my crazy weekend...
So, I have had the longest and most interesting 4 days in quite a long time. And I am just SO tired...but, we'll start at the beginning. (btw, just warning you, this entry will be long…very long. Maybe you should settle in a comfy chair and get a glass of water before you start. Ohh, and go to the bathroom..you’ll be here a while. Or maybe better yet, set aside 10 minute blocks of time each day to read.. And now that I’ve made it unnecessarily longer, lets continue..hehe)
So, Thursday Danielle’s sister Madeleine came in at LAX to spend the weekend with Danielle, and she was also coming with us to Wango Tango on Saturday. So, we leave for the airport at like 4:30 and her flight was getting in at 6:20, but we also wanted to go to a Target to pick up some sort of inflatable mattress so the poor girl didn’t have to sleep on the floor, because we all know that the floors here are little more than concrete with paper thin carpet glued on top. Also, did you know that there are ZERO Targets even remotely close to UCLA? Yeah, its true, I was shocked. So, we had to drive a little bit south of LAX, in traffic, and then drive back north to get to the airport. But, the way it turned out was PERFECT because I pulled up to the Southwest doors right as Madeleine came out of them. I think it was perhaps the best anyone has ever picked up anyone else from the airport, if I do say so myself. hehe So, that night Danielle had a mandatory thing that she had to do with the pre med frat, so after dinner I told her I would entertain Madeleine. So, we went to Westwood, looked around Aahs, had Diddy Reise and walked around a bit. Then, we picked up Victor and did something I’ve always wanted to do, and yet never done, we got lost in Bel Air. It was SO cool! You just keep taking random streets and you just got farther and farther lost in the hills. And at certain places up there you have the PRETTIEST view of LA.. I don’t know what it is about the lights of big cities, but I just think its so gorgeous… And don’t even get me started on how amazing the houses were… wow…when can I be rich? One super creepy thing tho..we accidently turned down some really long drive way, thinking it was a street, and at the end of it there was a huge gate.. so I go to turn around, and all of a sudden my head lights hit a life size statue of a rhinoceros…now, I know that probably doesn’t SOUND creepy, but try to imagine that its like 11, completely dark and all of a sudden you see a full size rhino.. I don’t know, I was having chills.. haha I was more than happy to get away from there. While we were driving around we found a random Cleaners, some café and a high school. hahaha Who knew that rich people needed stuff like that too? Anyways, somehow we found ourselves back at the 405…I really have no idea how I would retrace my steps if someone asked me to, but it was still so cool. After that, we went back to the dorms, dropped off Victor and picked up Danielle and her friend Melissa, and then we went BACK out, at like 12:30, and drove down Sunset to show Madeleine the clubs and stuff. Then, we found Hollywood blvd and we went to Grauman’s Chinese Theater, which is another place I hadn’t been yet. Ohh, and I found out that my hands are the exact same size as Elizabeth Taylor’s! Who knew? haha That reminds me of that really depressing Kelly Rowlands song.. I think its called Stole.. anyways, not the point. Haha Grauman’s is really cool.. I had fun being all touristy. Then, as if we weren’t touristy enough already, we saw a star map in the window of one of the shops there (being like 1AM, it was obviously closed) and we wrote down directions and the addresses of Britney and Reese Witherspoon’s houses! hahaha SO lame! And then, we went to them! Really fun tho.. just more driving around pretty areas and up hills and getting lost. And, of course, you can’t see either of their houses at all, only gates and trees and stuff…and who knows if they even were ACTUALLY their houses, but its fun to believe.. Anyways, after that we went back and went to sleep.
