"I aim to misbehave."

There was excitement! There was suspense! There was euphoria! A true emotional roller coaster. And that was before the movie even started!!

We arrived at the theater one hour before Serenity was to begin -- the line of people was stretched all the way around the lobby! So, we take our place at the end of the line, and quickly more people get in line behind us. Roy, Corina, and I were excited, but keeping our cool. Finally, the line starts to move forward, and we end up stopping just around 18 people from the entrance to the theater.

"The theater is full. We're waiting on some press to show up. If they don't show up, we will be able to let a few more of you in.

So, we wait some more, and they let a handful of people in. We wait again. Finally, one of the theater workers comes out, and she informs us that "this is just not going to happen". She offers to exchange our tickets for a free showing of some Gwenyth Paltrow movie next week. (?!?! -- Uh, no, but thanks.)

I just remember standing there, looking at this woman, she's looking right at me, and she just shrugs. Suddenly, "...nine, ten, eleven, and twelve. She points at Roy, who's behind us. "He is the last one. Let them in."

WOOHOO!!

So, we finally make it into the theater! We end up completely separated, but it was ok because the folks around us were really nice. The lights go out, and the crowd claps and cheers!!

The movie was great! I'm not going to tell you any details, I'm just going to say ...

GO WATCH IT!!!

You will love it. I promise you. And once you watch it, email me and let me know what you thought! And if you like it (which I know you will!!) ... tell a friend!!

A Couple Of Cool Serenity Sites For Ya:

Jayne's Hat Song
I Need A Hero

Oh right ... about that Oasis concert...

I must me losing my mind. My U2-pal Mary just emailed me the following: "So you've blogged about everything but the Oasis adventure... "
Doh! I knew I was forgetting something.

The concert last Thursday was great! And very, very, very loud. My ears have finally stopped ringing. No really, like just a couple of days ago. Next time, I'll use earplugs.

Highlights from that evening:

• $3 pretzels and $4.50 bottles of water. Not really a highlight, but definitely worth commenting on. Plus, venue policy states that they couldn't give me the lid to my water bottle. Who knows why. Maybe they don't want anyone hitting Liam in the head with a water bottle cap.

• "That wasn't Jett??!!" Mary and I didn't really know much about the band Jett, who was set to open for Oasis, other than that one popular song "Are you gonna be my girl". So the first band comes out, and we just assume it's Jett. The band finishes their set, and I turn around and comment to Mary, "Hmm, they didn't play that one big song they have." We realize a few minutes later that the first band was in fact not who we thought was. How did we come to this realization, you ask? As they are setting up for the next band, they bring out this huge banner with "JETT" spelled out in two-foot letters. The first band was actually Kasabian, who were very good.

• Jett. The real Jett took the stage, and I realized that I actually knew a few more of their songs than I'd originally thought. They were definitely good. Kind of Black Crowes-ish. But not too much.

• OASIS!! Ah, the Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel. The wonderfully haughty Liam, standing at the front of the stage, treating us with that arrogant stare that only Liam himself has perfected. (It's weird in a way -- I truly appreciated the way he just stood there and looked at us. It was very Liam. Anything else would have been weird.) And quiet, contemplative Noel, who ended the show by walking up and down the stage handing out guitar picks to folks in the front row. He's definitely my favorite.

• Singing at the top of my voice. I've actually been an Oasis fan since back in college. So, it was great to hear music I've had coming out of my stereo for almost a decade.

• Random phone calls. The only thing better (I think) than getting a phone call from a pal who is a bit tipsy is getting a phone call from a friend who's at a concert. "VICKI! IF YOU'RE THERE, I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I'M AT AN OASIS CONCERT!" My victims that evening were my Vicki, my cousin Cristina, and my Dad. (Actually, I was trying to call my super-cool sis Lizzie, but she wasn't home.)

So, the concert was fun, the music was great, and Oasis was awesome! Definitely had a blast!

Ja'Nate' Update

I just realized that I haven't posted an update on my pal Ja'Nate' and her family in Houston, and how they weathered Hurricane Rita.

She and her family are fine. Luckily, Houston missed much of the severe weather that was originally set to him them straight on. The only damage they received was part of their fence blew down, but that can easily be fixed, she said.

Whoa! U2 is sneaking up on me!

With so much going on this semester, I was quite shocked to realize while looking at my calendar that my U2 concerts are a mere 4.5 weeks away. As Strongbad might say, "Holy Crap!"

31 days and counting!!!

SERENITY!!

So, I'm getting ready for work this morning, when Roy casually mentions that he read in the DMN Quick that there is a free screening of Serenity tonight. They were giving away tickets at the Movie Trading Company down on Greenville in Dallas.

Drat. Wish I'd heard about this yesterday, I think to myself.

So, I get to work, and I decide, What the heck! I'll call anyway on the off chance they still have tickets. I call, and ...

They have tickets!!!

The store opened at 10am, so my pal/co-worker Corina and I hope in my car and head out in search of these treasured tickets. (I must mention at this point that Corina is an excellent co-pilot. I had a map printed out illustrating how to get to our destination, but there was no need -- she knew a special way to get there, which worked perfectly.)

