Brunettes may have more fun...seems to be working out ;)

After tending to my screaming liver all day (maybe the hair dye got to my head too), putting together all of the packaging for Ampersand (our launch party is this Saturday...time flies when you're building a jewelry empire), and watching the MTV Movie Awards (surprisingly funny - amazing what happens when your expectations are low), I think I'm ready for sleep now. My head is filled with too much stuff and not enough time to accomplish it all in. However, I'm super excited for the support everyone's given us over this whole "&" thing. That and the fact that Reza and Nick got me absolutely wasted on Saturday (VIP all the way baby! These boys knew everyone including the coat check guy and cheap drinks + tons of smoking = very drunk and very loud DA). And we're doing it all again next week.
So while thinking of that, I give you this fabulous music to begin your week with. It's been keeping me sane for the past couple of days and it's rad :)
Boys Noize - Ne.Oh.Pen (Danger Remix)

Busy P - Get Yo! Rainbow Man (Streetlife DJs Cut N Run Remix)

Crookers - Lollypop

Crookers - Magic Bus

DJ Zeph & Platum - Rock The Funky Episode

Ghostface Killah - Charlie Brown (Yuksek Remix)

M83 - Graveyard Girl (Yuksek Remix)

Plugs - The Number (Yuksek Remix)

Van She - Strangers (Yuksek Remix)


Anyone else seeing my mild obsession with Yuksek?
Junc Ops - Be One

Ghost ride the whip...

Total slacker on the whole post thing, I know. But I had a few revelations this week. No more boys for a while (I don't need anymore practice in how to feel shitty thank you...). I missed my music blogs (I've just made two CDs in 3 hours. Awesome!). I need to just let things go. Flight of the Conchords were awesome live.

So, Ideal Man had his birthday (as did English Best Friend but we celebrated this week) on Saturday - a semi-surprise birthday where me and a bunch of gay boys were all in his apartment drunk and playing Wii when he walked in the door. I had the lethal combo of Vodka and Guava Rockstar (nuh uh. No more) and ended up feeling very sorry for myself. No good. But his friends always make me laugh and my face was hurting by the end of the night. If only I'd loaded up that video of Ideal Man singing Annie's "Tomorrow" at the top of his lungs wearing his cowboy hat....
Ended up getting the new Env2 (they exchanged my old phone for this one seeing as I only got it 2 months ago. Amazing what flirting will get you) and love it. Plus Jiggy got a Wii - always a plus when he's staying with me this week. And then there was Flight of the Conchords last night in the city - they were excellent and just as funny as they are on the show...
Which brings me to all the music I will be posting between now and Saturday (Nick and Reza are taking me out on Saturday...and believe me, I'll have stories to tell on Sunday. Those guys always get me into trouble ;))...here's just a little taste:
DJ Zeph & Platum - Bay Thing Blend Remix

Oh, and I'm a brunette again. I got bored ;)

Freaked out...

In the past two days the following has happened: Bell was laid off from a company she worked with for almost THREE years, one of my friends was laid off today (from a company HE's worked at for almost three years) and now there's all these weird natural disaster things going on what with tornados in Riverside, fires in the Santa Cruz mountains, mudslides and the fact that I think a big earthquake is going to happen.

It's just weird. Nobody's fucking safe from this shit, no matter how long you've worked at a company and it's hard to take anything seriously anymore besides bills and how much it costs to fill up your car. Meh. Life sucks when you get older.

So, tomorrow I'm getting up super early and starting to get to work way earlier than I should be. Because I'm new and have to prove myself - and this is the best time to do it. My 23 year old self is making a comeback and self-confidence is going to have to be the key. And yes, I'm rambling but I'm shit-scared...you tell me someone who isn't...?

Day of big news

It's only frickin Monday. And I feel old because I just joined Facebook and it took me forever to figure it out - Myspace was a hell of a lot easier to join - let me go back!!!
Today was my friend's last day at the dying empire that was once Joke-oto. She actually forced them to lay her off which in my book is pretty rad and they deserve everything they've got coming to them - I've been out of there for a month and actually feel sane at work now :)

Also, when I went to get my coffee at 7-11 this morning, the guy with his kid was there. Now. Let me just give you the story on this one. This guy (who I've seen do this for the past six months) thinks it's a great idea to bring his six year old (approx.) kid with him in the morning to Sevey-levey when people just want their nicotine, caffeine, and in some cases, beer, and they want it quick without having to wait in line. But this guy decides that it's a great idea to teach his son the value of money and makes his kid COUNT OUT THE CHANGE to give to the guy behind the counter. So, for those of you who know me without nicotine and caffeine in the morning, being made to wait is the equivalent of having steam come out of my ears. And I see him there about once a month - QUIT IT!!! Teach your kid at 3:00 when I don't need to be there and in a rush!

And that's my little rant.

They go apeshit over bubbles...

