Saturday, September 10, 2005
Death of a Ghettomobile, Steak on a Stake, and a Rebel Yell
Current mood: bouncy

Le auto...c'est mort!!!
Okay so although my ghettofabulous ride hasn't exactly kicked, it is no longer a vital part of my life. Because about two weeks ago, I bought a new car! Well...at least I signed up to make payments for the next five years.

I'm now the proud owner of a silvery-champagen colored 2000 Honda Accord, complete with a decent cd / stereo system, sunroof, and keyless entry!!!! And not only can I get into my car via my keyless entry doohickie, but I can also open my trunk with just a press of a button! That's science, friends! I can now die a happy woman.

So I'm gonna sell my Corsica if anyone is interested. She needs a new oil pump and possibly new bearings. I put a new alternator and battery in it back in April and my dad just replaced the head gasket, the oil filter, all the fluids, and all the spark plugs about a month ago. I imagine that, once her current issues are fixed, she'll last another two years or so. I'm asking $1000 or best offer.

Can I get a "Huzzah"?
Last weekend, Colin and I went to the Renaissance Festival here in Crownsville, MD for a few hours. I dined on steak on a stake and imbibed some of the King's finest ale! (And I was a wee bit tipsy from just two beverages...uh-oh! )

The village wasn't as large as the one in OH, but I liked the set-up a wee bit more. It was totally shaded and was situated on a series of small hills and valleys and the village path was all twisty. It felt like a real little medieval town. There was a greater variety of beer, but the jousting area was much smaller. They had a Globe Theater at which plays are performed throughout the day, but that took the place of the Mudde Show. I for one don't think a Ren Fest is quite a Ren Fest without a Mudde Show! (But I am a very filthy girl at heart. ) It was quite nice, but is wasn't MY Ren Fest.

As is tradition, I stopped at the bustier and doublet shoppe and donned a purple, suede bustier. My cleavage was nearly up to my chin and Colin grinned from ear to ear. He tried on a tan, lambskin doublet...and my god!...I've never seen the boy look more handsome in all my life! He was hot, hot, hot, hot, hhhhot!!! All he needed to be a total medeival hottie was a white tunic, breeches, knee-high boots, bracers, and a sword. I'd be his wench any day!
I so hope he gets to come to the Fest in OH with me and my friends! With the costuming this year, it's bounds to be loads of fun and laughs! I can't wait to see Shawn and Chris's costumes!

She cried, "More, more, more!!!!"
Oh yes, my friends. Even though I already saw him at HFStival this summer, once was not enough. It merely whet my appetite and made Colin jealous. So that's why I'm taking Colin to see Billy Idol tonight at Ram's Head Live tonight!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen light-in-the-loafers, I realize that Billy Idol may not be your fantasy. He was never mine. But go see him live. You might change your mind. That man, even though he's in his 50's, his muscles are bloody cut from granite! And he can still rock the fuck out!

"Hey little sister, what have you done? Hey little sister, who's the only one? Hey little sister, who's your superman? Hey little sister, who's the one you want? Hey little sister, shot gun! It's a nice day for a white wedding! It's a nice day to START AGAIN!!!! Waaa owww owww!!" ~ Billy Idol - White Wedding

Thursday, September 08, 2005
27 and feeling euphoric...or is it eutoric?
Current mood: excited

Eutoria!!!
I promised Heather I would write about the Tori show and here it is.I saw Tori Amos (again) on August 24th with Crescent down at the Inner Harbor. It was such a beautiful show! This was my third time seeing her live and it never gets old. (Thank you, Crescent!)

It was a lovely evening, comfortably warm with a slight breeze blowing in off the water. The sun had just set and in the blue glow of twilight, the lights of the buildings in the Inner Harbor flickered on. There was a carnivalish feel. Maybe it was the smell of all of the restaurants or the smell of the too done hot dogs or nachos. One thing that struck me in particular as Cres and I found our seats was the relaxed mood of the crowd. They were all so...peaceful. Content. Like they were gathered together to worship.

