So I was going through old pictures on Friday and came across allll of our pictures from 2006-2008 with the Blue Angels. What an amazing experience. I'm so glad that was a part of my life. Basically, our family friend [my babysitter's husband from when I was 14 months old or so] is in the Navy, and in November of 2006 he became the commander of the Blue Angels. Thus began a pretty crazy 2 years during which my family and I traveled all over the country to watch him fly that little blue jet. I probably traveled more in that year than I have in my entire life. Let's see how much I can remember from each show...[these dates are rough estimates haha but the weekends are right...just not sure exactly when we got there and when we left]

Pensacola FL - November 9-13, 2006

This was the change of command and the first time we'd seen the Mannixes in I don't even know how long. It was the last show of the 2006 season, so Kevin was just observing and it was interesting to watch him and the other new team members carefully analyze the show, knowing that at the end of the weekend this would be in their hands. On Sunday morning we had brunch at the hotel where the Mannixes had been living until they could move into their house on base when the current commander moved out. Kevin was trying to write his speech for the change of command while surrounded by people and and the craziness of brunch. First time we saw Kevin in his flight suit haha



The change of command was really really cool. It was in the museum on base so before the ceremony we walked around and grabbed some lunch. The ceremony itself was pretty amazing. Midshipmen [is that even the right term??] lined the balcony above the area where we were sitting and some really important admiral gave a speech. Wish I remembered who he was...he's probably really influential to our country.



After the change of command we went to the Officers' Club for the end-of-season party which was a combination of the 2006 team and the 2007 team. The O Club was a really cool old building rich with history and character.



Oh I can't leave out the hotel we stayed in while we were there. It was GORGEOUS. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen and a living room/dining room. And an AMAZING view...




El Centro, CA - March 9-11, 2007

I have to say that if it weren't for the Blue Angels, I probably would have NEVER been to beautiful El Centro, CA. There's not much to say about El Centro other than it is freaking hot and a desert. What a classy, classy place. Haha. This was Kevin's very first show as commander after spending the winter training at the air "field" [not even station or base or anything, just "field" it's that small and secluded]. It was really strange to see Kevin, our friend, marching down the runway like I'd seen so many times before when we used to watch the airshow at MCAS El Toro when I was young. Even stranger to see him get in the plane and fly away.



Seattle, WA - August 2-7 [roughly], 2007

I LOVE SEATTLE. What a beautiful city. Granted, I've really only been there during the summer when it is sunny and gorgeous, so let's just say it made a very good first impression. This was the first time we could do some sightseeing in addition to the airshow, so we walked around the city, went to Pike Place Market, went to the Space Needle, and even drove up to Anacortes to go whale watching.



We saw the airshow from 3 vantage points in Seattle: First from Genessee Park along the water's edge, then from the Blues Cruise on Lake Washington [THAT'S the way to do it], and also from the stadium seating at centerpoint [I THINK? I'm pretty sure we did]. We also took the ferry to Bainbridge Island with Kevin and Tammy and got ice cream =]

San Francisco, CA - October 5-7, 2007

I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO! We went to Alcatraz, went shopping in the huge mall they have where the Nordstroms is like 25 stories tall with circular escalators, I wished we stayed at the Argonaut with everybody else because that hotel is really awesome, but we were within moderate walking distance so it wasn't too bad. Saw the show first from Alcatraz and then from a seating area near Hook Pier. Party at the aquarium on Pier 39 on Saturday night. We ALMOST could have seen the show from the pier if we had been able to stay for Sunday's show. Turns out this was the last time they ever let non-team members and crew out there =\



Pensacola Round 2 - November 9-12, 2007



This trip to Pensacola was much more low-key now that Kevin was the commander and we didn't have a change-of-command and related festivities to go to. We took a red-eye on Thursday night and got to Pensacola at like 7:45 AM, after which we drove straight to the on-base hotel, cleaned ourselves up a bit, and went to the base commander's house for breakfast with the Blue Angels and other Navy people. Then Friday afternoon we watched the practice show. Saturday and Sunday - real shows. This trip is a little hazy. OH! No show on Sunday, Sunday we had brunch at the Mannix's aaaand I got a migrane. great. Really good baked french toast. It was amazing.



