A couple weeks ago Trent Reznor posted on Twitter about a special opportunity where if you made a donation to a charity he was championing, that he would give you special backstage and onstage access to an upcoming NIN|JA show of your choice. The charity was to help Eric De La Cruz stay alive, basically. Eric needs a heart transplant but has no health insurance, and keeping him alive until a suitable donor is found (and so his name can even remain on the heart donation list) will require large sums of money. (Welcome to the screwed up American Health Care System - unfortunately, Eric’s situation is a glaring example of the flaws within it. If you don’t have money, you do not get the care you need and that is just not right.) One of my old classmates John Fritz had a heart transplant. I worked with his brother-in-law at the time and I remember how stressful it was on his family with the uncertainty they faced on a daily basis, and John had health insurance! I can’t imagine the stress the De La Cruz family must be dealing with, but if we as a community can help relieve at least one major stress (just having the money to keep Eric alive) then they can focus on other things - like helping Eric get better.

So, on June 3rd I went to the NIN|JA show at the Comcast Center in Mansfield - I saw the show from the stage and from awesome seats in the crowd, met the band, hung out backstage, met other great fellow fans and all around just had the Best. Day. Ever. For a rock-n-roll geek like myself it was just awesome to see how such a big show is put on from a production standpoint, and also meet a band that I have listened to on a steady rotation for almost 20 years.

I thought about writing a very detailed account of my day, but I think I will do the selfish thing and save the details for myself. What I will say was that all the band members - as well as all the members of the NIN staff we dealt with - were extremely gracious. I went into the day not really knowing what to expect, and by the end of the day the mind of this fangirl was just completely blown. Suffice to say, all my previous backstage experiences with other bands had been in smaller, crappy venues and their idea of catering was a box of donuts and a quart of Jack Daniels on ice (which the singer usually took for himself), and this was SO NOT THAT. I mean, when you are standing in line for dinner and pondering whether you will go for the chicken, pork or vegan option and Dave Navarro walks by and smiles at you, that day just kicks the asses of all other previous show days. (OK, so, that was some details. haha)

I do have some photos and video to share tho! My complete Flickr album is here and Donna’s is here, but here are some of my fave pics of the day from both our albums, plus some video to follow…

The Mother Of All Other Photos Taken That Day - Donna and I with Nine Inch Nails. From l-r: Ilan, Justin, me, Trent, Donna and Robin.

I do not believe I got a pic of Trent SMILING! Like, showing teeth and everything.

When we were onstage we stood just to the right of Ilan. It was a great view to have as you usually do not get to see much of the drummer from the crowd.

I like taking pics of equipment crates because I am a dork.

There’s a lot of equipment that requires POWER!

I’m so glad Donna got this picture! There was a “velvet Elvis” painting backstage. We didn’t know if it belonged to the venue or if it was “traveling art” that went with the band.

Waving goodbye to the Wave Goodbye Tour.

Obligatory photo of Dave and Perry of Jane’s Addiction. And now, video! I didn’t take any video during NIN’s set because I was too in awe and running back & forth from stage to crowd. My friend Jason was at the show took some video tho, here’s Gave Up…

I shot some crappy quality video of Jane’s Addiction. Here’s Stop. Yes, that’s me you hear singing during “Turn off that smokestack…And that goddamn radio…” part. And for that I apologize.

Jane Says…

And the close of the show - Dave Navarro on the drums.

Thank you, and good night!

…or Chris Farley from The Chris Farley Show…

…but my guess is at some point during the day I will most likely be a combination of the two of them.

I went to an all day teaching seminar with the Dalai Lama on Saturday at Gillette Stadium. I had been very excited about this event since I first heard about it through the grapevine at work a few months ago. It started at 9:30am, and His Holiness first gave a teaching on the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. He expounded on the Truths for a couple hours and then there was a break and some other entertainment (dancers, singers and a flutist). At around 2:30pm he came back out and talked about the Path to Peace and Happiness. I enjoyed the second half greatly (I think the weather might have had something to do with it - it was cold in the morning but the sun broke through and the afternoon was beautiful). He even donned a Patriots baseball cap during the afternoon session to protect his head from the sun.

It was the first time I had ever seen the Dalai Lama in person, and it was also the first time I had ever extensively learned about the religion of Buddhism. Although I don’t consider myself a religious person, I love reading about religions and figure I will delve into Buddhism a bit to learn some more about it. A lot of it seems very natural and runs along the line of good common sense (be good to people, be helpful and compassionate, live simply…), but I am looking forward to learning more.

