Atlantic City: The Madness, The Mayhem, The Moodies

Day 1: Thursday into Friday

The trip started sometime after 7 p.m. Thursday. Many stops would be needed before we reached our destination of Harrah's Casino in the Marina District of Atlantic City.

The first stop was Somerset, PA a mere hour away from home. It's the first rest area on the turnpike after getting on the pike at New Stanton. It's also the rest area by the windmills.



My brother was lucky to get pictures on a sunny day. It was cloudy when we got there and nearing nightfall, but I still managed a few shots.



Philly traffic at 1 a.m. is a bitch. The people in that city obviously never heard of sleep. Grrr! But I managed to get through without cussing too much.

We arrived at Harrah's sometime around 2 a.m.



We had a quick bite to eat and returned to our rooms. Western omlettes were the food of choice this weekend.

Day 1 cont.: Friday

Sadly we had to leave Harrah's in the morning. If you get a chance to stay at any hotel on the Marina, this is the one I recommend. I can't give any advice on the Trump Marina, but between Harrah's and The Borgata, I'd pick Harrah's because it was more comfortable.

We ate breakfast before we checked out at the Fantasea Reef Buffet. To get into the restaurant you pass through a tunnel of tropical fishies.



The food was incredible. There was any number of tasty things, from omelettes to pancakes and crepes and blinzes. Mmmmm.

We plunked a few dollars into the slots and then went on our merry way to the Borgata, or as I'll call it from now on, the big trapper keeper in the sky.



We pretty much bummed around Friday. We played the slots at the Borgata, giving them more of our money then they deserved. We ate a tasty pizzia at Risi Bisi's and we went to see the Moodies. I didn't carry the good camera the first night out of fear. I'd heard mixed things about that venue when it came to cameras, but shortly after the concert started, I found out they were wrong. So I had no good pictures the first night. Of course, that changed on Saturday, but we'll get there.

The first show was fantastic. Plus we had a really cute usher to talk to. He looked a bit like David Caruso of CSI Miami. (Yum!) I bought my one Moody Blues t-shirt, being bummed out that they were out of the Night Flight CD that I so desired. Oh well, maybe next time.

We turned in early Friday night out of exhaustion.

Day 2: Saturday.

Boardwalk, boardwalk, boardwalk. I don't know where to begin here. We ate, played in the ocean and shopped. That sums it up. Pictures do the day more justice, I think.







The second Moody Blues concert was just as good as the first. John was full of energy. Truly he's king of the band these days, with his sexy shirts and tight jeans, and no undies. Mmmmm, no undies!

I got some nice shots of the guys, most of mine were of Justin the immobile one. He's a much easier target than the ever bouncing Lodgey.

But in essence of fairness I bring you one of each.






More tomorrow after I get a real nights sleep....

Random 10

I'm back!!!! A full report on the weekend will be forthcoming as soon as I'm coherent enough to type! Until then, I'm going to wrap my musical weekend up via the Music Memoirs meme that all of you should do once just to humor me!

The first 5 songs are all the highlights of the Moody Blues concerts I attended Friday and Saturday.

The Moody Blues - The Actor
The Moody Blues - Talking Out Of Turn (Mmmm Lodgey Lodgey Lodgey)
The Moody Blues - Steppin' In A Slide Zone (By the second night's show, all I wanted to do was lick John's chest...OK, I wanted to do that before, but are you tellin?)
The Moody Blues - The Voice (There's a lot of Long Distance Voyager love going on)
The Moody Blues - December Snow (A beautiful song sung by a beautiful man)

The next five songs are ones I listened to driving out and back.

The Beatles - It Won't Be Long
Steve Winwood - Higher Love
Justin Hayward - Right Time, Wrong Place (I love this song!!)
Bernie Barlow - Astral Plane (Bernie was in fine voice this weekend too)
George Harrison - Fish On The Sand

And here's the picture, which I lifted from my sister's blog, because she was having issues transfering the pictures from her computer to mine. It was taken by her...and is quite lovely. OK, it's more than lovely, it requires drool buckets if you happen to love the Lodgeymeister, which I do.



And yeah, that's Justin's shoulder in the frappachino, hideous, horrid, wretched, disgusting shirt, that I know he wore just to irk me! LOL! Thankfully the sherberty shirt from hell didn't make an appearance!

