Rockinponda's Journals

Wah-wah-wah-waaaaaah

Well, dudes, my computer is broken again, so I won't be around for a while. :(

I'm going to go learn how to play D&D tonight, lol!

Talk to you all when my computer miraculously repairs itself or when I move in with my boyfriend; whichever comes first!

Shazam!

I went to see Jimmy Eat World for the third time last night (they were especially awesome), SNL was hilarious, I just ate some tasty bacon, I finally have some time to myself (no babysitting!), and I'm going to the Grand Canyon tomorrow, because it's our school's Spring Break. Good times.

I'm sure you're all very glad that I wrote this enlightening and thought-provoking journal.

Speaking of bacon...

Hahaha, I love Archie McPhee!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, yes???

I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that I haven't been on Buzznet because my computer is broken. I'm not avoiding you. I still love you. I just don't have money to fix it yet! Maybe start a Save Ponda campaign and collect people's change to send to me :D Perhaps then I'll wind up with a ska band named after me too....

If you drop me a note, I'll write back to you. Eventually. Bear with me here :) For some reason the library's computer isn't liking my messages page, so I think a note would definitely be the best idea.

I miss you!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO,

Ponda

The Art of My Art

I was tagged by Anra to make a list of ten things about my artwork. So here goes!

1. Impressionism is my favorite style of painting, but I rarely use it myself - I find it difficult to do anything other than realism.

2. I prefer oil over acrylic paint, because I mostly do portraits, and I find it difficult to mix the shading of skin tones when acrylic paints dry so quickly.

3. I almost never blend when I'm drawing in pencil. I like for my strokes to show.

4. I'm already running out of things to say, how will I make it to ten?

5. I like drawing celebrities the best, because they always look so good in pictures, which makes it easier to make them look good with my pencils.

6. I hate drawing from my imagination or my memory, unless I'm just doing something cartoon-y.

7. People say hands and ears are the hardest to draw, but I think drawing hair is a total bitch.

8. I try to never draw landscapes, because I'm way too much of a perfectionist; I would feel the need to try to render every single leaf or blade of grass! So I just stay away from that genre....

9. One of the first things I remember drawing was a family of alligators who walked on two legs and wore clothes. I also drew their house, in cross-section form. They were kind of like Egyptian hieroglyphs, in that their heads were turned to the side, while their bodies were facing forward....

10. It is not widely known that I have also dabbled in sculpting. But it's a lot more expensive to do than drawing or painting, so I've never kept up with it. I made this awesome tiger sculpture in high school, but someone stole it after it came out of the kiln D`:

Last Night's Entertainment

Last night was a wonderful night of tv for me, and strangely enough, it consisted of "reality" shows! Reality shows don't normally jive with me, with only a couple exceptions - So You Think You Can Dance and Project Runway. The great thing about these two, is that they showcase people with incredible talent, and focus on that talent, rather than on petty backstage antics or rivalries. They really challenge their contestants, and those challenges are so fun to watch play out, whether it be seeing how a hip-hop dancer fares against the cha-cha, or being awe-struck by how someone could make a beautiful outfit from recycled trash!

So last night was the first episode of SYTYCD featuring the Top 10 contestants and the season premier of Project Runway!

So You Think You Can Dance is so fun to watch, because it's these amazing dancers performing this incredible choreography in all different styles. They possess such talent, skill, strength and grace! I'm totally envious of all the dancers (geez, I can't even do a cartwheel!), and yet that's part of what keeps me watching, because then I can at least imagine myself doing all those awesome moves!

For those of you who don't watch, this is the fourth season of SYTYCD, and the first one that I've watched from the very beginning of the season. During second season, I only started watching toward the very end, because two of my best friends were so into it (I wish Travis had won), and third season I watched when I could remember to. But this season I watched the try-outs (much to the chagrin of my mother), as they narrowed the field down from 200 hopefuls, to the Top 20. Once it's down to 20 (10 males and 10 females), they are paired up in partners, by drawing names from a hat, and they keep those pairings until the Top 10. Each pair then picks a style of dance from the hat, and that is what we see them perform on the show. Then viewers call in and vote for whichever couple(s) they think did best. The results show is the following night, and the three couples with the least votes have to perform solos (dancing for their lives), so that the judges can decide who should leave the show.

