Linkin Park at the Staples Center

Happy Thursday! I just entered my code to redeem my free download of last night's audio. Hooray, the internet!

So my ticket says this:

KROQ/GOLDENVOICE PRES
LINKIN PARK
A THOUSAND SUNS TOUR
WWW.LINKINPARK.COM
STAPLES CENTER
WED FEB 23 2011 7:30PM

Since this is me leaving suburbia and arriving in downtown LA at 7:30, what can be an hour drive was sure to be closer to two. So I left a little before 5:30 (after cooking all day lolol so precious, off to my big bad rock concert).

It was pretty backed up, and there was at least one crash on the shoulder. But it was alright, I had Mumford & Sons to chill me out. Did some impressive and dramatic lane changes getting from the 101 to the 110 and then again to the 110 three yards later. Actually! I ran into the most trouble of the day once I actually got into the Staples Center at around 7:20.

(Side note: as I was waiting to get in the doors, the plaza started playing Mumford & Sons' Little Lion Man, which had been playing in my car when I parked, so it was a little surreal.)

I've only been in there once before, back in highschool when we took the Germans to a Lakers game. (The Timberwolves won) And even though the streets and area around it are fairly familiar (the AX is right next door at the Convention Center), the interior was a big ol' mystery. I wandered around and around, all the while the clock ticking closer and closer to 7:30.

My ticket says PR13, and all these signs say, like m115, so I had no clue where I was supposed to be, and mentioned as much to at least three ushers. Finally it was revealed to me that I was in "VIP" seating! And need not traverse upon this level, among the crush of the common folk buying their hotdogs and beer.

But seriously, the one lady told me to "turn right, go past the kiosk, and then turn left." And this is with the auditorium behind me....I followed those directions and it was still behind me, so you can see how I might have been confused. I went up escalators. I went down them. Finally when I found the VIP doors, the honest to goodness directions after passing through were "go down, then up."

At 7:42 I texted my mom: Ok I finally found my seat. It's pretty awesome

The PR on my ticket stood for Premier seating, which was the second tier of bleacher seats. I was one row down from the top, right on the aisle, which was cool except for the rail in the aisle was a touch into my line of sight. But that ended up to be not a problem at all.

The stage seemed really close, probably even closer than I was at the Citizen's Business Bank Arena. It was actually set, um, diagonally into the floor? Like instead of being this platform across the one end, it pointed out into the middle, so the farthest spot forward was the corner of the stage, and it tapered back to the sides, so there were people seated nearly behind it, but I bet their view wasn't so bad.

At around 8:20, the opening act took the stage. I think they were called The Prodigy, and they seemed to be some sort of... band... from England. This is what I recalled about them, to entertain you with.

There were two guys in the band. One was the drummer, and he really owned those things. Really impressive to watch, he was a madman. The other guy seemed to be running at least four Macbooks, a keyboard, a synthesizer, and a sampler, and who knows what else.

Oh, there were also two guys whose job it was to hop up and down, holler rhythmically, and point at the audience. There was also a guy who did a fair amount of hopping, and he wore a guitar. Sometimes he wore a bass at around his knees, to little or no effect.

They had the most ADD strobe and lights effects I've ever seen. I had to look at the audience on the floor or else I might have had a seizure and/or exploded. They didn't seem to be too into it. As I watched, a lone man started heaving himself against those around him, all of whom gently swayed back into formation. He tried again (moshing and surfing were actually plainly discouraged by signs all over the doors), until a guy in a white shirt shoved him pretty hard. They faced off for about two seconds, and then everything went back to being perfectly still, like ice frosting over a deep and silent lake.

They played until almost 9:00, and I clapped when it ended. They were to Linkin Park what John Mellancamp was to Bob Dylan: something I wanted to nap through.

But the boys took the stage about fifteen after, and the house went crrrrazy. Apparently it was sold out, and LA is the band's home turf. And Chester's son (his youngest, I gathered) was in the audience with his buddies, and it was his first LP show. So it was really special.

So, you have Joe Hahn running the turntable and the touchpad synthesizer and stuff like that, Rob Bourdon back there on drums, Phoenix on bass, Brad Delson hopping around all over on guitar and also some drums and the megaphone, Mike Shinoda singing and rapping and rocking the keyboards and also pulling on a guitar, and Chester Bennington singing and screaming his lungs out and also drumming and a tiny bitta guitar.

Everybody was singing/shouting along. I didn't, at first, because I wanted to listen, but then it just got impossible not to go along with it. And also because Chester wears himself out and stops being perfectly in tune with the rest of the guys (something I knew from videos), so by singing with him, with everybody, it wasn't so much about listening to the performance but more like... experiencing the experience.

But dude it's soooo much fun to keep pace with Mike during, say, When They Come For Me or Bleed It Out.

They played most of A Thousand Suns, out of order, starting with Wretches and Kings. I know they didn't play Burning in the Skies, probably not Robot Boy, and I don't think I heard Blackout. But the rest of it was all there, including the historical spoken word, which was accompanied by the actual footage of the recording on the big screens behind them. Joe remixed some of it (I think? audio and video) on the fly, to great applause.

Actually, there wasn't much that happened that wasn't received with wholehearted screaming. Well, it's not the Beatles, so maybe not screaming, not like that. More like a mixed-gender, mixed-age crowd roar. But it was like

Chester: You guys are f***ing loud.
Crowd: SCREEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM
Chester: Thank you!

They did quite a range of numbers from every album, even though mostly it was ATS. They are touring for that album, after all. But there were three or four, four or five from each older album. At least from Hybrid Theory and Minutes to Midnight...songs from Meteora I forget which album they came from. But they did Breaking the Habit, and that's surely off that one. But no matter what song came next, be it something brand new or that song from the second Transformers movie (or the first) or track one off album one, it was the right one.

Their first album, Hybrid Theory, came out ten years ago, so the older stuff was pleasantly nostalgic and appropriately so. They wrapped with... was it Crawling? I think so, because that has been a long favorite of mine, sort of the one you're subconsciously waiting for -- are they going to play my favorite? And it's excellent, and then they left the stage, leaving one guitar ringing on an endless reverb loop.

But I knew that wasn't the end, the perfect end would be the last two/three tracks off the new album, they were designed to end a concert. So they came out, and what do you know, Mike's in the spotlight at the keyboard, playing Fallout....then it builds and you're in the middle of The Catalyst... and then it roars to a close and Chester starts The Messenger, giving an warmhearted intro to it, saying it was written like a letter to his kids who are starting to grow up.

And even though this was the encore, and they just performed the ending of all endings, The Messenger isn't the end. They do...something old, I think. At this point, I was just trying to appreciate every moment because I hadn't realized time was almost up until it was too late (luckily the encore was like, 20 minutes. Or seemed that way). I don't remember what they played between The Messenger and Bleed It Out, but suddenly that's rolling along, and everyone's energy is back up to 120%. And then that ends, and in the middle of the noise, Mike steps up and says something about bringing us all back ten years, and then suddenly we're playing A Place For My Head. And then that ends and we're back inside of Bleed It Out.

Oh goodness, so amazing. Looking at other setlists from the tour, I feel like they did In The End and What I've Done in the encore. Probably their most popular singles of all time, now that I think about it. And In The End is so iconic of "Linkin Park." I was pleased and surprised that they played it-- played their older material with as much enthusiasm and energy as anything else. And man, those ones really stood out, with their undefined genre style and unrelenting force. ATS, that can very readily be labeled alternative or electronic, but olden Linkin Park.... there just are no words. Just sit back and listen to them blast it at you.

And then it was all over. Super happy I went.

Oh wait, I forgot about during Crawling, Mike was so excited about the crowd singing along, he stepped down off the stage and sort of...on top of everybody. Immediately sixty hands came out to grab him and pull him into them, but a guard clamped his own hand on the back of Mike's pants and held him in place on the edge. So Mike just slapped hands and waved the mic over them all, and it was super exciting.

It was a really great, enthusiastic, and appreciative crowd. Of all ages, but mostly people in their 30s, I'd say. Some younger kids--when the young Bennington was allowed up to the side of his stage to hug his dad before the encore, he looked ten or eleven. No elderly people, but everyone else from there on down. Not really at all the crowd I had been imagining and fearing all this time. Well, I mean, look at me, I was there.

