Best

Oh dang!  The Major Lazer show might have been the best thing I've been to ever !!! *.  People were losing their minds.  Some lost their minds (and their meals) before the show even started.  One fool was lumbering around/dancing in his sweat soaked shirt and I thought, "that guy is going to be trouble".  Minutes later he pushed people out of the way and seriously sprayed some vomit over the floor and probably some people.  Disgusting.  The funniest part was when another dude started dancing in the puke, not knowing what it was, because it helped him slide and dance around.

Thennnn, we went to the after party.  Those girls by the window were shaking it and dude outside were staring with their mouths open.  So great.  I love Oakland.

I want this outfit for Palm Springs.

*In line with the George Michael concert and getting married at SF City Hall.

Positive spin

This week has been a little off and I haven't been feeling so great but instead of whining too much, here's the positive side to things.

1. I am lucky to have a job.
2. Studies have shown that migraine sufferers have above average intelligence.
3. My cats are healthy.

Party times

I've declared the rest of September birthday party time for myself.  It started on Friday after work when we drove to Oakland to see Micachu and the Shapes and Animal Collective.  During the show I had to elbow some people out of the way and there was a kid who kept crowd surfing over and over.  Another guys jumped over the fence separating the upper level of the floor from the bottom level and ran towards the stage like the Hulk, pushing people out of the way as he went. Some guys glasses fell off, someone got a foot to the face and a lot of feet were stepped on.  Jay and Natalie were there too!  Good times.

The stage design was a giant mouth with teeth facing in towards the stage that changed colours.  Cool dude.
After the show we were starving.  V had been to a place called Dogwood, down the street from the theatre before.  Have you been?  Their website describes it as a spirits driven meat sanctuary specializing in hand crafted cocktails and house made charcuteries.  What on earth is a meat sanctuary?

I had a cubanito grilled sandwich on a thin plate with cornichons and dijon mustard on the side.  Delicious.  There was a big mason jar in the clear bar fridge that was labeled "gum" and looked really cloudy.  Our bartended told us it was a sweet flavouring used in old timey drinks but it looked like there could have been some dentures soaking in there.

We checked in at the Marriott pretty late and our room was next to the elevators that went all night long.  At first I thought the noise was maybe from the BART because it was so loud but then V reminded me that we were on the 17th floor.  I didn't sleep that night and because of the cost of the hotel, I complained.  The guy at the front desk first offered free breakfast, and when I said no, he offered 2000 hotel points.  I asked him how many points I'd need for a free stay and he said 20,000.  USELESS.  When I asked if there was anything else he could do in my nicest exasperated tone, he talked to his manager who said they'd refund the room.  Later, I got a voicemail saying they'd refunded half the room so I may be  forced to write an old fashioned letter of complaint, just like my Dad used to do (and probably still does).  Plus side: we had a nice view of Oakland from our room.

The Eat Real Food festival was going on at Jack London square.  There were probably about 100 food trucks throughout the park/waterfront and a lot of tents with giveaways.  I wanted to try so many things but there was just too much there.

We tried the empanadas from El Sur

This was funny.  We didn't eat here.

Cute mascot

Surfing lobster at a chowder food truck.

Scenic walk along the waterfront.

A cozy spot for a nap.

Secret pup photo.

Sad pig.

Nearby happy pig buddies chewing on lettuce and spitting it out.

Bhel puri in a paper cone from Soul Cocina.  So good.  I want to make this at home.  It reminded me a little of the tea leaf salad from Burma Superstar that everyone, myself included, loves so much.

We went to Berkeley for a couple of hours to see the freeeeee Micachu show at Amoeba.  I picked up a few more tiny lunch boxes (two with polka dots, and one with flowers) at the Daiso and contemplated buying some knee high socks at the Sock Shop.  The guy at Peet's coffee shamed me when I asked for the restroom key by loudly asking, "ARE YOU A PAYING CUSTOMER HERE?".  I said, "YES I AM NOW FORK IT OVER!"

Feather hair extensions.  Fug.

