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6 or so months ago, I went to work early and got some extra work done, and then took a few minutes for the NIN pre-sale for their Barclays Center performance. I had tried to get tickets to the “last NIN tour” couple of years ago, but utterly failed at every pre-sale and on-sale. I remember trying for days at the sweepstakes Trent held over Twitter. I was pretty devastated. So when they announced another tour (How to Destroy Angels not going to cut it for you, right?), I WAS ON THAT SHIT.

Everything was SO frustrating. During the first pre-sale, the site failed for me. I totally got into nerd-rage mode and complained to the webmaster. They responded to people like me by holding another pre-sale. So, again, I was sure to be available at that time. However, this time… my credit card and debit card kept failing. My bank introduced some weird validation service that I never had to do before on the day of the pre-sale and I just couldn’t buy these tickets. I was so upset that I called my then not-yet-husband to basically screech at him, “GIVE ME YOUR CREDIT CARD!!!! MUST BUY!” He was like, “WHAT’S GOING ON.. AHHH! DON’T EAT ME.”

Fortunately, I still found decent seats (not on the ground, but in section 12 – seated). I bought the tickets. And all was right with the world. We went to Portland, we came back, and then we attended this event.

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It was really great. I loved that they played the old hits and as soon as I heard “Terrible Lie,” I was swaying and singing with the rest of them. They did a great light show (my husband identified the light show as something similar to Daft Punk’s pyramid light show work) that really worked for their new album. And their new album is kind of awesome. I really like this direction. And they still scratch that NIN itch. Once you listen, you definitely know Trent Reznor created this sound. (I’m kind of a horrible fan and didn’t really listen to their new album until a day before the concert. I forgot all about it.)

The concert was also kind of funny, because looking around, the demographic is notably a lot older. I felt this way at the last Tori Amos concert, as well. In fact, I felt like I was in the low range of the median.

On another note, maybe because I still feel loyalties to MSG, but I couldn’t get on board with the Barclays Center. I felt really far away from the stage, since I was almost directly center of the whole concert (I was farthest away from the stage on the ground). The angle kind of bothered me. Otherwise, it’s all so fancy looking.

Are you catching them this tour?

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We just got back from Oregon. I was visiting my in-laws and we helped out with their master bathroom makeover.

I had hoped that we would have time to put in the shower tray, walls, and tile the ceiling while we were there. However, we just didn’t have the time to do all that. We were all a little too ambitious. That being said, we did manage to see the fruits of our labor when tiling their bathroom floors. This was one of my first remodeling jobs like this. (In my Brooklyn rental, re-decorating means hammering nails into the walls and hanging things. Maybe I might move a bookcase or two.)

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I have to admit that I’ve never been handy, but I’ve been crafty. There is just so much people can and are willing to do for a rental in NYC. There isn’t too much point to changing an apartment, other than the color. I’ve certainly never put a back splash in or anything like that. I love to visit blogs like centasational girl. Her blog was what inspired me to attempt to make our current headboard. I love home makerovers. So I really had fun with this smaller project. It was nice to see the end result of at least one thing.

As you can see, they picked out longer gray tiles. They recently had the floor beneath that redone.

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Now that I’ve finished it, I told Ryan that we should have laid the tiles down and glued thinly any tiles that are raised. This way, we can use that as a starting point to level with the mortar. Shoulda Woulda, right? So, we started laying down the files that we did not need to cut. It took a short afternoon and we were done.

Next, we wanted to make patterns of the corner tiles. It was harder, but I started out making a couple of tile sized patterns (for the larger corner pieces). I laid them down on the floor like a tile to mimic the space and how the edges should slope.

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This part was surprisingly time intensive, since I wanted to get it right. We couldn’t risk having tiles cut into patterns that don’t fit. For the most part we were pretty successful. We had a few doozies, where we couldn’t use the dry cutter (that traces with a scratch and cuts the tile), because we didn’t have enough of tile to put pressure on the piece. We had to go back and use a fresh tile on a wet saw. There were other tiles that we had to free style the corners on the wet saw, since the tile wouldn’t fit on the dry saw. That was loud, but fun. We had a muffler for the sound, and I used in-earbuds to muffle the sound. There was one pesky piece that kept shifting due to the flooring. We had to chip away at the plaster to get that piece to sit level.

