Running to Stand Still

Several people have asked me for a concert report. While Rolling Stone did a great job with their review, I wanted to tell you about my Mother's Day.

My concert buddy Allison and I flew to Seattle on Saturday May 13th, and we stayed with my dear friend Jason.

Airplane Selfie!

I love the window seat. 

Me & Jason on his roof. Words cannot tell you how amazing this man is.

We stayed at Jason's lovely home on Saturday night, and we got up early on Sunday for a Mother's Day brunch and ate lots of pastries.

Allison & I with the troll (and a random dude playing the ukelele)

Allison, Justin & Jason outside the "Silence-Heart-Nest" hippie restaurant

A delightful pain-au-chocolat

I had received an email from Century Link field a few days before I left, in which they told me they do not allow regular purses. They have to be clear. I debated on just stuffing my pockets, but luckily Jason had some leftover plastic bags from buying curtains. So I did a little arts-and-crafts project and made myself this super-classy crossbody bag. I literally braided some twine to make a strap and just kept everything else in the bag.

Amazing, right?! (Preview of young Barack on the right)

After my little project, we thought about going to Pike Place, but got caught in traffic and couldn't find anywhere to park. So we just went to Century Link,

As close as we got

After having paid $50 to park (gah!!!), we tried to find the General Admission (GA) line around 2pm. It was already around the building, so I'm glad we got there when we did. Allison had to go find a restroom, so I just started chatting with the guy in line in front of me. I noticed he was wearing a Joshua Tree hat, which he could only have gotten at the opening night of the tour in Vancouver. We started talking, and he has been to 50 concerts over the last 30 years (his first U2 show being during the original Joshua Tree tour). 

Simon (a.k.a., @BadAcrobat, a.k.a. Dad)

As we kept talking, the people around us started listening and joining in on the conversation, and we all realized that we needed to stick with Simon. He knew exactly where to stand and what he was doing, despite never having been to this venue. So we all started talking to each other and getting to know each other a little, sharing our cheesy popcorn and chatting. And I kinda started calling Simon Dad, because he kept looking back to make sure we were all with him. Simon is originally British, but lives in Alaska. The couple ahead of us were a French girl (Lisa) and her latino boyfriend; I don't remember his name, but he looked exactly like a young Barack Obama. Seriously. The couple behind us were Chaveli and Bryan, who were from the Philippines. How cool is it that people from all over the world met each other at a concert and became fast friends?! I love it. 

When the line started moving, we had to make our way into a Disneyland-type line, when we found out that it was Chaveli's birthday!

Moo.

At this point, I got to skip out of the line to use the restroom for a minute. It was pretty nice to wash my cheesy fingers, and my little group remembered me so I could get back in line.

We finally made our way onto the field around 5:45pm, and I decided I needed a group picture. I have no idea who the guy on the left is, but whatever.

L-R: Some random dude, Young Barack, Lisa, Simon, Bryan, Chaveli, Me & Allison

I also had to sneak a better picture of Barack.

It was throwing me off a little bit.

Lisa and Young Barack

So we waited for another hour or so, until Mumford & Sons came out onto the stage. they stayed on the main stage, so I was a little doubtful as to our positioning, and a little sad I didn't get a better view. But they still sounded fantastic.

This is what the stage looked like in the light. It was probably 30-40 feet tall,
judging by the very small, very talented Brits on stage.

 I was a little disappointed that the people around me weren't as excited as I was for Mumford & Sons; I'm also sad they didn't play more than they did. But I'm a total fangirl, and I know that people usually don't go to concerts fo the opening act. Even so--WHAT AN OPENING ACT. Here's their setlist:

Snake Eyes

Little Lion Man

Below My Feet

Lover of the Light

Tompkins Square Park

Believe

The Wolf

They played for about 45 minutes, and I knew I wasn't going to make it until the end of the concert, so I made my way out of the pit and up to the restroom. It wasn't bad going out, but coming back in was another story. I picked up some Fish & Chips (mediocre) and a beer (I bought a beer!) and trying to get back into our fabulous spot right by the stage with food in hand was, uh, not pretty. I have a whole diatribe on concert ettiquette, and I knew I was that annoying person, but I really was there earlier! I kept apoligizing and admitting what an a**hole I was for trying to get in front of people. But I did what I had to do, and I had to get back to my friends! 