It was a great musical weekend!

Any of the songs on the list can be uploaded if ya ask nicely!

Top Five On Friday

The Top Five which I had to post a day early because of my vacation.

Top Five Songs With One Word Titles

Duran Duran - Rio Duran Duran have quite a few one word songs. This one however is probably one of the best, with Notorious coming a close second.

The Moody Blues - Driftwood Did you think they wouldn't do one?

Erasure - Star This is the most fun, perky, happy, dancy, make ya smile kinda song! in the world. I could also do the whole top five in songs by this band, and probably Duran Duran too!

John Lodge - Rainbow This song is sappy and sweet which is pure Lodgey goodness

Justin Hayward and John Lodge - You Do you know how many artists did songs titled "You?" Too many to count, I swear!

Have a great weekend everyone!

I'm going to New Jersey

We added a room so we are staying at Harrah's tonight! And the Borgata the next two. I'm prepared to eat good, see my Moody men and generally have a blast, regardless of the weather!

Everything is packed and ready to go. I will even have internet access at both hotels so you might get a few updates over the weekend from me in the evenings with any pictures we transfer to the hard drive of my sister's laptop.

Today is a wacky crazy day. Some of it is good wacky some of it is bad. All I know is that as soon as I get settled at Harrah's, I'm going straight for a bar and ordering the strongest thing I can!

Let the celebrating begin!

Just a few days late

I was busy going nutty, so I didn't do Fallen's Take Me Back Tuesday on Music Memoirs, but I'm going to do it now.

1. Name three songs with humming, whistling or random words in them.
The Beatles - Ob la di, Ob La da (The title says it all)
George Harrison - Dream Away from the film Time Bandits (The chorus is Oh rey en ey ay or something like that)
Roxette - Joyride (Lots of whistling going on here)

2. Name three artists who often use the abovementioned items in their songs.
I have to say, I don't pay attention enough to know. Oh and define random words? Suffice to say, The Beatles and George Harrison would probably make the list.

3. Name an album you believe to have used a great deal of imagination in the choosing of the title.
So as not to forget my guys

The Moody Blues - In Search of the Lost Chord. It's been nearly 40 years and they still haven't found it!

Deep Breaths....Deep Breaths

What I need are my hump day hunks! Today has not started out right and the sweltering 90 degree heat isn't making the day any better.

I ended up working a half hour at my home base place of work, and then driving like a bat out of hell to get to my boss' second location to cover for her.

No siree it's not been a good day. It's been a crappy one.

Oh and tonight I meet with my new bosses.

HELP!

Ok, I've taken a few deep breaths. I'm calm, though I would like to cry, or run away to New Jersey a day early or both....

Thank god, I'm already packed. I just have to get my tunes in order for the drive and run down a mental checklist in the morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to relax a little, but I doubt I will until I'm on the road tomorrow.

So,without further adieux, I'll stop bitching and leave ya with the Hump Day Hunks that I wouldn't mind...erm...ya know.

~wink wink, nudge nudge~



I'll always love the fashionably challenged one.



And Lodgey looks simply luscious.

I think I feel a little bit better now.

I'm Pissed.

I don't have time to type much right now, because I have to go to work. But suffice to say I'm pissed. Why? Because I have to go open my location and run to another to work as soon as the morning girl gets there, and hopefully not be late to get to location two.

Grrrr.

Am I allowed to breathe today at all?

Nope I didn't think so.

Places to Go, People To See, Food To Eat

That's going to be my vacation motto, because my to do list for the three days I'm away is growing faster than the tail of Dicky Dragon or even Marie Hayward's teeth. (Yeah, I know, it's mean of me to pick on Mrs. Hayward, but it's fun and done out of ...hmmm...I'm not sure what it's done out of.)

Places to Go
Hard Rock Cafe - Cos I need a shirt with a city other than Pittsburgh on it.
Planet Hollywood - I've never been to one. (This girl doesn't get out much)
Rainforest Cafe - I've been intrigued by this restaurant for a year now.
Steel Pier - It's that merry-go-round thing again, oh and the Crazy Mouse.
The Boardwalk and all the fun shops - Is that not a given? Have I not expressed my love, nay obsession with the Atlantic City boardwalk for a year now? ~sigh~ I'm coming back Boardwalk, have you missed me? Damn, right you have!
The Atlantic Ocean - I love water! I love taking pictures of water...and I swear as soon as I set my eyes on that ocean I'm going to burst into a huge squee and cry! I love the ocean!



