Heather Barton

I’ve seen a lot of concerts lately and I’m developing an interesting opinion about the places that I’ve enjoyed and not enjoyed.  Although to fairly make ANY serious judgments I’d have to see another concert at each venue. (oh darn!)

The Honda Center was wonderful.  Of course, we saw Muse there and OMG.. that band is just amazing in concert.  I’d seen them at Coachella (okay.. “seen” is the wrong word, we were so far back on a flat grass area all we could “see” was the light show!) but the music was wonderful and the show was impressive.  So I knew MUSE would be wonderful and was just as pleased with The Honda Center.  We had nosebleed seats.. I mean, SCARY nosebleed seats!  I got a bit of vertigo just walking up to them.  I thought, “Wow, this will be the first concert where EVERYONE stays in their seats just out of fear of tumbling!”

Oh I was sooo wrong!  lol.  Because once everyone was standing, it felt as safe as when you were seated.  Brilliantly designed.  We could see everything, even when all were standing, even though the band was tiny!  And, of course, the big screens helped, the light show was real fun, and Muse was.. well MUSE!

Then I saw Vampire Weekend at the Hollywood Bowl.  A lot less comfortable but we were closer to the band.  BUT they were mostly lit up in blue light, the opening bands were horrid and played music that did NOT compliment Vamp Wknd and the big screens never managed a very good shot.  Not to mention the fact the seats were benches.  We knew this and brought a blanket for our ass or if it got cold.

Now the plus of Hollywood Bowl is you can bring in WHATEVER you want as long as it’s not a cooler that will block the aisle!  Alcohol, food, it didn’t matter.  You could bring in as much as you wanted, any size.  THAT was nice.  Although you had to trudge it in and out!  So you don’t have to spend $10 on a beer, you can bring your own.

Last venue I recently went to was at The Wiltern.  I saw Jimmy Eat World there.  It’s a nice little place, kind of like a small club on steroids!  Haha.  It’s an old, large theater with amazing architecture, no seats so its scrunch as close as you can get to the front.  There’s a reasonably priced small bar, nice bathrooms and a shitty sound system!  Ha!  Although that could have just been that night, but I noticed it through the opening band and through Jimmy Eat World.  I also noticed a grip kept going up to this one speaker.. it must have blown or something, because the sound was a bit slurry (?) muffley (?).  Which can suck for a band if you’ve got possible new fans in the audience!

I may have to give The Wiltern another try.  I’ll skip The Hollywood Bowl.  And I’ll definitely see anything at the Honda Center.

Although tip for the Honda Center.  DO NOT park in their lot… getting out is insane!  Go early, have dinner at Hooters and pay to park there for the concert.  It’s one third the price, no hassle and an easy walk to the concert.

Too bad the girls at Hooters didn’t live up too well to the rep of the place.  They should eat more of their fatty food!  No matter how skimpy the outfit.. if you’re skin and bones you don’t look sexy, you just look like a child!

So I’m vendoring at a conference and invariably there’s a line at the ladies room.  Even more so at the conferences I go to since they’re about 99% women in the health profession (so.. heavyset and matriarchal!)

And also, per usual, the air conditioning is blasting enough to slow the metabolism of large velocirapters (obviously to stave off an attack).   And I’m dressed for the local weather of summer!

So I’m standing in line, waiting for the bathroom, having had my one cup of coffee and needing my usual second “constitutional” for the day.  (TMI?  Too bad.)  I’m good, I’m  pleasant, lines don’t bother me.  Talking and joking I’m the quintessential sales woman.

Finally its my turn and I almost began to giggle when I sat down to do my “bizness”.

The seat is toasty warm!

Ah, the perk of waiting in line!

I passed a vehicle the other day, which was the California version of a Redneck.  Heavily pro-gun, support America and the troops.. but it was a suburban not a pick up truck.  And as I passed, sure enough, there was a white male in his 50’s or so.

I started wondering if he’d always been like that or did that man’s attitudes change over the years.  He was probably born in the 60’s (or even the 50’s).  He’s lived through the hippy years and the dancing 70’s and maybe peaked in the money-driven 80’s.  Maybe he joined the military and got his intense pro-American influences there.  Or maybe he didn’t.  Maybe he spent a wasted summer stoned and drifting and is swinging to the other extreme in his elder years!

But as maturity sets in, sometimes it sucks the fun out of a person.  Its almost as if the stereotype of “growing up” forces them into a Republican attitude.  His vehicle had a sticker on it that said, “YOU LIE!”  There were other words (hopefully WHO was actually lying, so he wasn’t just blankly blaming everyone!) but they were too small to see without causing an accident!  So if it wasn’t funny, perhaps he was serious.

