Archive for August, 2010

Lady GaGa Concert

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

I went to my first ever concert yesterday with my lovely friends Golnoosh and Hailey. Lady GaGa is amazing! It was such a good show because it wasn’t just a singer doing their songs, or even just an amazing performer, it was that she interacted with the audience on such a personal level. She talked with the audience, at one point people where even throwing their clothes on stage and she made her own outfit out of all of it. She had such personality, and not to mention her dancing and singing skills that just made such an awesome concert.

One of the best parts of the show was just watching the way the crowd responded to her. The whole building felt like it was shaking from the base and the jumping throng of people. She would ask the crowd to do something, jump, throw their hands up, or just scream and they would. It was amazing to see how much control she had of such a massive bundle of chaos.

Anyways, to start off, the people where insane. So many people were dressed up in the wackiest of ways ( many were dressed in a more than slightly whorish fashion though). I was dying to get creeper photos but sadly didn’t have my big camera, so I got a few but you will have to stay tuned for them. We got our picture taken with this really creepy guy that had an awesome outfit on.

Some of my favorite outfits where this guy, all the people with tin cans wrapped in their hair like curlers, and the people wrapped in only caution tape. It was an interesting night full of interesting people. The opening band was also… interesting. Semi Precious Weapons opened the show and at first I thought the lead singer was GaGa and I got all excited. As soon as I saw his face on the camera view television I was so shocked.

I just said, Oh my God, THAT’S A GUY! I really thought it was a woman, he was wearing a long grey t-shirt and fish nets, that was it. At one point he even pulled up his shirt and gave a nice full shot of his butt in fish nets and even gave us a little shake. Let me tell you, I saw my fair share of ass this concert, more than my fair share.

After quite a wait, the show began. At first it wasn’t even GaGa, it was just her shadow.

You know you’re famous when a giant crowd will wig out just because they see your shadow. When her shadow came out, the crowd went wild! Then slowly we could find GaGa’s figure in the dark and man did everyone go insane! Every time she moved it was a torrent of new screams and applause.

She was rocking those purple shoulder pads in a big way. This set was really cool because within the hood of the car was a piano and she just ripped it open and started playing. It was so cool. Then everyone moved over to a big neon flourescent jungle gym.

I think it was some sort of modernized stripper pole but I could be wrong. It was fun to see all of the dancers, and of course Gaga just crawling all over this thing. After this Gaga made the first of her many wardrobe changes. It was something like eight times that she changed her clothes.

I loved the nun outfit which was totally see through and to compliment the saintly attire, a bloody skeleton hand. The dancing was phenomenal and the sets were amazing to look at. It follow a sort of Wizard of Oz plot of descention into scarier and scarier places until the final set, the monster itself.

But along the yellow brick road there was a lot of dancing, outfit changes, singing, and insanity.

Oh and the coolest outfit of all was this strange fairy electronic dress.

The entire dress moved on its own and even had wings in the back, photos can’t capture the life in this outfit. definitely the most spectacular outfit of the night.

Oh yes and lots of blood and tiny dresses. I thought she was going to pop out of this dress. She kept having to grab it and fix it while she was dancing around.

And finally, the monster with Gaga in its clutches. Strange that it appears to be an angler fish…. Still it was really cool to watch Gaga interact with the monster. And what Lady Gaga performance is complete without boob and crotch fire?

And yes, the monster is watching in the background along with tons of little children that are sitting there wishing they too could have sparklers come out of their crotches. The poor minds of the younger generation.

After that it seemed like the show was over, which was very sad because she hadn’t played Bad Romance. But then the lights went out again, and the encore began! More singing, more Gaga, and more dancing!

Thanks Gaga for an awesome night, an awesome first concert experience, and just a bunch of fun, music and dancing.

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Creeper Photo: Baby Face

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

This child was so beyond precious. Words almost can’t describe how cute she was. She truly was a baby of a thousand faces. The range of emotion ( and the range of positions of her hair) were phenomenal for that short amount of time.

I found her at Mt. Rainer in Washington and she killed me. Even trying to post this photos makes me almost die of laughter. Just take a second, look at her hair. Then look at her face. Now back to the hair. And finally back to the face. How can you not laugh? You made my day, you are still making my day. Thanks for the hair, and the face, and the lollipop. You’re amazing.