People to See
The only people I need to see are

Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Graeme Edge, Paul Bliss, Gordon Marshall, Bernie Barlow and Norda Mullen.



Food To Eat
Funnel Cakes - Cos I didn't get a good one last September, because my traveling companion was too cheap to eat.
Fudge - Yum!
Fralinger's Taffy - You can't go to the shore without taffy, damn it!
Any dessert from Brulee's. I'm determined to get to this restaurant.
Seriously if I had the time and the money I would eat my way through the boardwalk! There's just so many great things there. I can't wait. 2 more days!!! 2 more days!!!!!

The Moody Blues and Atlantic City

My two favorite things meshed together.

Pardon me while I squee with orgasmic bliss.

Oh and no trip to the shore is complete without a bunch of these guys!

In Need Of Sleep

One thing I really don't like about working the morning shift is the time I have to wake up to get to work. 5:30 a.m. is just not my time of day. I'm not a morning person, I never have been.

It's quite possible that with this job I'm going to be turned into one, but I can tell you one thing, I'm not going to like it.

I sure hope that I have a chance tomorrow to get a few extra hours of shut eye, before I start running around doing those last minute things I need to do for the vacation.

I'm drained right now, and I barely got any sleep last night. Not fun. I have about a half hour to get dressed and ready to start today and I'm in no way near alive enough to contemplate putting clothes on. I want to stay in my jammies all day.

But it's not going to happen.

At least I will have a full paycheck next week because of these two days. I wonder if a small cat nap at 1 o'clock would help? Just a half hour nap? Nah, it would probably make me more tired, and than I'd get cranky. Not a good thing.

Here's hoping I can get through the day without falling asleep or killing anyone because of sleep depravation.

Vacation Craziness

I went through my suitcase last night, in an attempt to pack more stuff. Yeah, I don't believe in traveling light. As a result, I did end up removing some of the things I was taking, as well as adding a few more. After all, how many times can I change clothes from Friday to Sunday? I guess we'll find out won't we?

So, the suitcase is all packed, unless I make a few changes. Now I just have to get the toiletries in their little bag and my jewelry. Then the hard part will come. Which purse will I carry in Atlantic City? ARGH!

I did buy batteries this weekend, a big 8 pack of AA lithiums, and the nephew already confiscated 2 of them. DRAT! But 6 batteries should hold both cameras for the weekend. I hope!

So far I've made 3 mix cds. I need to make about 7 more, so I'll be really busy in between shifts today and once I get home from work.

Other than that, and getting money in the bank, I think I've got everything done. Unless, of course something else comes up, and that's always a possibility!

Random 10

The weekly musical wrapup meme. Go on, click the link and play along! I dare ya!

This weekend was a little bit of everything, because I was making mixes, lots of mixes. I still have a few mixes left to make and I'm only halfway through the 60's mix! ARGH!

Herman's Hermits - (I Gotta) Dream On
The Moody Blues - Gypsy
The Beatles - It Won't Be Long
Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe - Baby It's You
Adam Ant - Hello, I Love You
Def Leppard - No Matter What (A fantastic cover)
The Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday
Justin Hayward - Nostradamus
Diana Krall - Temptation
Justin Hayward - Take Your Chances

The photo is of the delicious dessert I had at the Boston Beanery at Uniontown Mall where I bought even more clothes.

Obsessing

My friend Obsessing7 over at livejournal has a wonderful topic all the time, current obsessions. I've decided to steal that idea.

Today's obsessions include, but are not limited to the following topics:

1. The Atlantic City Trip and everything surrounding it. I'm leaving on Thursday night. Did I mention that? I still need to get everything packed. I have most of my clothes ready..but oye! I need to do so much more.




2. Making Mixes. I made two yesterday and I am working on the 3rd mix now. I just need loads more 60's songs.


3. The Moody Blues! Like you didn't think they'd make the list after number 1!



4. Weight loss. I still want to lose about 5 lbs and the scale is bouncing up and down a few lbs and it's so damn annoying!