So, then Friday I had class until 4, which definitely sucked, but then after that, we went to Third Street, and had lots of fun there. I finally bought a denim skirt because I’ve been wanting one for so long, and I also bought a really pretty scarf that I’m going to copy Amanda and use as a belt.. (fantastic idea btw..hehe) Then, after that we went and had a really really nice dinner at this Japanese place.. mmmm…Pad Thai and California rolls.. (yes, I know that Pad Thai isn’t Japanese…but this place also served Orange Chicken, so whatever.. haha I think they were only considered Japanese in that they had a large selection of sushi.. hehe) Then, after dinner we went and saw Troy. We definitely loved it, and I’ve been hearing really mixed reviews about it (okay, no, pretty much I’ve only been hearing bad reviews of it) but I really really enjoyed it, and I generally don’t even like those types of movies, so ohh well. All I really care about is my opinion anyway when it comes to movies.. hehe And, I know it sounds cliché, but I just have to say that Brad Pitt is extremely hot…just, unbelievably.. all I’m going to say is watch for the knife scene…the hottest segment of a movie perhaps ever… Just a sec, I need a moment to collect myself..okay, I think I’m alright now. haha anyways, you should all go see the movie and make up your own mind, don’t just listen to what other people tell you. So, earlier in the day we had bought a star map (I know, I know, I feel like one of those people who comes here from Arkansas and wants to find all the famous people…haha) so we went back to Beverly Hills and Bel Air and drove around trying to locate some of the cooler houses. haha Of course, still on a high from Troy, the first house we went to was Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s.. It was so cute, they had the yellow Christmas lights strung up in all of their trees outside, it was really pretty. So, Madeleine wanted me to stop for a minute outside of their house so she could take a picture. So, I stopped, and the took it, and the flash went off, and all of a sudden there was a flashlight shining on us!! Some one was standing on the other side of the gate with a flashlight! So, we freaked out and I drove away as fast as possible… sooo scary.. haha Then, we went to a few other houses.. nothing else nearly that exciting.. we went by the Playboy mansion.. again, you can’t really see much at any of these places.. but the idea of being there is fun. haha Then we went back to get to sleep so we could wake up bright and early for Wango Tango!
So, I woke up at 10, we had brunch and then we left here around 11ish.. The traffic was pretty good heading over there, and the parking was REALLY good because we got there really early. But, I didn’t know we were getting there really early. I thought that the concert started at 1, like the website says, but I guess they changed it and didn’t change the website, so the concert actually was going to start at 2:30.. but, it was okay, because it was really easy to get in and there was like no traffic and stuff. So, we drive in and park and this scalper is standing right in front of my car and I was like “hey guys, lets just see what kind of tickets he has… turns out, he had floor seats in the second section back, in the second row… niiiice seats.. he wanted our tickets + $50 each and we were like “uhh, that’s a LOT of money…” We finally talked him down to $35 each, which means we paid $90 total each for like $200 tickets…not too shabby.. J Ohh, and in case you’re wondering, before we even considered buying them, we took them to the will call window (while he watched us like a hawk, I’m sure) and said that we bought them on ebay and that we were afraid they were fake and the girl was like “ohh, no, they’re totally fine, don’t worry.” Even after she said that I was still SO afraid they were going to be fake, but guess what? They weren’t! We had amazing seats, and we were maybe 30 feet from all the performers.. and it was just an amazing experience..
But, I’m getting ahead of myself, lets back it up a little. Wango Tango has this thing called Wango Village outside of it where you go and get free stuff and food and walk around. They also have a stage set up where a few people were performing before the show. They had Katy Rose and some girl named Angel (who we didn’t hear then, but they played her song later during a break between artists, and she was SO bad, and SO annoying…yuck). They also had this British band called Busted that were soooo cute and good! We loved them! They were kinda fake punk, but still fun, and they sang a few songs and had so much personality.. one of them was sooo cute, but I think I have to fight Tracy for him. hahaha Then, after they preformed, their crew people gave out posters and then the boys in the band came out and signed them, and I only got two out of the three signatures, but Danielle and Tracy got all three. They were SO nice to their fans, I really liked them a lot. Then, after we saw them, we went inside…or at least we tried to. There were SO many people crowded outside of the gates, it took forever to get in. Then, when we were in, we thought we were home free, but, uhh, not so much. In order to get to the floor to our new found floor seats, we had to wait for like 45 MORE minutes because everyone who had floor seats had to go through this one tiny entrance AND get a wristband, so that took soooo long. And there were these really really scary women screaming things like “let me in right now!” at the top of their lungs…they really seemed like they were going to kill someone.. haha Then, at one point, we heard music start and we were still outside and for one terrifying moment, some random girl convinced me that it was Maroon 5…it was SOO upsetting.. I was going to freak out if I missed them, but thank God, a few minutes later someone else said it was Fefe Dobson.. who I probably couldn’t care less about.. But for a couple minutes there, I was VERY worried…haha So, we finally got inside and sat down, and then the real fun began.. and now, I shall list in order of performance, my opinion of each artist, but I'm going to make a cut for it, so click the link to see.
