Yoshimi, They Don't Believe Me

Last night was pretty kickass.

I went to the FREE Flaming Lips concert sponsored by UF. Caitlin and I went to G-ville earlier that day and ate @ Chutnees with her parents. (Awesome food btw - everyone in the area should go try it). Then we went to an Indian market, and I bought henna and she bought rose-flavored yogurt shake. (Yum, flowery). Then we just hung out at the mall for awhile. (After having an encounter with some rather enthusiastic salesmen [well, boys] at Best Buy)

Anyways, we got there @ 4:30, and thinking it would be like last year, I was hoping to get a parking space right by the field. No such luck, so we had to park on Frat Row, but that was ok. We got to the field and I said "Ok, so we need to look for people we know", and Cailtin looks up and goes, "How about them?". It just so happened that Daniel, Timmy, Mary, and Silas were walking right in front of us at that moment. We decided to station ourselves right in front of the sound board so people couldn't push us, and settled in.

5 o'clock was when it was supposed to start, but they were still doing sound checks then. (Cool note - the band is very hands on, and did the sound checks themselves, even playing a full song for us) 6 the first band played - Star Death and White Dwarf (or something like that). They were ok - much better on the instrumental only songs. Later we found out that's Wayne's (lead singer of Flaming Lips for those not in the know) nephew and his band. Cute. The Rapture came on next, and though I had only heard one of their songs before, I really liked their set.

About 8:30 Flaming Lips finally came on. They opened with Firebird Suite, and Wayne got into this giant inflatable ball and walked out over the crowd. There was this giant screen behind the band showing all sorts of bizarre clips, and confetti shot out of cannons. There was was also a flock of santas and a horde of aliens that stayed onstage and just danced to every song. The singer also had this weird cane thing that shot out paper ribbons and confetti onto the crowd. It was a pretty incredible show - there were people dressed up (last count, like 5 fairies, a turtle, a robot, 2 hands, a nun, Animal, and Captain Hook/Morgan). At one point in time Wayne got out a nun puppet and was leading the crowd in singing the chorus of "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" with it. I was also pelted in the back of the head several times with glowsticks, but I picked them up and threw them up to the front of the crowd. By the end I was freezing and my feet hurt, but it was an amazing experience and everyone should try to go to one of their shows.

I've decided that the singer could totally be a cult leader. Every time he came onstage (even when not performing) people went nuts. He also talked about self-empowerment, love, (oh - and a good bit of W bashing) and he just has the charisma to do it. There were a ton of people there too. House of Blues holds about 2,000, and I'm pretty sure there were more than that - I'd say about 3,000. Next weekend is going to seem so dull by comparison.

Uninspired

I am feeling rather uninspired. I can't really think of anything to write about - I think the Blog Supergroup has spoiled me. I only have to think up a topic once every 5 weeks! So - if there are any loyal readers (or any readers at all) who have an idea for something they'd like to see written leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. It can be comedy or whatever your heart desires - I need the challenge.

Gag Me With A Spoon

I had the most disgusting thing happen at work yesterday.

I had just gotten done helping another patron, when Diane asked me to check in some books that a woman had just set up on the counter. They were on the other end of the desk, so I slid then toward me, and when I went to pick the first one up about 5 roaches (the small infestation ones) and various other bugs all swarmed out. I freaked, and moved the keyboard out of the way, and then Diane and I spent the next five minutes stomping and trying to squish the little suckers. The woman? Completely unfazed - apparently she was returning the books for someone else and hadn't noticed the "little pets" (her term, not mine). When she came back up to check out more, she said she'd try to keep an eye out for them next time.

Oh and the best part? This woman is very large, and was wearing just a sports bra with a denim button-down shirt open over it. I know this is an unspoken rule, but let me say it, just in case there are people out there who think otherwise: If your stomach sticks out farther than your chest, you shouldn't be wearing any midriff-baring tops.

Prolonging The War? $124 Billion...

Jeb Bush being denied an honorary degree from the University of Florida? Priceless.

Read the article here.

Tag! I'm it!

These probably won't surprise anyone but here are

10 random facts about me:

1. I am the first woman (I think) to dress in drag at High Springs Community Theater. If that's not true, then I'm the first woman to dress in double drag (I was Klinger in MASH)

2. I have a thing for tall, kinda geeky guys with glasses - don't ask me why - I just know that at least in college, those were the guys I had a thing for.

3. I won tickets to Super Soap Weekend at Disney by writing an email to a radio station in Orlando about how my life was like a soap opera.

4. I have been to 6 countries in the past 3 years.

5. I have dyed my hair every color under the sun except black. (You can't cover that up once it grows out)

6. I have met The Crystal Method, Iggy Pop, Cake, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, sat behind Janet Reno, talked to Jon Stewart...wow I feel like such a name- dropping whore now.

7. I have moved at least 15 times in my life (maybe more - I'm not too sure about before kindergarten)

8. I went to both my junior and senior year proms and spent about 1 1/2 there combined.

9. I have a morbid fascination with death. I love the book Stiff: Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, the show Six Feet Under, and recently started researching Victorian post-mortem photography.

10. I am a walking library catalog. Ask me about a topic, and I can get pretty close to the call number or I can least point you to the right section.

I was tagged by Ethan to do this, so the following 10 people are tagged: Glenn, Laurie, Jane, Caitlin, Kate, Mary, Amber, Melissa, Jodie, and Ryan.

Update: "Where does it say that?"

The woman came up yesterday and apologized. I was blown away - that never happens! People here just treat you like crap and then pretend it didn't happen the next time they come in.

I told her that didn't happen very often, and she thought that I meant people weren't rude very often. Ha ha. I explained that people didn't apologize and thanked her for it.

Where Does It Say That?

I was just having a peachy day at work - up until about the last 15 minutes. That's the time we start shutting down all the public computers. One woman had stayed on, and I told her it was time to get up. Well here - it went something like this:

Me: "OK, it's time to get up."

Snotty Woman: "But there's still 15 minutes left."

Me:"Actually we start shutting our computers down 15 minutes before we close."

SN:"Where does it say that?"

Me:"Um, well they made an announcement 15 minutes ago, and they made another one just now."

SN:"OK, but where does it say that?"

WTF?! Fine! I was bound and determined to find it, because I'll be damned if I let someone mouth off to me when I know I'm right. I started looking in our notebook that had copies of the Internet usage agreement, but couldn't find it. Finally I grabbed the copy available for patrons, and lo in behold, in print, it was there.

Me:"There. Second one down."

SN:"Well do you have a suggestion box?"

Me:"Well I think you can get online to - "

SN:(interrupting) "Well not NOW."

Me:"Tomorrow then, or you can call the director and talk to her."

What a bitch. I was ready to fight after that, but instead met my sister at Fu King where we giggled like kindergartners over Koon Poo Chicken.