I Guess You're Just What I Needed

There’s a new edition in my family. Just brought her home last weekend. I’m not used to being in charge of anything important, so the responsibility is really scary to me. I’m completely afraid of doing something wrong and permanently hurting her. She’s here to stay so the thought that I can do lasting damage is terrifying.

I’m talking about my brand new…used…2008 Honda Civic.

(Besides Vicidius) She’s the nicest thing I’ve ever owned. The last car I had—a 1999 Chevy Cavalier—was nice at first, but time took its toll. In the past year, she’s been rear-ended, had her clutch replaced, then the entire clutch system, a wheel fell off, and the bad front-end alignment has forced me to replace at least 4 tires (and a stud/lug nut). The air conditioning went out two years ago, and in Texas during the summer that’s just brutal. I can’t remember the last time the gas gauge worked. For the longest time, I’ve just refilled my gas tank whenever I had driven 300 miles. More recently, the latch on the trunk stopped working. So if I need in the trunk (say to change my tire on the way to a Billy Idol concert), I’ve had to crawl into it through the backseat, which opens up. Also, the fuse that powers the lighter/plug-in burned out. That’s minor, but on top of everything else it just shows you how broke down my car has gotten.

So my new baby is a very welcome change. The only question now is what to name her. I never named my Cavalier, which makes me sad. We had good times and she deserved a name. I was always sure that one day something would come to me, but it never happened. I don’t want to make that mistake with my new car.

I’m partial to naming her after a song title. A good ballad just seems to fit a car. And I came really, realllly close to naming her “Angie,” after the Rolling Stones song. Angie is a car’s name. I put this out on Twitter, and @LanceMazmanian recommended a book to me that tells a story about the song. I have looked for this book at one book store and the public library without any luck. The Internet tells me it’s a pretty typical breakup love song, but I’m nervous about there being unknown undertones to my car’s name.

This became a moot point, however, when I decided I wanted to name her after a song by a Texas band. I’ve got state pride, what can I say. A lot of great musicians come from Texas, and I’m still looking for that perfect fit. I perused song titles by Janis Joplin, the Toadies, ZZ Top, Steve Miller Band (a Texas/Wisconsin hybrid). Nothing has struck a chord just yet. I’m taking suggestions. I would have named my car Janis in a heartbeat, except that’s my mother’s name (different spelling). Feels weird to name my car after my mom.

One thing: while I was reading the song lyrics to “Angie,” I realized it’s exactly how I feel about my Cavalier. I love that previously-unnamed hunk of metal and I’m really going to miss her. But ain’t it time we said goodbye?

R.I.P. Angie

Billy Idol!

I went to a Billy Idol concert earlier this week. I had an amazing time and describe the actual concert on a different blog, here. This post is a bit more personal, and describes my impressions of the overall experience from the point of finding out about the concert through today.

Actually getting to the concert was a huge ordeal. I didn't even know about it until the day before, so there wasn’t much time to plan. I went back and forth with myself on whether I even wanted to go. It was $50 for the tickets, $10 for the parking, plus whatever I needed for gas and drinks. It was on a Tuesday night about three hours away from where I lived. I knew I couldn’t find a friend to go with me on such short notice, especially with the money, timing, driving factors so I was facing it alone. I talked myself out of going Monday night, but somehow when I got to work on Tuesday morning I just knew in my heart of hearts that I was going to go. I had made the final decision after I had stopped even thinking about it. Unfortunately, tickets weren’t available online anymore. I called the box office and the nice man in the recording told me that tickets were still available at the door. I was banking on that still being true several hours later when I actually arrived at the Palladium Ballroom.

I left work running at promptly 5:00 p.m. and went home to change my clothes. I already knew it was going to be a stretch to make it on time. I made it out of my house by 5:30 and had exactly three hours to get to Dallas. Google Maps says this is a 2 hour 30 minute drive without traffic. I still needed to stop to get cash and gas, find parking at the venue, and buy my ticket.

After I had been driving about 40 minutes, I got a flat tire. Actually, it wasn’t flat. The tread had split open, but it was holding air. Even so, there was no way I was going to make it to Dallas on that. I changed the tire myself (with a little help from a good Samaritan). I was so glad that I had the foresight to bring a t-shirt with me. I brought it so that I could be comfy and not skeevy-feeling on the drive back from the concert, but I wore it over my clothes while I changed the tire so that I wouldn’t get dirty.

