Trash Rock and Twinkies.

Ryan and I have a show tomorrow night.

Naturally, I'm already nervous.

It's ridiculous. It's getting to the point where people laugh when I mention being nervous. "Lauren, haven't you done this a million times?" they say.

Yes, I've done the performing thing a few times and usually everything feels natural and under control when I'm on stage. But there's always that weird 48 hour period beforehand where I don't know what to do with myself. I freak out about my outfit for a couple of hours. I worry about the set list. I'm even infamous for coming down with a terrible sore throat before shows. It must be psychosomatic because it happens almost every time.

We've done a lot of practicing in the past few days. We know the songs inside and out. We're ready. And I am fairly confident that we will rock it. But there is still this freaky cloud of nervousness lurking around my brain. What if our music goes horribly wrong somehow?

Then there's my own little wardrobe issue. I'm going out on a limb and wearing a strapless dress. It's the kind of dress I tried on for fun and knew immediately that it was made for me. I'm really excited about it, but I don't typically wear strapless dresses and am paranoid about having some sort of wardrobe malfunction onstage.

I'm so paranoid that I've been practicing in the dress. That's probably not the type of thing you should admit on a public blog, but it's true. I've been putting on my dress and heels before band practice these days. I've also spent way too much time practicing my keytar stance in front of my mirror when I'm alone. Don't judge.

But aside from being awkwardly nervous, I'm just plain excited. It's been way too long since Ryan and I have done a show at a decent venue. I know we're going to have a blast.

I also know that the crowd will be full of my friends and neighbors from the commune. The Poet is organizing a massive field trip. Nobody here drives, so it sounds like there's going to be twenty people taking a Trimet bus across town to cheer me on as I pretend to be a rock star.

I know I've probably said it before, but I'll say it again: The people I live with are absolutely wonderful.

Sometimes I feel like we're the brats that have refused to grow up and that's why we all get along so well. If you don't believe me, check out these pictures from Sunday night's art installation:

Yes, those are Twinkies. Yes, they are wearing loin cloths/thongs and hanging from the ceiling.

It all started on the kitchen whiteboard with a weird cartoon war between The Fonz and The Chef. It escalated to The Poet buying two boxes of Twinkies at the store and handing them to The Fonz, Purple Hair, and myself to decorate. We hung them all from the ceiling in the middle of the night. It was glorious.

I think we all missed the memo that we aren't in college anymore. But right now, that's okay. I'm having more fun than I ever did in college anyway. I'm definitely making a lot more music, which is what I need to be doing.

And with that, I'm off to go make more tea. I've got to make this stupid sore throat go away by tomorrow night, even if it is just psychosomatic.

Peace out, amigos.

The Working World and Keytar Names

I got fingerprinted for a job yesterday. I don't necessarily want to work, but I need the money. I'm going to be an educational assistant sub at various grade schools for the remainder of the academic year. It's an unlikely job for me but I can do anything for a month. I won't be working everyday, but there is the possibility that my phone can ring at 6am on any given weekday.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting. You know how much I love mornings. And children. (note the intended sarcasm)

Will get good stories out of it at least.

In other, much more exciting news, my keytar has arrived! I picked it up from a quirky British man at guitar center on Thursday and have been shredding away on it over since.

Better pictures to come, but there I am with my new child. It is a thing of beauty.

I haven't really come up with a name for him yet. A friend dubbed it "The Unicorn" a couple of nights ago and it's kinda stuck. Saying that you're going to go home to play The Unicorn is a bit awkward though. I am totally open to other options.

So help me out, world. What should I name my wonderful new keytar? :)

Two Significant Things

I am sorry I have been so absent from this blog for the past week.
So much has been happening. I am exhausted, so this is not going to be a very elaborate post.
Will write a longer post later I am sure, but I just wanted to jump on here and let everyone know a couple of things:

1. As of yesterday, I am officially a college graduate.

There I am wearing my Lady Gaga shades and losing my cap in front of a gym full of people. I'm classy like that.

More importantly, I'm done with formal education FOREVER. It feels incredibly good to be able to say that.

2. Yesterday, I received the coolest graduation present of all time: a keytar! No joke. I don't actually have it in my hands yet. I was given the case and told that the thing inside the case would be there soon. Confused, I opened the case and immediately saw that the inside was shaped to hold a keytar. I couldn't believe it. It's on order from Kansas (apparently keytars are hard to find these days) and will be here on Friday. I am beyond excited. I was out with some friends last night and I think they were probably sick of hearing about it by the end of the evening.

Lauren: "Hey, guess what? I'm picking up my keytar on Friday!"
Friends: "Yeah Lauren, you told us."
Lauren: "Keytar keytar keytar!"
Friends: "Um, brb, need more rum and coke..."
Lauren: "Keytar!"

Okay so I'm exaggerating, but I am really excited about it.

...Keytar! :)

Still Not Feeling Like a Rock Star...

Disclaimer: There's a Kimya Dawson lyric that says something like, "If you don't like body functions, don't read my blog." That lyric could be applied to this post. You have been warned.
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Tonight was special.

To make a long story short, I can now cross "throw up twice during a presentation" off of my list of things to do in life.

Fortunately, I was able to make an awkward exit and run to the bathroom while another girl in my group was talking. I hurled into a trashcan in the safety of the ladies' room, a disgusted Chinese exchange student being the only witness. I ran my hands under cold water and made it back to the classroom in time to finish the presentation. I told no one why I had left and proceeded to act like everything was normal. It was still a very mortifying experience though. There's nothing like standing in front of a group of people and realizing that it would be a good idea to visually locating all available trashcans in the room. It was like my sixth grade winter band concert all over again. *shudder*

Weirdly enough, the prof seemed to like the presentation. He was especially impressed by the video I made, which was funny because I cut it together last night when I was grumpy and had a fever. Apparently the video distracted him from the fact that I was turning green and visually locating all the trashcans in the room.

I can't wait until school is over and done with.

Now that I've got this rock tour plan cooked up, I really can't wait to graduate and be done with this whole college thing.

The map looks at me every day from it's perch on my wall. It's calling my name. It's saying, "Lauren! Lauren! I am the United States! Make rock music in meeee!"

Actually, I've never heard it say those exact words (or any words at all, really). But you get the point.

Anyway, now that I've thrown up a couple of times, I am officially sick and can spend my evening irresponsibly blogging and looking at keytars on ebay. Okay, so maybe I was doing that before I threw up, but now I can do it free of guilt.

Dear Keytar,

The more I think about you, the more I want you. You are cooler than an accordion but still have a lot of personality. You are probably not as heavy as my accordion and I don't have to squeeze you to get you to make noise. Like I said in an earlier post, I wish it was at least semi-practical to throw money into you. Maybe you can be mine someday.

Love,
Lauren

Gah. I am writing letters to inanimate objects. I should go to bed.

Goodnight, oh universe.

<3

Inspiration

Bleck. Not feeling like a rock star today. Am all congested and crampy and headache-tastic. No amount of Tylenol or cold medicine is making me feel like leaving my room. But I have to soon. I have to give a presentation tonight. It's a group presentation on a topic I have no interest in for a class that's required for graduation (this just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?). And tomorrow morning, I have an important meeting that I need to be not-sick for. I always get sick at the worst times.

I was in a pretty terrible mood last night. I left work early, got in my sweatpants, and devoted the evening to editing a boring video for the presentation I have to give tonight. I texted Steve but he was busy. I looked at the food in my cupboard and decided I didn't want to cook. I munched on a soda cracker. I refreshed my facebook page and discovered that one of my favourite artists, Amanda Palmer, has finally been dropped from her record label! She's been caught in a legal battle with them for a long time and finally won. To celebrate, she gave all of her fans a free song. The song was about doing whatever you want regardless of what people think, and it made me grin.

The download even came with a bundle of pictures of her and her friends recording it.

I'm going to sound like such a fan girl, but I officially love Amanda Palmer.

I could have gone to bed happy after the free song. But then I discovered that Amanda and friends were doing a live webcast to toast her freedom. So poured myself another glass of juice, got under my favourite blanket, and tuned in on UStream to watch Amanda Palmer, Sxip Shirley, and Jason Webley drinking wine and playing music on the other side of the country. They had to be quiet because they were at Amanda's parents' house in the suburbs, so they snuck outside and played "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in the woods. It was like The Blair Witch Project with a strange punk cabaret twist and it totally made my night.

This is why I love music. This is also why I love the Internet. But mostly, I just love music.

Artists like Amanda Palmer remind me why I love music so much. Her music is honest, witty, and generally just rocks. She's coming to town in May for her Evelyn Evelyn tour. Trash rock tour madness doesn't start till June, so I'll be able to go!

Not that I need to be spending money on shows right now, espeically after last weekend. But...it's Amanda Palmer!

And last weekend was Muse! Totally different creature than Amanda Palmer, but absolutely brilliant.

Actually, it may have just been the best concert I've ever been to.

Yes, better than the time my rock concert virginity was taken away by They Might Be Giants. Better than being pressed up against the stage at The Kooks or being punched in the arm at Apocalyptica. Possibly even better than being caught under a mushroom cloud of marijuana smoke with my mom at The Wailers last summer.

Those were all fantastic but this...this was MUSE.

This picture was taken with Steve's iphone. No zooming involved - we really were that close!

This is the expression I wore during most of the show:

I kinda look like I just peed my pants with excitement or something. I swear I didn't. But Muse blew my mind a little bit.

I left the show fantasizing about playing stadiums and doing big budget shows involving lights, fog, lasers, and moving platforms. I also spent too much time looking at keytars on ebay. I've always secretly thought they were cool, but when Matt Bellamy whipped one out during "Undisclosed Desires," it made me really want one.

Matt Bellamy, why do you have the ability to make everything you touch turn into sexiness?

I wish there was a universe in which it was at least semi-practical for me to buy a keytar at this point in my life...