I finally made it, and delivered the beer to Simon as a thank you for getting us to where he did. (Chaveli asked him how he got a beer, and he said that it magically appeared over his shoulder!). I'm not sure if buying a beer on a Sunday is considered a good deed, but I'll leave that up to you to judge. I probably should have bought Bryan a beer, considering that he bought me a lemonade earlier, but I barely made it through the crowd with one!

Anyway, after Mumford & Sons was done, we had to wait for another hour or so for the sun to set. And when the boys walked out onto that stage, literally 15 feet in front of me, I was jumping up and down! Simon really came through for us.

The Edge is so freaking adorable.

Seriously?! How amazing is this lineup?!

Bono . . . still sounding fantastic

Adam . . . who only looks better and better with age

I wish I had a better camera, but my curtain-bag crossbody would only hold so much. And I try to not take too many pictures, because I want to BE THERE and enjoy it. But the views were so incredible I had to take a ton! Plus, Allison's phone had died, so I had to get pictures for her too.

They stayed on the B-stage (right in front of us) for a few songs:

Sunday Bloody Sunday

New Year's Day

A Sort of Homecoming

Bad

Pride (In The Name of Love)

 Then the screen turned on and they made their way back to the main stage to play though the entire Joshua Tree album (in order):

Where the Streets Have No Name

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

With or Without You

Bullet the Blue Sky

Running to Stand Still

Red Hill Mining Town

In God's Country

Trip Through Your Wires

One Tree Hill

Exit

Mothers of the Disappeared

Each song was accompanied by an original mini-film (with a very American flair) on the giant screen. Some were really cool; some were a little weird, like the one of Edge's wife, Miss Mysterious Ways herself,  wearing a stars-and-stripes bikini top and jeans while throwing a lasso . . . but the screen was incredible. Apparently it's 8K (top-of-the-line TVs these days are 4K, so I'm just saying). I can't remember which images went with which songs, but I'll do my best.

Where the Streets have No Name

In God's Country

Red Hill Mining Town, featuring a Salvation Army brass band

This shows you the scale of the screen

I think this was Trip Through Your Wires 

One Tree Hill

Not sure which song, but a cool visual of the screen

On Mothers of the Disappeared, they had Eddie Vedder and Mumford & Sons come out to join them. Now that's a supergroup I could get behind! (Who am I kidding? I love supergroups.)

That was the end of the main set, but (of course) they came back for an encore. They played a few more songs on the main stage, accompanied again by amazing (if political) videos:

Beautiful Day

Elevation

Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

One

Miss Sarajevo

I love how Ultraviolet became a girl-power moment, changing HIStory into HERstory, and they showed faces of amazing women, like Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Patti Smith, Angela Merkel, and Lena Dunham. (I'm sorry--I can't even type that with a straight face, but she was one of the chosen few).

Bono has always been political, so you have to expect that at a U2 concert. What I did not expect was to be close enough to see the whites of his eyes. They came back out to the B-stage to finish out the show.

 They played a new song (the only song less than 15 years old) from the upcoming "Songs of Experience" album, called The Little Things That Give You Away. I really liked it, and apparently that's where they ended the show in Vancouver. But they gave us one more to send us out on a serious high: I Will Follow.

(Side note: Simon posted in the atU2 forum on Twitter after the Vancouver show that they should end the concert with I Will Follow. Coincidence? Maybe. But he was unbelievably stoked about it!)

Here's my favorite picture of the night:

Bono and Adam stuck in a moment, with the Edge (larger than life) looking on

I love this picture, because it really encapsulates what I love about this band. They are brothers. They know how lucky they are to make so much money doing what they love. They use their celebrity for good causes. They have fun and live every day to the fullest. These guys are well into their fifties, and have literally been doing this exact same thing since they were teenagers in the 70's, still going strong after 40+ years. 

