Think it's because we're so awesome?

I got Justin's autograph! Seriously.

One week ago yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing La Timberlake in all of his solo glory. I love the stage set-up, and it was pretty cool seeing at least one/fifth of the boys up there shakin' it. I enjoyed Timbaland much more than I expected, and he and Justin together are the cutest BFF since JC and Justin. Dammit.

Best Seats Ever, thanks to Vicki, my concert-going pal. She had the fan club hook-up, and unless we'd been sipping drinks at the bar/stage area while JT strolled down the bar shaking his tush, it couldn't have been much better. Now I'm gonna testify. ::waves hands::

So, our seats were right off the floor, right in front of the aisle where all the hustle and busle is going on, like, people walking to and from the understage dressing area, etc. After Pink and before La Timberlake, Vicki and I were sitting in our most excellent seats, observing the usual goings on, dancers and such walking back and forth, hoochies in short skirts and spike heeled shoes tipping around trying to be cute...that kind of thing. So we're sitting there soaking it all up, and I look to the right. There's a guy strolling down the aisle our way (toward the stage), and he looked like he was probably with the tour. He was wearing a white shirt, suit pants and vest, big diamond studs and a fedora. Something about him looked familiar, but I had no idea what or why. I think it was just that, "hey! tour guy!" thing. ANYWAY, I glanced at him and away, then back again. He caught my eye and I smiled, kind of the way you do when you pass someone in the aisle at the grocery store. Then I went back to crowd watching...and looked at him again. And we smiled at each other again. And again I went back to scanning the crowd.

Mr. FedoraandDimples walked by us, looked at me, and we smiled at each other. He started to walk on by, then paused and looked smiled, and said, "How are you tonight?" I smiled and said, "I'm fine! How are you tonight?" And he smiled and said he was fine. He smiled again and said, "Enjoy the show!" and I said something like, "Thank you! I'm sure I will." Then he moseyed on down the aisle and disappeared into the crowd standing around the stage. I turned to Vicki and said, "He looks kind of familiar, but I have no idea who he is." Vicki laughed at me (yes, at me) and said, "He's with the band." ROFL! Yes, I laughed at myself and said, "Oh!" So that was pretty cool.

So the show begins and everything's cool and Vicki and I are saying to each other, Excellent seats! Yes! and I'm enjoying the show and I suddenly realized, FedoraandDimples isn't just a member of the band! No! He's up there onstage singing and dancing with Mr. T! He's one of the backup singer guys! Holy six degrees of separation! So that was pretty cool too, and I was pleased that I had a fun anecdote to relate to my friends.

So, during Justin's intermission we're sitting enjoying how cool everything is, when I look to my left and see FedoraandDimples walking down the aisle toward us. Instead of walking by, though, he started up the stairs right by me, then stopped and very quickly and discreetly, slipped a postcard-sized piece of paper into my hand. I looked up, but he was already gone. I turned the postcard over, and OH MY FRIGGIN' GOD, it was a picture of Mr. Timberlake with what looked like a scribble in the right-hand corner. I just gaped at it, not quite processing it. Nah, couldn't be, could it? I turned and looked at Vicki and said, "Is that...?" She agreed that yes! It was! Justin's autograph!!! We both squealed. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I was the coolest girl in our row after that. Hell, I was the coolest girl in several rows afer that! I'm getting all hot and flushed again just thinking about it. :-)

So...later in the show when everyone was back on stage and they were all bopping their heads and singing (can't remember which song), FedoraandDimples looked out at the crowd right at me, smiled and pointed at me. Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Hell yes! I laughed and waved and felt like a complete dork.

So yeah. Justin's autograph. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It was a pretty good night. :-)

Thank you, anonymous rose-giver person! I'm sorry I'm late posting a thank you, but I've been languishing here on my sick bed. Well, kinda. I've got a little cold and haven't felt much like posting. AND my brain's worn out at the end of the day because I'm finally, finally, finally kicking the dregs of the hated old job to the curb, for realz! YAY!

I've been training a replacement to perform the hated old job duties, and true to form, letting me ditch the thing has been dragged out at every turn. My work bud, who's been on maternity leave, has formally resigned from the company, which leaves my current work team quite shorthanded. :-( :-( Since my REAL work team will now be a member short, I've told the old team that as of next week, no matter how well-trained or not the replacement is, she'll be cut loose. I'm DONE, thank you very much. There are plenty of people (including a lazy chick who should have been doing this in the first place) who can pick up the slack.