A Thousand Suns, as an album, was a surprise, something that caught me off guard but in the right frame of mind. It's probably my favorite album out of any album out there, from any artist. This was the right time for me to go to a concert like this. The right time and place, everything. I can't wait to see what they do next.

-Steph

Housewifing

Happy Thursday! For the next while I'm the house chef! Or, housewife practice, as some would put it.

Let's see, this week for lunch we had tuna sandwiches, modified cobb salad, salmon sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, tomorrow is peanut butter and jelly. Also salads and little carrots and celery with peanut butter and fruit cups and cookies and asparagus and broccolis.

For dinner we had um, was it meatloaf from the freezer, then leftovers, then ..leftovers again? And then something else from the freezer and then ?? Hm. Dinners I will need to work on.

But the general idea is vegetables, vegetables, also fruits, and then something with protein. I spent sooo much money on vegetables this week. It's pretty fun. I've dropped like a pound.

How was your valentine's day? I watched the Grammys the night before and the folk music performances inspired me to pick up the guitar again. Wrote a song! But it took until today for my hand to heal enough to play it well enough to record. Kids, if you're learning the guitar, don't take breaks! The guitar will not forgive you.

Last... Friday? Saturday? We went over to Jacqi's house and made Korean food. I mostly watched. It was rather good! I think my favorite was the tofu, which was fried in like soy sauce/sesame seed oil/garlic/green onion. I think it must have been Saturday.

And yesterday? Was it only yesterday? No it must have been Tuesday, Carolyn and I saw Harry Potter at the cheap theater. Gonna go see Tron there tomorrow, maybe.

Today I watched Alfie (sorta, after 30 seconds I realized I had in fact seen it all the way through before, so the rest of it was at 10x speed) and The Fountain. My favorite Aronofsky work to date (but that's because I did't like Pi and Requiem for a Dream was well made but sosososooooso dark).

Oh, speaking of the Grammys, check out this band. Can't stop listening.

And Linkin Park is in LESS THAN A WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.

In Minecraft news, my computer restarted itself the other night and made the server sad. So half my park is destroyed and all of Carolyn's water trap is gone, and my box of treasures is alll disappeared. :< But the church is done, and the graveyard, so people who die in the game can go over there and record it for all time. Or until the server decides to go crazy and move mountains into other people's houses again.

Ok, I got to be packing lunches! Like a boss. I mean, a mom.

-Steph

Eerie

Happy Thursday! Are you enjoying Triple Play Thursday? I am.

Cold lately, no? I was rather enjoying our 70 degree winter. Honestly, I think the average temperature of this winter and fall has to be higher than that of last summer. Remember , remember, the fifth of November gunpowder, treason and plot and its days in the 90s? Everything's backwards.

Slowly but surely I'm converting my workplace into a Minecraft cult. Two down, another about to give in in a matter of days, and the last will have to follow.

:)

I made some ironing beads craft creepers, and a coal. Carolyn printed out some paper craft templates of cute cute creepers and diamond and stuff. She came over on Monday and worked on those, while I did crafts for my mom's play thing she just did at school. Carolyn also came over today, to "study" and do more crafting while I chopped up a bunch of lamb.

Irish stew! Lamb and Canadian bacon. Nice. Irish soda bread (which certainly didn't turn out the way it should have) and Champ, which is just mashed potatoes with other vegetables in it (green onion and cabbage today). Soup had a nice smell, I bet the flavor will really set up over night.

Aaand the other day me and Jacqi hung out at the mall! It was just meant to be because my mom was going to go there, to the Target, so I went along, and while we were there Jacqi called and was all "what are you doing? I'm going to Target." We ate at the China Palace or whatever it's called, and it reconfirmed my suspicions about why I never eat there.

What. I don't know what it means, but there's definitely a penny standing on its edge under my desk. ????

-Steph

I'm Back!

Happy Thursday! How have you guys been this week? Good? Good, me too.

Today in Minecraft I'm harvesting trees. But trees take a long time to grow, don't they. Not if you grind up some zombie bones and slap that on your little sapling! I have a little bowl in the sky, surrounded by a cactus army, so if anything comes for me they get demolished down below while I'm safe growing trees by torchlight.

This week, after I was sick, I put all my Minecraft hours into a subterranean park. The spawn point on my server is on a narrow bit of coast between two mountains, so our first base is right in between. The mines go off to the east, and on the top there is the fort, and Carolyn's houses are off past there.... So I went into the original base and started excavating to the west.

One hollow mountain later, we have a lovely botanical garden! It has every form of Minecraft flora except for red mushrooms. I did find one in a cave over the lava cavern, but a creeper busted out from nowhere and destroyed everything. :< Creepers be creepin.

I'm not sure what I want to built next. Maybe the lighthouse? Any suggestions? My dream is to build stately Wayne Manor with the Batcave underneath, but it needs the right conditions and the right location to really work.

This week I watched The Who's Tommy with Beth. I quite liked it! Surprisingly edgy. And on Blu-Ray it looked like it was shot this year; astounding. Check it out, man.

My sister got me a Rolling Stone calender this year, right? And it came with a subscription to Rolling Stone, and I'd been looking for the card to mail in.... but it was nowhere because my first issue just arrived so I guess I was one step behind. But, so, the calender is of past Rolling Stone covers, so there's different bands and artists and stuff every month, and my sister told me I had to listen to whoever was up there each month. January was the Stones, so that was easy peezy. February has Bowie, Rod Stewart, and Elton John up there. Bowie, sure, I'm all about Bowie. --But then, this issue of Rolling Stone that just came features Elton John on the cover. So I guess I can't get out of it.

Two different stations played Tiny Dancer on the way to the theater this morning, it's a conspiracy.

Oh so I thought it was 11:45 but evidently I have a reading disability because I walked into the theater at 11:35 just in time to miss the Disney logo. (because it started at 11:25) I saw Tangled! It was actually really good, simple but captivating. All about how best to manipulate the emotions of a all-too-trusting young girl. Also edgy, in its own way. Voice acting was amazing, and the animation matched it punch for punch--so much so that I'm not sure a live performance could have captured half the emotion exhibited by these characters at times. Truly fluid and nuanced animation, that film.

I guess other than all that, I was just a sicky all week. Amazing how much time it takes up, being sick.

Oh, the one night, though, with the fever, I woke up in the middle of the night in my pitch-black room. "Why didn't I put up any torches!" It was a very serious question, at the time. I mean. CREEPERS coulda been spawning all up in my room!

This game may appear to be simple, but it just chock full of things to keep you entertained.

-Steph

Fever

Happy Thursday! Or is it? I guess it's okay. No work, just sat around and was freezing all day, nice 65 degree day. Sick, you see. But no work tomorrow, either, so here's for three days off this week!

I felt it coming on last night, so today I slept until noon. Read some of Keith Richards' book, some of Stanley Booth's book on blues music. Watched a whole passel of Firefly in spectacular Blu-Ray. Just sat there and looked at nothing.

It was the best day ever.

I was planning on getting a haircut today, but hopefully tomorrow. I feel like the kid who has his birthday rained out.

Watched a bit of Who Wants to be a Millionaire today with my dad. It's way different these days. My dad, too, was home as an invalid. He sprained his knee yesterday! :< Poor pops. Sad sack house today, that's for sure.

Blegh I gotta go to sleep. I'm over.

Here's some Peggy Lee to brighten your day.

-Steph

Short Week

Happy Thursday! It's a little chilly right now! I'm sad about that. But I guess it is the dead of winter.

Well the other day, Monday, it was super nice out, and we even went to the park and got smoothies and everything. It was a real California Dreamin' sort of day.

We also almost finished Gurren Lagann, three episodes left. It's... hm. I won't exactly be sad it's over.

Yesterday I made waffles for dinner, which were good after I used the newer baking powder. And it turns out you need to leave the waffles in there for a solid ten minutes before they're done. I also made a lovely salad, and I was going to have some of it today, but it was all gone! So sad.

Other than that, I think this week has been work and Minecraft. I'm building a castle! Working on the upper hall, which is made of glass and is practically floating over the rest of it. Then work will commence on the secret dungeon, ooooh.

