Today Sucks.

Fine, not really.  It hasn't been terrible, but somehow I feel terrible nonetheless.  I'm emotionally exhausted right now, and I can't find it in me to let go.

You know those days where the world is against you?  This isn't one of them.  This is one of those days where everyone's actually being really decent to you, and even though you KNOW that, you can't get your heart and your mind to agree, so instead you just end up sullen for no real reason.

Yep.  One of those days.

Reading Is My Drug

OK, so reading isn't the worst addiction to have, but it's getting pretty crazy over here.  

Lately I've been reading The Hollows series by Kim Harrison.  I read the first last month on a recommendation from a friend.  With that one book, my love of reading was rekindled and I've been plowing through them like my life depends on it.  In fact, I just finished the 6th book in the series today.  That's my fourth book this month, and it's only the 10th.  (I'm keeping track on Goodreads.)

Part of it probably comes from the knowledge that in just under two weeks I'll be back in classes, unable to read much of anything unless it has been assigned to me.  I'm sure "Cognition: Theories and Applications" will be informative, but it's not the kind of reading I thrive on.

Pretty much since I can remember, fiction has been my escape from reality.  When I'm reading a book that has really grabbed me and pulled me in, it's like I'm living the book.  I don't picture myself as one of the characters or anything, but I completely lose the world around me, and the only thing I know is whatever is written on the pages in my hands.  I become so attached to the characters in my books, and ripping myself out of their lives to go back into mine sucks sometimes.

Hubby keeps threatening to take me to the library, but the problem I have is that I love to re-read books.  I've read my favorite book at least six times.  And that number will continue to go up, because revisiting an old favorite is like re-living a favorite memory.  The comfort of a good, well-known story does good for my soul, and I don't part with books easily.

Logically, I should get a Kindle or a Nook (as I'm sure it would save me loads of dough), but there's something about the smell of a new book and the way the pages feel when they're worn with love that just won't let me do it.  Lame?  Probably.  But hey, this is my blog.  Suck it.       

Jeff-fa-fa Dun-ham

Last night, Hubby and I went to the Wisconsin State Fair with one main purpose: Jeff Dunham.  But, we also wandered around a bit, taking in some of the other sights and sounds of the fair.

Hubby needed some dinner, so we walked around the food stands until he found something that screamed, "Eat me!"  I wasn't feeling the best, so I just grabbed a Sprite.  Sitting on the curb so Hubby could eat, we realized the rain was picking up a bit, rather than tapering off as we had hoped.  Once he was done, we headed off to the horticulture building, where we took a look at some of the prize-winning photos, food and plants.  When we got back outside and it was still raining, we sought shelter in the products building.

The products building should really be called the Noms building, IMO.  The vast majority of booths in this building are dedicated to different foods from the state.  It's not at all like the booths outside, where everything is deep-fried, on a stick, or both.  Inside, you can buy bottled honey and cherry preserves and all sorts of yummy foodstuffs to take home and enjoy later.  They do have some ready-to-eat food as well, but the food inside always sounds much better to me than the majority of things outside.  They have a grilled cheese sandwich station, a baked potato booth, bison burgers, and Palermo's pizza, to name a few.  

While wandering this building, we actually ran into my brother-in-law and his wife (as well as her family, including my nephew).  It was nice to see them, but little A was getting hungry, and so we parted ways pretty quickly.  By the time I checked my phone, it was already 7:48...  Almost time for Jeff Dunham.

For those unfamiliar, the main stage at the state fair is the Milwaukee Mile.  Yep.  It's a race track.  Better yet, it's uncovered, and it was raining.  Not hard or anything, but raining nonetheless.  This was my first grievance.  

My second was our seats.  Hubby had let me get tickets for Jeff Dunham only if we got the cheap seats.  So, I tried to pick the best cheap seats I could.  I got seats in the 3rd tier of the stands (cheap seats were 3rd and 4th tiers), as center to the stage as I could, and got us seats 1 and 2 so we were on the end.  As we went to find our seats (the second time, as we went up the wrong stairs the first time), the woman helping us said, "Those are good seats!"  I was pleased.  Until I sat down, and this was my view:

Seriously?  There was a giant fence blocking my view of the track/stage.  Nothing warned me they were obstructed view seats, nor were they any cheaper than the seats next to us who had no fence in their way at all.  I understand it's a race track, but they have shows there every night of the state fair.  That makes it a venue.  And the fact that I couldn't see the stage pissed me off.  Thankfully, I could see the giant screens they had set up, but I was still pissy.

Until the show really got started.  And then I forgot all about the fence.  I felt like I was at home watching a special on TV, and I laughed until my stomach hurt, and then laughed some more.  The rain stopped at some point, but I'd mostly forgotten about it anyway.  

