| sin circus |
[07 Nov 2009|04:54am] |
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killing joke. |
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I participated in some edge play tonight at work.
(mind the blood stains all over my back, and my lame old Tinkerbell tattoo)
The guy who did it, Jim Beckett, was really great. He's part of a performance collective that held an event at the bar tonight. It was kind of neat, we sat on stage and he wore a cloak and a hooded executioner's mask, and everyone watched as he did the whole process on me. We chatted a bunch beforehand and afterward, about possibly continuing to do edge play together, and he might even do some play piercing on me, which I have wanted to do forever. He is also part of the Hamilton BDSM scene, so it was nice to make a connection with someone in that circle, since my only other connection to any BDSM society is in London.
"Sin Circus," the event, was really fun. There were burlesque dancers, bands, fire performers (my co-worker Carl does poi and fire-breathing), edge play scenes, blood-letting scenes, etc. I snapped a few photos over the course of the night, but not as many as I would have liked to since, of course, I DID have to do some work. The collective brought their own door person though so I was basically just keeping tracking of capacity in the bar and doing some bar-backing. But mostly I just chatted with people, smoked and watched the performances, ha.
I did make another good connection though, with this guy Ian who runs Hamilton Artists Inc. (the group putting on the event). I may start doing some official event photography for them, and possibly join their collective as an artist so that I can host photography shows in the future in their studios. I'll probably also do some volunteer work for them when I can.
( a few snaps of the night: )
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[06 Nov 2009|11:52pm] |
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Bad Sun [alternate version] - The Bravery |
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I'm Stevie, or Sarah, I'm sixteen (though hopefully wise beyond my years), I live in Georgia but I'm from Tennessee.
I'm not very good at introducing myself, so how about I just list off some basic stuff?
- Favorite musicians include but are not limited to: Nine Inch Nails, My Chemical Romance, Steve Earle, Marilyn Manson, Sister Machine Gun, All The Pretty Horses, Coconut Records, Dan Bern, Brand New, Madonna, Justin Townes Earle, Leathermouth, Keane, and Dire Straits. I like just about everything I hear, and when I really love an artist, I can become absolutely truly obsessed.
- I play guitar (six & twelve string), bass, keyboard/piano, banjo, mandolin, and I'm learning drums; I build electric guitars, and I'm fascinated with tube amplifiers. I play lead guitar in a band who's sound I think could best be described as a mix between Leathermouth, Nine Inch Nails, and Neil Young & Crazyhorse.
- I curse, I smoke, and I have quite the history with drugs and alcohol for someone my age; however I'm pretty much clean now. Don't hold anything against you if you aren't, though.
- I read a lot and my favorite books are the Cirque Du Freak saga, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Lord of the Flies, The Catcher in the Rye, The White Darkness, and Illusions. While on the subject of books, I might as well go ahead and mention that I can't stand Twilight.
- I also watch a lot of movies, and my favorites are The Darjeeling Limited, Milk, The Big Chill, Into the Wild, Stand By Me, Brokeback Mountain, and the Ginger Snaps trilogy.
- Some of my other interests worth mentioning are computers/graphic design, anything paranormal, fast motorcycles, and old cars.
- I'm pretty much an Atheist and my "religion" is a mixture of wisdom that I've collected from my favorite music, books, and even films.
I suppose that's more than enough. My only real requirements for adding someone is that you comment/update fairly frequently; I will do the same. Also, if you decide to add me please comment on my friends-only post or I will not add you back.
Peace.
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[06 Nov 2009|08:36pm] |
ADD MEE =]
Little things make me smile ; i can't live without MUSIC x3 ; Big Heart; Lost in this crazy world
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[06 Nov 2009|05:51pm] |
Looking for some new people.
22. Female. Seattle, WA. Photography and graphic design student. Living the single life, for now. Big supporter of the Seattle local music scene.
I love going for walks, hiking, riding my bike, storms, working at Old Navy, candles, rock shows, church, being barefoot, rain, school, reading, writing, fireplaces, chai tea lattes, Christmas, discovering new bands, photography, Apple computers...
Music: The Beatles, Emery, Anberlin, The Classic Crime, Brand New, Manchester Orchestra, Ace Enders, Acceptance, Brighten, Cartel, Circa Survive, City And Colour, Copeland, A Day To Remember, Death Cab For Cutie, Dear Hunter, Family Force 5, The Maine, Every Time I Die, Finch, Forgive Durden, fun., The Format, The Hush Sound, etc etc etc
I am Christian and a lot of what I write about has to do with me being Christian, so if you don't like that, don't add me. :)
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| Hi there! |
[07 Nov 2009|11:54am] |
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mood |
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 calm |
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Hi there! My name is Jody.
i'm 20 years old and from Australia.
I am a vegetarian. And love it!
I have a lot of tattoo's and i'm very pale.
My interests include: tattoos, disney movies, tea and photography.
Favourite music: queen adreena, ruby throat, daisy chainsaw, lydia lunch, pj harvey, nick cave, bjork
Favourite Movies: sleeping beauty, peter pan, mulan, hook, alice in wonderland, the notebook, tinkerbell
My journal is pretty random, i love to talk so it will pobably be quite lengthy.
I recently went through my ENTIRE journal and deleted lots of posts and made others
private. So i could start fresh, this is my new beginning. i love making new friends!
Please drop me a comment either here or on my friends only entry i just wanna get to know my new journal mates :-)
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[06 Nov 2009|04:05pm] |
My name is Shelby, I'm an eighteen year old vegan, and I reside in South West Florida.
I do some freelance photography, make up, and graphics art work (which is just a nicer way of saying I can't get a real job).
I like comic books, irony, music in all it's glorious forms, Norse mythology, alternative modeling, cult movies, body modification, meaningful conversation and history.
My hobbies include writing, reading biographies, reptile care, gardening, eating healthy and punching people/things.
