Random 10

It's mostly been me and my winamp this weekend. I took my mp3 player with me in the car today only to realize too late that I had wiped it clean when I thought I'd need it as a junk drive when my pictures refused to budge from my sister's computer.

So I've oddly been listening to Justin Hayward and The Moody Blues most of the weekend. OK, for all of the weekend, with very few exceptions.

Some of the songs that have been played a time or two or ten.

Justin Hayward - Heartbeat (A cover of a Buddy Holly classic that was recorded from DVD. The sound quality could be better, actually it's just a volume issue. Great, cute song)

Justin Hayward - Wrong Time, Right Place (Damn Justin and those catchy songs!! This is fast becoming another favorite of mine)

The Moody Blues - Leave This Man Alone

The Moody Blues - A Simple Game

The Moody Blues - What Am I Doing Here?

The Moody Blues - Fly Me High (These 4 are from the Prelude CD which I'm hopelessly addicted too)

Justin Hayward - Heart of Steel

Thompson Twins - Lay Your Hands On Me (This was playing at the restaurant we ate at today)

Fleetwood Mac - Say You Will (I briefly stopped listening to Mr. Hayward)

Cheryl Wheeler - Orbiting Jupiter (I just discovered this song on a LiveJournal page today. If you like Sarah McLachlan, you'll probably like Cheryl)

And since my weekend's theme seemed to be boredom and The Moody Blues....I bring you a bored looking Justin!

B-O-R-E-D!!!!

I'm not handling this, nothing to do situation really well. I finished reading one of my library books yesterday and I'm already well into the next one.

Oh yeah! Feel the excitement!

But truly, if you want to read something funny with just a touch of romance and I do mean a touch, this is a great book.



It's called Big Hair and Flying Cows. So if that's not enough to drag you in, I don't know what is.

I'm back on my Janet Evanovich kick too.



It's a pretty lousy weekend when I almost go through 2 books on a Saturday.

And while I'm ranting about how bored I am. I started to get my photos together for the 26 Things photo memey scavenger hunt thing. I've got 13 already. 14 if I want to use one odd photo from the Borgata for one of the choices. I haven't decided yet. So I'll probably be walking around camera in hand and a piece of paper in the other taking pictures of seemingly random stuff.

On a slightly more amusing note, I am going to get out of this damn house today. Yay! Though it's nothing too exciting. I'm just going to Uniontown Mall to exchange a top that I bought and grab some dinner. Still, it's better than sitting couped up in this house one more day!

PJ Weekend?

It's shaping up to be the most boring weekend of my life. No, I lie. I'm sure there have been worse. But since it's the end of the month and Friday wasn't payday, I went to the library and I checked out 4 new books that I'm probably going to read over the next few days.

Lord help me!

That sounds so dull.

OK, it is dull.

But it will give me a well deserved rest, even if it's a rest I don't really want.

I think I'm going to surf through my photos from the last few months and see if I can get a post ready for the July 26 Things, because I think I have enough shots to do this one, this time.

I guess I'll be occupied most of my time then. It just won't be with anything exciting like vacations, or concerts or gambling or good food or....I better stop now before I get depressed.

Now where are my pjs?

Warped Thought For The Day

Some people are like Slinkies ...

Not really good for anything,

but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.

I'm in the mood for ranting....

Well, it looks like I won't be going to Ohio in October. An updated list of tour dates was posted yesterday that dashed my hopes of being uber greedy this year.

Damn and blast.

So it doesn't look like I'll pick up an extra Moody Blues concert this year.

Grrrrrr!

Though suffice to say whoever books their tours is a bit on crack, geographically speaking sometimes. Those OH dates really could have stayed put. But, oh well, there's always next year, and if there isn't, well I've enjoyed the 5 shows I've seen.

Still, I can't help but feel a bit let down, because now I don't have anything to look forward to for a good long time. Because after October, I don't like to make road trips much, cos you never know how the weather is going to be. Grrrrr. That means I'll be house bound now until spring.

Fuqua!

Except, of course, for the occasional trips to Wheeling Island.

Thank god for Wheeling!

I love my strange little casino with the heavenly buffet. In fact, it's about time I get to go there, I haven't been there since the 3rd of July and I need me some chocolate fountain.



I figure, if I can't have the Moody Blues, I might as well have some chocolate fountain. Not exactly a fair trade off, but I guess I can live with it.

Top Five On Friday

Top Five "Weekend" Songs (Interpret as you like)

The Moody Blues - Here Comes The Weekend




Roxette - Here Comes The Weekend (This is the demo version)

Not the same song, but both equally cheesy!

