Busiest Weekend EVER!

Thank goodness it was hot and sunny on the weekend of June 25th-27th considering I spent the entire time outside (and got a little burnt to prove it).  Friday night Sarah, Claire, Heather and I went to a festival called Hard Rock Calling in London (kind of like Bayfest) to see Pearl Jam, and man were they amazing!  I love love LOVE Eddie Vedder more than words can say, especially when he (they) played nearly every song I could have hoped for.  At the start of the concert Eddie asked everyone to please not push to the front because he didn't want anyone to get hurt as sometimes happens at his concerts apparently, and then it was all music from then on (3 whole hours worth!).  They played my most favourite PJ songs, including Black, Better Man, State of Love and Trust, Evenflow, World Wide Suicide, and Porch.  And, to make the night even better, when they came out for their second encore they played Alive, and this is what happened following that:

(near the end of Alive)
Me - wouldn't it be amazing if, after this song they just launch right into Yellow Ledbetter?  That would make my night."
(Pearl Jam launches into Yellow Ledbetter)
Me - OH MY GOD! (jumping up and down)

Yup.  I was pretty much in heaven.  And for the record, Yellow Ledbetter live sounds absolutely nothing like the recorded version.  Not that it really matters.

That night Sarah, Claire and I went to our hostel that we booked for the night - ₤14.00 each for the night, and it was seriously the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in.  Spacious, clean, huge fridge and dressers (not that we used them); definitely will stay there again if I ever need to spend the night in London again, which I'm sure I will.

Next morning we woke up ridiculously early for a weekend and made our way to Wimbledon.  We met Britny, Mark, Emma, Nicole and Kari there and sat in line on our blankets for about 4 hours until they opened (you have to do that as they don't sell tickets in advance).  It was okay though since it was so gorgeous outside.  Once we got in I realized I didn't really know anything about tennis and so I got a five minute explanation from Mark before I started watching a game.  But then I was hooked!  I really like it (so much so that I have even started following the tournament from home on tv)!  Kari and I watched one whole match between two French dudes (obviously cheering for the hottest one) and I managed to get a burn over top of my burn.  We wandered around after that, taking quick peeks at a bunch of different matches, and then went home.

Next day I was off to Hard Rock Calling again, only this time for Paul McCartney.  This wasn't in the original weekend plan, but Simon, Sarah's boyfriend, wanted us to go so badly that, when I told him I couldn't afford the ₤70.00 ticket, he up and bought my ticket for me.  So sweet!  So off we were again, drinking cider on the train and peeing in toilet-paperless porta potties.  It was a pretty surreal moment when Paul walked out on stage.  I mean, he's a Beatle for goodness sake!  And it was even more incredible to get to sing along with him to all my favourite Beatles tunes including A Day in the Life, Yesterday, Helter Skelter, Eleanor Rigby, Band on the Run, Let It Be, Give Peace a Chance and Hey Jude.  There were even fireworks during the rock-out parts of Live and Let Die.  SO cool.  Sarah and I danced around like crazy people the entire concert - it was so much fun.

Got in on Monday morning about 1am - very tired day at work on Monday I must admit, but it was well worth it.  I think that is the busiest weekend I have had in England excluding holidays, and it was also one of the most enjoyable.

Britny and Me and Jr Spell Makes Three

This morning my housemate's boyfriend Mark (affectionately known as Jr Spell) told me that he read my entire blog and that it was really good apart from that fact that there was nothing about him in it.  I promised him that very minute that I would blog about him today, and so here I am.

Mark is a Brit from Gillingham and has been Britny's friend for about a year and a half, her boyfriend for about six months, and he and I have become quite good friends since Britny and I (and subsequently Mark) have moved in together.  There is pretty much nothing uncool about Mark - he does everything in the world for Britny, so he gets points there; he drives me places, picks me up and drops me off (because he only has a little two-seater and he's too nice to make me walk when Britny isn't); he buys me drinks, flowers, sweets, McDonalds on hang-over Sundays; he drives me to the airport and picks me up; he gets me free entry into Gillingham games in his parent's box; he puts up with mine and Britny's crazy behaviour (like singing entire conversations and blaring Lady Gaga in his car, just to name a couple); he is just a really, genuinly nice person and I am super happy he is dating my best friend.  As I said last night, "Mark is practically my boyfriend too." 

