Presumed to be awesome.

All I really wanted out of life today was a fruit smoothing for lunch. But I had to go through three different blending mechanisms before finding one that would work! Why so difficult, Life???

I did, however, eventually attain my fruit smoothie and it was delish! So I guess life is good today. This, I suppose, is the benefit of having such low expectations. *g*

Now that I've reached the peak of my day with a fruit smoothie, the rest of it seems significantly less awesome: I have to tighten up my resume and start the dreadful process of looking for a damn job. Oh, and I have to go grocery shopping and pay bills. See? I told you it would be all down hill from the fruit smoothie!

So, before I get to all that, let's talk about things that are BETTERER! Like the AMAZING anti-hate protest that happened at Adam Lambert's concert this weekend in Springfield, MO! The idiots at Westboro Baptist Church had announced that they'd be protesting Adam's show. But instead fans and counter-protesters showed up with their awesome signs and in the end the hate-mongers didn't een bother to show up and it turned into a celebration of love and tolerance and freedom of expression and all the awesome things that Adam stands for! Adam even went out before his show to thank them and autograph their counter-protest signs! It was pretty damn fabulous to watch unfold!

( And then Adam took the stage and THIS HAPPENED! )

( I'm not sure how it is even possible, but the pretty factor was ridiculously high this weekend. )

And, well, hi, HELLOOOO THERE, Adam! *g*



Speaking of, um, that view, I have four Glam Nation shows in September -- Houston, New Orleans, and two Atlanta shows! And except for the last Atlanta show which is GA, I have front row center seats for all of them!!!!!!!!! Eeeee!!!!!! Life is going to be a hell of a lot better than a fruit smoothie in September!!!

Life has gone from good crazy to just plain crazy this week, but I'm steadfastly refusing to concentrate on anything but the sparkly until next week. So, let's talk about Adam! *beams*

I flew into Burbank on Tuesday to meet up with coolwhipdiva for the two shows in Orange County. We had so much fun!!! On Tuesday night I had upgraded our tickets to 5th row, center, in the pit. The seats in the pit were crammed in so tight you could barely move, so it was a good thing that security let those seated there rush the stage and stand at the barricade, otherwise it would have been impossible to dance. And, really, how anyone can sit through this show without being compelled to get up out of their seats and shake their ass is beyond my ability to comprehend. Believe me, J and I danced. *g*

Costa Mesa is the closest that this tour is getting to L.A. (at least as the schedule currently stands), so it was very much a hometown crowd for Adam and all the band and dancers and they all had lots of family and friends in the crowd. And, OMG, they all looked so freakin' HAPPY. Adam had this silly grin on his face for a good part of the show! And, even though the sound mix was a little off that night (hello! I'd really like to be able to actually hear Monte during his guitar solo!), it was still just so much FUN watching them have so much FUN!











( Costa Mesa - July 27, 2010 )

On Wednesday, _lisalisa_ joined us. The shows were part of the OC Fair, so we spent the afternoon at the fair, checking out the exhibits, avoiding anything fried on a stick, drinking frozen margaritas, and just catching up and enjoying some much needed hanging out time! It was awesome! Before the show, we found a table and some wine, and I did up our make-up and glitterfied the three of us in the middle of the fair! We were very sparkly! *g*

I had an AMAZING view. I made friends with the security folks on my side of the pit and they let me stand at the edge of the barricade on Tommy's side of the stage, actually kind of between the barricade and the stage. The sound mix was thankfully much better on Wednesday night. And everyone was just on FIRE! Monte jumped into the pit for one of his guitars solos. Tommy was looking especially pretty. Adam's vocals were stunning. It was fantastic! And Adam's encore of Whole Lotta Love that night is my favorite next to Fantasy Springs. Just incredible!
















( Costa Mesa - July 28, 2010 )

Costa Mesa was DAMN GOOD TIMES!!! Now I need to get ready so I can make my flight to San Diego in a few hours. coolwhipdiva has promised me tequila shots and believe me when I tell you I can use them. Tomorrow I fly back home, meet up with editorzon at the airport, and then dance until my feet fall off at the Lady Gaga concert! And then on Sunday, another Glam Nation show here in Tempe. After that, I'm planning on sleeping for days. As soon as that happens, I'll come back and fill y'all in on how life outside of Glam Nation is sucking hard. But, for now, I'm gonna get my glitter on, hang with my girls, drink myself silly, and dance until I just can't anymore! *nods*

I'm in Denver tonight, in town for tomorrow night's Glam Nation show. But before that happens, I figured I better post my thoughts (which mostly go something like: aldkjalkdjfiajdkfjaslk!!!!!) and my pictures (which weren't many since I was busy getting my mind completely blown) from the Louisville show.