Oh and yes, I did just post five pictures of one person, that is how much I love this baby.

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Guest Blogger: Books

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

Books are like life, with a new chapter every day.  Books are like traveling, for you visit a new place ever day.  Book are like a heart that hasn’t been broken.

So here are Golnoosh and Monica’s conversation as I write…

Golnoosh: LEt me play With it!!!

Monica: How do you like the underside of my bench?

Golnoosh: I feel like a cat. I cannot sleep. Ok come on.  I GOT IT.

Monica: I don’t appreciate my pig being forced fed to me.  IT’s MY PIG I CAN JIGGLE IT IF I WANT

Golnoosh: You’re the jiggle master. Well I hate you. Well then you have Gaga (dancing)

Monica: laughing. OH WOW

Golnoosh: BYE beautiful.

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Field of Flowers

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

My mom and I decided to dub North Dakota the sunflower state because all along the road we were driving on where rows and rows of sunflower fields. They were dazzling, just miles and miles it felt like were filled with the yellow faces of sunflowers. It really helped brighten up a long drive, because who won’t smile at a field of sunflowers.

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13 Striped Squirrel

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

This was one of the stranger looking animals that I stumbled upon on my road trip home. I nearly stepped on him while I was stalking the infamous white buffalo in Jamestown, White Cloud. I was trying to run away from packs of mosquitos while also attempting to spy the elusive White Cloud who decided it would be a perfect to hide behind a bush as soon as I decided to show up when I saw a small movement on the ground. At first I thought it was a squirrel but it didn’t have a tail and had a bunch of these weird stripes on its back. Then I decided it had to be a chipmunk but I had never seen one like this, with that many stripes and no fluffy little tail. I started thinking that maybe it was a mutated breed between a squirrel and a chipmunk maybe with a third wheel prairie dog thing going on, just maybe. So I was confused and a little creeped out by his eyes. He had such weird black doll eyes that just sought you out no matter where you moved. It was fun though seeing an interesting and mysterious animal like this. My aunt Karen told me that it was indeed a 13 striped squirrel which was something I had never heard of before. So yea, I saw a 13 striped squirrel. Jealous much?

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Creeper Photo: Red Hair

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

I just loved your hair, it had such a life of it’s own and really complimented everything about you. I saw you inside and didn’t get a picture of you and I was really sad but as soon as I walked outside there you were just sitting there eating your lunch overlooking Mt. Rainier. It was perfect. The wind kept throwing your hair around and making the red really light up. Anyways I just wanted to tell you, I love your hair and don’t change it.

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Travel Update: Home

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Today was our last day on the road and we got home around dinner. It was a really long vacation starting on June 28, driving for a week to Upper Michigan, four weeks in Michigan one of which was in Chicago, then a week drive back. So it was a long trip and we are glad to be home. The experiences we have had are unforgettable and will stay with us forever. Glad to be home, but missing the adventures. I can’t wait to see what sort of adventures we go on next.

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Travel Update: Long Beach

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Yesterday we stayed over night in Aberdeen Washington in a nice location on Heron Street. It was very aptly named because in the morning behind the hotel on a really nice water way there were tons of great blue herons flying back and forth.

I love looking at these majestic great blue herons but I have to say, blue herons make one of the most ugly calls I have ever heard from a pretty bird. It is like the sound of an animal being strangled and it is just so guttural and loud. It is a very gross sound for such a nice bird.

After that we started heading south along the Washington coast all the way down to Long Beach Washington where we were going to meet one of my good friends Mackenzie and her family who stay in a cabin there sometimes. It was a huge but wonderful coincidence that we were both there at the same time. We got to hang out and go around Long Beach looking for adventure. Our adventures started with driving on the beach; Long Beach, Washington is one of the biggest driving beaches in the U.S. with 26 miles of beach driving.

The beach was really nice but it was a little nerve-racking to drive on a beach with a brand new car. We really didn’t want to get stuck. I enjoyed it a lot because I had only been there once in eighth grade when Mackenzie took me there in the summer for a week. It was so strange being back there after such a long time and visit the places I had about four years ago.

We headed over to Oysterville after the beach drive to take a look at the massive piles of shucked oyster shells. It did smell a little but it was so cool to look at just mounds and mounds of oyster shells.

