Well, I was completely dreading the trip my hubby and I were taking down to Miami for Thanksgiving, but thank goodness, it was actually a rather pleasant experience. Our friend Ellen dropped us off at the train station, and as usual, it was a boring ride down. When we got there, Audi’s sister, Karen, was nowhere to be found. Turns out she took the wrong exit and ended up getting stuck in the airport, fighting her way out of the traffic jams. When we finally made it to her apartment, Audi’s mom and niece were so happy to see us. His niece was the most excited, though. She was jumping up and down and wanting to play and so on. She’s SO cute, and so smart! She has this very mature way of speaking, so it sounds like you’re talking to a 20-year-old as opposed to a 5-year-old. LOL! We played some Wii, watched some cartoons, and then we all went to bed.

The next day, Audi drove us all in his mom’s car over to the Metro PCS store (I think it was Metro PCS, anyway) so she could pay her cell phone bill, and then he drove me over to my parent’s house. In the meantime, he went shopping with his mom. I hung out with my dad, and then later with my mom when she came home from work. My brother was there, too, and we talked a little bit here and there. Afterwards, our friends Dave and Sandra drove over to pick me up, and then to pick up Audi so we could all hang out. We had made plans a few days earlier to hang out on Wednesday, since neither of them had to work the next day (Thanksgiving day and all). That was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. We played Magic the Gathering (because we’re all such raging nerds) until the crack of dawn. When we finally decided to call it quits, we walked outside and the sun had risen. Magic the Gathering. My anti-drug and drug all at the same time.

After eating some breakfast and catching a few Z’s, I got my stuff together. Audi had some fun taking pictures with my camera while I was taking a nap on the couch, by the way. ;D haha. Dave and Sandra drove me to my parent’s house again, and they drove Audi back to his mom’s place. A few hours later, my family started showing up. My brother, my niece, my aunt, my cousin (and her three kids aka my godchildren), and my grandma all came to celebrate Thanksgiving with me and my parents. It was a REALLY nice time. All the kids behaved, the food was wonderful (especially that pumpkin pie, YUM-MY!), and there was NO drama whatsoever. That’s a holiday that deserves some major thanks! After my extended family left, only my niece was left to head out. I was originally going to have my niece drive me over to Audi’s mom’s house, but my dad offered to take me since it was already getting late. I get there, and the first thing Audi’s niece says is, “You’re late!” LOL. I love that little girl. I had some more Thanksgiving dinner, talked to some of Karen’s friends, and once again, watched cartoons with Audi’s niece.

Finally, we all went to bed. The next morning we woke up (officially woke up, since Audi’s niece kept waking us up every hour on the hour) and got our stuff together (again). My parents came by to pick us up and drop us off at the train station. After another boring train ride, our friend Arthur came to pick us up. Before dropping us off at our apartment, he swung by the new house that he and his wife are in the process of moving into. The house is AWESOME, and has a lot of room, which they’re going to need since Ellen is pregnant. ;D

Anyway, that’s the gist of my trip. It was a really nice time, and despite a few tiny moments of drama, I had a lot of fun. And now, I am off to do my weekly features for deviantart, and then watch a movie with the hubby.

Ciao!

Entertainment, Family, Friends, Fun, Life Audi, Family, Friends, magic, thanksgiving

Yes, I am that damn lazy and uninspired that I couldn’t think of an actual title for this journal entry.

I’ve been feeling pretty shitty lately. Cramps have been affecting my abdomen region, and random stupid shit has been affecting my mental region.  But I don’t want to use this journal to garner sympathy, so I’ll just leave it at that.

I went to the opening of Bindings last night, where my work “Miranda’s Box” was on display. The exhibition was all about books, and I must say, it was a rather lovely show. Aside from the one or two works that didn’t really impress me, the exhibition was well-presented and well chosen. I’m happy to be a part of it. I’ll be uploading an image of the flyer and my work to my website soon.

I’ve been getting into rockabilly and psychobilly music lately. The acts/bands I’m currently diggin’ are Zombie Ghost Train, The Creepshow, and Devil Doll. If anyone reads this, and gives a shit enough to comment, don’t hesitate to suggest a few more bands for me.

I think I might play some of The Darkness tonight, just to vent some frustrations. Ciao.

