In Ballard

I saw this:
http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/kqo4x/new_pajamas_technology/

Your mom, she needs a pair.

Images!

My first two Reddit images!:

http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/kdms9/herp_derp_dog/
http://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/kdnda/so_comfortable/

Ratatat @ the Showbox in the Market

It kind of feels like I've been suddenly obsessed with this band, but I think it's mostly the excitement of discovering a great music feel and then discovering that tons of other people are similarly totally into it too. It's exclusive, but not so exclusive that no one knows what you're talking about. A larger inside joke if you will. Overall, the live performance of it was fantastic and it was great to rock out to it. Even with earplugs. I wouldn't have really imagined that I'd be jumping up and down for some of the parts/songs but it was pretty intense and I just love some of the parts so much. I kind of wish that I had been closer to the stage so I could actually see them, but it really wasn't that important. I'm not really invested in the band members, in fact, I've been thinking that there were only 2 members in the band, but there were three on stage.

The two cover bands were really kind of weird though. The first one, E*Rock, were these two guys with full head/face covers, like KKK, but black and not pointed and the one at the turntable type thing for some reason, had the Wii controller with the nunchuck around his neck and kept on acting like he was playing the Wii or using it somehow...which, even if it were true, was kind of weird.

There's a delicate balance required when using popular implements in an entertainment fashion. If you use it a few days after the thing becomes popular, it's usually considered extremely hip, but if you wait too long it becomes tacky and tryhard. Even more interesting is the relative quickness of tragedy-inspired jokes that pop up practically before you even have a chance to grieve. Each time people are like...too soon? And the answer has always been...nahhh, it's still funny...a bit grotesque/morbid/off-color...but still funny. We're curtailing human sympathies for a quick laugh.

In other news, we killed some time before the concert at Gameworks and Zach got me an awesome T-Rex from the claw machines:

OMG isn't it awesome?

Rumor! Text! Internet!

Yayz! Soon I will be getting a new shiny cell phone. The proposed candidate is the Sprint LG Rumor in Green.

The picture really doesn't do justice to the green color, it's a bit lighter and more jello-y looking. It's pretty cute though and I think I'll really like the sliding keyboard feature and finally learn how to txt. The plan that I'm getting will have UNLIMITED texting and data, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to use the hell out of it. Though don't think that my standards will be lowered by it, I'm pretty sure I'll keep the same level of grammar and spelling as I do currently in my IMs...in fact, it'll be like IMing on the go!

I suppose I'll have to find out from all the people that I could potentially txt whether or not their plan supports txting and if there should be a cap on my txt harrassing :)

Non-Picture Exhibit C, D & E

Ugh, uploading pixs to Blogger is horrendously difficult. These don't really need pictures to be enjoyed anyway...

Exhibit C: Las Vegas
For Rae's 21 Birthday extravaganza, she decided she wanted to go party it up in Vegas. Ironically, very little partying happened, most of it being done by Zach, Andy, and me. I took extremely few pictures during the trip because Zach and I had stayed in Vegas for about a week last year and pretty much saw everything noteworthy then.

Highlights from the trip:

• Getting a bruise the size of a half dollar on my elbow because of getting knocked around so much on the New York New York roller coaster ride. My shoulders were also sore for the rest of the stay.
• Warily watching the Harley Davidson motorcycles sway back and forth as they were lifted up above us while eating at the Harley Davidson Cafe.
• Learning to play Craps! And then promptly losing $40 each that night during our first Craps experience. However, later on Zach and I played again and won $25 each.
  Only losing $5 total on gambling! Comparatively, Pat lost several hundred dollars playing poker.
• Playing an abridged version of pool volleyball where the rules were expanded a bit and the score didn't matter.
• A random convo with some Brits...after some very very cramped clubbing, we were sitting on a bench in one of the malls and this group of British chaps came over and we had a bit of a row about how three of their shoes were piss poor and the bloke at the club wouldn't let them in. Bugger that! It was pretty entertaining.
• Watching Zumanity. They had a couple who had been married for 40 years go up and do a 'romantic slow dance' which they didn't look all that enthralled about and halfway through the dance they up and decided they had done enough dancing and tried to get off stage. Unfortunately, they just stood at the edge and looked down because they didn't go to a spot that had stairs...poor old people, not up to the stage jumping.
• Watching Spamalot. Only Zach, Slava, and I went because everyone else thought it'd be lame. How can getting a grail filled with strawberry daiquiri be lame?! And the Holy Grail store afterwards had the fanged bunny slippers that made Zach almost cum in his pants.

Exhibit D: Housewarming Party

The housewarming party was a long time in coming. I put it off so I would have ample time to finish getting unpacked. Ha, as if. There's still a couple boxes in the living room. It was super fab though, I had yummy spinach dip, fresh veggies (the sugar snap peas went like crazy) with dill dip, chips (the delicious Hawaiian chips that come in a purple bag), and bagel bites. And of course GUITAR HERO!! Though I didn't get to play much it was probably for the best since the whole slowing of the brain signals to the hands makes doing any song on Hard REALLY hard. Again not many pictures though there are a lot that my friend Megan put up that I subsequently stole from her facebook.

Exhibit E: Wild Mushroom Show

Yum! Mushrooms galore! The best part of this show, which was at the UW Horticulture Center (which was also the place for my Tech Comm graduation) was that we were allowed to bring in mushrooms that we found for ID. So that morning, I went to the front yard to dig up some mushrooms that were growing aplenty and after looking closely, noticed that there was another kind too after digging that one up, I noticed yet another kind. Then I turn around and there's this quite large mushroom growing right behind me! So I found FOUR different kinds of mushrooms in my front yard. Later on, Zach and I went into the backyard and found at least two other kinds. The big mushroom turned out to be a shaggy mane, which is apparently quite edible. Unfortunately, there was only one and I haven't seen any others growing yet. It was really great though because at the show, they had a bunch of shaggy manes and I was all like, Lookit here, I have one too! There was also a chef cooking mushrooms and I got to have a little taste. Speaking of mushrooms, the stuffed portabella mushroom food item ( Champignon Gefullt mit Knoblauch und Kase, mit Spätzle und Gemischtem Salat) at Fierabiend is delish.

Picture Exhibit A & B

Last week's post was a little rushed and dull, so I thought this week's posts might be more entertaining with pictures!

Exhibit A: My first ever pedicure & manicure

As the title so accurately points out, the following pictures are of my first ever ever pedicure and manicure. I think it cost me about $50 for both. However, the place that I went to was decidedly the suxorz. They butchered Rae's manicure, i.e. several of her fingers were bleeding after the cuticle removing bit, and both of our manicures were all cracked under the clear veneer after just a day or two. Which apparently is a sign of cheap nail polish :P.

I'm looking forward to going back to the Tri-Cities where Zach (the boyfriend)'s mom knows of a nice parlor and I'm planning on taking my mom to get her nails done there.

Figure 1: My Bootiful fingers & toes!

Exhibit B: PAX 2007
Our second year of attending the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). Good times were to be had by all, though none of us won anything, I got a couple free T-shirts and lots of chicken ramen.

Figure 2: Most Annoying Experience of PAX


Figure 3: The Tetris Loser from Last Year's PAX

Figure 4: Lobby Outside of Exhibit Hall & PC Gaming Room

Figure 5: Big Daddy - BioShock


Figure 6: Orc Man Playing Cards


Figure 7: Pirates & Booty


Figure 8: Rock Band!