Bernie Barlow - Astral Plane



This was my favorite song from Bernie's CD Golden from the very beginning. It's just a great fun, bouncy tune that everyone should hear and love!

Erasure - I Love Saturday



Cheap Trick - Surrender




I think the title alone makes it a perfect weekend song.

Randomness

~ This is the first weekend this month where I have absolutely nothing to do. Which is probably good, because I don't have any money either. I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with sitting on my butt all weekend though. It's a good thing my brother is going to be home for a few hours this weekend. (It will ward off the boredom)

~ It's been 2 week's since the Moodies played Atlantic City and I still haven't gone through all my photos. And neither has a certain sister of mine. (grumbles) I really wish there was an image I could use to replace Justin on this page. I'm getting bored with looking at this shot. I've been looking at him for a year now. Not that I'm bored with Justin, just the picture. This is the longest I've had any template.

When I get all the decent shots posted, I'll post the links here. Of course, you could just go to my photoblog and see them now.

~ On the subject of pictures, my few shots from the Pittsburgh Elvis Costello concert are posted on the Elvis Costello Home Page. They are also on the photoblog.

~ This has been my summer of reading. I've gone through the first 10 Janet Evanovich books and I'm soon to order book 11. I've also read countless cheesier romances a few mysteries and the last Jimmy Buffett novel A Salty Piece of Land, which was really good. I don't think I've read this much since I was in high school.

~ I found some cute Beatles pictures last night on a Live Journal community.



Looks like they are about to dogpile on poor George!

Well I think that's enough randomness for now.

Cos I miss you....oh how I miss you!

It's hump the hunk day again...erm hump day, and if you haven't guessed by the bad parody I've got going on in my title, I'm suffering serious Moody Blues post-concert depression.

Weird.

I'm not really suffering it from Elvis Costello. Though everytime I see my picture with him, I wonder why someone hasn't informed Diana Krall that she's poaching my fiance! (Tee Hee)

But really it's my Moody Men that I miss and October seems such a long time from now, even though it's really about 3 months.





Photos commandeered from my lovely friend MoodyMistress

I'm going to make mental note now not to put pictures of Justin in the same post as pictures of John, because I tend to ignore the blonde one when the sexy one is around.

Now could anyone tell me if it's October yet?

Take Me Back Tuesday

It's time for another meme! If you want to play along go to Music Memoirs! Now!

Name three songs that remind you of a car trip you have taken.

The Moody Blues - Gimmie A Little Something
This song played quite often on the ride from Atlantic City to Philadelphia. It's fast becoming one of my favorite Moody Blues songs.

The Wallflowers - Sleepwalker
Billie Myers - Am I Here Yet (Return To Sender)
Both of these songs appeared on a mix CD I made for a trip to Cleveland back in 2000. Both are great driving songs, and songs I still like to hear in my car's CD player.

Name three songs that are best heard in a car.

Boingo - Insanity
Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
Lindsay Buckingham - Holiday Road (Aw c'mon, the car is the only place to listen to this one!)

Name three songs with cars in the title or lyrics.

Prince - Little Red Corvette
Pebbles - Mercedes Boy
Paula Cole - Where Have All The Cowboys Gone

I have most of these songs on my hard drive, so if you want any of them, let me know and I'll upload. I may update with the mp3s shortly, if I have time.

The Sky Is Falling!

I like nice uneventful days for the most part, unless the eventfulness revolves around people like The Moody Blues, Elvis Costello, Duran Duran...etc.

Yesterday seemed to be one of those nice uneventful days. I blogged, worked on my novel, read a bit, went to work. That's where the eventfulness started.

Long about 5 o'clock we got hit with a mondo storm. A thunderstorm from hell, if you will. The skies darkened and the clouds exploded. It poured for almost an hour. Needless to say, there weren't many people coming in.

I mean, would you want to go out when the sky was pouring down buckets of rain and being generally evil?

So I was sitting at the desk, minding my own damn business, and then I looked up. Drip Drip Drip! The damn roof was leaking! In at least 4 places!!!

Enter panic!

I'm running around, stealing garbage cans from various parts of the club. In hopes of catching the water and not getting any of the equipment damaged. (Imagine me pushing about 6 machines around)

But wait it got worse. I'd put in about 2 calls to my boss as we watched the ceiling tiles start to swell.

Shit!

They kept on swelling, because the rain was still coming down in buckets.

I was standing there with my sister staring up at the ceiling in amazement, when the first tile gave way and more water than I wanted to see came spilling onto the floor.

I screamed!

Oddly it was a sound rather than the word fuck, which should have come out of my mouth, especially since every tile on that side of the building was leaking.