Art, Entertainment, Life Bindings, exhibition, rockabilly

At long last, my review and story about the KMFDM concert that took place on October 29th in Orlando, FL. Let me just say that as far as intimate club live shows go, KMFDM are currently #2 in my book (VNV Nation still kicked their ass in the performance and after-show department).

Let me divide my review/story into two parts: My story and Audi’s story. It seems that we both had very interesting and different accounts of this particular evening.

My Story
So my side of the story begins at home, fighting the ever growing pain from wearing Audi’s boots (since I had to throw all of mine away). At first, if I just kept my feet in certain angles, it wouldn’t hurt so bad. But as the night went on, it got worse and worse.

After arriving in Orlando (a lovely 2.5 hour drive I might add), we had the unfortunate mission of looking for parking. We got to the club when there was only two people in line. By the time we found parking (6 BLOCKS AWAY BTW), the line went around the corner. Blah! Whatever. We got in line and waited until about 9:20 when they finally opened the doors. Some dude with a flashlight came down the line checking ID’s and he told me I had to get rid of my spike collar. My aggravation rises further. It’s bad enough that my feet are screaming in pain, but now I have to find somewhere to hide my damn necklace. Audi suggested throwing it in the bushes and getting it later, but that was not an option. I made this necklace nearly 10 years ago when I was too poor to buy the real thing. It has memories attached, dammit! Thankfully, the people in line behind us were kind enough to put it in their car so we could pick it up again after the show.

Finally, we get in, and walk over to the bar. Audi gets a beer, and I went over to the vendor booth. I bought myself a pack of 5 buttons, which was a VERY reasonable $5. You can’t even get that price at fucking Hot Topic; well if you’re lucky enough to find a KMFDM button at all in there! Audi walks over with me to look around, and I go wait right in front of the stage. Audi bids his farewell (since he doesn’t care much about either band) and I didn’t seem him again until KMFDM left the stage.

After waiting for about a fucking hour, Angelspit finally comes on stage. I will mention the few things I liked first. I liked the way Destroyx, the lead singer, danced and moved. She was really fluid and sexy, and really gave a nice performance to each song. I also liked… well, honestly, that’s the only thing I liked. Everything else pretty much sucked hardcore. Let’s list them off, shall we?

- 50% of their synthesizers were fake. How do I know this? Audi has been living and breathing synths for nearly half his life, and he told me they were fake. The bulk of them were just fancy looking face plates that provided a half-decent light show.
- She doesn’t actually sing. It’s just “talking with style”. I hate that. A lot. I hate that she’s not even mildly talented and she’s making more money than me. Jealousy? Yes, bitch.
- The other member of the band, Z00G (which is a terrible fucking name to begin with) had the most ridiculous looking “fake mohawk” I’ve ever seen. It was composed of triangular leather cutouts with rivets in it. Puke-fest. Grow a real goddamn mohawk, and then I’ll be impressed.
- They performed EVERY SONG to backtracks. Now, I have no problem with backtracks, since sometimes they’re simply necessary. But when your entire live show is composed of singing over the shit you already made in the studio…. there’s a big problem.
- The only thing that irritated me more than the band was the fans. One asshole in particular kept yelling stupid shit like “Take off your top” and “Show us your tits”. Hey, douchebag, it’s a concert, not a strip joint.

Now, on to the stars of the night, KMFDM. Pure and simple, they kicked ass. What was even more amazing is that I knew every single song they played. The only song I wished they hadn’t was “Looking for Strange”. I don’t know why but I can’t stand that song, and it’s very rare for me. Normally, I can listen to every single KMFDM album straight through. But there’s really not much else to say. They were just simply amazing. The only bad thing about the show was some bitch who kicked me in the head while she was body surfing.

Here’s the songs they played. I don’t remember the precise order. Sorry.

- DIY
- Bait & Switch
- Megalomaniac
- Adios
- Looking for Strange
- Light
- Tohuvabohu
- Hau Ruck
- Son of a Gun
- Godlike
- Saft Und Kraft
- WWIII

That’s the end of my story, for now. Let’s move on to what happened to Audi, and then the two stories will merge when we reach the end of it.