It was great to see my friend and after that we headed down to Ashland Oregon where the Shakespeare festival is held. It was a beautiful city and we ate right nest to a creek. It was a long day, but our last on our road trip back home from Michigan.

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Travel Update: Olympic National Park and Rainforest

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

We began our day yesterday in Seattle on a typical rainy over cast but wonderful day in Pike’s Place Market. The night before it had  been closed so we were planning on squeezing out every drop of Seattle goodness from this brief visit. We bought all kinds of fruit including my favorite, the giant sweet Fuji apples. I have to say, Pike’s Place Market has the most amazing flowers I have ever seen. It is a feast for the eyes and the nose. It is amazing to walk through there smelling the flowers and looking at the vast variety of flowers. I would buy all of them if I could.

We took our large bounty of fresh market goods over to the Washington State Ferries on pier 52 to catch our ferry to Bainbridge across the way. So we sat in our car waiting to load eating all of our food. I was really excited because I had never been on a ferry before let alone one where you take your car on with you. It was strange driving onto a ship but very cool. Can you spot our car?

We got out and went up on top to look around and it was so beautiful. I wonder if that is what it felt like to be on the titanic. Before it crashed of course. Just getting to see the Seattle skyline and the market place from out in the water was incredible. It was an experience I was very glad to have.

Once we were in Bainbridge we had to make a long trek around the Olympic Peninsula to get to the Hoh National Rain forest. The entire peninsula felt like a rain forest to me and let me tell you, it wasn’t lacking on the forest or the rain part. The one road going around the park took us along the way through Port Angeles and Forks which are better known through the Twilight books and movies.

No I am not going to totally bash Twilight but I do have something to say. The books were not bad. I read them when they first came out as a gift in like sixth grade and I enjoyed them because they are a simply written romance book and it is a nice reprieve to read an easy book like that after reading so much classical literature that is my natural choice. The movies however I despise, a reasonable nice book has just become so gimmicky and obsessed over that it is enough to make you puke. So it made me a little sad to see such a beautiful place as the Olympic Peninsula only sought after because of these movies. There is so much beauty and extraordinary wonders there but all people think of when they here about it is this movie franchise. So my request; don’t think of the Olympic Peninsula as home to Twilight, it is home to forests and mountains that will blow your mind. Respect it for its beauty not the gimmicks surrounding it.

Well, now that that is said let me move on to the best part; Hoh National rainforest. My pictures can’t really do it justice to how haunting and dazzling this place was. It felt as if the trees where reaching out and were frozen in time letting the moss accumulate and grow dripping and stretching out towards you. In there it feels like time has reverse and you went back to the time of the dinosaurs.

We hiked along the Hall of the Mosses which took us to some mind-blowing maple trees that were just so incredible it is hard to explain. Seeing this for the first time is really extraordinary. It feels otherworldly.

After leaving the rain forest we headed down to Kalaloch beach and lodge for some dinner and a trip down to the driftwood covered beach. It was so foggy and rainy but it was still really cool to see these massive tree trunks and branches coating the beach. It too felt otherworldly like giants had dropped their Lincoln logs on the shore and left them behind to grow, shift, and drift away.

Side Note: Everything in Washington grows. EVERYTHING. Houses, streets, chimneys, logs, rocks, sand, even telephone booths. It is kind of ridiculous but really funny. I wish I could list all of the strange things that I saw that had moss or something growing on it.

We spent the night in Aberdeen and where very happy to finally be out of the car. We are so close to home 😀

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Travel Update: Seattle

Friday, August 6th, 2010

We started our morning out by going to Gonzaga University in Spokane Washington. We walked around the campus and enjoyed checking out the church. It was a pretty nice little school.

After that we decided to drive to Mount Rainer National Park.

After having a nice lunch overlooking Mt. Rainer we went out on a hike to Nisqually Vista trail. It was an amazing hike through a meadow of wildflowers and finally to an overlook of the Nisqually Glacier and the river that came down from it.

Our next and final stop of the day was Seattle Washington. We went to Pikes Place Market but it was closed for the day.

So tomorrow we are heading back before we go to Olympic National Park. It was a long but mostly uneventful day. Tomorrow is going to be lots of fun and I can’t wait to explore the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.

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