12:47 AM:

I've got all sorts of things that I ought to be writing about (and I'm way behind on my e-mail, as usual), but I just wanted to say this:

I spent all of yesterday indoors, cleaning my apartment, as part of the ongoing effort to get everything ready to be packed up for the big move. And I shall have to spend all of tomorrow indoors, as I write this week's edition of the camp paper. But I spent some time outside today, at least. And I am loving the weather. Not too humid, temperature in the high 90s... this is what I dream about all winter long.

2:57 AM:

I saw They Might Be Giants in person earlier tonight, and I still haven't gotten all of my hearing back.

See, they've been filming a documentary, and part of it includes a concert performance, for which they wanted an audience. So they offered a limited amount of tickets to said performance via their Internet announcement list, with admission being a mere $5 donation to a local animal shelter.

I requested my ticket enthusiastically and immediately. Which turns out to have been a good thing, 'cause by all accounts (from others in line), they went fast.

According to the instructions, the doors were to open at 5 PM, first come first served (and perhaps not everybody to be admitted, if too many people showed up), please arrive early, or at least on time. Taping to take 4-5 hours, perhaps more, and once you're in, there's no escape 'till it's all over.

After a comedy of errors involving the G train, in the midst of which I was afraid that I'd be late and miss the whole thing, I arrived at the site in Brooklyn with twenty minutes to spare. The line extended around the corner and most of the way down the block, but I had made it. Yay!

To make a long story short, time of arrival: 4:40. Time of trading in ticket and five bucks for a yellow wristband: 6:00. After this, it was back to the line to wait some more. Time of actual admission: 7:55.

To do the math: that's over three hours of waiting outside. On a hot day. Although they did provide a water thingy (you know, a thick plastic container with a spigot? The correct name for this escapes me just now) and five-ounce plastic cups somewhere along the line. And for the last hour and a half, give or take, I got into a discussion with the four people behind me (I jumped in when they started talking about Scrabble, but the conversation ranged widely otherwise), which was nice.

So was it worth it? Somewhat surprisingly, yes. Yes, it was. I'd never seen TMBG perform live before, and they were great. And it was a very small venue, so I got to see 'em up close and personal, and they played lots and lots and lots of songs. A few of them twice, even.

The high point of the evening for me was probably "Birdhouse in Your Soul," which was wonderful and fun and full of energy, with the runner-up being "Why Does the Sun Shine," which may be my very favorite song of theirs, but there were lots of other great bits. Not to mention the breaks, in which more of those five-ounce cups of water were passed around. Hydration: it's a good thing!

One interesting aspect of the filming is that we, the audience, had a job to do. Rather than simply sitting back and enjoying the show (well, standing up, actually, there being no chairs, but let's not be too literal), we had an actual obligation to be enthusiastic for the cameras. Not that this was at all difficult, but it was interesting...

It's also nice knowing that I have mastered the art of enthusiastic screams of the "whooooooo!" variety. This is gratifying simply because I could never manage them in elementary school.

The concert ended around midnight, and I got back to my apartment just after 1:30 AM. And it's 2:45 AM now, and my ears are still ringing (I was way too close to the stage for the final few songs), and I have some typesetting to do, and I need to be in camp tomorrow, and I have no regrets.