I had almost all the garbage cans in use.

Then the second tile exploded, releasing more water.

The floor was soaked.

My sister and I moved all the equipment into a very tight impromptu circuit, which no one was going to use.

Thankfully the owner showed up around 6 to work on the problem of the leaks from hell, and assured me that we would be open today. I imagine they had a lot of work to do. I'm also really glad I'm not going to have to lose 4 hours of work. I only hope it doesn't rain tonight, because I don't want to deal with that again, and I doubt they will have fixed the leaking problem overnight.

Random 10

It's time to wrap up my weekend in music. If anyone else wants to join in the fun, just go over to Music Memoirs and play along!

It won't take much guessing that this weekend was dominated by Elvis Costello. So that's pretty much what you're going to see here this week!

Elvis Costello - Brilliant Mistake (He did this one in sound check, but he didn't do it later in the show, which made me very sad)
Elvis Costello - Man Out Of Time (Squee! Added to the setlist in Pittsburgh in place of There's A Story In Your Voice....My happiness knows no bounds!)
Elvis Costello - Monkey to Man (The monkey was speaking his mind a lot last night)
Elvis Costello and Emmylou Harris - Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet (I hope this song makes an album sometime, because together they sounded fab and it's a gorgeous song)
Elvis Costello - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? (Someone ask our fearless leader that)
Elvis Costello - Everyday I Write The Book (This was the first time I heard this one in concert!)
Elvis Costello - (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea (Everyone do the mini-skirt waddle!)
Elvis Costello - Stranger In The House (Another new one to the setlist and a great tune he did with EmmyLou)
Elvis Costello - Pump It Up (No concert is complete without this one)
Elvis Costello - Scarlet Tide (Admit you lied and bring the boys back home)

One Word

SQUEE!

It's Elvis Day

Yay! I don't know what I'm wearing to the concert. I don't know if I can smuggle a camera besides my Samsung flip phone into the venue from hell. And have I mentioned the setlist is scaring me?

Yes, I believe I have.

So I'm going to be spending the day in Pittsburgh, wallowing in the heat and listening to Elvis and Emmylou Harris.

And hopefully if I'm a really really good girl he'll be dressed like this



and not in that horrid fringe jacket he wore on Letterman the other night. Oh was that awful. I couldn't pay attention to the song, because the jacket was so bad I kept staring in amazement and horror. Combine the jacket and a white cowboy hat and well, I was ready to call the fashion police in on him. (And let Justin go for a few misdemeanors on the pukey pinkness)



photo of Mr. Costello by the ever wonderful Moodymistress

Bring Me My Snarky Elvis!!

Tomorrow's my last concert until the end of October when I will hopefully be seeing the Moody Blues in Columbus OH. Fingers crossed that the date is confirmed.

Right now I need the vocal stylings of Mr. Elvis Costello as a change. I'm excited to see him, but I'm not really as excited about the setlist.

With the Moody Blues I could sit through those same 20 songs over and over and I wouldn't be upset or disappointed. I love those 20 songs. With Elvis, well things are different. I've been watching the setlist and thankfully some of the songs I love are in the setlist but so many aren't and those omissions depress me.

This is the setlist for the recent Philadelphia (cringes at the thought of the traffic that is always there) show.

Temptation
Clown Strike/36-24-36
Everyday I Write The Book
Country Darkness
Monkey To Man
Needle Time
Waiting For The End Of The World - w. Larry Campbell (LC)
There's A Story In Your Voice - w. LC
I Still Miss Someone - w. Emmylou Harris (EH) & LC
Sleepless Nights - w. EH & LC
Indoor Fireworks - w. EH & LC
My Baby's Gone - w. EH & LC
Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down - w. EH & LC
American Without Tears - w. EH & LC
Sin City - w. EH & LC
Red Dirt Girl - EH on vocals, w. LC
Heart Shaped Bruise - w. EH & LC
Luxury Liner - w. EH & LC
The Delivery Man/The Butcher's Boy
(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
Clubland - w. I Feel Pretty
I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
High Fidelity
Alison/He'll Have To Go
Mystery Dance
Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?
Pump It Up - w. LC
Encore 1
Wheels - w. EH
Wild Horses - w. EH
Pancho And Lefty - w. EH
Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet - w. EH
Love Hurts - w. EH
When I Paint My Masterpiece - w. EH
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? - w. EH
Encore 2
The Scarlet Tide - w. EH

Big sigh. There's very little that I want to hear at this show. I'm happy about Chelsea and Everyday I Write The Book, because those are absolute favorites of mine. Having I Want You not being a part of this is just depressing and he was doing Blue Chair in his last go around for this tour.