I should mention that the only thing wank about Mark is his utter obsession with football.  I mean, all Brits like the game, maybe even love the game.  But Mark - watch out when a game is on, that's all I really have to say.  Other than that small imperfection though, Mark is pretty cool.

So...how was this Jr Spell?  Up to your standards?  I bet the picture is your favourite part. Xx

Bon Jovi - I Would

I can't believe I am sitting on my couch right now, blogging about the Bon Jovi concert last night, but I am.  Sarah, Kari, Britny, Cara and I were so excited as we made the long journey from Maidstone to the O2 Arena.  When we got there and made our way to the very top (ya, we were very far away, but whatever, it was still awesome) we looked down on a nearly full arena and thought, wow.  It was seriously so packed.  After a while of waiting, people were starting to get anxious - we wanted Bon Jovi.  Suddenly we noticed the wave coming towards us so we participated.  It continued along the circle in the upper level and made it almost to the end before it stopped.  The other side started it again though, and it made it all the way around that time.  The cheers that erupted from the upper level of the arena, including mine, were overwhelming, and amazingly, the bottom level joined in and we went around the entire arena TWO times, totally synchronized.  It was so cool - I mean, I have done the wave before at sporting events and such, but never before has one involved every single person in the entire (and massive, 20 000 people) arena.  It's amazing how the love for one band can bring thousands of people together.

And even better, at the end of our second lap around the circle, Bon Jovi came out!  Hurray!  He opened with a new song that I didn't really know but then just rocked out to a great mixture of new and old; he sang a number of classics including Cowboy, Bad Medicine, Livin' on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name, Bed of Roses, and my two favourites, I'll Be There (which I was totally suprised and incredibly excited to hear) and It's My Life which was his encore.  He even stopped in about the middle of the concert and told us that "the jube box is open tonight" and then sang The Rolling Stones' Painted Black and Pretty Woman.  It was awesome. 

He would also stop and let the audience sing HUGE parts of his songs; not just a few lines, like whole versus and chorus's while he stood there and smiled out at everyone.  It was so great - he is a wonderful performer.  And he's hot too, I must say.  I mean for man in his forties, I would.

Singing With My Sisters

"Here Britny, open your birthday present." - Me

(Britny opens card)

"Sister Act!?  Yay!  I was wondering what show I was going to get!" - Britny

That brief conversation basically sums up each and every one of our birthdays because, as you know, theatre tickets are the standard birthday gift with us ladies.  Not that I mind whatsoever - I love theatre and have been lucky enough to see seven musicals since I have been in England, including the one I am about to write about, Sister Act.

Now raising the roof at the London Palladium theatre, Sister Act is based on the fabulous film starring Whoopi Goldberg, only with a totally different score.  Apparently Touchstone Pictures refused to give them the rights to the songs in the film, but Whoopi and company were so determined to make a musical hit, they came up with all new ones.  The new score was created by eight time Oscar winner Alan Menken whose credits include Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and most recently the hit movie Enchanted.  Not a bad resume; and Mr Menken has done it again.  The songs are fantastic, even if I couldn't sing along with them.

As most of you know, the story focusses on disco diva Deloris Van Cartier, who, after witnessing a murder, is put in protective custody in the one place cops are sure she won't be found - a convent! Disguised as a nun, she finds herself at odds with both the rigid lifestyle and an uptight Mother Superior. Using her unique disco moves and singing talent to inspire the choir, Deloris breathes new life into the church and community, but in doing so blows her cover. Soon the gang are giving chase, only to find themselves up against Deloris and the power of her new found Sister Hood.

The show was fantastic, of course.  Extremely funny and emotionally charged, this musical is a must-see for anyone who loves to smile for hours at a time.

Love Dubrov!

For my May/June holiday my friends and I went to Dubrovnik, Croatia, and oh, what a trip!  We flew out on Monday night and, when the plane was hovering over Dubrovnik, the pilot came on the intercom and informed us that there was a massive thunderstorm and the plane would be unable to land - apparently EasyJet planes are not as heavy as other planes, and it wouldn't be able to handle the torrential winds.  We flew in circles for about a half an hour to see if the storm would pass, but alas, it did not; so, much to our disappointment, we had to fly to Split, Croatia, and land there.  We sat on the plane for about another thirty minutes when the pilot came on again and told us we would have to take a bus to Dubrovnik, which is about a four hour drive!  *sigh* - so we waited at the Split airport ("I hate Split!") for two hours for the coaches to arrive and got to Dubrovnik about three in the morning.  Luckily, the woman whose house we were staying at is super wonderful - she stayed up all night waiting for us and walked to meet us where our taxi dropped us off so we wouldn't struggle to find the house in the pitch black of night.  Needless to say, we didn't do much exploring when we got there.