Are they the greatest band in the world? Probably not. Are they the most amazing musicians? Not really. But I adore them. Their lyrics mean something and the music is heartwrenching, and they just figured it all out together, becoming unbelievably successful through hard work and perserverance. It's so cool to see. And their music speaks to people all over the world--even to just a few people who would have otherwise never met. 

*sigh*

That's about it. We drove Simon back to the bay to catch the Bainbridge Ferry, and went back to Jason's for the night. We slept for a few hours, then got up early to catch our flight home (and there were plenty of people in the airport, and even on the parking shuttle at SLC also wearing their JT30 gear). It was an amazing couple of days, and I'll never forget it. Some say I'm crazy, but this was definitely money and time well spent. I hope you have something you are as passionate about, and that it brings you as much joy as this did for me.

Where You Invest Your Love, You Invest Your Life

I feel like I need to catch up on my crazy life.  Since it's quiet at work right now, we'll see how far I can get.

1.  Benji's school.  

Last February, when we found out that Benji did not receive a scholarship to attend the Carmen B. Pingree Center for Children with Autism next year, we put in his name for a lottery for Spectrum Academy, a charter school. for autistic children.  We didn't hear anything back from them, so we spent months in meetings and evaluations and phone calls trying to get Benji placed within the Granite School District.  We decided on Whittier School, which is a nice, big elementary school with quite a lot of resources.  His teacher is really cute, his entire class would be made up of autistic children, they are piloting a new program this year, his classroom is directly across the hall from the school nurses (yes, plural!  And actual RNs, not just an LPN), and they would bus him to and from school.  We were all set to start school on Wednesday, August 28th.

The Thursday before (August 22nd), Allen and I each received an e-mail:

Congratulations! Your child was selected to attend Spectrum Academy for the 2013-2014 school year.

Student Name & Grade: Benjamin Cox, AM Kindergarten

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have.

We have attached some paperwork that we need you to go through and complete. We will also need a copy of your child's immunization record, birth certificate and IEP (if applicable) by Friday, August 21st in order to secure your child's spot for our upcoming school year. Please let us know by phone or email as soon as possible if you would like this spot.

If you would like, you can call and schedule a tour. Please call and schedule it at 801-936-0318 option 1. Your child is invited to attend if you like.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Wendy Hansard

Office Manager - Elementary

Spectrum Academy

Truthfully, I didn't know what to do.  I felt really good about sending him to Whittier--it seems like a really great school.  Plus it would be super convenient for me, and I don't need more stress in my life.  I called them on Friday to see if we could go check it out, but everyone in the building was out for medical training.  So we went on Monday, 8/26.  It is a nice, small school, and the Kindergartens have 6 kids in them.  SIX.  And once you are in, you don't need to apply for the lottery again.  They said, "He's ours until you take him out."  That's something--to not have to worry about where he will fit in next year, or even after that, because they go all the way through high school.  

Allen was really pushing for us to accept the placement (especially since there were 70 other kids on the waiting list who would have taken his spot if we said no), and although I didn't really feel like it would be better than Whittier, I agreed.  

Benji on his first day of Kindergarten @ Spectrum Academy 

So last Tuesday was his first day of school.  It has been good thus far; it's just the drive.  There is no bussing.  There are carpools, but his class is at a weird time, and I just haven't had time to deal with it yet.  So he needs to be there at 11:45am (having eaten lunch already--the school doesn't even have it's own lunchroom!), and he is picked up at 2:45 (I think . . . Allen takes him home).  It's 18 miles away, about 25-30 minutes of drive time.  It is only 6 miles from Allen's work, so he hangs out there to take him home (unless he's doing is game thing, "hacking portals" and such).  It's growing on me; I think it will be a good place for him eventually.  It takes some getting used to, and the cost of gas is fairly significant.  I feel like we need a commuter car, but money is a bit of a problem right now too.  Ugh.

Anyway--moving on.

2.  Concerts.

On Friday, August 23rd, I went with my concert-buddy Allison to see fun. at Saltair.  Tegan & Sara opened (they are okay; I'm just not that into them).  