Finally we grouted. That was pretty satisfying and went quickly. Unfortunately, once it dried a bit and we were cleaning, we saw some places where we missed some grout. Some was wiped away by the water. So we waited until it dried a bit and re grouted. Then, you seal and you are done. (The picture below was before the floor was sealed.)

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VOILA!

Can we discuss the incompetence of the USPS? This is all in the last 2 months. I’ve been waiting for my amazon purchase FOR-ever. (Which happens to equal 2 weeks.) Most of it was suppose to be delivered on the 4th. However, it apparently came on the 3rd (GREAT!). The USPS tracking system claims that they came at 11:13pm, left a notice, and is now inquiring about redelivery.

  1. Someone was here ALL DAY and all night.
  2. There was NO NOTICE LEFT
  3. Isn’t there usually re-deliveries? 2-3 tries until stopping?

I literally requested them to come back the next available day. I waited a day, since I was incredulous that they actually needed me to schedule a redelivery. AND I had another package coming in on the 5th, so I assumed it can come with that. At this point I should mention that I missed 2 parcels on the 3rd. I ordered 2 shipments, but amazon shipped everything in 3 shipments. So, what was suppose to come on the 5th was originally part of the shipment I missed. This other shipment came at was left in the lobby/1st floor of my building on the floor on the 4th. WTF, right? If they can do that, why didn’t they just leave my other packages? WHAT IS GOING ON. How can I receive only part of my package? I asked for redelivery on the 6th. That was yesterday. The tracking system has been down for the past 2 days. I RECEIVED NOTHING. This is really ridiculous.

Did I mention that 2 months ago I ordered some photo books from recent events from snapfish. I had a coupon, so I had to split 2 books to my mother in 2 shipments. I ordered one for me, and another to my in laws. My mother was home anticipating delivery (that I told her about via tracking). It never came. They never rang her. They left a notice, though. Do you know how frustrating it is? So she has been waiting for the redelivery that never happens and after 2 weeks of waiting (in addition), they make her go pick it up from the postal office. Seriously. And she lives in Manhattan.

I. AM. AT. MY. WITS. END.

(In other news, the L train isn’t running, which is annoying if you need to get to Manhattan. I braved the bus yesterday and it is a free for all. There is literally no rules anymore when the trains aren’t running. I find that funny. They don’t collect fare for these shuttle buses, so everyone just packs in, climbs in from the back, stand in the area you’re not suppose to while the bus is running, and ALL RULES ARE TOSSED OUT THE AIR. It’s an ugly time.)

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This morning I was reading my usual sites with my morning coffee. Did you guys notice the creepy post on postsecret.com? It basically says

I said she dumped me, but really, I dumped her (body).

(Here is a link on gawker that talks about it. The reddit community went wild and figured it out that this was a park in Chicago. This morning I tweeted/FBed about it, but that’s about it. I do honestly hope that is a hoax. It’s creepy as f*ck. (I love creepy stuff, and this gives me the willies that I usually get off on. Still, this is a little macabre for me and this shit is no joke. On the other hand, I totally get into cults, serial killer stuff, and weird internet creepy oddities, like that time traveler that popped up on forums back 10+ years ago – Google John Titor. Or how about that toynbee tiles documentary, still available on netflix? If anyone has any other recommendations, please let me know.)) Holy parentheses batman!

I think everyone is surprised something like this hasn’t happened before. I wonder what the QA process is like when putting up secrets. Do controversial ones get the automatic posting? Someone said, it looked like these postcards were sent prior to 2013. Still, I bet there is a lot of thought to go into it. Some are heavy, some are life affirming and uplifting, and others show us that we’re not alone in misery. Although eye-catching secrets are rarer, I still love the idea of this project.

Maybe this is why I watched that movie with Jake Gyllenhaal on the Zodiac Killer late tonight, and now I’m up… still wired.

Another thing that caught my attention lately is all the Leah Remini Scientology defection news that got TONs of press. You bet I read through the entire long interview with her sister to that small little radio station. Man, Tony Ortega’s site has been blowing up about it. I love it. I really hope the movement that demands the whereabouts of Shelly Miscavige gain momentum. Love. This. Stuff.

It’s voyeuristic, I know. Oftentimes things like this piggyback on real sorrow, so I don’t mean to make light of that. I’m just sort of amazed at all the things that people do.