I drove to my parents’ house in Waco and switched cars with my mother. I’m not sure she wanted to lend me her car, but she knew that she didn’t have much of a choice. I was going to see Billy Idol, and if I had to drive on the baby tire that I had just put on my car - I would. So she didn’t object to me taking hers, and I floored it to Dallas. I stopped at an ATM and was still on pace to arrive at the venue exactly on time.

When I got to Dallas, the exit I was supposed to take didn’t exist. The directions told me to take exit 427C, but the actual exits skipped straight from 425 to 428. I guess my directions were old and some construction was done since Google updated. Bad Google! You will never achieve world domination this way.

I ended up finding the right street, but I was turned around. I stopped for directions at this other events venue when I knew I was close. Then I finally made it to the venue and parked!!

I hoped that Billy, being a rock star, would start late or at least have an opening act. A big no on both counts. Even while I was pulling into the parking lot, I could hear Billy inside singing. It was frustrating and the people in front of me were moving so slow. The guy in the car in front of me had turned into the parking lot accidentally and had to stop and ask an attendant for directions to get out. When I finally parked my car, I literally ran back to the front door. I bought my ticket off a scalper and made him walk me to the door so that I would know the ticket was valid. It worked, then I got carded at the next stop so I could drink alcohol. I swear, that lady was moving slow too. Billy Fucking Idol was singing! Didn’t they know? Didn’t they care?

I made a beeline for the standing room in front of the stage and I never looked back. Never hit the bar, so I didn’t need my stupid age 21+ wrist band anyway. It sucked being sober at the concert, but I wasn’t going to miss another single moment of Billy Idol performing. It worked out, because I had to drive an hour and a half back to my parents’ house. I didn’t really need to be intoxicated and tired for that.

I could have dressed a little more appropriately for the concert. Apparently, Billy was more of a punk goth than anything else. Okay, so I knew that, but I still didn’t really think I need to dress like a motorcycle chick to go to his concert. I wore a shiny, low-cut red tank top with gold beading around the waistline. Everyone else was in their rock’n’roll T-shirts or some kind of grunge garb. They saw me coming. They all had a little tinge of the 80’s that my outfit lacked. I did wear the biggest pair of earrings I own though.

For being a Billy Idol concert, the crowd was really tame. People staked out their position in the floor, and then didn’t really move. I arrived to the concert late and had hoped that with people milling between the floor and the bar, dancing, and just moving around in general, I could make my way forward. That did not happen. I got fairly close, but then there was just a wall of people. Not a shoulder to shoulder wall of people though. Everyone needed their personal space and protected it. I saw a guy almost fight another guy for trying to squeeze past him and get closer to the stage.

Almost fight another guy. No one actually fought. Or danced, head-banged, moshed, etc. It was disappointing. I wanted people to be crazy. I wanted to be crazy. It was Billy Fucking Idol. No dice. Everyone stood in their spaces and maybe swayed a little.

Billy is known for his fist-pumping, so at least there was a lot of that in the crowd. We were invited to fist-pump along with Billy during Mony Mony and Rebel Yell. We did, and it was so much fun. I can’t remember what song it was, but Billy yelled out “put your fist in the air!” and my fist went into the air like it had a mind of its own. I wonder what other of Billy Idol’s commands my body would instinctively obey.

Fist-pumping with Billy

Billy was playing with his original guitarist, Steve Stevens. Way back in the day, Steve left Billy to go play with a different band and try to make it big on his own. He was a successful guitarist, but I can’t say he became a household name. This tour seems to be a sort of reunion for Billy and Steve. Billy really played it up though. Every few songs he’d point over to Steve and scream out “STEVE STEVENS EVERYBODY –YEAHHHH!” Then there were the times when he was introducing the band: the dude on the drums, some other guy named Billy and… STEVE STEVENS!! There were songs where Steve had insanely long complicated guitar solos. There was a session in the middle of the show when every other member of the band left the stage for a good five minutes and Steve played alone.

It got to the point of being annoying.