(You tell me he doesn't look like he should be in the mafia...)
So I just watched the movie Knocked Up kicking off the trifecta of movie watching this weekend (Ironman was RAD and Robert Downey Jr. is hoooooooot - not to be confused with the sound an owl makes...). There's that one scene where Paul Rudd is explaining why kids go over apeshit over bubbles and I'm kind of starting to feel that way. Our launch party is in less than two weeks, work's going well, and I've been test driving cars.
There's nothing like walking into a dealership with my friends Nick (pictured) and Reza. One's Argentinean, one's Iranian and they're both built like they would pummel someone at a moment's notice - quite reassuring when you have to negotiate. Also quite hilarious when test-driving with a guy who's holding on to the oh shit bar and saying, "So, I guess you like to drive fast in your Audi then" and the two boys in the back claiming I'm a pussy for not hitting 200 km/h on the test drive. Unfortunately I'm in an upside-down loan right now and need to pay a bit more of it off before I can sell. And ironically enough both boys have just bought new cars: a Porsche and a Mercedes. They convinced me to get the Audi in the first place so I'm not sure whether to be mad at them or be happy that I got to own that car for over two years. Either way I'll be saying goodbye to it soon and I'm quite sad. But hopefully we'll make tons of money with Ampersand and I'll be driving something even swishier :)

As for the Sunday mix, I'm still excited about Rock The Bells (not for another 3 months) so as promised here's a little taste of who will be there:
A Tribe Called Quest - Check The Rhime

Kid Sister - Switch Board

Method Man - Judgement Day

Mos Def - Ghetto Rock
Nas ft. Olu Dara - Bridging The Gap

Q-Tip - Breathe & Stop
Santogold - Creator

Spank Rock ft. Amanda Blank - Bump (Pink Skull remix)
Which, incidentally, was playing over some salad dressing commercial this weekend. Sad. Sellouts.

When snubbed by a guy on a Thursday night...

...you go out with the girls...where you proceed to be hit on by a guy in his mid-30s who has no game and then a guy who is 19...who has no game. It's a scary single world out there and I'm living it and those pickings out there are extremely slim :) That and the fact that we got seats EIGHT ROWS FROM THE FUCKING FRONT for Rock The Bells (to which my Sunday mix will be dedicated to all those fabulous artists) and it better be worth it because the tickets cost us almost $100 each...I'm sure when we hear the opening for "Check the Rhime" we'll believe it was...;)

A Tribe Called Quest - Find A Way

Reminders...

So I'm slacking on the whole posting thing comparative to last month. And I guess that's because of all the strange, messed-up things that happened in quick succession versus the relatively structured thing of what's going on now.
I've been to New York and L.A. in the past two weeks, started a new job, been dating again, listened to advice and we finally sent out the evite for Ampersand's launch party (20 people responded "yes" in less than 24 hours so we're hoping for a big turnout). And because of all of it I got sick. It sucked calling in this morning but I had a sinus infection and spent the day lying in bed, having weird dreams where my teeth fell out (not a good sign) and having the same person in them who has been in my dreams solidly for the past six weeks and I really wish he would go away.
The L.A. trip was kind of an eye-opener for me. It was the first time in well over a year that my sister and I were speaking again. We lost touch last year when she had an episode (she has bi-polar) ran away to Montana at the beginning of this year and now that she's back with my parents she seems to be getting her life back together. She's still a shell of what she once was but we're getting there...slowly. And it sucks because they're moving in a month (Jiggy, the prodigal baby brother will be returning to the Bay Area for a week at the end of the month which'll be fun). I only listened to old CDs while I was driving down there and opened the floodgates on old memories, old boyfriends, times where I was just as confused as I am now. I received a letter from my grandma before I left saying that you only get one life and that this isn't a dress rehearsal (and she should know, she's 86) and so that's what I was thinking all the way down there. Am I doing this right? Making the right decisions? And most importantly, am I happy?
I think the answer to that is that I'm on my way but there's still a hole in my heart that I'm working on to fix, I'm working my ass off at a job I know I'm going to love and I'm making as many plans as I can with people that make me smile. Besides...when it's this warm outside at 10:30 p.m. life is good. Oh, and the greatest thing? Rock the Bells tickets go on pre-sale tomorrow where Tribe Called Quest is headlining and Mos Def, Spank Rock, Nas, Method Man, Kid Sister and many other awesome acts are on the bill. And Bell and I are going and I know I won't be able to sleep tonight :) (That and Jiggy and I are going to see Flight of the Conchords in 2 weeks). Yep. Not bad for a quiet week...
Gym Class Heroes - Nothing Boy vs. The Echo Factor

La-la land here I come

So, I'm going to be in L.A. this weekend (I know, I'm SO well traveled :)) partying it up but for right now am loading up the New York pictures - go check out my myspace (www.myspace.com/lala1234) to see them all...

Smile - check. Friends - check. Liver - um, not so sure.

