long blondes @ popscene

venue: 330 ritch (popscene)
artist: minipop, nicole atkins & the sea, and the long blondes
who: lou & ro
when: 17 june 2007 (saturday)
doors open at 9p

we got there sometime past 10p and there was this line. ugh, i hate lines. as always, jorge was at the door and so i say to him, hey! what's going on?? he saw right through my attempt at subtlety and asked if i wanted to cut the line. ha! luckily, chris was there and let us in on the other side.

lou wanted to do car bombs and tried to order one from jason. i went to josh to get mine. unfortunately for lou, they no longer serve car bombs. however, i got mine. twice. my second car bomb was with jason. it makes me happy that i get special treatment there.

for some reason, i'm able to spot will out from a crowd or sense his presence. it's really strange and a bit perplexing. so when he came in, i spotted him from the corner of my eye. as i was in the middle of getting my second car bomb, i waited and figured he'd find me like he usually does. but he didn't. just as i thought to myself, i just saw him... he appeared right in front of me. except, he was sitting down and didn't see me. strange, he was sans girlfriend. he seems to be sans her frequently.

lou & ro stayed close to the bar while i hung out with will on the dance floor. then, i spotted adam from australia by the bar all the way to the left sometime before or during the minipop set. i went over to say hello. i haven't seen adam in ages! we chatted for a bit. caught up. he asked me if i was dating, i said no. i asked him if he was dating, he said no. he remembered me telling him about ted. i'd run into him sometime last year, after the break up. i remember he asked if i wanted company. funny. i told him i was sick of taking care of men and that i wanted to be taken care of. he responded, i'll take care of you and put his arm around me. he's really a sweet guy.

when nicole atkins & the sea came on, i went back over to will. she has a really nice voice. not quite the type of music i'm there for but it was good. it was slow and bluesy. lounge music type. she's got this great soulful voice. between her and the long blondes, will and i were able to squeeze some dancing in. which is always fun.

the long blondes are from sheffeld, england. as are pulp. and it turns out, or so it says on the popscene flyer, that fans of pulp should/will like the long blondes. in my case, i would fall under that category. as i love pulp and i do enjoy the long blondes. except, they make me think of sleeper than pulp with a hint of debbie harry. maybe it's the other way around? actually, i think of sleeper as the female version of pulp. there's attitude. a whole lot of it. louise wener is the sassiest britpopster ever. i love her. it's a shame that sleeper broke up in 1997. and i never got the chance to see her live. bummer. i'm pretty sure i'm off on the sleeper thing. i think i just want an excuse to think about them.

back to the long blondes. the music was good. contrary to the normal sucky bands that play live there. i should say, sucky live shows by bands we sometimes even like. their songs are upbeat, have catchy tunes, clever lyrics and best of all, they make me want to dance (just listening to it at my desk in the office). which gave will and me more opportunity to dance. we danced and danced. until the long blondes were done and the lights turned on. it was a great show. all three bands.

after dropping will home, the rest of us went to denny's. like we did back in the day (early & mid-90's). it was so euphoric. especially to be at the berryessa denny's. ah, i miss my youth. i think.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

we are the pipettes

venue: rickshaw stop
artist: the pipettes, smoosh & monster bobby
who: alex, lou & ro
when: 12 june 2007 (tuesday)
show starts at 9p

this was my second time at the rickshaw stop. i saw the silversun pickups there with lou & ro back in october. and yes, there is an actual rickshaw there. the opening was monster bobby who is part of the pipettes, well their back up band (according to wikipedia which may or may not be true). i liked his voice but couldn't really hear him too well.

the second opening was this band called smoosh. they were the female equivalent of hansen, except, they rock! i was so amazed and a bit shocked. they were so cute and talented. it's not everyday that you see an 8 y/o bass player. they also did a cover of bloc party's modern love which was most impressive. i thoroughly enjoyed these young ladies.

the only problem with the rickshaw is, upstairs, it gets really hot. i suppose heat rises but damn, it was damn hot upstairs. and that's where the seats are. so, that's where alex and i was. at this show, almost everyone was wearing polka dots. had i known that was their thing, i still wouldn't have worn polka dots. heh. i'm glad i didn't wear polka dots.