OH OH AND. I also bought a ticket to see Linkin Park next monthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh WHO'S EXCITED I AM.

Yep, that's it.

-Steph

Minecraft

Happy Thursday! It's unusually warm this week! Terrific. Keep it coming, please.

There were two things I did this week:

A) Watch anime and
B) Play Minecraft.

Oh there may have also been a cooking party. That was this week, right? It had to have been. Okay, we'll start with that.

Jacqi was sick, so that was sad. But she and Carolyn came over, and we tried cooking out of my Asian Grandmother's cookbook that my sister got me for Christmas. We ended up making chicken and waffles. The chicken was from the book (more or less) and the waffles were in my cute waffle maker I also got for Christmas. It was a whole lotta fun, and it wasn't too terrible a meal.

Day before last, it was not warm at all, in fact it was dark and creepy and cold all day. So I watched movies and then made matzo ball soup with the leftover chicken. Curry and matzo ball soup are probably my two favorite foods, and a day like that needs one or the other. And then me and my mom watched a whole disc of Firefly! It was pretty great.

The movies I watched were The A-Team and The Other guys, which were pretty cool and alright, respectively. The day prior I watched Shrek Forever After and The Social Network, which were pretty funny and highly interesting, respectively.

Okay, so I don't remember what day cooking day was, and I don't remember when me and Carolyn watched all that Ninja Nonsense. That was one of the shows we started at the AX this summer, and just now remembered to finish it. I think we finished it...yesterday? And also watched the rest of ICE yesterday?? I don't even know. Ninja Nonsense (or Ninin ga Shinobuden) is ridiculous in the perfect way; conversely, ICE is ridiculous in the worst way. Ninja Nonsense is lolololololol and ICE is ????????????????

Today we ... started? Continued? Gurren Lagann, a show we first heard of/decided to watch at least two AXs ago. It was not exactly what I had expected, but I was starting to get into it...and now we're in the second half and it's a little bit of a disappointment. It started out lololol/wow and now it's mostly ???????

So Minecraft. That's a game where you mine for things with which you can craft. Very simple concept. Oh, here's a good fan trailer. Most of the things you craft are meant to be used in building structures, and here's where it branches out, because if you can imagine it, you can build it. You may have seen my pictures? There's some pretty intense things that people have built, out there on the internet.

Oh yeah, and if you play in Survival mode, when the sun goes down at night...the zombies come.

So that's where my nighttime hours have gone this week. Mining, smelting, building. Setting islands on fire. Punching sheep. It's like childhood adventure play plus legos plus the future. My next projects will be a floating glass ball in the sky and a castle. And a giant sand castle out in the desert. And a secret island you can only get to by tunnel. And a giant chess board. And a lighthouse. Maybe a floating glass castle. It's gonna be great.

-Steph

Adventuring Day

Happy Thursday! This week was terribly cold, but it seems a little warmer now. Almost like our fake summer this last summer. I'm pulling for an early spring.

Today me and Carolyn went on an adventure! For 8th grade graduation, they took us to this park in Ojai, of which our memories are limited. All I remember is the off ramp (not the one we normally use to get to Ojai), and jumping onto a butterfly to the absolute horror of Mrs. Mittelholtz. So we set out to find it.

Turns out that off ramp takes a 20 minute windy drive from the coast in, and I really really really don't know why you'd take a bus full of kids onto that road, when the regular way is much quicker and safer. And we didn't find the park because we didn't know where to look. So we just wandered to the back of Libbey Park and followed the bike trail all the way to the end. That bike trail, in the other direction, goes all the way to Ventura and ends where my band hangs out, and down onto the boardwalk.

We saw a number of squirrels, some of which were closer than expected. We found an athletics club and a humane society and a golf course and a power plant. It was a good walking adventure. There was also a fake Rocket Fizz, which had its sodas in order by brand rather than flavor.

We took the sane way back to Ventura and stopped off at Mimi's cafe before going to the fish store. I got a cute new catfish! This isn't mine, but that's what he looks like. Just named him Nixonde, where the -de is silent. That means he's Donnie's Nobody, what with the X in there, and if you don't know what a Nobody is, then you really gotta sit down and play Kingdom Hearts as soon as you can.

Then we played some ping pong--did I tell you we got a table for Christmas? We did. And we played on it. Which was very time consuming because it was as good a mind-blanker as Tetris. But then we figured out something better to do, which also got sidetracked by the epic sunset and then cheetahs.

But we finally got to our master plan, which was to watch something of our super long list of things to watch. Well, Ninja Nonsense wasn't exactly on that list, but it's super good and hilarious, so that worked out quite well. Ahahaha so much ninjas and so much nonsense. A+

This was the first week of the new year, wasn't it? Seems like it's been longer than that already. It was a pretty chill start of the year, reading and listening to the BSG compilation CD I made for my mom. People set off fireworks in my neighborhood, which was cool and also I think very illegal.

I think the only other really eventful thing I did all week was to beat Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories. Now I can continue on in 358/2 Days, which I incorrectly identified last week as 356/2 Days. And then play Re:Chain of Memories, Reverse/Rebirth. So many games in one franchise.

Speaking of, I might just go do that. Happy Thursday!!!

-Steph

Year End

Happy Thursday! It's the very last one of 2010, now isn't that special. Of course it is, all Thursdays are special.

Today's was a lazy wintry type Thursday. Sleeping in and mailing stuff and watching anime and playing video games. I'm still so sleeeeeepy.

Christmas was pretty darn awesome. I baked two pumpkin pies and a batch of pumpkin cookies. I'm good on pumpkin goods for about a year or so. And is it just me, or is Thanksgiving food and Christmas food pretty much the same stuff? Although, this time we made this Germany-style vinegar potatoes, which were a lovely way to shake things up. Here's the recipe so I don't forget it.

We opened presents practically all day. We started at nine and took a break for eating when my aunt and uncle arrived. Then we chatted and whatever for a couple hours, and then it was back to the present dregs when they left in the early evening. It was a big-haul Christmas. I went and updated my wishlist after, and now that thing's pretty bare.

My folks got me all this stuff I've wanted for a long while, like Rock Band 3 (and the keytar!) and the full Cowboy Bebop set and Virtuality and The Prisoner miniseries from last year. AND FIREFLY ON BLU-RAY YESSSS. And so many books from everyone! My sister got me this cool Asiany cookbook and a couple other books from the publishing company she works for, and my brother sent along Dragon Age Origins.

My friends all got me cool stuff, too~ Carolyn got me a pillow which is soooo soft like a dream. Dreaming on a dream about a dream. Also a new lock pick set (hidden in a fake credit card lolol) and Sunshine on Blu-Ray. Jacqi got me Keith Richard's Life, which was a lovely surprise. I'm on chapter four. Steven got me a Buffy scriptbook and a slide for my guitar. I tried it a bit, and it has so much folksy bluesy promise. Now if only I knew how to play the guitar.

Thanks, everybody! You're all much too kind.

My sleepy is a hanger-on from Tuesday, when we got up super early and went out to watch some whales. We caught a couple pairs of gray whales migrating down to Baja, some sea lions, and a blue shark. The swells were pretty high on the way out of the harbor, and there were a few drops that reminded me of why I hate planes and roller coasters. But the rest of the day was smooth and perfect, if a little chilly. But I've never been out whale watching, and we ended up going around the back side of Anacapa Island to find the second group, and that's the farthest I've ever been out to sea.

It was crazy on the other side, nothing but ocean from there on out. It's not that I'm agoraphobic, more like a claustrophile, if that's anything. When I look out at the ocean, I expect to see islands, alright? If there was nothing out there, like most other people's coasts, it would freak me out.

So yesterday I did a repeat of last ... Thursday, going straight from work to LAX and back, this time to send my sister away and back up to the great frozen north. We had really nice weather this week, yeah? None of those crazy rains, a lot of sun. Oh but I just checked my phone, and it looks like the new year is starting up with rains again. A green 2011.

So my 2010. I got to know the Beatles. You might remember that Beatlemania was how I spent the full first half of this year. Rolled gently on to Bob Dylan, the master; became aware of the greatness that is the Rolling Stones; discovered Eric Clapton's Layla was a integral piece of my childhood; found out that the things I'd always loved, quietly in the background, had names like "slide guitar" and "bossa nova."

