Concert Report and Other Concerns

I'm not gonna lie...

Cheap Trick, Heart, and Journey ROCKED...

I'll be honest...

I thought it would be fun to hang out with the girls, to drink some Sangria (which also ROCKED. Mona is a genius), and to sing along to some songs I hadn't sang for awhile (well OK, I sang ONE of them Saturday night at Michelle's '80s B-day Party), but I wasn't really expecting to be impressed by the music.

I mean, come on...how many reunion tours really ROCK and how many DON'T... So, I was really focused on the social aspect of event (e.g. hanging out with friends) But then there was this... (If you haven't seen Journey's new lead singer yet, you gotta watch this...go ahead, I'll wait...)



Seriously!!!! Effing amazing, isn't it?

So...flashback...I'm 15 years old, growing up in Reno, NV and attending my first concert (at the Centennial Colosseum...gotta love Reno for all it's subtlety). My date is a guy named Danny and there's a REALLY FUNNY SMELL emanating from some of the funny looking cigarettes many people around us are smoking. (I was such a good Catholic girl. I'd never seen pot before and that night was definitely the first time I'd been around people smoking pot...not that I did...)

Anyway, all of it paled when Steve Perry took the stage and sang "When the lights go down on my city..." I still get goosebumps when I hear it.

I've been a Journey fan ever since. I'm pretty sure it was my only date with Danny.

(BTW I am thinking of inventing another drinking game...can you tell the difference? Is it Steve or Arnell). In truth, I prefer Steve. Don't get me wrong Arnell was an incredible surprise and sounded amazingly like Steve, but he wasn't Steve.

OK...fast forward...Cheap Trick, Heart, & Journey play Cricket Amphitheater in Chula Vista, CA. The place was packed (a surprise...I mean who goes to see a concert on a Tuesday night)!

The concert started with Cheap Trick (another surprise, I thought Heart would start off), but we had just gotten into the parking lot, so even though Betty sprinted to see them, Mona and I decided to stay and drink more Sangria and eat some of the tasty food we brought...and to hang out with the way-too-young parking lot crowd, many of whom seem to be there to see this new Journey (who knew?)...either that or they were interested in the Sangria.

We eventually made our way inside and found Betty right before Heart took the stage. Ann Wilson can still belt out a tune like there's no tomorrow and Nancy Wilson still completely rocks. Watching both of these women rock-out (and I know they're older than I am) was completely inspirational...and made me think of how us "old chicks" still got it. (I'm going to be 46 in a couple of weeks...a fact about which I reminded Betty at one point...to which she responded...then you are just doing great with your running...Clearly she forgets how OLD I am!).

Here's the view from the lawn seats at Cricket...and since I'm no music critic, I'll spare you any further effort I might make at trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about where music is concerned (I've only got, "they rocked" and "it was awesome" in my music-review repertoire). Instead I'll do a run-down of my favorite moments from the evening.

• Emptying my car's ashtray with $1.24 worth of pennies into the toll booth basket, and still coming up $.19 short to pay the toll...but since there were four cars behind us (honking) we shot through the red light anyway.
• Arguing with Mona and Betty about whether or not we were going the right way (I'll just point out here that I WAS RIGHT!)
  
• Seeing an ex-student as we entered the parking lot at Cricket (oh good) and having him be NO HELP WHATSOEVER in getting us a good parking space.
  
• Mona's Sangria (which ROCKED) and which had that lovely effect of having no effect, until it did...and then that was that.
• Drinking from classy, acrylic, wine glasses (cuz we're just classy that way), which impressed the 20-somethings parked around us.
  
• Mona peeing behind a bush (pictured) again, cuz we're just classy that way.
  

• Betty sprinting to hear Cheap Trick, while Mona and I decided to continue drinking and eating in the parking lot (we all have our priorities).
• Missing Betty dance to "Surrender" (awwwwww...it's a shame)
• Betty using beer as hair product to get her hair to spike.
  
• Doing a guitar solo with Nancy Wilson during ooooooooooohhhhhhh Baaaarrrrraaaacuuuuudaaaaaaaaaaa. (dadada, dadada, dadada, dadada, dadada, dadada, dadada, da da da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...thank god for Wii Guitar Hero!
• Our dramatic rendition, acting out the lyrics to "Open Arms" and "Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin"
  
• Jumping up and down like a 20-year old.
• Learning how the camera in my iPhone completely stinks in low light (or dark).
  
• Finding birthday-girl, Michelle and marveling at her GIANT ZIP-LOCK blanket in a bag (pictured)

• Learning how to not-whistle, but still look like we are (pictured)

• Getting into the FasTrak lane on the way home by mistake, even though I don't have a sensor on my car, and just saying WTF, cuz we were tired chicas and it was 1:15am...way past my bedtime. (By the way, I called the FasTrak customer service line today to beg mercy and let me pay the toll fare(s), and had a really happy conversation with the customer service rep about the concert, how great it was, and how amazingly similar to Steve Perry the new lead singer for Journey sings...clearly, I'm not talking to someone in India, so I ended up getting a FasTrak-toll road sensor so I don't have to empty my ashtray pennies into toll booth baskets anymore...AND I get to pay last night's toll with a $2.00 service fee...which sure beats the $37.50 citation I thought I was going to get).

ALSO BTW...if you have the chance to see this concert, I'd go again in a heartbeat. It was worth meeting with my new employer and carting my kids around to and from all of their camps today with a hangover. Worth every penny!

Oh yeah...in running news....I HAVE also managed to run twice this week. On Monday, I managed 4 miles on the dreadmill...and today I discovered a way to pass time on the dreadmill for another 40 minutes.

About the Dreadmill...I complain about running on it (occassionally), but I am lucky enough to own a pretty good one (PaceMaster Platinum Pro), which I convinced Walter to buy about three years ago when I first started this running thing. At that time, I clearly realized that if I were ever going to keep running for any length of time, I needed a means to run that was convenient and would easily fit into the child-rearing, house managing, full-time working, lifestyle I have...thus, I needed a treadmill. Well...that was the logic of it anyway.

Over the past three years, I've developed a sort of love/hate relationship with Dread. In the beginning, I actually preferred running with Dread. He sort of saved my shins, my back, and other not-so-in-shape-parts. Three and a half years later, I MUCH prefer running outdoors. Dread is boring. He never goes anywhere. He takes up a lot of space and is aesthetically unappealing. At times, I haaaaaaaate him, but when push comes to shove, he is ALWAYS there for me. If I only have 30 minutes to run...I can run with Dread the entire 30 minutes. If I want to run in my underwear, Dread doesn't care.

But still...I can only run for so long with Dread...40 minutes is pretty much my limit.

However, today I discovered that if two 13-year old neighborhood boys are swimming in the backyard pool w/12 year old DramaGirl and girlfriend... YIKES AND HORRORS...I can run for 50 minutes without looking at the clock AT ALL.

None of the neighborhood boys are named Danny, Steve or Arnell...I guess I can count my blessings for that.