A Tale of Two TGO's

The setting:

The characters:

Ryan Prades

Jordan Peck

The story:

So about three weeks ago Ryan discovered something fantastic: Duncan Sheik, who just so happened to write the music to each and every Spring Awakening song, would be performing at Anthology in Little Italy, along with Lauren Pritchard, who just so happens to be one of the original Broadway cast members. 

We were excited to hear this news.

And I almost didn't go. :(

Because of that money thing. Darn money. It ruins everything. So I was going to tell myself no, that I needed to save up every little $20 just in case something terrible happens in the next few months or the economy really takes a nose dive. And saying no is no fun.

But then I remembered my goal this year is to have fun. And this would most definitely be fun. So, HA, economy. I get to go see some of our Spring Awakening idols.

Originally, the plan was to get the cheap $15, standing only, limited view tickets, but they were sold out online the day of. So we went ahead and splurged the extra $7 each to get a real table in the upper, upper level.

It turned out to be totally and completely worth it. We got their early enough to have our pick of the seats, and even if we'd arrived late there was still plenty of room. (Also plenty of room in the $15 section so I don't know why they weren't selling those tickets anymore, but I like the way it worked out anyway.) We ended up in seats right along the edge of the balcony, pretty much looking right down at the stage, with a spectacular view of the amazing Duncan Sheik, Lauren Pritchard, and their band.

Yeah. It was awesome.

We had a bit of a wait, so we played around with the camera a bit and took some practice pictures of the snazzy restaurant. I highly recommend going to a performance at Anthology, by the way. It's super nice, great ambiance, not at all crowded; just a really mellow place to see a show. I was actually pretty surprised it wasn't more packed for these two.

Some waiting-around-pictures:

The menus

Ryan, modeling the drinks menu

And then Ryan decided he was going to get food.

Darn him. Because then I really wanted food. And I am morally opposed to buying expensive food. Especially when I've already paid $20 to go to an event. 

But, buffalo wings...

... they are my weakness. 

And, as it turns out, Anthology makes really great buffalo wings. So I was a very happy camper by the time the band came out, followed by...

... the amazing Duncan Sheik.

(Stage pictures are pretty bad due to the lighting issues and our distance. We were close, but not close enough for pretty pictures in the dark. I mostly ended up with a lot of video of the songs, which I'll probably post sometime later.)

Duncan Sheik

Lauren Pritchard

They sang four Spring Awakening songs, and before each, Duncan tried to give a little synopsis of what was happening onstage, but, as I think we all know from personal experience, Spring Awakening is a difficult plot to explain. At one point he was just laughing at himself because it was all just coming out sounding weird. Luckily, it seems like most of the cool audience peeps had seen the musical, so no harm.

After the performance Ryan and I started wondering if they would be out and about somewhere to sign and take pictures. I'd had the brilliant idea to bring some really cool pieces of Spring Awakening memorabilia for them to sign, but was at a loss of what to bring. Ryan had the brilliant (and immediate and obvious) idea to take our Spring Awakening official companion books. Genius, that boy. 

Our first turn of fate for the night happened at the upper floor elevators, where the cellist from the band was waiting to head down. He told us that Duncan and Lauren would most likely be down at the merchandise table at some point. Awesome.

We rushed down the stairs, with books in hand, realized we'd forgotten the pen in the car, freaked momentarily, and then Ryan stole the pen from the newsletter signup on the merchandise table. Desperate times, and all.

So while Ryan browsed the T-shirts, I stayed at the foot of the stairs, ready to intercept anyone coming down or trying to head out the door. We didn't have to wait long, because one minute I was searching down the hall, and the next Duncan Sheik was standing on the second stair looking down at everyone. I beckoned Ryan back over and we were basically second in the now quickly forming line. Excellent.

It was amazing.

We gushed about how much we loved the soundtrack, and he signed our books on a page we'd picked, which had one of the songs written out in its original form. A perfect signature spot. 

XXOO's for me, peace for Ryan (in case you were wondering)

One down. One to go.

We had to wait a bit longer for Lauren to make it down. Ryan went shopping again, and I resumed the post near the stairs. After a few minutes it began getting a lot more crowded, and I could see Ryan trying to find me over all the heads. So I waved at him. And he looked like he was trying to tell me something important. So I made a face at him that meant, "I'm standing guard here so we don't miss her, ya big silly." I'm not sure how well that look translated.