Me and Allison @ Saltair

It really was a great concert.  I'm not a huge fan of fun., but they put on a great show.  The energy was awesome, and they sound FANTASTIC live! I think that's the acid-test of a band's talent.  If they can sound as good or better than they do on the album, then they are worth investing time and money into.  We were kind-of stuck in the middle, and people kept pushing past us and walking around us, etc.  Two people, who were totally pushing their way to the front looked back sheepishly and said, "We're being a**holes."  To which I replied: "Pretty much."  Oh well.  It was still lovely.  The weather was PERFECT (at the end of August, it could have been a lot worse), the sunset was incredible, and it was just a delightful night.  

A panorama shot of the crowd and sunset

Here are a couple of other shots.  The iPhone does pretty well!  Not spectacular, but MUCH better than my old one.

A couple of quotes: 

"Salt Lake City?!"  "Just you f****n' wait."  And: "Does anyone here have a cell phone?"  They took some guys phone up on stage with them and took some pictures with it.  Pretty cool.

And the setlist:

Some Nights (Intro)

One Foot

Walking the Dog

All Alone

Why Am I The One

At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)

All The Pretty Girls

It Gets Better

Barlights

Carry On
The Gambler

You Can't Always Get What You Want (Rolling Stones cover)

We Are Young

Take Your Time

  

  Encore:

Some Nights

Stars

Good times.  That really was an excellent concert.

I also got to go to the O.C. Tanner Gift of Music concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Utah Symphony and James Taylor.  I put my name in for the lottery for that one too, and actually got tickets!  So I met my cute mom at the Conference Center last Saturday.  It was delightful!  And the programs were stunning--the typography, the printing, etc.  Gorgeous.  I took two.

It was also the same weekend as the first annual Salt Lake Comic Con, which was apparently very successful.  I took Trax downtown for the concert, and saw plenty of people dressed up, totally unashamed.  I have decided that Comic Con is like Halloween for adults, where you can dress up as whatever and whomever you want, and the treats are getting to meet stars and take cool pictures.  I'm down with that!  I'm a little sad I didn't make it more of a priority to go, because all of the pictures I have seen are awesome.  I'm sure it will be bigger and better next year, so I'll plan to get my geek on then.  

3.  Friends.

Speaking of Comic Con, my friends Diana and DeLayna went and met some cool people.  They are so funny; I love those girls.  DeLayna will be going to Japan shortly on a work assignment.  I'm so jealous!  How cool would that be?!  Speaking of . . . I need to finish watching season one of Newsroom!  Gah!  No time!

On the Saturday after the concert, my dear friend Jack Jason had a layover in SLC.  Peggy and I met up with him to have breakfast at Lamb's Grill downtown.  It was so lovely to catch up!  I was hoping to meet up with them in New York next month, but alas--I have no money, honey.  Especially after fighting with T-Mobile over an account I was assured was closed.  Grr.

JJD, Me and Peggy! 

We had a bit of a "Gaufre War," (get it?) in which we were to decide who makes the better waffle (see JJD's descriptions and lovely pictures here).  I was a little disappointed in the boys @ Saturday's Waffle, since they now have teenagers running it, so I was in agreement: the Belge wins.  Bruges Waffles is amazing (always get the gaufres liegoises!).  As we were walking down the street back to get his suitcase from his hotel, I totally biffed it.  CHEWING. ASPHALT.  My knees and my ego are still bruised and sore from that rather humiliating experience (um, I'm pretty sure my skirt flipped up over my waist, and there were plenty of people around to witness it!), but it was still worthwhile, and I'll just blame it on my cute-but-dangerous wedges.  These are two of my most favourite people in the world!  I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant seeing them!

4.  Family.

My last post may give you a hint as to the drama in the family.  It's kind-of quiet at the moment, but I think we are all walking on eggshells for a little while; at least until Mom & Dad leave.  Did I mention that they received their mission call?  They are going to Peru, and the leave ON THURSDAY.  Yikes!  It's coming waaaay too fast!  I'm excited for them, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to be in the opposite hemisphere!