El Centro Round 2 - March 7-9, 2008

El Centro. Again. Twice in 2 years. Haha. This time we stayed on base which was really convenient because we could walk from our condo to the Mannixes and didn't have to worry about driving to the airshow and dealing with all the common-folk. =P Michele and Dominic came this time. This was actually a really nice weekend. Good food. Good people. Relaxing.



Sacramento, CA - March 14-16, 2008

First time to the state capital. YES! We got to Sac-town on Thursday night. Stayed in El..something... Ellll... Just kidding, El nothing. Rancho Cordova. We rode in the caravan to the show on Saturday. It was freaking awesome. They shut down the freeway and we had a police escort and everything. The Blue Angels drive themselves to the show-site, and they drive so close together and have their flashers on so they have to use hand signals to let each other know when they are breaking. I figure they can handle it, seeing as how they fly jet airplanes like 16 inches apart from each other. It was FREEZING!! This is me, huddling next to my dad for warmth after the show on Friday, or Saturday... either way it was cold:



Haha I remember there was some kind of paper emergency, like they had run out of the paper they use to print the 8-man photos or something and one of the guys [Nate maybe?] didn't know what to do. Pretty much their hotel was across the street from an Office Depot. Kevin was like...hellooo?? Haha. Yeah I'm not sure why I remember that. On Saturday night we met my Aunt and Uncle in Old Town Sacramento [er is that what it's called??] for dinner because they drove up from Modesto to see the show with us.

Seattle Round 2 - August 1-4, 2008

I LOVE SEATTLE AGAIN! This time we didn't have as much sightseeing and exploring time because we weren't there for as long. We saw the show from the Space Needle, from the Blues Cruise, and from centerpoint. On Saturday night we went to the Sea Fair party and had to spend the day shopping for clothes to wear because we didn't plan on going when we were packing. Sunday we were able to go to the Mariners' game and sit in the owner's box. No big deal.



My dad and brother left earlier than my mom and I did, so on Sunday night my mom and I had dinner with Kevin, Tammy, and Nate and Mark because Tammy made them tag along when she found out they didn't have anything to do. Then on Monday we went to the Seahawks' practice.



Yeah. Would never have done that if it weren't for Kevin and his rockstar job.

Chicago, IL - August 14-17, 2008

First time to chi-town! It was awesome. Such a great city. My mom and I flew out ahead of my dad and brother, so on Thursday we watched them plan out their show, and on Friday we rented beach cruisers and went for a bike ride along the lake so we could watch the practice show. This may have actually been the same day, I'm not sure anymore. Actually this was definitely Thursday. Friday we watched the show from the John Hancock tower, Saturday from a boat on Lake Michigan, and Sunday from centerpoint. Oh on Friday night was our epic tour of Chicago with Kevin driving and my brother attempting to lead him to various filming locations for The Dark Night. Same night Eye Alaska played in Chicago...I was determined to see them, but that definitely didn't happen haha. On Saturday night we went to a party for the airshow, which is when I met Sean D. Tucker. I guess he liked me because one of the first things he said to me was that he was going to get me flying. Just a little background...this is Sean:



Uhmmm. OKAY! Not going to argue with that!! Then on Sunday night we went to dinner at a famous pizza place in downtown Chicago with the rest of the Blue Angels. Then we went to the BEAN! I was really excited about that.



MCAS Miramar, CA - October 3-5, 2008

My parents went out to this show ahead of me, and my brother didn't even go, so I drove out after class on Friday. Used my feminine charms to get myself and my car onto the base and find the VIP seating section. The marines respond well to me. Or to my VIP pass. Could be either one, I didn't bother asking. I had e-mailed Sean's son, Eric beforehand to see if we could set up a little ride-along, but they ended up being too busy this weekend, so we were shooting for the next weekend in San Francisco. One of the nights we went to a sushi restaurant in San Diego with Kevin, Tammy, their friend Alicia from Visalia, and some other friends of theirs. This trip is really hazy, which doesn't make sense because it was one of the more recent ones. Hm.