So, to follow conventional wisdom and start at the beginning, Allison Iraheta was the first opener and let me just say that this child can sing! I have no idea why she isn't seeing bigger record sales or headlining her own shows, because she's amazing. She's gotten so much more comfortable on the stage since the Idols tour last summer. And, yeah, she can SING! Her set left me wanting more. But since there were two opening acts, Allison's set was way too short. Orianthi was up next. Orianthi's thing is the guitar. She's some sort of guitar prodigy, who's played with the likes of Santana and Steve Vai, and was Michael Jackson's lead guitarist for This Is It. And the girl can shred the hell outa the guitar. What she hasn't quite gotten the hang of yet, though, is being the front person. She's kinda boring, actually, when she's not creating magic on the guitar. Consequently her set felt eternal. So I was actually happy to hear today that she's cancelling the rest of her Glam Nation dates. I'm not sure why, but since they've added Allison to many of the remaining dates I'm hoping this means we'll get a longer set from her.

Orianthi's set didn't actually last forever, even though it felt like it, and soon we were waiting for Adam to take the stage. Before that, though, let me just say that Adam's shows make for some of the most fascinating people watching ever! The crowd was actually pretty diverse: teenage girls who haven't quite mastered the art of eye make up but certainly didn't let that stop them; older grandma types, you know, if your grandma happens to wear floor length purple and black zebra striped glittery capes and blinking lights in her gray hair; couples, young and old, with the husbands on their feet and obviously having as good a time as their wives; hot gay boys done up in all manner of fierce and fabulous outfits; and women in their 20s and 30s in sparkling in various degrees of glitter. Fascinating! The greatest thing about the crowd, though? Not the crazy-ass outfits, or the amazing makeup, or the sometimes ridiculous accessories. No. The absolute best thing about the crowd was that every single person was having a fucking blast! Even before Adam took the stage, there was dancing and laughing and getting to know the people around you and big, happy smiles all around!

And then there was Adam. Jfc. And then there was ADAM. He opens with "Voodoo" and then goes into "Down the Rabbit Hole." By the time he gets to "Fever" the crowd is practically delirious. When he kissed Tommy the crowd went from delirious to straight up insane. I think I was most blown away by the acoustic numbers in the middle. He does "Soaked" accompanied only by Cam on the keys, and it was stunning. His voice. Dear gods. There aren't even words. And I was in heaven to finally hear "Aftermath" live. He picks the tempo back up after that and "Sure Fire Winners" and "Music Open" were again amazing, as were the closing number, "If I Had You," and the encore of "Whole Lotta Love." The energy during the entire show was amazing. I'm not sure if he does it consciously or not, but he really works the energy reciprocity -- building it up, bringing it back down, just letting it ride and flow -- to make magic. He works with the energy so masterfully I've got to think that he's experienced his share of pagan-ish ecstatic rituals. Whatever, man, it's just fun as hell to ride that energy along with him. *g*

I was too busy getting my mind blown into itty bitty blissed out glittery bits to take a lot of pictures. But here are a few:









( More Pictures of Glam Nation in Louisville )

Great Glittery Gods of Glam! This day needs to just be over already because then I can get on with my Weekend of Glittery Awesomeness! Less than 24 hours to Glam Nation in Louisville!!! *flails*

I'm not at all flaily about my departure time tomorrow though. My flight to Louisville leaves at 6:15! In the morning! In the motherfucking EARLY morning! This means I have to be at the airport before 5:00. I am so NOT cool with that. What the hell was I thinking when I made these plans??? *cries*

Whatever, man. There just better be a hell of a lot of coffee in my life tomorrow.

I haven't packed a damn thing, but since I'm carrying on I can't really take much so it shouldn't take me long. I did get my Flip video camera in on time, though, so I can document every glittery moment! I'm sure y'all will be SO pleased to be able to re-live it all with me later. *g*

*looks at clock* Go faster dammit!