This year I obtained two bass guitars and an acoustic; I dusted off my old harmonicas and finally, after 13 full years, bent my first blues note; I wrote and recorded my first song with my new band, MDMB; we've written several more; I took a guitar class and can play two or three songs.

In addition to songs, I wrote some straight-up poetry after rediscovering T. S. Eliot. I conquered NaNoWriMo for the second time in a row. (During the same time I wrote my first Batman fanfic and outlined a story called The Ashmonger's Daughter.)

My very first phone finally gave up the ghost and I joined the ranks of the future with a new HTC smart phone. The future didn't stop me from enjoying the past, and this year I did acquire two Stones albums, two CSN(Y), a Beach Boys, a Styx, two Dylan compilations, Crossroads the history of Clapton, and I'm sure there's more I forgot in that stack of vinyl.

Carolyn and me beat Borderlands like a hundred times. Rock Band 3 introduced the keytar as a new challenge to master. I explored the western deserts in Red Dead Redemption. I conquered the first Final Fantasy for the PS3 (one of the reasons I wanted the system in the first place). I finally purchased Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories for the PS2 and, 30 hours in, am about to finish that sucker off so I can continue 356/2 Days that I just got for the DS for Christmas. Still waiting for the someday Kingdom Hearts III, which was the other reason.

This year I started wearing jeans and graphic tees. I discovered that the boys' large at Old Navy is my perfect size shirt. I got a pair of corduroys that are now my official Thursday pants.

I survived my first official all-nighter at work. I went to my first concert, Bob Dylan the elderly. I met my first online friend in real life the same day! I baked my first successful pumpkin pie (and the second, third, fourth, fifth......) I sewed my first set of curtains for my room and the kitchen window. I gave Donnie his first dance, which is something I've wanted to do since we met.

The tree trimmers came and ruined all our trees. (but they're starting to grow back!!) Several pieces of cabinetry etc. were dislocated from their historic positions in my house. (But we did get an HD flatscreen). Beth moved away to New York. Summer didn't come until November.

A busy year, indeed. Here, have this stat-filled picture of my top artists and tracks of the last 12 months. No surprises. Well, I'm a little upset that Nilsson is still in the top 15. Bleh. I got over that real fast. A little sneak-peek of some MDMB stuff in the tracks stats. Can't wait til those are really done.

2010, signing off. Here's to 2011.

-Steph

Merry Krimble

Happy Thursday! Today was rather epic, since I went to work in the morning and then went straight there to LAX...and back. Gotta rent movies, you know!

So that means my sister is home for the holidays, right now she's trying to dig up a fun game from the closet to dissuade us from the puzzle we just started. Because last fall she promised she'd do this puzzle with me at Christmas...last Christmas. I'm just taking her up on it.

Did you hear about our epic rains? It rained for what, five days? My car has smelled like mold since the first signs of mist. :< Mudslides down south. LA got its annual amount of rainfall in one month, that sort of epic. Everything's green now, it looks like Washington.

Yesterday in the library parking lot, I found a quarter right outside the car. And the little library bookstore was open, so I bought a Batman novel for 25 cents. Thanks, the library!

There was something else this week that was particularly blog-worthy, but I don't remember. It rained. Played PokePark with Carolyn.

We watched Salt and Easy A. Salt was strikingly average, and Easy A had some spectacular laughs. The latter was also shot nearby in Ojai, so it was cool to see a lot of familiar places.

Haha, I hear the sounds of Trivial Pursuit coming from downstairs. I think I will return to my puzzle. Have a happy times Christmas and I hope everyone you know is safe and well!

-Steph

Forever Rain

Happy Thursday! I hope you enjoyed our sunny summer days, because my phone says it's going to be solid rain for the next however many days my phone can see at one time.

Today was my day off, but luckily I got called in to work, lol. But it's cool. Need to start recuperating from this Christmas season. But there's no last-minute shoppings for me! I'm all wrapped and ready to go!

The other day I read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Eclipse I don't really remember (sort of like the movie), but I do remember liking it quite a bit. I think what really won me over was Edward backed off a lot and stopped making ludicrous demands every other page.

But Breaking Dawn. What WAS that?? Those are gonna be two really boring movies. And a lot of it was really...off putting, to me. In content and style. The second half struck me as particularly rushed, like not too much thought was put into allll those thousands of words. No one's personality shown out, even people I had previous liked. It seemed too distant. And then it just ended, but by that time I was really like "good riddance."

Oh well, what did I expect?

Let's turn to other media.

This has been, hands down, the song of the week. Watch it. Rolling Stones' You Got the Silver, with Jagger singing. That sliiiiide guitar work....! I could listen to it forever, and practically have.


And as long as we're throwing pictures around...



The one on the left was this evening, the second one was actually last Friday. Them's from my phone! So handy, that.

Catch ya laters!

-Steph

Jazz Hands!

Happy Thursday! Tonight my dad's Jazz Band class had their semester's end performance. It was cool! Good job, pops.

They played Autumn Leaves, which just made me think of Clapton's version from his newest CD, and how I heard Cream at the record store today, and how much I love British blues rock? I love jazz, too, but I think slide guitar beats out a horn section these days. I've become more Cowboy than Bebop.

Today it was actually warm/hot out. ! It was like spring. Optimistic spring time now??

I wandered downtown to some used book stores and had a nice time in the sunshine. I think the best Thursdays are the ones where I just wander around downtown. Should be a Thursday tradition.

This week I hung out with Carolyn a bit, had some driving and soldering adventures. We drove into Oxnard which was covered in a creepy fog, but in Ventura the fog would descend and clear on alternating blocks. Very strange. I think we also watched Eclipse on that day? It was so bad.

On Sunday, though, I got a new phone! You see, I got my first phone, what, eight years ago? Maybe nine. And I've had the one allllll this time. What a sweetheart, my little blue flip phone. But the flip did it in; the last month or so it's stopped being able to tell when it's open. Sadday, phone!!

So I got a new one. Thanks, mom and dad! I took a huge jump forward in time, from my little Motorola flip phone to a HTC Aria. But I love it. It has the internet and a camera and everything. My old phone couldn't even download ringtones.

It came in really handy the other night when I was sitting there reading the collected works of T.S. Eliot and my computer was spontaneously taken over by mal-ware. So I still had the power to remotely surf and chat whilst my desktop was undergoing scan after scan. (We're all better, now)

So T.S. Eliot! I remember reading The Hollow Men in tandem with The Great Gatsby in whatever grade we read The Great Gatsby, and that poem was the only thing for which I have that book to thank. I finally found the poetry section at the library (it's a shelf to the left of where it looks like it is), and grabbed this book. My memory does not deceive! Insta-fave, T.S. Eliot.

Cool! Have a nice week, keeds.

-Steph

December

Happy Thursday! Don't you all wish you had a five dollar bag of walnuts from the boys and girls club? You really do, you just don't know it. They're reaaaally good. The walnuts.

Today was a remarkably pleasant day. It's been slightly warmish lately, which is fantastic. It was my day off, and I had planned an epic walking adventure. I didn't end up walking, but that's okay.

I picked up Jacqi from the street, which is something I do. We went to that little Mediterranean/Italian/Argentinian deli and I tried their empanadas, which were alright. But I got to eat all of Jacqi's olives, which are my fave.

We wandered into Fabric Town, which was playing old lady music as usual. I think while I was checking out, an old lady tried to have a conversation with Jacqi. Then we went to the used book store next door and got some yellowed sci-fi paperbacks.

Next stop was Starbucks because it was either that or naptime. Their gingerbread latte is gingery. After that I dragged Jacqi to some thrift stores which is where I'm getting your Christmas presents!!

Fisherman Albert, of all people, was lurking outside of one, but I pretended that I didn't recognize him. But that's okay because I actually didn't, I didn't figure out who it was until much later. But he does exist! Downtown.

Then Jacqi went to work and I went home to wrap Christmas presents. Oh but first I walked to CVS in a lovely sunset for wrapping paper. And the 10 minutes of 30 Rock I saw was funny, and so was The Office (which was also unexpectedly touching). So today was really chill.