A minute or so later I headed over to him, and Lauren Pritchard was standing right in front of him. (What I really want to know is how she got down those stairs without me seeing?) Turns out that's what Ryan was trying to tell me, and he'd already gotten her to sign his book, on the pre-designated page, which is a picture of the whole original cast with lots of white space for signatures. 

Lauren Pritchard is our very first original cast member signature (in case you were wondering).

And then we ran into the cellist again, and guess what? It just so happens that he played the cello in the Spring Awakening band, not only when they were on Broadway, but when they were just starting out off-Broadway, and all the way up to the closing performance on January 18. Dude.

So he got to sign the book too.

Because that's just freaking cool (in case you were wondering).

Ben Kalb? You're cool.

After that, we stood off to the side of the table just smiling goofily and declared it a good night. "We didn't get pictures," I said, "but I'm okay with it."

Pssh. I always say that. And I always know after that I really do want the pictures. Yet somehow in the moment it just doesn't seem that important.

The line for Duncan was dying down by that point, and Ryan pointed out we could get a picture now. We took awhile to decide to re-jump back into line, but finally Ryan decided he wanted the picture enough. So we became those silly fans who come back for more at the very end.

So then we were really pleased with ourselves, and as we walked to the main door (camera still in hand), ready to be officially done with the evening, who should walk right back in, but Lauren Pritchard.

As Ryan later figured out, the timing was perfect only because we decided to wait for a picture with Duncan, and because it took us so long to make that decision in the first place. Which is what made me realize that God must really like Spring Awakening, too, because I don't believe in coincidences. :)

So we also got our pictures with Lauren. 


After that we became very excitable and spent time crouching in the middle of the street trying to take pictures with the Anthology sign behind us. And then we finally got back to the car and sang along to the soundtrack all the way back to Ry and Andy's apartment. And while the rest of the household watched Lost, we sat at the dining room table downloading our pictures and video.

It was a good night.

Success

Tickets into Anthology: $44

Delectable bacon cheeseburger/fries/buffalo wings appetizer: $30 (ish)

Don't Do Sadness shirt (made of 100% awesome): $20

Autographs and pictures with Duncan Sheik and Lauren Pritchard:

LEGENDARY

(There are some things money can't buy.) 

(These are the kinds of things that make me and Ryan giddy with excitement, high five in the Little Italy street at 11pm, and sing along with the Spring Awakening soundtrack all the way home.)

PS- my detailed analysis of the night will have to wait until I download the pictures. For a great summation written during Ryan's still euphoric state at around 1am this morning, go to Ryan's blog here.

Last Night...

11:30pm- Got home from Ryan and Andy's not-Heroes night.

12:03am- Finished getting ready for bed

12:30am- Start the Josh Radin CD in the hopes his mellow voice will lull me to sleep

1:30am- Still awake; second round of Josh Radin

2:00am- Josh just isn't doing it for me; turn on Netflix and watch Hannah Montana (I know, I know)

2:20am- Google Mitchel Musso; that kid seems fun; he's even got a blog

2:45am- Still wide awake; head to the archives of one of my favorite blogs and read December 08-January 09. (This blog makes me want to move to Texas and marry a cowboy. Just a little bit. But not really, because I don't think I could handle farm life.)

4am- Give up trying to get sleepy and start demanding sleep to come.

4:20am- Sleeping... maybe...

4:30am- Woken by Jenna getting ready for work

And the funny thing is that I used to sleep two feet from Jenna and I never woke up when she puttered around the room throwing clothes around and finding her shoes and whatever else she does that early in the morning. But now that I'm in a completely different room I suddenly hear it all. Go figure.

All this is to say that I am tired, people. So very tired. And I don't think the soup I'm about to consume is going to help it any, but I'm hungry as well as tired, and we all know that hungry + tired = cranky, so what can you do?

Busy Week Ahead

Tuesday night:

Coffee shop Tuesday with Ryan and the OSF. Sounds like a band name.

We should start a band!

OF COURSE we should start a band!

How have we never started a band?!

Anyway....