I'm probably just as excited to spend some time with Carole and Jerry, who I haven't seen in about 3 years. Their deck is like a little slice of heaven and one of my favorite things in this world is sitting out there with them, drinking coffee, and discussing the mystery and magic in our world. They are two of the loveliest people I know and I'm so happy that I'll be able to spend some time with them on Sunday.

So, yeah, this weekend I'll be going from glammed out rock to philosophical conversations on the porch. *laughs* Hello, paradox! *g* Now this damn Friday needs to be over so I can get started on all that contradictory awesomeness!

I had a lovely holiday weekend. I drove down to Tucson for the 4th and spent the day splashing around in the pool, eating yummy food, and drinking delicious adult beverages with the familia. I also got a much needed hair cut from my cousin, who set up the back porch as an outdoor salon and styled and cut just about everyone's hair, all while wearing a bikini and high heels. She has an excellent rack so I think that this would make for a very lucrative business idea! Hell, I'm her cousin and so not interested in her rack in any prurient sense, and still tipped her well for the value added service. *g*

I was offline all weekend, so I'm probably behind on everyone and everything. If something terribly exciting and/or important happened in your life in the past five days, please do let me know.

Otherwise, it's occurred to me that there are a variety of assorted things that I've yet to ramble about here, so I think I'll do that now.

:: Last Thursday the D'backs (finally!) fired A.J. Hinch as Manager and GM Josh Byrnes. If you've not picked up on my deep and abiding hatred for A.J. you've just not been paying attention. I literally let out a whoop of joy when I got the text about the firings. A.J. should never have been managing a major league team and we shouldn't be keeping around a GM who thought that hiring him was a good idea. So, yeah, I'm pretty damn happy that they're both gone. I think Kurt Gibson was the right choice for interim manager and I'm curious to see what the franchise decides to do going forward. No matter what they do, I don't think it's possible to make a worse choice than A.J. Of course, getting rid of the faux-manager and the idiot GM in no way is going to solve all of this team's problems. Let's face it, we're a fucking mess. But it's certainly a good start, and I'm glad to see the D'backs ownership finally make that move.

:: I'm not sure what it is with me and technology lately, but the Electronic Gods seem to be angry with me. First it was my laptop that had a complete meltdown. Almost $200 and two weeks later, and it's finally back and in working order. Then today I discover that my iPod has apparently suffered some type of stroke. It's still playing, but my screen is completely out and the menu function doesn't work; so I can only play what I was playing when it was last working properly. Now y'all know that I love Adam Lambert like WHOA, but I'm thinking that at some point soon I'll want to listen to something else. I found a used, but functional iPod on eBay at a relatively cheap price that I'm hoping will hold me over until I potentially get an iPhone next year. But, seriously, what do I need to do to get back in the Electronic Gods' good favor again???

Speaking of electronic gadgets, though, I did order that Flip video camera and it should be arriving this week -- here's hoping it's resistant to this electronics curse I'm suffering under.

:: I got caught up on Friday Night Lights yesterday, and, really, I don't think it's possible for me to love this show any more. Coach Taylor continues to be one of my favorite male characters on t.v. right now. Also, Coach Taylor soaking wet on the sidelines is a beautiful thing! And the Riggins brothers continue to be well intentioned but incredibly stupid and I don't know what it says about me that I obviously have a soft spot for that kind of thing! And I want to be Mrs. T when I grow up. Seriously, she's just awesome in every way. And I'm really liking the diversity in the new characters and I'm enjoying the layers that are slowly being added to these new faces. In short, I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!

:: Another show that I'm really diggin' is Drop Dead Diva. It's pure fluff, but it's enjoyable fluff. And I love that the main character is plus size, and yet the show isn't treating her or her story lines as if "plus size" is the only or even the main defining characteristic.

:: IN FOUR DAYS I WILL BE GETTING MY GLAM NATION ON!!!!! Louisville this weekend! So exciting!!! *throws glitter*

Today was rough, man. Way too little sleep, a ridiculously early morning in court, a deposition most of the afternoon, deadlines pressing in, clients being more difficult than normal, attorneys who think that rudeness and antagonism are the same as zealous advocacy, hard won resolutions unraveling at the last minute, and way too many fires to put out in one 12 hour work day. I'm wiped. And I'm SO ready for the long weekend.