5. My new job or soon to be new job. (I really need to know more, but no one is telling me anything)

6. Photography. I need to figure out the night setting on my damn camera! So far my evening pictures are crap on the new camera. On the old one I can get great shots, like this one



And getting a picture of that elusive cardinal that visits our yard for bread every day.

Still Mixing

I decided to throw together a mix of Beatles tunes for the car. I have a thing about the Beatles. I love em! I have since I was at least 5 years old, which was sadly 9 years too late to be part of the madness and mayhem of their heyday.

Drat!

Cursed by being born in 1974!

When it comes to driving to the Beatles, I stuck with songs from the early part of their career. Most is pre-Revolver stuff, though I did put Hello Goodbye, Here Comes The Sun and I Me Mine on the mix.

I can't drive to music that's too laid back, especially since this jaunt is going to start at about 7 p.m. on Thursday and we won't reach our destination until early early a.m. on Friday. No sleepy for me!

If you click here, you'll find the finished tracklisting for my Beatles mix.



Next up...the 60's mix!

The Covers Mix

Lady Starlight made a covers mix for our trip next weekend, so I decided to make one too.

If you're curious as to what's on it, click here. If you're really bored and want to see the other mixes I've made, click here.

Now I really have to think of some new mixes to make that long drive bearable, or I'll be like a ten year old saying "Are we there yet?" and I'll be the one doing the driving!!!

6 Days and Counting

Less than a week to go, until I reach the Jersey shore. I swear I'm not coming back! I'm going to run away and become a drink girl at one of the casinos. I'll get to wear cute little uniforms (which I can now fit in) and I'll make good tips.

OK, I do dream a lot, but everyone knows that.

I'm so ready for this coming weekend. Mostly because I won't have to work Saturday and then because I'll be seeing these guys.



~does a little happy dance~

I'm to the point where I don't even care if Hurricane Dennis dumps buckets of rain on us. Which he probably will. Damn hurricanes!

Today I'm going to start the major preparations for the trip, because Monday and Tuesday I'll be working 9.5 hour days so there won't be much breathing time. But when have I had much of that lately anyhow.

Oh and speaking of no breathing time, I've got an update on the job situation. August 1 or there abouts will be my start time for the promotion. Which means sometime in August, I'll be taking a working vacation to Waco, Texas.

I can't help but say I'm nervous as hell about that.

Dog Days

My sweet little Purbee dog was out to give me coronary today. At 5:45 this morning I was awakened to my father downstairs saying, "Where the hell is the dog?" Meaning he put the dog out and the dog escaped the yard.

ARGH!

Imagine if you will, me in my pink floral jammies. Running around the 2 block area screaming for "Purbee, the nice little dog."



See, he is a nice little dog.

We ran back and forth screaming for about 10 minutes. No Purbee. I woke my poor mother, to tell her that her dog had disappeared. I woke the nephew to get his help in finding the missing dog.

My dad was about to get in the car when my mother thought she heard the dog. So I told Raymond to look up the hill and I'd go down the hill.

When I started down through my grandmother's yard, lo and behold, on the next block was Purbee sniffing about someone's yard. I called for him. Did he come? Fuck no! (pardon my choice of words)

So I ran down the hill, which for those of you not familar with the area of Charleroi on Mon, is quite a nice one. I slid down the grade by her steps, on my ass! Yeah! Nice picture I'm painting, right? I jumped off the wall and tore across the street calling for Purbee.

I almost had to tackle the damn dog! He refused to come. I scooped him up and carried the blasted (sweet) animal back up the hill. I was amazed I wasn't ready to drop when I got him back in our yard.

Great way to start the day, isn't it?

Top Five On Friday

It's that Music Memoirs Meme again!

Top 5 guitarists and your favorite song by each guitarist or his/her band.

OK, I've thought long and hard on this one. I'm going to salute the guitarists that the world ignores when they do their top lists.

1. Justin Hayward



Gorgeous and a guitar god as well.

The song? The Story In Your Eyes (You can't beat the guitar riffs in this song...)

Honorable mention: Question (Best acoustic guitar)

2. George Harrison



Picking a song for George is much too hard, because I love all his solo works as well as his music with the Beatles.

I'm going to pick Wreck Of The Hesperus from Cloud 9

3. Elvis Costello



Looks like EC took some squirrelly lessons from Mr. Hayward. Mr. Costello is better known for his songwriting, rather than his playing ability and that's a shame, because his really a good guitarist too.

