march madness! or a compilation of things i've been up to

Here are some things I've been up to.

Charleen came to visit the weekend of the 14th, well, she had to travel up to the Bay area for work related things, but I got to reap the benefits when they changed her flight from Friday to Sunday! Yay! So we went out for some Thai food with Perry and Heather in North Beach before heading over to see Beach Blanket Babylon. I was turned onto this by my co-worker and it is apparently the longest running musical revue. The show is basically a musical spoof of pop culture, complete with extravagant outfits, wigs and hats.

Yes that's Prince Charles AND a ridiculous hat! (disclaimer - Prince Charles was NOT at the show we went to see, this was taken off their website)

The hats are so big they actually put the performers on a motorized cart to move them around stage due to the weight.

Then Saturday night we ended up heading out with my roommate Mari and her friend Karin that was in town from Sweden. First we started at Mike's birthday party, complete with Irish Car Bomb Races.
I barely beat Mari...

YUM!

But Charleen totally kicked Mike's ass!

Then we headed out to the Elbo Room for their Saturday Night Soul Party, where we danced...or at least tried to.

That picture makes it all look very awkward.
Sunday was pretty low key, Charleen helped me shop around IKEA for a bed frame (which I didn't find) and under the bed storage boxes (which I did find one) before I dropped her off at the airport.

Then this past weekend lots of fun things happened. The first was hanging out with Ferris, Ashley and her roommate Josh on Friday night. We hit up the 500 Club which, by the way, is NOT open at 6am. (Tricky signage!)

Saturday I bought a bed frame from craigslist! The search is over, finally. It looks great, thank you Jeremy for helping me set it up!



Leeni, better known as Celene Ramadan from Manchester Central High, and her sister Jeannine came to town! I met up with them for a fancy smancy and delicious dinner at the Hotel Rex Restaurant. Then we headed over to 1505 Oregon St. in Berkeley for a House Party!

Turned out to be pretty chill, with a bunch of younger folk present, but that sort of also made it fun and awkward and all things amusing. Plus, they had a wood paneled shower, which I have never seen before.


Unfortunately I do not have video of the first performer, Sludgehammer, of the night. Luckily Jeannine did, and I'm pretty sure she caught the time he picked up a girl from the crowd then pinned me against the wall while he screamed in my face.

I liked this album review he posted on his site:
"well, i kinda felt nauseous and i wanted to knock things over and maybe knee someone in the groin and then makeout with them. i can't say that's what i feel every time i tune in to sludge, but it worked this time. it was a weird day"- Jennifer Sullivan

In short, it was worth every second and left you feeling uncomfortable and wanting more.

Next up was Padraic Finbar Hagerty-Hammond who was really great to see perform.


Then, for those of you kids who either grew up in Hooksett, or went to Manchester Central High, Matt Carano

performed as Palefighter.

It was strange seeing him and officially meeting him for the first time. I always knew of him because his sister Emily was in my grade growing up, but I guess it wasn't until now that we actually met. Funny how that can happen.

Then Leeni went on and rocked the house out! It was great seeing her perform her new stuff, since the last, and only time, I've seen her play it was completely different and she just played her guitar. Now she has all these 8-bit, gameboy inspired beats and sounds to accompany her beautiful voice.

Oh, and I highly enjoyed her little 8-bit clip of 'I'm so excited'


Then after staying up too late like a schoolgirl at her first slumber party, I got up and went on a wonderful hike with Amanda out in Mount Tamalpais State Park, where we hiked from the East Peak Parking lot to the West Point Inn.
(Oh, but while I was drinking my coffee, I got to see the Easter bunny

walk by my apartment with his friend, on their way to the Hunky Jesus contest.

We saw some condors!

Here's my attempt at a panoramic from the West Point Inn

Tada!

I kept this flower in my hair the whole time. It reminded me of Erikka.


I even squeezed in some egg dyeing (thanks to my parents Easter care package!) and bunny bowling with Jeremy in the hallway

before heading out to Bring Your Own Big Wheel (BYOBW).
It is what it sounds like, people ride big wheels and other various plastic toys with wheels down a steep and curvy street. Trust me, the videos get better as you go down. Every time they went down we found a new prime location to view.



I like this one the best


People had some great outfits.
An hour or so after the shin-dig Jeremy and I came across this graveyard of Big Wheels, neatly piled up in the back of this truck

Rest in peace glorious chariots, rest in peace.