Before they discovered Jessica's injury

Now that it's the Top 10, they have switched partners, again by picking from the hat, and instead of voting on the couples, viewers vote for their favorite individual dancers. The judges no longer have any say in who leaves the show, other than giving their critique of each performance; the viewers' votes decide which male and female will leave each week.

At the beginning of last night's episode, the dancers did their little introductory "solos", and I noticed that there were only 9, rather than 10. Then the hostess, Cat Deeley, came out and brought on one of the dancers, Jessica, who was the one that was missing. Apparently, Jessica broke a couple ribs, so the doctors told her she's not allowed to dance for a few weeks. They brought Comfort back to replace Jessica, because Comfort was the last female to have been eliminated. I thought it was kind of crappy, because both of them deserve to be eliminated. Comfort will probably be the female who goes home tonight, and if Jessica hadn't been injured, I'm pretty sure it would have been her going home anyway. So it really makes no difference. I'm not sure which male I think will be going home...probably Gev. Poor Gev, he tries really hard, and I thought his solo this week was totally fierce, but he probably just doesn't have the skills to go much further....

I did a whole bunch of voting last night, but I didn't call in a vote for Comfort, because her solos are always basically the same thing, and it just shows through too much that she's just faking it when she's performing in a style that is outside of her element. I also didn't vote for Kherington, because I felt like she was always the weaker link when she was paired with Twitch and now that she's paired with Mark (my personal favorite, because of his quirky style during his solos, and his wonderful ability to become fully immersed in the characters he's given), it's even more obvious that she's just not good enough to make it much farther in this competition. I didn't vote for Will, just because I think he's over-rated, and he'll get a million votes without my help :P I called in one vote for everyone else and four votes each for my two favorites.

On the other end of the spectrum from Kherington, I didn't care too much for Courtney when she was with Gev (especially at the beginning), but I think she's grown a lot during the competition and has really come into her own. Her solo had really great energy to it, and she and Joshua did wonderful work last night.

My favorites are Mark and Katee. I don't know if Mark can really make it to the top, because apparently he doesn't have as much technical training as some of the other dancers, but I just think he's great. Katee, on the other hand, has perfect technique, but she's also got great personality (when she's performing, anyway...). I think she could definitely win the whole thing, especially now that she's paired up with the glorious, fantastic, perfect Will (he really is quite good, but it bothers me how the judges are constantly fawning over him - I can't think of one negative thing they've said to him!).

I also didn't start watching Project Runway until later seasons (third season specifically, the one Jeffrey won - which I was so happy about! XD). I first started watching when it was on in a marathon, then got hooked into watching the weekly episodes.

In Project Runway there are 16 contestants, who are given different challenges each week, in which they must create an outfit that fits the parameters of the challenge (must be made from certain limiting materials, or must be for a specific person's tastes and needs, etc.) in a very short period of time. Once their time is up, they fit the outfit to their model and four judges (Heidi Klum - who is also the host and a producer, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and a guest judge) make notes as the model walks the runway. The judges add up their scores and decide on the top three and bottom three designs; everyone else is safe. They give these 6 contestants their critiques, then send them away to deliberate who should win the challenge of the top three, and who should be out, from the bottom three. Once they have decided, they bring them back in, dramatic music plays, and Heidi announces the results.

The Cast of Season 5

For the season premier episode, they returned to a challenge from the first season, which had the contestants choosing their design materials from what could be found at a local grocery store. The top 3 this week were Daniel, Kelli and Korto, and the bottom 3 were Blayne, Jerry and Stella. I agree with the judges' choice of these 6 - Daniel's cup dress (yes, made entirely out of blue, plastic disposable cups) was not only ingenius, but well-made; Kelli did a great job of making the skirt and using unique dying methods, and Korto's yellow dress was chic and beautiful, with the inventive touch of vegetable jewelry adding pizzazz. I was hoping that Daniel would win the challenge, because at the beginning of the episode, they showed a couple photos from his portfolio, and I really liked his previous work! But Kelli did a great job too, so I was ok with the decision :)

Daniel's Dress Kelli's Dress

Korto's Dress

In the bottom 3, Blayne's unitard was just hideous, yet he was so confident that he had done something wonderful, because it was so different from everyone else's. Jerry's raincoat-dress combo was so awful - it was completely unflattering by itself, but then he adds those stupid yellow gloves to it? And he also thought he had done a good job, because the raincoat was complete and well-made or whatever. Ugh. Stella's trashbag dress wasn't too bad, I thought, but it was rather lazy, and she spent most of the episode whining about how she was going to be sent home, and she had nothing to work with. Wah wah wah! Before the challenge even began, she had this totally disaffected attitude, like nothing was interesting, and she was just way too cool to be anywhere. I'm hoping she goes home soon, but Jerry wound up being the one sent home this first week. With his stupid raincoat left on the mannequin to stand in disgrace for the rest of the season and remind the designers of what they should not (never, ever!) do.

