TORI!!!!!!

Last Sunday, December 16, 2007 was a day I had been anticipating for months... the final concert of Tori Amos's worldwide tour was right here in Los Angeles, and Denise, Phil, and I had tickets! When Tori's latest album, "American Doll Posse," was released, Denise ordered it for me through itunes, paying a bit extra for the pre-sale ticket option. So, when the tickets were finally announced, we had a pre-sale code to get tickets early, which we also provided to Phil so he could get early tickets as well. The irony is that despite the fact that we gave Phil the code and ordered our tickets before Phil, he got better seats than us! I'm assuming this is because he ordered just one ticket for himself, therefore he could be squeezed closer to the front in between multiple parties, but I was still slightly jealous and considered taking him out. ;)

The concert was at the Nokia Center (yes, the phone company, an unfortunate trend of arenas these days), a new venue downtown next to the Staples Center (yes, the office supply company, don't ask me). It is a very nice theater, the lobby is fully equipped with bathrooms, several bars, and of course, display cases full of Nokia phones (gag). Upon our entrance, I went straight to the memorabilia stand. I was on a mission to finally purchase a Tori Amos t-shirt. This was my third Tori concert, but the prior two occurred at times in my life when I was flat broke.... college. I'm finally at a point in my life where I can afford a concert tee! Sad, but true. However, mission accomplished! I have one and I love it.

After my success we headed for the bar line to get a beer for Denise and some wine for myself. We said our goodbyes to Phil and headed to our seats. Even though we did not have the fantastic view Phil did (he said she was pretty much right in front of him), we still had excellent seats. This was by FAR the closest I had ever been to Tori (remember Kate when we were like in the last seat in the last row? haha!). We were seated next to some lovely, but chatty, gay boys who just wanted Tori to sing "Cruel," and she did.

I will not go into every detail of the performance because honestly that would be boring AND it is really sort of a blur. She was two of her characters that night, as well as herself at the end. In case any of you are wondering if Tori has multiple personality disorder, I will say maybe. Haha! Seriously though, she is an ARTIST and we cannot question her artistic decision to perform on this album as 4 other characters at times and at others as Tori! Artists just think differently than we do and we are not meant to understand! :) In all honesty, I love that she did that, it makes her album more poignant and it allows her to explore aspects of her personality, and the collective consciousness, that she might not be able to tap into otherwise just as herself. Maybe I do understand..... but I digress. Back to the task at hand.

She first appeared as Isabel (which meant a blond wig). I remember she sang "Yo George," and "Waitress." I can't recap song for song, but I can say that throughout the whole concert there was a lot of stuff from "Under the Pink," which was a nice surprise. Second, she came out as Pip (which meant a black wig), one of the angriest characters on the album. This performance was pretty powerful. She did "Fat Slut," and and AMAZING rendition of "Cruel," as well as other high-energy songs that I can't quite think of. Finally, she was good ol Tori again. Other songs that come to mind are "Amber Waves," "Bouncing Off Clouds," "Crucify," "Talula," and on, and on, and on. The lighting was fantastic, her costumes were eclectic, and the audience went ballistic. :) After hours of performing, two encores, and a bow, the night was over. I L.O.V.E.D. IT! Someone told me of a rumor that this might be her last big world tour, if this is true, color me depressed right now. :(

One final story... after the concert, I had to pee. We went around back to the parking garage where some bathrooms were still open. After I came out I was talking to Denise and laughing much too loud as always. This night however, my loudness was to my advantage because I caught the ear of a man walking by that worked on the tour. He said, "Hey! Are you a die hard fan?" I hesitantly said yes, wondering what he was going to try to sell me. He replied, "Here you go. It's not signed, but it was used in the show." He flicked something at me, and it landed on the ground in glorious "clink." It was a guitar pick used in the show!! I will not go into all the random events that fell into place to get me that pick, but it was destiny. :)

After my brush with destiny, we waited around out back with a few other fans who had heard whispers that Tori might be exiting out the back door. After an hour had passed and still no Tori, we decided to leave because it was freezing and I could stand the pain no longer.