I hate to sound like I’m dogging his talent. The man was incredibly talented. He shredded the guitar. Killed it. He was Led Zeppelin good. Carlos Santana good. [Your favorite guitarist’s name here] good. I have nothing bad at all to say about Steve Stevens’ guitar-playing ability. I have to give credit where credit is due.

That said, my admission ticket said “Billy Idol,” not Steve Stevens. You’ll notice that in this article (where I learned about the concert), there’s even a blurb devoted to who Steve is and how awesome he is. I think there's something else at work here. Steve is trying to make a comeback or he’s going to strikeout solo or something, and he’s using Billy’s record label as a jumping off platform. Probably on the same record label and they’re paying Billy lots of money to showcase Steve on his tour to build publicity. The Steve Stevens attention was that much over the top.

STEVE STEVENS!

The entire drive back, I listened to the audio recordings that I had made during the concert. I already wanted to see him again. In fact, not a single day has gone by that I haven't looked up his remaining tour dates and tried to figure out if I could afford to go or have the time to drive, etc. Billy Idol is playing in Tunica, Mississippi tonight (August 28) and if I knew anyone that would drive with me I'd be in my car right now. Only 9 and a half hours away.

The concert was the most entertaining, exhilarating, fun thing I have ever done. I went to Comic Con for the first time a month ago, and that was overwhelmingly fun. I’m not sure that the two events are really comparable, but if I had to choose between the two for an encore experience Billy Idol would give Comic Con a run for its money.

How bout them Cowboys!?

I've been a Cowboys fan for longer than I can even remember, so right now I just can't get over attending my first ever LIVE Cowboys game. Even if they did lose. Even if it was only pre-season. My only regret is that I never saw a game in the old Texas Stadium in Irving. :(

I will say this much: the "Party Pass" tickets are NOT worth it. They advertise giving access to one of several "party decks," but in reality, the ticket allows you to stand along a counter one the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level at the end zones - if there's space. The area are not large at all. There is no seating if you didn't pay for it (read: no restaurant/concession area seating). Basically, you pay $30 to stand behind the regular seating and watch the entire game on one of the big screens. Luckily, after the first quarter the usher in our area let people take seats that weren't already filled.

Now I will pic-spam you.

This is inside the stadium, looking down. You can see the huge big screen TVs hanging over the field. Getting a lot of publicity right now because a kick hit it in the first pre-season game.

Also, notice the Cowboys star isn't at mid-field yet. They're having a ceremony in Game 1 of the regular season where they're going to place it. I wish I could be there for that! (The Ring of Honor, where retired Cowboys are honored, is also not up yet. Not sure when it's going up.)

It's only pre-season, but that didn't stop the fans from coming out. There were 72,171 people in attendence yesterday. It had the same feel as a regular season game.

My family helped build the stadium by purchasing one of their memorial stones. This is places on the walkway around the outside of the stadium. Our stone says "We Live and Die Every Sunday. A XXXXXX Family Tradition." We gave it to our dad for his birthday or Father's Day last year (I can't remember which. I'm a bad daughter.)

Here I am, enjoying the game with my mommy. My sister and I both drew blue stars on our cheek. They looked okay to start with, and by this time it was pretty smudged. lol

Helix Redo

A large group of Twitter peeps are rewatching the first three seasons of Heroes in anticipation of Season 4 (Redemption)'s premiere on September 21. The calendar is here if you'd like to join. I'm told the calendar is more of a guide and not a fixed schedule (<_<) so you can start late and catch up or skip days if it's not perfectly convenient.

Anyhoo, a few things I've noticed while rewatching.

1. The series opens with scrolling text a la Star Wars. I did not remember that.

2. Mohinder's opening and closing monologues are just as powerful as they ever were. The whispered question, "Do they even know?" at the end of Genesis can still bring tears to my eyes if I'm not perpared for it.

3. I cannot believe I wasn't in love with Bennet (HRG for the uninitiated) from the very beginning. He's soo super hot...Yes, I'm fangirling. Deal. I fangirl for one man, and he's it. My only explanation for my delayed idolization: I started loving Bennet when he started killing people.

4. There is a scene I remember between Simone and Isaac where she's calling him crazy for thinking he can paint the future and he says something like "I'm crazy? I painted this this morning!" and holds up a picture of her standing in the doorway with a portfolio. Is this in deleted scenes? I swear, it wasn't in Genesis when I rewatched. Am I going crazy? Did I imagine it?

