crowdsurfing singers and menomenamenamenamenomena

Friday:
I took an earlier train(12:15) up because with seeing Bloc Party at 7, it was best to drop my stuff off at Llyw's apartment and meet him at work than rush from the station to his place and then the venue or deal with my bags at a concert. It was a gray day but a quick trip to the station (I managed to catch the streetcar). Amanda, not Townsend the senior Illustration major Amanda, was on the train and I showed off my cube solving skills. Grabbed my usual hotdog and waited.

The train ride up was uneventful. The movie was Valkyrie but I napped through it. Started reading Bangkok Haunts, the third in these Bangkok crime novels that Auntie Celia and I like. Picked up Bangkok 8 at Costco years ago, listened to the Bangkok Tattoo audio book during my car commuter days, and now I have this one. They are a nice easy read and them seem well researched. Very charming but also detailed and scary. Anyway, it was sunny and lovely in Seattle. Made my way to the new bus tunnels and caught the 73 Express to the U District. Llyw was text messaging me directions and information all day so I wouldn't get lost or worried. I did end up getting off the Bus early but only a little farther from his place. I lounged for a little bit, waiting to take the 5:11 number 30 downtown.

The 30 was a very long journey. No outright crazy people. Just normal Seattle looking folk. Fremont people mostly. It took some nervous walking from the place where I got off before I located the massive building Big Fish Games was located in. Nervous in that I didn't have a clear idea where I was heading. "Go down Denny several blocks till you see a big building with a 5 on it" is not as clear as I like my directions to be. But I found it. I loitered a bit outside and inside while he finished up. Then at 6:30ish or whatever, it was time to head to the Showbox for BLOC PARTY! WHOOO!!

Caught another bus downtown. The line for the venue was full of noticeably younger people. Three fourths of it was I would venture. A Vitamin Water promotional van stopped by and gave us all free little samples. Both of us being over 21 got us into the over 21 section. So we grabbed a table and chilled with a generally nice view of the stage. The teens were in standing room only. We stayed in our location the whole time. While the crush might have been fun, it isn't so nice on people who have shoulder bags or sweatshirts. The opening band was Menomena, which I haven't heard of but Chris Peeler and Katie knew. The lead had way too tight pants. Even I don't wear pants that tight. They were good but didn't get my blood pumping. They changing instruments a lot and were generally good on all of them. I wished that they had committed to either learning a few instruments REALLY WELL or just gone all out and had like, 50.

Bloc Party was awesome! They didn't come out till around 9:15. After every song for the first 20 minutes they demanded more energy and eventually the audience delivered. People jumped and clapped and hollered and things warmed up. The Dir en Grey show I went to was mental from the start but this kept a nice even pace. No one seemed to be elbowing one another. Hunting for Witches was the second song. I wish they had played it later when the audience was more engaged but if they hadn't played it maybe the audience wouldn't have become as engaged. Tricky to say. Near the end, Kele the singer and one of the guitarist, starting crowd surfing. He was singing Mercury and he kept it up really well while being transported over the packed youth. He made it into the 21 and over section on the left (we were on the right) and performed for them. It was just wonderful and all the staff and security were looking very very worried as he sailed over people. They came out for like, 5 more songs and it was wonderful. I didn't get really sweaty but we were pretty far from the core of the action.

The bus back didn't come for another hour so we just took a cab. Quick quesadillas and it was time to sleep!

Saturday:
A gray day but still overall pleasant. We wandered around the U District. The staff who took a long hard look at my ID at the Showbox came into the Sureshot cafe while we nibbled on cheesecake, hot chocolate, and coffee. Small world.

We walked up to Scarecrow Video, a two story video store that really does have everything and everything in multiple orders. There is a section for movies by country, director, horror with genres as specific as what type of monster or critter, and just. Well it was very very specific. It was a treat just to wander and look at all the many many titles. Some were so rare that they needed a $150 deposit. We ended up with Hold Up Down, a Japanese movie we both saw the trailer for when we were in Japan but never got around to seeing. There was a long list of maybe rental but Hold Up Down seemed the best.

After we went to Trader Joe's to get some much needed foodstuffs. Instead of making foodstuffs into lunch, we went to A Burger Place (not THE Burger Place, just A Burger Place)and got some really good custom burgers from their very straightforward menu (just check off what you want and they make it just like that). Very delicious.

Did I mention we saw some ducks outside of Trader Joe's? We saw some ducks.

Hold Up Down was hilarious for about the first hour and a half. A perfect whacky, if slightly bent, comedy about a heist gone wrong, some cops that don't follow the law, a frozen hippie, and a priest who has lost his faith. Then they go to a hotspring and get possessed and it breaks into a 20 minute fight scene that is really really weird. It ends on a happy note but seriously, no idea how to end it. Just, okay it got all spooky and now they are fighting. Still, an amazing black comedy for the most part. I was ready to call it one of my favorites but then the ending happened.

We also watched some Pushing Daisies. So sappy, so good. Llyw helped me out with some reference pictures for the digital piece that is due Tuesday (not this Tuesday, next one).

Showed Llyw how to solve the Rubik's cube. I have the formula almost memorized. Go me!

Sunday:
The weekend ended so quick. We wandered around the district some more. I got a really bad headache, which sucked. Took some medication and once I perked up, we attacked each other with nerf guns till Llyw had the majority of the Nerf ammo. We left early so we woulc grab some food at Uwajimaya. Pocari Sweat was nowhere to be found! We got some Korean food but in the end, all that meat/salad/rice combination food tastes the same to me. Just the sauce is different. Ehh. We got to the station with time to spare. I got one of the sucky seats where they normally combine family so I didn't have any leg room. Like, four seats with the pairs facing each other. I napped and read my book.

One of the ladies from my quad of seats walked with me to the Max. Her name was Malini and we chatted till my Goose Hollow stop. Everything at home was mostly where I left it. I had a great time. Now: sleep and school work.