Audi’s Story
As soon as he left me, he went back to the bar near the main entrance. However, after about 10 minutes, he started feeling silly just standing there, so he ordered a Long Island Iced Tea. He then went to the other bar on the far end of the club (on the other side of the stage) and went all the way to the back so no one would be behind him. He had already put in his earplugs, so he was set. As soon as Angelspit came on, he thought they were so terrible that he immediately began writing about how bad they were on his Blackberry.  Just before they performed their last song of the night, he headed outside,  sat right next to the vendor table, and started fiddling on his Blackberry. After the last song, people started coming out to the vendor area since Angelspit was going to come out and sign autographs. Audi ended up becoming the photographer for all the people wanting photos with one or both of the Angel spit band members. Finally, after all that was done, he sat back down and started doing stuff on his Blackberry again.

Finally, the roadie behind the vendor table asks him, “Hey, man, everything OK?” Audi then began explaining about the problems with his hearing, how I was inside enjoying the show, etc etc… He and the roadie ended up getting along really well, and they started talking about a bunch of different shit. Eventually, after having so many alcoholic drinks, the roadie had to use the restroom. So, he asked Audi if he could watch over the booth for him while he went to the john. Audi did so and sat behind the table while the guy was gone. As soon as the roadie came back, he thanked Audi and told him that he wanted to pay him back for helping him out. He asked Audi, “What shirt size is your girl?” He ended up giving him a KMFDM shirt for me!! (insert a ‘holy shit’ right here) A few seconds later, someone came up to buy a shirt, and it cost $40. LOL.

A few minutes later, the lead singer from Angelspit came back out, and she was dressed in plain clothes. She walked over to the roadie and started chit chatting. Audi took this opportunity to talk to her. See, he had recognized her when she first came on stage from a promotion video for Doepfer DarkStar Energy synthesizer. So he went up to her and asked her about it. She confirmed it and they both started talking about synthesizers. It turns out she actually knows quite a bit about synths. She told Audi that they have some amazing analog synths that are worth about $4000-$5000 EACH.

Finally, KMFDM finished performing and the crowd started  coming back out. Audi bid his goodbyes to both Destroyx and the roadie, and went looking for me. This is where our stories converge… After finding me, we looked for the people who were holding onto my necklace. We found them outside, I got my necklace, and after thanking them profusely, we headed to the car.

After a long and grueling drive back home, I finally saw my feet for the first time since before putting them on… I had second degree burns on both tendons from having the boot scrape against my skin. The skin has already scabbed over, but it still hurts to walk.

So that’s my story. I’ve uploaded the best pictures from the show, a pic of my outfit, and the stuff I got from the show to this Facebook album.

Audi, Entertainment, Fun, Life angelspit, Audi, concert, firestone live, kmfdm

Yea, it seems we have a lot of stuff coming in the mail lately. Here’s a quick rundown of all the stuff we ordered: A flat-screen TV (and since we ordered this particular TV, we get an X-Box arcade system with it for free), our Dyson vacuum cleaner, a Sony sound bar for the TV, a PS3 gaming bundle, and (if the vendor ever decides to actually send my item) my aknh ring that I ordered on Ebay. I can at least be absolutely sure the other items will be coming in, since we bought them all from reputable places. My ring has somehow mysteriously disappeared in the mail TWICE, and it pisses me off. I know I only spent 16 bucks on it, but I had been waiting for that ring to become available for months. =/ It’s very disappointing. I’ve contacted the seller several times and plan to take it up with eBay if he doesn’t come through.

Dustin needs my help again at World Atlantic Airlines, and I’m trying my damnedest to avoid driving to Miami as much as possible. I DO NOT want to spend the week with my parents again. The whole point of moving out was to STAY OUT, not keep going back every month. Oy. So, right now, Dustin and I are in the process of setting up a server online that I can log into so that I can work remotely from home. I really hope we can get it to work, because if worse comes to worst, I may HAVE to drive down. Audi and I need that income badly, so I’ll have to suck it up and deal with it if I can’t work from home. =/

I got really sick yesterday, ended up puking my brains out. I don’t know why I got sick. Neither Audi or I can explain it, since we both know the dinner I made was well cooked. But a few hours after dinner, I started getting that bad feeling in my chest. I took a shower, hoping it would make me feel better, but no dice. Finally, I stopped fighting it and just let it happen. I still had a stomach ache the rest of the night and most of today, but I definitely felt better after puking. Isn’t that amazing? Puking sucks SO MUCH, but after we do it, we feel so much better. Quite odd this body of human is, hmm?

