(no subject)
When I make an appointment I have to check that the postcode we have is correct, so the surveyor can type it into their magic car box and it will tell them where to go or however that works. I imagine it is a little like the car off Knightrider that talked to David Hasselhoff. So it would probably be useful for me to know the radio alphabet, you know, alpha foxtrot juliet and all that. I don't. Usually the vendor/owner/whatever just tells me the postcode; sometimes they wait for me to say it, which is a pain because I can never think of things to say for the letters. The other week I ended up saying "d for dog, s for ... sausages." Today I said "two, P for Peter, W for ... ... ... something beginning with W."
Last week I went to see Rilo Kiley in Manchester.
It was at the Academy, which was a smallish venue up stairs that WOBBLED and had GAPS between the steps. I am in constant fear of falling over just standing up on solid ground, so you can imagine this was not the most pleasant experience. AND I was wearing a dress. Nobody told me there was going to be see-through-stairs. Obviously I was wearing dark tights b/c I am at heart a Victorian and I feel naked if people can see my ankles, but STILL.
Eventually I triumphed over the stairs, but then I had to spend the entire set craning my neck to see over people who were inconsiderate enough to stand around being tall. I could see Jenny Lewis's head, which was really the most important part, but not much else. Also the lights at the back of the stage were set too low down or something, or maybe I was just at a bad angle, but they kept shining straight at my eyes, so bright I had to watch the floor for some songs instead of watching the stage, because it felt like I was being shot in the brain with white light. BANG. It *hurt*. In these moments I was looking around to see if anyone else was wincing in pain or if I am just soft. Apparently I am just soft.
(I do this with noises as well. Some noises make me hyper anxious - burglar alarms, sirens, thumping basslines - I used to just get hugely panicky but these days I generally deal by putting my hands over my ears and not caring if people think I am a loon. It's much less painful that way. Come to think of it my taste buds are woefully feeble as well. I can't eat spicy food. It feels like thousands of tiny teeth biting my mouth! I don't like it! I will live on lettuce. I don't know if I'm ridiculously sensitive to things like that because I have anxiety problems, or maybe if I developed anxiety problems because of being hyper sensitive, or even if they're connected at all or. whatever.)
So, despite scary stairs and bright hurty lights and tall people, (and the fact that during the encore I had to flee to the loos because I thought I was going to puke, which was probably the combination of the lights and an hours worth of neck-craning) it was fantastic. Jenny's voice was phenomenal, seriously. I love her voice on the recordings but it's nothing compared to how it sounds live. I'm not over-keen on the new album, especially compared to More Adventurous, but songs like Under The Blacklight and Give A Little Love, which I was a bit meh about when I first heard them, were amazing.
Also apparently one of Rilo Kiley was Michael the witch in the Buffy episode Gingerbread (season 3? The one where Amy gets turned into a rat.) Possibly I would have recognised him if I ever actually managed to see him on the stage.
My brother apparently invited everyone in his phone when he went out to get tickets, so there were a load of his friends there (including his best friend since toddlerdom, who I haven't seen for years and who still looks exactly the same, just taller). I was worried I would be intimidated but it was actually nice to be with people for a change. They all seemed like fun people. After the gig we went to a pub and being a teetotaller amongst beer drinkers actually wasn't at all weird and completely surviveable. The next morning over breakfast we consulted the upcoming shows guide we'd been handed at the venue, and there is so much on in Manchester it is disgusting. I mean, I hadn't heard of most of the bands playing, but there was still quite a few that I would have liked to see and I want to immediately move to somewhere near an actual proper sized city where bands play and have a social life and stuff. Perhaps I should just move near my brother and hang out with all his friends. That'd work, surely? Ready-made social circle! What could possibly go wrong?
Last week I went to see Rilo Kiley in Manchester.
It was at the Academy, which was a smallish venue up stairs that WOBBLED and had GAPS between the steps. I am in constant fear of falling over just standing up on solid ground, so you can imagine this was not the most pleasant experience. AND I was wearing a dress. Nobody told me there was going to be see-through-stairs. Obviously I was wearing dark tights b/c I am at heart a Victorian and I feel naked if people can see my ankles, but STILL.
Eventually I triumphed over the stairs, but then I had to spend the entire set craning my neck to see over people who were inconsiderate enough to stand around being tall. I could see Jenny Lewis's head, which was really the most important part, but not much else. Also the lights at the back of the stage were set too low down or something, or maybe I was just at a bad angle, but they kept shining straight at my eyes, so bright I had to watch the floor for some songs instead of watching the stage, because it felt like I was being shot in the brain with white light. BANG. It *hurt*. In these moments I was looking around to see if anyone else was wincing in pain or if I am just soft. Apparently I am just soft.
(I do this with noises as well. Some noises make me hyper anxious - burglar alarms, sirens, thumping basslines - I used to just get hugely panicky but these days I generally deal by putting my hands over my ears and not caring if people think I am a loon. It's much less painful that way. Come to think of it my taste buds are woefully feeble as well. I can't eat spicy food. It feels like thousands of tiny teeth biting my mouth! I don't like it! I will live on lettuce. I don't know if I'm ridiculously sensitive to things like that because I have anxiety problems, or maybe if I developed anxiety problems because of being hyper sensitive, or even if they're connected at all or. whatever.)
So, despite scary stairs and bright hurty lights and tall people, (and the fact that during the encore I had to flee to the loos because I thought I was going to puke, which was probably the combination of the lights and an hours worth of neck-craning) it was fantastic. Jenny's voice was phenomenal, seriously. I love her voice on the recordings but it's nothing compared to how it sounds live. I'm not over-keen on the new album, especially compared to More Adventurous, but songs like Under The Blacklight and Give A Little Love, which I was a bit meh about when I first heard them, were amazing.
Also apparently one of Rilo Kiley was Michael the witch in the Buffy episode Gingerbread (season 3? The one where Amy gets turned into a rat.) Possibly I would have recognised him if I ever actually managed to see him on the stage.
My brother apparently invited everyone in his phone when he went out to get tickets, so there were a load of his friends there (including his best friend since toddlerdom, who I haven't seen for years and who still looks exactly the same, just taller). I was worried I would be intimidated but it was actually nice to be with people for a change. They all seemed like fun people. After the gig we went to a pub and being a teetotaller amongst beer drinkers actually wasn't at all weird and completely surviveable. The next morning over breakfast we consulted the upcoming shows guide we'd been handed at the venue, and there is so much on in Manchester it is disgusting. I mean, I hadn't heard of most of the bands playing, but there was still quite a few that I would have liked to see and I want to immediately move to somewhere near an actual proper sized city where bands play and have a social life and stuff. Perhaps I should just move near my brother and hang out with all his friends. That'd work, surely? Ready-made social circle! What could possibly go wrong?