll never get back. Will Ferrell should retire immediately, it was good while it lasted Buddy (ha, like how I punned that?) The only good thing about this movie is that I got a free sweatband - I've never owned one before, and now I can wear it at the gym, yay!

On Wednesday night I went for dinner with Ryan before watching a band play (I knew the singer.) Anyways, we had Thai food and I decided to get Pad Thai (what else) with duck for a change. The duck was totally mushy and gross and I was so mad at myself for ordering it. Well, I forgot what Ryan told me beforehand...that it was vegetarian duck! I think I committed the worst carnivore crime possible, yugh.

You know how I had a good time at Tiswas last week but there was something a bit off (primarily 80s British music rather than up-to-date) and the resident DJs weren't around (just some dude with dreads?) Well, that's because Tiswas was downstairs!!! I thought there was just a regular bar down by the bathrooms, and I assumed that since the band played on the ground floor, that's where it was. I knew something was wrong!

Hoboken St. Patty's Day is tomorrow. I'm not starting till 1:00 pm (rumor has it you're screwed if you don't get to the bars before 11:00 am) but I don't remember that from the last time I went about 5 years ago. I will most definitely be reliving 2002 all over again tomorrow.

Also, I really want chocolate.

Current Music: The Enemy - This Song Is About You

Counting Coins on the Counter of the 7/11 From a Quarter Past Six Til a Quarter to Seven

This is how my last week has gone:Does 7 days of hard core aerobic exercise minus 4 days of alcohol consumption equal any calories actually burned? Hrmph.

And speaking of this, my turn, straddle, turn, side kick, turn, diagonal, over, pivot, over almost turned into turn, straddle, turn, side kick, turn, diagonal, over, pivot, SPEW last night. Don't EVER take a step class after a night of heavy drinking.

Also, I somehow spent $90 on Saturday night. WTF?!

Dinner at Essex...$30

Drinks at Pianos...$16

Admission to Tiswas...comped

Bar tab...$40

Other drinks paid for...$12?

Compensation for drinks from Jenn and Meghan...-$20

1 Beer from Bartender via Kat...free

1 Shot bought by Aly...free

Taxi...$10

Pizza...$3

Random guy in Normandy elevator stealing the cheese off my pizza and eating it...Priceless

I want my cheese back thanks.

Me, Kat, Meghan, and Aly went out for dinner on Sat night. I was all about the goat cheese last week (I had it at dinner with Rachel and Robyn on Tuesday also.) Then we met up with Ilyssa and Jenn in Pianos for a drink, and then headed to Tiswas. I hadn't been in almost 4 years which is so sad (it's my favorite Britpop night in NYC.) Aly's friend Orion's band played (The Orion Experience) and they were really good, I would def recommend.* I was worried that my friends were not going to like the DJ set (except for Alex, Emily, and Rory who met us after), but it turned out that the DJ was on 80s British band overload (Erasure and such) and my friends knew a lot of the music so it turned out to be really fun. I think most of us were ridiculously drunk (I definitely was) which didn't make for the best feeling on Sunday. I stayed at Meghan's, then went to 7-11 to get a diet coke, which I spilt all over the counter after wasting the cashier's time by meticulously counting out pennies for what felt like 10 minutes. I met up with Vicki, Lauren, Julie, and Sherri for brunch at Atlantic Grill which was like an Upper East Side old posh people explosion. Great omelette, passed on the mimosas.

And a good side salad too.

Friday night was "island night." Post-gym, I started out my eve by watching two Big Brothers (I cannot believe the drama in this house. Every single person has had an argument about something, and each fight is completely unrelated. It's been great, go Chelsia and James!) Then I watched Survivor and Lost. Regarding the former, I don't know the deal with Yauman since I missed his season, but Cirie is getting on my nerves. As for Lost, holy mama the end was great! I had a suspicion in the beginning of the episode that it would end like that, but I had completely changed my mind by the middle. On abc.com they have a Nickname Generator brought to you by Sawyer. Mine is "Rerun"?

Random.