We started the next day off by getting groceries and exploring the town.  It was very exciting to learn that our house is located right inside the old city walls - called Pile Gate.  Basically that means that we were living in the most beautiful part of the city.  Sweetness.  We took our time, taking tons of pictures of the beautiful views, while we waited for Kari, who was arriving that morning.  We spent the day doing a Walls and Wars walking tour, which consisted of walking around the walls that surround the old city.  For those of you who don't know (like myself) the city is encompassed by medieval 1,940 meters long walls, which have been preserved in their original form and opened for visitors as the major attraction.  The views were breath-taking; really indescribable.  The only negative thing about it was the length of the walk - the brochure said it lasted an hour and a half, fair enough.  But our tour guide loved to talk, and consequently our walk lasted nearly three hours...up high, near the sun, no shade, lots of stairs...we were exhausted at the end (or at least I was)!  That night Sarah and Britny made us a fabulous dinner and we ate on our enormous and stunningly beautiful terrace, looking out at the wonderful scenes that surrounded us.  It was a great day.

The next day we took a Three Island Cruise that lasted all day - except it was cool and overcast and rainy.  Awesome.  What was also fantastic was that we were on the boat with a bunch of old people (no offense grandma) who were total bummers and stole our seats.  So, naturally, to make the best of the situation, we bought lots of booze and got drunk.  By the time we reached the second island we were all pretty happy with our lives.  The old people, however, were not so happy with theirs; note that when I say we got drunk, I actually mean we got beligerently drunk; ie. singing Lady Gaga's Bad Romance over and over and over (actually, mainly singing the beginning of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance over and over and over - much more annoying I'm sure), and dancing around the boat as though it was my living room.  Now, before you cringe with embarrassment mom, there was a large group of old people that started to really love us come island number three.  We were literally feeding them our peach rum liqueur; by the time we reached the third island they were dancing and singing with us and capturing it all on camera.  I imagine they enjoyed being young again for a little while.

The weather was much nicer on the third island and we spent the afternoon running around with the shopping cart we found and swimming in the adriatic sea.  It was wonderful.  The one thing about getting drunk so early in the day, though, is that, unless you keep it up, you wear out kinda fast.  What I mean to say is, we ended up lying on the beach totally hung over and not wanting to be disturbed.  Unfortunately though, our boat was ready to go, so we spent the trip back playing cards and napping on the bottom deck.  Whatever old people.

Sarah, Britny, Mandi and I went wandering that night in our pajamas and met a few British guys from Manchester.  We ended up hanging out with them quite a lot during our trip - they are super fun and I hope to party with them again now that we're home.

The next day was Sarah's birthday and we spent the day wandering around the old city, having some drinks at different places, basically just enjoying the life.  We got a little drunk again that afternoon, I must admit, and we spent our time playing cards on our terrace.  Asshole was the game of choice - oh reminders of highschool.  We went out for dinner that night to celebrate Sarah's turning twenty-five; the food was cheap and absolutely incredible!  I had a salad and a pizza (with leftovers for lunch the next day) and my mouth waters just thinking about it. 

The next day we finally had beach weather!  We woke up early and journeyed to the only (partially) sandy beach near us, about a ten minute walk from the house.  The views were, once again, spectacular, and we spent the morning laying on the beach, swimming in the ocean, kayaking around like pros...we led tough lives.  The only negative thing about the beach is the rocks you have to walk over to get into the water.  Ouch!  It was probably the most hilarious thing, watching me get in and out of the water.  I kind of had to do a crab walk in order to make it out alive.  But really, I am not complaining.

About two o'clock in the afternoon a really dark cloud started towards us...very rapidly.  We high-tailed it out of there and pretty much made it home before it started to rain.  And what did we do that afternoon?  Have you been paying attention?  If you have, you would know that the answer is WE GOT DRUNK.  Yup.  Yet again, we spent our afternoon drinking and playing asshole (and listening to Lady Gaga of course).  We took a nap for about three hours until seven o'clock, and then Mandi and I made a marvelous pasta bake dinner with chicken, fish and shrimp on the side.  It was devine.  We ate about ten o'clock and then went out on the town to celebrate our last night in Croatia.  We met our British friends, along with a couple guys from Australia, at a bar called SkyBar and moved on to the Latino club later on in the night.  Britny and I didn't stay out very late - we made it an early night, were in by about four in the morning.  Hahaha. 