So November ended, along with NaNoWriMo. I did finish, although the last week was pretty stressful. I got to the real important stuff just as the deadline was looming and I was still days behind in word count. So I'll admit I did spit out quite a bit of trash just to catch up... so I don't feel bad about including my Batman fic or notes on another story as part of my word count.

Because if the act of writing 50k words in a month is going to cause me to hurt my novel (by not caring about what I write) then to keep forcing that novel idea is defeating the purpose. I'd rather include other, non-story words, because I did write them during the time allotted, you know? And just finish 50k words however I manage to, and save the novel writing for when I can give it the focus it deserves.

I thought that writing a novel last month would take up all my time. And it did, some days, but I also found time to write three songs, a Batman fanfic, a story about princesses, a backstory for the one princess, a new adventure for Pancakes the Unicorn; play video games; bake; have Thanksgiving; and even hang out with my friends once or twice. I also discovered a love of bossa nova, and learned a little four chord tune on the guitar.

So it was a successful month, all round.

Oh and Eclipse comes out on Saturday, so hopefully I'll be able to rent that sucker tomorrow and BASK in its glory. It's gonna be the most hilarious day evar.

Until next time, kiddies~

-Steph

41,216

Happy Thursday! Or should I say, Thursgivingday? Because yes. Yes it is Thursgivingday.

What a busy Thursday. I worked all evening so Thanksgiving had to happen early and fast. Our turkey was HUGE and I don't know why, there was just the three of us. And yams and green beans and sooo much stuffing and olives and I made mashed potatoes which is super easy. I had a whole turkey leg.

Stupid Face Cat came by and I gave him some turkey skin.

It was a clear clear day and almost warm in the sun. We took a quick walk around the block and in my two shirts and a snow vest I was quite content.

Before that I played some guitar to my dad's piano. We tried O Suzanna, because it has three chords that I know. Will keep working on that.

Then I squeezed in a good thousand words and then it was off to work. Since my all-nighter last week, I've been super behind in NaNo. But, currently, I'm only 451 words behind, so that just means one of these days I need to pop out a full 2k and then I'll be caught up. Which is nothing since I slapped down nearly 3k both yesterday and the day before. None of these thousands of words are any good, but they'll do for now. Only four days and 9 thousand words to go!

Remember last year, when I was lazy writing, I would get up and sew? Aprons, specifically. My diversion this year has definitely been baking. But what Thursgivingday would be complete without pumpkin pie? I made two batches of the little guys, one set for my co-workers. The rest are mine all mine! But no, you can have some.

So then I went to work and watched as people started lining up outside of Toys-R-Us at 5 PM. When I left at 10, their lot was full, spilling over into ours, and we're literally across the street. Hello, Black Friday.

I'm supposed to go shopping with me buds tomorrow, but they're getting started at 4:30 AM so I wonder if I'll ever see them. I still have 2k to write, and work at night, too. So busy busy.

This week I played a touch of Borderlands at Carolyn's, we watched a terrible comic book adaptation, and an ep of old school Batman. So it all worked out.

What else? Oh, baking, of course. I made stroganoff straight out of a foodnetwork video (ie, no recipe) as well as a Cheerwine bundt cake, which is a pound cake flavored and colored with a North Carolinian cherry soda. Thanks to my local Rocket Fizz, the cake was a success. Burned it a bit so it has a crust, but that sugary crunch is delightful. I'll make you one it was crazy easy. I've been eating cake for days.

Oh, the other thing I did of any note was that I drove out to my dad's office. Haha. BECAUSE some kids were shooting a scene for an upcoming webseries out back. The director was a screenwriter's assistant on Heroes, of all things. It was very indie guerrilla filmmaking, less crew than my own student film. But it was cool. When it comes out I'll link it to you and say "I was there! I know them!"

Well I'd better get back to writing. Gotta get a jump start on tomorrow. I don't think this novel will be done this month, either, but at least it's a little closer. A little more real.

-Steph

Stickers

Happy Thursday! Guess who spent 10 hours out of the last 24 at work! It was epic.

I got back at 6:30 this morning, and I almost wrote this then. But my last guitar class was tonight and I didn't want to disappoint you all and not include one last update on how College Guitar and Thinks She Can Play.

Except I got called back in to work! So guitar class is behind me, and I'll never see Nine-Year-Old again. It's probably for the best. A clean break. He can't try to get me to find him on Facebook.

What else did I do this week. I can't think back past the stickers. (We put stickers on DVDs for 8 hours and then some) I even dreamed of stickering during my vampire-day sleep.

OH.

I've read Twilight and New Moon. Started New Moon some time on Sunday, and finished it in a marathon on Monday from when I woke up to 4 pm. It was a bizarre day which, much like today, started in the afternoon.

Got a little behind in the writings, but I wrote a Batman fic one day to make up for it. Beh, I still have another 1500 to go today. :<

Work, Twilight, writing. Um. That's about it.

-Steph

NaNo 2010

Happy Thursday! We've got a winter's freeze goin' on, and I do not approve. Here's hoping for a freak double summer!

Today is the 11th, which means it's the 11th day of the National Novel Writing Month, and we should be about a third of a way through our novels. How far am I? Last night I got to... 18,348 words. What's 1/3 of 50,000? 17,000.

Actually, they recommend 1,667 words a day because that's 50k divided by 30 days. So 1,667 at 11 days is 18,337. So I didn't have to do anything today, haha!

Now all I know about NaNo is what I learned from doing it last year, and I find that this year feels so totally different. Last year I didn't know if I could write 50,000 words on one topic, or 15k a day, every day. And according to my progress graph that I saved, I stuck with it for a full week, and then dropped behind for the second, then pulled through and finished a day early.

What had happened was this. In the spring of 2009 I accidentally watched an episode of Smallville which gave me an idea. I thought about this idea and spun it and molded it, and changed my thought processes and eventually it became a few pages about a deathmatch between two people who had once been as close as two people could be.

That summer I filled out that idea and added a whole pack of characters and made it a story in its own right, called Epoch. And when my sister dared me to do NaNo, I thought I might as well try it, or else this full-blown story would never see the light of day. (I'm very lazy)

That first week last November, I spent writing an elaborate flashback, a murder mystery. I had put a lot of thought into the plotting, the order of events, what was important to reveal and when. That's not something I'm very good at. What caught me up was thinking too much. Since it had to happen in a logical, mystery order, I spent a lot of time working out plot holes when I could have been writing.

The next big thing that slowed me down was after I'd finished the mystery flashback. This was uncharted territory, and I didn't know what needed to be said and when. I hadn't spent three months thinking about it. The words just didn't come. I ended up writing a bunch of tangential things just for word count, and speeding through scenes in order to reach an event I did know slightly better. And then that was 50k and I just stopped, practically mid-sentence.

And then I didn't write anything for this for an entire year. I'm not joking, I was all WHAT November's here again? And then I got really antsy "I'd better do it again or this story will never get written AGAIN" "I don't have enough time!" "I don't know if I can do it" "But I don't have anything planned!"

But what I didn't account for was the full year I'd had to marinate these characters and their world and their situation. Day one and the words just poured out, no problem.

My tack this time was this: after thinking about it for a year, I realized that the segment that I'd started after the murder mystery segment was really important. And because I was floundering, I really didn't do it justice last time. So instead of just picking up where I left off, I jumped back in time and started from the first night after the time jump.

And I had no plans, no great schemes, just a general idea sketched out in a page of writing about what the atmosphere was during that time. The purpose of this segment is to hype inter-character tensions and give detail to the world they inhabit, so they just went and did that, I just guided the way. I still am, and I'm learning new stuff all the time.

Doing it this way makes it feel like there's no pressure. I don't have to get it right, just something like it. And if I'm going to finish this, it'll have to be edited anyway, so I don't need to put the perfect words down, either (just 50k of them will do). And after a year of living with these people buzzing in the back of my mind, I realized that I've got to finish it no matter what, NaNo is just an excuse to not put it off.

My other tactic which has really proven effective is taking bites. I mean, 50k already seems like so much, and the day-word-count already does this, chops it up into manageable pieces for the time allotted. What I just started out doing was writing some, getting up and going away for any amount of time, coming back to write some more, going away again. The pattern started being in the morning, some point during the day, and evening or night. So that's only like 500 words per sitting, and that's only like a page. Very very manageable. No pressure, you just have to write one scrawny little page.