We walked around Merritt lake, saw some pups, birds, people walking a tightrope and a man shadow boxing.  On the way back to the car we saw the Cleveland Cascade and walked up to see the plants.  By that point we were hungry again and went to dinner at Boot and Shoe service.  They have wood fired pizzas and fancy drinks.  They make their own tonic there so I had a vodka tonic.  Golden and tasty.

Throughout the day V had three cups of coffee and a Monster energy drink and wanted to have a dance party when we got home.  

And then some of us had had enough and wanted to go to bed.

Oaktown

I've never spent that much time in Oakland but we're staying overnight this weekend in a hotel that was deemed "Cheaper than the hotels in San Francisco" on yelp and tripadvisor. Where do these people stay in San Francisco?  A lot of the reasonable Oakland hotels have bad reviews and are in sketchy neighbourhoods.  Either that or they're $400 a night.

I got a (sort of) good deal at the Marriott near the Fox theater.  We're going to Animal Collective and I don't want to drive back home after the show.  Have you heard their new album? It's so good.  I love it!  It's streaming on their website here

What should we do in Oakland?  Hike? Where should we eat?  The only places I've eaten are Homeroom, and more recently, and unfortunately/desperately, at the Taco Bell that locks its doors at 8 at night, doesn't have bathrooms and has drug deals in the parking lot.

Night and Day

We went to the Hot Chip dance party in Oakland last night.  I loved it!  I felt like a nerd after because I was semi-contemplating not going because of having to work the next day/today.  YES, ME!  It was funnnnn and work today was totally fine.  Going to shows like this makes me wish I lived in a bigger city although Sac does get a lot of good shows before bands get big.  The drive home from the Bay after a week night show is kind of lame on a week night.

Sincerely,
Grandma

Borrow

This weekend I picked up a Nook at the library.  You can borrow one and keep it for up to three weeks like ye olde books of olde tyme.  I reserved it a few weeks ago to test it out.  The one I have is "fiction" themed and has 44 books loaded on to it!

The device is so small.  I don't think I like it.  It feels like I'm still on the computer instead of reading and relaxing.  Also, one standard book page takes three nook pages.  However, this is coming from a lady who likes it when the large print is available at the library in the book.

I do like that it's light.  Reading a heavy book in bed is such a drag.  I don't like buying books though so that's another reason I don't think this is for me - unless I could borrow e-books from the library.  Now that I think about it, that might be possible.  I've heard people with e-readers end up reading a lot more than if they didn't have one.  Is that true?  I want some hard facts.

In real book news I am on book two of the Hunger Games. It is really good.  Randomly, I started watching Battle Royale on Netflix last week and HG is pretty much a rip off of that book/film.  Oh well, still a fun mindless read.

Stormy

I'm learning all sorts of surf lingo.  The surf scene behind these 2 dudes is described as stormy.  The waves were wild.  When that happens the only thing you can do is sit in the sand and drink a BL before heading back out to get beat up by the sea again.

I sure have fallen off the face of the blogosphere.  This next week isn't going to be any better.  My plan is to come home from work on Monday and sleep all the way through until Tuesday morning so I can frontload on sleep.  We're going to Hot Chip on Tuesday.  I am very excited to see them but not excited to have to drive back from SF on a Tuesday night and work the next day.  Times are tough when you're a working woman.  Am I right ladies?

I'm starting another writing class (finally!) now that I have a job that gives me money to spend on things I like.  It's on Wednesdays for the next couple of months.  Working a new job is tough on an ol' lady like me.  In a few months I'll be back to my old self.  Libra's are supposedly known for their laziness and I am definitely feeling like a useless, brainless blob when 5 o'clock rolls around.  Luckily I'm not eating all the donuts at the office so I'm not an actual blob.

Did you like the Libra hint?  I used to think Yom Kippur was a famous person with whom I celebrated a birthday every ten years or so.  Oops.

Grinding

My first official week at work was kind of overwhelming.  The good thing is that I like my manager and we have daily meetings to go over things which helps.  It feels like I'm asking a question every 3 minutes.  