( Continue for more information. )
My journal is friends only but if you comment me here, or on my public post in my journal, or just down right add me without saying hello, you're likely to get added. I'm not picky. I like everything/everyone.
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| ~ |
[06 Nov 2009|02:30pm] |
 I've been on lj forever but I need new friends. I bake a lot but I'm not good at it. I hardly take pictures anymore. I live in Savannah, Georgia but I don't go to scad. I drink and smoke and swear so if that bothers you don't bother adding me. I have two lizards and two tarantulas (and a dumb dog). I wear red lipstick. I rarely read anymore. I'm not into anime in any form. Or glittery graphics. I hate everything, but what I love, I reallllly love. The truth is I'm probably going to hate you but I might really, really love you.
Thats about as honest as I can be. Comment on my f/o post if you add me.
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[06 Nov 2009|11:27pm] |
Hi, I'm looking for some LJ friends
I haven't many entries, but all the ones I've made so far are public, so I guess you can kind of get a sense of what most entries may be like.
Basics are:
I'm Mel
I'm nineteen, twenty in a few months
I'm a Christian, but my ideas of Christianity differ greatly to the stereotypical Christian, I won't go into it. I accept and respect all cultures and religions (or lack thereof), all I ask is that I receive that same acceptance and respect. I won't try to convert you, promise.
I love literature, art and music (all kinds, I know everyone says that, but I really do listen to a huge range of music)
I like dangly earrings and I have a fairly large collection, but I rarely seem to wear them.
I can be vague in my entries, this is usually un/intentional (I haven't totally decided yet)
I want either to travel forever or until I find a place where I am perfectly happy- I've been travelling with my family since a very young age and staying in the same place for too long drives me kinda nuts.
Anyways, I don't really have any friend requirements. If you think we might get along then go ahead n' add me :)
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[06 Nov 2009|05:15pm] |
Hello! I'm interested in getting to know more people, I love reading & commenting.
Here's some information about myself...
I listen to: Jazz (mainly within swing and ska), Electronic and Pop music.
I studied: law, sociology, business, politics and philosophy. Loved Criminal Law.
I like: TED talks, xkcd.com, StumbleUpon, YouTube, researching and Linux Ubuntu 8.10.
I love: walking, talking with people, dance aerobics and gaining knowledge/learning new things.
I want: to travel, do volunteer work, play the drums and become a translator.
I watch: panel shows, cartoons, foreign films, variety shows and documentaries.
I play: Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest: IV, WarioWare: Touched!, Mario Kart and Picross.
I consume: Strawberries, Milk, Jazz apples, Hot chocolate, Broccoli and Chinese food.
My profile page goes into more detail - in case anyone's curious!
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| nightcap/recap |
[06 Nov 2009|05:13am] |
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music |
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white stripes. |
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Alright, so post-New Orleans entry time.
Let's see. Well, oh, just BEFORE the trip, Jen and I went to Toronto to see some friends and celebrate our friend Matt's 30th birthday. It was kind of a weird night, because two of our guy friends, including Chris who is one of our best friends, have been having this crazy drama over this girl, and shit kind of escalated at the bar and hit an all-time crazy. Sheesh. Boys and their drama ;)
But still, it was really awesome to see Chris, and Kat and Matt... plus I saw this guy Dan who I used to be friends with (I guess we're still technically friends, it's just been a really long time since we've seen each other or even had any contact) and whom I haven't seen in probably like five years or maybe even six? That was great, he's such an awesome guy, I'm just really happy that we got to catch up and spend some time together. We snuck out of the bar for a little while and took a walk down Roncesvalles to smoke a joint together, and we got into a conversation about how we're both crazy and it was cool to talk to him about that stuff because we had a nice unspoken connection with each other. We exchanged numbers that night so hopefully we can hang out again soon when I'm back in Toronto.
Of course the Thursday after Jen and I got back from Nola my band had our show, which I think I already wrote about. I was really excited that Jen and Chris came out to see us, that was a really nice treat, but it also made me nervous because, you know... you want to impress your best friends, ha.
Devil's night me, Dave and Biff went to Absinthe to see Fog of Leprosy, which was kind of a dull night, other than Fog's set which was fucking thrashtastic, and some of the rad costumes people were wearing, like Darlene's boyfriend Robbie who went as fucking BALSAC!!!!!! I was so JEALOUS because that was my original plan for Halloween this year but I didn't have enough time to make the costume, and honestly, I don't feel super comfortable wearing a nude-coloured bodysuit at this point in time bahaha. But Robbie looked fucking terrific, and there was even another guy at the bar dress as Oderus, and they didn't even plan it! Oderus guy looked incredible, he had the exact Oderus mask and the big throbbing spiked dick and everything. Biff and Dave went as Darth Vader and Matlock. Or more specifically, Biff wore a shirt with the words "Darth Vador" (yes, Vador), and Dave wore one that said Matlock. Best costumes of the night. I didn't dress up that night. Nothing of note really happened. Meh.
( some photos from devil's night )
Halloween, same thing, pretty lame. I was supposed to go to Joe's big Halloween party in Vineland with Jen, but Dave and I were too apathetic about trying to actually get to Vineland, so we didn't bother. It would have been way to much of a hassle to sort out rides there and home and shit. Fuck I need a car. Anyway, we just went down the street to Casbah where Skull and Crux of Aux were playing in the lounge. Biff came over beforehand and the three of us got pretty drunk and watched a movie while I painted my face all Dia De Los Muertos-like. I actually looked pretty awesome if I do say so myself - and I do!