So when I stop because I haven't thought about this or what happens next, I wander off and it doesn't even matter if I think about it or not, an answer filters up and when I go back I'm ready to continue on. It's sort of awesome. I just finished a fight scene which ate a lot of words and added some much needed excitement to my angsty angsty emo drama.

And the cool thing about not planning this part? The things that are happening are just slightly off from what I thought had happened. So their effect is not what I expected. In one particular area, it's transformed a weak narrative device into a plot-driven encounter. It's changed the attitude of one character so that what I was going to have her do anyway makes every kind of sense in the world.

I guess what's happening is by loosening the reigns, the narrative is developing more organically. And while I still have an eye on the outcome, the journey we're taking to get there is spontaneous and based more in these characters and their choices. Instead of just what I would like to happen. It's very exciting to be me.

Last year I made up a playlist of songs that I thought evoked qualities of my stories. Quite a bit of Linkin Park: Runaway, Easier to Run, What I've Done, and Leave Out All The Rest fit squarely with Bentley's arc. But my favorites on the list are Savior by Rise Against which is exactly what I'm writing

(That's when she said I don't hate you boy
I just want to save you while there's still something left to save),

and The Adventure by Angels and Airwaves, which is exactly the tone I want.

One of the reasons I think the new Linkin Park album resonated with me was because I was gearing up into the Epoch mindset, and these songs come along and fit right into it. I mean:

"I'm swimming in the smoke / of bridges I have burned
So don't apologize / I'm losing what I don't deserve"

is exactly where Bentley is. And so on. All these songs--the whole thing--is just the sort of dark dark darkest before dawn apocalyptic hopeful epic cinematic...thing that I want Epoch to be. I see the soul of my story within this album.

And then I watch Twilight and New Moon back to back and want to punch myself in the throat for my similarities to Stephenie Meyer. Vampires, a hard-pressed relationship that no one approves of, listening to Linkin Park while writing. Please someone punch me in the throat.

But I assure you, Epoch is not a ridiculous thing about highschoolers and vampires vs. werewolves. It's about highschoolers vs vampires, if your highschool was like Hogwarts and nobody knew about it. And then if you were there to team up with other kids and train to fight demons, but lots of times demons killed your classmates. And then if your one remaining partner SIDED with the vampires and your school was totally destroyed. And then if your partner shows up three years later and is dying from a vampire curse...what do the survivors do with him?

Harry Potter meets Battlestar Galactica, is what I call it. Well I call it Epoch because Bentley here sold his school (for powers that are only gonna put him in the grave); ending one era and beginning another. But it's about second chances, because Huxley here won't let him give up so easily. But what right does she have to try to save the life of a traitor when everyone else wants justice? It's very complicated, and very angsty.

Well I'll gladly chat your ear off about this if you want to know more. But this is how I'm spending my November. How's yours going?

-Steph

November = summer

Happy Thursday! This has got to be one of the best Thursday's I've come across in a while. Lemme tell you about my journey.

Here is a link to a map of my adventure. I started in the parking structure downtown, dropped off my books at the library, trekked over to Rocket Fizz (IBC Black Cherry and a Look!), and then made the long walk over to where my band hangs out.

Or hung out, because they ripped most of it out? There's a road that dead ends there (you can see it on the map) and at the end of the rocks (which is officially where my band hangs out) there's like this little electrical building? Well. Not today. They ripped out that building and the road and leveled everything in between that and the edge of the surfer's parking lot.

I think they must be putting in a new/better bike path, because years ago, they built a bike path there that goes all along the board walk, and out along the beach to the river where it turns up and goes up the valley into Ojai. But forever ago, the ocean washed out that stretch along the beach, so they'd routed it into the parking lot there until it met up with the river. So now that whole parking lot is gone, as well as the frontage road that ran between it and the back of the fairgrounds.

I took pictures.

So that was a little bit of a shock. Especially since the weather was sooo nice and just like the summer I never had. I was going to hang out there and do some writing, but there was all that chain link and also a biker. So I just took pictures and moved along.

I did end up chilling off the boardwalk for a while. Listening to all the Linkin Park albums on my Zune. I was halfway through Meteora, and if I wanted to get through Minutes to Midnight before I got back to my car, which was loaded with A Thousand Suns, I needed to stretch out my walk a little longer.

So I went down the pier. There I met Fisherman Albert.

"What are you listening to?" he asks.

"Linkin Park," I say, taking off my giant headphones.

"Oh yeah?!" He's shocked, because what adorable 16-year-old girl listens to such a hardcore band like that?

"Yeah," I say.

"Which one?" he asks. He's very friendly.

"Minutes to Midnight," I dutifully reply.

"Oh, you like that song?"

".......yes."

"That's cool. I saw you rocking out to it," he says, clearly having no idea about Linkin Park. He mimes me smashing my headphones to my ear, which I had been doing.

"Oh yeah," I say, "I was listening to the bass part, trying to see if I could learn it."

"I bet you can," he says. He's very confident in me. We have a little conversation about fishing (the tide is out super far, but when it comes back in he'll be rolling in fish), and about Halloween (Transformers and Tinkerbells were all the way out here until like 2 in the morning), and about how nice Ventura is (what he considers Midtown I consider Downtown; what I consider Midtown he considers the East End). When I say my Halloween was quiet, he asks my age. How old do I guess he is? Turns out I'm a month older, and we're both surprised. He also guesses my weight at 90-100 pounds (while commenting that if I wanted to jump off the pier for a swim, he's got a net he could pull me back up in), so he's a charmer.

Tomorrow should be a 7.0, whatever that is, and the water should be about 64 degrees.

I had to re-listen to Minutes to Midnight on my way back down the pier.

The internet said I walked almost 4 miles. It was a great day for strolling and meeting strangers.

And I did do a spot of writing, foooooooooooooor...

NaNoWriMo!

Yep, it's November AGAIN! Crept up on me! Time to write another novel! Or finish the one you started last year and never touched again!

I actually want to tell you all about my process and this year vs. last year, but I just told you all about my epic summer, so maybe it'll wait til next week.

Basically, so far it's gone deceptively smoothly. Maybe I just know how to deal with the pressure this time? Maybe this part of the story is easier to write? Maybe sitting on an idea for a year gave it time to marinate? Maybe I don't care about the quality of writing anymore? I know it's only four days in, but I'm quite optimistic about making this 2 for 2.

Guitar class today was a joke, now that I've had two weeks off to learn by myself. 9-year-old was back, but I basically ignored him. Class was real small, just me and him and Middle Schooler and Overzealous Mom and Blind Girl and Confused Dad and Thinks She Can Play and Youth Group Girl and College Guitar. When he showed us something new, he eventually stopped checking in on me and Niner, because he knew I had it and the kid was a lost cause.

We learned the riff to Pretty Woman and it confused the heck out of EVERYONE but I was all doot doot doot bass line weeee and mostly just wanted to punch Thinks She Can Play in the throat.

Well. Only one more class. I'd say it was worth it, over all, though. I've picked up The Times They Are A-Changin' and it uses almost only chords he taught us. So I have to say the class taught me how to play the guitar. But the rest of it I can do on my own, just by playing, you know?

Over the weekend me and Carolyn saw the Owls of Ga'Hoole or whatever it's called, and Despicable Me, and I don't know I'd recommend them. Owls is super violent and the story is very very very poorly explained; but Owls are freaking adorable and some of that computer graphic work is outstanding. Despicable Me was cute enough, but the jokes were not that funny and just made me angry because the theater we were in was BUSTING UP every thirty seconds. No. Just no. The secondary characters were also rather bland and I have narrative objections to how the third act played out.

But speaking of bad movies, Twilight III is coming to DVD December 4th and I literally cannot wait. We're playing the trailer nonstop at work and I just keep looking over at it and giggling. Oh Edward. Oh KStew.

Okay. Unless something majorly exciting happens this week, look forward to an in-depth look at how I feel about writing a novel for next Thursday. WAY EXCITING YAY.

-Steph

A Thousand Suns: a review

Happy Thursday. A while back, I was asked if I even bought cds anymore. I thought about it, and my answer was a qualified "yes": I buy novelty cds (Big Band/standards compilations from department stores) and I'd buy "the next Linkin Park cd." The latter being some hypothetical and perpetual occurrence.

