I had such grand plans for the past 5 days..... and then I got sick.

So the Midnight Oil show at the Wiltern Thursday kicked ass, just like I knew it would.  My butt and feet were sore from all the standing and sitting (on concrete), but it was SO worth it!!

The next show was in Oakland. I had a plane ticket that got me into Oakland at the same time as my friend, who was flying in from another city.  I was a little hesitant about flying as I started getting a sore throat the night before. At first I thought it was just sore from the show Thursday night, but it was quickly becoming apparent that I was getting sick.  I bought a small Chloraseptic (for $8!!!) at the Burbank airport and a large bag of Lifesavers (no throat lozenges to be found). The plane ride was good, apart from my ears starting to hurt. I hoped it would be temporary, due to the pressure changes.

I landed in Oakland, texted a bunch of folks I was supposed to catch-up with at the venue and proceeded to meet a friend in baggage claim. Luckily, they were familiar with the train system as it had been about 25 years since I'd taken it!  We got to the venue and there was one person in line. I recognized her from the LA show, so we chatted for a bit (while I went through a good portion of my Lifesavers). All our friends started to show-up, so it was a good time.  The show itself was great, totally different to the other two. We got out late and, very lucky for us, one of our friends who lives in Oakland, offerred to drives us totally out of her way and in to the City where we were staying with another friend.

We got to our friends place, then went down the street for a drink. I think I may have gotten to sleep around 4am. We had to get up around 6:30am because we had early flights out of Oakland. Since it was three of us, we decided to Uber it and split the fare instead of taking BART, which would have cost about the same, but taken longer. I was really feeling like crap, so I told my friends that I may not be able to make the Portland show, if I didn't start feeling better. My ears were REALLY starting to hurt at this point.

Turns out, I didn't start feeling better. I had to cancel my plane reservation and sell my ticket. I've been in bed since Sunday. It sucks using a vacation day being sick!

Everything was worth it though, even getting sick. The shows I went to were EPIC (Atlanta being best). I still have one more in August (hopefully, there will be more). I hope they add more!

I have to say, one thing I really dislike about shows where I have a great ticket (pit), but no assigned seat, is that it's gotten to the point where you have to arrive at the venue HOURS EARLY to stand in line in order to get a good spot. So here I am, sitting and standing  on Wilshire Blvd, for 2 1/2 hours before I get to stand for another 4 hours inside.  Luckily, the show is going to kick ass and will totally be worth it.

Okay, it's the first super-fucking-hot weekend at my new place. It's not too bad (so far) inside my place.  Windows are open and the three ceiling fans I have are on.  It's 6:30pm and still 90F here, but it's fairly nice in my apartment without having to put the A/C on.

This past week was okay. I had an annual drs appointment and saw a new doctor (my old one retired in December). She was really nice and very thorough. We talked about my current migraine treatment that my neurologist has me on and she had some really interesting insight. I hope her advice works out! She's the first female doctor I've been to in about 20 years! All my doctors are guys!

Work has been busy, but good. One gal I work with is ticked-off with me because I didn't jump on her bandwagon and start trashing another person I work with when she was ripping her to shreds.  When she made a really nasty comment,  I told her "That's really mean of you to say" (She was making mean comments about the woman's hearing). It was brutal and I wasn't comfortable with it.  I just want everyone to get along.

I'm excited to have some Midnight Oil concerts coming up over the next week and a half. A little bit of travel is involved, but at least it's in my same time zone this time!  Plus, everyone there is going to be in my age range, not too many young kids, thank goodness!!!

Fingers-crossed that tomorrow isn't so hot. I've got errands to run and boxes to unpack (don't judge me!).

Also, fingers-crossed that I can find the crushed garlic I like to cook with (Christopher Ranch from Gilroy) and the tea I use for my sun tea (China Mist Passion Fruit).  So far, I'm 0-3. Sigh.

Listening to "Ponzi Supernova" on my Echo. So good.