And I realized all this led me to ASSUME he was a Republican.  Just from what he advertised.  I was judging him by his Stereotype. I pondered that, since I’m narcissistic to look at ALL my thought processes, including my faults.  But I theorized HE was the one advertising his beliefs so if I made assumptions WHO’S fault is THAT!

This blanket assumption of his political beliefs made we look at the stereotypes within the two political parties.  And I broke it down to this.  In my opinion, (lawyer-speak for don’t sue me) one of the differences between Demo & Rep was the fact one was mostly forgiving and giving while the other was mostly about punishment and keeping.  Me, I’m pretty demo but I do have some Rep tendencies.  I don’t mind helping someone out, but when they abuse it.. its frustrating.  I believe in providing services to our fellow man, but admit that the system is heavily abused and difficult to police.

The real irony is that I feel the Christian religion is about loving and forgiveness, yet some of the most ardent “Bible believers” are judgmental and unforgiving about anything outside their own beliefs.  Classic dilemma, Pro- Life AND Pro- Death Penalty… otherwise known as, we’ll wait 18 years to kill ya.

And I think some people “grow up” into these closed minded beliefs.  I know my brother and sister did.  As they married and found religion they suddenly became Republicans.  Which was ironic, since they both took advantage of social services put in place by Democrats when they were younger.  But as they made more money, they didn’t like parting with it.  And as they chose a religious path, they stopped tolerating others choices and voted on the basis of Moral issues.

Which cracked me up, even as it baffled me.  Because as we ALL know..

there is no morality in politics!

My mother surprised me on the phone the other day by telling me she was going to go through her house and do some purging.  They were the sweetest words I’d ever heard her utter!

Don’t get me wrong, I adore my mother.  I know who she is, faults & all, and have a huge amount of respect & pride in who she is and what she does.   I run  her business and together we’re making changes in the lives of many, many mothers & babies.  We are best friends who talk daily about business, family, everything (except my dating life, she’s adamant she doesn’t want to know about that!)

But she’s got a little quirk that has driven me mad… like… forever.  She just can’t let things go.  Not like a point.. she can usually let a subject drop and rarely brings up old baggage unless it’s truly applicable to the conversation.  What she can’t let go is that “thing” she’s keeping because she  might need it.  That article of clothing because she might lose the weight to fit into it.  The exercise equipment she’ll start using one day, she assures me.

I mean she has a ginormous closet which is double rowed full of clothing.  AND two dressers!  PLUS four, count ’em four (!) hanging shoe trees, one for each of her closet doors.  I’ve been telling her for years that if you by some chance lose the weight to fit these clothes, they’d look sooo bad because they were made in the 90’s!!

And doesn’t every woman deserve to buy a new wardrobe when she loses weight!

At the root of this is her terror of making the “wrong” decision.  It’s easier to just avoid that and NOT decide over the little things.  But I think she’s finally realized that its time to let go of some of those little things, cuz they have accumulated!  Projects she’s keeping for no reason, other than an inability to admit she’ll never get to them.  Stuff like that.

She’s remembering all the collected “crap” she had to go through when my Great Uncle Dave passed away.  And she’s remembering all the “crap” her Cousin Nancy had to deal with before she moved to her retirement house in Georgia.  Its a symptom of settling in and getting comfortable and keeping stuff “just in case”.

I myself am going through a little bit of that.  When the ex moved out I expected him to take half of what was joint property and all of what was his before the divorce.  Yet, did that happen?  No.  In a way I was pleased, now I didn’t need to replace a lot of what he took.  But in a way I was pissed, ‘cuz I’m NOT a storage facility.

So I decided to have a Divorce Sale.  I’m going to go through my stuff and ask myself if I really need it.  If I don’t I’m going to add it to the sale.  If its joint, then I’ll split the money.  If it’s his then I’ll take a commission for selling it for him.  Either way.. I’m not going to have extra “crap” cluttering up my house.

Perhaps my mother’s purge will add to the whole selection of the damn thing!  Because we must let go of our clutter… be it stuff or prejudices, hang-ups or bitterness, unrealistic fantasies and whatever else might hold us back.

How else can we make room for opportunity, new people, adventure and growth.

Uh.. and new boots.  Oh and new shirts that make me look hot.  Plus that new album by Linkin Park.  Dammit.. how soon is Christmas?