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...makes a post.
Job continues to be awesome; it's a mark of just how awesome that the commute only started to wear on my this week. (But wear it has. On top of spending hours in the car, I see anywhere from one to four wrecks a day.) But at least it inspires me to do stuff on the weekends, because barring any special events, I'm pretty much coming home, making dinner, and going to bed most weekdays.
Geek BBQ: Last Saturday was lovely and rainy, and then obliged by letting up in the evening so we could walk to Geek BBQ and do the collage-making event one of the regulars was hosting. The last time I collaged was *mumblemumble* decades ago, when I started an (as yet unfinished) deck of Tarot cards, so it was a lot of fun to return to after so long. I ended up doing a double-sided 10x10 inch square with a mixture of nature imagery, Babylonian ruins, and bits and pieces of Phlegm murals.
Concerts: We missed actual Geek BBQ night to go see a show instead, namely Sleater-Kinney. I cannot overstate how excited I was about this show. I had to jump through hoops to buy my first Sleater-Kinney album back in the day, because no one within a four-hour drive would carry it. A Sleater-Kinney t-shirt was—no joke—the second thing I ever bought on the World Wide Web. (I had to go to the bank, buy a cashier's check, put it in the actual postal mail, and then wait for said mail to get to Oregon, for whoever ran Sleater-Kinney's website to cash the check and mail my t-shirt to me, without really knowing if and when I'd get it. Insane compared to the situation today.)
Anyway, the plan was to walk the four-odd miles to the venue's neighborhood, get dinner at another nearby venue, and then head over to the show itself but it didn't exactly work out that way. We made it to nearby venue only to discover that the kitchen was closed. Food was only available in the basement where another show was going on.
"If you tell me what you want, I can go downstairs, order it, and bring it to you," said sympathetic Door Guy. Then he appeared to reconsider. "You know what, why don't you just go downstairs and order it."
"We don't have tickets," quoth we.
"Yeeeah. I can bring it up to you," said Door Guy. And then, as people piled up behind us waiting to get in. "You know what, why don't you just go downstairs and eat there."
The GC and I looked dubiously at each other. "Yeah," said Door Guy, warming to his suggestion. "Why don't you go downstairs and eat there. I can get you past ticket check. "Do you want to go downstairs and enjoy some live music?"
Um...................YES???
The GC and I were looking at each other like, What's the catch? But there was no catch. Door Guy pulled the chain over the queue to get in, slapped some 21+ bands on our wrists, and walked us downstairs, past the Ticket Guys, and into a sold out show for which we did not have tickets. So freaking cool.
Better yet, the show was Ex-Pilots (whom we've never managed to see when we're actually in Pittsburgh) and Cherry Glazzer, who we saw open for Yeah Yeah Yeahs and were interested in seeing again. We caught all of Ex-Pilot's set but had to leave before Cherry Glazzer took the stage to go see the show we actually had tickets for. 😁 That said, I did manage to talk to the lead singer at the concessions booth and get the last copy of their CD before heading out.
Bonus Beer: Wicked Weed's Milk & Cookies Imperial stout (which I'd never had before and liked although it tastes a bit unusual in a way I can't put my finger on) and Crooked Run's Raspberry Empress sour, which is a perennial favorite.
We didn't catch as much of Black Belt Eagle Scout's set as we would have liked, but what we did hear sounded great. And then...SLEATER-KINNEY.
OMG IT WAS SO GOOD.
Again, decades-ago moi could not have conceived that I would ever see this band live, and yet there I was. I have probably literal months of my life listening to Call the Doctor and Dig Me Out (especially Dig Me Out). And there I was, hearing Tucker and Brownstein performing some of my favorite tracks from it live. (Dig Me Out and One More Hour, although not, alas, Turn It On). The also played Get Up, which is perhaps my second-favorite thing by them, ever. So amazing to hear it live.
AND THEY SOUNDED AMAZING.
Just, incredible. And they have such great chemistry live. There is no reason on earth they could not have been massive in 1997, except not fitting the definition of what various television, radio, and print media business daddies had determined got to be massive. The were so good.
The played a really good mix of songs from Dig Me Out on to Little Rope. In no particular order, I remember hearing Dig Me Out, One More Hour, Get Up, The Future Is Now, The Center Won't Hold, Start Together (Brownstein called The Hot Rock "Our Booty Album" XD), Bury Our Friends, Hurry On Home, Jumpers, Entertain, The Fox, and Modern Girl. Such a great show and I was on an endorphin high from it for a day.
D&D: Another session with Oldest D&D Group this week. We had a pretty intense battle in which I got to play around with some fun warlock capabilities. And I think we might have unleashed a lich into the wild. ...Oops? (I'm sure this will in no way come back to haunt us. DX)
St. Paddy's Day (Observed) We didn't participate in the parade this year because: scheduling conflict, but as a consolation prize Aslin released a limited edition imperial stout—Special Flute—today. (And with a name like that, how could I not try it.) I got two (because the GC knocked my first glass over) and it was very good. It's very close to Padrino (in fact, I suspect it's almost exactly the same thing). Afterward we grabbed some ingredients for the session with Second Oldest D&D Group tomorrow, and I bought a button fern, because.