Wednesday night: 

Duncan Sheik and Lauren Pritchard mini concert at... I don't remember where. But it's going to be awesome. How can it not be with the writer of all the Spring Awakening lyrics, and the original Ilse? We're talking an actual Broadway cast member here, people. This is big.

I hope they let me bring my camera. 

I wonder if they'd sign some Spring Awakening paraphernalia I may have....

Thursday night:

TV THURSDAY! For realsies! With the big TV! And, since we failed to watch Heroes tonight (despite our best efforts) we've got that, American Idol, and the Office all in one fantastic weekday evening. Am I forgetting any other shows? I feel like I'm forgetting something...

Oh well. Even if I have forgotten one, I know Ryan's got it scheduled to record. He's awesome like that.

This evening's (early morning's?) excitable post brought to you by Andy's Famous Strawberry Daiquiris and Reese's Peanut Butter Easter Eggs. 

Valentine's

Brittany's always  getting us little trinkets or candy during the various holidays. Stocking stuffers during Christmas. Easter baskets in April (or March, depending on the wackiness of the year). And candy boxes and cards for V-Day.

Thanks, Britt. I do like chocolate. :)

And my favorite flowers, which appeared as the new table centerpiece. I'm not sure which roommate brought these home, but they are oh so pretty.

Apartment Christening

Ryan and Andy have a new apartment!

Hooray!

Guess where I am right now?

Chilling on the super comfy couch, watching the pretty new big screen TV with Andy. 

I think we're going to be here quite a bit. Just letting you know now, Ryan.

But before the comfy couches and pretty TV were here, it was just a big ol' empty space. So on Friday night (Friday the 13th, for those of you who are trying to come up with the correct date, ahem, OSF), after Ryan and Andy got the keys and signed the paperwork, we christened the place with pizza, champagne, and our favorite Office Trivia game. 

Apparently, as the night went on, Ryan had just a bit more champagne than the rest of us, which accounted for some over-exaggerated gasps of shock and the inability to read questions more than two lines long.

Brittany: "Can you read the question, Ry?"

Ryan: "Not this one. It's like six lines long."

Also, this little moment: 

Chris: "Ryan, can I have your orange Dundee?"

Ryan: Hands over Dundee token without hesitation.

(Approximately six minutes later.)

Ryan: "Hey! You have my orange Dundee!"

The rest of us: "He just asked you for it. And you gave it to him."

Guess who's getting full Photoshop?

I'll give you a hint:

It's me, and I am soooooo excited.

Because while I love my wonderful Photoshop Elements, it just can't handle all the delightful actions I keep seeing all over the internet. Actions that can make my pictures crazy cool.

I need these actions.

So, Justin's going to "help me install it" on Friday, so I have today and tomorrow to clear all the unnecessary junk off my laptop so it won't freak out trying to run full InDesign, full Photoshop, and Elements.

Those three are going to be the best of friends. I just know it.

Anyway, I'll be parking it at the kitchen table for the remainder of the time, transferring and backing up between mini-laptop (I've named it Wall-E) and the external hard drive, and going through all the music my little sister has downloaded onto my itunes to see what I will actually listen to in the future.

I know some of these are pretty popular, but I'm sure I still won't like some of them, so here's the list of what may be deleted off my laptop, in advance. If you see anything you want, call me up and yell, "STOP! Don't delete that!" And them come over with a jump drive and take it for yourself; someone might as well be getting use from these CDs.

WARNING: Artists that may possibly be deleted in the next 48 hours:
Augustana
Yellowcard
OkGo
Britt Nicole
AllAmerican Rejects
Plain White T's
Jack's Mannequin
Fallout Boy
Miley Cyrus
Gavin DeGraw
Hannah Montana
Killers
Good Charlotte
Cheyenne Kimball
Jo Bros
Date Voegele
One Republic
Sugarland
Metro Station
Simple Plan


Hmmmmm... halfway through the Augustana CD... it's a keeper.

February Trend

Take One

Take Two

Reason #67 to love the youth venture kids:

Sunday Fun

Ryan and Chris invited me to go out and have fun on Sunday, and since one of my goals is to get out of my funk of preferring to stay at home (especially on rainy weekend days) and begrudgingly go along with other people's fun activity ideas, I tagged along.

Don't worry, Ryan. There wasn't so much begrudging yesterday. 