I've just had an amazing weekend.  Granted, it involved cramped airplanes, no sleep and weather I wasn't tottally prepared for, but it was still awesome.

I decided to take a break from all my unpacking and organizing (and all my procrastinating of unpacking and organizing) so I could fly to Atlanta to see Midnight Oil's first US tour date in about 15 years. Plus I got to see Magnus, a friend I met through another friend and I havent seen him in about 16 years.

Oh my gosh, the show was INFUCKINGCREDIBLE!!!!  Songs I've never heard live (nor did I ever expect to hear live) were played.  We had front row seats (not that we were seated at any point during the gig) that gave us a good view of the entire stage.  I'm too tired to write up a review of the show right now, but it truly ranks up there with one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Ever.

We took the Friday night red eye to Atlanta, touching down a little after 5am.  We hopped on MARTA and took the train directly to our hotel. The night manager was an angel who offered to check us in to our room right there and then, instead of just holding our bags (which is what we'd originally asked for) . It was 6:30am and check-in is normally 4pm!  We took him up on his kind offer, went up to the room, dumped off our stuff, then went and got a delicious breakfast. After that, we walked down to the Museum of Puppetry Arts. Yes, that's a thing!!!! I saw in online and just HAD to visit it. It's PUPPETS! I'm afraid of puppets, but it sounded so cool. They had puppets that were ancient, along with new puppets from Corpse Bride, Colraline, Labrynth, the Never Ending Story, Fraggle Rock & many more. Half of the building was dedicated to Jim Henson!  There were all sorts of muppets, props, videos and interactive things.  I think the only puppets I didn't see were Gonzo and Animal, but most others were there, even Dr. Teeth!

After the puppets, we explored the area on foot. What a nice area we were in! The Arts District is beautiful!  Finally, we went back to the hotel to change. We decided to get dinner before the show, so we found a pizza place to head to. The weather was turning cold,  dark and rainy, but it was still nice.  Unfortunately, when we got to the venue and stood at the back of the line, it started to get windy and rain! Gah! It took forever to get inside, then we saw the world's longest merch line ever to stand in.  I think we got to the front of the line about 10 minutes before the show started. We were razor-focused on what we needed, so (unlike everyone else) we listed what we wanted, paid and booked it to our seats with just enough time to put our stuff down a meet our REALLY drunk neighbors (we were sober, no alcohol at all).

The show was about 3 hours long and mind-blowingly good. We got back to the hotel late, but still made time to watch the videos my friend took and go through the pictures we snapped.  I think we eventually got to sleep at about 3:30am. The alarm was set for 8am so we wouldn't have to rush to pack and check-out. Total sleep since Thursday night: about 4 hours.

We were able to stow our bags at the hotel after checking-out, then we left to explore more of the city before brunch with Magnus. Piedmont Park is so pretty! Everyone was so nice and friendly to us. Strangers said hello!  We even got interviewed for a national radio show. Not sure we'll get used, but it was fun.

Brunch was so good!  I had the best southern bluberry pancakes! I don't even really like pancakes, but they looked so good, I couldn't say no. Instead of maple syrup, there was sorghum syrup, which I really enjoyed.  Along with our food, we had bottomless mimosas, dangerous for sure! We caught up with Magnus and got a driving tour of Atlanta and got to see his townhouse (which was VERY swanky). I think the mimosas started kicking in at about this point, because I don't really remember much after this, until we were getting ready to board the plane later. Being dropped off at the airport? No. Waiting in line? No. Going through security? Nope. Sitting down in the terminal? Yes! Our plane being delayed? Totally! Sitting on the tarmac for an hour? Of course! Yikes.

I finally got home a little before 1am, took a quick shower and hit the pillow at a little after that. 3 hours later, it was time to get up and go to work.

I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep, but I have no regrets. This trip was definitely worth it and I'd do it all over again. Twice.

I can't wait for the four other tour dates I've got tickets for!!!