5. Episode 1.4, Collision, is the very first time we actually see Isaac with the white eyes. It was more shocking to me rewatching it today than the first time I saw it. Isaac was never a favorite of mine, so I guess I just didn't pay him much attention before. Today rewatching, I realized what a big deal seeing him like that must have been for viewers when it was aired live.

6. I still hate Micah.

7. I'm totally meh on Claire. I actually think she got progressively more annoying as the show continued. Maybe I'm just angry that she tries to upstage Bennet in all their shared scenes. ;)

8. I'm honestly considering writing a Heroes fanfic (about Bennet, duh. lol). I don't know if I want to tackle that. It'll be my first ever Heroes fanfic and I've never been much for writing fiction. But dammit Bennet is just so inspiring.

So, if you're rewatching or want to or just enjoy Heroes, find me on Twitter and let me know. Be sure to hashtag rewatch tweets with #helixredo.

Supernatural, season 1

Everyone I know loves this show, so I'm trying to catch up. I just finished season 1 last night and decided to write about my opinion so far. This isn't going to be a regular review. I don't do that. It's basically going to be things I like and dislike about the show.

My favorite episodes were Bloody Mary and Home. I can't include the last 3 of the season (Dead Man's Blood, Salvation, Devil's Trap) because they were all three just awesome and made for an incredible combined finale.

My least favorites were Provenance (because it was really dumb) and Wendigo (because the end was lame). Although, I loved the format in Wendigo and wish they had stuck to it. Step 1: categorize what you're dealing with. Find out what it wants. Step 2. find it. Step 3: use its weaknesses against it. It reminds me a lot of Criminal Minds where they profile the killers based on his/her victims and methodology. Once they know his/her needs, they can stop it. Unfortunately, Supernatural pretty much threw that format out the window and the boys just blunder through their hunts. Whatevs.

Between Sam and Dean, I think Dean is wonderful. I'm finding Sam hard to stomach. No one is that whiney and selfish, right? He reminds me so much of Peter from Heroes, and I recently learned I'm not the first to draw that comparison. Sam wastes way too much of my precious time crying and whining about Daddy (and Mommy, and Jess...do I sound cold?). Supposedly, he used to hunt these things with Dean and Dad before. Did he forget everything he learned? Did he ever learn anything?

Now Dean on the other hand, in addition to being hot, is a helluva lot smarter than Sam. Despite the fact that Sam went to Stanford.* Sam is "book smart" and Dean is practical. And when you're fighting demons, practical wins. Unfortunately, the show likes to do this thing where they try to pretend Sam is useful, and they'll make Dean do out-of-character dumb stuff so that Sam can seem smart (ex. Dean brings the magical Colt to the fight with the Demons when they rescue Dad. Dean would never do that. That's something Sam would do. Idiot).

Miscellaneous things: I want Meg back. She was awesome. Also, the music on this show kills. Except for the fact that they have an unhealthy affinity for Rush (there was one more Rush song that I was not forewarned about, flyboy), the soundtrack on this show has been perfect. It's ALL classic rock, except for the scores. And the scores are great too. I'm not even into scores usually.

Overall, I like the show. And I'll continue to watch it. I have to admit, if I just happened upon this show on my own, channel surfing, I wouldn't make a point of watching it regularly. Despite the fact that I do enjoy sci-fi and good drama, I'm not really into demons and witches and things that go bump in the night. The saving grace on this show is the relationship between Sam and Dean, including all their snarky comments to each other. If that relationship wasn't there, I would probably not finish the series. (Sorry Maxii and other friends who love the show).
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* Why does everyone in Hollywood think Stanford is such a good school? It's not really that great. As evidenced by all the idiotic TV characters that got their education there. Sam would never make it in law school.

Comments for Others' Blogs

I'm having issues. What else is new, you ask? Har. Har.

But seriously, I've tried to comment on several other peoples' blogs with absolutely no result. It tells me comment posted, but then there's nothing on the page. This happened on a different website, so I kept trying, and then later when I checked my comments were there like 8 times. This time, I decide to post on everyone's blogs just once each and wait, but there's still nothing. I'm going to post them here instead, so you don't think I'm just being plain anti-social.