Before the show started Cres and I were just sipping our beers and talking. We were situated only 10 or so rows back and just to the right of the center of the stage. We couldn'tve been luckier or had a better view. Our seats were on the end of a row and we noticed this tall skinny guy with a lazy eye dressed all in back, walking back and forth, back and forth, as if he were having difficulty locating his seat. He stopped and just started talking to me, telling me how excited he was about the show. I agreed that it was going to be a good show and turned back to continue my conversation with Crescent. He moved closer to me and kept talking. Not wanting to be rude, I returned conversation for a moment and then turned back to Cres. She and I talked for a good minute and a half and this guy continued to stand there, looking down at me, and listening to our conversation. He then blurts out, "So can I get your number so that we can stay in touch?" I reply, "I have a boyfriend and I don't think he'd like it if I gave out my phone number to random young men." At this point I figured the conversation would end. But no. He says, "Well, just in case you break up." I said, "Yeah, that's not real likely to happen. I'm gonna marry him." After a moment...he walked away.

The lights dimmed, a hush fell over the crowd, and the goddess came out all dressed in white her hair all ablaze in the stage lighting. She wore a white tank top paired with a tee-length white peasant skirt and a stunning crystal necklacke that covered the entire open neck of her tank top. She also had a white crystal sparkly belt if I remember correctly. Her hair was bright red and gleaming. She had allowed the natural soft curl to take over and had pulled it back at the sides. Her ears poked through her hair at moments and when the lights hit her just right and she tilted her head just so, she looked very much like a beautiful wood nymph or faerie! I looked at her a moment, admiring her. And then I realized that her tummy was protruding a bit...but she was skinny everywhere else. And so it would seem that Tori has a bun in the oven!

This concert she chose to revert to "the girl and her piano" thing, so there was no band. But it wasn't really just a piano. She did indeed have her big, hulking black Bosendorfer but there was also a two tier organ, and three electric piano keyboards. She spent most of her time at the Bosendorfer per her usual, however the organ was behind her and she occasionally straddled the piano bench and played both, which was phenomenal to witness.

Now because her family was there (she grew up in the Balitmore/DC area) it was a tasteful, non-suggestive straddling of the piano bench. No gyrations or grinding. No humping the piano. And no off color comments, cursing, or talk of cocks. But that's just fine. I didn't much mind. I'm not 22 anymore...the shock value has somewhat worn off. And she's freaking 37 or so. It just doesn't have the same impact that it used to. Plus with her being pregnant I feel it would've been in bad taste. So no humping.

I can't recall precisely in what order she played everything but I do know that she performed the following: Original Sinsuality, Crucify, Winter, Leather, Marianne, Playboy Mommy, A Sort of Fairytale, Sweet the Sting, Jamaica Inn, Cars and Guitars, The Beekeeper, an Elton John song, and a Queen song.

And there may have been one or two more. Don't know. What I do know is that it was pure Tori. Her voice was haunting and ethereal...sometimes clear and soaring like an angel's and sometimes growling, frantic, and tortured like one of the damned. And her musicianship never fails to blow me away. She makes any instrument with keys not only talk, but laugh, squeal with glee, scream, cry, beg, moan, plead, and dance the tango.

I just kicked back and listened and let my senses feast on the beauty that was surrounding me. I just sat back and worshiped the goddess aflame on her thone. I got that little achey feeling in my chest. You know the one. The thing you get when the moment is too perfect. They way Colin makes me feel sometimes. It was lovely. Just lovely.

The show was particularly special because Tori's parents where there. Cres and I were seated about four rows behind and just to the right of them.I recognized them from pictures that I had seen in the past. And also because two people their age at a show like that sort of stick out like a sore thumb! I was delighted to find them your very typical Maryland couple. He father was about 5'8", his hair completely white and cut short, he wore khaki slacks, a pale blue shirt, large thick, black framed glasses, a dark blue World War II Veteren's cap, and his priest's collar (he's a minister). He walked with a cane. Tori's mother was about 5'3", thin, with pixie-cut white hair, thin glasses, wearing tan dress slacks, a typical old lady flowery shirt, a pearl necklace and earrings set, with a tan handbag slung over one arm. As I said, the perfect typical Maryland old couple. They were quite obviously very proud of their daughter, periodically gazing at each other during her performance and beaming, giving the other a kiss on the cheek, or a squeeze. It was very sweet to witness.

One last thing. During the show as I was lost in bliss, Cres turned her head and looked back to our left just to check out the crowd. And she burst out laughing. I followed her gaze and saw this guy with a total euphoric look on his face, his mouth frozen in this creepy grin, his eyes wide and fixed upon the image of Tori on stage. I rolled! You just had to be there. That look! Oh my god! That look was perfect! It's where I coined the word "eutoria". He was totally eutoric!