On a more lighthearted note, can we talk about the VMAs? No one is talking about it, it seems, but Daft Punk’s “visit” was super lame. THEY DIDN’T EVEN “PERFORM.” THEY JUST PREVIEWED A SONG. Especially after that amazing Colbert dance off to “Get Lucky”, with the drama of getting Daft Punk on air. I find it disappointing that Steven’s whole segment wasn’t very genuine and Daft Punk was never suppose to perform on his show. (There were rumors that Robin Thicke was always the one booked to perform that day.)

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This year, summer just flew on by. Part of it is work. With so many people on my team out during the really hot months, I just kept plowing forward with no real break. (I guess taking 2 weeks off for your wedding has a little to do with it.) Really, I find that Labor day is a nice 3 day weekend, but it doesn’t mark any real season of change for me, since I don’t really touch the school schedule anymore. Neither myself or my husband is involved in school or academia, anymore. It’s still muggy. It’s still too warm outside. I start to feel fall when Halloween comes around or when we dig up our fall jackets. I like fall. I love the holidays. Summer … is usually too much for me.

We’re attending a wedding at the end of September. Also, I have a trip to the in-laws planned in October. Unfortunately that ended up coinciding with my “All Years” high school reunion that I originally committed to going to. It was a stupid move, but it was the most convenient. Now, tickets are already purchased. Then, we have plans to see NIN. Those are the extent of my plans.

Summer came and went after we got back from Portland, and it really wasn’t very exciting. We had a friend come stay with us for a few days. We didn’t really travel or do anything out of the ordinary, like teach me how to ride a bike. Yet. I need to learn before it gets too cold. This will be the year.

Unfortunately this weekend, I didn’t do much. I blame this on the L Train and the work that is being done to the track all weekend. The train is supposed to resume this morning, so maybe I will actually go out into the real world today. Yesterday, I got dragged outside to a local pub crawl and impromptu dance party. But overall, I was a little too excited about “Once Upon a Time” episodes being available now on Netflix. I completely thought that that show would be cheesy and girly in a way I dislike (kind of like the “New Girl” with hipster sweetheart Zooey Deschanel), but I completely got suckered in.

Nothing too special planned tomorrow. Just visiting my mother and maybe going for a long run.

Did you know that you can get Shake Shack in DC? Connecticut? Man. Tonight I’m going to go to the Brooklyn Shake Shack for the first time. I normally brave the Madison Square Park one, but I honestly have not had Shake Shack in over 6 months. Maybe close to a year. I remember going to one in the upper west side, sometime in the late summer/early fall. I’ve been eating far too much beans and their heirloom varieties, so I need something greasy in me.

In other news, I recently got a wedding gift from mouth.com. It came with all sorts of goodies like smoked sugar, cheese slate and mineral oil, and amazing treats like raspberry lime rickey jam, chocolate hazelnut spread, etc. It’s like an indie hipster gift basket (that came in a cute smart canvas bag) for my generation. It’s for that person who may live in Portland, Oregon or Brooklyn, NY and may or may not know someone who churns their own butter and goes to some private Brooklyn rooftop to collect honey. I may or may not be going to Shake Shack with her tonight. It’s for that person who thinks making yogurt in her dutch oven overnight is a good idea, but way too lazy to really do that with any frequency. And people who love eating.

Maybe it’s bourgeois. Maybe it’s commercialized. …But damn, those caramels from Landmarc are pretty damn good. If anyone wants to buy me the pickle subscription, I will love you.

(This post was in no way sponsored by mouth.com. However, if you’re from mouth.com and want to send me samples, I will gladly accept them.)

I’m home, “on-call” for work. So what did I do? I cooked a bag of dry black beans so we can have a little for breakfast and the rest for the week. I cleaned my aquarium (hopefully to fill with colorful platys), hooked up the XBox to YouTube and discovered Vice Japan Channel, and now I am watching reruns of Sex and the City. I randomly picked the episode where Aidan leaves Carrie for the second time after she cheated on him with Mr. Big. In that episode, they say goodbye in her bathroom… and that shower curtain!!!!! I NEED IT! I searched for the last 50 minutes and I cannot for the life of me find that particular screenshot.

It’s long and sparkly.

So this is what it has come to. Season 4 has pretty good outfits, I must admit.

At least I have some Rose wine.

I’m looking forward to getting my freedom back next week.

Edit: Pebbles Silver shower curtain from Bed Bath and Beyond! Voila! Pretty close.

I’m also digging the discontinued Tender Falls Anthropologie Shower Curtain.

And a little more affordable Kate Spade shower curtain from Bed Bath and Beyond.