But it was a wasted effort, because some-fucking-how, I ended up getting completely obliterated like an hour after arriving at Casbah... I wound up on the floor in the bathroom yakking into a toilet, major spins and barely conscious. Eventually I managed to stand up and when I left the bathroom Dave was outside the door, wondering what happened to me and he took me home. I have not been that wasted in a long time... years probably. I have no idea what happened, seriously. That was not my plan. All I had to drink was a small mickey of vodka at home, a mix of citrus vodka and water as a traveler on the walk to the bar, and one drink at the bar that Dave got me. I should NOT have been that drunk, I don't know what happened, it was INSANE. Like I was On the Brink of Death Drunk. Dave thought maybe someone somehow slipped something into my drink at the bar, but I'm pretty sure I didn't set it down at all... I have no idea. It fucking sucked. Totally ruined my Halloween.
Oh well, womp womp.
Tonight was my first night back at work since I think October 22nd or so? I missed that place SO MUCH. I was so excited to go into work tonight and see everyone, especially Lou! Everyone seemed really glad I was back too. I love that I am so beloved at work, it makes me feel so SPESHUL, haha. God I'm a loser. But really, those people are like a family to me.
ANYWAY, tonight was the return of Sailboats Are White, who I LOVE LOVE LOOOOVVVVVE, so I was really pumped to see those guys. They were great, if a little rusty, but still awesome. This Yeah Yeah Yeahs rip-off band called Rattail played, decent enough music but kind of boring, and the singer was channeling Karen O a little too much for them to project any kind of originality. Teen Anger was fantastic, I adored them. I hope they play the bar again soon. But the BEST part of the night was that JEN magically showed up out of nowhere to hang out with me!!! I didn't know if I was going to see her again before she leaves for Norway on Saturday because I'm broke right now and without transportation, and she was having car troubles this week. But, apparently she got her car fixed and she decided to come surprise me at the bar! Yay! Totally made my whole night. I was really happy that we got to have one more besties hang-out before she goes home.
The only crummy part of the night - other than my weird antsyness that I was experiencing out of nowhere - was that somebody (and I think I know who) spilled some water on my blackberry, and it started wonking out on me! I tried shaking it out but that just resulted in water droplets ending up on the inside of my screen. So, intent on not making the mistake I made with my shitty old Motorola phone, I turned it off, took it apart, and put it on the radiator when I got home so it could dry out (I have no rice right now, so I couldn't do the rice trick). I hope it fixes itself because I was so happy that I had that phone for over a year now with virtually NO problems (praise Blackberry, seriously). Fingers crossed... I really don't want to have to buy a new phone. I definitely cannot afford that shit right now and I NEED my phone. Grumble grumble.
Jen came over for a bit after I was done work... we went and grabbed some grub at Harvest Burger and came back to my place for chit chat. And then she left, and I won't get to see her again until the summerrrrrrr! But, it's not that far away, and she's coming for a whole MONTH in July, yay!
***
Well, there's my little "what's been goin' on" recap. Other than day to day stuff, I've been pretty normal lately... which is good. Kind of weird, but very good.
I've been having some intense "what do I want to do" thoughts in the past few days though. Very stressful. You know, what do I want to do with my life, what is my plan for the next few years, etc. etc. etc. All of that fun stuff. I actually was kind of thinking last night about how I still have the desire to open my own higher quality adult store. It would be really neat to rent a cool little space on King near all of the shops and have that store I've been dreaming about in the back of my mind for a few years now. Even though I'm glad as HELL that I don't work at the fucking Stag Shop anymore, my passion for sexuality and sex toys/accessories hasn't really waned. I mean, it won't - it's something I am very interested in, and am very knowledgeable about. I don't know if this will amount to anything at all, it's just something I've been thinking about. Running my own business would be amazing, and PERFECT for me. But of course, there is a lot of start-up money involved, and I'd have to maybe take some business nightschool courses or something of the sort... talk to some people to figure out the ins and outs (HAHA), but that is actually something I was thinking about last night. I'm not so naive that I'm just like "Oh, I'll just open my own store and it will be all lollipops and vibrators, la la la!" Of course I know that there is A LOT to running a business, but I mean, I was mulling over what distributors and companies I'd like to work with (I have a pretty good knowledge of the industry leftover from my old job), what types of products I'd like to sell (middle-to-high end sex toys and sexual aids, vintage and indie-company lingerie, well-crafted bondage gear, BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS, possibly some porn vids but with porn vids you get into a whole other world of issues - legalities, dvd theft, alienating certain potential customers, attracting certain unwanted customers, etc...). I don't know. It's a lot to think about, but it kind of just... makes sense to me, to do it. I was thinking about sitting down with my mom and having a SEEREEUS talk with her about it, to see if maybe she'd want to go in with me on the business and provide financial backing, etc. plus she knows a lot about legal shit/accounting matters.
But anyway, I could probably write another huge separate entry about this stuff. I just kind of wanted to put my idea into words a little bit to make it seem a bit more concrete, and to help me clarify all of this for myself.
That's enough for now I think. It's time to surf the waves of sleep and catch a big ZZZ wave.
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| Warning: epic New Orleans post. |
[06 Nov 2009|04:26am] |
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Aww my friend Mikey from the band Priestess just found me on Facebook! Yay, I missed him. I used to have such a monster-sized crush on that guy, haha. I think they're actually playing in Hamilton in a couple of weeks, too. It's been a long time since I've seen any of though guys. Aw I'm so excited!
Well I guess it's about time for my New Orleans post. I don't know why I've been so fucking lazy about writing in here lately. Actually, I don't think it's writing in here, I think it's that the thought of writing a huge, sprawling entry to try and sum up my trip that is a bit daunting.
Anyway, here goes nothin'.
DAY ONE
Got my ass up at 2:30 am on Monday morning (the 26th), after only about three hours of sleep. Obviously I was in prime condition to be doing a ton of traveling.