Although the Dalai Lama is a religious leader he did not seem intimidating or an imposing figure at all. He seems very down-to-earth - while he talked he was gregarious, funny and was quick to laugh and smile. He has a great laugh, and Michelle (one of the folks I went with) took some video of him on her little hand held camera…

Before Michelle had started the video he had been explaining about how people have misconceptions of others and was saying as an example that the Chinese government viewed him as a devil (and he most certainly is not) which is why he was making the motion with the horns.

If you want to see some of the photos I took of the event (I didn’t take a lot - I was concentrating on what he was saying too much to snap away) you can check out my Dalai Lama album on Flickr. All in all, it was a fantastic day and if you ever have the opportunity to see the Dalai Lama I highly recommend it.

Namaste!

Also, I was not the ultimate winner of the Pearl Jam t-shirt design contest. Another fine designer by the name of Barbara Alonso was the winner, and she has a design blog and Etsy store you can check out if interested. I really like her designs - they are wispy, whimsical and crisp. Her PJ shirt design was one of the 3 or 4 that I saw and said to myself: If I lose to that one, I’ll be ok with it.

So, congrats Barbara!

NFL Draft weekend was also the same weekend as Catch Con in Seattle. What’s Catch Con? It is a new convention specifically for Deadliest Catch nerds such as myself! Since I could not attend I dispatched my friend LeAnn (who lives in the Seattle area) to go take pics, buy stuff and report back. If you are interested in seeing her pics I uploaded them to an album on Flickr. LeAnn really has a talent for taking pics, so of course they all came out great! She also won me this really great rain hat…

My friend went to CatchCon and all I got was this really awesome hat…and a t-shirt…and a couple of posters, whirly lanyard, a dvd with the pilot episode, cd full of photos, official CatchCon sharpie and a bag of Cracker Jacks. (Thanks again LeAnn!)

[my design is the 1st row, left - click to enlarge]

I wanted to thank everyone who voted for my design in the Pearl Jam Ten re-issue t-shirt design contest. My design made the top ten, and now the ultimate decision is in the hands of the band. I am excited to just be one of the finalists, and that people liked my design enough to vote for it. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I was honored they thought enough of my skillz to ask for my assistance. The results of our hard work is now up for all to see. They are still in the process of moving over some of the (7 years plus worth of) articles from the old site, but TFT is pretty much operational at this point. Whether you’re a long-time PJ fan or someone who is just a fan of fansites, please check it out and let me know what you think of it.

Yeah, it snowed again. >sigh< It is still cold and crappy out, but the weather has forced me to stay in and get caught up on some things - like uploading photos! Today’s is above, and you can see the rest of the entries of the last few days in the Flickr album.

Then there was the time that the phone rang in the middle of the night. It woke me up and I answered it only to discover the person had the wrong number. It kinda pissed me off that I had been woken up for something so stupid, but then I realized that I had not been in bed when I woke up. I had been standing at the top of the stairs in the hallway.

So, last night I woke up suddenly in pain because I had crashed down the last few stairs in my house. I was really confused, but had this thought that someone was at the door - that I had been heading towards the door to answer it. It was pitch black out, and I lifted myself back up and fumbled towards the front door to open it - convinced somehow that someone was on the other side of it needing to be let in. I opened it up and no one was there which confused me even more, so I just went back upstairs and got in bed. I was fully awake at this point, and also kinda freaked out.

Before this last incident, I always thought of my sleepwalking as kind of funny. I never really know how often I do it, or why I do it. It seems if I have a lot on my mind I have a tendency to be a lot more tired when I wake up, and I think this is perhaps because I am up and about during the night and not resting. I would make jokes like “Man, if only I could do housework in my sleep or exercise - I’d be all set!” I will admit, I was concerned that I appeared to be walking up and down the stairs, but I seemed to be able to do it ok. Now I am kind of afraid some night I will wake up at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck.

I have been researching online some of the things I can do to lessen these instances (I guess there is no surefire cure for sleepwalking), and I am going to give these things a try. Also, I am going to try and find some sort of alarm system for my bedroom door that will wake me up should I decide to get up and move about. At least it will wake me before I get to the stairs.

If anyone out there has any other ideas, recommendations or experiences with sleepwalking please email me or leave a note in the comments.

02-22-09 - Pukey McPukerton - Furball season has begun, here Layla is shown relaxing between dispensing globs around the house.

02-21-09 - Soy un perdedor - “You’re not a winner” is just polite speak for “HAHAHAHA! LOSER!”

02-20-09 - Gray Hoodie - I love this hoodie. It is the most comfortable piece of clothing I own. I can understand why Coach Belichick wears his all the time.

02-21-09 - Dynamic Duo - Spiderman and Batman were playing on the tampon dispenser this morning.