(But I can't wait for real TV Thursdays again, because I really do love our stay-at-home-and-cook-dinner-and-watch-TV activities.)

Our first stop was Mt. Soledad, the top of which neither Chris or I had ever been. It's pretty cool up there. You can see a loooooong way in all directions. 

And we spied on Andy's house!

I know it sounds crazy, but all three of us are in this picture of Ryan:

Here. Look a little closer:

Next stop was the X Museum in La Jolla. I don't remember the actual name of the museum now, but their logo was an X and we got X stickers to wear, so it is now the X Museum.

Highlights of this museum included a hypnotizing video of spinning black and white tops, a haystack made of needles, and a hammer made of ninja dolls. Art can be so weird.

I'm not much of a museum fan as a general rule. But this museum had the most amazing chairs I've ever sat in. And you think I'm going to let those chairs go?!

Ryan, you need to find those chairs and use them to furnish your new apartment.

Here's some fun pics of the outside art (or of us taking pictures of the outside art):

And to finish off the day, we headed to Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma. We toured the lighthouse, said hi to Cabrillo, and Ryan and I both tripped/fell over nothing while Chris mocked us.




By then we were hungry and tired from our scavengering, so we went to the guys' favorite place, Wahoos, and had yummy surfer Mexican food (Chris' description) with spicy green sauce that, ahem, some of us were unable to handle. (Not me, of course. Me and the spices are tight.)

The end!

It's a Miracle!

After two months of dead, dead, dead, the wireless on my laptop suddenly started working again.

No more stringing the blue cord up the stairs!

Well, as long as it keeps working anyway.

Also, to add to the nostalgia of the last post, I found an old school picture from the girls' basketball team of '02. Oh, memories... and those stupid knit jerseys....

Nostalgia and a Picture Update

Tonight there was an alumni basketball game between past players and coaches/teachers/random guys from church. It was pretty awesome. Justin and Jen and I went and cheered on "the old guys," comprised of our former basketball coach (who happens to be Jen's dad), our old principal (Mr. Newkirk, who is the picture of the day, and taught us everything from geography to Bible to US. government), Dan Deyling (taught us apologetics and is also the guy I worked for in kids church for three years), and the pastor of our church, among others. It was pretty obvious the game was rigged from the start, and the ref had absolutely no shame in calling fouls on anything for the alumni and turning a blind eye to anything the old guys did. At one point Dan Deyling was holding one of the alumni players down with his knee. And at another point the old guys tried to kidnap an alumni who got too close to their bench.

The three of us agreed it was like taking a trip back in time. Back to the days when Jen and I were in uniform, Justin was cheering in the stands (he's a great little cheerleader :) or taking pictures for yearbook, and Jen's dad was yelling at us from the sidelines, while the boys' team stretched in the corner, waiting for their game to start at 8.

I seriously MISS those days.

The days when Bill would run us ragged at practice and force us to do those horrid exercises where you sit against the wall until your knees buckle. The days when our main plays were called "Hallie" and "Number two" because the assistant coach thought my name was Hallie for half the season, and we apparently weren't creative enough to come up with a good name for the second one. The days when we'd practice in the church gym on Tuesdays until seven, and then run to the other building for youth group until nine.

Anyway, so tonight kind of brought it all back and made us really, really miss those days.

They were pretty awesome ones.

Five on Friday

1) Guacamole on Subway sandwiches does not taste good. I'm regretting it now because it totally ruined my whole sandwich.

2) Speaking of food, yesterday Jessica, Brittany, Genisee, and I went to Olive Garden for $6.95 soup and salad lunch (except they charged us $7.95). And I found my new favorite soup there: chicken gnocci. Yum, yum, YUM. I had warm, happy soup belly all day. And of course I could eat that salad all day. I think I need to go back there very soon.

3) I've been told today that my eyes are extraordinarily blue. It's because I'm wearing a very blue shirt. Ssshhhh. Don't tell anyone my secret to extraordinarily blue eyes.

4) Found an awesome blog today. If you ever find a lost camera, or lose a camera, go to this site. It's good to know there are caring people in the world who just want to get your pictures back to you.

5) I'm hoping it stops raining for now; I'm itching to go home, get my camera, and take pictures outside with the cloudy gray light that's going on out there. I think I'll see if Britt wants to just walk around the neighborhood with me.