We had a Cadillac Escalade from some limo company pick us up at 4 am (my mom hired them because she was reluctant to drive us to Buffalo at 4 in the morning, ha). Kick ass swanky ride. Picked up Jen in Grimsby around 4:30am, got to the Canadian/American border at around a quarter after five or so. We had to go inside and wait for a bit because our driver was not born in Canada, so they had to go through his stuff a little more thoroughly. Got out of there in about 15 minutes, and off we were to the Buffalo airport.
Got there, checked in, and man, that airport has some rude fucking employees. Ugh. And what the fuck is with this new $20 per suitcase fee?!? Jesus christ. It's like you go to check in and you get raped up the ass now.
Jen and I found a little breakfast place to eat at and hang out, because we had about two hours to kill until our plane boarded. Once we got on the plane, we had a good flight, and we landed in Charlotte, NC sometime around 11 am I think? Had another two hours or so to kill, so we wandered around the airport, went for lunch at this seafood place where the waiter had such a cute, heavy southern accent. Finally got on the plane heading for New Orleans. Jen and I both had little catnaps on the plane, something I thought I'd never do ha (I'm still scared to fly, so I like to be awake and aware at all times in case something happens and I need to be on my guard). We both kept going back and forth from hyper to tired all morning. In retrospect, I wish I had gone to bed a LOT earlier before trying to fly on two planes the next morning and kill time at airports.
Landing in NOLA was a really neat experience. I mean, prior to this trip, I had only been on a plane four times, so I didn't have the biggest frame of reference, but New Orleans from above looked like nothing I had ever seen before. We could see all the swamplands surrounding the city, and haha, we actually thought this GIANT, LONG bridge (that we actually had to drive over the next day - I'll get to that) was a levee. Oops!
Landed safe, had a long-awaited cigarette (I couldn't smoke in Charlotte because we had to stay inside the airport! argh!), caught a taxi and said "TAKE US TO THE HOLIDAY INN ON ROYAL ST., AND STEP ON IT!" Our hotel was smackdab in the middle of the French Quarter, a block from Bourbon St., two blocks from Canal St... it was insane! Jen couldn't have picked a better freaking location for us to stay at. Driving to the hotel was fun because we were so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and excited to see EVERYTHING. Pulling up to the hotel was so exciting, especially once we saw how close we were to all the action.
We got up to our room, relaxed for about 45 minutes, did some planning for our days, and unpacked a bit. There was a helpful, VERY southern concierge downstairs in the lobby that helped us figure out where to go for dinner. We decided on this place called Deanie's that we actually thought would be something different than what it actually was, but it was still good. Jen and I split half a bottle of red wine, she had the steak and I had this delicious Crab Au Gratin dish which was so chalk-full of crab meat that I died and went to shellfish heaven.
After dinner, we went back up to the room, got ready and headed to St. Peter St. for our Haunted History ghost tour. We got there pretty early so we had some time to kill and checked out this awesome bar called Pat O'Brien's, where there were all these different dark, atmospheric rooms you could hang out in, including one where there was a live piano player, and also a gorgeous alley patio with a huge fountain of water and fire! We wandered through there for a little bit and then decided to do a bit of shopping at Reverend Zombie's House of Voodoo prior to our tour. This place... was my fucking Valhalla. I wanted EVERYTHING. They had so many cool taxidermied things and crystals. Lo and behold, my eyes fell upon an adult-sized taxidermied COUGAR'S HEAD (with its mouth open like it was roaring) that I was SO PUMPED about, but it was totally out of my budget, which was so utterly disappointing. Also sitting next to the cougar were two large animal skulls, I'm assuming some kind of four-legged forest creature like deer or possibly wolf? Needless to say, I could have blown a pretty penny in that store if I had budgeted for it. I ended up buying an alligator paw necklace for me, and this satanic altar candle for Dave. I was actually also going to get him a bat heart (they had them in little packages for like $6); I'm really not sure why I didn't end up getting that for him, but now I kind of wish I had. Jen bought a little black voodoo doll and a book on the history of voodoo practices.
We wandered up and down the block a bit, snapping photos and taking in the sights, which was especially cool because it was dark out, and then at 8pm our ghost tour started. Our tour guide was this crazy broad named Eugenia, who was so hilariously animated and maybe also a little bit drunk? The tour was a two-hour walking tour all over the French Quarter, which was cool not just because we got to see all of these haunted spots and hear the great history behind the stories, but also just because we got to see most of the gorgeous French Quarter at night. I mean, it was a long-time dream come true. I actually was taking so many photos and open-mouth gaping at so many places that I actually only half-heard some of the ghost tour stories. Ha.
Eugenia took us to probably about 10-12 different haunted locations, including the Blue Dog Art Gallery where some woman named Julie apparently died of exposure on the roof, some hotel that used to be a Civil War hospital where very primitive surgical techniques were employed out of necessity, and the LaLaurie Mansion where in the early 19th century, fire fighters found a brutal torture chamber with all of these mangled slaves with missing faces, broken and reset limbs, chained to walls and inside of tiny boxes, ripped open in unimaginable ways, plus a girl who was still miraculously alive and unharmed but who, upon being released by the fire fighters, ran straight out of the room and off the balcony to her death.
I really wanted to go inside the building and explore but alas, we didn't.
In the middle of the the tour, we stopped at a haunted bar (Jean Lafritte's) at the end of downtown Bourbon St. Jen and I watched this piano player (a handsome one at that!) play for like six people in a dark, dimly lit corner of the bar, which was totally surreal somehow. Everything in that city is so moody and atmospheric, it is the city of my dreams, no doubt. I am seriously considering spending an extended amount of time there in the future. All kinds of horse carriages roaming the streets, people and cars owning the streets in this chaotic harmony, dark history oozing out of every pore, every window, every brick... I can't even believe I finally got a chance to go there. I have dreamed of that place for so many years and there is just so much beauty and character to take in that it's almost overwhelming.