We arrive at the MTC at around 9:50am, and we wait in the (strangely) empty parking lot for the doors open. 10am rolls around, they open those doors, and we meekly approach the counter and admit that we are not there to purchase anything. We just want the free Serenity tickets.

At last!! We have the tickets! We calmly exit the building, and as we walk back to the car, I almost couldn't resist doing the Arsenio-Hall-cheer (whoomp! whoomp!). Much to Corina's delight, I'm sure, I was able to control myself.

So ... tonight ... at 7:30pm at the Loews movie theater at Spring Valley and 75 ... Roy, Corina, and I will be watching Serenity!!!!

See you later Frank!

Well, my pal Frank is probably beginning a 19hour flight to Japan right about now. I'd just like to wish him luck with his new life and new job in Shimonoseki. Ah, poor Frank -- he's leaving a land currently plagued by hurricanes and heading to a land currently experiencing numerous typhoons. Stay dry, Frank! And good luck!!

Stormy Weather

Well dang it! What is up with this weather????

First the hurricane from a few weeks ago (let’s not discuss its name, please), and now we have the horrible Hurricane Rita barreling down on Texas. This one is much more important to me because one of my best friends, Ja'Nate', is in Houston, and she and her family are probably going to be hit hard by this storm.

We here in the DFW area are going to feel the effects as well, although not nearly as dramatically. Forcasts say that by the time it passes almost directly over DFW, it will be a mere tropical storm. My little forcast plugin for my Firefox web browser currently displays "Heavy rain and a thunderstorm" for the Saturday forcast.

Well, try to keep dry, Ja'Nate' ... and anyone else in Rita's path. I sure will.

U2 Dreamin'

In honor of tonight's opening concert of leg three of U2's Elevation tour, I've loaded up all of my U2 albums in Windows Media and I've set it to random. Yep, I've got the headphones on, and I'm singing at the top of my lungs. I'm sure Roy's head will peek out from around the corner to see what is wrong with me. Ah, if only I could hear what he was saying. <>

She sings: "Some days are better than others!"

Home Sick Today

Some kind of viral infection has kept me home today. I'm all caught up with my homework (believe it or not). Not too interested in the book I checked out from the library. Nothing on the television. So I blog! Below are some interesting websites I've come across so far:

Amazing Sidewalk Art:
http://gprime.net/images/sidewalkchalkguy/

Amazing Satellite Photo-Collage of Earth at Night
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg

World Sunlight Map
http://www.die.net/earth/

Update: More sites...

A pretty cold day
http://selfdestruct.net/misc/geneve.jpg

The Matrix - In ASCII Art Animation
http://www.justbewise.net/matrix.html

Secret Worlds - The Universe Within
http://www.micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

The Eye Of God
http://www.snopes.com/photos/space/eyeofgod.asp

The end of the internet
http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm

Declaration of Revocation by John Cleese
http://www.stephaniemiller.com/declarationofrevocation.htm

Popular movies in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies
http://www.angryalien.com/

Weekend Details

Roy and I did have a pleasant Labor Day weekend. Aside from a slight "glitch" that prevented us from having dinner with my folks, all went really nicely.

Weekend Highlights:

• Lunch w/ Frank and Sunny. I took Friday off to enjoy myself and ended up driving down to Arlington to have lunch with my two good friends (Sunny and Frank) on Frank's last day working for UTA. We had one last group lunch at one of our frequent haunts, King's BBQ, and each enjoyed Singapore Noodles and hot tea. (I know, it's the middle of summer. Why are we having hot tea? This place is usually frigid, so it fits.)
  
  
• Giving Lizzie her Green Day souvenirs. Friday, I went to Office Depot and laminated the Green Day concert review (which had a couple of really good photos of itty-bitty Billy Joe), and I gave them to Lizzie yesterday. She loved it.
  
  
• Listening to Lizzie play the Cure's "Love Song" on her guitar, then going through her collection of rock and roll buttons.
  
  
• Bingo with Mama Saturday night. I didn't win the $750 prize, but I had a really good time.
  
  
• Playing Putt Putt with Roy! We stopped at the Putt Putt place in Euless (?) and played a game. We had a great time!! Roy dropped his ball in the little creek running through the course, but he managed to fish it out. :)
  

So, now we're recovering from a tiring weekend, but it was nice. Welp, back to work, then on to my graphics class tonight.

Back to reality

Labor Day weekend was spent tearing myself away from the news, instead spending time with family out in good ol' west Texas. We got back home last night from the 5.5-hour trip, and news seems to be getting a little better. While the DFW area is taking in several thousands of folks from the affected areas, San Angelo is also doing its part, taking in 1,000 refugees.

Roy calls me a "junkie" when he finds me reading news reports and sneaking a peak at CNN. I don't know what it is about events like this -- morbid curiosity? -- but I find myself almost obsessed with what's going on. September 11 was bad with the visual overload of every single tv channel showing what happened. Now, we have streaming video from WFAA's website of the New Orleans tv station (which is now broadcasting out of Baton Rouge). Instant "breaking news" emails informing us of the latest updates. Video clips accessible anytime if you need a bite-size helping of tragedy.

So, the levies are being fixed. The water is being pumped out. And we wait for the numbers, a feeling that must be something like waiting to be punched in the gut.