San Francisco Round 2 - October 10-12, 2008

Another great trip to San Francisco. We definitely didn't pack right because we ended up going to Gap and buying a bunch of warm clothing haha. Oh! Rick and Nancy Nelson came with us for this trip! And their nephew Brett met up with us because he's going to school in San Francisco. We went to Alcatraz with the Nelsons, Brett, and Tammy, Laura, Zahn, Bethany I think, and ahhh I'm blanking on her name but she was really nice and had a son and a daughter and her son looks JUST like his dad. This is sad. When did my memory get so bad? LARISSA! I remembered the morning after writing this. Go me. Anyways, the show was great again from Alcatraz and the planes were closer than they were the last year I think. I love airplanes. On Friday I flew with Eric Tucker. I don't even know how to describe this. It was incredible.



Just remembered randomly that it was on the flight home from San Fran that I met Blake and we realized that he knows my cousin because they both go to SLO AND after I got home I found out he knows a lot of my friends from cru. Smallll world.

This was my last show. Kind of bittersweet. We hope to go to maybe one or two shows this year with the Mannixes, and it will be interesting to have Kevin on the ground with us while the jets fly overhead. Kevin is boring again and doesn't wear a blue flightsuit anymore.



PHEW! That's it! I'm sure I've forgotten TONS but this is all I can remember at the moment. I'm exhausted from writing way too many essays this weekend...hm why I chose to write a long blog like this I may never know. Maybe I'll remember more later and add on...


Basically, this was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. We used the Blue Angels as an excuse to to have mini-reunions with the Mannixes, and in the process we were able to see parts of the country we may otherwise have never visited. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity, and I think a part of me will always miss being a Blue Angels 'groupie' ...errr... devotee =P


Rewind please?

So it would be really cool if I could figure out what I'm interested in school-wise. This whole no-idea-what-I'm-studying-for thing is getting old. I need to declare a major soon. Really soon. Like within the next couple of weeks. I'll go with European Studies, but at this point it seems like that's just a way to buy myself more time. I have 100 units so I am technically a junior...should be ahead of the curve. But who knows if the classes I've taken are going to ultimately contribute to my degree. Hmph. I'm going to be in school forever. Guess it's better than trying to find a job though in this sucky economy.

Perhaps I'll just move to Europe and be a bum.

On Saturday morning I checked my twitter to find this [get ready for a lot of screencappage]:





Oh, cool, I'll check out a live vid. Sounds like fun.






OH MY FREAKIN GOD WE MADE THAT LIVE VID! WHAAT?!? Yeah, I guess my spontaneous decision to @reply Brendan with the url to that video was a good idea. Usually I won't @reply people I don't know. I just think it's weird. But I know he does all the editing and videoage for Valencia and thought he might be interested to see that video. We messaged both vids to the band's myspace back when we uploaded them, but I doubt George even watched them. Anyways, I'm rambling. Long story short that basically doubled the views we had on Holiday in a matter of hours. On Friday we had about 150 views, and as of right now we have 531. Whoah. Brendan also posted a blog about the video and a bulletin. Wow. Oh and I just took a gander at the comments on Brendan's website post and they made me smile a little =]. OH! He put the video on his blog too. Wheee!

Laura and I both got a text from Shane [The Scenic, haha not Valencia] telling us that we're famous now. Yeah... pretty much we are famous now. It's official. =P



I feel I should include both Valencia videos. Because I love them.

Whoa. Wasn't expecting this...