I just found out that Elbow are playing Webster Hall in April. I've never seen them before and have been waiting for them to tour. I definitely think that no one will want to go with me to this unfortunately. At least Ryan is going to Ash despite all of the St. Patrick's Day festivities so phew for that.

I blow you a kiss, it should reach you tomorrow

I went to Little Havana with Erica and Meghan last week (unfortunately I was saving my WW points for alcohol so I only got corn on the cob and a side salad.) This was the same day that Castro resigned, yet eating there was a complete coincidence. Though I do think it is healthy for everyone to have at least one dictator-stepping-down sangria celebration once in their lifetime.

This festival line-up is the pits.

Hey, so did you see the line-up for the All Points West Festival in New Jersey? I honestly could not be more disappointed. Radiohead are the only band I would actually want to see out of the whole entire line-up!!! I would watch Underworld if I had the option but otherwise blagh. I don't even know most of those bands, though it looks like an indie blogger's wet dream. Disappointing too because Ben was thinking of coming here for it, but I honestly don't think I am interested in buying a ticket. Ben - we need to get on MSN to talk about this.

Please don't judge me for having gone to the following bar.

Last week I went to Session 73 with some of my homies. This guy asked me and I think Heather if we knew about politics so I said I had an MA in International Relations (worrying that he was going to ask me something I didn't know and I'd look like an idiot.) The question was what leader does his friend look like. My quick answer of Vladimir Putin made me feel relieved, and reconfirmed that my $14,000 degree was definitely worth the money.

NOT!

The Oscars were pretty enjoyable last night. I was so glad that song by the Irish dude and chick won, it was the only good song of the evening (though I was still cracking up listening to the Enchanted songs because they reminded me of how silly and enjoyable the movie was.) The funniest remark Jon Stewart made all night was when he said that Hal Holbrook was doing the cabbage patch in the aisle, followed by "Helen Mirren you got served!" Hahahaha.

Nice McDreamy inclusion at the Oscars by the way.

*Orion told me his father was an astronomer, which I find to be very funny as he is named after a constellation.

Look how they shine for you.

Current Music: Coldplay - Yellow

Burn Baby Burn

I <3 Fridays!
I really <3 Fridays that result in three day weekends!!
And I really really <3 Fridays that result in three day weekends when I've had a Texas-sized raspberry frozen margarita at an expensed lunch!!!

I have lots that I've been wanting to write about in this post. These topics include:
1) The Camden Fire
2) The Kentish Town bus accident
3) The Daily Show
4) iPod mindreading
5) I'm an awesome bowler
6) About seven more things which I can't think of at the moment

So, everyone in England should know about this but most likely everyone elsewhere has not. There was a huge fire in Camden Town last Saturday night. For those who have never been to my first apartment in London, I lived about a 5 minute walk from where this happened. I would turn right out of my flat, and make the first right onto Castlehaven Road, walk for five minutes and there was the Hawley Arms, with the market affected to the left of the Hawley, and the Stables Market directly across the street. I used to go down there several times a week, even if it was just for a walk and to browse the stalls in shops throughout Camden in my time off (or my time procrastinating instead of doing schoolwork.) Although this fire hit the more unpopular side of the market, I still felt awful when I heard about it. In addition to that, I was definitely not a regular at The Hawley Arms but I highly enjoyed their pie and have been there a decent amount of times. I always loved their witty comments on the portable chalkboard outside of the pub and thought that if I were to have a local bar, that would be it (I always went to a variety though so that never happened.) And that was before all of this celebrity business (aka "Amy Winehouse frequented the pub quite often" in every article about the fire) was going on (well as far as I was aware of at the time.) The funny thing is that the last time I went there, Kelly Osbourne and Amy Winehouse actually were there too (and that was before her presence in the tabloids had become an everyday affair.)

Turns out Dave was planning on going there that evening but changed his mind on the way over, opting for The Good Mixer instead. He said he saw the flames when he exited the tube. Some of my other friends went to Camden to check it out in person as well.

