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Sunday was fun. I went to High Table at Bryn Mawr and talked to the alum who is checking my resume before I put it in my grad school applications. She hasn't given me a corrected draft yet, but has already given me some tips - for instance, there are many things I can cut out (I figured on that, since I now have a real job to my name) and headings I can reduce or remove.

I also talked to my former anthropology professor, who agreed to write me a letter of recommendation and reminded me to look for grants. In the field I'm going into, grants are not really essential for a dissertation (since you don't need to travel, dig things up, etc.) unless you need money to buy a computer, and I already have that. However, I want to reduce the need for student loans as much as possible. I figure I can get at least some money because of my good grades in college, and, since I am a working adult (not coming straight out of college and on my family's dime), I may be able to wrangle some financial aid. I am also considering going to grad school part-time and working at least part-time. It means my studies will take longer but working while studying has its advantages, since I can get a foot in the door with a potential employer that way.

The rest of the day was devoted solely to entertainment. I got back into Philadelphia by midafternoon and went straight to Chinatown, where I was supposed to meet [livejournal.com profile] ironroot, [livejournal.com profile] arcessita and a friend of theirs, Rowan,1 for dinner before we went to the Flogging Molly concert at the Electric Factory2. I thought we were meeting an hour earlier than we actually did, though - if I'd known, I would have gone home. As it was I hung around Chinatown for a while.

During that hanging-around period, I had a real Philadelphia experience. I was sitting on the steps outside a shop, reading a paperback.3 This guy came up to me and asked if I was Amish, or a Mennonite. Now, to be fair, I was wearing a black blouse and fairly simple calf-length skirt, scuffed and practical-looking black boots, and a coif on my hair. But I was also wearing a digital watch, jewelery, and striped black-and-yellow stockings. I was also reading a novel, in Chinatown, on a Sunday. Anyway...

I told this guy that I was not a Mennonite, but I supposed my clothing made me look a bit like one. He then asked if I was Christian and believed that Jesus was the son of God. I said no, I was Jewish, and we generally didn't believe that, although a few people did anyway. And no, I was not one of them. He then told me, very enthusiastically and in a thick accent, that Jesus was the true son of God and died for all our sins. He (the guy talking to me, not Jesus) said that he had come to this country from Ethiopia, and was very ill when he arrived. He had a near-death experience (my words, not his) in which "part of his soul came out"4 and it was revealed to him that Jesus was the son of God and the savior. He had seen it for himself and said that I should come to Christ too. I said I would do that if I ever saw Christ that way, but until then, I would stick with being Jewish. Then I excused myself and went to the restaurant where I was supposed to meet everyone, because it was about that time anyway. If I hadn't already been living in Philadelphia for a significant length of time, I would have been miffed and possibly scared, but I just found it to be a particularly amusing example of Philly's craziness.

Dinner at Penang, where I first met Rowan, was fun. We had some trouble with our dinner orders, in part because the staff tends to caution non-Asian guests regarding certain dishes because they are cooked with lots of oil, are phenomenally spicy, contain chicken's feet, etc. Another problem is that the acoustics in Penang tend to create a lot of clashing echoes and general white noise, and the waitstaff have accents, so it's hard to tell what they're saying. We did manage to sort it all out eventually and had an excellent dinner.

Getting to the concert was a bit complicated, because when we got in [livejournal.com profile] ironroot's car, [livejournal.com profile] arcessita realized that she'd left the concert tickets at home, in South Philly. This led to a rather harrowing high-speed ride back to pick up the tickets ("I'm just going to have a little nervous breakdown now," I said when we stopped outside the house) and a slightly less harrowing ride back up to the general vicinity of the Electric Factory. Let me make it clear, [livejournal.com profile] ironroot is a very good driver, but I am not used to riding in cars anymore and certainly not in a city so generally unkind to cars, with a driver who is in a hurry. Anyway, we parked and figured out we'd gotten the address wrong, which in turn led to a speedwalk of five or six blocks to our destination.

We did get to the Electric Factory well before the main act. The first opening singer was still performing. He was not that good, although the band that followed him was pretty good. They had - I am not making this up - a thrash fiddler, who jumped around the stage playing what looked like the fiddle equivalent of an electric guitar.

One of the other opening acts that also appeared periodically was not a band, but a young improv group called "The Whitest Kids U'Know." About half the time some members addressed the audience, and the other half was devoted to screenings of their various sketches. They apparently have their own show coming out soon on the Fuse channel. Their brand of humor generally ranges from sophomoric to shocking, although some of it is clever.

When Flogging Molly themselves came onstage, it brought the crowd to a fever pitch of excitement, and during the first song everyone in the pit rushed the stage. I got separated from the rest of my group and almost knocked over several times, because people were jumping around, rushing the stage and falling back, and even moshing. I was glad that I wore my boots, though they were uncomfortable to stand or walk in for a long time, because they may very well have saved my toes. When people started moshing in the middle of the audience,5 [livejournal.com profile] ironroot and [livejournal.com profile] arcessita retreated to the periphery of the crowd near the emergency exits, where I joined them. Rowan got to us a bit later.

As for the actual band, I hadn't really listened to Flogging Molly before. I liked it, or what I can hear of it. The problem is, in the Electric Factory, the speaker systems and acoustics emphasize volume more than clarity of sound. I could actually make out individual words and notes better with my fingers in my ears than I could otherwise. Oh, and I discovered that one's eardrums can go numb. This may not be a surprise to some of you, but it certainly was to me. All in all, though, I had a good time.