DAY TWO
Woke up around 6:30. Jen and I had a swamp tour scheduled for the morning, but after waiting for our shuttle and it not showing up, we discovered that because it had been raining and cold that morning, the tour had been canceled. So we rescheduled one for 12:30 that afternoon, and went out for breakfast. After breakfast we just kind of wandered around the French Quarter for a bit, checking out shops and sights. We walked down Royal St. and found Jackson Square. It looked a lot different during the day (we had been there the night before at the end of the ghost tour). Checked out some really beautiful old buildings including this AMAZINGLY EPIC cathedral right in Jackson Square, where we also came across this tarot reader who was setting up for the day with her son. I can't remember her name now, unfortunately, but she was a really rad lady... probably somewhere between 50-55, totally full of oldschool tattoos, white Ray-Bans, ha. Loved her. Jen got a reading, and she seemed pretty blown away by what the woman told her. I was pretty broke by this time already, so I didn't have enough to get my own reading, but the woman let me pull a card anyway, and what did I pull but the Four of Cups, which is the card of Mixed Happiness. Hahahaha. I couldn't have pulled a more fucking suitable card for myself. She told me that I have been having a major struggle figuring out what makes me happy in my life, but that I have a lot of good coming to me and that soon I'd receive an important offer. Hmmmm.
We made sure we got back to the hotel on time to catch our shuttle. Our driver picked us up on time, and there were only four other people in the shuttle with us. The driver's name was Darren. I thought he was cute, even though he looked like Daniel Baldwin. I think I just liked that he was a total New Orleans fella, plus he liked metal! Apparently he is also a city tour guide so because we didn't have a lot of pick-ups on the way to the swamp tour, he took a bit of a longer way and gave us a mini Hurricane Katrina tour as a little bonus. I actually kind of thought it was weird and depressing that they actually host Katrina tours there, because you know... profiting off of people's misery and misfortune seems pretty awful... but at the same time, I guess the tourism industry there is really helping that city get back on its feet. Anyway, Darren took us through some suburbs and areas that were hit pretty badly by Katrina, and the whole time we were driving through those areas I felt this immense heaviness on my shoulders (I pick up and get affected by vibes very intensely everywhere I go) and it was just very humbling. You can still see the watermarks on most of the houses, which in most cases would have put those homes about four feet deep in water. It was such a shock going from seeing downtown, party town French Quarter area, which they obviously must have cleaned up right away after the hurricane, and then seeing these desolate parts of the city that looked forgotten. I'm really glad our driver took us through those areas, it was nice to see that side of things and not just be naive to the horrible things that happened there. It really enriched my New Orleans experience. That whole city just has such a sad, miserable history, and I guess Hurricane Katrina was another page in their book. No wonder the people there have so much soul.
We arrived at Manchac Swamp/Bayou Manchac, which was about 45 minutes around the bend of Lake Ponchartrain from New Orleans city center in a small town called Frenier. Our captain was named Coyote, which was so hilariously perfect. Honestly, we couldn't have asked for a more amazing tour guide. He was born and bred in that area, seemed like a total Cajun at heart. Coyote took us (all six of us from the shuttle plus another french couple) out on his swamp boat, the Cajun Lady. The next two hours were my favourite part of the whole trip. The swamp - Manchac Swamp on the Bayou Manchac - was so beautiful. Words can't even describe this place. It was like something out of a fucked up fairytale. It was like an oil painting, the air was heavy but light at the same time, everything was a swampy shade of grey, green, black, brown... From inside the boat, looking down the length of the long swamp, it looked like the entrance to some kind of beautiful, desolate hell. I'm getting chills just remembering the way it looked. The trees hung ominously over the banks in a welcoming yet warning fashion, there were even some that stuck out so far like overpasses - our boat had trouble traveling under a few of them because they hung so low. On the shore about a mile up the swamp from the entrance where we got on the boat, there was a small graveyard with a hopeless iron fence guarding... what? The three or four visible cross grave markers were haphazard and water-worn. There was an eerie silence the whole time. It was another world.
Once we had been in the water for a little while, we came upon a spot where Coyote knew there would be gators. He started hollering these strange yelps; apparently the gators have come to know his voice as being the source of marshmallows and chicken guts. And so they came out of hiding, big ones too. We had two or three large gators come up to the boat for feeding time. Seeing them in the wild like that was something else. I was so happy! They really love chicken guts I guess. After snapping a million photos, I volunteered to feed the gators, which was fun.
Coyote told us stories of the hurricane of 1915 that struck the town of Frenier, coinciding with a premonition a local "crazy woman" suspected of voodoo - Julia Brown - had made regarding her death. She would constantly sing about how she was going to "take them all with me" when she died. The day she died, the hurricane hit and wiped out the whole town. Manchac Swamp became a mass grave for the town of Frenier. Which is why Manchac Swamp is known as the "Ghost Swamp" and is rated as the "12th Creepiest Place in the World" by Yahoo.
We also learned a bunch of things about gators, like how to tell their size just by looking at their heads poking out of the water, all about their mating and birthing habits and rituals, and we also learned about some of the other swamp creatures, like the gar fish, and snapping turtles. Coyote actually had a live baby snapping turtle on board the boat (totally hideous and hilarious), and a baby alligator which we all got to hold and pet (he really liked having the back of his neck massaged). He was actually pretty long, I'd say about two and a half feet, including his tail.
