Thanks to those who have already sent acknowledgements. I greatly appreciate it!

A friend of mine just asked me if I feel older…and I responded by
saying it kind of feels like a non-event. Last year was the big deal.
Now I’m just *in my thirties* (boy, that sounds weird…), and it
probably won’t be an issue again until I’m about to turn 40.

All in all, I’d have to say the past year has been a very, very good
one. And soon, I believe, I’ll have my career issues sorted out and
will be able to breathe a bit easier. It’s coming. I know it is.

It’s a good thing Great Big Sea is so much fun, because the people at the Great Big Sea concert were really annoying. And not to offend my many wonderful Canadian friends, but most of the rude, annoying people were Canadians. I thought Canadians were know for being polite…This one woman, who was pretty much hammered at the *beginning* of the concert, came all the way from Crystal Beach! Can you believe it? I make fun because she and her friend pretty much thought they should be able to squeeze up front in front of everyone else because they came *all the way from Canada*. She spent a good ten minutes before the band came out whistling and screaming. Then she tried to make small talk with me.

Ahem. Anyway. Even if you’re wanting to kill annoying people, you just can’t help but smile when Alan Doyle starts to sing. Their music is all so happy! I absolutely love “I’m a Rover,” and am usually disappointed when they perform it live, but I was very impressed tonight!

They played most of what you would expect to hear, except that I noticed they didn’t do any of the slower, more ballad-y stuff. Boston and St. John. Fast as I Can. But overall, it was a good mix of newer stuff and older stuff. I like so much of what they do that it’s hard to pinpoint a favorite, but I do love it when they’re doing four-part vocals. (General Taylor, for example)

There was a weird moment in the middle of the show when some woman came running through the crowd up toward the front of the stage. She kind of grabbed me on her way by, and I was like, “You can stop touching me now.” Ack. People.

They did a little medley of 80s songs which included Video Killed the Radio Star, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), and Summer of ’69. Quite random, eh? That led into their cover of Run Runaway. They finished up with an encore that included The Old Black Rum and Rant and Roar.

Fantastic music. If only we could do something about those darn people…heehee!

I finally met Dave Huth, who I was beginning to think might be fictitious. Not only is he quite real, he’s also very, very cool. Check out his Photo Blog, which I will be blogrolling soon. (and check out his most recent entry!)

Today at the square is Great Big Sea! Yay!

My upcoming birthday is feeling very anti-climactic after last year…which I suppose is a good thing. Now it’s just like, “eh, another birthday.”

I did not get called back for a second interview on Interview #2. I did contact the principal to ask for some feedback, and he very kindly (and quickly) responded. One thing I do need is to work on my confidence…I’m sometimes a little hesitant, and I do get nervous, especially in panel interview settings. But he was generally very positive and encouraging, and told me to just keep being myself and look for the right fit. I haven’t heard anything on Interview #1 yet. They said a week to a week and a half.

And maybe (maybe) I’ll get an interview on the college thing…

So I saw Wedding Crashers on Monday, and I thought it was really, really funny. I laughed. A lot. The girl Owen Wilson falls for is completely adorable. (Rachel McAdams
, who I have to say, looks much better as a brunette than as a blonde.)

And holy crap…I spent the entire movie trying to figure out who was playing the boyfriend, and it wasn’t until the credits rolled that I slapped my hand to my head and said “Of COURSE.” Bradley Cooper. aka Will from Alias. His character was so completely and utterly un-Will
like that I just couldn’t figure it out.

Two questions…Vince Vaughn almost always plays a mysoginistic ass (Dodgeball excluded), and yet I almost always like him at the end of the movie. How does he get away with that?

And second, relating to the boyfriend thing…in romantic comedies, the “other” is almost always a complete asshole. It was true in this movie, and it was true in The Wedding Singer, for example. On the one hand, I understand this tactic as a way to gain sympathy for the romantic lead who is, essentially, trying to steal the girl away. We would kind of hate him for it if we didn’t want to see him get the girl, and it seems justified if the guy she’s with is a jerk. On the other hand, in these movies, he’s *such* a jerk that it just makes us wonder why she’s with him at all…do you think this is at all realistic?

Anyway, if you want a good laugh, see Wedding Crashers.

Oh, and hey! The soundtrack included a tune by the Weakerthans.

Interview #1 down. Interview #2 tomorrow. I feel interview #1 went very well, but it’s so hard to tell sometimes.

I also understand that *someone* I know has never been turned down for a job he’s interviewed for. Never. As in, ever. And to that I say, “Pthhhhhhhh.”

I’ve been lax in my reading, although I did just finish “All Families Are Psychotic” by Douglas Coupland, and I continue to enjoy him. A full review coming soon.

Tonight, I’m off to the Revitalize Buffalo meeting with Jen.

Hope everyone’s having a good week!

This is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Be sure to check out the merchandise.

An open letter to Kansas School Board

BWAH!

I’m in PA this weekend, spending some much-needed quality time with the family. It feels like this is the first weekend in a very long time when I haven’t had anyplace I *had* to be. It’s a strange feeling. So I’m taking some time to be mellow, which is much needed.

I have two interviews coming up this week…one on Monday which is for a one-year appointment at an area middle school, seventh grade. The other is for another middle school job, a regular full-time one, but at a school that’s way out in the boonies. Probably at least a 50 minute drive each way. That’s a mighty long time at 6 am. Anyway, we’ll see how that goes.

The other thing I applied for is a full-time college gig. They’re looking for three full-time writing instructors. That would be awesome…but I don’t know if I have enough experience for them to seriously consider me. The ad was just asking for a master’s degree, since the jobs aren’t tenure track. Again, we’ll see. It would be exciting to just be interviewed for that!

