Moon-lines and Apple-pathways

Today, my dad and I went to visit my aunt and uncle to help them harvest their grapes to make wine. It was a gorgeous day, and I had a great time. (Aided by much sampling of previous years' products!)

They have a nice little vineyard where they grow about 7 varieties of grapes; today we picked the three white ones. (La Cresent, New York, and Traminette) They call their label "Stray Dog", after all of the dogs they've taken in over the years. (You'll see one of them, Marnie, featured in the pics. The other dog they have now, Karma, I somehow didn't get a picture of!) They don't sell their wine, but they have won medals (including a double gold!) in the Indy International Wine Competition.

The vineyard was beautiful, and watching my cousin go through the process of making the wine was fascinating. It was a lovely way to spend a lovely day. Behind the cut, find a giant picpsam of the vineyard!

( Vino! )

audiopineapple was talking about the dream she had last night, and it reminded me of my own. (Forgive me for talking about dreams! I do believe this is the first time I've subjected you all to one of them, and at least it's fandom-related and therefore mildly along the lines of some of your interests?)

( I dream in Doctor Who )

I got my nails done today for the wedding and, as is to be expected, the woman who did them was rather surly and put-out about it. This isn't really a problem for me: I figure if I am paying someone to scrape calluses off my feet, file my nails, and otherwise perform personal grooming activities I should damn well be able to do myself, I have no good reason to expect they should be happy about it. (At least I got to read a magazine while she did my feet. It just served to remind me how out of touch I am: it was Entertainment Weekly's "Best Entertainers of 2010" edition, and I didn't know who 4 out of the 10 entertainers even were.)

I'm never comfortable about other people grooming me, so I kept tensing up, prompting the manicurist to swat me with whatever tool she happened to be using at the time and snap, "RELAX!" (I'm not quite sure how that action is meant to relax me, but whatev.) My favorite part is when she tried to upsell me into other services:

"You know, we do waxing: eyebrow, upper lip, bikini area...RELAX! Relax...why you so tense?"

I'm sorry: it's usually under a different set of circumstances that people request to see my bikini area...

I picked up my dress yesterday from having alterations done; I just needed the straps shortened. I don't know if you can have "short shoulders", but I must, because I ALWAYS need the straps shortened on every dress I buy. I bought a new strapless bra, some "supportive undergarments", and stockings, so I think I'm all set. Wedding, here I come!

I went to the LCD Soundsystem show last night at the Fillmore. It was...so AMAZING!

I could ramble on and on about why it was so amazing, but I don't know that anyone really cares. So I'll try to stick to some highlights:

It's been 3 years since they've played in Detroit.

They're touring with Hot Chip. (Link goes to their Wikipedia page; for some reason, their official site isn't loading.)

This was the last show for this leg of their NA tour, and their last show with Hot Chip.

Owen Clarke from Hot Chip was playing bass.

The lead singer from Hot Chip is this adorable little man who bounces around the stage like a Kindergartener on too much Kool-Aid. I want to hug him.

LCD Soundsystem played "Daft Punk is Playing At My House"!

Actually, the only song they didn't play that I really wanted them to play was "Pow Pow". (And "North American Scum", but I wasn't really expecting they would play that.)

That's all right, because they played "Losing My Edge" for an encore.

They played "New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down" for a SECOND ENCORE!

We had an awesome position behind the rail above the mosh pit: no one could stand in front of us, and for most of the concert, we had plenty of room to dance.

The crowd was really into it, the bands were really into it, the light cues and the stagecraft were just awesome!

Of course, there were the usual irritations that come with being packed in a crowd: young blonde girl who tried to encroach on our space when I went to the bathroom; Crazy sweaty woman who was clearly on something that kept touching my friend (only for one song); stupid, STUPID girl who spilled beer all over my pants!

But it was fun! One of my favorite things to do at a concert is people watch. What people wear to a concert says so much about what they think of themselves and their level of "cool". Hipsters abounded last night, and I had fun trying to pick out the full-time hipsters from the weekend pretenders.

Another group of people I enjoy spotting are the Super Fans: the ones who are clearly enjoying the show on a completely different level from everyone else. (I came very close to being one of these myself at several points during the show!) There was a guy standing next to me who was way into the show, and preferred a dancing style I can only describe as "Stevie Wonder on Meth". The blonde girl next to me who tried to push us out of spot at one point kept moving her hand around the way stoners and small children do out the car window on the freeway: you know, like a dolphin swimming through the air currents? (She was eventually scared off when my cousin spotted me from the mosh pit and climbed the rail in front of her to give me a hug. Good riddance!)

Anyway, BEST WEDNESDAY EVER! Up next: Halloween fun! What are everyone's plans? (Oh, and I'll be compiling everyone's suggestions into an Ultimate Halloween Playlist soon, so if there's any more last recommendations you've thought of, please do share!)

ETA: Ooh, I almost forgot! Special Bonus Canadian Content for rewindclunkplay: there was the most irritating Canadian girl in the world behind us at the concert! During the interval, she would not shut up, and her voice just travelled over all the other noises in the entire venue. All of her stories ended with: "And I was like, 'BLEURGGHAAARGHHH!'"