So last week I saw some friends who I hadn't hung out with since last quarter. We were all updating each other on our lives and whatnot and I explained how CRAZY March was with all of the GNSR/Bidwell shows and everything. Then they called me a groupie. Ugh I hate that word. And I would just like to state for the record that I am not a groupie. I do not buy presents for bands [ok that happened once but it was more of a joke], make them baked goods [ok that has also happened, for the same band, but still a joke], go to concerts hoping to leave with a new bff for life, ask for phone numbers, or in any way hope to develop some kind of a romantic relationship [or any kind of relationship for that matter] with a band dude. Come on, dating a guy in a band who is gone half the year is wayyyy to practical for my taste. I've been going to concerts since July, and I can honestly say that when I'm seeing a band for the first time the I am not preoccupied with getting to meet them and hang out with them and vie for their attention. No. First and foremost it is about the music. I am truly interested to hear what a band sounds like live. If I end up meeting them after, that's cool. I have legitimately become friends with a few bands, so those shows are obviously more fun, but there are also bands that I just don't click with. Rather than obsessing over "fixing" that "problem," I move on. It's not a big deal. Whatever. Since October shows have also become an opportunity for new business of sorts, as Laura and I try to spread the word about Listen&Love and potentially meet bands who would be interested in having us film for them. [Hopefully we can start making money off of this soon]. So yeah. That's my rant. This has really been bugging me lately and I just needed to throw it out there. Take it or leave it.

Okay I think I'm ready for this now...


Bamboozle Left 2009. Aka my very first Bamboozle. How precious. anyways...It was pretty awesome. We got there a couple hours early so we could get a good spot in the monstrous line. At 12 it was already freakin hot outside. Not a good sign. Saw Racing Kites, Valencia [definitely didn't remember us haha] and Uh Oh! Explosion. I think we finally got into the park around 1:30... sometime between 1:30 and 2 maybe. Turns out cameras weren't a problem as long as they were point-and-shoots AND you could bring as much food as you could fit in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Things to keep in mind for next time. Whoa. If all goes as planned I won't go next year because I'll be studying abroad. That's weird. But that's beside the point. Back to Bamboozle. We saw SO MANY freakin people there. Right away Kelly from Teen Hearts recognized us [er, Laura at least because she planned the benefit they played], then someone [Greg?] from Anarbor recognized her from the acoustic set they played at Active back in January because she had asked him if he could make people sit down haha. Yeah, must have been Greg. We decided to devote the first hour or so to getting our bearings because we knew we'd be racing from one stage to another because ALL THE FREAKIN bands we wanted to see overlapped. Of course. So we sort of found out where all the stages were, got some free candy, sat in the grass, and made a list of the sets we wanted to catch. It all had to be master-planned or it wasn't going to work. OH! How could I forget! The first thing I bought when we walked through the entrance was a 2 year subscription to AP. Yay =]. Then before sitting in the grass I bought a Valencia t-shirt basically just so I could get a B-side. I wanted the shirt anyways though so it worked out. But now I have no money. Crap. Okay I think I have everything straight now. So we were stopped by the bass player, Nate [gahhh I know toooo many nates!], of Sing it Loud after making our list and he convinced Laura to buy their CD and also managed to convince us to deviate from our aforementioned list to see THEIR set first. Turns out they're really good and probably have the most fun on stage of almost any band I've seen so far.


Nate - Sing it Loud

Next... We were GOING to see We the Kings at 4:00, but when I bought my Valencia stuff we found out that they'd be doing an acoustic set at the VIP tent behind the MLB stage. Hm. We're definitely not VIPs [according to Bamboozle], so we weren't exactly sure how this would work. We kind of hung around the entrance to the tent for a while, assessing the situation, and realized that we definitely needed VIP passes for this. Dang it. So basically we ended up peeking over the short wall, trying to hear as much as we could while Artist vs Poet made entirely too much noise across the way at the State Farm Stage. When they finished we wanted to try to see some of Teen Hearts' set because we told Kelly we'd try to get there haha. But wow the Kazoozle stage was IMPOSSIBLE to find. So we missed it. And found ourselves with time to kill. So we bought some bomb chicken strips and french fries and made a dog.

Then... Uh Oh! Explosion? Yes. Oh wait, no. They were before Valencia's acoustic set. We filmed "Balls of Los Al" and I edited it yesterday in like half an hour or something crazy like that haha. Okay... so after linner we saw oh Racing Kites I believe. Then...VALENCIA! for real. We had to leave RK early to get to Valencia, and still missed the beginning of Holiday. Oh well. OHMYGOD they are amazing. I love them more every time I see them. SO GOOD. They have confetti and George might be one of my heroes now because he's just that cool.