I'm so sorry Camden...
(All photos ripped from the BBC website w/some of my captions added in)

Okay so this happened right and I was all upset about it and in shock, then I hear about an accident in Kentish Town (where I used to live in that same apt.) Basically they rerouted the buses for the next few days as Camden High Street was closed off. So the 24 was going down Prince of Wales Road (my old street on which only single decker buses usually go down.) There is an archway right outside of my old place which the Silverlink (overground train - the one I cheated on and never paid for a single ticket the whole time I lived in London) runs on. There are signs blatantly posted on the arches saying that if your vehicle is tall, it needs to drive through the highest part of the arch (the middle.) So what does the driver of this bus do? Well, of course he drives by the side and RIPS THE ENTIRE ROOF OFF OF THE BUS (oh yeah, and there were passengers on it!!)

(Photos ripped again from the BBC)

So, I went to a taping of The Daily Show on Wednesday. I had VIP tickets since I work for MTV (this meant less time spent waiting around in the miserable rain, and front row seats about 10 feet from Jon Stewart.) It was funny, though I feel it could have been more witty given that it was the first day with the writers back. Also it was very short, but he was cool, answering audience questions and stuff beforehand. They had a comedian warm up before the start of the show and I've definitely seen him warm up the audience before either at Conan or Carson Daly. He was really funny, and he even shouted out that The Beach was a great book and the movie ruined it. I'm so glad someone agrees with me!!!

Remember when the iPod doctor put mindreading capabilities into my gadget when he fixed it? Well, it happened again, twice! I went to a bar crawl in Chinatown with Kat and her peeps on Saturday night (her friends made it up for Chinese New Year.) This was the map by the way:

We only lasted for about 30 minutes, went for dessert and then I headed home (I spent a whole hour and a half in the city - only a little more than what I spent on the subway!!) Anyways, at Clandestino, it was a restaurant rather than a bar (but I digress); they were playing good music, including "22 Grand Job" which I hadn't heard in ages, and never in a bar in New York. The next day, what do you think popped up in my 1600 song playlist as it shuffled? None other than "22 Grand Job" (in the city it's alright...)

And then, the next day, out of that same 1600 song playlist, Badly Drawn Boy's "Year of the Rat" randomly came on during Chinese New Year when it was in fact the Year of the Rat! How crazy is that!!!

Participating in this bar crawl forced me to do something that I have never done before - get off the F train at the East Broadway stop. Not really sure what to expect (well, to be honest I did anticipate walking into a block of welfare housing and deserted streets), I got out, became very discombobulated, and realized I was in total Flight of the Conchords territory. So weird that I had never been to this part of Manhattan before. It was so random, I'm still not sure what to think of it, I will have to inspect in the daytime at some point. Anyways, after Kat, her friend Bridget, and I punked out of the crawl and got some Chikalicious, I hopped on the 3rd avenue bus, got on the subway, and when I got out of the station, I received a text from Robyn asking if I had just been on that bus. Turns out she was on it too (in the back - it was a long, bendy one) and she saw me when I got off. Funny!

Last Friday night I went out with work peeps. Well, actually we played Rock Band in the office for about 2 hours, then went out. I'd never hung out with them before and it was fun (though I went back to being anti-social at work first thing on Monday, don't know what my problem is.) Did you know that there is a nice, new bowling alley in Manhattan? And did you know that it is located............




in the Port Authority?!




The biggest dump in Manhattan is the home of a nice new bowling alley, who knew?! They played music, served huge cylindars of beer, and even had a coat check. I bowled so well too (my scores were very unusual for me) - I bowled a 144 on the first game, and a 144 again on the second! And I had a 56 at the 4th frame of the third game but then our time ran out. I think I subconsciously felt like I had to impress my co-workers since I'm a big case of blah at work. I was very proud of myself!!!

Also, I decided to take the LIRR home, and for the first time in my life I passed out on the train and woke up in Plandome (three stops past mine.) I was the only person who got off the train, I didn't know where the hell Plandome was, and there was not a soul, nor even a sign of civilization in sight. Luckily my dad came to my rescue so I only had to wait about ten minutes but it was a slightly scary. I also just happened to be reading The Tender Bar, which is a memoir about a guy who actually grew up in Plandome and the book revolves around a bar there. That comforted me a bit while I cowered behind the ticket machine.


Oh man, 5:53 pm! Goodbye blog, hello three day weekend!