Another night with Tori was over, but I went to sleep that night smiling, holding the pick in my hand, dreaming of rainbows and kitty paws. (Not really, but what a great ending to the story huh?)

I will survive

My fan club

I don't need no damn rope

At the TOP!
This last weekend Denise and I went to REI to browse and see just what Denise could buy with the gift cards she received for her Birthday. I think all in all, it totaled about $350.00, which can go very quickly at that store. At the store they have a climbing wall in the corner. I am curious about rock climbing, and a part of me thinks I would really love it, but another part is scared of plummeting off a cliff. Anyway, I was sort of meandering around the wall and checking it out, when a salesperson asked me if I wanted to climb. I was a bit nervous (and also thought I had to pay), so I said "No, that's alright." Denise said, "Yes, she does." Then I said, "No, that's ok." Then she said, "Come on, you know you want to." Then I said, "Ummm...let's do it!" I put on the harness, some official climbing shoes, and stepped onto the wall. The moment I grabbed onto the pegs, I realized that this was going to be much harder than it seemed.

As I have heard in the past, rock climbing is much more about your legs than arms. Your legs are what propel you up, while your arms are more for balance and grip. I made it so far up the wall, but due to my short stature and tight denim jeans, I could not get my left leg up high enough to boost myself up to the next level. I tried and tried to no avail, and my arms were shaking so bad that I was about to let go and find a cute jacket instead. However, I looked down to see that I had amassed a little fan club (the pics above are ones Denise took with my cell phone) that had surrounded Denise. One kid yelled out, "You can do it!" How could I stop after that? I could not be the one to show small impressionable children that when life gets tough, you give up.

Finally, my arms just gave out, and I swung a bit around to the side of the wall. I latched on to another peg, and notice that this portion had steps much more my size. I was determined to make it up. I let my arms rest for a minute, and then I started my ascent. I pushed myself up with each crevice until I reached the top. I rang the bell triumphantly and the children cheered. I felt like I had been the protagonist in a children's story about never giving up and the power of perseverance. I felt accomplished. :)

When I got off that rock, I could tell immediately that my arms were not once what they used to be. I could barely unbuckle the clasp that kept my harness on. Lifting my arms above my waste was an effort. The next few days were pretty painful, and all from a 10 minute climb to the stop of this wall. I can't imagine how much climbing an actual rock face would kick my ass, but a part of me wants to find out.

That night we went to Cathleen and Rhonda's cheap wine tasting party. The rule was that you had to bring a bottle of wine that you paid $8.00 or less for (so on sale items counted). It was placed in a paper bag, lettered, and sorted into one of three categories: light, medium, or bold. Each person was then given a lettered score sheet, and you went to each table tasting the various anonymous wines. In the end, I think there were about 30 bottles to taste. It was SO much fun as always. As has been discussed several times by our group of friends, this party is so great because everyone is drinking the same amount of alcohol as everyone else, so you all get tipsy right around the same time. After the wine tasting is done, the votes are tallied, and the top three wines are revealed. Denise was determined to win this year, but alas, it did not happen. Maybe next year my love.

After the ceremonies, two lovely ladies did fire dancing in the back alley which was amazing. I did find myself wondering though what the neighbors were thinking, and what I would do if I looked out the window to see fire flying around behind my house. Then I realized we were in Venice, and I'm sure they have seen many strange things going on behind their houses, so fire dancing is just another occurrence to add to their list.

After the party we met up with a friend at a local bar, lets just say more drunken debauchery, Denise peeing in a doorway, and off key singing all the way home ended the evening.

The next day was TORI AMOS, but I think that definitely warrents its' own post.