I hadn't had the chance to test my assertion until a few days ago, when, armed with a paycheck, I went and put money out on all sorts of things. One of which was a cd. It's probably the first cd I've paid for since Big Band Salute. It was the new Linkin Park cd.

It's been out for over a month, but it came out quietly. The first I even saw of the promise of a new album was from one of those sidebar ads on Facebook, of all places. I new it would be something different, since you have to expect something different ever since Minutes to Midnight, which was released two and a half years ago.

I went into it with an open mind (which it turns out I didn't even need), and I've never been so proud to be a Linkin Park fan. On top of that, I've never spent money so well as on A Thousand Suns.

GUYS I LOVE THIS ALBUM.

Hybrid Theory, their first studio album, was released ten years ago. This is not that album. What they've done in ten years is what the Beatles did in five and what Bob Dylan did in three: simultaneously reinvent the sound of the band and release their highest achievement to date.

It's their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Highway 61 Revisited, combined.

I don't know if it's my dalliance in the backlog of popular music that has attuned me to appreciate this album, but I think it helped me...helps me recognize effort, recognize...greatness in my time. It's all well and good to look back and see the effect Sgt. Pepper had on the late 60s, to look in awe at how far those lads from Liverpool had come, musically and literally. But to get this Thousand Suns and listen to it for the first time when no one else has listened to it and analyzed it and seen what comes next...this is the band of my generation--of my youth, personally--and to be in the stream of time as it happens, rather than looking back at the big picture....

Listen to this song. I Saw Her Standing There, the first track on the Beatles' first album, recorded in 1963. You like it. Everyone likes it. It's of the time, outside the time, drawing you in with its perfect simplicity. It's everything that made the Beatles the biggest act of their day.

Now listen to this. A Day in the Life, from the 1967 concept album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Do you like this song? It doesn't even matter. Is this song a landmark of musical ingenuity and skill? No two ways about it. Is it a turning point for the band? Of course, there was nothing like this ever before, anywhere. Is it greatness? Undoubtedly. You don't even need time to tell.

Start over.

Listen to this song. Song to Woody, from Bob Dylan's first, self-titled album, released in 1962. One of the very first songs he ever wrote for himself. It's simple, it's folksy; just Dylan, his words, and a guitar: it's everything that made Bob Dylan great.

Now listen to this. Like a Rolling Stone, from the 1965 full electric album Highway 61 Revisited. Is it different? Oh yeah. Did it stop him from being among the greatest songwriters of the 60s and all time? Didn't I just see him perform this in concert a few months ago? And how many times have you heard this song in your life? How many times have you heard "Song to Woody?"

(Further listening on the change of Bob Dylan)

This history lesson is my preemptive strike against the doubters, the people who didn't bother to or regretted spending money on A Thousand Suns.

Listen to this song. In The End, from 2000's Hybrid Theory. Is it good? It's what made Linkin Park great. To this day, if I even see the words "Linkin Park," I get the piano riff instantly stuck in my head. It's of the time, outside the time. It's new (nu-metal, The Man dubs it), it's overflowing with raw teen angst.

Now listen to A Thousand Suns. As great as Hybrid Theory is, the magnitude of difference between it and the new album is the same as the difference between the songs and albums mentioned above.

If Minutes to Midnight was a shock, a shocking change, that's only because it was a stepping stone to what they were really trying to do. The title of the previous album comes from the Doomsday Clock, by which scientists anticipated the proverbial End. It was a politically charged album, raging against the establishment instead of just against post-adolescent injustices.

It was an angry album. They all have been. Angry at ones own frustrations, situations, insecurites, the ones who wronged you, the oppressors, the government. It was very much a "you and I" battle, these first albums. You've hurt me and I'm angry at you.

I feel like in A Thousand Suns, the anger is still there, still focused at The Man from Minutes to Midnight, but that the dynamic has changed. Now it's "you and Them, and I'm angry at Them for you." It's a much more...sympathetic anger? Angry at the war machine on behalf of those it hurts.

Instead of "I tried so hard and got so far / but in the end, it doesn't even matter,"[In The End] it's "You say / you're not gonna fight / 'cause no one will fight for you" [Robot Boy].

From Given Up [Minutes to Midnight]

Wake in a sweat again
Another day's been laid to waste
In my disgrace
Stuck in my head again
Feels like I'll never leave this place
There's no escape

to Iridescent

Do you feel cold and lost in desperation
You build up hope but failure's all you've known
Remember all the sadness and frustration
And let it go
Let it go

And beyond the lyrics, there's the musical experimentation, bold Sgt. Pepper stuff. The first 13 minutes, five tracks, are a solid block of...sonic experience. There's also a whole song--I'll show you:

Jornada Del Muerto

持ち上げて
解き放して

Bold. Bold statements being made here, musically. And the end, there's a whole, like, suite to wrap it up, touching on a bunch of things you've already experienced...it blows my mind. It's narrative, almost, this album. To listen to just one song would be to watch just one scene of a movie. To put it on shuffle would be to watch the episodes out of order.

And there's clips of historic speeches and statements, anti-war the lot of them, set to a beat between "real" songs. The first track has the Sputnik peep offset with this piano beat. The same piano bit comes back in Waiting for the End, and the Sputnik peep comes back in Jornada Del Muerto.

It's a very dark album, gives me the image of post-apocalyptica. Like this comes from a different time, where Midnight's come and gone, it's already too late. Maybe it's just because I was just playing Fallout 3 the other day. Maybe it's the BSG tones I hear in a particular piano riff, or the crazy drum intro to When They Come For Me. Or the opening to Catalyst, which gives me vibes from Akira's wind-swept Neo-Tokyo.

My least favorite track is Wretches and Kings, because it sounds the most like the old stuff. Personally, it serves as a reminder of just how much more I like the new stuff. There's still Mike's vicious rap, there's still Chester's epic screaming, but more than that there are songs where one or both of them sing with the smoothest, most melodic voices of angels you EVER heard. And the harmonies!! There are no words.

Okay, so this turned out not so much a review, but I just needed to express myself on this subject. It's...something more than just "the new Linkin Park cd." It's history in the making.

Forget being bigger than the Beatles. How am I supposed to beat this?

Maybe it's just the right sound at the right time, and I was in the right mood to hear it, but I think it's just perfect. If your opinion differs from mine on this, I don't want to hear it. Because if you don't see what this album is, if you don't think that this is amazing, I will remember you. And perhaps time will fade my grudge, but until then I won't be able to take your musical opinion very seriously.

Maybe you only like traditional Irish lute music, though. Maybe that's your thing. That's okay if you don't like the way this sounds. But if you like good music, regardless of label, you have no excuse.

And if you're looking for the old Linkin Park albums, you know where to find them.

-Steph

More little pies

Happy Thursday! Super rainy week! Thunder rattlin' windows and lightning everywhere. It's exciting.

This week I did a lot of odd projects. I sorted a big pile of coins (literally a pile) and tucked some away into my coin collecting books. YEAH I COLLECT COINS. Found some pennies in there from 1959 and a bunch from the 60s and I collect everything from the 60s.

Went online and found a recipe for copper cleaner, lol. Powder detergent, vinegar, lemon, flour, salt, water. The vinegar and detergent did the whole science fair volcano explosion, it was epic. And then I scrubbed pennies all afternoon. With a travel toothbrush. Hang out with me, dude, I'm loads of fun.

But now I got $8.50 of pure pennies to take straight to the bank. The $54 of silver I gave to my mom for cash monies. AND I still have another Kleenex box full of change. Yes. Another. I don't know why I chose that method of storage.

The next day I put together a fingerprint dusting kit, which was mostly just smashing up a bunch of mechanical pencil leads. It worked okay, but the dust could have been finer. Or my fingerprints more greasy.

One of those days I made some candles out of other candles?

Yeah that was the day I wandered around downtown and passed the same hippie twice, and it was raining and then it got hot, and then it rained again. And later it hailed? It was a strange day.

One day I baked some apples. I guess that was yesterday. Today I baked some little apple pies. Crans and apples, and walnuts and pecans on top. Probably coulda used less than 400 degrees, they came out kinda dry. They taste good but not amazing. I'll work on it.