This weekend I mainly slept, caught up on some reading and cleaned the house.  I did some online investigating after finding a moving piece of fluff on the bedroom wall and discovered we had cloth moth worms (larvae?)  Ew.  Writing the word larvae sounds so much more gross than the word worm.  Whatever they were, they were making little cocoons out of the cat hair and bird feathers that were underneath my dresser.  I pulled all the furniture away from the walls and vacuumed and sprayed it clean. 

On Friday night after work my pals and I had food and drinks on the Delta King.  The last time I was there, with V, there was a huge kid about 10 years old sitting in the corner booth stuffing his face with spaghetti and rolls.  He was surrounded by his family who were talking really loudly.  I texted V on Friday to tell him what we were up to and he asked me, "What the little Lord there?"  

Grey or nay?

I have a couple of friends who have actually tried to pull out my gray hairs when I'm not looking.  I think they're barely noticeable but maybe I'm going partially blind in my gray old age.  It's funny that I used to dye my hair and now I'd rather just leave it alone.  Next up, tevas with socks.  What do you think about gray hair?  I think if I had insane gray roots I might be more inclined to dye but for now I just have strands of gray here and there so I'm not too concerned.

In other news, have you seen the Vogue September issue yet?  I haven't bought it in years but I was at the airport with a 2 hour delay last week and decided to LIVE A LITTLE.  It wasn't the wisest of plans to buy a 20 lb magazine to carry on to the plane but now I can use it as a paperweight.  There are a lot of nice, overpriced things in there but I've put myself on a self imposed semi-shopping ban which I estimate will last about another week.

Catching up

I could definitely live on the Southern California coast.  The beaches are warm, there are good places to eat and there are so many spots where you can just hang out and watch people.  Traffic wasn't too bad.  I didn't take very many photos, but this one of the skate park in Venice beach is one of my favourites.  We walked back to the beach after V and I had eaten too many appetizers at a little place up the street and watched the skaters do tricks.  One kid was about 10 or 11 years old and had been skating without a helmet for 15 minutes when his parents showed up and he put his helmet on super fast before they noticed.  You can see the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier in the distance at the top right of the photo.

Venice Beach!  I took this photo at a busy intersection and a man on the street asked me if I was a professional photographer.  Why yes, yes I am.

Here is one of my best selling professional photos (above).  Did you know muscle beach is a real place?  They wouldn't let V in because they were too intimidated.  So many glistening men in teeny tiny shorts.  It was over 100 degrees.  Who can work out in that heat?  Who can work out in any temperature?  Someone told me these dudes are paid to pump iron.  Fact or fiction?  Does anyone know?  I didn't give V a dime.

I have always wanted to go to the Camera Obscura next to the Cliff House in San Francisco but haven't yet.  The past few times I've been near it, it's closed.  When I saw this Camera Obscura sign in Santa Monica I wanted to figure out how I could get in.  I practically ran towards this building.

The Camera room is part of the Senior Center on the walkway towards the Santa Monica pier.  Everyone is so keen on checking out the pier that I bet they miss out on this not-so-hidden attraction.  It was free!  I gave a nice lady inside the senior center my drivers license and she gave us a key and pointed us towards some stairs that led to a door that opened into a dark room with a giant platform that you could turn to see anything that was 360 degrees in that area.

Poolside

Hey!  Guess what?  I'm away on business in a very exotic location that has palm trees, a pool and insanely hot weather. 

Today's highlight: canonball in the pool.
Today's lowlight: business lunch at Applebee's

Weekend adventures

This weekend was fun.  We saw Natalie's art show at Bows on Friday and ended the night at N&J's new place where we danced to Wham.  Pretty perfect.

Cheers!  It looked so great!

V and I tried to go to an out of the way breakfast place on Saturday but it was closed so we drove around South Land Park, got a bit lost and had pizza at Giovanni's.  They make a good pizza.  Their water tastes like mold.  We had a failed thrifting attempt at a place where one of the patrons was searching for her alleged Bulgari sunglasses.  She pronounced it wrong and enlisted most of the employees to help her search.  There's a lady working there who always seems to smell like booze.  V said it's a volunteer run place so I suppose that's ok (?)  Then we went to Scout Living.  That place is so dreamy and my kind of "thrift store".  I can hunt all day for a good find at Nordstrom Rack but serious thrift shopping is not my thing.  Scout Living finds all the good stuff and fixes it up.  I thought most of the prices were reasonable for a well curated shop although I probably wouldn't buy anything there.  We bought most of our furniture from craigslist.

