Weirdorama

Last night, I went to the Tiesto concert at Wamu Theater with my friend (I'll call her LL here to differentiate from husband L.), while the hubby went to the Spoon concert at The Moore. L. took me to Paul van Dyk at the Showbox Sodo in February, and it was probably a fatal mistep for him in that I then discovered that Tiesto was coming in April, and at Tiesto I have now discovered that Armin van Buuren is coming in May. It's become quite the parade of big-name Eurpean DJs coming through our little Sea-town, and it has renewed my fervor for techno music. This is in addition to L.'s taking me to club Rain at the Palms in Vegas last year on our anniversary so that I could see Paul Oakenfold's resident show, although Paul was unfortunately gone the night we were there.

In any case, I'm digging the techno scene again and getting back into the groove. I almost didn't end up going to Tiesto because I couldn't find someone that into techno to go with me, but my friend LL gave up the chance to see Jonsi (from Sigur Ros) to accompany me, and man! Am I ever glad that she did!!! I feel like I must have been in a parallel universe or something last night. It was definitely a diverse crowd of people, and I found the people-watching bit as entertaining as the music. I think because Tiesto's latest album featured some more indie vocalists (Tegan and Sara, Emily Haines, Jonsi, Kele Okereke, etc), it brought out quite a variety of people, and it was definitely different than the PvD crowd from February. Kaleidoscope (Tiesto's latest masterpiece) obviously mixed some great elements to get all these people in a room together.

LL and I showed up about 9:30 during local DJ Johnny Monsoon's opening, and like his opening at the PvD show, I kept thinking I should check him out aside from this huge events. We got into the beer garden and promptly waited in an inordinately long line for a beer. Let's put it this way - we each only had one beer for fear of being stuck in that line again.

We then made our way over to the front of the beer garden and stood along the fenced area to watch the show. This area was front row seating for a walkway, through which we saw some of the craziest outfits and people. You had your frat boys and trampily-dressed girls, of course, as well as the guys who like to wear light sticks and do some crazy cracked-out dancing. One group of guys was so amazing with the dancing - they were a treat to watch. You also had girls who showed up in all out lingere and one girl who must have thought it was Halloween because she was wearing a German beer maid costume. I do believe the kicker was a girl who showed up in a neon orange, lace binini and stilletos with a mini bunny/mouse ear headband. She was definitely in strong competition with the girl who wore a corset and tiny white mini skirt that lit up and white go-go boots. I think the craziest man costume was a tiny older Asian man with lowcut black leather pants and what could only be an orange, polyesther shirt with a V-cut down to his you-know-where; this particular gent challenged walkers-by to push up contests while his pants threatened to match the dreaded plumber butt syndrome. LL and I watched all of this with glee and poked each other when another crazy outfit paraded by.

So, imagine my surprise as I'm enjoying all of this and some random guy walks by and tries his hardest to make me smile. He then saunters up with two drinks, offers me one (which I politely declined), and introduces his friends. Let's just say that I in no way thought I'd be hit on last night. I wore tennis shoes, jeans, a cute top, minimal makeup, and my glasses. I was in an entirely different league than most of the attendees, and just wanted to go listen to great music and have a fun time with a friend. So, I was a bit unprepared. But once I wove the ring-finger around a bit and mentioned the husband, the conversation turned decidely pleasant and I uncovered that he is also a geek, so we talked for awhile about his job as an engineer and mine as a technical writer. His friends were goofy and funny, and LL and I turned what could have been a very crazy situation into something low-key and fun.

Then LL and I headed off to the bathroom before deciding to make our way into the dance pit. As I was walking out of the bathroom, some random guy grabbed me and started to dance, which was bizarre. I backed up and was like, "no thanks", to which he seemed pretty dejected, so I gave him a quick hug and told him that I was probably closer to being his mom than a dance partner, and walked away. Also, someone grabbed my butt.

