Of Duran Duran and Christmas Postcards...

The Duran Duran show was FANTASTIC. Mike and I waited seemingly forever for them to finally take the stage, but it was all worthwhile once they did. From the second they took the stage with The Valley from Red Carpet Massacre to the final strains of Rio, I didn't stand still; they sounded (and looked - never forget looked) amazing and complete command over the crowd. John and Simon looked like they were having the time of their lives, Nick was his usual ironic self behind the keyboards (Simon did manage to get him to crack a grin once), Roger is at the top of his game, and Dominic Brown, the guitarist that replaced Andy, has a great rapport with the guys in the band and with the audience. They played for two solid hours and for those two hours, I was back to being 15 years old. It was a pretty fantastic way to celebrate my birthday.

Atlantic City looks very different from the Atlantic City I'd be dragged to every summer for the requisite family vacation, too. Lots of new buildings, casinos have gotten more flashy in attempts to get East Coasters to make it the Vegas of the East Coast, and - and this is the very cool part - AN OUTDOOR OUTLET SHOPPING AREA. Oh yes. I took full advantage of my birthday finances and treated myself to some new shoes (RocketDog, Stacey - but they were on sale) and a few new things to wear (hopefully, to job interviews soon...).

You're doubtless asking yourself by now, where are the Duran Duran pictures? Folks, I got nothing. I was only about 25 feet from the stage, and probably could have taken some amazing shots, but I decided against bringing my camera for a couple of reasons. First, I'm never sure whether or not I can bring my camera into a venue these days, with most digital cameras having recording capability and all; I don't want to get my camera pulled for bootlegging suspicions. Second, I was in a general admision show - some fool bumps me and I drop my camera or spills their drink on my camera, I'm showing up on Judge Judy for assault while I counterclaim for my lost camera fees. Finally, the biggest reason - I just wanted to dance and have fun. I get nuts when I have my camera with me; I always want to take full advantage of a photo opp, and I didn't want to do that. It was my birthday, I just wanted to get lost in the show, so I opted to leave the camera home.

I've finally managed to get holiday preparation kicked into gear this week, too. Since we've got a smaller tree than normal, we only used half of our ornament stash, which kind of made me pouty, but at least now I tell myself I can rotate ornaments each year. Boba and Jango Fett made the tree this year, as did Han Solo and the Clone Troopers, but I gave the Klingon Bird of Prey and Romulan Warbird a break. The Baby's First Christmas ornaments from both kids are up, though; they'll always be on the tree because I love the memories.

Speaking of the holidays, I took part in a holiday postcard swap with my fellow knitting Plurkers and am finally getting the postcards in the mail today. I repurposed some older Christmas cards and added a postcard backing template courtesy of our friend Martha (Stewart) and I think they look cute, if I say so myself. I should have thought to scan them and post them, but they've already been addressed so I don't want to do that now. I also received two of the three I'm getting, which is so nice for someone who stalks the mailbox looking for mail that doesn't have a bill in it. Bev, who I see on Plurk and Ravelry all the time, was one of my partners and sent me a great postcard from Maine - loved it! And I received a great Virginia postcard from Stacey, which just reminded me how much I miss Virginia and that I need to get back soon. :) Thanks, all!

I'm off for now to finish off some more holiday knitting - deadline time approacheth...