Justin: I've had to factory reset my computer. It's suck major ass. I'm sorry buddy, but I hope it works. And I'm excited about the new laptop you'll get (one of these days). I would also LOVE a number pad.

Nate: You're in America!!!!!! It's exciting to me, even though I won't get to see you. I hope you enjoy it and a few dumbasses don't ruin your entire view of our country.

Maxii: I need no more info to stalk you with. I think I got all I need, but thanks for the entertainment anyway. ;)

Bryan: Congrats on the new job! I know I've told you elsewhere, but I wanted to tell you here too. And re: your blog about what you want for the future - it sounds nice. And knowing what you want means you're more than halfway there already.

Okey dokey then. I hope it's not rude to talk to other people in my own blog, but I was seriously having some problems. I will keep trying to post in your blogs I promise!!

Book Review

I love books, but my style of choosing reading material leaves a lot to be desired. Usually, I'll find an author I like (based on referrals or something I see/read somewhere else), then read everything I can by this author. Sometimes, even if I don't like the first work I sample, I'll still read a 2nd or even a 3rd book just to make sure. That's not true, I'll read that 2nd-3rd book because I don't know how to pick something better to read.

Lately, I've been getting some real crap from the library. First, it was this John Connolly stuff. He's not bad, just not good. He tries to write the traditional murder mystery/intrigue stuff, then he starts throwing in ghosts, precognitive dreams, and other things along those lines. I wouldn't be too put off, but it's not well done.

Then, I read The Devil Knows You're Dead, by someone who's name I can't remember right at the moment. It was another murder mystery, written from the perspective of a private investigator. No supernatural stuffs, this one just sucked. Bad writing.

Finally, just today I finished The Inheritor by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I knew what I was getting into with this one, but it still wasn't good. MZB wrote The Mists of Avalon, which was made into a TV movie with Anjelica Houston and was critically acclaimed. I haven't watched/read that one, but it's supposedly very good. MoA is the story of King Arthur's tales, told from the perspective of the women in the story (I think). I did read Kassandra by MZB, about Cassandra, the prophetess of Troy. It's told from Cassandra's perspective and is excellent.

But on to The Inheritor. I read the book jacket, so I have no one to blame but myself. I really don't mind fantasy literature so long as it's not chalk-full of wizards and elves and sorcery. The Inheritor, on the other hand, is set in modern times and the protagonist is a woman who tries to deal with fantastical elements that are intruding onto her daily life. Right up my alley, in a way.

This story is set in 1983 (and was written in that year) and centers around a therapist who has "psychic flashes." She's reluctantly helped the police find missing persons in the past, but mostly she just wants to live her life. Then she moves into a haunted house and all this insane paranormal stuff starts happening. She also falls in love with a new man, and it turns out he's way into black magic.

After that little description, do I still need to discuss why it sucked? *sigh* ok. First, the writing that I came to love in Kassandra was NOT there. Kassandra's plot was easy to follow (even though a little long-winded at times). I cared about Kassandra, pitied her and got angry for her when people didn't believe her premonitions. As I read The Inheritor, it was difficult sometimes to even tell if I was reading about events as they happened, or if a character was remembering something from his/her past. The characters seemed to make ridiculous choices sometimes, so either they were unrealistically written, or MZB just failed to provide the insight into the characters' personalities and motivations for making the decision. For example, the main character learns that her dark wizard boyfriend once made a human sacrifice. She is immediately appalled, but comes to terms with it in about 10 seconds flat and responds with, "I don't care what you have done. I love you, I love you, I love you."

With 38 pages left in the book, I almost put it down. The line was: "Only later, when the hand of tragedy had fallen, did she realize why Simon had been begging her to take him away." At this point in the book, it was just way too dramatic and cheesy. And I guess I cared so little about what happened to anyone that this last attempt to push me to the edge of my seat just made me gag.

Luckily, I expected not to like the book that much, so I read it first out of the two I grabbed at the library. I've got James Rollins' Map of Bones still waiting for me. James Rollins is an author who is consistently good. He also writes modern novels with a touch of the fantastic (and some fairly heavy sci-fi elements), but he actually does them well. I highly recommend The Black Order, and only a little less-highly recommend The Judas Strain. He also wrote the novelization of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but that was after the movie was made. You can't hold him responsible for that travesty.

"Hated it"