27
Happy Birthday to me! I'm twenty-seven today. I used to write that not much changed with every passing birthday. That I didn't feel that much different. And this year that's true to some degree. I'm still me. Older, more experienced, wiser. But for the first time in a long time, I feel quite hopeful. This birthday feels more like 20 than 27. I have that little warm fuzzy. And I'm glad. And excited!

Colin bought me a lovely russian crystal white gold and platinum earring and necklace set. It's so beautiful and I feel guilty! He makes me feel very loved and very special. Thank you, baby! I love you!

Friday, August 26, 2005
Fabulous din din with my sexy blue-eyed chef!!!!
Current mood: happy

Colin, my sexy and amazing boyfriend whom I love with all of my body including my pinky toe, made me the best dinner today!

He made English Ale and Cheddar soup with leeks, carrots, and celery. Also, a zinfandel braised short ribs with vadaillia onions, braised carrots, andouille sausage and aged cheddar grits, and corn on the cob with lemon-pepper. And we had bourbon and honey-glazed camembert (cheese) with baguette croutons. (I couldn't have told you all that...he just told me as I was typing. I just know that it was deeeeeelicious!!!!)

And he bought me a shirt from PacSun yesterday all by himself! And I like it! And it looks good on me! Woooo haaaaaa! I'm extremely happy right now. And very much in love. And very much in love. And very much in love. Did I say that? Oh and I'm very much in love.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Weekend of Horror, The Boyfriend, and I feel sick!
Current mood: sick

Shawn and Sean were up to Bodymore this past weekend. They both arrived Thursday night fairly late. We went to a near-midnight Korean dinner at Nam Kang. I took the day off from Heroin Addict Land on Friday so that I could spend the day showing them around the dirty, wonderful hodge-podge of a city that Baltimore is.

We attempted to visit Edgar Allan Poe's house, but found it closed due to air conditioning malfunction. Seeing that we were pretty damn hungry we decided to grab some lunch, so I took them to the Paper Moon in all of it's quirky glory. The Paper Moon is a local diner that has old kewpie dolls, Barbies, GI Joes, WWF Westler dolls, toy airplanes and vehicles of all kinds, baby dolls, bald and naken manican torsos, army men, etc. all over the ceiling and walls. It's really, really funky. And the foods pretty good too!

After our very filling meal, we went to the Baltimore Museum of Art. I wasn't terribly impressed with the exhibits, having been to the Art Institute in Chicago and several of the museums in DC. The cool thing was that the scultpure "The Thinker" was there. Shawn and I had our picture taken with it. Thinking. We all nearly had "head-explodey" in the Contemporary Art section. Um...a piece of black canvas is not a work of art.

After that we were driving downtown and saw people walking toward the Baltimore Convention Center dressed up as Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, and Link from the Legend of Zelda. It was then that we realized that there was an Anime Convention in town. So we parked and walked down to check the price of admission. $50.00 a day was a wee bit too steep, so we just sat on the wall and checked out the geeks in costume. There were two asian-american guys walking down the sidewalk yelling, "Anime! Anime!" Oh yeah. I took some pictures of some hot chicks in costume. For the boys, of course. For the last time Shawn, I AM NOT a lesbian.

We grabbed some coffee and then grabbed a Crescent and went to Kumari, an Indian restaurant, for dinner. Our intention was to go out and party down when we had finished eating, but I developed a headache, Crescent was tired, and Sean's gout started acting up. So we just went home. God, we're getting fucking old! LOL!

Well, plus, I wanted to make sure I was home when Colin got there. And he did at about 2:30 AM Saturday morning. The boys had gone to sleep by the time he got there, which is all well and good by me. I just wanted to see him with no distraction. And we hugged and kissed and made sweet, sweet love. *sigh*

