Bamboozle 2009

This was one of the best Bamboozle experiences yet. With over seventy bands to choose from on 5 stages for about $70 dollars, it was so worth it, and even the weather upheld at 75 degrees and sunny. I know Amanda posted on this, but I felt I had to also because it was such an awesome and crazy experience. Among my favorite performances included We Three Kings (whom I had never heard before coming there), All Time Lows, Bloodhound Gang (although Amanda was not to impressed), and of course Third Eye Blind. Oh and did I mention JOURNEY! Yes Journey! Journey was the special surprise guest of the night and with a new lead singer, they sounded amazing, the crowd will never stop believing in their talent for sure. The highlights of the day included when I got stuck in a mosh pit during New Found Glory and saw the guitarist from Bloodhound Gang puke three or four times after chugging beer. Although somewhat staged, absolutely DISGUSTING. Sidenote: *Mosh Pits should be on a list of things people with disabilities should not do. LOL. I left the pit with a slightly twisted ankle and my roommate left with only one flip flop. That was one of the scariest experiences of my life, but it made for a good story for sure.
Third Eye Blind captured my heart (as expected) for sure. Playing old songs including "Graduate" "Jumper" "Semi-Charmed Kind Of Life" and my all time non-hit "Motorcycle Drive By" as well as new songs from their upcoming album coming out in July "Don't Believe a Thing", the overall experience was memorable. If anyone has never heard Motorcycle Drive By-- check it out... here's part of the song from Bamboozle found it on YouTube

CCSU Drag Queen King Ball

I had to write about this because it definitely is a subculture in itself and a form of great entertainment. I attended my first drag queen/king ball at CCSU this past Wednesday night. Having an openly gay male friend that is (usually) totally against drag actually performing, I felt obligated to attend to see him dance the night away in heels as his alter ego Heyonce. Yes, he is obessed with Beyonce, so it was quite fitting for him to be Heyonce lol. Anyways, I had no idea what to expect here! Walking in I was surrounded by men in dresses and makeups that looked better than most girls on a girls night out. CCSU works with professional drag queens to put on a benefit every semester, and this year, the talent was exceptional. One drag queen performed to Britney Spears and Lady GaGa songs, and I must say looked 10 x better than the actual Britney. How any man can dress up in woman's clothing, wigs, make up, and heels and still do splits and dance around like they were wearing sneakers, deserves major credit. These drag queens had exceptional dance moves, thriving personalities, and some of the thickest heels I have ever seen. I enjoyed the show a lot more than expected after getting over the tons of men in dresses lol.

Ode the Fabulous Fried Shrimp

Ok so I feel like I write a lot of blogs about food, but this was supposed be added a couple weeks ago. So as I posted in a previous blog, I went to NY April 17-19th and while I was there, I had the most amazing fried shrimp I have ever eaten. O'Flanagans Restaurant on First Av. between 65th and 66th St. is an Irish Pub meets American Sports Bar. With a menu full of Irish as well as American favorites including Sheppards Pie, Crab Cakes, Fried Shrimp, and Chicken Tenders, the resturant has a wide variety of foods to choose from.
More on the shrimp: Well It's 14.95 for 6 jumbo beer battered shrimp and a huge basket of french fries. The shrimp is not greasy at all, lightly battered, and has just enough salt. If you are a seafood lover like me, looking for a cheap deal, and venturing in NY, check out O'Flanagan's

http://www.oflanagans.com/

Tis The Season For Icecream

With summer weather SLOWLY approaching (with the weather ranging from 83 one day and 63 the next), it makes you think of going out for ice cream and other frozen treats. Although I am not an extreme ice cream enthusiast, I do like the occasional soft serve, so I decided to investigate the information no one wants to know about these delicious desserts, THE CALORIES. Now I must warn you, if you like going out for ice cream--don't read on LOL.
Comparing three different resturants Coldstone Creamery, Dairy Queen, and Friendly's, I wanted to know which one was "better for you" calorie wise, and I was very surprised. Friendly's is probably the best for you and Coldstone is def. the worst. Although I could not a distinct chart for Friendly's, various articles point out that their ice cream is between 140-300 calories a serving *not including toppings*. Dairy Queen is between 600-1000 calories *including toppings* and Coldstone is between 500-1000 calories not including toppings, so with one to two toppings, the calories might be close to 1300-1500 for one medium size cup. *That's 3/4 of the daily calorie intake**, so Coldstone lovers BEWARE!