i really enjoyed the pipettes. they are super cool. only the coolest musicians have their own theme song (like tom mullaney, heehee). they also all wear polka dotted dresses that have the same pattern (fabric) with different styles. for example, one is a halter top dress, one dress has sleeves and the last one is strapless. all three sing and dance. and maneuver around and across the stage very carefully. it was immensely entertaining. they sing together as well as separately. it's refreshing to see a band take the time to put on a show for you. i'm so used to bands just standing there and playing their instruments. i enjoy myself so much more when i see bands get into their music. it makes me get into their music. but when they put together a dance routine, that's like the cherry on top!

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ clap your hands if you want some more!

meet my new nephew!

jett was born on friday, june 8 at 4:51pm at 6 lbs and 20 inches.
congrats david & thuy!

the half-yearly @ nordstrom

it's that time of year again! yep, the time women wake up early to get to nordstrom by 7am for some good shopping. i got these shoes (see below) and some other stuff. i went to the valley fair store early in the morning and shopped with lisa. after work, i headed over to the stanford shopping center with the muffins. now if only i can hold off on shopping until the anniversary sale on july 20.

rock & roll marathon

saturday, june 2nd in la jolla

i flew into san diego straight from vegas (see below). since i had pretty much emptied my insides that morning, i wasn't really hungover or anything. and was ready for a nice dinner. my sister-in-law, trang had flown in before me. her sister, jade was picking us both up. since i was arriving an hour later, they decided to wait for me.

it was so nice to be back in san diego. i haven't been back in years. i don't even remember the last time i was there. it's been at least 3 years, that's for certain. i did forget that early june in san diego is quite glooming when it comes to weather. i went from scorching hot weather (in vegas) to slightly cold in san diego. ugh. i'm surprised i didn't get sick from the drastic weather change!

jade is the only one running the rock & roll marathon. trang and i were there for support. initially, both jade and trang (and their mother) had planned on doing it. they trained together but trang hurt her knees. then ricky (my brother) decided to take trang's place so jade would have someone to train and run with. but unfortunately, he too hurt his knee(s). jade and her late brother (dochi) had planned on doing the marathon together. but he passed away last september and she decided that she would continue without him, for him.

since i'd lived in san diego and knew my way around (for the most part), i was assigned the driver. i was a student and poor when i was in san diego. i didn't really know where to go. i usually just went to la jolla. so, that's where we went. we drove around and then found this place called roppongi, japanese asian fusion restaurant. they had all these "best of" awards out front. we decided to eat here. despite a room full of empty tables, they said they were full for seating inside but that there was seating outside available. there were heat lamps so it was fine. it turns out, it was prom night and that's why all of the inside seating were reserved.

our server, jason, was very typical san diegan. he was young and had long blonde curly hair. total surfer type. he had this boyish charm to him which made him quite appealing. we ordered so much... let's see, we had the polynesian crab stack, the crispy buttermilk onion rings (we only had a few), pan seared sea scallops, spicy kung pao calamari, boneless short ribs, grilled filet mignon, and i can't remember the rest. we also had three desserts. we had a sundae, lemon creme brulee, and the warm chocolate melting decadence. there were several servers bringing us our dishes. one asked where we put all this food. jason was quite impressed as well. the food was delightful.

sunday, june 3rd

we checked in at the sofia hotel in downtown san diego. our room was a tiny studio room with a pull out couch. yes, the three of us in a pull out couch. we were very cosy.

jade had to get up at *ugh* some obscene time like 4am so she could get ready and leave by 5. we got up in time and dropped her off. then back to the hotel for a nap. we planned on being at the finish line by 11:30a so we'd wake up at 10a. only problem was... where the hell was the marathon?? we didn't figure that until an hour on the road and all around downtown. there were NO signs! this is the 10th anniversary for the rock & roll marathon but still, proper directions would have been nice.