After Valencia... OH we raced over to Kazoozle [because we knew where it was now haha] and saw half of Every Avenue's last song. Then we were right where we needed to be to see The Scene Aesthetic. Kind of a weird set. Many technological difficulties. They had to share a mic for a while =\ Still good though. Then we really wanted to see Racing Kites' acoustic set...but again, the non-VIP problem. Dave had mentioned to us earlier that he'd see if he could get us in. And pretty much he's awesome and totally did. He told just to just walk behind him and if the security lady said something he'd tell her we were with him. She stopped us. She actually touched me. Like, grabbed my arm. What was I going to do? Run INTO a confined space and somehow elude her? Uhh. So he flashed his "ARTIST" laminate [uh, he's not an artist, but okay] and she shrugged and released me from her grasp haha. Okay maybe she wasn't holding onto me the whole time but that's the story I'm going to tell. After RK played I sought out potential new GNSR fans and handed out like 7 business cards. Now Dan's going to ship us a whole box of them so we'll be ready at any time to recruit new fangirls. I feel so important. Hokay, after RK... Oh Laura stole more candy. Then... Oh then we went and saw some of Anarbor's set. They finished. We were exhausted. Trudged back to my car. My feet were KILLING ME. I was sun burnt. Ow it was a long hot day. We decided to find a Jack in the Box because we wanted free food. Those tacos are no delicacy, but they were fine and free and I wasn't going to complain.

A crazy day, but a pretty awesome day. Oh, here's the list of the people we saw:
dj rossstar
jan
sparks
peter h
dland chick with the yoda backpack
gnsr shirt
bidwell shirt
ea
oz
laura's old ASB president
hide & seek shirt
fearless girl
the alley girl
ppl laura thinks she went to hs with


ahhh time for disneyland!

I was going to write about bamboozle left, but now I'm just not feeling it. So, never mind. I'll be back later... for now:




Valencia is amazing.

So on Monday Laura and I scrambled to message bands that were playing with Down for the Count at Chain on Tuesday to see if we could scrounge up some business. And by business I mean filming for bands for freakin free because no one [well, almost no one] will pay us...yet. Surprisingly Heartstop's manager, Brandon, was wayy into the idea and was willing to guest list us. Bonus! We ended up filming 2 songs for them, 2 for Culprit, and one for D4TC [which we're not sure we'll actually edit because Nate didn't seem to happy with their performance...we'll see]. Tuesday consisted of us waiting around in the Chain parking lot hiding from the security guards while we waited for Heartstop to get there because the dude in the box office didn't have their guest list yet. Chain is really tightening up it's security. This picture is pretty much what happened while we waited.They got there JUST before D4TC started. We were slightly worried that we'd miss some of their set, but everything worked out. Man, their manager was REALLY into having videos done. The funny thing is PVR filmed an acoustic song or two for them in the parking lot before the show and may or may not have interviewed them. Not entirely sure. But we're thinking that Heartstop didn't want to pay to have PVR film their actual set. Everything went well, we filmed all the right songs haha, and I stood under the vent and froze to death during most of Heartstop's and Culprit's sets. Brr. Chain is now well marked with GNSR stickers. Oh we talked with Kyle Circle for a while. Quite an interesting conversation.

On Thursday, for the first time, we were messaged by a band that was checking up on us to see when the videos were done. Like I said, Brandon was WAY into the videos. That was our cue to get our butts in gear and get editing. We got both of them done by Thursday night, despite a Final Cut catastrophe that resulted in me losing the entire video and having to edit the whole thing again. ARG TECHNOLOGY!

I edited Culprit today.

I am le tired. It's been a long first week back in school. Oh yeah, school. Classes seem fine. Art history is actually kind of interesting. I'm convinced that my European History teacher was told that she'd be teaching a kindergarten class. At least that's the way she talks to us. We'll see how that goes. French teacher Romain is pretty cool haha. He is ACTUALLY French so it's funny when he doesn't know how to say some things in English. Makes me feel better about myself because I know something he doesn't know. HAH!


*edit*Here's the video I edited for Heartstop: