don't you let them tell you that you're wrong

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists on Saturday was amazing! We got there pretty early, hung around, waited for them to open the doors. When they let us in, it seriously looked like some prom-type stuff! They had snacks and drinks. It was caaa-razy. My camera was dying, otherwise I would've taken a picture. The place was a good-sized ballroom, but it was only about half-full. Only a handful of people actually knew who Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were, some of those had only recently found out who they were (through Death Cab's recent tour).
The first band was from WBG and sucked. Really bad. It was... oh my. Painful.
The second band was from Sweden, Sirqus Alfon. They were hilarious. They did all covers of popular songs. Some examples: "Crazy in Love", "Can't Touch This" (Yes, MC Hammer. It was awesome), the Mario Bros. theme.... and many more I can't remember. They have a website, you should check it out and get an idea of the craziness we saw: http://www.sirqusalfon.com/

Ted Leo had a sinus infection. It did not show at all. If this show was him at his weakest, holy moly-- he must be amazing when he's healthy. Everyone now and then, after he finished singing, he would play his guitar and cough his lungs out! The dude was so sick! It was awesome to see him live and, especially since he just opened for Death Cab about a month or so ago in Norfolk. The tickets for that show were something like $30 or $40! We heard that he only played stuff from Shake the Sheets. This show, he played stuff from that album as well as Hearts of Oak. They played forever! Plus, he took audience suggestions and played songs that he claimed they rarely play.
What they played (not in order, I can't really remember the order):
Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?
I'm a Ghost (one of those "rarely played" ones)
The High Party
the Ballad of the Sin Eater
Bridges, Squares
Me & Mia
The Angels' Share
Counting Down the Hours
Little Dawn
Heart Problems
Bleeding Powers
Walking to Do
and one from Tyranny of Distance that I can't remember the name of, but was also one they rarely play.
Basically, it was an amazing show!


This week, I had a rough start. My throat started hurting Friday afternoon. Stayed kinda ache-y through the weekend, and Monday/Tuesday, it hurt to talk a lot. Yesterday, it became really dry and it was difficult to keep my class on track. Today, though, I feel much better and had a day where I didn't have to go to school. It was my 2nd BEST training day and it was pretty useful. It's nice to have those day-long breaks every 2 months to get a little advice and be able to hang out with the other first year teachers from my building. We are the worst students there, I swear! haha.

whoa there, weather

This whole past week I've forgotten it was the end of November and first of December. It was upper 60s to low 70s all week, with a few rain showers and some crazy heavy fog in the mornings. Yesterday was so beautiful, we were missing a good chunk of students--haha.

After much complaining about how Williamsburg never has shows (and the closest ones are a good chunk of time away), and that no one ever comes to Virginia, anyway (unless you count D.C.)... Ted Leo is playing a FREE SHOW TONIGHT. So, we go. Yesssssss!