1. Fefe Dobson ~ uhh…missed her…uhh…don’t care. hehe
2. Kimberly Locke ~ She was…bland.. everyone was still getting seated, in fact, probably half the crowd wasn’t even there yet. It actually kinda reminded me of Vanessa Carlton, Amanda, “thank you all so much for coming early!” Uhh, right…we’re here on time, just because most people come LATE so they don’t have to see YOU doesn’t mean that we’re early..haha Anyways, she sang a couple boring songs and then sang the DANCE REMIX of Eight World Wonder, instead of singing the real song. I hardly like the real one, but the dance remix? Worst thing ever. Baaaaad choice on her part… haha
3. Nick Cannon ~ I thought he was really cute…kinda boring, but cute. I only know the song Gigalo, and its kinda stupid, but he was fun nevertheless, I guess. I, for one, really enjoyed Drumline, so it was fun to see him if only because of that movie. Haha
4. Rooney ~ They were really really good, we all loved them, especially Danielle. They’re her “new favorite” and, even though I can’t understand how she could betray Jason Mraz or Maroon 5 like that, but I can see why she likes them so much. And, they’re really good live. Ohh, and the lead singer, Robert Schwartzman from The Princess Diaries, was SO cute with his long hair and his white suit, I loved it.
5. Clay Aiken ~ Before he went on, the person who announced him said “And now, Clay Aiken is going to rock the house!!” But, as someone, I think Madeleine, pointed out, Clay Aiken can’t even rock a nursing home. Now, to be fair, he does have a great voice, I’ve just never been a huge fan of his.. I found him boring and annoying, and that one song, Invisible, is still the creepiest stalker song ever. haha
6. Hilary Duff ~ I have to admit that after seeing her live, I like her better now. She may have really stupid songs with really stupid lyrics, and they may sound like a 10 year old when she sings, but she’s just SO cute. She has so much personality and energy, it was just really fun watching her perform. She sang all of her hits, then she covered the old song “My Generation,” then her sister came out and they sang “Our Lips are Sealed” and it was just really really fun. Hilary was adorable and she was wearing classic Converse and that took me back to middle school when those were sooo in.. hahaha it was just really fun and energetic. And it was good that I got energized because next was…
7. Maroon 5!! Oh my god, amazing. Words can hardly describe how good they are in person…Adam Levine does the coolest things with his voice and he is so adorable (still needs to grow out his hair, but I can get past that for now…). I was just SO happy to see them again.. and they sang 5 songs: Not Coming Home, Harder to Breathe, Sunday Morning, She Will be Loved (tear..it was beautiful, yet again), and then they closed with This Love. Not Coming Home could have been different..it could have been Through With You or Tangled..but still…so good.
8. JC Chasez ~ I didn’t really know how much I would enjoy him because his songs are so stupid (except for that one from Drumline, I still love that one) but actually, he was pretty fun. Danielle thought he was really raunchy, and he was, but I didn’t care, I enjoyed it a lot. Also, he looked REALLY good, and I might just think so because, as Danielle pointed out, he looks like Chris Isaak.. hahaha but, nevertheless, I thought he was quite attractive. And his hair is a really good length, all long and shaggy, but not tooo long. And also, he knows that one of his strengths is dancing, so he did a lot of that, and it was really cool.
9. N.E.R.D. ~ They were okay, kind of disappointing, if only in that I really like one of their songs (She Likes to Move) but I don’t really know any of their other songs. Also, they were supposed to have Good Charlotte come out and perform with them, and all it was was Benji and some other guy from the band, and they just came out and barely sang one song and then left. But, whatever, She Likes to Move was cool and Pharell has a lot of personality.. it could have been better tho.
10. Enrique Iglesias ~ This was the point when we decided to go get food because none of us were really that interested in him, but I’m so glad that we got back right after he had just started, or else we would SO have missed out! hahaha He sang a couple songs and then he says to the audience “do any of you want to come up here??” and all the girls screamed, and then he said “you over there, come up here” and he pulls this girl on stage who was absolutely going crazy. And I was really impressed with him because she wasn’t some gorgeous blond thin girl, she was normal looking. So then, he sang Hero to her and it was so cute because she had her camera with her so he would be facing her singing and she would be snapping pictures, it was sooo cool. Then, he came over and put his arms around her and she grabbed straight for his butt, it was really funny. Then, at the very end he kissed her. It was so intense, just like when Tyrese did the same type of thing at the other Wango Tango. After that he sang something else and then all of this confetti started streaming everywhere, and since we were in our newfound floor seats, we got covered in it. It was absolutely awesome.