Along with losing the work bud we'll also lose a retiring member who, sad to say, I won't miss much. Sweet woman, but honestly, her head is filled with bubbles, cotton candy, and the fluff from the bellies of little baby ducks. Truly. She's been on the job for 33 years, and you'd think every day was her first on the job. It's pretty sad. ANYWAY, I'm turning over another time-waster of a project to our newest member, so I'm training two people. Of the past 24 work hours so far this week, I've probably spent two hours doing actual work and the rest has been spent answering questions, proofing drafts, and double-checking spreadsheets. My biggest challenge for both of these ladies is trying to teach them how to think outside the box. God help us all, that's easier said than done. So yeah, work's definitely a busy place to be these days. ;-) But yay! Almost over!

Whee! New Top Chef tonight!

Cut-tagging 'cause I'm down like that. ( Top Chef, baby! )

So, I'm watching Tommy for about the BILLIONTH time. What's not to love? The score is great. Roger Daltrey's got a slammin' little body and fabulous hair. Ann-Margret's singing is OHMYGOD just this shade of awful and her dancing is cheeztastic. Oliver Reed's vocals are gleefully not good.

I *love* this movie. Love it. It's one of the few albums that I can put on and listen (and sing) to all the way through. Love it. LOVE IT. My favorite songs in the order they're performed:

It's A Boy

What About The Boy?

Cousin Kevin

Champagne

Welcome

Listening To You/See Me, Feel Me

Love. This. Movie.

Watching The Brothers Grimm; overall not as enjoyable as I thought it would be, but it's always a pleasure watching Heath Ledger do his thing so there you go. Okay, Heath Ledger dancing at the end is about the cutest thing ever. Squee!

Took half a day Thursday and a day off Friday, partly because I needed a vacation day and partly because my uterus was trying to make its monthly escape from the confines of my body. Also, my sinuses were killing me big time, because evidently it's more fun when multiple body parts ache at the same time. I've spent most of the past three days in bed watching movies and hanging out with my furry children. Yay!

Even more yay, new L Word tonight! I've had it set to record since yesterday so I won't miss a thing. My sinuses still hurt, so I'm off to surf and try to forget the pain. ::cries::

OY! Many ups and downs with the Aged Father in the past few weeks, the upshot of which is he's still in the hospital but he's MUCH improved physically. Mentally I'm still wondering what the hell is going on. He seems to improve a bit then slide backward a bit, then improve a couple leaps and bounds and then backslide a few bounds again. I guess as long as he's slowly making more progress than not I can take it. Still, it's hard to come in one day and find him all smiles then come in the next day and find he seems more out of it than he has in a couple of weeks. I've been keeping a log of my hospital visits; one of these days I'll post and backdate. He's alive though, which I honestly didn't expect at one point!

Not much else is happening in my life and YAY FOR THAT, because one crisis at a time is about all I can handle. On the yippee! front, what was supposed to be me helping out on my hated previous job for a couple of months has *finally* come to an end. That area has been transferred to another department, which means that I'm finally free. They still tried to wheeze a bit more of my time by asking me to train my replacement, but hells no, folks, there are at least a couple of people who can do that. I'm OUT. I'm tying up some outstanding problems, then I'm going to give my replacement a list of my contacts, numerous email messages to use as examples/templates, and a list of bookmarks and suggestions on how best to organize her work. Every time I get the hives thinking about how *not* organized she is, I remember that it's not my problem. All I can do is show her what works for me and if her non-organized self thinks she can do better, so be it. I'm FREE! Well, I will be soon. :-)

We had a very low key Christmas this year. I bought a bag for myself (that probably surprised like, no one), and the mega-surprise of the morning, a new iPod from Mr. Monkey. Eeeee! Much with the happiness! Also purchased for myself a small stack of CDs from Half-price Books and the Firefly DVDs. Not bad. :-)

Happy New Year, livejournal friends! I hope everyone has a safe and happy evening. ::hugs::

Pray to every god you know/believe in/don't believe in that you never have to watch a loved one suffer dementia of any type.

My aunt called Hubs!monkey at home last Thursday, concerned that my dad didn't sound quite right. "Didn't sound quite right" is a serious understatement. I wrapped up a few loose ends at work, told the boss that I needed to roll out of there on a family emergency, and a week later here I am still at Dad's house TRYING LIKE MAD to take care of someone who it seems has the confused mind (and stubborn behavior) of a four-year old. I have a host of trials ahead, and I don't know how/if I can stay sane for this. I think I've gotten most of the crying out of the way - when Dad didn't seem to know who am I (and I'm still not convinced he really knows), it just about killed me.

My dad, it turns out, hasn't been taking very good care of himself (he's diabetic), and as it also turns out, he hasn't been telling me everything I need to know about his health. I suppose if I were a better daughter, I'd have pulled the info out of him with a red-hot poker and a set of salad tongs. The CAT scan's been scheduled, and his doctor wants additional blood work. There are health problems on top of the dementia because of course one disaster on its own is never quite enough.

