"Don't wake me, because I was dreaming. I might just stay inside again today. Yeah, well, I don't go out much these days. Sometimes I stay inside all day." ~counting crows

Lately I've been downloading a bunch of Counting Crows bootlegs (don't worry, it's legal; the band actually promotes the distribution of bootleg recordings of their concerts). They're one of those bands that you can't fully appreciate until you hear their live stuff. I just listened to an old recording from 1994 (Paris 12/9/94) and then I listened to one from 2004 (Rotterdam 3/10/04), and it's interesting to compare the two and see how the band changed over that 10 year period.
The 1994 recording is of one of their best concerts ever. Adam's voice is so full of emotion; it sounds so raw. They played the most beautiful version of Perfect Blue Buildings I've ever heard (and I've heard lots). The concert is the one where they played their epic version of A Murder of One. I think most true CC fans are familiar with this particular performance of the song. If you say to a CC fan, "that epic Murder of One performance," they'll probably know exactly what you're talking about. It makes me cry every time I hear it. It's about 17 minutes long and it is definitely one of the best live performances I've heard of any song by any band. It blows me away.
In the 2004 recording there doesn't seem to be as much spark. Which makes me sad. I know it's just one concert, and there are other fantastic concerts that are pretty recent (my fave is the last Hard Candy show, in Tampa). I also know that one big difference between the concerts stems from the different albums that they're touring. The 1994 tour is for August and Everything After, their only album at that point. The 2004 tour is for Hard Candy, which has a completely different feel to it. They do play a few songs from AAEA, but the focus is on HC. So I can't expect to get the same thing out of each concert. But still, I think something is missing from the newer recording that was there 10 years ago. There aren't as many alternates in the 2004 Rotterdam show. A lot of the songs are shorter. They still improvise and add new lyrics and melodies and add some alternate song snippets, and the acoustic versions of some songs are great, but Adam seems tired. Hopefully the break the band has taken will mean they're resting up and will blow everyone away with their next album and tour. There's a rumor that they'll be touring with the Goo Goo Dolls. I like them, so I'd be excited about that. I'd be excited to see CC do anything.

See what a procrastinator I am? Instead of doing all the work I have to do, I just wrote a lengthy analysis of Counting Crows bootlegs that no one will ever read. I've been updating this blog a lot lately because I don't feel like writing anything of importance, like papers. Instead I feel like writing poorly organized and written blog entries about nothing. It's nice to feel like I don't have to be brilliant or profound.

Because this is such a boring entry, I'll add a photo. Here's me and Sara Ramirez, who's currently on Grey's Anatomy (one of the best shows on television right now). She won a Tony Award for her performance in Spamalot, so I think she should join Burke and George's band on the show. She has an absolutely amazing voice, and those guys need all the help they can get. :D

"And when i see you, I really see you upside down. But my brain knows better; it picks you up and turns you around, turns you around, turns you around." ~death cab for cutie

I'm trying to learn that song on the guitar, but it's a little trickier than it seems. That's always the case. The tabs look so easy, and then when I try to play it, it doesn't sound right at all. One of the problems is that the guitar is supposed to be tuned slightly differently for that song but I've been too lazy to tune it that way.

Monday was the Areopagus dinner with the English faculty members. There were four students (including me) and five faculty members. It actually wasn't as akward as I thought it might be. We went to Bottoms Up and talked about...normal things. It's always nice to receive conformation that teachers and professors are normal people. They watch movies, have families, are "from" somewhere...who'd a thunk it? :-D

It was 87 degrees on Monday, and it was lovely. I wish it would stay that way. Unfortunately it's already gotten cold again.

Today I had lunch with a prospective student staying with one of my friends. I took her to the place where she had a meeting scheduled because it was convenient for me to take her there. I kept trying to talk to her but she was sooo shy and unresponsive, so I figured she wanted space and was silent for awhile. Then as we were walking, she said, "I'm sorry I keep providing monosyllabic answers. I'm just really nervous and homesick." And I think she cried a little. I had no idea what to do. I had this overwhelming desire to give her a huge hug, but I couldn't. I absolutely love hugs, but I'm not good at giving them. Especially to people I've only known for only about 15 minutes. I wish I had been able to comfort her, but I'm afraid I wasn't much help. I just started talking, telling her I got homesick too and then trying to distract her by talking about what I felt about Richmond. I was at a loss. I wish I knew how to handle situations like that. I'm not very good at communicating with people; I wish I had better people skills. I'm so akward sometimes. I love people, I love studying them and listening to them, but I'm not good at interacting with them.

I realize that I spend so much time waiting. Waiting for the weekend, waiting to find out what I'll be doing this summer, waiting to graduate, waiting to move to NYC, waiting to find my soulmate and start a family...but I'm afraid I spend too much time thinking about the future. I need to appreciate what I have now instead of anticipating what's next. I'm going to try to work on that. We'll see how it goes.

"Some people think they're always right, Others are quiet and uptight. Others they seem so very nice nice nice nice nice oh oh, Inside they might feel sad and wrong..." ~the Strokes

I'm back in Richmond after Spring Break! I had a lot of fun. I didn't open my backpack once, which means I'll be insanely busy in the next few weeks, but not doing work was worth it. Here's a recap of my break.