So yeah, the swamp was totally surreal. A dream. I'm so glad we rescheduled the tour after our morning tour got canceled. Near the end of the tour there was this strange dilapidated shack on the shore, with an outhouse nearby and mongoose traps out front, and I thought to myself "I would love to live there, on this swamp". Ha. It's a nice thought, in theory. In practice, I think I might need a shack with a few more rooms. ;)
When we got back from the swamp tour, Jen and I fancied ourselves up a bit and cabbed down to the River Walk for our riverboat dinner tour on the Creole Queen. The riverboat was pretty. We sat down for a buffet dinner full of Creole cuisine, and there was a live ragtime band playing in the room with us, which was pretty great. We didn't really meet anyone interesting on the boat (except there were these two nerd-hot German dudes who were good eyeball candy), and there wasn't a whole lot to do once dinner was done, so we kind of just wandered around the boat, chatting, smoking, drinking. The thing about the riverboat tour is that... other than the area near where the boat docked, there wasn't a whole lot to see, especially at night. Ha. Although, it was pretty amazing knowing that we were sailin' on down the Ol' Mississip on a fucking riverboat. I'm glad we did it, but it definitely wasn't the highlight of the trip.
When we got off the boat we ducked into Harrah's Casino for about two seconds so Jen could get her itch out and then we went back to the hotel, talking about pussy the whole time and probably either making our cab driver very uncomfortable or getting him all hot and bothered (the reason we were talking about pussy was because Jen was telling me how in Norway, their word for "pussy" is actually a harsh swear word, like "fuck").
Back at the hotel we had two bottles of wine waiting for us that we had purchased the previous night, so I, being the dork that I often am, went down to the lobby wearing a masquerade mask (I made Jen dare me, because I love dares) adorned with feathers that I had purchased on one of our shopping excursions, and had to ask one of the manly hotel staff members to open the bottles for us because our $2 corkscrew sucked the big one. Haha. Seriously, that thing sucked, neither Jen nor I could get it, but then when we got back upstairs we noticed that it came with another piece that we had overlooked, which made the whole process a lot easier. WHOOPS. Two dumb girls in New Orleans, la la la laaaaaaa!
Anyway, we had planned on hoofing it down to Bourbon St. to do some partying at around midnight (we got back from the riverboat dinner at around quarter after ten), but we ended up getting into this huge conversation where we pretty much renewed our friendship altogether. Mind you we were pretty drunk, but man... we laughed, we cried, literally... it was amazing. I think we really needed that, and it just reminded both of us of how close we still are and how we are the best of fweennnnds. :p
After our big emotional drunken friend times, not to mention some photos that we took, we realized, hey, we're in New Orleans and we're leaving tomorrow morning... we HAVE to go drinking on Bourbon St. By that time though, it was almost two, and here in Ontario, bars close at 2am. So we called the hotel operator and asked how late bars were open in New Orleans. The girl told Jen they were open 24/7. We were in total disbelief but decided to check for ourselves. So we walked down Bourbon St., and sure enough, people were still partying and walking around. There are A LOT of strip clubs on Bourbon St. Jesus. Hahaha. We ducked into one bar that we found that looked like a cool little hole-in-the-wall type place, but the bartender told us that they were closing (I guess even though bars are allowed to stay open 24/7, they can still close whenever they want to) but she recommended a bar on Toulouse St. called "Dungeon". It sounded like our kind of place, so we went to try and find it. It ended up being this cool little metal/goth-y bar, really dim and smoky and they were playing White Zombie, and a bunch of old silly nu metal that reminded me of my early teenage years so I instantly liked it because it was total nostalgia city. Jen and I ordered drinks from our rad bartender (who reminded me of a more hardcore version of Shannon), and then we scoured the jukebox for some better songs that we actually like NOW. The choice was pretty narrow-minded but we found some old Metallica, White Zombie and I think Jen picked a Pantera song too. When "Blackened" came on, we were drunk and thrashing a bit. The bartender informed us not long after that they were closing the back bar (where we were) but she said we were welcome to head to the front bar and that she'd be joining us in a bit. So we moseyed on up there and ordered some PBRs. The cool thing about New Orleans bars is that you can SMOKE inside them, so I was in heaven! There weren't many people in the front bar, but more than there were in the back bar. There was some weird vampire chick that kept coming around, showing guys her fangs, haha. Some Indian guy in pretty nice clothes was talking to us, and he had this hilarious toy shark that he called Sebastian. He was nice enough, but then he started trying to pick me up, haha. I told him straight off the bat that I wasn't going to sleep with him but that he seemed cool and that I didn't mind chatting just as long as he knew that was all he was going to get. That didn't stop him from telling me he was a neurosurgeon (he actually had proof, too, ha) and trying to convince me that I didn't love my boyfriend. Hilare. Anyway, once he finally realized that I wasn't there to fuck dudes, we were just making fun of the vampire chick and chatting about random shit. He was actually pretty cool because I felt like I could be really matter-of-fact with him, which is a nice change from the dudes at work that try to pick me up. The bartender there was actually SMOKING hot, he honestly looked like... well, if Morrisey and Nick Cave had a love child, somehow. I mean, he was a babe. I told him that's what he looked like, too, and he seemed pretty flattered. He's like "well, I get the Morrisey thing a lot, but Nick Cave, really?" I'm like "YES. TRUST ME." Whew.
I think we left the bar at around 4:30am and carefully walked back to our hotel... even though we were wasted we were very aware of the fact that we were two young girls walking alone at night in New Orleans (or at least, I was... I think Jen may have been obliterated past that point, hahaha). Got back to our hotel, totally fucking smammered, made some ridiculous drunk videos while rolling around on our beds with our feather masquerade masks on (I can't wait to see those!), and eventually fell asleep. Needless to say, I was hung like a dead horse the next morning, which was kind of a stupid move seeing as how I knew I'd be traveling alllll day. Womp womp, such is the stupidity of moi sometimes. I had a raging headache and I was puking a bit off and on during the morning (in the hotel room, at the airport), but it was totally worth it for such a FUN NIGHT.
So yeah! Blah blah blah, got a taxi to the airport, I napped on a bench for about an hour before we boarded for Charlotte, ND, had to wait around in the Charlotte airport again, got on a plane to Buffalo... actually the flight from New Orleans to Charlotte was probably the best flight I've ever had, I was SO relaxed and barely even thought about it at all, which is rare for me... and the flight from Charlotte to Buffalo was my very first night-time flight ever! I was pretty excited about that, too bad I didn't have a window seat, booooo. Maybe I could have done some star-gazing :D
Jen's parents picked us up in Buffalo and we headed home! And that's our trip!