The next morning the boys woke me up at an ungodly hour so that we could get a good place in line to get into the Horror Convention. Yup. Horror Convention. There were lots of boys there. Lots of them dressed in black. But suprisingly, only two vampires. Although there were a few Freddy Krugers, a naughty little red riding hood, and couple of gothies. The rest were just normal geeks like us who watched too many horror movies as children. We waited in line for an hour to get in and then got in Bruce Campbell's line. For those of you who may not know who he is, he starred in the Evil Dead movies and, more recently, in Bubba Ho-tep. We waited in line from 10:00 am to 1:30pm just to get this dude's signature. I got a photo signed for Colin and a book for myself. We then wandered around and looked at the useless but really cool "evil" shit they had for sell. My favorite were the "dead babies" baby dolls. They were fucking morbid and scary little corpse baby dolls. And there was a cuddly white teady bear... with a gaping bloody maul. Yup. We went through a really stupid haunted house and then watched about 30 minutes of a horrible 70's horror movie called "Race with the Devil" that had an orgy scene with a Satanic virgin sacrifice. Yup. Oh yeah, and we got to meet the guy who played the cop in Frighteners. You know. "My body is a road map of pain!"

Then we went back to the apartment and met up with Colin. We chilled for a bit and headed out for pizza and beer at The Thirsty Dog. I got a wee bit toasty. We came back and watched some of Eddie Izzard's "Glorius" and passed out.

Sunday Shawn left. Sean, Colin, Rose, and I had lunch at Don Pablo's and then returned to the apartment for a day of relaxing in front of the TV. Colin crashed out and I took Sean to BWI. I returned and woke my sexy boyfriend to go get Domino's and the second disc of Band of Brothers. We sent a sleeping and drooling Rose to bed and watched the first part and then konked out ourselves. Well we didn't immediately go to sleep....but...yeah. hehe

It was a really beautiful weekend. There was a ton of hilarity with old friends, new friends, and boyfriend. And my friends got to meet my boyfriend...and stamp them with their seal of approval. (That's what it meant when Shawn was humping your leg, honey.)

Monday I worked (ick!) but got a ton accomplished (hurray!) and then Colin and I went looking for cars for me (ick!) I found that I can't afford a whole fuckin' lot. Le sigh. But oh well. I'll find something! Thank you for helping me look, love! We finished out the second bit of Band of Brothers and crashed.

Today I worked, had lunch with C, and then took him to the airport. That never really gets any easier. I got bummed for a bit, but then realized that it's okay because I get to have him come home to me on Thursday! Reuniting is always fun.

Tonight Rose and I ate at Kumari. It was delicious, but I'm feeling pretty nauseated. I'm fairly sure it wasn't the food. I think it's just all my stress lately tearing my tum-tum up. I really honestly feel like I could throw-up. God, I hate vomiting.

Anyway...I think I'm going to try to learn an Incubus song on my guitar, read some more of Roadside Picnic, and then crawl in bed.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005
I was orally assaulted by you....
Current mood: satisfied

Sing that subjuct line up there to the tune of "Hopelessly Devoted" by Olivia Newton John. God, I'm screwed up.

Went to the Ellicott City Brewing Company with Crescent, Craig, and their friend Greg. I wasn't really all that hungry but I had baked briee (?) and two of their seasonal brews. Then we went back to Cres and Craig's and told amusing stories about dating, online personals, West Virginia, high school experiences, etc. It was a really, really nice time. I'm so glad that I have people like Craig and Cres to hang out with! They're really good people and good friends. And it's nice just to be with friends.

Speaking of friends...The Shawns will be here tomorrow!!!! Or maybe I should spell it The Seans, so Burns won't get mad. Shauns? Sohns? Anyway, I'm very excited!!!!!

And Friday night, Colin comes home! I look back on this summer...and god it's been hard...but I've learned a lot about me and about him. And now he's coming back! And I find myself so impatient. Like these last two days are going to freakin' kill me! Wow, I love him. I am in such a good mood!

I've had a good evening with friends, I'm looking forward to a wonderful weekend with two of my best boys, my boyfriend is coming home, and I just had an incredibly tantalizing and naughty phone conversation with my incredibly sexy boyfriend. Life is good.

Ghetto cookout...
Current mood: aggravated

Work pissed me the fuck off today. Fuckers!

But we did have a cook out at lunch today, which was good. Yes...I said cook out. The were celebrating birthdays for the month of August. One of the receptionists hauled her grill up and we had hot dogs, brautwurst, hamburgers, potato salad, deviled eggs, macaroni salad, barbeque chicken, jamacian jerk chicken, meatballs, cake and ice cream! God bless black people in the ghetto.

Anyway, Crescent and I are off to the pub! I'm going to drink away my frustrations and she's going to drink away Scott. Here's to the healing power of alcohol and loud music!!