One final note, the finale of Tila Tequilla was last night, and surprise, surprise, she picked Bobby instead of Dani. Denise and I predicted this almost from the beginning of the episode based on body language and the affection she showed Bobby, but it was still disappointing none the less. On the one hand, I realize that it was just a dumb realiy show, and did break some barriers since the final girl was a type of lesbian that is not represented on mainstream television that often (and a type Tila herself didn't even know she could care for), but it was still the same ol disappointment of the lesbian never winning. I can't help but think that despite the few strides this show made for the lesbians, the final message was still the sterotypical idea that when bisexual women are faced with the choice of a man and a woman, the man will win because she truly wants "the penis." Ugh... I'm sick of that. Again, I'm not by any means saying this is true and I know many bisexual woman end up with women, but the mainstream media does not represent those women, and this reality show could have been a way to prove that a woman can capture another woman's heart just as well as a man can. But alas, twas not to be. Maybe the next show will redeem us because, that's right folks, "A shot at love 2" is in the works. It will not be with Tila, but with some other fiesty bi-sexual model. Still, I really think that lesbians can't look to television to validate our relationships, we just have to continue to do it the way we always have, by just living our life in open, loving relationships. Carry on my people. :)

I will never take my mouth for granted again...

I'm back, and feeling SO much better than I did about this time a week ago. As you can see above, I swelled up and resembled a chipmunk which Denise helped me to document with this lovely juxtaposition of myself and an actual chubby cheeked chipmunk.

Not only did my wisdom teeth need to come out, but they were impacted under my gums, which in dental terms is an extraction. This translates into them slicing my gums and cutting at my wisdom teeth until they could get them all out. All four...ugh. Anyway, I was given what is known as "twilight sleep," which means that I can still breath on my own, but I'm basically unaware of the disgusting process that is happening in my mouth. I have slight impressions of talking around me and my mouth moving, but no memory of what really happened.

After the surgery, and a stop at Target, I stumbled home onto the couch with wads of bloody gauze (I feel you all can handle the uncensored version :) in my mouth, that needed to be changed every half hour or so. Vince stopped by to pick up some stuff, and he accurately said they looked like "alien pod babies." I stayed doped up on Ibuprofen, Tylenol/codeine, with a hint of antibiotics for about a week. I'm still a bit sore, and have to take some pain relievers every once in awhile, but all in all I'm doing much better.

After a week, I had a check up with the oral surgeon, who gave me a water syringe to rinse out the nasty, rotting food that gets stuck in the sockets which remain. It is definitely gross, but also slightly fascinating, and a relief for my sensitive gums.

I think after this, it will be smooth sailing, but I have much more appreciation of the pain that can be associated with oral procedures (don't be dirty;).

Wisdom Teeth

I had my wisdom teeth out Monday, I will return when the swelling goes down. :)

The Holidays and Stuff

Denise shows off her photoshop skills... she does Birthday cards as well. :)



Our album is due out in '08

The Thanksgiving Holiday gave us another opportunity to pack up the truck and make our way to Sacramento, CA. We always have a blast when we go up there, so Denise and I were very excited to get on the road. However, we had to make one little stop before we could hit the highway.....Baron's vet in Santa Monica.

For those non-LA peeps out there, it may appear on a map that Santa Monica is quite close to Hollywood, but if you know LA traffic, then you know that on a good day it will take you at LEAST a half hour to get over there. UGH! The day we had to go was Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, at about 2:00 in the afternoon, just about the time when anyone who had not fled the city yet was trying to get out at that very moment.