Blayne's Unitard Jerry's Raincoat

Stella's Dress

WOW, UPDATES!!

Â¡Aye Carumba! I've been meaning to update for ages, but haven't gotten around to it, largely due to my terminal laziness. I'm sure I'll forget to tell you loads of things that I meant to, because of waiting so long, but if I do forget it, how important can it really be? Right?

First off, an update for this journal you may or may not remember/have read about when my house was robbed. Luckily, my mom has insurance, so we knew they would at least cover some of the stuff that was stolen. Back in high school, our house got flooded due to a toilet malfunction and at that time the insurance company's policy was that we had to go out and buy replacement stuff, then send them the receipts and they would reimburse us. So after we got robbed, we bought a bunch of DVDs and CDs (not tons, just a bunch) to replace some of the ones that were taken.

Then the guy at the insurance company told us that they would only reimburse us for part of the costs, even if we had the receipts, and my mom was freaking out. So he worked out some way that the insurance company would buy us the things that were taken and send them to us. We just had to send him lists of what was taken and copies of the receipts we had (mostly from before the robbery). For the CDs and DVDs, he gave us a number of how many of each we could get, and we just had to log in to this website and order them, then they would be sent right to us! It somehow worked out that we got to pick quite a bit more than had been taken, so not only did I get back almost all of my CDs (some were too rare to be found on the website), I got new ones that I had never owned before, too! It was very exciting when they arrived.

Only a few of my DVDs were taken, and I had already re-bought most of them, so almost all of the DVDs that came were for my mom. They also sent me a trombone and a new bass guitar! I think they got a little excessive on the packaging for the bass, though....

And on the same day that arrived, I received my raffle winnings! I never, ever win anything based purely on luck, but I've entered this Health & Wealth raffle twice now, because they've got great prizes, and even if I don't win, it goes to a good cause. So, sure, I didn't win $1,000,000 or a luxury house, but I was still super-excited about my steak knives!!

I'm a WINNER!!!

And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

Also, I went to see The Used in May (I didn't bring my camera to that show, in case I decided to get crazy), and they had a meet & greet thing after the show for people who bought the Shallow Believer EP. So I had them sign my shirt (which I wasn't wearing at the time) and got to say, "Thank you" to them! I wouldn't say that I "met" them, though, because I didn't say anything more than "thank you", nor were there any introductions made, so...yeah.... But it was still awesome and exciting!!

We had a little family of Harris' Antelope Ground Squirrels living in our backyard, which was really cute. They lived in a pile of bricks underneath the vines that have grown over our back wall and there were four or five of them. They're solitary creatures, though, so now that they've grown up, they all left the nest. Then my mom found one dead in our pool filter, so I think that must have been the last one remaining :( But at least now we don't have to worry about them giving our dog fleas or us the plague or anything!

And now, the biggest news! You may remember from this journal that I have been looking for a new job. Well, I got one! Woohoo! Starting in August, I'll be working at an elementary school as a library assistant. That may sound boring to some, but I LOVE libraries, books and organizing/alphabetizing, so I'm excited. It's only a part-time job, and I'll be making less than my old job, but not by much. Plus, I'll have benefits (which I didn't before) and the school is only about a mile from my house! It's the elementary school that I went to as a young lass, and my old job was about 45 minutes away from my house. And, as if all that weren't cool enough, my bff works at the school too! Yay, yay, yay! I'll have to get another part-time job, but that's fine with me. I'm kind of looking forward to having that kind of variety and not doing the same thing, all day, five days a week. Blargh! Also, I got laid-off my old job when my boss found out I had a new job (what a Michael Scott thing to do!), so in the free time I have between now and August, I'd like to start up a website for painting portraits. Or something along those lines. So if anyone has any advice about that, I'd love to hear it! :D

Jimmy Eat World at the Dodge Theatre 6/18/08

Ahhhh, I love JEW! I saw them last August at the Mesa Arts Center, which was really cool, because it was very small and intimate. They played all sorts of songs that they wouldn't normally do and basically played all of their album Bleed American! Then at the encore, Jim Adkins came out with an acoustic guitar and played "The Middle" (you know, their giant hit single?) and had the audience sing most of it ourselves, because really, who could go to a JEW show and not know the words to "The Middle"? Honestly! [cut=More.]