Later in the day we tried to go to Chando's but the line was crazy as usual.  So, we did the next reasonable thing and went to Chevy's.  The one on Garden Highway is actually nice because you can watch the boats floating by and there's usually some good people watching to be had.  I ordered a vodka soda with no ice and got a glass of mostly vodka that was 3/4 of the way full.  I told the waiter and he said he didn't know how much soda I wanted so he just guessed.  Weird.

Chevy's is next door to where V and I had my wedding ring made using a family diamond.  I got super sad because it was completely boarded up.  There were skid marks in the parking lot in front of the store and photos of what looked like a serious robbery.  We couldn't tell exactly what happened but I looked it up online and saw that 2 weeks ago some people stole a forklift from a nearby school and drove it right into the store, stole the safe with all their stones and jewelry.  A FORKLIFT?!!!  The owner does a lot of work with vintage pieces where he will take a family ring, take the stone out and make something completely different.  Apparently a lot of people's personal pieces were stolen as well.  I can't even imagine.

The news report is here: 

I looked on yelp and found someone who wrote the only negative review the place has.  They were desperately trying to get a hold of the owner and said the business phone # didn't work.  I messaged them through yelp and told them there was a phone number written on the door of the business.  The yelp user had their 2 carat vintage ring stolen and they've had to hire a lawyer because the store didn't have insurance.  I feel so bad for everyone who lost a lot in this theft. 

Major Lazer

According to the employee handbook my work is very strict on personal internet usage and one of my big fears was that I would miss out on buying concert tickets  because I wouldn't be able to log on to sites like ticketmaster to order my tickets.  I worry about things like this.

The usual start time for pre-sales is Thursday mornings at 10 am.  Last night I downloaded the ticketmaster app to my phone and bought tickets to Major Lazer with no issues at all during my break.

It's a Friday night in Oakland and the presale password is murmur if you're interested!

The last time we saw them at some chi-chi-ish (shi shi?) place in San Francisco and it was reeeeeally fun.  One of the dudes who used to be in Major Lazer quit out of the group because he found the Lord and now makes awful music with a message.  When he was part of Major Lazer he had a move called daggering where he would jump from a ladder with his pants pulled down onto a girl who was lying on stage.  Classy.

Olympic nails

I haven't watched much of the Olympics since the American coverage is very country-specific and kind of frustrating to watch.  There are lengthy montages with slow piano music, sob-stories, interviews with family members and slow motion imagery...but of what I have seen,  I was very pleased to see that some of the ladies are showing off their countries and/or Olympic flair with fancy manicures.

Destinee Hooker's fancy volleyball nails.

glowy

Thanks peeps for all the bronzer recommendations.  I have a self tanner I like but need something to finish off my "look", whatever that means.  Lately my morning look involves washing my hair and running out the door with it wet and hoping it dries like a mermaid's hairdo.  I will probably have to go to Sephora and get some bronzer help but I'm semi wary about that because last time I went makeup shopping with a pal she ended up getting an eye infection from a nasty brush.

99 problems

Ok, just 2.

1. My back is totally killing me.  I think it's from work but I'm not sure even though it started about 5 days after starting the new job.  Since I'm working in WC claims I've been reviewing the top 10 work ailments and also going over human anatomy again.  What would you like to know about the nucleous pulposus?  How about spinal stenosis?  Also, how do you know if you have a slipped disc?  I've broken my tailbone before and that still gives me issues but this pain is in my lumbar spine.  I'm also popping more that usual.  Maybe I'm just getting old but today it hurt so bad I almost had to abandon my BIG PLANS to go grocery shopping.

