noise pop pt.1

first to tommy's joynt before stellastarr*,
and stops at hemlock tavern & a tranny bar

venue: gamh
artist: stellastarr*, birdmonster & 2 other openings we missed (noise pop)
who: ro, lou, jen & what's her 40-y/o face and lesbo friend di
when: 28 february 2008 (thursday)

we went to tommy's joynt for some down home cooking. very filling food at very economical prices. the only problem is that it's cash only. i had the burgundy beef (mmm meat...) with rice and a cucumber salad. we then headed over to the hemlock tavern for a few drinks. it's some sort of tradition lou has every time he goes to a show at the gamh. so we had drinks there. my tom collins was really good actually.

we met up with jen & ro's 40-something y/o coworker (we'll call her 40 for short) on the way to the gamh. we made it in time for the birdmonster. they weren't too bad for an opening. surprisingly. they were good. if you want a listen, check out their myspace page here.

before stellastarr* came on, this overly emo version of ted walks right by me. complete with long emo greasy hair, skinny jeans and a members only jacket. blegh. at first, i didn't recognize him but there was something familiar and so repulsive about him. i remembered his myspace page from whenever i go onto my friend joe's page. he's the one who introduced us and is still friends with him. and i saw the elf gf. they ended up hanging out right behind us. i was trying to get a pic of him to put in this post but couldn't do it without them noticing. the guys didn't recognize him either. 40's friend diana showed up so i told her what was going on. then she says to me, i know we just met and this might sound weird but you wanna make out? she said it was to show him that i had someone better not to mention give him (and everyone else) a show. nice gesture but i passed. i don't really go that way.

i saw stellastarr* for the first time nearly a year ago. i'd listened to their stuff online before the show so most if not all the songs they played were songs i knew at the last show. however, last night was a showcase of their new unreleased stuff. this is fine because most bands play shows to promote their new songs. i was disappointed that they didn't play a few of their better songs like lost in time. their new stuff didn't quite hit a chord with me but then again, i might have been a little distracted.

last year, i gave them 4 ♥s but this time, they fell short one ♥.
rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

afterwards, we went to divas, a tranny bar. it was my first time. we went in for a drink. it was interesting and our bartender was hilarious. i'm not allowed to say much else about this place except that i had fun. hehe.

diamonds are a girl's best friend

as most of my friends know, i don't really wear jewelry. except for the earrings my sister gave me that i never take off (not even in the shower nor to sleep). i can't wear watches because, while i've yet to lose any, i always end up taking them off and leaving them somewhere. i did have a jade bracelet i used to wear all the time. only because i could never take it off myself. it was taken off for my thyroidectomy though. very very painful. rings are the worst for me. i lost the last one that was given to me by my sister. :( it was our sister ring and i lost it like a month after i got it. i'm still mad at myself for that.

a couple of years ago, i'd seen this swirl ring by carriere in a nordstrom catalog. it was love at first sight. i'd never known love like this before. last summer, it went on sale. and clearly, a sign that it would soon be mine. i never thought i was much into bling either. but the way this ring sparkles right after it's been cleaned makes me feel like a giddy schoolgirl. i ♥ ♥ ♥ my diamond ring.

my office space

the other day, my manager starts telling me about how i should hang out in the computer resource center on campus. that she saw a cute guy there but that she didn't know they existed on campus. it's funny, despite having crushes on my faculty, i'm not at all interested in meeting anyone at work to date. anymore. after nearly 7 years of working here, i've realized that i don't want to date academics or students (watch, knowing my luck, my next relationship will be with one of the two and i will have to eat these typed words). prime example was the kid that lied to me about his age. okay okay, so i met him at popscene. he was still a student here.

back to my manager, basically, she's scoping guys out for me! it turns out she went to a meeting and met some IT guy who was really cute. funny. then she was trying to make an excuse to get him to come over and help us so i could meet him! so sweet of her to be looking out for me like that. she's super awesome.

it's things like this that make it nearly impossible to leave this department. alas, the only way to move up is to move around. still, i'm so happy here... it would have to take an unbelievably fantastic offer or a horrendously bad situation to make me go.

thoughts on facebook

i hate it. don't get me wrong, it's great to be able to stay in touch with former students, my sister (that i live with) and others who aren't on myspace. but, even though myspace is for 12 y/os, i still prefer it to facebook. facebook is making me so angry right now. grrr!!!

don't get sucked in like i did! thanks sis!

shoes shoes shoes

one of my new year's resolutions this year was to cut down on shoe purchases. rather than buy one pair per month, it will be one pair every other month. here is the first pair of the year.another new year's resolution... rather a new rule for me is anything but black. taken from the wisdom of my dear sister and her expertise as a fashionista. in case you're wondering, the color of these mary janes are espresso which is almost black but not quite. still brown.

plus, i desperately had to replace my brown mary jane wedges i got two summers ago. the strap on one of the shoes keeps snapping off. even after repairs at the cobblery. they were one of two closed-toe brown pairs i had that i could wear in the rain.

day out with the kids

today, i took the kids to lunch. but since we ate so much (pizza, mac & cheese, cheese polenta, salad for me, and gelato), we headed over to the mall to walk off our lunch. i never put them in strollers because if i'm going to have to walk, they are going to walk too. plus, both of them are too old to be in strollers. but not necessarily too big. i just want them to get some exercise with me.

at the mall, we came across this photo booth and decided to go in... this was the last and best pose we took.

my brother's dog

about three months ago, my brother's dog was dognapped. she was taken from their backyard and had not been seen since. she even had one of those chips implanted in her in case she gets lost. but we'd heard nothing for months. we knew she'd been stolen. until last monday... she was found in vallejo. that's about 2 hours or so away. probably less, it's on the way to napa from here. it turns out that she was sold and didn't like these new owners. it was so bad that they couldn't take it anymore and took her to the pound. which is where she was scanned and my brother's information showed up. unfortunately though, he recently changed his cell phone number which was the number listed. they'd been trying to call for a week or so until they called the house number. so she's back (sorry for the outdated photo above, i'll try to post an updated pic, she's a beautiful dog). my sister-in-law tells me that she was super clean and a little chunky when they picked her up. apparently, she was taken care of really well. and we are very happy that she's home.

dinner with the ladies

last monday, we went to xanh before the new xanh opened. my friend caroline was in town visiting her twin, grace. funie & kristina also joined us. it was just one of those fantastic nights where you end up staying until closing but didn't expect to.

ugh

seeing my picture below makes me think that i need to wear more make up and get a hair cut... yuk, yuk, yuk.

happy chinese new year!!

tonight was the grand opening of the new xanh restaurant now located at 110 castro in downtown mt. view.
this year is the year of the brown rat. i think it's the earth rat. as it was the 7th in china earlier today, many celebrate the new year tonight. as i am celebrating the new year with my family this weekend, i choose to start my celebration at the new xanh. the picture on the left is the lounge. there is a wall of water on rocks. it's really cool. they now have a full bar with specialty drinks. i hope to become a cocktail waitress here. when it gets warmer.
there are 6 new plates. we had three of them and one of the two new desserts. they now have vietnamese desserts. they also have pho on their menu, as an appetizer. everything was delicious, as always. i was there on monday (two nights ago in my purple dress below) and what a difference! while both places are very hip and trendy, this new place allows for more space between tables and is at a grand scale of hip & trendy. bathrooms always say a lot about how i feel about a restaurant. i remember nice bathrooms. and their bathrooms are totally awesome, except their locks. they are a little tricky...

new fcuk dress from dc

sorry for the blurry pic but i can't seem to get anything in focus sans the flash. i got so many compliments on this dress from work that i had to post a picture...