Yeah! Fancy poster! I own it! Someday I'll get it framed!

Anyway, for the past year (almost) I've been hankering to see them again! When I heard they were touring with Paramore earlier this year, I was super-psyched - until I found out they weren't coming here. I was like, "What?! How can you forsake your hometown?! >:O" Yes, the angry face was part of my quote.

I arrived at the show a smidge late, because the Dodge Theatre is in downtown Phoenix, which has a bunch of crazy light-rail construction going on in the streets and all sorts of one-ways, and I'm just not familiar with that part of town (it majorly intimidates me)! Parking was 10 f-ing dollars (I'm used to paying $5), but it was very smooth finding a parking space and the parking structure is right by the theatre, so I guess it was worth it. I went in and got my wristband for the pit (woooo, yeah!!) and bought a bottle of water for $4.50. Where's my usual $2 bottle of water?! As if that wasn't obscenely expensive already...sheesh!

Enough complaining! The first band that played was one was called Dear and the Headlights, and even though I only caught their last few songs, I really liked them. They are a local act that JEW invited to open for this concert. If Conor Oberst left Bright Eyes, and Robert Smith took over on vocals, that would be what Dear and the Headlights sounds like. And it's not like, "Oh, that guy's totally trying to sound like Robert Smith!" but more like, "Hey wow, this guy's good - he reminds me of Robert Smith!" Oh, and one of the guitar players was wearing a shirt that said I â™¥ Dexter! I love that show!

The other opening act was Minus the Bear. I had heard of them before, but never actually heard any of their music. They were really good too! Very jazzy, which I liked, because their music was really mellow, but still dance-able. I didn't take any pictures of the opening acts, because the crowd wasn't filled in enough to hide me from the security guards - I was afraid they would tackle me and confiscate my camera if they saw me! O_O But the singer looked a lot like Jesus. Or maybe Frank Zappa.

While I was waiting for JEW to set up and come out, there was this couple in front of me who were totally drunk and really loud. They started talking to this other couple that was right next to me, so I was basically just standing in the middle of their conversation trying to find something else to pay attention to, and I couldn't move, because there was a girl sitting on the floor right behind me! Eventually they started talking to me, and they were nice enough. Just drunk. And they like to golf, so...yeah. I don't really understand why people get drunk before/during concerts. It seems like it would just make your memories of it fuzzy, and you wouldn't get the whole experience of it, because of your dulled senses. Plus it's already fun, so it's not like you would need the booze for entertainment.... Oh well, it's a mystery to me!

Rick Burch, bass guitar

And then Jimmy Eat World finally came on! They're really a great live band - basically CD quality, but with that added energy and oomph that comes from a live performance.

And, boy, does Jim have energy to spare! The man is just so much fun to watch perform, I hardly had any attention to spare for the other band members (sorry, guys)! When he's at the mic, you can see that he can just barely contain himself there, with his head bobbing, and his feet kicking. Little kicks, not big ones. I love how after just a couple songs, his hair gets so sweaty that when he jerks his head, a little mist of sweat flies up like a halo :) And (yes, and, because I haven't said enough about Jim yet) I'm always amazed when he plays intricate lead-guitar riffs while singing perfectly in tune. He's nothing short of awesome!

Where's his face?! Stupid bright, white spotlights!

Tom Linton, guitar/vocals (on the left) Jim Adkins, vocals/guitar

Zach Lind, drums

Hello, Mephistopheles!

Aaaaaaand, here's a link to my gallery of the photos I took, just for good measure! [/cut]

Love at First Listen

5 Songs I Fell in Love with the First Time I Heard Them (in no particular order)

1. The Warmth by Incubus

Such a compelling song from the very beginning, with its otherworldy, whale noises! The message is incredible, about doing your best in life, even when the world seems like a crappy place to be.

2. Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too by Say Anything

This song is just so hilarious. I first heard it live, because they were playing a surprise show, opening for Paramore. Within the next couple days, I had gone out and bought ...Is A Real Boy and In Defense of the Genre, mostly because I liked this song so much!

3. Discipline by Nine Inch Nails

Yeah, this song is brand-spanking new, and I've only heard it 3 or 4 times, but I loved it after the first time :D

4. Red Sky by Thrice

Soooooooo beautiful!! This song made me give Thrice a second chance, and then I fell in love with them!

5. New by No Doubt

I don't know, it's just such a cool song. Need I say more?

I'm too lazy to tag anyone, so do it if you wanna, don't if you don't!

Thrice Rock Arizona

You might not know about Thrice, because they don't get much radio play (I've never heard them on the radio), so I will preface this with how I discovered them.

I would hear whispers during high school of this awesome band called Thrice, but never any direct opinions from reliable sources. So I wondered about them, but never made any sort of effort to find out more. I went to visit my uncle, while in college, and I put on one of Thrice's CDs that my cousin had. I'm pretty sure it was their first CD, and I turned it off after the first song, thinking "This is waaaaaay too heavy for me!" and decided to never bother listening to them again.

Sometime last year I bought an issue of Kerrang! Magazine because it included a CD of music that the members of My Chemical Romance chose as their influences. One of the songs that Bob Bryar included was "Red Sky," by Thrice, and when I listened to it, I thought it was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard! So I looked them up online to try and listen to more of their music before going out and buying a CD. I liked what I heard andI went out and bought Vheissu. I was thoroughly blown away by their musicianship. At times intricate and melodic, and at others ferocious and powerful, they are able to pull off both extremes with equal dexterity, maintaining a cohesive song/album.

Ok, this is turning out to be more of an Ode to Thrice, than a journal about my concert experience. They're categorized as post-hardcore, but that mostly describes their older music, and is now a term that is way too one-dimensional to hold them. I like to say that if Tool, Chevelle and Incubus could have a love child â�” that would be Thrice.

Now â�” on to the concert! I was slightly worried about the fact that they are a heavier band, and that the pit might be a little more violent than I'm used to, but I really wasn't too worried about it, because I can handle myself pretty well (for someone so puny.) I enjoy being kind of violent at concerts. My anxety increased a little bit when I arrived at the venue because the crowd that had assembled so far was mostly male. This is a little unnerving when you usually go to see bands like MCR and Incubus ... it just seems like there are always a lot more little screaming girls than testosterone-filled college dudes. And security was super-strict â�” they even made us take off our shoes! Luckily, I had hidden my camera really well at the bottom of my purse.

Two thumbs up!

I headed over to the merch booth and bought myself a t-shirt and a tour poster, which I almost immediately regretted doing before the show. I was going to have to spend the whole concert trying to protect my precious poster, my camera and myself! I had been trying to drink a lot of water throughout the day, because I didn't want to get dehydrated and throw up like I have a couple times in the past (pleasant, eh?), so I went to the bathroom and took these lovely shots â�” then bought a water bottle at the bar.

Really, now?

Strangely reassuring....

The first band to play was Pelican, and I thought they were really good. They don't have a singer, which a lot of people were grumbling about afterward, but their music was very engaging, and they had great energy, which was entertaining enough. The guitar player on stage right was very fun to watch, and even played his guitar with a bow during one song. I love it when musicians feel their music so deeply that it looks like they're just barely managing to keep it from exploding out of themselves! At one point during a song, the drummer started playing double bass 16th notes really loudly, and it was GLORIOUS!! Or maybe they were 32nd notes ... The guys standing on both sides of me put their hands on their chests, because of the way it was vibrating through them. This made me smile, because I love that feeling â�” when music becomes a full-body experience and seems like it's going to change your heart-rhythm permanently. *sigh*

Circa Survive came on next and I wasn't really excited to hear them. I moved closer to the back of the room, so I wouldn't be jostled. I had never heard any of their songs before, but I had heard them compared to both Saosin and Chiodos, neither of which I like. Both of which I really dislike. I hate that high-pitched mail squawking. The background music was alright, but the drum and bass didn't seem like they were together. I left the room and went to the bathroom toward the end of their set, because I was sick of standing there, and I was hoping a lot of people would leave when they were done, because it seemed like there had been a lot of people who were mostly there just for them.

