There's No Place Like Home!

I'm finally back from my vacation and enjoying the spaciousness of my apartment. Don't get me wrong- my place is tiny, but after a week in one room with five people, I'm living in the lap of luxury (except I have to make my own bed, so there are tradeoffs.) I thought I'd only be away from the internet for a day, but it ended up being two days, so I have a ton of emails to catch up with, but here's a few things of note:

• I'm working on a contest for tickets to see Ingrid Michaelson and Greg Laswell next week at the House of Blues. Individually, the two are great- together in one show should be amazing.
• There is a ton of awesome stuff going on tonight. Troy Johnson is doing a book reading at the Whistle Stop, with music performances by Joanie Mendenhall and Angela Correa. You've got Rhett Miller at House of Blues, Death Cab For Cutie and Rogue Wave at Open Air Theatre, Get Back Loretta, the Modlins and Lemon Sun at Beauty Bar, and personally, I'll be at Sea Wolf at the Casbah.
  I took this slot machine as a sign
  
• I'm working on my weekend listings now, and this is the latest I've ever posted them. I feel so out of the loop.
• I recapped my driving music, so here's some of what kept me driving when I drove the 6 hours home from Vegas and the round trip drive to Knott's Berry Farm: Swim Party, Pacific Ocean Drive, Ryan Adams, Rocky Votolato, NIN, Trash Can Sinatras, My Latest Novel, The Twilight Sad, Death Cab For Cutie, MgmT, Vampire Weekend, Sea Wolf, and The National. Pretty much the same as the drive out. When I met the guys in Vegas, I found it difficult to answer the question of "what do you listen to?" Now I have an answer.
• Knott's Berry Farm kicks ass. (screw you, Disneyland!) Less of the costume nonsense and more thrilling rides. Plus, with the discounts we had, we got three adults, a child and an infant in for what it costs for one park hopper ticket at D-Land. My mom, as a child care provider, has a stack of discount coupons for Knott's Berry Farm and for Soak City in Buena Park or Chula Vista. If anyone is planning a trip, let me know and I can hook you up with coupons that are even cheaper than the discount on your Pepsi cans.

All I know is I am so glad to be home. I really, really missed San Diego. Huge thanks to Ray and Abraham for posting while I was gone, and to Daniel who took care of my house and my pets while I was gone. I am forever in his debt.

Here's a video of my sister getting down to Nortec Collective for everyone's amusement:

My niece, Johanna, also got in on the dance party action. This was on my sister's iPod (one of her playlists for her kids in the Stretch after school program, which she coordinates)