Thankfully, Adam and Tommy have been a reliable happy place lately:



Yeah, if that doesn't just make your world a better place, I don't know what will. *g*

( More of that kinda happy. )

I came home and managed to stay awake for So You Think You Can Dance. And I'm very glad I did, otherwise I would have missed Alex Wong dancing the hell outa that incredible hip hop routine with Twitch! Where the hell did that come from??? Ah-may-zing!

The boys are so good this season, I'm having a hard time picking a favorite. Jose and Kent are ADORABLE! I want to bring them home and pet them and feed them cookies and just be dazzled by their smiles! And Billy Bell is just SO crazy good. Alex blew me away tonight. And even Robert, who I didn't like so much in the beginning, is starting to charm me.

And I realized tonight that a definite plus side to the girls being so MEH this year and getting booted sooner is that they will have to pair the male contestants with male all-stars more often, and, hopefully, come up with some truly brilliantly creative (and HOT, let's definitely bring the hot!) all male partnered dance routines. Um, yes, please! *g*

So, basically the pretty boys saved the day. What's new? *laughs*

13 days until my first Glam Nation show!!!!!!!!!!! *bounces*

That is all. Carry on. *g*

My laptop is ill. Very ill, apparently. My Computer Guy has told me that the prognosis is not looking good. He's still working on it tonight, so I won't know for sure until tomorrow, but I may be in the market for a new laptop. In which case, I'm really considering switching to a Mac. So, flisters, any of you Mac users? Any of you recently made the jump from PC to Mac? Anyone know whether I'll be able to keep all my music files if I switch or how I'd do that? Tell me all about it!

In other less than awesome news, Russell Crowe and TOFOG won't be touring this summer after all. This is the message he just Tweeted about:

Folks,
after much tooing and froing and an unavoidable changes in other responsibilities, I am very sorry to tell you that The Ordinary Fear of God will not be touring in August this year.
Sentimentally it would have been great to mark the tenth anniversary of when we first played in Austin, but in reality it's not as important as other things.
You will be pleased to know though that Alan and I have locked in for May next year. We will be touring for 4 weeks. Sorry to those that are disappointed but we will make it up to you next May. - RC

That sort of blows. For many reasons, including the fact that he was my excuse to get to Austin and visit annkiri this summer. But now, at least, I can stop putting the entire month of August on hold waiting for Russell to announce tour dates. And I know what I'll be doing next May. *g*

And, thanks to Adam, I will still get to see annkiri this summer as she will be joining me for his Houston show! Just doing my part spreading the glitter and loveliness for all. *g*

So, yeah, some craptasticness today. But THIS has definitely been my happy place:


From here, with thanks to idiosyncratic for the link.

*bites lip*

:: Watermelon for lunch! Summer in a bowl!!!

:: Screening of La Mission later tonight with a Q&A after with the Bratt brothers!

:: Tickets to see In The Heights next weekend! With Lin-Manuel Miranda joining the tour in Tempe!!!

:: Adam in Phoenix on August 1st!!! *flails wildly* (Or so the Tour T-shirt of Unconfirmed Knowledge says.)

:: THIS!!! *loves and loves*

Dear D'backs: You're freakin' KILLING me! Please to be getting your shit together. Until such time as you do, I'm afraid I can no longer speak to you.


Dear Facebook: I can't decide if your insistence on connecting me with old high school friends makes me feel really old or makes me feel really good because they all look really old. Seriously, some of them look as if they've dragged their way through the last 20 years ON THEIR FACE! Since I get to decide, I think I shall choose the later. *preens* In any case, thanks for the amusement!


Dear Glee: You are AWESOME!!! That is all.


Dear Glam Nation Tour: I LOVE YOU!!! You're rumored to be some sort of "turn of century New Orleans meets classic rock" that "starts w/ seduction, journeys into the unknown then heartbreak, honesty and ends w/ celebration, joy, love." I have NO idea what the hell that means! *g* But I can't wait to rock out with your awesome, glittery, glamtastic goodness!*


Dear Glam Nation Tour Organizers: Where the hell is my L.A. date, fuckers??? And while we're at it, give me Phoenix and New Orleans too! I have to plan my LIFE around this tour, dammit!



* For those of you playing along at home, the current tally is 4 Glam Nation stops: Denver, Costa Mesa (twice) and San Diego. (!!!!!!) I am still considering Louisville. And, goddammit, I need dates for L.A., Phoenix, and New Orleans! And, yes, I will be self-surrendering to glam rehab at the end of the summer. *g*