A bit of back story, the reason we had to go to the vet was because a few weekends ago, Baron had suddenly become very sick. All the good stuff like puking, diarrhea, etc. We rushed him to the vet, and discovered that Denise had accidentally given him too much of his chemo meds. He was severely dehydrated, had to be put on an IV drip overnight. Denise was devastated and was being so hard on herself. I told her we all make mistakes and that at least we brought him in when we did. She was being down on herself to our friend Laura, and Laura told me if she said one more negative thing about herself I was to kick her in her shins.... I performed my duty when I had to. :) Anyway, the next day we picked him up and he was like a new dog. It's amazing what some fluids will do. The rest of the week and following weekend he was pretty lethargic, so the vet wanted to check him out one more time before we whisked him away to Sacramento, hence, the drive out there on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

After Barons check-up, antibiotics, and a cone for his head (he was obsessively licking) we headed for the I-5. The distance from the vet to the on ramp for the highway (I know, it's really a freeway, but I refuse to change.;) is about 1 mile. It took us ONE HOUR just to reach the on ramp!! Insanity! I could see the veins busting out of Denise's neck as she tried to negotiate the traffic. Once we were physically on the highway, it took us about 2 hours to get away from the city and all the traffic. Obviously we knew there would be traffic, but I believe you can never really prepare yourself for the madness of the Holidays.

The drive for the rest of the way was quite nice, and we reached Sacramento at about 1AM. After some hugs and hellos we all went to bed.

THANKSGIVING!! Yea, I love this Holiday I must say. Even though I don't eat turkey, I love the idea of getting together with friends and/or family, being thankful for what we have, and sharing all this wonderful food together that we spent the day preparing (well, I don't really prepare food, but I set the table! :). Despite the checkered historical past of this day, I like that it isn't necessarily tied to any Religion, and is just a day to be thankful, which I think most people can agree is a good thing. Ok, argument for my pro Thanksgiving feelings over, and on to the food!!

Denise and Becky spent pretty much the whole day cooking, and we ate around 6PM. Denise had bought me a tofurky feast consisting of a small tofurky, carrots and potatoes, dumplings, and veggie gravy. She also made me vegan mashed potatoes and a vegan pumpkin pie!! Best.Girlfriend.EVER!! I am so lucky. :) After all that slaving over an open flame, we devoured the food in about 10 minutes, and all sat back moaning in pain from our full bellies. Denise had to lay on her left side twice to promote digestion! haha! It was a great day with Katy and Becky just hanging out... just what we had envisioned Thanksgiving would be.

The rest of the trip was pretty chill. On Friday, Becky, Katy, and I all rode scooters, while Denise rode the motorcycle, to get coffees at Kim's coffee shop, Butch and Nellies (great name huh?). It was the first time I rode a scooter further than a block, so it was pretty exciting. I LOVED it! Later that night Denise and I met up with Kim, her girlfriend Christy, and our friend Tracy who was visiting from LA as well, at a little bar not far from their house. I learned how to play a couple of dice games at the bar, and attempted to keep a very drunk man off my girlfriend, failing miserably. She ended up taking care of it herself...damn, I have to get better at this Knight in shining armor stuff.

Saturday we went wine tasting, a tradition at this point for us ladies. We all got loaded as usual, and passed out when we got back to the house. Katy and Becky have a couple of friends that are moving to Washington State, so we all had to pep up and go out for their going away gathering. It was nice to see everyone, but after some conversation, food, and funny photos of Becky, it was time to go home.

Sunday was the day Denise and I were driving back, but first we drove to see the place where Katy and Becky are going to have their commitment ceremony. A few weeks ago, they officially became domestic partners, and this October they are going to have a ceremony with their family and friends. The place they have chosen is BEAUTIFUL! It is a gorgeous ranch out in the middle of rolling hills, trees, and a very eclectic garden which is cared for by a woman that manages the ranch. After the tour, we stopped by the local casino because we all have a gambling addiction that we can't quite kick. Ok, I'm trying to be funny, cause isn't gambling addiction hilarious, I mean....I'm retarded. hahaha! We REALLY stopped there because that is where people will stay who are attending the ceremony because it can accommodate everyone. See, less exciting isn't it.

On our way out of town we stopped by a local winery because Katy and Becky are considering using their wine for the ceremony after-party. ;) Above are a couple of pictures we took by the grapes. Someday we will make music to match all our "band" photos.