There's a ton of stuff I want to write but can't, at least right now. I should have visited more. I should have pried open his grief over Mom's death, should have taken a really good look inside that squirrely brain of his.

There are a ton of things I need to do to get his affairs in order, the most worrisome detail of which is, how will the dementia/Alzheimer's affect what needs to be done? Power of attorney is the first thing I need to take care of. He doesn't have another appointment until Friday, so the next week will find me on the phone getting the info I need in order to get started.

This is the first time in a week that I've been online. I've been spending my time pretty much shadowing Dad's every shaky move - he's pretty weak, he's confused, and he's living in a split level with three sets of stairs. OH MY GOD. So yeah, not a ton of time spent in an unworried state. I'm glad I brought my laptop because I need a little sanity in my life, seeing how everything else is so uncertain. I'm going to spend a few hours surfing (I hope; for some reason I keep connecting at verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slow speeds), so we'll see what happens. If nothing else, I can write!

Pray for me, kids. I need it.

I'm working off some hellacious karma, if my evil, evil, workload has anything to do with it. I just got assigned *another* project, thank you very much. Yeah, I don't have enough to do already. Pile it on! I was so frustrated that I had a good cry when I got home yesterday evening. I still feel like I've been hit in the head with a sledgehammer. Bleh.

( Work blather no one cares about but me. )

Oh my God, I'm not sure about this Man Band thing that Chris will be involved in. It sounds cheesy and awful, and if I watch, it'll probably be from between my fingers with my hands over my eyes.

VH1 Will 'Man' Up
Network creates new block of music-centered shows

The headline-grabbers among the new shows are "Man Band" and the somewhat self-explanatory "ego trip's White Rapper Show." The former will take five ex-boy band stars -- including Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSync and Jeff Timmons of 98 Degrees -- and bring them together in a new group, making more grown-up music. Bryan Abrams of Color Me Badd and Rich Cronin of LFO will also take part, although a fifth member hasn't been found yet.

Shouldn't a Backstreet Boy get involved? I think Kevin Richardson should sign on. Sounds painful, doesn't it? I'll have to watch at least one episode - because, CHRIS! - but after that I'm not making any promises.

My newest guilty obsession - and probably part of why I'm working off this heinous karma - is "Life with Derek." Hey, don't judge me! Michael Seater is legal, dammit...and quite adorable. Something about him reminds me of either Ron Weasley or Rupert Grint, I'm not sure which. If the Weasleys ever discover a Canadian branch of the family, the kid should dye his hair and audition.

In other news, I'm tired. But, yay! It's only 8:00! I love when the time changes. I hate when October ends though, because it's my favorite month. But what a way to go out! I've been watching tons of black and white horror movies, including one of my favorites, The Wolfman. I love that movie! Unlike his father, Lon Chaney Jr. is a pretty bad actor, but that's part of what makes the movie fun. I love when his feet change to wolf paws, and he's walking around on his furry tiptoes. Bwahahahaha! Good times.

Yay! A string of Vincent Price movies is up next! I love October.

I did a very silly thing today -- I forwarded something to my work bud from my Yahoo! account. My *fandom* account. The one that has my LJ name displayed in the "From" line. This friend knows I dabble online, but has no idea about my slashy activities.

I freaked out about it for a few minutes, considered doing the friends-only thing, then decided...eh. Whatev. She's not the type to rat me out or anything so that's not a worry, but I *do* wonder -- should she track my LJ down, that is -- what she'll think about my fandom life.

I think I'm determined not to think about it, not to worry about it. She'll either think I'm a freak or she won't. Hopefully -- should she track down my LJ, that is -- she'll read everything and we'll never speak of it. Then again, she may become a slash fan, though I doubt it. But maybe. Or not. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. OH MY GOD, I'm such a freakin' spazz.

NOTE TO OFFLINE WORK BUD WHO MAY OR NOT BE READING MY LJ...DON'T FREAK, WOMAN. I'M STILL ME. :-)

Watching the PR finale, and boy oh boy oh boy, I *love* Laura's collection. So far, each collection looks better on the move than in the stills that circulated the day after the show. Jeffrey's wasn't bad, but...I love Laura. Uli's is probably my second favorite. Sadly, Michael's collection isn't showing me very much. Uh, yikes. Everything tilts a little on the "ho" end of the scale. I'm pretty sure he didn't win.

I think Jeffrey's going to win, though Laura seemed to get the most audience response for her pieces. I want her to win! And then I want her to go into partnership with Michael and they'll be friends and design partners 4evah and evah!!! ::my world = pink sky and unicorns::

Edit: Re-wound the DVR, and saw three outfits of Michael's that I really liked. Maybe four. Still, three (maybe four) out of twelve? Not good.