Super Bowl Sunday

So here's how Super Bowl Sunday went down:

~Britt and I went to Jarrod's house loaded with chips, pretzels, and wonderful Mike's lemonade (for the girls).

~Jess and Mikey weren't there... even if it was a joint party with them and Jarrod. Tsk tsk.

~Lots of other people were there. To the point that folding chairs had to be brought in. And lots of thieving of the good chairs.

~Lucky for me, I stole Jarrod's good spot early and Justin and I managed to hold those chairs for the entire game, cuz we're buddies who've got each other's backs. And we will fight other people who try to steal our buddy's chair. 

~Jarrod was pretty much the only one cheering on the Steelers. It made the party interesting, because he gets defensive. :)

~In keeping tradition, I chose based on color of uniforms. FYI- maroon and white totally kick highlighter yellow pants out of the running. Seriously, who picked that specific florescent color for the Steelers? Was it some kind of game strategy? To blind the other team with ugly? That must have been it.

~ Poor Cardinals. They were so promising the second half...

~ What was up with those lame commercials? I even spotted two that were text only spots. No pictures. No graphics of any kind. No storyline. No laughs. You know where those kind of ads are good? The newspaper. Don't waste my time during the Super Bowl if you can't put your 5 million to proper use.

~ 3D commercials. I don't know what the big deal was, but then, I didn't have the super special glasses.

~ Outrage from the Cardinals supporters in the room, when one of the Steelers blatantly started shoving a Cardinal for no good reason, and after the play was over. Jarrod was in the bathroom for this shining moment and wouldn't believe us.

~ Jarrod's defense when we kept on him about his dirty, cheating Steelers (and the winning quote of the day): "They're called the Steelers, all right! They're not called the Angel Princesses!"

A Series of Unfortunate Events, and One Lucky One

Well, our Ikea trip yesterday morning was a bust:

~ The cute duvet covers I saw online? The line wrapped through the store and outside for those.
~ Black sheets, with cute black patterned pillowcases and cool red accent colored pillows? They had 'em, but the red pillows would have cost around $20 for two, and the brilliant black spread I found ended up being a mix from three different sheet sets. Seriously, Ikea. What's up with that?
~ The canvas square organizers ended up being $4.99 each, not 2 for $4.99 like it said online.

So I got nothing. Whatever. At least we had fun. And lunch at Subway always helps brighten any day.

Fortunately the day picked up, because Saturday was the day my dad was going to tackle my truck once and for all. In case I haven't mentioned this much, my car keeps dying on me. Or refuses to start right up when I want to leave somewhere. This has made me develop a fear of driving on the freeway or any lane that isn't the farthest right, in case I need to pull over before my truck stops on its own. I know, la-ame.

He's taken out quite a few other parts in the last couple of months in his attempt to fix this problem. Finally it came down to the battery, which was the most expensive to replace. So dad and I set off for a little find-the-cheapest-but-best-battery outing. One trip to WalMart, two trips to Autozone, and two Jack in the Box milkshakes later, we had ourselves a battery.

A freaking $90 battery.

This battery better be really good.

So my dad got it in no problem, I started up my car, and holy jumper cables, Batman! I didn't know that was what my car was supposed to sound like when it started up! It was powerful, and dependable, not this little weak baby cough that it usually makes. So my dad takes the old battery back to Autozone to see how bad this battery really was, because he thought the whole time it was just the connectors were loose. Or something. I don't really know these things. Turns out when they tried to test the battery, it was so low it couldn't even be tested. And apparently it was a miracle I've been able to drive it at all these last couple months.

Hooray for not dying in a fiery car wreck on the freeway!

So I might be getting back some of my $90 since my old battery had a 7 year warranty, and we were just starting year 4 with it. Just $20 or so, but still, anything's better than paying a full $90.

Picture of the Day, of my awesome dad fixing my car, to come as soon as my sister sends me the pictures. Apparently I forgot to put the CF card back in my camera yesterday, and I had to use hers.

And now I'm off to the Super Bowl! Don't know who I'm cheering for yet; it's going to depend on the color of the teams' uniforms and how awesome the names of their quarterbacks are.

(Because names like Jake Delhomme are just so fun to say.)