For Full Menu Calories, here's a link to DQ and a Coldstone PDF
http://www.shapefit.com/dairyqueen.html
http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/nutritional/nutrition_information.html

Town to Cancel 4th of July Fireworks

Not to be too obscene, but in AIM language-- WTF Wallingford--. Because of the current economic times, Wallingford CT may cancel its annual fourth of July fireworks display set off at Moran Middle School. At a reason town budget meeting, the mayor decided it would be best to cancel the fireworks because of recent job and pay cuts. His logic, "if we can't afford to pay the workers, we can't spend 30,000 to 40,000 dollars of a fireworks show, unless we want to raise taxes". Although this is understandable and no one wants to pay higher taxes, I am very disappointed to say the least. The fireworks show is a tradition in Wallingford for numerous family and friends, that will be truly missed if it is canceled. Although it is not entirely a def. cancellation, I am still worried that summer will not be the same. Here's hoping the economy turns around, so my small town can enjoy one of the joys of summer.

600,000 and 1 Daffodils!

Meriden's "Daffodil Festival" celebrated its 31st year this year and it has been the best weekend in about 20 of those years. I can honestly say I used to dread going to the Daffodil Festival in Hubbard Park every year because it was always freezing or raining or both. According to the website, there are 61 varieties of Daffodils and every year they add more and more to the 1800 acres of land. This year the grand total is 600,001 daffodils. With food, crafts, home, and healthcare vendors as well as enertainment, amusement rides, of course tons of nature, the festival sparks the interest of the young and old. They even have a parade *which I missed yesterday* that crowns a "Miss Daffodil and Honor Escort". This is essentially a boy and girl from each of the elementary schools in Meriden. Although it is a beautiful festival and the hot dogs were delicious, I must say the sun is overwhelming. At one point, I helped my mother work at her healthcare tent, and I had to walk around just to get some air. Being enclosed around a tent is even worse than being out in the sun walking the park. Also, although the festival is amazing on many levels, the parking is not! You must take a shuttle bus from various parking spots just to get over to the park. Overall, I highly recommend it if you see this post before it closes tonight at 5pm tonight. I plan on editing this post tomorrow once I get the number of total visitors. It'll be interesting to see the increase in numbers because of the glorious weather.

Rodney Dangerfield Comedy Club

This weekend I ventured out to NYC for the senior class trip (where only 15 seniors in all of CCSU attended. As part of our trip, we got to go to the Rodney Dangerfield Comedy Club on W 61st and 1st Av. Now being a fan of the late Rodney Dangerfield himself ever since seeing the film Ladybugs in the early nineties, I was extremely excited but unsure what to expect. Dangerfields is one of the most famous comedy clubs in NY, but is actually quite small. Appearing just like another shop or resturant along the NYC strip, it is easy to miss, but if you do come across it venture in. With a bar, small stage, and a dimly lighted room with little red lamps on all the tables, it sets a friendly and familiar atomsphere much like that favorite small local bar everyone has. We got to see four acts and the performers (although their names escape me) were extremely funny. All the guys were either "as seen on comedy central" or hbo and were very talented even incorporating the token college group (CCSU) sitting in the corner. We became some good material for the night. My favorite of the night... "You know when your school's name is the direction of a compass, its gotta be real shitty..."

Anyways, so if you are ever in NYC check it out. Famous comedians like Jerry Seinfield and Robin Williams have been there, just beware of the "$ 20 cover charge--two drink minimum per person" Drinks are like 12 dollars a piece.