Mom & Dad came down to SLC last week for their missionary training at the Church Office Building.  I was working while they were here (and they were some of the busiest days I have seen all year--no chance of leaving early!), and Mom had a wee health scare.  She had been short-of-breath, dizzy, nauseated, etc.  She got an appointment to see a cardiologist (not hers, but they still got her in the next day--a minor miracle).  Turns out that she was in atrial fibrillation, or her heart wasn't beating correctly.  She has had problems with the electrical conduction and scar tissue from her ASD repair in 1984 (which, back then, meant open-heart surgery).  When I had my PFO repair in 2004 (a very small version of an ASD), they were able to do it using a small catheter threaded up through the femoral artery.  Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with anything like Mom has, but she is a trouper. 

Anyway, they scheduled her for a TEE and Cardioversion the following morning.  Since Dad was still in meetings all day, we arranged for Allen to come home from work early so he could take Benji to school.  I was able to meet Mom @ IMC (my place of work, conveniently), where everything went swimmingly.  They did the shock to her heart, and they said it looks great now.  She will have a nuclear stress test this Wednesday, but they said she should be okay to fly out on Thursday as planned.  What a blessing!  I thought they would delay her a couple of weeks, but we are pressing forward.  I am so grateful we were able to get this taken care of so quickly and efficiently.  And I'm glad I was able to be at the hospital with her.  

I will be taking Benji up to Logan tomorrow for their 'setting apart,' which is a priesthood blessing given to a member of the church when he or she undertakes a new calling.  I am excited and nervous; these will be difficult holidays without them here.  They will be great, I'm sure.  It will be such an amazing experience for them.  There is nothing like living in another country to help you appreciate the life you have built for yourself.

****

And that's about it for now.  I can't believe I have written this entirely at work--after last week, it's hard to imagine things being as quiet as they have been for the past hour or so!  Please let me know what's going on with you.  Love to all!

I Need a Little Fabulous

So . . . I just got LASIK.  In my right eye.  It is pretty fantastic, except that my vision is all screwed up, and I'm not supposed to wear a contact (singular!), and I thought that getting a clear plastic lens in my glasses would do the trick.  Uh, no.  I'm going to have to get new lenses in order to see over the next few weeks, after which I may dispose of said glasses.  No happy medium.  That's a little annoying.

I had it done on Friday afternoon, and that day pretty much sucked.  I also knew that I was on-call on Saturday, and the ferns down at Hoopes told me I wasn't supposed to drive or work until after my follow-up appointment on Saturday morning.  I tried to sleep that night, but ended up waking up every few hours to pee (and put in eye drops . . . the number of drops is unbelievable!!).  And then, at 6:30am, I get a call from my friend Gary: I had to go into work.  So, being very low on options at that point, I a) put a contact lens in my eye and b) drove myself to work.  I have been trying so hard to be a good patient!  I totally blew it on Saturday morning, though.  While driving, my head started pounding.  All of this messing with my vision has been giving me some killer headaches, which is getting really old.  I got into work, walked up to the desk, and Marilyn said, "Welcome.  You'll be doing a pelvis fracture in room 19 with Dr. Hillyard."  Well, that's not the worst thing in the world, but I just knew I wasn't going to be able to make it.  I told her I wasn't feeling well, so she called in a nurse to take my place.  I did try to get it all set up for her, which was just lovely as well.  Mind you, many regular cases need 1 or 2 sets of instruments; Ortho cases tend to take 5-9 sets.  Pelivs fractures with Hillyard?  I opened at least 15 sets, and I'm not sure I even had everything I needed.  Seriously.  Dr. Hillyard is very nice and patient, but also extremely meticulous (i.e., slow).  The case had been scheduled for 6 hours, and I think that was a pretty optimistic estimate.  Anyway, Susan came in to relieve me around 8:45am, so I left quickly and drove myself to my follow-up appointment.  Luckily, no one questioned me about arriving alone.  They did tell me to buy some more drops (because, apparently, I didn't have enough already), so I went to Target in search of some thicker artificial tears.  Who knew there was such a variety!?

I had taken some ibuprofen, so my headache was a bit better by then.  Even so, I spent a good 20 minutes in Target comparing brands and trying to find an acceptable substitute for what he told me to get (since they didn't have the exact one).  I also looked around the Christmas clearance aisles and found some fantastic stockings at half-price.  Yay!  I may actually get stockings up next year!