Now, these kinds of things don't happen to me every day, and it cracks me up because I think about all the years I spent getting all dolled up to go out, advertising the merchandise, teetering around on heels like some of the girls last night, and hoping to have some male attention. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. But I can't tell you the number of times this kind of phenomenon has happened during both my marriages. I don't get men. It's the weirdest thing to me, and I can't figure out why it happens, but I guess it's nice to know that I'm not as old or unattractive as I might otherwise think I am. Not that I spend a bunch of time worrying too much about it, and I'm married now so my most important critic is L. and he seems to love me the way I am. But still, it's nice to have that feeling every once in awhile to know that you've still got it :)

Wii be fit

Can I just say how much I love the Wii Fit Plus? L. and I were over at my parent's house a little over a week ago for my family birthday party, and they had just gotten the Wii Fit Plus. We gave it a try and had a blast. So, we went out the next day and acquired the necessary equipment. We promptly created our Miis - they're so cute! We've been loving the workouts, and I like that we do it together. They're fun and some more challenging than others. I like the variety, and it's nice that there's a mix of serious training for the yoga and strength exercises, and random fun stuff for the aerobics and balance exercises. Tonight L. and I both achieved the same Wii fit age, one year younger than I currently am :)

I've been perusing Amazon to see what other games we can use with the Balance Board, and keep things fun and challenging. It looks like there are many games that just use the regular controller and the nunchuck, too, so there are lots of options. I can't believe we didn't get one of these before!!!

Also, as a nod to my youth, I picked up the Super Mario Bros Wii game. I never had a Nintendo growing up. In our family, we always had the underdog things, like Beta and Sega, so I only ever got to play Mario when I went to a friend's house or the like. Last night I got through the first round and beat Bowser in the first castle. It's so much fun, and with the addition of things like Yoshi and other characters later on (which I had never played with before), it's really a trip. Here I am, a 32 year old woman, loving video games again. Well done Nintendo - the Wii is both fun and active!

Why does it still kill me...

...when family or friends "friend" my ex-husband on social sites? I dunno. It probably shouldn't, but it still hits me in a weird place. I hate that feeling. Maybe because he walked out on it all and I don't feel that it's fair for him to come back to the people and life he left behind. Oh well. I'll just keep it to myself and this here blog entry.

That about sums it up

This is fantastic:


Thanks Stranger Slog for finding such gems.

Vintage videos with helpful advice about what to do (and not do) during your period

These videos crack me up, although I personally think the second one is better. I especially love the advice about not swimming the first few days of your period because you might get chills and catch cold (first video), or the advice to dry your hair quickly, dress nicely, and avoid strenuous exercise (second video). "Pay more attention to your hair and nails, and plan to wear your prettiest dress," around minute 5 in the second video. Oh yes, that surely has something to do with menstruation!

Also, who changes their pad 6 times a day? That seems a bit excessive. Maybe the absorbancy and quality of pads was different back then or something. Thank goodness they got rid of those sanitary napkin belts. I'll never forget finding a really old box of pads in my grandma's closet one summer and being entirely perplexed as she explained the old system to me.

I especially love how everyone glosses over the part about cramps. In the first video, Molly only alludes to feeling a bit strange, but her mother just offers to have a mother/daughter conference night. Oooh, wheee! That will help with the pain I'm having from my uterus cramping! Thanks mom! And the dialog about referring to it as "the curse" is pretty funny, too. All I know, is that based on the way the female reproductive cycle and birth are constructed, God is a man.

Oddly entertaining

I'm not sure what to say about this. It's weird and oddly entertaining.

Laugh laugh laugh

This lifted my mood tonight:

Music video meets Rube Goldberg machine

OK Go does some really great music as well as videos to accompany them. Their latest is a giant Rube Goldberg machine, which looks like a pretty wicked difficult set to put together. Read the background here.



From the same guys who brought us the music video gem on treadmills. I love this Lego tribute.