Happy Spring!

I wish that I had some better pictures to show you as far as my spring goes thus far. I have one fun one, but mostly they're just me playing around outside with Jack.

This is a picture of me and some friends at the Vampire Weekend show at The Orange Peel over Spring Long Weekend. It was the last night of the break right after I got back from the beach and it was a super fun night. We went for drinks and to sit on the sweet patio at Hannah Flannagan's beforehand (and a shot at Mo Daddy's on the way) and just had a blast hanging out. The show itself was GREAT. If you ever get the chance to see them, do it.

One thing I do love about The Orange Peel (among the many things I really hate) is that they get all kinds of bands somewhat early on in their career, right before you'd expect to see them play in Charlotte rather than in Asheville. The issue is that people from Asheville will travel to Charlotte to see a show usually, but people from Charlotte suck too much to drive to Asheville. For example, I saw Wolfmother at the Peel a couple years ago, right before they blew up and they are now playing at the Fillmore in Charlotte. Same thing with O.A.R., though that was more than 4 or 5 years ago probably, and I also had the opportunity to see Queens of the Stone Age there, but I chose not to go.

They also get really fantastic, kind of huge bands every now and then, like the time the Smashing Pumpkins played 9 shows there. And the time the Beastie Boys sold out in like 45 seconds or something.

Here's Jack playing in the sun one of these really hot days. Actually, I guess he's technically not playing so much as panting, but you get the picture.

Where's Jack? This is one of those times that I was doing laundry and the washing machine was scaring the crap out of Jack. Instead of hiding under something this time, he went outside and refused to come in for like 2 hours. In fact, he hardly moved from that spot. This one also is a good picture of how long the grass in the backyard is...

Happy Spring!

BEACH

I LOVE THE BEACH.

We had a Spring Long Weekend and I went to the beach for four days and it was great. Unfortunately, I spent the vast majority of my time in the sand drinking and therefore did not trust myself with my new camera.

I literally did next to nothing except sit in the sun and drink. It was amazing.

I did, however, take a really silly video last week sometime when it was nice outside. This is my backyard and you can also kind of see the deck. Please excuse the quality of the video; I shot it with my cell phone. Also please excuse my extraordinarily loud talking, giggling, whistling, and the vibrating at the end of the video when someone sent me a text or something.

Other than that, my dog loves sticks. And running. :)

It's Possible that I Live for Weekends

This past weekend I went down to Charlotte, mostly because I had tickets to two different concerts, but also to see my family of course. I think I may have mentioned this already, but it turned out to be another really great weekend so I'm just going to keep on keeping on.

Friday night, I had tickets to Flogging Molly (sorry sister!) at the Fillmore. They opened a new music place in downtown Charlotte last year. I got to see The Offspring at the outdoor amphitheater part of it last summer, but this was my chance to see the indoor venue, the Fillmore. I really can't complain about either venue in and of itself. The outdoor amphitheater is actually kind of perfect for any band you really want to see outside, but that wouldn't fill up a huge pavilion like place. The Fillmore was pretty well thought out and put together. There are plenty of bars and you can see from pretty much anywhere. All of that said, my biggest complaint about the place as a whole is the price of alcohol. A small fill-in-the-blank-here-with-some-crappy-beer is $9! WHAAAAAAAT?!?!?!

When we went to see The Offspring, we just tailgated in the parking lot beforehand. This actually did not go over that well as it just made me want more beer when we got in to the show and I ended up spending more money than I should have. This was not the result of drinking in the parking lot I had anticipated.

This time we had no such plan, but that turned out well because sober me cannot justify paying that much for beer while drunk me just wants more, apparently, and cost has no meaning. I had a solid one beer.

But Flogging Molly was fantastic and I'm fairly certain it's the best FM show I've seen. Zak, his girlfriend, and his friend Sean also really enjoyed themselves. I met up with Jim and some other friends afterwards for a little while.

The weather for the weekend was also fantastic, so on Saturday, I did a hike up Crowders Mountain and picnicked at the top. It was a seriously beautiful day. I took Jack as well and discovered that he's not much of a fun of rock jumping or heights. I had to lift him over some stuff. Someone actually asked if I needed help at one point. It was kind of funny. It's a pretty hard hike, but it was well worth it.

Here's Jack on top of the mountain. Please notice that's it the only mountain around for miles. I didn't even know it existed, honestly.

Sunday was also a really beautiful day, so I thoroughly enjoyed my drive back to Asheville, especially since I was well aware that this was just one of those random times when the weather is pretty for no reason other than to make me think spring has sprung and then dash all of my hopes and excitement by snowing again several days later.

And because it's hilarious, here's Jack looking out the back window of the jeep. It's not quite warm enough to take the top off, but Saturday was warm enough to put the back window up, but not have all the front windows down. Jack was okay with that.

The Sun Will Come Out...

TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is going to be a really good day. I took a personal day so I could take the GRE!! Hurray! And then I will be driving to Charlotte to see one of my favorite bands, Flogging Molly, with Zak, his girlfriend, and a bunch of my friends who I either know will be there or I am quite sure will be there. Jim unfortunately has no ticket as of right now and I have been unable to acquire one for him. I am sad about this but am assuming the combination of having successfully completed the GRE, FM, Zak, and the friends who will be there will keep me happy until we can meet up afterwards. My other friends Will and Brandy have already agreed to meet up after the show.

In fact, it's going to be a good weekend, but I won't ruin a future blog by blogging it before it happens.

Anyhow, I am taking the GRE, obviously, so that I can go to grad school. I won't be going until next fall, Fall 2011, because of a very important decision involving health care, but I'm looking into how I could start taking classes here in Asheville and have them transfer. I have no idea if that will work out at all.

I have not really started looking at specific schools, but I'm considering looking in Boston to be near Renee and I kind of love Boston, Atlanta to be near Amanda and because it would be fun, and California just to go back to CA and be near family and duh, it's California. I am, of course, also considering some "fall back" schools here in NC. I could totally go to a school at the beach. I also have friends at Appalachian State right now and I suppose it would be kind of nice to go where friends are already.

To summarize: It's all pretty much up in the air.

On unrelated notes, my dog will not stop whining at me to let him out because he has spotted a squirrel. And I need a good book to read. Suggestions?

I Love My Sister

Renee surprises me constantly. She always surprises me in a good way, but every now and then, it's not only good, it's also hilarious. This just happened:

7:28 - I see that Renee is calling and get excited. We're both so busy that we rarely have time to talk.

7:28 1/2 - Hello? Hello? Reneeeeeeeeee? She beeps when I am supposedly already connected to her.

7:28 3/4 - I say "Hey. That was funny. You beeped in on a call I was having with you."

7:29 - Jane: "Stoptalkingineedyourhelpohmygodthetoiletisfloodinghowdoistopthetoiletfromflooding?!?!"

This continues. Basically, her bathroom is flooded and there is still water coming out of the toilet.

7:30 - I tell Renee to open the top of the toilet and make sure the hole the water goes down through is covered up to stop the toilet from running.

7:30 - "OHMYGOD is the top of the toilet supposed to be filling up with water?"

7:31 - "Why would I know how toilets work?"

7:32 - The toilet has stopped running and therefore stopped leaking water onto the floor.

7:32 1/2 - "This is so not what I wanted to have happen tonight. I have wine and junk food and I probably don't have to go to school in the morning."

7:33 - Renee informs me that she called everyone she could think of, including her ex-boyfriend, and no one answered. I am offended that she did not call me before her ex-boyfriend. She says she didn't think I would know any more about toilets than she does. Then she says "Do you think paper towels are okay to clean this up with?" Then, "We don't even own a mop."

7:34 - She settles on using her yoga towels to mop up the water after I convince her that toilet water is not the same as sewage water.

7:40 - We have been chatting and catching up when I have her go back to the toilet to try flushing it to see if it's just a problem with the handle or something.

7:41 - "Oh my god it's flooding the bathroom again!"

7:42 - I instruct her to again make sure the rubber stopper is covering the hole and then ask if the toilet bowl is full of water. Response? "I can't see it; I left the top covering the bowl." It was, of course, and I end up explaining how a toilet actually works, where the water comes from, etc.

7:43 - "This is why I need a boyfriend! Seriously."

7:45 - "Maybe you should try plunging the toilet. I think that's the only way at this point to get the toilet to flush without filling it back up with water and flooding again. You need to get that water out of the bowl." This fails to work.

7:45 - Renee's solution? "I'm just going to clean up the water and wait for someone else to come home and take care of this."

I can't believe my sister had no idea what to even look at when the toilet flooded. Seriously.

Throughout all of this, I was attempting to make dinner (veggie chili) and do laundry. Let me explain why this is kind of a big deal; the washing machine that our landlord provides in the house is the oldest washing machine I have ever seen. I'm not exaggerating. You know those stores you see sometimes that house old electronic stuff and often have a bunch of old stoves, refrigerators, washers and the like just piled up all willy nilly? Those stores kind of intimidate me. Our washing machine is very much like what you see in those stores.

Anyway, our washing machine also doesn't work quite right. It works, but you have to shut it off, turn the knob to the next thing, and turn it back on. It doesn't go through all the motions on its own. It also makes a TON of noise, especially anytime it is spinning. It kind of shakes the whole house. This freaks my dog out.

Normally, Jack is out, running around, playing, or looking out the window for a cat or squirrel to bark at, but he responds very much to my emotions. If I'm on the phone with Renee and my voice is somewhat frantic, he will lose it a little bit and hide under the bed. The combination of me being somewhat frantic and the washing machine shaking the whole house reduced him to this:

He is as far under the futon as he could possibly be, back against the wall, on a blanket that he must have pulled under there with him. Do please observe that he also took his favorite toy with him on his retreat. It's like his own personal survival kit: a blanket and a toy. It's been about an hour and a half now and I still can't make him get up and come out, which is crazy because he never goes under the futon except for a second if a toy got tossed under it inadvertently. He also very rarely goes this long without being next to me or following me around as any of my friends can tell you. He is a little attached.

I guess he is really upset about Renee's toilet.