The song I chose?

When I Was Cruel's first single: Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)

4. Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)



I'm chosing a solo song of his, because Take It Easy is just an awesome song.

5. Michael Nesmith



Mike along with Peter were the only "real" musicians in the pre-fab four. Oddly as I grow older, I appreciate his country flavored rock more and more.

The best song: Listen to the Band

Now I'll nod the exceptional guitarists like Clapton (who has gone all wussy and pathetic since the 80's) and Jimmy Page.

Oh and bass players are guitarists too. So you know I couldn't forget to post a picture of John Lodge, bassist extraordiare. (And lazy butt)



Best song? Don't ask me! I love em all, though I'll give mention to Steppin' In A Slide Zone.

Countdown to Jersey

Well, next week at this time I'll be getting my rental car and preparing myself for the 7 hour drive from Charleroi on Mon to Atlantic City. (Which will start after I wrap up work next Thursday, sometime around 7 p.m.) It's going to be a long day and a long wait for that day to get here!

Starting this weekend, I've got to get things in order so I'm ready to go next Thursday. I need to sort through my suitcase to make sure I have everything I need. I have to make sure I have enough shoes! Erm, I mean that I have adequate coverage for my feet that match the few zillion outfits I've packed. Then I must get makeup and jewelry together. All that fun stuff.

Then there's the matter of making mix cds. I must have some new tunage for the drive. I'm going to do my "Covers" Mix as well as a Beatles Mix and who knows what else. But I'm going to be doing a lot of mixing this weekend.

Oh and I need to color my hair and buy batteries. The batteries are more important than the hair at this point, because the batteries will power my digital cameras. I'm taking all of them with me. The more pictures the merrier, regardless of what they are of. I'm not deluding myself in thinking I'll get any shots of my Moody Men this tour, but who knows, I might be lucky. Yeah and with my luck Justin will be wearing all three hideous shirts from hell. But hey, if he is, I will mock his bad fashion sense for years to come. I love him, but J'tiny poo needs to get a fashion advisor.

I'm also trying to prep myself for the eventuality that it's going to rain next weekend. Damn hurricanes! But regardless of the weather, I fully intend on having a great time, because there's just so much to do in Atlantic City! I can't wait to get there!



And the Hard Rock is just going to be one of the places I intend to go this time round!

It's Hump The Hunk Day

OK, I only wish. But it's Wednesday and it's Hump Day and all Hump Days have Hump Day Hunks, so why not Hump The Hunk?

Well mostly because the Hunks would object, but let's let fantasy take over, because it's more fun!

And now for my hunks:



The lovely Lodgey



Mmmm, suddenly I'm focused on the green eyed one.

Not to worry, I didn't forget ole' blue eyes!



And to add some variety...



Elvis and Justin...erm...I mean a squirrel.

What? I can't help it if Justin's squirrelly all the time!

The Clipboard Of Fun

Did anyone ever watch Full House? Ok, I'm the only one, I know. But when the Tanner family and Co went to Hawaii they had a clipboard of fun. Their whole vacation was outlined by Daddy Danny Tanner.

That's what I'm planning on doing for our Atlantic City trip next week. There are so many places we want to go to and things we want to eat..erm...do, that we need some kind of schedule.

So far I've broken the three days up.

Moody Concert 1: Friday
This day we'll spend mostly on the Marina taking in all the sites and sounds there. I'm sure we can find some great things to do there. I don't know much about the Marina in Atlantic City, so Friday is a day of exploration.

Moody Concert 2: Saturday
Saturday is all about "THE BOARDWALK!" I don't know if I'll be able to get everything I want in in the time we have, but I want to make sure that I get to see all the necessary sites. And damn it I'm going to ride the merry-go-round at the Steel Pier.



Seriously, could you resist such a beautiful ride?

Sunday we head back to Pennsylvania. I plan on going to Longwood Gardens to see all the beautiful flowers and the CHIME TOWER!



After we finish up there, we head towards home, stopping for dinner at Plain and Fancy Farm Then we'll start heading back to our sad pathetic boring lives, which will have been made better for a few days of moody filled fun and excitement.

Can you tell I'm ready to go now? I don't know if I can wait 9 more days!