(Just me sticking my tongue out and saying, "Ha, there are irritating Candians, too!" The two young men with her seemed very nice, though.)

Also: evilhippo: I apologize for the number of links in this post. I hope you make it out of the Matrix with your sanity intact.

My brain does many things well: sarcastic comments, fractions, and crossword puzzles being some of them. There are also things my brain just can't handle. For instance: chess. I cannot, for the life of me, play chess. Oh, I know the rules and how each piece moves, I'm not a drooling idiot: but when it comes to playing an actual game, I cannot capture even one of my opponent's pieces. Even when the computer is set to "Easy" or "Beginner."

You might say: "Oh, but Amy, you just need practice!" I don't think so. You see, not only am I terrible at chess: I can't handle CHECKERS. I might manage to scoop up a couple pieces my opponent sacrifices, but in the end I'm always crushed. And I've spent my life working with children and playing games with them. I have been well and truly beaten by a five year old. Somehow, no matter how hard I try to concentrate on the whole game and think one or two moves ahead, I end up setting myself up for one of those embarrassing plays where my opponent jumps six or seven of my checkers at once.

And yet I'm unbeatable at Connect Four.

Another thing my brain doesn't do so well? Directions.

It's not that I can't read a map. I am awesome at reading maps. It's not that I can't follow directions. I can follow directions! It's just when it comes to making a mental picture in my head of how roads link up and which go where and whatnot, I am HORRIBLE.

I've always maintained I'm much more a verbal than visual person. Yet, I can look at a map detailing a route for 20 seconds and remember it for the rest of the day. It's something to do with my spatial reasoning, I'm sure of it! Even if you asked me to give you directions from my house to my work (which I could drive in my sleep) I'd get half of it wrong. I'd remember the main highways and most of the exits, but the little turns and sidestreets I can't picture until I see them.

People ask questions like: "Is it the third exit?" or "Is it next to the Taco Bell?" and I have no idea, because I don't notice things unless I'm looking for them. I can visit a store a dozen times without ever noticing what it's next to. I might know there's a bank on the corner, but I probably couldn't tell you which one. How many houses from the corner is the student co-op I used to live in? *shrugs*

All of that explanation is leading up to this: there was an accident on my usual route to school this morning. I decided, instead of slogging through it, to go another way. Bad idea. Of course, I didn't know it was a bad idea. In my head I knew this one highway linked up with another.

What I did NOT know was that they linked up much further west than I needed to go. Since I thought I knew where I was going, and I'm used to not recognizing my surroundings, it took me FOREVER to realize I had gone out of my way. I called my mother so she could look up on a map where I was, and I was 25 minutes late to class.

No, I'm sorry: 25 minutes late TO MY EXAM.

It's not that big of a deal. I'm taking a makeup on Wednesday.

When I came home for lunch before work, my mother asked, "Weren't you anxious?"

I said, "No, I knew she would give me a makeup."

And she clarified, "No, about being lost: I get so anxious when I don't know where I am. Weren't you nervous?"

I thought about it. "Mmm...not really. I get lost all the time. I'm kinda used to it."

That's me in a nutshell, folks!

I've finished my art assignment that's due tonight, so I'm now I can out and play tonight! My friend Katra is having a bonfire at her place, and I'm going to help her make apple streudel. Mmmm.

Last night a friend and I went to see Roseanne Cash (daughter of the late Johnny) perform. If you think you don't like country music, then I suggest giving this lady a try! This is what real country sounds like, not that ridiculous "she thinks my tractor's sexy" BS they pollute the airwaves with.

Afterwards we met up with one of her friends to go out dancing at a club where The Bang (a local DJ) was performing. I've heard a lot of good things about The Bang, but this was my first live experience. Awesome time! Joy Division, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., The Clash, Weezer? FUCK YEAH!

( More  )

That's enough for today. I'll pick up the Book Meme tomorrow probably. (It's a good thing I'm about two weeks ahead ;)

• Writer's block is a bitch.
  
• My ass hurts. (The parking on campus sucks, and there is no finding a spot where I don't have a 15 minute uphill walk to class. I'm not really complaining about the walk, since I need the exercise, but the boots I was wearing have worked ass muscles that were not ready for the wakeup call they got.)
  
• The financial aid office is pissing me off. Any OTHER hoops I have to jump through to get my loan before you pile on ANOTHER late fee?
  
• I seem to have arranged a dinner party that features three happy couples, and ME! The single friend! (I hope to God my only single friend that lives in the area is going to be free that night.)
  
• Along those lines, I may have a date soon! (We're working out details.) His name is Jeremy, and he's in social work. (There are men in social work?! GET THE FUCK OUT!)
  
• I love how slow work is right now; I don't ever have more than three students at a time. It's GLORIOUS! My bosses are freaking out, though; that's not so good.
  
• I forgot my keys to the building and had to call my boss to let me in. *facepalm*
  
• Other than my keys, I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something, ALL THE TIME. I may be losing my mind. (Again.)
  

So, how are y'all???

I've decided to edit this entry rather than create a new one, because I just found a 30 Day Book Meme on rewindclunkplay's journal and...BOOKS! You guys know I have to do this, right?

( Enable me... )