On Saturday I went into NYC and Nicole and I saw the matinee of Jersey Boys. It was fantastic. I'm wary of jukebox musicals, but I loved this one. It actually had a book (a script/story, for you non-theater folks), and the actors were all great. We did student rush and we ended up in the front row, which was lucky. So I'd recommend it to anyone.

That night we went to The Strokes concert. Oh boy, what an event. It was insane. I'll cut down my review, though. We ended up in the front row, right on the railing in front of the stage. That was an incredibly lucky break. We cut about 200 people ahead of us in line to get in, who had been waiting there all day. The concert workers told us to, though, so we were just following orders. They started a second line to go in with us, so we were among the first people in the building and got an amazing spot. The opening band was Eagles of Death Metal, which we were wary about, but they turned out to be pretty funny. The lead singer was a redneck who, no joke, before every song said something about how much he loves "The Ladies." He'd be like, "Now this song REALLY goes out to the ladies!" It was hilarious. And when he wasn't talking about how much he loves the ladies, he was talking about how much he loves New York (I can't disagree with him there). The guitarist seriously reminded me of my grandpa. He had white hair, but it was in a mohawk, and he had these huge rimmed glasses. The band was quite an assortment of characters, so Nic and I enjoyed making fun of them.
When The Strokes came on, it got crazy. I can't even describe it. The crowd was INSANE. INSANE. We were in the front row and we ended up turned sideways because it got so crowded. I was squeezed between Nicole and this other girl. The crowd would jump up and down, and my body would automatically move up and down along with everyone else's because I was squished between people. At one point I was tired so I relaxed my legs. If I had done that without anyone around me, I would have fallen. Instead my body was held up by everyone around me. I can't even describe how closely we were packed in. I couldn't clap because I couldn't bring my hands together in front of me. It was quite an experience. Afterwards Nic and I decided we felt like old foagies, because it was way too intense for us. But the music was amazing. They played a variety of songs from all of their albums, which was great. Here's a pic of Julian, who's absolutely gorgeous.


Later during the week I went to see the play Hetta Gabler at BAM. Cate Blanchett was absolutely fantastic; she has such an amazing stage presence. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. The play was wonderful. Hugo Weaving was in it, so I'm providing a Hugo Weaving picture treat for y'all called "The Many Faces of Hugo Weaving." He's so good at transforming himself.

Me and Hugo Weaving:


Hugo Weaving in The Matrix as Agent Smith:


Hugo Weaving in The Lord of the Rings


Hugo Weaving as V in V For Vendetta

“Down with love, let's liquidate all its friends, Moon and June and roses and rainbow's ends. Down with songs that moan about night and day, Down with love, yes take it away, away.” ~harold arlen

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Yuck.

This has been a busy weekend. On Saturday we had our synchro meet versus Ohio State, which went well. I didn’t screw up the team routine, which I was happy about. The OSU meet is always fun to watch and be a part of. We finished with a candlelight routine to honor Jess, an OSU swimmer who died recently. It was really sad but I think their team appreciated it.

On Saturday night I had the IV Valentine’s Formal that the guys threw for the girls. It was soooo much fun. The guys did an amazing job. The food was incredibly good. The theme was lime, so we started with lime-flavored tortilla chips and spinach dip, which I (surprisingly) loved. The main course was chicken with this great sauce and rice and a sort of chutney. Dessert was the greenest key lime pie I’ve ever seen, which was also amazing. We had margaritas to drink. All the decorations were fantastic, and there was lots of dancing after dinner. I had a great time.

Today I had my first major assignment due. It was an essay for Literature of the English Renaissance. Of course I didn’t start it until yesterday (Sunday), the day before it was due. I had synchro practice from 9-11 and then I went back to my room and worked on my essay. I can’t remember when I finished it, but after I finished I watched Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy (which I had taped earlier that night). There’s an example of how crazy I am. It was insanely late, I had just finished writing a long paper that had completely exhausted me, I had class early in the morning, and instead of going to bed I decided to watch 2 hours of TV. I’m insane. I got a couple hours of sleep, and it was completely my own fault. But they were both really good episodes. :-)

"Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white" ~counting crows

That is quite possibly the best opening line of any album.

Nicole and I got tickets to go see The Strokes over my Spring break, and I'm really excited. I have and love all of their albums and I have a feeling they'll be really good live.

I've been having a motivational problem lately. Being that I don't have any. When it comes to school. I've been exploring possibilites for what to do this summer, and that's exciting to me. I'm ready for this semester to end and to do something new. I'm applying for a bunch of internships and I'm looking at jobs and it makes me bummed about being in school.

Today I talked to Dr. MacAllister, my advisor, for about 40 minutes. And I did most of the talking. I'm not used to talking for that long, but it felt really good. I told her all about being abroad and I talked about my future and basically I just talked for a really long time and she listened. I think I need to talk more, because I'm very inartiuculate and the only way to correct that is to practice. It takes me awhile to say exactly what I mean. Anyway, when I left, she said, "Claire, you are a breath of fresh air. I wish I had 100 students like you." It made me really happy. It's funny how one little comment can make your day.