my weekend retreat
Last week, after picking up Jem for the Fort Oregon show (more on that later), I mentioned I’d noticed she hadn’t been blogging very much. And we ended up agreeing that neither of us felt like we could rant about all the little things going on in our lives when they seem so insignificant in comparison to the tragedy so many are experiencing right now (Hurricane Katrina).
My friend Aimee lives in New Orleans and I actually spoke to her right before picking up Jem, and found out her & her roommate were safe. Apparently they’d evacuated last weekend and are now living in a hotel in Baton Rouge for the unforeseeable future. Them and 5 cats! oh my! I was glad to hear that she’s safe, especially because, as she even admitted, it could have been just as likely that she would have heard the warnings and chose to stay/stick it out like so many others. However, in her case the family she happened to be cat sitting for talked her into leaving just to be safe, so they went for it. All of her friends & family are glad she did!
Anyway, I have been doing a ton of stuff and haven’t blogged about it at all… which only leads to a backup in my brain of what I want to blog about for one reason or another. But this weekend I’m home trying to fight off a cold, so it’s as good of time as any to take some time to spill it all out and catch up.
Here’s me today, chillin on the couch w/ my kitty & laptop. Kazoo *loves* it when I hang out on the couch! When I pulled out the blanket, he literally came running. :)

hi, this is what i look like when i’m home sick on the couch (haha)

me & my snuggle buddy
xoxo
Alright, so all the way to a week ago Friday: Eric picked me up & we headed down to say hi to our Odeo/Adaptive Path peeps who decided to have a Friday afternoon BBQ in South Park. We didn’t stay for long, and unfortunately I didn’t take one photo (what is happening with me & my forgetting to snap photos!?), but Dom took this one, which is too cool.
So, after saying hello, and singing Sara Happy Birthday we took off to our next destination: Sausalito, where we met up with David, Elana & their too kiddos for jazz in the park. (Exactly what I did the Friday before, see those photos here, since somehow I didn’t take the camera out last Friday!) We got there way too late, so Elana & Zach left and David, Marissa, Eric & I went for Mexican. It was nice to hang w/ all of them!
After Eric dropped me off, I changed & hopped in my car to meet Ali at the Red Devil Lounge for Scissors for Lefty! One of the openers was a band called Climber from Oregon, and I enjoyed their set. They reminded me of Radiohead a bit, and overall left me intrigued. I might have to buy their album to check it out more.
Scissors for Lefty was great (again), and I couldn’t believe how hard I was crushing on cutie lead singer Bryan all night. :) He’s really adorable and I snapped a lot of photos, despite his other mic stand being in the way on most of them, trying to get a snapshot of how cute his smile is. Hi fan girl! hahaa Seriously, though, his whole band is so fun to watch & I’m sure Ali & I will try to catch another show of theirs soon (Hemlock & BotH are next!).

View the Climber/Scissors for Lefty Photo Album
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Last Saturday I worked for about 10 hours, and then Sunday afternoon I finally repotted my huge tree plant! It’s sooooo much happier now!! AND I repotted a couple others (including my orchid that I cannot believe even bloomed this summer with the conditions I just realized it had been living in), gave them all fresh new soil, and even did a slight re-arrange of my living room! It was a good day! Sunday night Stig & I went over to Matt’s and he made us dinner! YUM! He’s always been such an amazing cook and it was great to see both those guys again. I believe (and hope) we’ll all be friends for life, which is such a nice feeling. We watched Summer of Sam, which I thought was fantastic!
Monday night my neighbor, Nathan & I ordered DELICIOUS take out sushi from Tao Yin and watched Disc 1 of Six Feet Under: Season 4! This show slays me… it’s soo good! I can’t wait for Disc 2! I even had a bottle of saki Chris had given me for my birthday – Thanks Chris! – and I even had a saki set my friend Robin had given me long ago, so it all came together and was so fun! Oh, I also watched All About My Mother last week, and loved it.
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Hi marathon post, you still with me?
OK, so Wednesday night after BAM, I picked up Jem & Ali & we headed over to Fort Oregon in the East Bay. It’s basically this guy’s basement where he buys a keg, arranges some bands, charges $4 at the door and ta-da: instant show! You gotta check out the photos to see all the crazy TV’s stacked up in their front yard, too. wild! So who was playing this prestigious show? None other than our favorite local boys Birdmonster & Hijack the Disco played (along w/ 2 other bands), and it was such a fun night.

Jem, Ali, me & Ted hangin out in the backyard @ Fort Oregon
(hez & misty – look! I bought a belt! ha!)

