kelly clarkson

just finished posting photos from the kelly clarkson concert i attended back in may. 

i like kelly's latest album a lot, but i had no intention of seeing her live until joe bought me two tickets to her central park gig.  understandably, not being a fan of hers, joe didn't really want to go.  however, when the friend that i'd invited cancelled at the last minute, i threatened to drag joe along with me — there was no way i was going to face hundreds of screaming teen and pre-teen girls and their mothers in central park on a saturday all by my lonesome.

thankfully, our friend justin rescued both joe and me from this dilemma.  justin and i arranged to meet up an hour before the concert — so, of course, the line to get in was about half a mile long by the time we got there.  fortunately for us, we ended up next to courtney and aviva, who were also neither teen, pre-teen, nor mothers, and shared an interest in all the celebrity gossip of the day (britney, lindsay, whitney, mariah, tomkat et al).

the four of us sat together at the concert, waiting for about an hour before kelly came on.  to pass the time, we alternately left for snacks, bathroom breaks, gift bag runs, and massages — but, for me, the best part of the pre-show was standing around watching the crowd enjoy the music being piped over the speakers.  seriously, what could be more heart-warming than an all-ages crowd singing along to the uncensored version of gwen stefani's "holla back"?  (though i feel less scandalized now that i've learned that the black eyed peas are actually saying "don't phunk with my heart.")

finally, kelly arrived and performed a set of about eight songs, which (to me, at least) falls a bit on the short side.  then again, considering the event was pretty much one big advertisement for allure magazine and its sponsors (yet, they still charged admission), i guess i shouldn't be too surprised.  on the plus side, kelly sang some cool covers — b.b. king's "the thrill is gone" and the eurythmics' "sweet dreams."

thankfully, security was pretty lax and, though they made me dump my water bottle, they didn't check for or confiscate my nikon coolpix sq.  turns out lots of people brought cameras and were all taking pictures.  i promised courtney and aviva i would e-mail them as soon as i posted mine so, a little over three months later, here they are!

yeah, i suck.

lunch with mo

so you know you're having a bad day when a phone call from one of your oldest and dearest friends completely freaks you out.

or maybe it's just me.

...plus the fact that i had just gotten back to my desk from a particularly harrowing meeting, seen the blinking red light on my phone, picked up the receiver to check my voicemail, hit the message button, waited for meridian mary (the voicemail lady) to answer, noticed the number on my caller id, sputtered out a confused "hello?" and, magically — there she was.

"jason?  it's monick."

hooray!  one of my favorite people in the world, and someone who has known me through the good, the bad, the awkward, and the laugh-so-hard-it-hurts moments of my life.  when you nearly come out to someone on an intercontinental flight to germany during your senior year high school chorus trip and she doesn't judge you, you know you have a friend for life.

so we're way past the bizarre beginnings to phone conversations thing.

but i explain anyway.

her considered response:  "wow, that is weird.  wanna get together for lunch?"

monick lives out in los angeles but has spent the past few months in new york city for work.  you can read about all her adventures, including her forthcoming entrepreneurial exploits, on her blog.

of course, with good sushi and good conversation, lunch flies by.  on our way out, we get to discussing the travel guide entry she's writing for new york.  i suggest she draw from her blogspot entries and tell everyone, "avoid rats."

she rolls her eyes.  "jason, this is new york city.  rats are unavoidable.  if anything, i'd tell people, 'expect rats.'"

as we walk to the street corner, i commend monick for overcoming her own fears.  (note to self:  never read 1984.)  not surprisingly, within the next three minutes, monick and i, in our own patented and ridiculous way, steer the conversation from suriphobia to her dressing up as a mouse next halloween, marching down fifth avenue in a rodent-pride parade, and punching out a certain mascot in an orlando theme park...though not necessarily in that order.

see?  friends for life.

riverside park (3 of 3)

riverside park (2 of 3)

riverside park (1 of 3)

last friday, with the afternoon off, joe and i went down to riverside park to relax, read, and take pictures with my nikon sq digital camera.  i'm pretty pleased with some of the portraits i took of him.  i'll be posting my favorites in pairs over the next few days.

afterwards, we met up with my friend monick for dinner and karaoke.  read about it on the hip girlz blog.