It was a wonderful Holiday, and we were sad to leave as usual. Who knows when we will head up again, but we always know it will be a great time! WE LOVE U SACRAMENTO LADIES! xo

Fairy Tales Do Come True...

This last weekend Denise and I went to Palm Springs to stay at a fancy resort known as the Viceroy. Awhile ago Denise won employee of the year at her work (yea!), and her prize was a day off and a 2-night stay at this resort. We drove up Friday night after work, comfortably dressed in sweats and tennis shoes, with my fan (I need it to sleep) in tow.

We pulled up to the hotel, and could tell from the valet awaiting us, that this was a pretty upscale place. We entered the lobby, which was almost completely white, to check in. Right next to the lobby is the bar/restaurant for the hotel, with all the Friday night scenesters dressed in their latest designer gear, sipping on their cocktails. It is through this group of people that we had to walk with our shabby cloths and my fan (although we did put it in a mesh bag:). It was pretty funny, and a tad embarrassing.

After we got into the room, we decided to stay in and just enjoy it. It came fully stocked and even included a glass filled, gas powered, fireplace. We both took showers, and got into the robes which were provided in the room. I must say, they were AMAZING. SO soft inside, yet smooth and cottony on the outside; warm, but not too heavy. I would have definitely taken one, if I had the $115.00 they were going to charge us. eeek! Above is a ridiculously dorky picture of myself on the best bed in the world, covered in some imported Italian bedding. It was lovely.

On Saturday we went to Tahquitz Canyon, which is an ancient Indian Canyon now fully equipped with a visitor's center and ranger led hikes if you wish. The hike leads back to a waterfall in the Canyon, which was pretty much a trickle right now since there really hasn't been any rain. Still, it was a very beautiful and interesting hike, totally worth the $12.50 admittance fee. Here is a link to Palm Springs Canyons http://www.palmsprings.com/points/canyon/ It has an interesting history, full of dirty hippies (I gest) trashing up the canyon, getting kicked out, community meetings, and the eventual restoration of the canyon.

Saturday night we went to dinner at a place called Big Wangs in the desert (which I thought was a completely comical name for a restaurant in Palm Springs, since there are gay man EVERYWHERE). We then retired for the evening, deciding to continue to take advantage of the hotel room, and stay in. After debating on just what to order from room service, we decided on fresh baked cookies, prepared in 15 minutes, at a bargain price of $9.00. I was SO excited. After about 30 minutes passed, Denise called them again, reminding them we had ordered cookies. The girl said she would check on it. Another 20 minutes passed, and someone called to tell us the cookies would be on their way. Soon there was a knock at our door, and the manager of restaurant personally brought us the cookies and apologized. He would not accept a tip and gave us the cookies for free!! The cookies were fresh, warm, and accompanied by a bowl of whipped creamy goodness for you to dip your cookie in if you wished. I wasn't very true to my non-dairy ways that evening, but I could not resist after the orgasmic look on Denise's face as she took the first bite.

Sunday we packed up and said good-bye to our get away. On our way out of Palm Springs we stopped by Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree is a National Park full of Mountains, which look more like piles of boulders, surrounded by.... well, Joshua Trees. It was so much fun climbing and hopping between the rocks making our way up to the top. We plan on going back again, perhaps to camp for a night or two depending on the weather. Here is a link with pictures http://www.desertusa.com/jtree/josh_month.html

Sunday night we pulled into the garage, and lugged all our stuff to the apartment for a quiet evening in. Well.... not quite. We had game night of course!! Vince, Justin, and Corey came over for game night. This time we played spades, and Denise drank every drop of wine in the house, including the port. hahaha! I have no idea what got into her, but the next morning she told me she thew up! I had no clue.... she definitely paid for it Monday morning. A perfect end to a lovely weekend.