At this point, it was noon, and I was scheduled to meet my mission friends Peggy and Jack Jason for lunch at 1pm.  Because I had rolled out of bed at 6:30 to go to work, I looked pretty darn frumpy.  I was wearing scrub pants and my Train concert t-shirt, snow boots, a parka, a pathetic messy bun and zero makeup (per surgery instructions).  Here's the thing--if I were only meeting Peggy, I wouldn't care (girlfriend has seen me at my absolute worst).  But Jason (or JJD) is probably the most FABULOUS person I know.  I haven't seen him in years, probably since before I got married.  He is a lawyer in Washington D.C., we are Facebook friends and I recently discovered his incredible blog ("I live vicariously through you, remember?"), so I was thrilled when he messaged me and Peggy, asking us if we wanted to get together while he was here over Christmas.  Um, yes!!  {That may or may not have been another reason for me to be *sick* and leave work early on Saturday.  I plead the 5th.}

I didn't have time to go all the way home and change, so I stopped in at Ulta and purchased some combs and makeup.  I was not going to be totally embarrassed!  I dressed up the messy bun a bit with a braid, and put on some face makeup and blush (no eye makeup--I have been good about that!).  With that, I drove to Sugarhouse and we had a delightful lunch @ Finn's Cafe.  We had a server take an iPhone picture, which really did none of us any favors.  I was going to suggest a different spot for lighting purposes, but decided to go with it.  So this is what we got:

I'm holding a Diet Coke given to us "to go" (do you think that was a subtle hint?!); I'm not giving Peggy the bird on purpose.  Also, JJD has very nice hair, but this picture makes him look almost bald!  I tried to edit the picture, which looks marginally better and slightly BoBo thanks to the filters.

Jason is amazing.  He's sophisticated and hilarious and fashionable and, well, FABULOUS.  I adore him.  I adore Peggy too, but I can see her pretty much anytime.  Seeing Jason is such a rare treat--he's always working crazy 120-hour weeks, going to plays, taking crazy trips all around the world, and reading Les Misérables in the original french.  I want to be like him when I grow up.

At some point during our conversation, I requested an explanation of Jason and Peggy's method of judging people.  They had a code I didn't understand, but since they are up front about it and honest about where they fall within the scheme, it's okay.  Jason drew me a diagram on the back of the receipt.  It looked something like this (with fonts added for emphasis):

Let me explain.  No--there is too much.  Let me sum up: the people you know can basically be classified into one of these four categories.  I cringe as I write this, but the humor and the element of truth make it worthwhile.

F-people: like to use the F-bomb a lot.  If there were a t.v. show that describes an F-person, it would be "My Name is Earl" (with Maury Povich coming in a close second).  Mullets, NASCAR, trailers, etc.  FYI--Peggy likes to let her inner F-chick shine.

Peace people: Hippies.  Birkenstocks.  The entire state of Oregon.  NPR.  All about recycling.  I assert that anyone who graduates from the University of Utah have to be "Peace People" to a certain extent.  I'm not a serious Peace girl, but I was a Biology major: there was no escaping them.  I'm sure you get the idea.

D&D (or Dungeons and Dragons):  The nerds.  Big Bang Theory.  Computer, techie people who love Sci-Fi and are fairly anti-social.  Peggy says I'm totally D&D (even though I didn't know what D&D stood for--she had to explain it to me).  Just because I'm a Star Wars nerd . . . whatever.

And last but not least, BoBo (or Bohemian Bourgeoisie): The posh.  Frasier.  Drive a Lexus or a Saab.  Wouldn't be caught dead at Walmart, etc.

The whole conversation was a pleasure.  I laughed.  A LOT.  But I have been considering the diagram.  These categories are pretty basic, and I think there has to be some overlap.  I like to think of myself as kind-of a centrist (politically, socially, etc.).  I may be mostly D&D, but I'm cool with F-people.  I definitely prefer Target to Walmart, but that doesn't make me entirely BoBo.  I'm not the most avid Peace girl, but I recycle and I do think about the environment.

So this is where my New Year's resolution intersects with my friends' theories:

I will be a different kind of F chick, where F is for FABULOUS.  More to come (and Happy New Year!).