Birdmonster @ Fort Oregon

Hijack the Disco @ Fort Oregon
(except Dave’s missing out of this shot, there’s some of him in the full album, though!)
Honestly, watching these two bands play and knowing them as friends, I was just overcome with this amazing feeling that night. I am so stoked to know such incredibly talented people & I truly feel honored to watch them rock out doing what they love. So. Awesome!!! xoxo
View the full album of photos from this night!
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Which pretty much leads me up to now, since Thursday night I was feeling this coming on, and by Friday afternoon I literally had to stop working and take a nap. I’ve been going to bed at 11 every night (which is SO early for me!) and drinking lots of fluids trying to take care of myself big time. I know I must have caught it from the Weingal kiddos last Friday night. Kids are so germ-y!
So combined with a little bit of work, I’ve been catchin up on TiVo & Netflix. Lastnight I watched a marathon of TiVo’d episodes ABC’s LOST. Have you seen it? Lyne kept telling me all last season how good it was, so I started TiVo’ing it, but hadn’t watched any of them yet. It only took one to hook me… it’s so great! But I’m not sure what will happen once the new season starts, because I think it conflicts with one of my other favs… but we’ll see. Speaking of favorite shows though, I’m so excited for a new season of Will & Grace, Scrubs & ER! :) Oh, and while I’m on the subject of guilty TV pleasures, I also am totally hooked on Laguna Beach! ha!
As for movies, lastnight (and into this morning, because I was too tired to finish it) I watched Thelma & Louise. Can you believe I’ve never seen that movie!? It’s great!! Now I’m off to make dinner & watch my next movie: The Goonies!! yay!! (Ali & Trevor, wish you were here!)

hope i remember to comment on everything! working backwards…
-goonies, gremlins, et are my all-time WORST, yuckiest, hate them forevah movies EVER, EVER, EVER. just a note.
-thelma&louise is referenced so many times, can’t believe you hadn’t seen, glad you’ve caught up! mr.pitt’s true hollywood debut, i believe. pre-jolie.
-oddly enough, i think that you and i have gotten sick around same times this past year. i took a half-day on wed and didn’t leave the apt on thurs/fri. sick, sick, sick. i think that ali’s a CARRIER!!!! aaaughhhh.
’tis all for now, i guess.
lk
no WAY! goonies & gremlins are classics from my childhood. granted i could have done w/o gremlins 2 + but whatever. I had a Mogwai doll!
hope you feel better les!!
I’m with you on this one Willo! Ooouuu, don’t forget The Neverending Story and The Princess Bride to complete the classics from childhood movie set. DO you remember Short Circuit? I remember loving that movie ;)
Yes, definitely with you on the n.ending story (even though it really ended, bah) and short circuit (dataaaa) AND the p.bride. Maybe it was the artificial rubber stuff that was so popular with the scary creature-making folk in the 80s. Or maybe my childish brain was just not developed enough to handle such scariness. Whatever it may be, still traumatized and i’d like to stay away, thank you very much!
Your rubber creature comment triggered a memory of yet another greeeat :P movie “Labyrinth” but that triggered a visual of David bowie with really bad teased/layered mullet like hair and creepy makeup. Now we are even…no evoking disturbing memories! Here’s a pic seeeee: http://www.gormanfilms.com/upload/mullet-1.jpg
Edited By Siteowner
oh maaaan, too funny – I haven’t thought of that movie Short Circuit in forever!! I definitely watched that way too many times. Right up there with one you guys haven’t mentioned yet: Teen Witch! haha!!
They recently had this playing at the Peaches Christ Midnight Mass, and I was *so* bummed I missed it. “TOP THAT!”
Hmmmm, I was going to pull out the “Weird Science” card but really that just won’t do it…SOo instead…get ready…Howard the Duck, OH YAAA! :P
Howardthe Duck
K I tried to make a link again…but having you edit my boo boo’s is kinda fun ;)
Crap, hahah, it didn’t work, here’s the link…
http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~djones/cen3031/project/thumbnails/howard_the_duck.jpg
OMG – I *loved* Wierd Science.. waaaay more than Howard the Duck! My friend used to quote Wierd Science all the time, so it brings back fond memories. :)
I wish I could create the man of my dreams on my computer!!
Did the link work or did you fix? If it worked…the site must have been down when I tried it, I swear I am not on crack!!! (5pm is crack time :P )
I own Weird Science :))) I can’t remember why I liked Howard the Duck, probably because it had dirty jokes and I wasnt suppose to be watching it.
Dont worry I am sure the gods at Apple will create something just for you Willo! (youre such an apple fangirl and you deserve a good man or two ;)