In retrospect, it would have been awesome to spend at least one more day in the city because there were a few other things we would have liked to have done, like done a walking tour of one of the famous graveyards (preferably the one where Marie Laveau is buried), plus it would have been fun to have another night on Bourbon St. but this time around, it just wasn't feasible. But next time! I'd love to go again for a week or something maybe. I already told Dave that I want to have our honeymoon there, haha. I just really think he would have LOVED New Orleans and I'd love to experience it again with him. We're both into creepy shit big time.
Man. What an awesome little trip. And it was so cool to do it with my bestest fwend - I hope we travel more together in the future. We know each other so well that it was really easy to be together on a trip like that. We're in-tuned to each others' moods and stuff, like for example, when one of us was really tired on one of our flights, the other understood instantly and let us be, etc. That's a really nice thing to have with a travel buddy.
Congrats if you got through that whole thing! If you didn't, well then you're a PUSSY, ya pussy. Here are some of my favourite photos that I took on the trip:
( I left my heart in New Orleans. )
THE END.
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[04 Nov 2009|10:36am] |
I thought I'd post a new intro since I've been away from the community for a long while and may have even lost touch with a few penpals I had originally
contacted. I would love to meet anyone who shares some commin interests in the areas of sports (NHL and MLB), coffee, restaurants, languages (French),
or technology (iPhone and general geekery). Music ranges from rock to country to pop mostly, with an emphasis on 90s alternative, classic rock, oldies
from the 60s to the 90s, current and classic country, etc. Any artist in there will give us something to talk about. My favourite TV shows, other than
the news, include Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, Trailer Park Boys, All in the Family, and the Golden Girls. I love a good sense
of humour. I respect and value good grammar and spelling. Family and good friendships are important to me. I swear a lot but try to keep a lid on it at work and succeed in keeping a lid on it with family and in public.
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[31 Oct 2009|11:10pm] |
Hello! I'm back to LJ and have made a new journal since my last one never let anyone know I updated and then no one read it etc.... So here's some info about me, if you have some things in common or just want to add me then please do and I'll most likely add you back. I don't like being just a number, I'm looking for friends who post in their journals so I can comment and ones that will comment (aka-give feedback) to my posts. I don't mean every post but you know what I mean! I want to get to know some new people and since I'm a stay-at-home mom this is how I'm going to try and do it.
First of all, my name is Kristine.
-from Pennsylvania
-I'm 30 years old
-I have two kids (a boy who is 4 and a girl who is 2 1/2)
-I'm a stay-at-home mom
-I attended college but did not finish my degree
-I've been married for a little over 5 years now
-I love history and to travel to see historic sites
-I love to read, it's one of the rare things that relaxes me
-I can be sarcastic, it's just my sense of humor
-I tend to pour my heart out
-I also tend to rant sometimes
-I have clinical depression and ocd which I take medications for
-I've a tv addict and looooove CSI: Miami especially Speed on there
-I loved being in marching band in high school and college where I played the flute
-I majored in psychology and history with a minor in religions (cause it was interesting)
-I hate living in Pennsylvania
-I can't stand cold
-I have no pets but miss my dog Midnite who was put to sleep in February of 2007
-I like to make icons so I post them when I make 'em
There's more info on my profile page! My journal is friends only so please post there to let me know you added me or here on this post. Thanks!
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| So chalk full of news I had to post the Nov 4 news wire. |
[04 Nov 2009|02:10pm] |
November 4th: Tomorrow (Thursday) night in Philadelphia Ring of Honor returns to The Arena in South Philadelphia to tape three weeks of "ROH on HDNet". Bell time is 7:00 PM at 7 Ritner Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148. Austin Aries WILL defend the ROH World Title. Other matches include Tyler Black vs. Sonjay Dutt; Claudio Castagnoli vs. Colt Cabana; and Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico. Also scheduled to appear are The American Wolves, Chris Hero, Roderick Strong, Kenny Omega, Joey Ryan, "The King of Old School" Steve Corino, Kenny King, Rhett Titus, Delirious with Daizee Haze, Necro Butcher, plus more. Tickets will be available to purchase at the door on the night of the show!!!
November 4th: On Friday we're back at The Arena for the second of back to back nights of "ROH on HDNet" TV Tapings at The Arena, 7 Ritner Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148. Bell time is 8:00 PM. Matches already announced include Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong; Kenny Omega vs. Chris Hero; Austin Aries & Kenny King vs. Tyler Black & Colt Cabana. All of the stars announced for Thursday night will appear on Friday night as well. Tickets will be available to purchase at the door on the night of the show!!!
November 4th: On Saturday night we return to Edison, NJ with a live event starting at 7:30 PM. The show takes place at The Inman Center, 990 Inman Avenue, Edison, NJ 08820. Already announced is Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Davey Richards & Chris Hero; Tyler Black vs. Kenny King; Roderick Strong vs. Delirious; Kenny Omega vs. Sonjay Dutt; Jay Briscoe vs. Claudio Castagnoli; Necro Butcher has accepted the challenge of Prince Nana to face The Embassy and his "monster"; Austin Aries & Rhett Titus will be in tag team action. Also scheduled to appear are Mark Briscoe, Joey Ryan, Rhett Titus; Colt Cabana, & more. Tickets will be available to purchase at the door on the night of the show.
November 4th: Jim Cornette will be in attendance at all three shows this weekend including a FREE meet & greet session from 6:30-7:30 in Edison, NJ on Saturday night. Cornette’s Collectibles will have a merchandise table setup at the events in Philadelphia and Edison.