After the concert we went to Moriarty's in Center City and had cocktails. [livejournal.com profile] arcessita had a chocolate martini, although she had also had one (a different recipe though) the night before at the Mage game.6 I had a warm spiced rum and cider, which I think had more of an effect on me than I anticipated, because I had some trouble keeping my balance after that. Although I did not feel very buzzed from the drink, so it might have been something else, like the fact that it was 1am and I'd been standing for hours and maybe the balancing mechanisms in my inner ear had somehow suffered from the earlier assault of noise.

When I got home, I found that my roommate had put the chain in place on the door. I never did that, but she does so habitually. She must have thought I was either back home by then (a reasonable assumption, since I don't usually stay out late) or that I was staying over at someone else's house. I should have told her my plans. Trying to reach through the crack of the door and undo the chain resulted in my pulling a muscle and detaching the molding from the side of the door where the chain was anchored. So, well, I got into the apartment, but caused some damage that is technically my responsibility (although it means the molding was badly installed) that I don't have the money to fix right now. Fortunately it doesn't affect the functioning of the door or pose a danger, it just means the molding is loose, and I can quick-fix it with some glue. But I will have to tell my roommate not to use the chain again.

I also didn't sleep too well. It might have been because I had too much sugar that day, and some cheap nachos at the concert - I should have known better, and I bet it was the "cheese" that didn't agree with me - or because of the alcohol at an odd hour. But after a couple of hours I felt very cold and had some kind of crash that made me shake. And my stomach was upset. I'm okay now, though.7

Well, now that I'm back to regular life, I have something unpleasant to do. I have to e-mail or call my dad and disclose to him the full truth about my recent fight with mom. Which means telling him that I wouldn't feel comfortable going with the family to Florida for Thanksgiving. It doesn't mean I'm absolutely not going, just that some major and difficult issues must be resolved before I will go. Fortunately [livejournal.com profile] arcessita and some of my other friends have advised me on how to handle it.

Wish me luck.

1I already like Rowan. She is an anthropology grad student at the University of Penn, and knows Janet Monge, a physical anthropologist who also taught part-time at Bryn Mawr for many years. We spent a while happily swapping crazy Janet stories, of which there are many. Rowan is also a Farscape fan and has a bit of a crush on Lani Tupu (Peacekeeper Captain Bialar Crais), which came as a great relief to me because I thought I was weird for finding him attractive. Since Rowan is relatively new to Philadelphia, I figure I should take her out to the Italian Market and South Street some time.

2I know, I made a post about it on Friday and said it was then. It was Sunday. Sorry.

3Mark Helprin's A Winter's Tale, a fantasy book that spent four months on the New York Times Bestseller List in the early '80s. It's like a Miyazaki movie, except a little more adult, in a book, and on LSD.

4From this statement, [livejournal.com profile] arcessita, who knows more about these things than I do, figured that he was probably a Coptic Christian.

5The Electric Factory does not have a mosh pit as such, and their disclaimer says that neither they, the band nor the band's promoter encourages things like moshing and crowd surfing, although they do happen. They just advise people to exercise some common sense about it.

6Which was cut short because the STWing server - Penn's server for the CS major/geek dorm group - had an episode of some kind and [livejournal.com profile] drakonous had to go fix it.

7When I finally did get to sleep, I had a dream about being the new Nightwing in Batman Beyond, which was pretty cool. And a lucky dodge. I say this because last time I put that kind of stress on myself and ate things at odd hours - this was back in college - I had one of those nightmares where you wake up and then something really horrible or bizarre happens and then it resets and you wake up again...

Date: 2006-10-09 04:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alashiya.livejournal.com
Vice AND silliness? Great combination! hee.

Date: 2006-10-10 03:52 pm (UTC)

Date: 2006-10-14 12:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-grayjoy.livejournal.com
Since Rowan is relatively new to Philadelphia, I figure I should take her out to the Italian Market and South Street some time.

Hey, I'm up for it, just as soon as I get caught up on school work and get over the plague I seem to have contracted. :P

I could also use some volunteers to assist me in doing very strange things to my hair, now that I've bought the dye... ::smirk::

Date: 2006-10-15 02:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] miss-yt.livejournal.com
Sure. When you are no longer diseased I'll be glad to help you dye your hair some bizarre and unnatural color. :)

Date: 2006-10-16 02:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-grayjoy.livejournal.com
Haha, yay! I was going to do it this weekend, but thought better of it. I just missed almost a full week of school due to previously mentioned plague, and I decided it would be a bad idea to return to school fluorescent on Monday morning. I'd rather my profs actually believe that I've been sick, y'know? So I'm thinking some time later this week, or maybe during the weekend...

Date: 2006-10-16 11:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] miss-yt.livejournal.com
Okay, I'm free Thursday and Friday night, but Saturday is not a good day. Sunday afternoon is fine too.

We will have to swap numbers and stuff. I guess I should ask [livejournal.com profile] arcessita for yours so you don't have to post it all over LJ.

Date: 2006-10-19 05:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-grayjoy.livejournal.com
Any of the above work for me. My archaeology prof has decided that we won't be digging on Friday, so I'm entirely free for the weekend. How about Friday evening? Let's see, you should be able to see my phone number here.

Date: 2006-10-19 10:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] miss-yt.livejournal.com
Yay! Friday is perfect. I actually got your number from [livejournal.com profile] arcessita already. I will call you later to figure out when to come.

I have all sorts of little clips and hair ties (which I haven't used) that I can bring.

Date: 2006-10-19 05:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-grayjoy.livejournal.com
Cool. :) I'm in class until 5:00 today, but I'll be available all evening after that.

You're going to come here? Gee, I was going to come to you, but if you want to come all the way out here, that works for me too!

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