One final thing! I forgot to say that once again, Denise and I (well, mostly me) were confronted with the realization that we might be staying in a haunted room! Here are the details: Friday night, we get to our room. Literally the moment the manager shuts the door to our room, the television turns on all by itself. Of course inside Denise and I are both freaking out, but because neither of us want to scare the other, we both try to ignore it.

Flash forward to Sunday morning. I'm slowly awakened by voices coming from the direction of the television. I slowly open my eyes, expecting to see the television on, preparing to freak the fuck out. However, I realize the television is not on, but Denise's ipod is. It was in a player which was provided in the room. Now, I'm starting to loose it a bit. I shake Denise awake to tell her the ipod is on, she sleepily asks how, and I say it just turned on. She doesn't seem very shocked by this, and drifts back to sleep. I tell her one of us is going to have to get up to turn it off, cause there is no way I'm sleeping with that thing on. I look at Denise and realize I'm going to have to take care of this mission, because she is almost unconscious again. I run over, yank it out of the player, and turn it off, then I leap across the floor back into bed. I snuggle closer to Denise, cause I'm a tad freaked, and she snores out of nowhere, causing me to jump about a foot and shake the whole bed, which wakes her again.

The rest of the morning, I sleep about an hour, wake up, and try to go back to sleep. I keep imagining some unknown force grabbing my feet, or suddenly hearing voices in my ear. I'm a mess.

When I finally get up, Denise is already awake. She says she had trouble sleeping too because she was scared (could have fooled me;). Anyway, she had the sensibility to look at the ipod player, and saw that there was an alarm function, set to go off at 6:30 AM, exactly when the ipod turned on. Alas, our "supernatural" experience can again be explained away by science... however, we still never figured out how the television came on..hmmmmmmm. :)

Baron

So, this past weekend we got some sad news about Baron. He had been doing this thing for awhile where he seemed to be wheezing and then hacking like he was going to throw up, but nothing would come out. He also had swollen lymph nodes on his body. Denise and I had noticed that it was getting progressively worse, so she finally decided to bring him into the vet. There were some tests the vet needed to perform, but he was fairly positive that Baron has lymphoma. Lymphoma is a common cancer in dogs, and it is aggressive. Often without treatment, a dog will die within 1-2 months of diagnosis.

This was of course quite a shock and painful for Denise to hear. She didn't go into work on Friday (the day she found out), and I left work early in order to be with her. It was a melancholy day to say the least. That night we decided to keep it low key and go to a movie and dinner. We went to see "Into the Wild," which is an inspirational, but also sad, true story about a young boy who leaves everything and everyone in order to travel across the United States to his eventual goal of braving Alaska. I thought the movie was incredibly well cast, acted, and of course stunning. I was glad we chose this movie because Denise had been wanting to see it for awhile, and she needed a bit of an escape from reality.

Anyway, we had a pretty quiet weekend consisting of a dinner on Saturday with friends, a Sunday hike with Baron and a trip to Petco where Baron was surprised with all kinds of disgusting treats (including pig ears, YUCK!). Sunday evening was game night and the final poker show down was again between Phil and I, cause we ROCK! ;) It just felt like a weekend to be with the dog, and make his life from now on as joyous as possible.

Baron went to another vet this week (there was some delays and run around with the other vet, so Denise went elsewhere) and they are starting treatment for the cancer. From what we read, this form of cancers responds well to treatment, and although it won't cure it, he will probably live for about a year. Denise was concerned about his quality of life with the chemo, but she was assured that there is slight discomfort like loose bowels and excess urination, but nothing like what humans go through. The treatment lasts for 2 months, and then we just see what happens.

So, although the news was a blow, we are hopeful that with treatment there are many good times still to be had with Baron, and our biggest concern is that he is happy and does not suffer. I will keep you updated, and here's to BARON! (ps: above is a pic of he and Argo together on the bed, with Argo actually not hissing and slapping Baron. It's a rare occurrence, believe me.:)