went to see the dance crew, jabbawockeez, at the phoenix center at father dueñas high school last night. their performance was part of a benefit for the make-a-wish foundation on island, or something like that. i have been v. preoccupied this month, and not in the best of health so i really didn't understand what i was paying for when i bought the ticket, which btw, i did on the day the tickets were released, and the two shows were already half sold out. this is what i thought:

ooh. jabba. those pinoy guys on america's best dance crew.

on guam? really?

it would just be them, along with some local dance crew that would open. the local crew would be decided by an online poll sponsored by the local paper.

buying a VIP ticket for $35 ($10 more than general admission tickets) would mean i could sit in one of the *reserved* floor seats, towards the front.

show is at 8, doors open at 7.

sold out! i bought a ticket so i would be guaranteed a seat, maybe not the best one, but a seat all the same.

here's what went down:

got there at 7pm. line all the way down to the main road, ended up parking in the boonies (btw, if there are any department of ag guys reading this, i saw a coquí frog behind FD. or at least it looked like it.).

luckily, S was in the VIP line, holding a place for me.

we got in, and there weren't any VIP seats left, and most of the general admission floor seats were gone too.

200+ people did not get in, even though they paid for tickets as well.

show did not start until after 9pm. and there were actually three dance groups preceding jabbawockeez, not just the one that won the online poll.

jabbawockeez went on at somewhere around 10pm. and were done by 10:15. !!!


wha?? okay, i won't even talk about the fifteen minutes thing, because truthfully, i like this crew a lot--they seem really smart in more ways that one (c'mon, how many crews are named after a lewis carroll verse?), are incredibly athletic and artistic, and they have the braggadocio necessary to be a top crew, yet still seem genuinely humble. and they are represented by the mighty folk in the death star, frickin' CAA. i was happy enough for the fifteen minutes.

however, i need to say something about the ticket sales of this event. i am happy to support the make-a-wish foundation, they made $5 off of every ticket sold and the event sold out. i paid $10 extra per ticket for so-called VIP seating that did not exist. nowhere on the ticket does it say that those seats were on a first come, first served basis and did not guarantee me a seat at all. the organizers knew how many seats could be put on the floor, and they knew how many floor tickets could be sold. those numbers match. i am annoyed because that was ten (actually 40, as i bought four tickets) extra dollars pocketed by someone, and it wasn't the make-a-wish foundation.

actually? that numbers-should-match thing? should also work with number of general seat : tickets as well. there were 200 people who did not get in--many people walked away before they closed the doors so i'll bet in total there were much, much more than that. those that were turned away included many young children who had been waiting for this, and people who gave up $25 or more in a time when many don't have that much to spare. the organizers say that people had a window of opportunity to get their money back, from 10am to 1pm today, or they should show up early for tonight's performance to get priority seating. now here are two things to think about, organizers: some people have to work at that time, and can't get out to get their money back. if they have an unused ticket, why shouldn't they be able to get their money for a longer period of time? i understand you have to close your books on the matter, but 4 hours during work hours is not fair. also, what if no one wants to return the tickets and they show up early tonight? you will then have more than 400 displaced (and certainly displeased) ticket holders at the end of that line. there are only two shows. what are you going to do about those people then?

girl #1, brown hair, blonde highlights, in blue dress brown zoris (flip flops)
girl #2 black hair, blonde highlights, in blue dress pink zoris
girl #3 brown hair, auburn highlights in yellow dress brown zoris
girl #4 black hair, in yellow dress pink zoris

all four with flowers behind their left ear :)

fabulous lesson in group coordination. matchy matchy but not the same.

recycling available on guam! whooo! of course, it's a pain in the ass to go around to all the places to drop stuff off, but no more so than many places in the mainland. it's available, and worth it, imo.


aluminum cans-many schools now have a drop-off bin; any profit from the collection will go directly to the school involved, so support your favourite institution and help the manhoben out

newspaper-feathers 'n' fins pet shop in agaña

plastics and cardboard-guam united methodist church, route 15+fadian point in mangilao, across from eagles field. they'll collect and ship the plastics off-island. all they request is that the plastics are clean.

wine and beer bottles-stanlee's liquor shop in tumon. no requests, but i think it would be nice if they were returned clean.

do your part, do your thing--reduce, reuse, recycle!

steven went to go see "cloverfield" this weekend; i can't see it because i get motion sickness just from walking. surprise verdict: the audience HATED the movie. towards the end, someone yelled "oh hell no! this better not be the end of the movie!" and when it did end, there was loud chorus of booing all around. the worst response was that people wanted their money back, the mildest was that it was sucky blair witch rip-off. apparently no one was scared, either. ?? all i've watched are the commercials and i've been freaking myself out.

i don't know what people want in a monster moofie, but i guess random people being eaten by volkswagen-sized crab lice ain't it.

101 things in 1001 days, ending 10 oct 2010:

1. learn italian
2. learn tagalog
3. transfer all my cds to hard drive
4. catalog all music (eep)
5. clean desk at work. both of the them.
6. sort magazines
7. finish tatting project. any of them.
8. do the family tree
9. bake, decorate a wedding cake, not necessarily for anyone.
10. redo the 'rents kitchen
11. switch out all incandescent bulbs with energy saving bulbs in home where possible (FAIL)
12. send out at least one postcard a month to anyone
13. reupholster los angeles dining room chairs on my own
14. read any novel not written in the 20th century
15. learn how to play the ukulele
16. fix and finish knitted blanket that was supposed to go to ronan but will now stay at home
17. get thee to scotland, lassie!
18. scan family photos
19. recreate polly's chocolate cake or vargas butter cake (completed 15 jan 08)
20. bake a good gluten-free cake
21. quilt something. small, preferrably.
22. improve posture.
23. reupholster chairs at work (get someone else to do it)
24. get rocking chair bases for eames chairs
25. sort out lighting in manila condo
26. sort out lighting in los angeles condo
27. sort out lighting in guam condo
28. have a successful dinner party (ha!)
29. make that complicated empanada dough
30. make puff pastry (completed 23 jan 08)
31. go to japan
32. see REM live, before they break up (completed 1 june 08)
33. make a video
34. buy a video camera thingy so i can make a video (see 33)
35. learn how to use the video editing software on my laptop (see 33, again)
36. find out where all the fluids go in the car's engine
37. learn how to make cuchinta
38. bake, decorate volcano cake.
39. go to country i've never been before. (completed, april 08)
40. tattoo someone. something.
41. road trip!
42. find all my freakin' lynda barry artwork. where the heck has it all gone
43. complete adrian tomine collection
44. rearrange artwork
45. restart both 1k projs
46. get editor's suite in order
47. redesign laundry closet
48. use up all the sprinkles in the sprinkles box
49. try to fix all stupidity wreaked upon my bedroom by so-called architect
50. mural!
51. renovate la bathroom
52. renovate la kitchen
53. get decent rugs
54. reupholster guam sofa cushions
55. make catbus cake
56. give away all my moo cards
57. break out that gocco, give it a spin
58. get the car detailed
59. go to san francisco (completed 03 june 08)
60. return to bakersfield (completed 06 june 08)
61. send out xmas cards--on time
62. hike out to that weird encampment in the palisades
63. learn how to cut up the perfect mirepoix once and for all
64. enter a cooking contest
65. make croissants
66. throw out all my old makeup
67. get photos printed, enlarged, framed
68. find my old pez dispensers, find decent display case for them
69. meet a flickr pal for food (completed 10 june 08)

hey, i'm not doing too bad :)



tbc
thanks cathy for the idea!