Denver and douchebag

Tomorrow bright and early I am heading to Denver. I've never been there before. Here's the conversation with my buddy Chris that led to this trip: Me: "So, I've been thinking of going to either Seattle or Denver this year." C: "About when would you be going?" Me: "I dunno. Late summer, early fallish?" C: "Why don't you come to the wedding then?" See - this is why I love my guy friends. No bull shit, just a + b = c. Von + trip = Chris' wedding. Easy breezy. I'm looking forward to it. I get to see my cousin and her new(ish) baby girl who I'm meeting for the first time. I get to travel solo for the first time. I get to see Chris and meet his awesome bride Megan. I wasn't supposed to be going alone. Since I had promised that I wouldn't be cryptic on my blog, let me just say this - fack you ShannonG (she is ShannonG here so as not to confuse her with Shannon See Glass Run Shannon, who I still love lots). ShannonG was supposed to go with me on this trip. We talked about it more than once. Then, not for the first time she fell of the face of the earth. I sent emails, I called, she blew me off. Funny how she did that considering the last time I saw her I said "Blowing me off is bad. It hurts me a lot, and it makes me want to write people off." So, for that she is a spineless pussy. See, she postures she's all big and bad and tough, yet instead of saying "I don't want to go on this trip with you." or "I'm done being friends with you" she just blew me off. So let ME be the one to say it - I am done with you. I have enough friends who are actually worth something to me, and I to them, and I don't need you and your white trash bull shit anymore. We are no longer friends. Basically, you no longer exist to me. *Ahem* So, for the rest of you who are Not ShannonG, have a nice weekend, and hopefully I'll have some good stories upon my return Tuesday.

Something bothering me

So, something's been bothering me this summer. It's a trend. I guess. If you can call it that. I've seen a lot of people (mostly women - isn't it always?!) wearing scarves. And sometimes hats. Like Winter scarves and hats. Not. cute. people. Not cute at all. This is Chicago. In summer. It's 85 degrees with high humidity. It's not like you can be cold. If you are, see a doctor. Eat some soup. I think the next person I see wearing this ridiculousness I might just have to rip it right off of them. On another topic, I have an infatuation with my pedicure dude. Yep, he's a dude. And not at all gay. He's kind of pouty and pissy every time I go in there. So what do I do? Of course I try to engage him in chatter and try to get him to at least crack a smile. Last night I went to see him for my pedi for the wedding this weekend in Denver. Of course, he was cranky. I walk up to him and hand him the black polish I have selected. He said "Why? Why black?" I tell him I am going to a wedding in Denver and need something a little edgy . He thinks about it for a minute. He says "Ok" So, after a fabulous pedi he starts painting my pretty toes. He puts on one coat of black, and follows it up with a coat of pearly pinkish fun. So now my black toes are now purply black. I heart him lots and lots. Am I ready for my trip? No where near ready. But I'm thinking about it!

Weekend in review

I know. It's late. It's late Monday afternoon, hardly time for the weekend in review. But this is the first chance I've had to sit down at all this weekend, so here you go. As you know, AG and MenD came to visit this past weekend. Friday afternoon AG and I sat in the yard and had some cheese and crackers and fruit. After a while we meandered over to Shannon and TheMarty's house for some pizza (best pizza I've probably ever had). We met a couple of TheMarty's friends. I'm starting to love when I say "Hi, I'm Von" and the other person says "Oh! Von! That Von!" It's pretty awesome. Anyway, after pizza we took a drive to Sid's. On our way we drove past Lollapalooza and heard some of Radiohead's show. I LOVE this city. Sid's was good. I had an ok time. I also promised Timmy I would be back, and we all know I don't lie, so I will indeed go back at some point. After getting home at 3am, I had to get up about 3 hours later to pick up MenD from the train station. MenD is teh awesome though. I would sacrifice sleep for him any day :) Anyway, after some more sleep, we got MenD to make us breakfast - can any man so NO to AG and Von? Not so much - . After yummy breakfast we sat around and chatted for a while. Saturday evening we met up with Shannon and TheMarty. We went to Kuma's Korner for dinner *if you live anywhere near Chicago and haven't had a Kuma's burger, get your ass there n o w*. We had a couple of beers there because we had some time to kill. I ended up wearing one of TheMarty's beers. I have no idea why he hates me, but anyway. We then went to see my cousin in Let's Go Love, a fantastic show created by the masterful and wickedly hilarious Matthew Hollis. I was a little concerned that the show might not have been for everyone (gay men dancing around in fishnets and heels at one point) but everyone said they loved it, so that was cool. We headed over to Daily for a few drinks. I would be remiss if I didn't take my guests to Daily. It's like my "place". I was the designated driver, so I have no silly anecdotes about my drunk self from this outing. Sunday we had brunch at Tweet (my God tasty). So, I am pulling into the prime parking spot right in front of Tweet and some stupid twig girl says "I don't think that's a parking spot." The windows were open, so of course I heard her, and of course I was then a little irritated. So, I felt the need to respond. It went something like this: "Fack off. It is so a parking spot, and I don't think I even asked you." Or something along those lines. She was evil, and should have minded her business. Brunch was delicious, all agreed. Shannon and I then took AG and MenD to the South Shore and Chinatown. Alas, it was then time to send AG back to the East Coast. After dropping her off, we went back to Shannon and TheMarty's and finished off the pizza from Friday night. The four of us went to see Batman, and then I took MenD to Jet's for a couple of beers. MenD headed (bravely solo) off to downtown this morning before heading back to the airport. It was a great weekend. It was good to do things that I've missed and things that I've been meaning to do. A whole lot of Chicago in one weekend. This weekend I'm heading to Denver, this will be the last of my whirlwind of a summer for a few weeks, until Shannon and I head to Galena in about a month. I'm getting a little tired.