11. Janet Jackson ~ Umm, as you may have noticed from my above explanations, all of the performers did at least 5 songs, some did a lot more. So Janet comes out and sings All For You, which was good because I really like that song. Then, she sang that new song that I don’t even know the name for because you can’t understand a word of the entire song. And then, she left. She just said “Thanks” and left. The entire crowd just stopped and was like “WHAT?” It was the weirdest thing ever. And at first we all thought she was joking or something and that she’d come back out..but then they started taking down her stage and we were like “ohh..” And we came to the conclusion that she was supposed to sing more and she left because the break between her and the next group was 45 minutes.. thankfully, the next group was worth the wait as they were…
12. Black Eyed Peas ~ They SO made up for Janet’s stupid performance! They were really good and really fun. The best part was when one of the guys was like “Where are all my strong ladies out there?” and everyone cheered and then he said “This next song is dedicated to all of you independent strong willed women out there..its called Shut up!” hahaha it was great, as was the song, and all of their other songs. Fun times.
13. Lenny Kravitz ~ Umm, I probably could not care less about anyone. I really can’t stand him or any of his songs at all. I don’t know what the aversion is from, but its very strong. And, he comes out and his hair was more styled than mine has ever been in my life. It was long and layered and flipped out, it looked soo stupid. I definitely cannot understand the whole Nicole Kidman/Lenny Kratitz thing, but whatever. Anyways, he was a low point. Haha Ohh, and if I ever hear the song Fly Away again, I might kill someone..just a heads up.
14. Jessica Simpson ~ I’m not a very big fan of her music or her voice, but I definitely enjoyed seeing her, she was so pretty with so much personality, it made up for the fact that she butchered Take my Breath Away. And to be honest, for some reason her voice sounded BETTER live than on the radio, I actually like With You more hearing it live. One criticism tho…she needs to find a good song writer to write original music for her, because her next single after Take my Breath Away is going to be Robbie William’s song Angels..is that really smart? Two covers in a row? Ohh well.
15. Big Boi of Outkast ~ This would have been a great way to end the show (but you’ll see in a second how they actually DID end it…) He was really fun and kept the energy going. I also learned that a lot of old songs like So Fresh and So Clean and Whole World that I’ve heard and know the lyrics to were actually by Outkast, who knew? Well, everyone except me it seems.. but ohh well, it was fun. It would have been fantastic if Andre had shown up and they’d done Roses and Hey Ya, but no such luck. And then the show was closed by none other than…
16. William Hung ~ No joke. He was the last act. I know you think I’m kidding, I wish I were kidding. But, alas, his horribly painful version of She Bangs was the very last song that we heard (thankfully, it was the only song he sang…) I just don’t understand how even when they slow down the music for him, he still can’t keep up. It was just absolutely terrible, not even funny. haha ohh well, like I said, at least it was only one song.
And there you have it, my take on each of the performers. Other than that, there were a lot of special guests. The Backstreet Boys were there and they sang a little bit a capella, but we kinda missed most of it because we went to the bathroom. Also, the guy who plays Merry from LOTR, both of the moms from The OC, Michael Clarke Duncan, Wayne Brady and his daughter, Nicole Richie, and Simon and Randy were all there plus all of the DJs, including Ryan Seacrest. They were all pretty interesting and funny. Overall, excellent way to spend a day and $90. And now that Wango Tango is over, I am even more excited to see Jason Mraz in a month.. its going to be amazing!
So, Sunday, after an action packed three days, I had to slow it down a lot to write a stupid essay on Descartes philosophy..I probably could not care less about anything ever. hahaha But, I finished at 10:50 last night, even though everyone was telling me that I was going to have to stay up all night to finish. Ha! I’m so cool. And, I think that its pretty good too. So, now the worst part of my hell week is over...I just have a midterm on Thursday that should be okay, and a paper due Friday that will be easier to write than of the Descartes one.. Ohh, and I'm most likely going to the sneak of Saved! tomorrow where Mandy Moore is going to do a Q&A. haha my celebrity spotting continues. :)
And now, I think I’m sick, my voice is still mostly gone and its Monday.. I’m still really tired, and I think I’ve recovered from Wango Tango, so I think I’m just sick. Fabulous. Ohh well. And now that this post is long enough (5 and a half pages in Word) and took me two days to write, I’m going to stop.. hehe I just had to chronicle my crazy weekend.