We found people from PAC when we were walking around...they had lots of good food =) 

oh jon... 

Ron Hutchcraft 

One of the few times Gary was standing still 

PURE played on the 'fringe' stage outside 

CAA 

sound check

Where are all the people??? 

Michele's eyes were (surprisingly) open in virtually all the pics we took that day 

Jars of Clay sound check - yes, that's an accordion

lots and lots and lots of empty chairs.... 

dos minutos.... 

It was so cold in there when we first got there cuz of all the ice (underneath the floor is the hockey ice) 

Michele goofing off 

It was amazing how fast they put everything up - and they had to put all those speakers up one at a time too -- props to the sound people for pulling that one off 

Pre-show 

Not a paparazzi-wannabe

Wow.

If Saturday could be described in one word, that'd be it. I got to go to Autumn Blaze again this year, and let me tell you, there's nothing better than front row tickets to a great concert...oh no, wait wait - I think that should be there's nothing better than backstage passes to a great concert. I got to go again as a documentary photographer/videographer, and this year I brought Michele along as my 'assistant.' I thought that the 400+ pictures taken over the week in Tijuana was a lot of pictures, but boy was I off. I managed to take 700 pictures in less than 12 hours. I seriously was trigger happy that day =). And since I took so many pictures, and can only share so many here, I'll post a couple a day for the next few days...

Starry eyed surprise

I love when you're careening down back roads you don't know with your high beams on and you have to slam on your brakes because the road suddenly disappeared in front of you and all you see is a forest of trees.

You can see a lot more stars out there in those places, too.

Randomness

Random pet peeve - greeting someone with 'what's up'. That's gotta be the most pointless way to start a conversation, because you seldom get an answer worth listening to from it. I'm guilty of using it too, and that in and of itself annoys me. But seriously, how many conversations go dead at the very start because they began with 'what's up' or 'sup' or some variation of that? And it wastes so much time going through the niceties and it's so incredibly pointless --

bob - hey
sue - hey
bob - what's up
sue - not much
sue - what's up with you
bob - same

How lame does that convo sound?? And yet somehow it has become integrated into our IMs, and for some unlucky people it's gotten into our everyday talk as well. 'How're you' isn't much better, but it's a start.

So come on people, quit relying on your presets and be creative!! Use those God-given brain cells to start interesting conversations!!

Fish surgery

Doh! I just found out I could've done surgery on my fish to heal him! haha that sounds so incredibly gay and dorky, but it's true! I could've just cut off the stupid growth he had (it looked like a tumor, btw), and he might have lived! I suppose I'll have to find another subject to practice on...

all eyes on you 

Psycho psychologists

We just finished going over some theories from Freud and Jung and all those people, and boy those guys must have been seriously messed up to come up with their ideas. Their childhoods must have been filled with lots of disturbing stuff that they're even too afraid to go into. All this nonsense hodgepodge must be why I like the sciences so much...most things are cut and dry, none of this guessing about how we became who we are.

How low can you go

Apparently my blood pressure can go pretty low without me passing out. Towards the end of the day I started feeling weird, and I couldn't stop shaking - you know that nervous shaking - and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was kinda funny, I was trying to pipette stuff in the lab and was having lots of problems putting things in the right places. I thought it was just cuz I was tired, so I drove all the way home like that. Turns out my bp was 100/55, ie I shouldn't have been standing :)

Maybe skydiving really is risky for me...

Deep sea fishing

I went deep sea fishing for the first time ever today! It was definitely a different experience -- apparently the waves were larger than normal today, and I never thought you could get so tired of dipping back and forth. Some of the people we went with got sick, puking and everything (them puking was a lovely sound by the way). I caught a whole 2 bluefish! It was a lot of fun, but at the end I was really happy to stand on ground that wasn't rocking or moving. Even now writing this it almost feels like the whole room is pitching back and forth*

Mom and dad on the butt 

Me wrestling with the fish -- I seriously thought I was gonna lose that pole 

That guy would never fit in my fish tank 

Blog tag!!!

I was just blog tagged by Amber, so here are five unknown tidbits about me:

1. I will never pass up an ice cream run (ok, so maybe this one's not so unknown)

2. I am totally and utterly obsessed with my fish tank, and I spent the majority of the summer either staring at my fishies or going to stores and staring at fishies that I was thinking of getting

3. When I was younger I wanted red hair (strawberry-blonde type red)

4. I like my chicken nuggets with ranch dressing

5. I want to fly helicopters as a hobby


I'm gonna tag Laura Bush, the awesomest girl ever, I just need her blog site first

Awesome lyrics

And you hold me just a little longer till my fears subside
And take away the lonely pain till my tears run dry
You let me know forever more Your arms are open wide for me

- By The Tree - Your Arms -

my fav little tidbit of any song

Did YOU KNOW?!?!?

My happy factoid of the day: J Crew at Menlo Park gives 10% off for RU students!!! Why I didn't know this before is a mystery.....

apps suck

I just have one thing to say - med school applications suck big time. Who in the world comes up with these retarded essay questions anyway???

Sean John Frederique Puffy Puff Daddy is a genius

Ooooooo man, I never thought the day would come when I would say 'my fish got stuck in the filter.' But yes, it did happen. My genius puffer fish was diddle daddling in the area and got sucked up by the pump real fast. Luckily for him, he was able to blow up, and he got stuck and clogged the filter. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen, this little blob sticking out of the pump. I tried pulling him out, but he was stuck in there real good. He felt sort of like a squishy raquetball, and his eyes were literally popping out of his head. lol. He looked a little purple, too. He finally did deflate and was able to swim away, but I think he's scarred for life now.

What a pretty blue sky. 

Blog spam

My blog somehow got taken over by blog spammers, and within 30 seconds I had 100 hits and at least 15 odd/suggestive comments. I had to take off the comment option, so sorry to those of you who actually write comments -- you've gotta do it the old fashioned way, a little something called TALKING

My eblii angelfish

Fishie fishie fishie

I finally got something for the fish tank that's actually a fish! I've been getting all these weird creatures that don't swim at all but rather crawl at a ridiculously slow pace across the tank. Isn't it a pretty fish!?!

Oh, and getting free stuff rules -- I got so many free fish stuff this past week, and I probably didn't need any of it. More things to collect dust :)

Poor Jacque

I'm good -- it took me only 4 hours to kill a shrimp. Go me.

Say hallo to my little friend 

Human bug magnets

Never ever ever ever go bike riding by a body of water at dusk. Unless you want to be a human windshield. I've never felt anything so disgusting. It was like a big blanket of gnats came over us as soon as the sun went down, and all you felt were little dings alllll over -- in our face, neck, legs, arms... and I wanted to scream so bad, but we couldn't because if you opened your mouth just a little, you'd have the bugs for dinner. And you had to shield your eyes by looking down so you wouldn't get blinded, and I was praying the whole time that I wouldn't run into a tree. This is definitely going under one of those things I wish I had known sooner.

Phantom of the Opera

I got to see the Phantom of the Opera last week! It was Christy's (my cousin) birthday, and we got to be her escorts for the evening. The phantom dude sang like I've never heard anyone sing before. And my cousin called dibbs first and is gonna marry him for his voice. I didn't argue with her, it being her birthday and all, but if someone with a voice like that would sing for me all day, it'd be hard to say no.

Me with the birthday girl -- we tried getting the poster in the background to come out, but the best we could get was a little corner of it 

Michele liked poking her eyes out