Steamed my pumpkins and froze the gloop. Four cups for pies and cookies. But I'll probably go get another or two before the pumpkin season is over, freeze some more for the rest of the holidays. And beyond.

Today at guitar class I practiced and learned the last of his curriculum. 9-Year-Old wasn't there so I had free reign to strum and strum. Today it was just me, Quiet Girl, her sister, Confused Dad, Overzealous Mom, Thinks She Can Play, Chatty Uncle, Youth Group Guy, Blind Girl, College Guitar and Dad. It still took an hour for him to go around and listen to everybody.

Then we learned a new song, which was actually a bass part, so I was all dootdoodoo perfect, I got this. And then I played my bass songs until it was time to go.

Two more classes in the next month, and he's got nothing left to teach me. At this point I'd say I'm conditioned to learn how to play the guitar. From here on, I can basically teach myself, or have Beth show me. But now I have the callouses and the coordination to move around the guitar, and I've seen just what forty minutes of repetition can do, I just gotta keep it up. Cool. I'm comin' for you, Eric Clapton.

Speaking of. The note he bends at 6:26 just makes my heart stop. Augh. Genius.

Other than all that, this week was mostly work and trying to beat Borderlands again. We're so close.

Oh me and Carolyn and Jacqi also hung out at the mall (?!) where I bought this cute AWESOME cat astronaut shirt. A cat face in an astronaut helmet. I love it. I'm wearing it right now. It's brown. It's perfect.

I also have a catfish in my tank that I'm raising for Carolyn. It'll hopefully get up to 6 inches, so it'll be less of a target for her turtles and then can nom on all the stuff on the bottom that no one else nommed. Hooray fish.

Yep that's about it. Imma go play video games. Peace.

-Steph

Epoch Round Two

Happy Thursday! Weather update real quick. So it was cold and wintry all summer, right? And then September comes along and it's like, heat wave city. Then that ended and I thought it was all over. But October has surprised me, it's been nicer than summer ever was. But it does crazy things, like be in the 70s, then the fog rolls in, then the night is clear, then the next day starts foggy and clear up to like, rain clouds, then the day after that looks like rain clouds and then gets hot and then the fog rolls in.

Last night I saw the fog swirling around the door outside of work, I could see the fog particles. But by my house an hour later it was just regular fog. Today was dark but not cold. I guess I'm just surprised that winter didn't jump right in like I thought it would. It's great.

It is pretty dark pretty early, now, though, so walking to guitar class is in pitch darkness, whereas two weeks ago it was sunset.

When he went around and had us play the chord sequence we'd been practicing, he told me to play it stronger (typical timid me), so I was strumming and strumming for the next hour so my buddy didn't really have the chance to chatter. It's sort of shocking how fast an hour goes by when you're just playing seven chords over and over. Next week we're going to be playing the melody and the chords for Camptown Races, in partners. That's the idea, but I'll be paired with 9-year-old, who spends his time in this class the same way I spent my time in Orchestra, which is to say, it wasn't his idea to be there.

Oh yes, the roster this week. Eleven of us. Me, 9-year-old, Overzealous Mom, Dad, Youth Group Girl, Confused Dad, Middleschooler, College Guitar, Talkative Uncle, Youth Group Guy, and Thinks She Can Play.

But even with this hour and a half of practice every week, I can see some improvement. What I was playing today was G B7 C G A7 D7 G. Last week I was only just playing the one on the list right before this, G C D7 G, G and C being the hardest for me so far. So this time I learned B7 from scratch, and kept at G and C, and I was doing preeeeetty well by the end of the hour. I felt encouraged.

9-year-old asked me if I played any other instruments so I played him a bit of the bass blues line, and he liked that. The funniest movie he's ever seen is Killers, and the first dance is next Thursday from 3:00 to 4:00 (so he'll be making it to class), his favorite color is purple, and he only has like twenty minutes a day to do his homework.

Did I tell you I got some more pumpkins? When was that? Since the first pie, me and my mom went back and got some more pumpkins. One to carve, one to cook, three to serve stew in. My mom told the guy I made the best pie with his pumpkin last time, so he gave us two more to make some more pies and bring him one.

With one little pumpkin, like, 6 inches or so, I got two cups of pumpkin goo. The recipe wants three, but it still turned out okay. I used only one can of evaporated milk and only two eggs. Made enough for one full pie (which is promised to Jacqi) and today I used the rest (less than half) to make 12 mini pies in a muffin tin. Used one batch of the best dough (1 cup flour, 1 stick butter, 4 oz [half a pack] cream cheese). Now I need to make so many more mini pies. They're so cute and so hand-holdable.

This pumpkin pie recipe I'm using, I just googled "homemade pumpkin pie" and clicked the first link, which is how I find anything on the internet. Happens that the recipe is from pickyourown.org, which is also the site I'd been looking at in the summer about pickling. Small world. Use that recipe! The page is a little unwieldy, but once you get the idea you can work on your own. Now that I'm a pumpkin pro, I'm just referring to it for the spice quantities and the baking time/temp. Training wheels.

Next imma bake some apples. The holiday season really brings out the baker in me, shoot.

Oh, so. November is like, any day now. Or two weeks. I'm gearing up for continuing(/finishing?) my novel I started for NaNoWriMo last year. Haven't written A WORD for it since December 1st hahahahaha. But I been thinking and thinking and now that I'm sorta will I/won't I/will I about this year's challenge, I've been solidifying a lot of thoughts into what I hope will be another 50,000 words.

Wish me luck!

And a happy happy Thursday Birthday to Melody, who is SEVEN today! Woooo!

-Steph

Pumpkin

Happy Thursday! I have a horrible pain right in my back. I'm thinking of not spending too much time on this because of it.

Second guitar class was today. Or. Hour and a half practice time I'm paying for was today. We have a list of chord progressions to learn, and so he went around listening to everyone do the farthest one down the list they could do. I was first or second so he was all "Ok, try the next one."

So I tried the next one for the next hour.

For the last half hour I played the "blues scale" in E.

Then we went home.

And for the full hour and a half, I listened to the life story of my new best friend, 9-Year-Old, who is in fact twelve. Srsly. His whole life. Like. Every part of it.

This week our numbers dwindled. So just me, 9-Year-Old, Quiet Girl, Punk Rock Kid, Blind Girl, Thinks She Can Play, College Guitarist (whom my mom picked out across the dark parking lot just based on my description), New Dad, Dad, Little Mexican Lady, Talky Uncle, and Youth Group Guy. Now that I think of it, New Dad might be Confused Dad, who was sitting behind me last week so I dunno.

Yeah it's thrilling.

So the heat wave ended and then it rained a couple nights, which was pleasant. Seems like it'll be sunny for a while, now, but freezing. Fall flipped a switch.

So the other day I walked to the thrift store and picked up The Essential Bob Dylan 2-disc Special Limited Edition Digitally Remastered Classics on 2 CDs! for $2.25. Continued on to Longs for evaporated milk, a pie crust, and cream cheese. Continued back around to the pumpkin patch and selected a pumpkin for the kill. Then I walked home with all my treasures.

Cooking a pumpkin is rather easy. I chose the steaming method, which was simple. Then it needed to be blended, which was not as simple. Then it went into a pie mix and into some crusts. The store-bought one burn burn burned, which made me sad because I love a pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust*. The second one was an emergency pie because we had a whole pie's worth of pumpkin filling left over. Luckily I had that cream cheese which is 1/3 of the world's best pastry dough.

The emergency pie is a little spicy (I doubled all the spices), a little fluffy (for denser pie use less evaporated milk and only three eggs), and somewhat lacking in pumpkin flavor (? I totes put that pumpkin in there). But otherwise it is a success.

*The last time I attempted a pumpkin pie was a few years back. I used canned pumpkin and tried to build a graham cracker crust from scratch, and overall it was a disaster. I decided to stick to apple from then on. But this week was a pumpkin week.

It's really hard not to type pumpking.

That's about all I can remember about this week. Other than listening to 99.9 KTYD nonstop. Check it out. It'll change your life.

Honestly. I just went there to gather the link and they're playing the Beatles. And right at midnight there's usually a whole Beatles set, like they can't figure out how best to handle heir sudden lack of a DJ. Now it's playing Queen. Perfect station.

-Steph