I already have the fancy chair at work so I'm not sure what more I can do.  Maybe some Boniva?  I sit up and try not to slouch but I am totes dying here.  I'm going to give it a couple more weeks and then head to the Dr.  I hope it doesn't come to that because that means I'll actually have to hunt for a Dr. under my new work health plan.

Speaking of work, look at what my barista made my coffee in this morning?  Very official.

Back to my problems...

2. Bronzer.  What kind do you use and how do you like it?  I've been using a gross old one from Revlon that I am pretty sure I bought in University (that's what we call college in Canada).  I don't think it's doing my skin any favours according to my true blue friends who tell me the ugly truth even when it hurts.

Fancy footwork

I'm excited for Sacramento!  The Launch festival was really cool.  There weren't any ins and outs once you were in the park so I didn't go until around 4:30. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea.  The stage was set up in a spot where it was shady so we weren't all dying of heat and there was free vitamin water all day long.  That was a smart idea.  

Colourful stage flair.

Cardboard structures

There were food trucks!  I tried the tricycle grilled cheese from Drewski's and had a bite of J's po'boy which was delicious.  I can't remember which truck that was from.  There were a couple of shaved ice trucks and a Mexican truck with ceviche tostadas which eventually ran out of ceviche.  I think all the vendors did really well.  Drewski's had a lineup the whole time!

!!! were pushed off the stage in the worst way.  They played around 6pm because the bands were behind schedule and had only been on for about 40 minutes when it seemed like the sound guys gave them some sort of warning to wrap it up.  When they didn't, the sound guys turned OFF the sound halfway through a song.  It looked like things were maybe going to get scary/iffy onstage but the next band started on the other stage so quickly that the audience seemed to quickly forget what had just gone down.  Pretty lame because now !!! will never work with the Launch people again and they drew a big crowd.

Launch ladies  

(I totally only just noticed that the lady on the left between J and A is making a fish face.  Photo bomb!)

The fashion show portion of the event was awful.  That made me feel even worse for having !!! booted off the stage.  There was some nerd rapping (I typed wrapping first) over a Phoenix song as the models walked down the catwalk.  It was the worst part of the event.  A entertained herself with a free copy of Sactown.  I wish I'd grabbed one.

I had no idea DJ Shadow was from Davis.  He was so pumped to be there and gave a little intro about how he got into music and how happy he was to be able to share it with so many people.  Kind of cheesy but kind of cool.  His set was really good, I was surprised because the albums I have are pretty sample heavy and scratch-y and not really good for dancing.  What's not surprising is that there were glowsticks available.  I couldn't have helped myself if I tried.

When we were driving to the after party I thought it might be a good idea to take them off.  Cops, everywhere!

We got into Harlow's pretty quick even though the line was loooooooong.  If you had a wristband from Launch it was $10 to get in and without it, $25.  People were paying it though which is crazy because it was already 12:30 at this point.  I hope Sac has more events like this!

Weekends

Weekends are so much more exciting now that I'm working and have some downtime or partytime to REALLY look forward too.  Also, working lets me buy new outfits for good times and spend $ to do the things I want to do.  Three cheers for working.

My Friday plans fell through and I didn't want to stay in so I sucked it up and went to see Too $hort solo.  He's looking ollllld.  There were WAY too many opening acts but some were good and I had a good time doing a lot of verrrrry interesting people watching and watching/listening to the show.  I listened so hard that I still can't hear out of my right ear.

J and I went on a day long lady adventure Saturday.  I decided to buy a membership to the SF MoMA because admission is 18$ per person and a year long membership is $90 and you get to bring one guest each time you go.  I only have to go 1.5 more times with a guest to break even plus I get to feel fancy for having an art museum membership.

The Cindy Sherman exhibit was great and surprisingly not too busy even though this was the second weekend it's been open.  We got in trouble almost instantly for taking photos.  I was standing back, setting up my phone to take J's photo and the security attendant said to J, "NO PHOTOS" and J said, "what?  I can't stand next to the art?"  Funny.

J carries a fan in her purse just in case she needs to pose next to artwork with a fan.

The MoMA acquired Edward Hopper's Intermission a few months ago and I got to see it for the first time during our visit.