The rest of the girls stumbled in about five.  That made the next morning interesting, since it was a beautiful day and we wanted to make the most out of it before we had to leave to catch our plane (at eight o'clock at night, thank god).  We spent the ridiculously hot day on the beach - well, actually, we spent most of the ridiculously hot day in the water, since we could only last about twenty minutes out of it.  I really do mean it when I say ridiculously hot, although again, I am not complaining.  We tried to go parasailing, which would have been wicked, but it was too windy and the dudes said it was too dangerous to go.  Sad.  We left the beach after a few hours and went to the rock bar (a bar on the rocks - self explanatory) for a drink before we went back to the house to get changed before going to the airport.

The trip to the airport was pretty wank I must admit, only because we were leaving one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  It brought I tear to my eye to leave it behind.  I mean, there are a million more places in Europe that I want to visit before I go home, but I can seriously see myself going to Croatia one more time.  I truly loved it there.

P.S. I look great in a sailor's hat.  I think I should make this my new image.

Gaga Shows Me Her Teeth

To start off my fantastic spring holiday my friends and I went to see Lady Gaga at the O2 Arena in London.  Although the show was absolutely fantastic, it came at a stressful and eventually much larger price.  We bought our tickets for ₤85.00 from an online company called ViaGogo - but we didn't get them in the mail so the day before we left for London we called the company so they could fix the problem (with other companies, such as Ticketmaster, if you don't get your tickets in time you simply have to call them and they will inform the venue of the problem and all is well).  However, we couldn't get ahold of them, and even though we tried the next day too, we just kept getting their automated answering service that said they were unavailable.  So, a little anxious, we made our way to London, hopeful that the people at the ticket office would be able to figure something out.  We were not so lucky.  They told us they couldn't do anything because ViaGogo isn't one of their regular clients and they couldn't do anything about it.  We asked to speak to a supervisor and, although she did everything she could, she was not able to give us the tickets; she said that since we had floor seats there was no proof that our tickets weren't used by someone else (which is total garbage because we would have had to sign for them at the post office upon arrival...but they didn't seem to care about that fact).  So our only options were to either go home broken hearted or buy new tickets.  We obviously chose the latter - how could we possibly turn around and walk away from Lady Gaga!?  We bought ₤55.00 seats in the upper bowl and sucked up our loss, hoping that we get our money back from Via-LAME-Oh.

Considering the shitty start to our evening, the tickets turned out to be fantastic.  We were in the front row, and although we were up very very high, we could see everything perfectly and didn't have to worry about people blocking our view.  She opened with Just Dance to get everyone going, and basically made us Oooh and Aaah throughout her entire show.  She played every song I could have possibly wanted to hear; her costumes were crazy-wonderful (including the videos that were played during her costumes changes - one in particular of her eating a very juicy plum which was made to look as though she was eating a human heart - I gagged a little, I must admit, but it was really cool), her dancing spot-on fabulous, and her singing absolutely astounding.  I actually didn't realize that she is as good a singer as she is.  Not to mention the fact that she can play the piano like no other (and with her stiletto shoe at that)!

Her show was incredibly entertaining.  After a couple songs she and her crew launched into a spell-binding story; after she was sucked into a tornado and swept away to a "very bad place," she was "eaten" up by a boy monster who ate her heart and her brain - her dancers surrounded her and when she emerged she was covered in fake (but very believable) blood.  She danced around in the blood for a while, and then ended up in a forest where a huge (and I mean that very literally) octopus-type-thing attacked and essentially raped her.  The whole thing was extremely entertaining, albeit a little weird (but what can you expect from Gaga)?

What was most amazing about her show was the way she would stop and speak to her audience; she is enormously thankful for her fame and lets it be known (constantly) that it is her fans who she lives for.  She told stories about how no one ever believed in her, and how now she is proud to be able to tell them to "fuck off and ask [her] for her fucking autograph." 

If it is at all possible, I left the concert loving Lady Gaga one hundred times more than I did before.  So, even if I don't get my money back for the original tickets, I would say that she is definitely worth the price.