Anyway, I don’t have much else to report, so for now… Ciao.

Audi, Entertainment, Job, Life ankh ring, apartment, Audi, packages, ps3, tv, xbox

Yea, I know normally it said the other way around, but that’s the order it happened in for me. So, the car is kaput, until I can figure out how to fix the ignition. It gets stuck every time I try to start the car, and there’s no way to even check it or move it or ANYTHING. *sigh* It’s frustrating. I was thinking of asking my neighbor to look at it, since his girlfriend told me he’s good with cars. We’ll see.

However, Dustin called me and told me that he got the OK from the boss for me to work remotely from home. Yay! So, right now he’s in the process of getting the server up to par so that I can access it from my home computer. He hasn’t called me yet, so we’ll see what happens with that.

I got what I wanted from the Fantasyana Publishing magazine, a written agreement. So, now I’m REALLY trying to get all the necessary permissions so that I can send my artwork to them.  So far, I’ve gotten all the OK’s for 3 of the 6 I submitted, and there’s only about 5 or 6 people I’m waiting on. It looks like I won’t be able to submit Battle for Heaven, since Jesper-stock @ deviantart.com is gone completely. There’s no way to contact him. I searched through Google and Yahoo and nada. So, that really sucks. Hopefully, the rest of the people will contact me ASAP.

In extremely new news, (meaning it happened just moments ago), we called the company we bought the TV wall mount from to explain that it wouldn’t work for us. Our wall studs are 24″ apart dead center, and the mount was misleading on the website. It said it could fit on studs that are 24″ apart dead center, but it’s only 22″ long! They ended up giving us a free upgrade to the model we actually needed, and all we have to do is send back the one we ordered. Woot! I love when companies treat their customers right!

Anyway, back to hunting these people down. LOL. Hopefully, I can get all this done SOON! Ciao!

Art, Entertainment, Job, Life Art, magazine, tv

Yep, all by my lonesome… at least for the weekend. My man has gone down to Miami for the weekend to help out his sister and her daughter, so I’m basically just babysitting the apartment for us. Haha.

I have GREAT NEWS! The project for Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Shapeshifter omnibus is a go! That means, they will be using my work for the book cover. *boogies* Random House just sent me the purchase order and all the necessary documents, so I’ll be sending those to them prepared and ready as soon as I can.

I was also chosen to be printed in Issue #005 of Amazing Events, a publication by Fantasyana Publishing. I won’t be getting paid for that one. I’ll get a free high-res full copy of the mag, though. I’ll most likely buy a hard copy for myself, since I’ve bought a copy (or have a copy) of literally every single thing that has my art on it or in it. It’s always good to have hard copies of where your work is printed. =) I learnededed that in school. haha. They chose all 6 of my works, and asked me to send in any others I wanted. =X I guess they must have really liked my stuff!

I made something really cute today. A member of deviantART, Jisuk, made an awesome Futurama inspired image of his head, drawn Futurama-style, inside a water jar. He offered up the template for others to use, so I drew my own head inside the jar. I think it came out pretty good!

Sexy Head?? Yessssss!

Heck, while you’re at it, just check out all the latest work I’ve created here: Bitchinblack’s Gallery

I spent the last two hours watching clips of Chelsea Lately’s roundtable discussions on YouTube. I fucking LOVE that show. Chelsea is just so friggin’ kickass. Every word out of her mouth to me is like gospel, just because I tend to agree with everything she says. LOL. Well, since I don’t have a TV right now (we’re getting a flat-screen next month, woohoo), YouTube is the next best thing. Thank you baby Jesus for YouTube.

Anyway, I’m gonna go back to watching more clips. Ciao!

Art, Audi, Entertainment, Fun, Life Art, Audi, book cover, chelsea lately, deviantart, publication

Just a quick life update: Audi and I bought a few more groceries today and some stuff for the apartment, like a mop, bucket, plunger, and floor cleaner.

So we went to see District 9 tonight, and it was a love/hate relationship for both of us.

WARNING: I’M GOING TO TRY MY HARDEST TO NOT SPOIL ANYTHING, BUT I MAY HAVE TO IN THE INTEREST OF EXPLAINING MY VIEWS. IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE, OR DON’T WANT ANYTHING RUINED, STOP READING NOW.

What We Both Loved

The special effects were absolutely MIND-BOGGLING. Finally, a movie that really does suspend disbelief completely and makes it seem like this could or actually did happen. The aliens looked just as lifelike and real as the humans did. Each little tentacle in their mouth moved independently, the mannerisms were believable, the explosions were alien-looking enough, I could honestly go one forever. I have absolutely no complaints in this department.

Another thing we both loved, the core storyline of the movie. And I’ll explain what I mean by that in more detail later. There is an integral storyline that is the motivation for the film itself, where the main character needs a certain something to help a certain someone to accomplish a goal. That would have been perfect… Except, they had to ruin it, and what ruined it essentially was…. What We Both Hated.

What We Both Hated

This movie had so much potential, and what destroyed it was the unnecessary real-life connections they made between the aliens and the humans. If they had left that out, the movie would have been SO much better. Why did they have to place the story in Johannesburg? Johannesburg??? Really?? It couldn’t have been Denmark or Russia or some other part of the world that we’re not currently messing with in real life?? The blatantly obvious political and racial undertones could have been avoided altogether, and the movie would have been better because of it. It would have simply been Us vs. Aliens. Period. No more hidden vendettas or subliminal messages to worry about. That’s where movies like “Independence Day” very much succeeded. That movie made it’s point perfectly clear from the start. This is our “independence day” from the aliens who are coming to wipe our asses out. No bullshit makes for better movies.

So, there we go, my review.

Entertainment, Fun, Life

So yes, I got to see THEM. <333 I went with my best friend Chris and my boyfriend Audi. Audi was able to go thanks to Chris’ uncle, who was giving away a ticket and I managed to snatch it up. ;D Unfortunately, he sat in a different section, but halfway through the show he came over to our section and sat in an empty seat near us. =)

Allow me to just say, first and foremost, Depeche Mode kicked my ass into next MONTH. They are so GOOD live. I think the only thing I enjoyed more than the music was watching Dave Gahan prancing around the stage like a woodland fairy tripping on acid.

The opening act was Peter Bjorn and John…. and that’s all I have to say about that, really.

As for the band I REALLY went to go see, HOLY SHIT. They were SO good. I’m grateful I even got to see them live once in my life. Thank goodness that one of my top 10 bands of all time is still out there performing live shows. *scratches one more off the list*

Here’s the setlist of the songs they played (thank you to whoever uploaded it to setlist.fm):

In Chains
Wrong
Hole to Feed
Walking in My Shoes
It’s No Good
A Question of Time
Precious
Fly on the Windscreen
Little Soul
A Question of Lust
Miles Away/The Truth Is
Policy of Truth
In Your Room
I Feel You
Enjoy the Silence
Never Let Me Down Again

Encore:
Shake The Disease
Stripped
Behind the Wheel

Encore 2:
Personal Jesus

I nearly fell out of my seat when I heard the intro to “Behind the Wheel”. I honestly didn’t think they would play that song. I’m a little sad that they didn’t play my favorite song, “Halo”, from the Violator album. But hell, they played a shitload of other songs that I adore, so I can’t complain too much. My view was pretty good also, considering I got my ticket when I did. Chris and I were sitting on one of the very first rows of the highest level, but we were to the left of the stage. So, even though we were high up, we could see them perfectly. =D I got some GREAT photos… and a little bit of video, too… *insert giggle* The audio is pretty shitty, anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. *shrug*

What really made the experience amazing was the crowd. It’s amazing to hear an entire stadium of people singing along with you to these kickass songs. And a few times during the performance, David Gahan walked up this runway that extended from the stage and prompted the audience to wave their arms. Wow. What a sight! To see a packed stadium all waving their arms in unison. Incredible. the lights and videos they used were equally as impressive. They had some amazing videos in the background that, in my opinion, fit perfectly with the music.

I’ve uploaded some of the best shots of the show. You can see more clearly what our view was.

Next show: KMFDM @ Respectable Street!!
*prepares to scratch another off the list*

Audi, Entertainment, Friends, Fun, Life