November 4th: Just announced this morning on the main page at ROHWrestling.com (http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/article.aspx?id=3061), the opponents for Katsuhiko Nakajima have been made official! Taking the place vacated by the injured KENTA, ROH officials and colleagues at the Kensuke Office have decided that Nakajima will wrestle the competitors originally scheduled to face KENTA. On November 13th in suburban Detroit, he will face Kenny Omega, and on November 14th in suburban Toronto, he will face El Generico! Both of these bouts are first time ever dream matches so don't miss out on your chance to see them live. Tickets for both events are now on sale at www.rohwrestling.com in the "Tickets" section.
November 4th: ATTENTION DirecTV SUBSCRIBERS! As announced yesterday by our broadcast partners at HDNet, tons of original programming, including Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDNet, are now available on demand to DirecTV subscribers! We are pleased to be able to thank everyone at HDNet and DirecTV for making this possible! For more information, please check out http://www.hd.net/pressrelease.html?2009-11-03-01.html.
November 4th: Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana isn't surprised that Austin Aries has elected not to put the title up for grabs this Saturday in Edison, New Jersey. “Like that’s a shock to anyone,” said Cabana. “Aries has proven what everyone already thinks – he’s a paper champion.”
November 4th: Speaking of Cabana, he’s just signed for tag team action on November 13th in Novi, MI. Cabana will team with the recently returned Delirious to take on Aries’ stalwart foot soldiers, Kenny King and “Addicted to Love” Rhett Titus. Both Cabana and Delirious have had recent run-ins with Aries and company, verbal and physical, and this match is a direct result. Word has it that Aries’ wants Cabana and Delirious knocked down a peg. Will it happen in Michigan?
November 4th: ROH President Cary Silkin was on last night with Bower and Chris Cause at Wheelhouse Radio discussing all things ROH as we roll into Philly and Edison this weekend. Check out http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/roh-owner-cary-silkin/ and see what Cary had to say about a number of topics, including being a part of the critically acclaimed film, The Wrestler, who is the future of ROH, and what its like when some of the ROH stars move on. Don’t miss it!
November 4th: ROH officials had an extensive conference call yesterday to discuss Executive Producer Jim Cornette’s announcement tomorrow night in South Philly. The playing field may have just been leveled.
November 4th: We announced several days ago that Asylum and Burns – The Flatliners – were poised to make their live event debut on November 14th when ROH returns to the Toronto area. The impressive Canadian duo certainly have set their sights high, as just signed for the event, they will take on perhaps the hottest tag team in wrestling, Nick and Matt Jackson – The Young Bucks! Can the powerhouses shut down the aerial assault of the Bucks and shock the world in their debut? Be there to find out! Tickets are on sale right now at ROHWrestling.com!
November 4th: The Buy 3, Get 2 Free Ring of Honor DVD Sale is back at ROHWrestling.com. This is a great opportunity to build your ROH DVD collection or start buying holiday presents for friends and family. This sale will also be in effect at the live Ring of Honor events this weekend in Philadelphia and Edison, NJ. For the complete details on this sale click here: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/article.aspx?id=2919.
November 4th: Ring of Honor is ready to get back to Sweet Home Chicago! Signed for our big return to the Frontier Fieldhouse on December 5th: The Necro Butcher, Joey Ryan, Kevin Steen and El Generico, and Roderick Strong! Starting next week, after the dust settles in Philadelphia and Edison, we’ll have more names and the first matches for this big event! Tickets are on sale now!
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On a tad sadder note, due to being busy with a move to a new apartment and obviously busy with the PWP site, I don't know how much longer this livejournal community is going to be going around. I will say that I'd be more than happy to hand the reigns of adminship over to someone who has more time to commit to it.
Obviously Johnny Nitro and myself have other commitments and while ROH is still a passion for me, I just can't dedicate the amount of time I used to. I am going to start posting more ROH episodes again but, truly the livejournal phase is slowly burning out and the Facebook is coming into itself. We do have a facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=183804576806#/pages/Ring-of-Honor-Livejournal-Community/183804576806
But really I do believe that being able to post ROH episodes here is still useful to a few people so it might continue here though I am drafting a page for it over at PWP. But we will see. Anyone interested in keeping this community going or helping me over at the facebook page is more than welcome to email me at: spawn_syxx9@hotmail.com
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[04 Nov 2009|02:49am] |
I just realized that my aunt Lesley is Jeri Blank.
Hahahahaha oh my god I'm dying.
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[04 Nov 2009|12:36am] |
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( Hi I'm Jess )
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| "one fine day in the middle of the night...some shit happened." |
[04 Nov 2009|02:08am] |
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Thomas fell over today, and smacked his face on the harder part of the floor. His gum has barely stopped bleeding since. Now his lip is bruised and swollen, his gums look awful but at least its not bleeding so much now. Also he's sleeping well, so that's a good sign.
Stacey took him up to the docs earlier, just to be sure. They said that it should clot on its own, and by that point had already started. They also tried playing planes with him, but he kept shout "no!"
Bless him.
His speech has been coming on so much lately though. He talks almost constantly, and both of us have loads of conversations with him on a regular basis. He is so intelligent!
ellie is getting intelligent as well now. She also says a lot, and now knows that cats go "miaow", and that "doggies go woof-woof". Apparently.
Branco, our landlord, is a fucking plank. He sent us a letter detailing all these charges and things we owed him for arrears, then failed to show up when he agreed he would. So we rescheduled that. He should have been over today but we postponed because he wanted copies of our receipts, which prove we've been paying him, but we didn't get to a photocopier in time.
It doesn't help that he expects us to just drop everything for him, but we have lives to lead. We have another Kent trip this weekend, we both work...it just isn't convenient, and he should know that. Oh well.
My mum is being much nicer lately. Don't know why, don't care. all I know is, she isnt bitching about/to stace anymore and she's being nicer to us. Maybe she got laid *shudders*
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