All of this makes me wonder…if I do get a full time job, how smart is it to try and teach TWO classes at the community college? Perfectly do-able when I’m just substitute teaching, but a pretty serious workload with a full-time teaching job. Eep.

I was very happy to learn that Thomas’s son is home from the hospital. What a relief for him and his family…

It finally cooled off a bit around these parts. I actually slept with a *blanket* last night! Hope everyone’s having a fantastic weekend!

Where is the time going…seriously?

Okay, time for the super-condensed recap of stuff I’ve been meaning to blog.

First up, Lowest of the Low!

Jen and I are both listed as “friends” of the Low at MySpace. So when we got to the concert, I wandered over to get a slice of pizza while Jen made a phone call. Who should wander up to get a slice of pizza right next to me but Lawrence! I kind of didn’t recognize him at first. He was wearing sunglasses, and his hair has grown out a bit. It’s a good look. He looked over at me, I smiled, and he said, “Are you Erin?” So thanks again, Debbie, for doing such a great job of drawing me!

Great show, of course. Heavy on the new stuff. They played most of Sordid Fiction. Jen and I could not agree on whether or not they played The Sharpest Pain. I said no, she said yes…anyway…three new songs. One of them was very Elvis Costello-y. All of them sounded great. Bring on the new album!

Other things of note from the show…some of which will be later developed for characters in short stories/novels:

The skinny kid in the “need head” t-shirt.

Said skinny kid was very, very drunk and kept almost running into us while drunkenly dancing. He later took off the shirt to become skinny shirtless kid with dancing bear tattoo. He was apparently friends with the girls in front of us who parked in front of the stage at 4 p.m. One of them was hippie-ish with long hair with one beaded braid, Janis Joplin sunglasses, and a halter top. The other was wearing a Low wiener dog tank and was showing way too much tummy…not to mention way too much fuschia panty. They’re called low-rise panties. Victoria’s Secret has them. Look into it.

The girls were there with their moms, one of whom had way-too-bleached-blond hair. Toward the end of the concert, when we started to get annoyed about them pulling everyone they knew in front of us to stand and talk to them, I said, “You have GOT to be kidding me.” One of the moms snipped “We’ve been here since *four*.” Okay lady, maybe you have, but your 27 friends haven’t. Grr. People are just so rude. I hate that.

In other fun, I watched a woman standing next to me snort coke. No joke. She pulled out a teeny-tiny baggie filled with white powder and proceeded to measure it out with a teeny pocketknife. I was floored.

There was a woman behind us dancing who had to be the most rhythmless person I’ve ever seen. It’s called a beat. Find it.

One big pet peeve…quite possibly my favorite Low song performed live is Black Monday. I *hate* when people ruin this experience for me by, say, having a loud conversation throughout the entire song while standing right in front of the stage. If you’re talking through Black Monday, you’re not a real fan.

Ahem.

Okay…Sunday night, then, I went to Nietzsche’s where I saw Greg Klyma perform with Tom Bianchi. Fantastic show. Their ability to improvise and engage in truly funny banter was amazing. Both of them are wildly talented and wildly entertaining. I was just sorry I had to leave a bit early so that I could be up for work in the morning. Rand got up and sang with them a couple of times, which is always fun. They performed P.M. Prima Donna(aka the Cher song)…Rand played Greg’s guitar and Greg played the mandolin, which was pretty impressive considering he’d never played it on the mandolin before. I do always enjoy listening to Rand sing.

At the show, some random older woman in big glasses and a fisherman’s hat stopped in front of me and said, “You are a very beautiful young woman. You have beautiful eyes.”

“Um, thank you,” I said. Because really, what else can one say to that?

So anyone reading out there, do go see Greg and/or Tom if you get the chance. You won’t be sorry!

And speaking of live music in Buffalo…I got a message from this guy named Jon Troast who’s going to be playing at Spot Coffee (Delaware/Chippewa) on Wednesday, August 17 at 8 p.m. He describes himself as being of the folk/rock/pop, singer-songwriter variety. Sounds like it might be worth checking out…anyone care to join me?

I just applied for something that would be a fantastic opportunity, so do keep your fingers crossed for me!

Ack!

That report on the weekend I promised may have to wait. Fun was had by all. The Low show was fantastic. There were many annoying people about, though. Lawrence recognized me from my Ohi doodle! Hee!

Mary’s party was lots of fun. I had to leave the show at Nietzsche’s a bit early, but it was also lots of fun.

So why does the update have to wait? Uh, let’s see…in addition to working today, I also have to get the Toasted Cheese newsletter out, apply for a job I just found in the Sunday listings (which means preparing some things I don’t exactly have prepared), not to mention spend some quality time with my sweetie. I’m a little swamped!

I heard about my most recent interview…no Catholic school ELA/part time technology job for me. Not as if it was my dream job, but still…a rejection is a rejection. I’m fairly certain I didn’t get it because the principal got the sense that I wouldn’t be in for the long haul. She did, however, ask me an illegal question, which I only thought about in recounting the story to Jen. Not going to fuss about it though. It’s not worth it. Ah well…

No, silly, not the wizard.

The LOW!

Concert tonight, much driving to follow…Jen and I leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Maryland, where we will be celebrating our dear friend Mary’s upcoming nuptials.

If anyone’s looking for something to do on Sunday evening, Greg Klyma will be performing at Nietzsche’s at 8 p.m. It’ll be fun!

This means, of course, I won’t be around until Monday. Don’t miss me too much. Check back then for details…