the marathon participants wore a chip in their shoes where they could be tracked online. so trang had people back in the bay area track jade for us. we were trying really hard to make it to the finish line to cheer her. after driving around the san diego airport for a while, we found a parking lot for the marathon. not the parking lot for the marathon, mind you. we were still a ways away. after we parked the car, trang flagged down a rickshaw driver. he was across the street and she yells "hey, the guy in the green shirt!!" it was hilarious. at $15/person, we were desperate to get there so we got in. he could only drop us half way (if even that) but biked as fast as he could as we told him about why jade was running the marathon.

it was another half hour or more before we finally reached our meeting place. the team-in-training tent. we ran through a sea of people leaving (with blisters and all)in the opposite direction. when we finally found the team-in-training tent, it presented us yet another problem. how do we find jade in this crowd?? so we start wandering around looking for her. after about 10-15 minutes, she finds us. she'd finished in 5 hours and 20 minutes (if you see her, you must congratulate her!). it is quite a feat. when we saw her, we hugged for a while.

the walk back wasn't so bad. since we weren't running or anything. to the right, you see us catching another rickshaw. it was $40 for all 3 of us. and he took us to the lot we were parked in. he was zig-zagging through cars in traffic. it was a little bit scary.

we checked out and headed back to la jolla for lunch. there wasn't much of a choice as most placed were closed. we ended up at crab catcher. trang said the food was like cruise food. you get the gist. afterwards, we returned the rental and flew home. my brother picked us up in san jose. when i got into the car, i saw my chunky and lollipop head. they said they missed me! after such a jam packed weekend, it was such a tender homecoming.

what happens in vegas, stays in vegas?

friday, june 1st
i took the day off to fly out to las vegas for my cousins' bachelor/bachelorette party. i started off my day with slight breezes in san jose, requiring a jacket. as soon as i step off the plane in vegas, i immediately had to start striping off whatever clothes i could. my cousins were shopping at the fashion show mall on the strip. so i shuttled it to treasure island across from the mall. it took like an hour after i arrived. ugh.

the last time i was in vegas, it was late 2000. with my ex, douglas, we stayed at the hilton off the strip and ended up leaving early due some reflux condition he was having. lame. i'd only ever been to vegas with him so i was ready to make new fond memories of vegas with my cousins. with whom i always have fun!

i finally meet up with them around 4:30ish. we're waiting for nina (my cousin-to-be) to check into her room. so we go to where she is staying and hang out until i hear from her. we end up at the house of blues downstairs in the bar with debbie, roger & lily. our waiter comes to our table and says, are we all 21 here? let's see some ids, as he looks straight at me. when he sees mine, he says, wow. and i say, thanks! and so, i order my first drink for the day. a mudslide. then roger joins us and orders a guinness. then a shot of baileys and irish whiskey so he can have a car bomb. you know i can't resist a car bomb. and i order one to join him. and then another. and it was time to head up to nina's room. we hung out for a bit there and i had some more guinness. then back to the cousins's room at the flamingo for a nap.

after our nap, we headed over to the venetian where this club tao is. roger's friend, nader (see below) knew some people at tao and helped hook us up with a vip area on the top floor.

after waiting for people and our vip hook up, we finally go in. our vip section was on the top floor next to the pool. we had two bottles of ketel one with cranberry juice and pineapple juice. our cocktail waitress did a good job keeping our cups filled, during which i'd been chatting it up with roger's friend nader. i don't remember much after my second cranberry vodka. i remember bits and pieces of walking down the stairs to get water with nader. he took very good care of me. what a sweet guy. roger came down to help me too. he's a great cousin-in-law. then, i remember not being let back into the club and getting sick. and going through the venetian, trying to walk upright but basically being carried through. then, there was the car. nader's car. he drove me back. andy met me downstairs at the flamingo. and then i passed out, waking up every so often to vomit.

sadly, i missed nina who showed up sometime after 12:30a. the next morning, roger mentioned that nader thought very highly of me. my response was "even after i got sick?" to which he responded, "yep, even after you threw up on his beige suede shoes!" omg, what a horrible first impression. but apparently, we all got sick. soon after, we got breakfast and i flew out to san diego in the afternoon. despite getting horrendously sick and passing out, i had a great time!

what a night!