So I need to get some sleep as I've been out the past two nights and am absolutely exhausted from that, copious drinking, and learning as much as I can in work. I found out some information from someone tonight that I wished I'd known about 5 months ago. It made me absolutely sick that I'd wasted almost two years pining after someone who was so socially inept that he did something that ended up making me just feel sorry for him. And that was the key (and also made me smile so hard on the home it was unreal). I'm completely over it and realize that this smile on my face could've been there all along. And I wasted who I am on this guy who wasn't even worth it to begin with. I just feel sorry for him...and his multiple checking of my blog every day (yep, there are ways to check that).
As for my date on Wednesday, there's something to be said for feeling like a princess with someone when it requires little effort and they just hug you and you know it's going to be OK. I just shouldn't have gone overboard with the Jager and Jack ;) OK, well maybe it was well deserved - we'd both just had a pretty big week. So, thank you to Shanghai Kelly's last night and Amber tonight for keeping this girl liquored up, happy and realizing she's truly loved.
And in honor of all that, here's the better Van Morrison song (sorry Soon-to-be-lawyer but I'm right) and a song that I've been dancing to since I came home :)
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl (Link removed by request)

Janet Jackson - Feedback

I love to turn you on, you're like my favorite song...

My new commute was fabulous this morning as is my new job and I'm still smiling...Soon-to-be Lawyer once told me that nothing can go wrong if you're listening to Stevie Wonder and so I followed that advice and listened all the way to work. And then decided to blast these songs as loud as I could with coffee in hand, smoke in the other, knees under the steering wheel and finally the potential of a paycheck. Life is good and as Sarah said, you can't keep me down long ;)
Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke

Ne-Yo - Stay

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground (Dare I say that they did a better job than Stevie Wonder? Sorry, this version is awesome...)


And just because I think this is cute:
Santogold - Your Voice

Why's it so bright here?

So I'm back from New York, absolutely exhausted, can't feel my legs from walking around so much but we had a REALLY good time. After not sleeping Thursday night (and playing "Satan is my motor" through ridiculous turbulence) and Bell losing it when she saw the Chrysler building on our walk to the hotel (the Pod Hotel, highly recommended for those on a budget, dibs on top bunk) we ended up seeing as much as we could in 3 days: Central Park, Rockefeller Center (got to see where they filmed Conan and SNL - TINY theatres), Grand Central Station, Empire State Building, Greenwich Village (where I saw Macauley Culkin and Mila Kunis AGAIN and Ideal Man thought it was hilarious as we had seen them in San Francisco the year before - they're following me, I swear), Cafe Lalo (where they filmed one of the scenes in "You've Got Mail"), Times Square (where Bell got her picture taken by a HUGE fuckoff poster of the Backstreet Boys - don't ask...), Parsons School of Design (looking for Tim Gunn as we love Project Runway), Serendipity where we had the biggest deserts EVER and partying at the Wetbar at the W Hotel and the Pig & Whistle (which happened to be around the corner from our hotel. Which was quite lucky because I was quite drunk). Also happened to be the site where the most hilarious picture of the vacation was taken because I didn't realize Meech's camera had three flashes - lame. She has all the photos right now but they will be loaded up tomorrow. And through this I was quite proud of myself because we didn't really get lost that often and I kinda remembered the city after 2 years of being away. So, now we're knackered, laughed a lot and I have to take a Tylenol PM to calm me down as I start my new job tomorrow (VERY excited for money to start coming in again). And I already have a date lined up for Wednesday of celebratory proportions. Awesome. I'm a happy camper :)

One two, one two, keep it on

So after digging out Beastie Boys' Solid Gold Hits I decided to do a last minute post seeing as we're going to where they're from tonight. It's a total cop-out on my Sunday mix but I don't care - I love these boys and have paid (and will pay) lots of money to see them...New York here we come :)
Beastie Boys - Ch-Check It Out

Beastie Boys - 3 MCs and One DJ

Beastie Boys - Get It Together (ft. Q-Tip)

Beastie Boys - Shake Your Rump

Beastie Boys - Egg Man

Beastie Boys - Sure Shot

Beastie Boys - Paul Revere
All time favorite. Hands down.
Beastie Boys - Off The Grid

This week's episode of Diggnation is brought to you by...

So, went to go see the live taping of Diggnation, got me a free t-shirt (and a free beer) and flogged Ampersand jewelry to Alex Albrecht. Busy night :) But it was fun, I was mildly tipsy and we got some great pictures (one of Ideal Man looking like a meth victim was particularly interesting). Now if you hear some obnoxious screaming when the show airs on Revision 3 this Friday, you'll know it was us (and about 150 other screaming computer nerds)...
I'm flying out to New York tonight with Bell and I'm so excited my stomach's in knots (maybe because I've slacked off all week and still haven't packed or done a ton of other stuff). The Tribeca Film Festival's still on this weekend so we'll be going armed with cameras to see if we can see any celebrities, visit the Met, shop until we can't walk anymore and drink in the multitudes of Manhattan bars - can't wait!!!!
So, because of that I won't be on here until next Tuesday but I'm sure my 6 readers can stand it...as for music, this is what I'm leaving you with because it holds a very special place in my heart:
LCD Soundsystem - New York I Love You