So, hm. John Mayer

Good news! Internet working! Landoverlord installed or plugged in or whatever the wireless router thing. My computer is a little slower than it was, but I am so not complaining. Anyway. I've been wanting to write about this for a little while now, so here it is. A couple of weeks ago, I went to see John Mayer. I went for two reasons (and ONLY two reasons). 1) it was a favor to Tonya. She had tickets, and no one else wanted to go, so I went. Sometimes, I'm a sucker. 2) Colbie Calait was opening. Now, I generally don't like female singers at all, but I have her cd, and I like every song on it, so I wanted to see if she can bring it live. She totally can. I was even more impressed with her live than I was with the cd. She's got a groovy husky voice going on, and she's all of like 19 years old or something. Girl needs to eat a sandwich or twenty, but we'll forgive her. Now. John Mayer. First, the bad. He has a stroke face when he sings. Like, big time. Like, all the time. However, I think he knows it. He said something about not being a concert singer, I think that's what he meant. So, I admit, I giggled more than a few times at his weird facial contortions. Also, when he played those awful over-played radio song I groaned, whined, and sank down in my chair, practically to the floor. Dude, the world is not going to change just because you said so. Take a happy pill. Stop whining. Shit. Now for the surprising good. Boy can play a guitar. For real. There were times during the show when he would practically just sit down on the stage and start playing the blues. In those magical moments it was like no one else was there but him and his guitar. He would concentrate, like he was thinking 'what can I make this thing do' and he would just play and play. If he had kept he strokey mouth shut more and played more guitar, I'd have liked it even more. He DIDN'T play "your body is a wonderland". Big bonus points for that. He took an audience vote, and actually listened to the crowd. Didn't play it. Big plus. He played four covers. This impressed me because he has an extensive lyrical library of his own, yet maybe even he gets sick of his own songs. He opened with "Sweet home Chicago" - not original, but well played. About 1/4 of the way through he played "Free Falling" it was a unique twist on a song I already loved, so cool. A while after that "Crossroads" - blues, perfect, he owned it, telling you the man should switch to all blues (ok, with a few ballads thrown in, I am a girl after all.) The first song of the encore was "Panama" during which JM played his Van Halen red and white authentic, and one of his band members was singing - this was Fantastic. Until. Until the dumb bitch hussies in front of us looked around confused and one of them said "Who's Pamela?" I shit you not. I wanted to hit her just for that. Another big big plus (that, or I'm going soft) is when he appreciated the crowd, which he did a lot, I really felt like he meant it. Not a gee-whiz look at me, now I'm going to go backstage and say how fackin stupid people are, but a real and actual appreciation that he gets to do what he loves and that other people dig it. I really think he was sincere, and he spoke earnestly. Plus - he had no shirt on for the encore. Kudos, Jen, the man is ripped. He closed the show with "Say what you need to say" which is a big theme song in my life right now. I am a huge music lover, and also a devourer of lyrics. This song matters to me. It made me actually contact M&B, instead of just thinking about it. It makes me tell my parents I love them a lot more than I did before. It's making me think about telling a lot of people a lot of things. Plus, I sound g o o d singing along with this one.

Maybe next week

Last night I purchased a wireless router. I walked into the local chain store that rhymes with Test Guy. I went to the computer section, and showed nerdy nerd the text from super awesome step-bro that said Linksys somethin-or-other. I said "Please?". Nerdy nerd puffed up his scrawny chest and walked my damsel in distress ass over to the right thing-a-ma-jig. It was on sale. SO. I know own a wireless router. It's in it's box. In a bag. On my kitchen table. This thing will someday give me back my internet. This thing will someday give me back my blog. We wait. This weekend AG and MenD will be in town. I'm pretty darn excited. Charlie, however, is not so sure about sharing his space. They'll both be sleeping in "his" room.

Bad news Monday

So, the evil landpeople said "Absolutely no way" will I have internet this week. Which means maybe never. I refuse to write this blog on their computer, or anyone else's. That's not how I roll. I do have to take MenD to Starbucks so he can go online this weekend. Perhaps then. Until then..... Big fackin' sigh.

Still.....or again....who knows

SO, still or again, no facking internet at home. Quick recap of my second weekend in the NOrth Woods. It's all about the wildlife. We saw: A bald eagle (AWESOME!!) A skunk A porcupine (we saved it's life. It was the cutest non-cartoon animal EVER) A pair of loons (the real kind, not freaky people) A kingfisher (I'm usually not a bird fan, but this thing was TheAwesome!) Ok, I'm off to harrass and whine at my landtyrants for the millionth facking time. Sigh. AG and MenD are coming to Chicago to tear up the town with me, Shannon, and TheMarty this weekend. Chicago can't handle the truth. *Revision: I did NOT see a kingfisher. I saw a Blue Heron (or Herring) it was huge and still TheAwesome! **Still no internet at home.