Wails!

I will try not to complain, because Elvis Costello hasn't been to Pittsburgh since October of 2002. A bad setlist is better than no concert and hell, my Moody Men will be back in a few months!

Because I miss these guys already



Especially that sexy one in the black.

No More Bad Dreams!

This morning I woke close to tears from a nightmare. A hideous, awful, nightmare that I couldn't shake all day.

What was worse than anything, this dream was about my Lodgey.

It left me shaken and not stirred. (And frankly I'd rather be stirred by Lodgey dreams)

I do not want to have any more dreams where my Lodgey dies! No! My Lodgey is immortal. He will not age anymore. I don't care.

This dream has ruined my day. Even when I heard the great news that the Moody Blues will be playing a few shows close to me in October, I still couldn't get the dream out of my head.

It's lingered with me all day.

I've sat around all day waiting to hear that something awful has happened to my Lodgey.

It's childish and foolish, I know, but I can't help it.



~sigh~

I hope I don't have any more dreams like that one.

It's Meme Day!

Two memes for you today. The first one is Top Five On Friday.

Top 5 songs that involve travel.

Tierney Sutton - Fly Me To The Moon

Annie Lennox - Walking On Broken Glass I absolutely love this song and the video.

Depeche Mode - Route 66

Erasure - Let's Take One More Rocket To The Moon

Justin Hayward - Night Flight (Let's hear it for 80's cheese!)

Next up is a meme I was tagged to do by Elena.

10 years ago - Was 1995, I was a junior in college and a rabid Duran Duran fan. I worked part time at a law office and didn't have much time for anything else. I was young (21), happy and content with life.

5 years ago I was working retail again, in a job that I quickly came to hate. I did have a great concert year though. I saw Duran Duran and Def Leppard on the same weekend, as I mentioned in Tuesday's meme answers.

1 year ago - I made my first trip to Atlantic City. Then I made another one in September. I saw the Moody Blues twice, once in Pittsburgh and again in Atlantic City on the same week.

My blog got it's Moody look last year. The photo used was one I took at the Atlantic City concert and I like an excuse to post it, because even if it is ole sherbert shirt, I love this shot of Justin. (So much so, that it resides by my bed at night)



Yesterday - I finished reading this book:



I worked on my latest story, A Winter's Tale (which I hope to have finished in the next week or so). Everyone that gets updates should have had 3 in the last 48 hours.

I started reading this book:

I'm addicted to the Stephanie Plum series, if I haven't made mention of that before. Other than that I stayed up past my bedtime to be traumatized by Elvis Costello and Emmylou Harris on Letterman.

Tomorrow - I'm going to work in morning as usual. After work I'm going to do the laundry and try to figure out what the hell I'm going to wear to Pittsburgh on Sunday for the Elvis Costello concert.

5 snacks I enjoy - Baked Lays Potato Chips, Frailinger's Creamy Mint Sticks, Cheetos, and Sarris Chocolate Covered Pretzels.

5 songs I know all the words to - There are a lot more than 5 I could list but if I must.

The Monkees - Daydream Believer
Herman's Hermits - Henry the 8th
The Moody Blues - Lovely To Sea You
The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun
The Beatles - Help!


5 reality television shows I watch - Sorry, the closest I got to reality TV was watching Hit Me Baby One More Time and that wasn't really a reality show.

5 television shows I watch daily - I can't say I watch any tv daily. But 5 of the shows I try not to miss are Law and Order: SVU, Crossing Jordan, CSI Miami, Access Hollywood (for giggling purposes), and One Life To Live

5 things I would do with $100,000,000 - OK, that'a a lot of money. But off the top of my head the first things I'd do would be:

1. Pay off my debt and probably some debt of my families
2. Follow The Moody Blues around on tour until they were convinced I was a roadie and just brought me along for the shows.
3. Four letters D K N Y
4. Two words: Mini Cooper!
5. Remodel the house

5 locations I would love to run away to
Atlantic City
Las Vegas
Toronto
London (When things aren't being blown up, please)
Monte Carlo (so I could runaway with a certain blonde resident)

5 things I like doing
Blogging (That's a given)
Photography - check out my photoblog for proof.
Writing - I've finished 2 novels and I'm working on a third, not to mention countless short stories.
Reading - I love a good book.
Listening to music - I like singing along too but my voice curdles milk.

5 things I would never wear
My bra as outerwear
A thong bikini (no one wants to see that!)
A micro mini (my legs aren't good enough)
Frosty blue eye shadow (The 70's have been over for a long time!)
Spiked heels (I can't walk on them. Chunky heels yes, spiked ones no)

5 recently seen movies I like - I haven't been to the movies lately. In fact, I can't remember what I saw last, possibly Lemony Snickett.