The stage beforehand

Thrice came on and opened up with a couple fast, heavy songs to get the crowd riled up, starting off with the first track from The Alchemy Index Vol. 1 â�” "Firebreather." The mosh pit was like a huge smile with really angry teeth, separating the room in half, and stayed that way even after they started into their more mellow material. The band sounded incredible and was spot-on, even with all their mixed meters (which I find extremely difficult to keep up with), and were pretty much CD quality. The lighting was cool too.

Oooh, pretty! I'm pretty sure this was during "Broken Lungs."

Toward the end of the middle (or the beginning of the end) of the show, the singer Dustin told us to go check out the Invisible Children section of the merch booth, which I thought was great. I really admire and respect the fact that a portion of the proceeds from their CD's goes to charity, and that they partner with such great causes. Another of the many reasons to love this band!

Dustin and Eddie

The only thing that disappointed me was that they didn't play many of my favorite songs. I understand that they wanted most of their set list to be from The Alchemy Index, since that's their newest album, and Volumes III & IV just came out, but still ... I wanted more from Vheissu, since it's my favorite. Plus they didn't play "Image of the Invisible" or "Red Sky," both of which were singles. Who doesn't play their singles in concert!? It was still a really super-duper-awesome show and I learned from my past mistakes and set my camera to have a faster shutter speed and didn't use the flash, except on this one picture!

Hooray for coming away with decent pictures!

Dustin's totally going radioactive here! And look, there's Teppei - hi, Teppei!

More Teppei! And there's Riley, too!

Teppeeeeeeeeiiiii!!!

This was actually the first picture I took of their performance, and yet it's last....

Don't forget to check out my photo gallery from the concert and read Breesays' review of Thrice's Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV: Air & Earth that hit stores April 15.

Sadness!

With a Silver Lining

I went to the Marquee Theater right after work, to pick up my ticket at Will Call and get a decent parking spot, and was pleased to find that the lot was still mostly empty (it was about 40 minutes before the concert was supposed to start) and there was a relatively small line of people waiting outside the venue doors.

I got to the ticket booth window and asked for my Cat Power ticket, and also asked if I could pick up my ticket to see Thrice on Saturday, since it was at the same place. They printed out my Thrice ticket, but seemed to be scrambling around, trying to find something and get a question answered while I waited for my Cat Power ticket. The guy in the ticket booth disappeared for a few minutes, then came back and informed me that Cat Power had just been cancelled, because she had lost her voice. A guy at the window next to me shouted "Cancelled?! Cancelled?!" and paced around, fuming, as a murmer began to spread through the small, waiting crowd.

I saw someone come out of the theater and start handing out free t-shirts to those assembled, then go back in to get more, so I mosied on over to wait for my very own free t-shirt. The woman came back out with the shirts draped over her arm and started handed out a couple to the people in line, then came over to the few of us by the ticket windows. I watched her hand shirts to a couple girls next to me and looked at the t-shirt she was handing me. She apologized in a low, husky voice, and I said "Thank you!" without looking up. I'm not really a make-eye-contact-with-people-I-don't-know kind of girl.

I watched the woman head back over to the people waiting in line and breathed in the strong sent of patchouli oil she left behind. I noticed that she was dressed in all olive-green, comfortable-looking clothes, like she was going on a safari, but that she had on leopard print flats (perhaps the trophy of a recent safari?). Then I looked at her face, partially hidden behind sunglasses and her hair, with those distinctive bangs and realized that this was Chan fucking Marshall (aka Cat fucking Power)! She had come out herself to give us t-shirts and apologize!

I loitered for a bit, just watching her hand out more shirts and listening to her tell people that she was sorry and had a callous on her vocal chord. This was my first interaction with anyone even remotely famous, and she was being so good to us! I once stood behind Jessica Alba in line at the airport, but that doesn't count, because I didn't say anything to her - at least I said, "thank you," to Chan! I was so touched by her kindness that I cried a little bit on my way back to my car. Silly, I know, but I couldn't help myself. All day, I had been nervous, worried that the indie crowd would be too condescending, worried that I wasn't wearing the right clothes, worried that I wouldn't get a good parking spot, so my nerves were already slightly frayed, then add on the sudden disappointment, followed by sudden elation - I couldn't help but cry a little :)

Thank you, Cat Power!!

Maybe I'll take a picture of the shirt when I get home - I slept in it last night, because it's too big :)