Building Bullshit: Downstairs woke us up twice at 2 am this week having their regularly scheduled fights. I came downstairs this morning to find Overnight Security Guard and Day Concierge dropping more F-bombs than I've ever heard packed into a discrete amount of seconds (and I say this as a frequent F-bomb dropper myself). Both plan to quit, which would mark the third pair to do so in the last five? six? weeks.
The anger and disgust were apparently occasioned by several individuals who, after being banned from the building earlier this week retaliated by trying to break into the side and back doors. (Which are locked even to legal residents after a certain point in the evening because so many people were breaking them/propping them open from the inside so their sketchy contacts could come and go as they pleased that Management Company no longer lets them be used as doors outside of standard working hours. Management Company reinforced the doors and added cameras so they're harder to break and the night guard or day concierge can go close them if someone props them open.) The upshot is that when said individuals couldn't break the doors, they broke the fob readers so no one could use them. So the doors were unusable even during standard working hours earlier this week, and Management Company sent an email to residents with Day Concierge's number so Day Concierge could go open them for residents. I am sure this is not what Day Concierge signed up for when they took the job.
And then last night the individuals showed up again and tried to break in through the lobby, and apparently messed up the doors pretty well before they were removed. And Management Company is apparently angry at Overnight Security Guard and Day Concierge for not preventing this. Which, Overnight Security Guard makes 15 bucks an hour. I'm not sure how much Day Concierge Makes. They are not armed. They are not cops. They have no law enforcement powers or any other kind of power. Management Company refuses to hire actual cops. Nor does Management Company seem particularly eager to come down and deal with these lunatics themselves. So my sympathy lies 1000% with Overnight Security Guard and Day Concierge. It's ridiculous.
So the Tenants Association Board had office hours downstairs this morning, and the GC and I, and a bunch of other people went down to talk to them about this stuff and everything else that's been going on. More than one person was advocating for better treatment for the day and overnight personnel, so hopefully something comes of it, because said people deserve it.
これで以上です。
Job continues to be awesome; it's a mark of just how awesome that the commute only started to wear on my this week. (But wear it has. On top of spending hours in the car, I see anywhere from one to four wrecks a day.) But at least it inspires me to do stuff on the weekends, because barring any special events, I'm pretty much coming home, making dinner, and going to bed most weekdays.
Geek BBQ: Last Saturday was lovely and rainy, and then obliged by letting up in the evening so we could walk to Geek BBQ and do the collage-making event one of the regulars was hosting. The last time I collaged was *mumblemumble* decades ago, when I started an (as yet unfinished) deck of Tarot cards, so it was a lot of fun to return to after so long. I ended up doing a double-sided 10x10 inch square with a mixture of nature imagery, Babylonian ruins, and bits and pieces of Phlegm murals.
Concerts: We missed actual Geek BBQ night to go see a show instead, namely Sleater-Kinney. I cannot overstate how excited I was about this show. I had to jump through hoops to buy my first Sleater-Kinney album back in the day, because no one within a four-hour drive would carry it. A Sleater-Kinney t-shirt was—no joke—the second thing I ever bought on the World Wide Web. (I had to go to the bank, buy a cashier's check, put it in the actual postal mail, and then wait for said mail to get to Oregon, for whoever ran Sleater-Kinney's website to cash the check and mail my t-shirt to me, without really knowing if and when I'd get it. Insane compared to the situation today.)
Anyway, the plan was to walk the four-odd miles to the venue's neighborhood, get dinner at another nearby venue, and then head over to the show itself but it didn't exactly work out that way. We made it to nearby venue only to discover that the kitchen was closed. Food was only available in the basement where another show was going on.
"If you tell me what you want, I can go downstairs, order it, and bring it to you," said sympathetic Door Guy. Then he appeared to reconsider. "You know what, why don't you just go downstairs and order it."
"We don't have tickets," quoth we.
"Yeeeah. I can bring it up to you," said Door Guy. And then, as people piled up behind us waiting to get in. "You know what, why don't you just go downstairs and eat there."
The GC and I looked dubiously at each other. "Yeah," said Door Guy, warming to his suggestion. "Why don't you go downstairs and eat there. I can get you past ticket check. "Do you want to go downstairs and enjoy some live music?"
Um...................YES???
The GC and I were looking at each other like, What's the catch? But there was no catch. Door Guy pulled the chain over the queue to get in, slapped some 21+ bands on our wrists, and walked us downstairs, past the Ticket Guys, and into a sold out show for which we did not have tickets. So freaking cool.
Better yet, the show was Ex-Pilots (whom we've never managed to see when we're actually in Pittsburgh) and Cherry Glazzer, who we saw open for Yeah Yeah Yeahs and were interested in seeing again. We caught all of Ex-Pilot's set but had to leave before Cherry Glazzer took the stage to go see the show we actually had tickets for. 😁 That said, I did manage to talk to the lead singer at the concessions booth and get the last copy of their CD before heading out.
