I love me some Cake

Last Friday I headed down to Baltimore to meet up with my sis to try our luck at getting last minute tix to the Cake concert at the outdoor Pier Six Pavilion at Inner Harbor. After my fortuitous experience with snagging a ticket at the eleventh hour for Ben Gibbard's solo act (see previous post; also, catch his DC concert on npr.org), I felt my trip to Maryland would not be wasted. My sis dropped me off at the pier and I headed to the box office where I encountered a security guard who informed the concert was sold out. Unthwarted, I scanned the area for another benevolent soul who might be parting with their unused tickets (Disclaimer: I do not make it a practice to support scalpers and would never pay and have never paid anything over face value for a ticket I've purchased outside of the box office.) After 10 minutes, I knew this was a losing battle, so I decided to scout out the venue. Pier Six Pavilion sits on, well, a pier, and juts out into the harbor. Along one side of the pier, there was a narrow canal about 100 ft wide, and across the way is a hotel and pedestrian boulevard with benches lining the canal. I crossed the bridge to access the other side with the hotel to find that there's a great view of the stage;a vantage point that's even better, I think, than that for those paying patrons with lawn seats. I sat myself on the side of the canal, legs dangled over the water, and called my sister with instructions to get us some dinner & and told her we were going to picnic whilst enjoying the tunes of Cake. We dined on seafood fettuccine and tiramisu while having a grand old time singing along with the band. Quite literally, we had our Cake, and ate it too.

Resurrecting the ramblefest

It took a while, but she's back. After an especially intense bout of self-diagnosed seasonal affective disorder this winter during which I spent an inordinate amount of time slumbering 'neath the duvet covers, I have decided that it's high time to spew more of my senseless prattle into the netosphere. The real inspiration for the comeback is that I wanted to ooze multitudes of love and affection for Ben Gibbard and his stellar solo act that I caught last night at the TLA. Ben is the dreamy lead singer of "Death Cab for Cutie" and the (thus far) one-time ensemble "Postal Service." I do believe I love the man. (Yes, there are one or two of us 30-somethings that are still prone to schoolgirl crushes.) He's grounded, funny, and has voice clearer than a bottle of Evian. I loved the quirky way he constantly adjusted his glasses while playing the piano for "Soul Meets Body," and how he wrote a cheat sheet of lyrics for his acoustic version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

I was fated to experience Ben's musical genius last night. I have known about the concert for a couple months, but as usual, didn't think to get tickets until they were sold out. Even though I was tired as hell, I decided that I would just head over and hope someone was getting rid of their tickets because they couldn't go. So there's little old me standing in a crowd of mostly college age hippy type kids looking for someone with tickets. I stand in line, ticketless, pondering just how the hell I'm going to get in when a guy asks me if I need one. I nod yes and was about to ask how much when he tells me, "It's free." Fate, I tell you.

Well, hopefully I'll have more gushing about cute singers, belly-button gazing, and wtf? moments to post into the ether as we move through spring into summer. Ta ta!

Blech

Yes, I'm back. (Hi Kathy! Hee hee.) I just thought I'd share this gross little tidbit with you. The 2-3 companies on the floor of our office building all share bathroom facilities here. I suspect some gal on the floor, possibly one of our own, is purging their lunch down the toilets. It's the second time this week I walked into the first stall & saw remnants of food coating the sides of the bowl. You can imagine my instant recoil and frantic exit from the stall. Let's all say in unison: "Ewwwwwwwwwwwww." Now I hope it's just someone with a gastrointestinal ailment & that's she's treating it with some good old Pepto. However, the "intactness" of the bits of foodstuff lead me to think otherwise--and that's just nasty & plain sad. There's no need for that, darling. Especially when I have to look at it while trying to take a simple pee. I know it's a sickness and I hope she gets help, if that's indeed what happening.

And a good day to you all.

Revived

It was another weekend sojourn to the nation's capital to meet up with fam (2 sisters, bro in law, niece, & cousin). We were sight-seeing fools the entire time, fitting in a few museums and monuments into our 3 days.

Sunday was the big 10 mile run I've been gearing up for--what a fabulous day for a race. After the rain on Fri. and a chilly Sat., we were oh so lucky for the sunny skies and mild temperature. The course started & ended at the Pentagon and took us over a couple bridges, along the National Mall, around the Capitol, and was gloriously scenic, rivaling the half marathon route for Philly's Distance Run. I was going to use my mp3 player for a little motivation, but was glad I left it because running alongside my cousin for the first half of the race, the cheering crowds with their cowbells, and seeing my niece at the halfway point were plenty inspiration. Whenever I felt I was losing steam, I thought of all the people out there who aren't mobile like the rest of us--the handicapped, those with crippling illnesses, etc. and it gave me an extra boost of energy to run for them. In particular, several times during the run I thought of my sister's friend who recently succumbed to cancer, an active girl who probably would have enjoyed the race course just as much I was loving it.

We ended our weekend with another trip to Annapolis. They had a boat show going on so there were a lot of people milling about. The weather was still grand and we walked around Main Street and the Naval Academy for most of the day (a good thing for my muscles as they aren't as sore as I expected to be post-run.)

I pooped out early yesterday but today I feel especially alive and renewed. There's nothing like a dose of good times with your loved ones and a completing a physical challenge--all in one weekend!

Blog Slump

Haven't been posting as regularly as I do. Actually, I haven't been do a whole lot of anything lately besides prepping for my run (T minus 6 days!!) I was just thinking this morning, as I stared at a novel sprawled on my bedroom floor, about how I haven't touched a book in weeks. I've been listening to music a lot though, recycling through a bunch of old tunes, and also moving through the Netflix queue. Maybe it's the onset of autumn & the new chill in the air. Lazy October days. My mind's a of big blob of goo.

Delete Delete Delete

After this evening's run, I decided to throw in some stair runs up the Art Museum steps, Rocky-style for a little variety in the exercise routine. I was really huffin & puffin up those babies. On my second go-round, I noticed a guy--vaguely cute in the nanosecond I glimpsed him--on the top of the steps with his camera poised to snap my mug as I approached the top stair. I kinda gave him a "what the heck are you doing" look as he clicked a pic of me, gross & dripping sweat everywhere. So the next time up I notice he's following my ascent up the steps with his camera as if he's filming me on video. Now I'm freaked out coz I'm looking pretty nasty from my workout and this stranger is saving my image of nastiness in motion to his camera. Perfect. My pic or vid is going to end up on some website with a black rectangle over my eyes and a caption that reads "What not to wear in public when working out & sweating profusely" or something cruel of that nature. I cut out on my next set of stairs after that and headed home. Wherever you are, museum cameraman, be a good lad now and just erase all of that episode. Would be much appreciated. Thank you, thank you very much.

Clearing the old noggin

This weekend was a quiet weekend of mental detox and enjoyment of the season's transition to fall in the city. My training for the Army race (2 weeks!) is going well--I feel a massive difference from when I started weeks ago. I'm still prone to episodes of narcolepsy if I stay in my apartment too long, but in general, the energy level has definitely perked up. Despite my resolve to get some job search/life change things done this weekend--procrastination mode set in & I ended up doing it this morning. Sadly, a life change for me just can't be accomplished in a weekend. But smelling the roses can.

Ok, that was boring. But what ya gonna do?

Mecca lecca hi mecca hiney ho.