So how about 5 movies I like?

Chocolat
Van Helsing
Chicago
Moulin Rouge
Pirates of the Carribean

5 famous people I'd like to meet
Bernie Barlow, Annie Haslam, Simon Le Bon, Justin Hayward (again) and John Lodge (again)

5 biggest joys of the moment
Seeing Elvis Costello on Sunday
The possibility of another Moody Blues concert in October
My photos and my sister's photos from the Atlantic City Moody Blues Show



Today is payday
That my horrid nightmare about John Lodge was just that, a nightmare.

5 people to tag - I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to do this meme, leave a comment here when you've done it so I can come read your answers!

Progress Report

For the last year you've heard (well read about) me bitching about my weight. You're probably sick of it, right?

Right.

I thought so.

But I wanted to share my before and after pictures with you.



This was taken on my b-day last year.



And this was taken at the Rainforest Cafe last Saturday. As always I'm the chica on the left.

I think there is a noticable difference. Not as much as I'd like, but still it's an improvement.

Where did the time go?

I can't believe that at this time last week I was getting ready to leave for New Jersey. Where did those 3 days go? Why am I back in Charleroi on Mon? Why! Why! Why!

It just doesn't seem fair.

Of course, on a happier note, Sunday is the Elvis Costello concert, a small consolation after such a beautiful vacation. I'm suffering some serious post concert depression. I miss my Moody Men. I miss the ocean. I miss the boardwalk.

~sigh~





After Sunday I'll probably be depressed for weeks. All the excitement in my life will be gone for awhile. I can't take that! If only I could go to see Duran Duran.

~even bigger sigh~

Cos anyone that knows me, knows that I love Simon, just as much as I love Justin, John and Elvis.

Happy Love The Lodgey Day

It's definitely Hunk Day! And today's Hump Day Hunk is a Birthday Boy!

John Lodge, the king of the Moody Blues!

Shhhhh, don't tell Justin, he'll cry.

But anyone that saw their shows this tour knows that John Lodge is the man. Tight jeans, open shirts and no undies were enough to make this girl say, Justin who?

So instead of wishing him a Happy B-day today, (He's 60, and I'm sure he doesn't want to be reminded of that) let's celebrate the man by loving him. (Hell, he loves everyone so we should love him too!)

And if you wonder why we should love him, allow me to give you a few reasons.

1. He is the best darn hugger on the planet.


(His hand was on my butt too! Squee!)

2. He knows how to dress himself. Choosing not to wear hideous sherberty or latte/frappachino monstrosities on a regular basis.



Cleans up nicely, doesn't he?

3. He's a damn good bassist.



4. He wrote some really great songs for the Moody Blues.

Steppin In A Slide Zone
Sitting At The Wheel
Magic
Under My Feet

To name but a few

5. The video for Street Cafe! If you haven't seen it, allow me to provide you with some screen shots of the sexy one!





6. He's all about love!



See, he wants to hug the whole audience.

7. And besides being all about love, he's the sex of the band.



What a tushie! And he knows how to shake it!

8. The Lodgey Look! (A mixture of confusion and sex)



9. He looks good in any kind of light





10. It's his 60th b-day and he needs all the love he can get to forget that!!

Happy Birthday Lodgey!! Thanks for keeping the faith!
(And wearing tight pants with no undies!!!!)

Take Me Back Tuesday

This meme was a rush job. I'm going to tease Fallen, mercilessly for this, because I'm still not returned to normal.(Yeah like I was ever normal)

If you want to play along, remember to go to Music Memoirs to let the world know you played along.

1. List 5 songs you enjoyed from 5 years ago.
Third Eye Blind - Never Let You Go
Macy Gray - I Try (Another great song. What happened to her anyway?)
LFO - Girl On TV (This song got in my head at work and wouldn't leave until I bought the damn album)
Sting - Desert Rose (Gorgeous song one of my favorites by Sting and probably my favorite album of his)
Smooth - Rob Thomas and Santana

2. List 5 albums you enjoyed from 5 years ago. (No fair using the albums your first 5 answers came from)

Duran Duran - Pop Trash



Erasure - Loveboat



Matchbox Twenty - Mad Season



The Wallflowers - Breach



Madonna - Music (I was on her Street Team for this album's release)



3. What concerts did you see if in any 5 years ago? If you didn't see any, what bands did you want to see?
5 years ago I had a concert weekend in August with a show by Def Leppard on a Saturday night and a show by Duran Duran on the next day. A totally awesome (said in my best 80's valley girl voice) weekend.