Bonus Beer: Wicked Weed's Milk & Cookies Imperial stout (which I'd never had before and liked although it tastes a bit unusual in a way I can't put my finger on) and Crooked Run's Raspberry Empress sour, which is a perennial favorite.
We didn't catch as much of Black Belt Eagle Scout's set as we would have liked, but what we did hear sounded great. And then...SLEATER-KINNEY.
OMG IT WAS SO GOOD.
Again, decades-ago moi could not have conceived that I would ever see this band live, and yet there I was. I have probably literal months of my life listening to Call the Doctor and Dig Me Out (especially Dig Me Out). And there I was, hearing Tucker and Brownstein performing some of my favorite tracks from it live. (Dig Me Out and One More Hour, although not, alas, Turn It On). The also played Get Up, which is perhaps my second-favorite thing by them, ever. So amazing to hear it live.
AND THEY SOUNDED AMAZING.
Just, incredible. And they have such great chemistry live. There is no reason on earth they could not have been massive in 1997, except not fitting the definition of what various television, radio, and print media business daddies had determined got to be massive. The were so good.
The played a really good mix of songs from Dig Me Out on to Little Rope. In no particular order, I remember hearing Dig Me Out, One More Hour, Get Up, The Future Is Now, The Center Won't Hold, Start Together (Brownstein called The Hot Rock "Our Booty Album" XD), Bury Our Friends, Hurry On Home, Jumpers, Entertain, The Fox, and Modern Girl. Such a great show and I was on an endorphin high from it for a day.
D&D: Another session with Oldest D&D Group this week. We had a pretty intense battle in which I got to play around with some fun warlock capabilities. And I think we might have unleashed a lich into the wild. ...Oops? (I'm sure this will in no way come back to haunt us. DX)
St. Paddy's Day (Observed) We didn't participate in the parade this year because: scheduling conflict, but as a consolation prize Aslin released a limited edition imperial stout—Special Flute—today. (And with a name like that, how could I not try it.) I got two (because the GC knocked my first glass over) and it was very good. It's very close to Padrino (in fact, I suspect it's almost exactly the same thing). Afterward we grabbed some ingredients for the session with Second Oldest D&D Group tomorrow, and I bought a button fern, because.
Building Bullshit: Downstairs woke us up twice at 2 am this week having their regularly scheduled fights. I came downstairs this morning to find Overnight Security Guard and Day Concierge dropping more F-bombs than I've ever heard packed into a discrete amount of seconds (and I say this as a frequent F-bomb dropper myself).
Choice quote:
"These are motherfucking adults and the fucking management company expects us to fucking baby-fucking-sit their motherfucking asses."The anger and disgust were apparently occasioned by several individuals who, after being banned from the building earlier this week retaliated by trying to break into the side and back doors. (Which are locked even to legal residents after a certain point in the evening because so many people were breaking them/propping them open from the inside so their sketchy contacts could come and go as they pleased that Management Company no longer lets them be used as doors outside of standard working hours. Management Company reinforced the doors and added cameras so they're harder to break and the night guard or day concierge can go close them if someone props them open.) The upshot is that when said individuals couldn't break the doors, they broke the fob readers so no one could use them. So the doors were unusable even during standard working hours earlier this week, and Management Company sent an email to residents with Day Concierge's number so Day Concierge could go open them for residents. I am sure this is not what Day Concierge signed up for when they took the job.
And then last night the individuals showed up again and tried to break in through the lobby, and apparently messed up the doors pretty well before they were removed. And Management Company is apparently angry at Overnight Security Guard and Day Concierge for not preventing this. Which, Overnight Security Guard makes 15 bucks an hour. I'm not sure how much Day Concierge Makes. They are not armed. They are not cops. They have no law enforcement powers or any other kind of power. Management Company refuses to hire actual cops. Nor does Management Company seem particularly eager to come down and deal with these lunatics themselves. So my sympathy lies 1000% with Overnight Security Guard and Day Concierge. It's ridiculous.
So the Tenants Association Board had office hours downstairs this morning, and the GC and I, and a bunch of other people went down to talk to them about this stuff and everything else that's been going on. More than one person was advocating for better treatment for the day and overnight personnel, so hopefully something comes of it, because said people deserve it.
これで以上です。
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
In case you missed it, I made a Korean practice post. Since it's fairly successful, I'm thinking of doing it monthly. So there's no hurry, you can drop by whenever you have the time.
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live music
The live music sounds amazing. I haven't been to a show anywhere in ages.
From:
no subject
The concert sounds awesome. Plus, bonus a concert. What a great night!
I'm sorry your building it still under siege. Hopefully, eventually something will be done. It's great that people are standing up for the security guard and the concierge.
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no subject
Oof, your building issues sound rough. I don't blame all the Overnight Security Guards and Day Concierges for wanting to quit with all that and Management Company getting mad at them on top.