After showing off some terribly awesome photos of himself from middle and high school, Jeff talked a bit about his divorce (sad panda!!), and Walter begged to know what it was like.  Achmed (the dead terrorist) had some issues keeping his legs in line once his son came out to join the show and eventually got duct taped to the stool.  Jose Jalapeno (on a steeeeck!) slammed Peanut with some great insults, and Peanut himself showed off his newly found talent of ventriloquism with his dummy Little Ugly AssJeff.  

My favorite part of watching Jeff is that you forget there's only one real person on stage.  The man is talking to himself, but save for the few times the dummies point out that it's really just him, you don't even notice that his right hand is missing for most of the show.  The illusion is magical, and if you think ventriloquists are lame, you just haven't seen the right one.

The funniest part, though, had to be Peanut reading a fan's email (OK, it may have been made up, but who cares) and tricking Jeff into being just as racist as he was being.  Effing love the fact that Peanut can make Jeff feel uncomfortable.  

I was surprised that Bubba J wasn't part of this show (we were on a race track, FCOL), but it was just as well.  Walter, Achmed and Peanut are clearly the crowd favorites, and though we had fun, a longer show might have gotten old.     

All in all, I'm so glad we went.  Though it was an entirely different experience than last week's Daniel Tosh show, I think I laughed just as much last night as I did at Tosh (though it was more of a "Hehe, that was silly and fun" type show than an "OMG this is wrong, but so f*ckin' funny" kind of show).  

Jeff's new special airs on Comedy Central this September, so check it out!  You won't be sorry.

Tosh.Oh My God

That's right, kids.  Last night Hubby, K and I went to see Daniel Tosh perform in Madison at the Overture Center.  It's OK to be jealous.

We had opted for the late show (10 PM on a Monday night really does feel late, trust me), which got started about 10-15 minutes late.  By theatre standards, that's actually pretty good, but K and I are impatient and by the time 10:01 had rolled around, we were ready.

Tosh's opening act was Kyle Kinane, a sort of scruffy man with a big beard and a flannel shirt (think of a lumberjack on his day off in civilization...).  Kinane opened by telling the crowd that he was going to regale us with stories of how he has "fucked up."  And while I was initially skeptical, Kinane had me laughing the whole time he was on stage, and I was wiping tears from my ears by the time he was done with his set.  From stories about being the sketchiest person in an Arizona Wal-Mart in the middle of the night to the poorly parked van with a 'stuffed dude' inside, Kinane had most of the audience rolling.  His short set had us all warmed up for Mr. Tosh.

And then came the announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, Daniel Tosh!"  The crowd roared and onto stage came a dog.  If you've ever watched Tosh.0, you'll know just what dog I'm talking about.  The little black and white mop is just as adorable in person as on the show.  He was followed by Daniel, who was holding another mop-ish dog in his arms as he shuffled onto the stage.  

Hubby, K and I all agreed later that Daniel seemed kind of pissed when he started the set.  He didn't seem like himself, and really didn't smile until probably mid-performance.  Part of this, I'm sure, was due to the loud-mouth bitch in the balcony who kept shouting things during lulls like, "Take your shirt off!"  Daniel pointed out that he knew she was trying to be cute, but that she forgot the first rule; women aren't funny.  When she continued to run at the mouth, he simply said, "Jump," eliciting applause and hollers of approval from the rest of us.

Though it took awhile for him to seemingly warm up, he was still as hilarious as always.  Crossing all his usual lines without care, he made jokes about everything from Osama bin Laden to dead relatives to "19 and Counting."  And though a few jokes were recycled from past specials, the majority of material was fresh and funny.  He told us how he hates the Packers and told us all how our cheesehead hats couldn't save us from flooding since we're all so enormous.  As Hubby pointed out, some of the jokes aimed straight at us were some of the funniest.  One of my favorites had to be when he was asking for a nearby town to make a comparison, and chose 'Ferona' (or as we in Wisconsin call it, Verona), pointing out how much funnier his joke could have been with 4 seconds of research.

I had a fantastic time last night, and seeing Tosh in person is something I can definitely check off my bucket list, but part of me was just a tiny bit disappointed.  Watching his specials, or even just listening to them, always leaves me feeling like he's an overall good guy.  Sure, he's bashing everyone he possibly can, but you don't really believe he means all of it.  But his attitude and demeanor at his performance last night didn't give me that same feeling.  So when a few people started to stand for an ovation at the end of the night (we in Wisconsin - Madison especially - have a habit of giving out standing ovations like a proud daddy handing out cigars), I just couldn't muster up the energy.  

It was good, Tosh.  Great, even.  But I really believe you can do better.  Hopefully I can see you again and have that confirmed.