2009 May 17 | Nightwish, Houston Highland Games


I got to the Nightwish concert fairly early, but there was still a much bigger line that I was expecting.



The band before them wasn't anything like them, but they were still pretty good and actually really funny between songs.



Warehouse Live has really neat lights, and they can even change colors on the fly, which I kept trying to figure out because I couldn't see any cords.



The crowd actually got pretty into it for Nightwish, although I would have liked more jumping around in addition to the hand waving.



This kid behind me got one of the drummer's sticks and went fairly crazy about it, so I was happy for him. Since when I got there a fair number of people were already jammed up close to the stage, I decided to stick to a side area along a railing. It actually worked out well because a girl beside me was going backpacking in Europe in the summer, and I gave her a ton of tips on how to save money doing so.



On this area of Spur 5, the road is wavy, which I think is actually kind of fun to drive on.



Aw, I think it's finally time to get a new backpack because this one's just falling apart. I really loved how it had so many pockets and little divisions because I like keeping all my stuff in just the right spot.



Some of us went out to Kona Grill in the Galleria, Houston's giant mall. I was expecting it to be on par with Applebees or something, but it was actually extremely good and is now by far my favorite restaurant in that price range.



I got there early, though, so I decided to wander to the arcade. It was like a puzzle trying to figure out how to get there, though. I was on level 1 and the arcade was on the rink level, but the map doesn't show how to get between the two. I had to match up escalators that seemed to be in the same positions between the two levels.



Ooh, they have Tekken Tag Tournament, one of my favorites.



A bunch of guys who were still playing Marvel vs Capcom, which I never really got into.



That evening was Russell Peters at the Improv, and he was sold out. I got there about an hour and a half early, and there were still fifty people in front of me. The people at the front of the line had arrived two hours early.



Well, it turned out the people I was standing next to were with some people who knew someone who worked there, so he was able to get them seated first, and since I had started a conversation with them and we had been chatting for the hour of waiting in line, they invited us along, so we got to sit really close to the stage. I felt sorry for the people who had been in the front of the line, though, but life works out that way a lot; it's all who you know.



Oh, joy. I have to do laundry and someone peed in the dryers. Time to grab some bleach and a lot of paper towels.



This pick-up blew a tire right in front of me. You can see where it actually blasted through the wheel well. Thankfully he had a dually, so it didn't seem to affect his ability to drive at all and he could just pull off to the side easily.



The Houston Highland Games, a Scottish festival, was on Saturday. One event was a dancing competition.



Haggis, neeps, and tatties. I did manage to force myself to eat three forkfuls of haggis before my stomach completely refused to take any more.



A bunch of bands from different clans lined up and playing together.



There were lots of vendor booths.



And also lots of booths set up for each clan.



The men's games involved throwing many different types of things. Actually, some of the best were older guys who weren't huge girth-wise but were still very muscular. You didn't notice how strong they might be until you saw their arms rippling with muscle.



There were also lots of bands playing throughout the day.



Oh come on, back up a little.



One of the thing I don't like about Target is they don't have the dirt-cheap crap like at Wal-Mart. I want a crummy backpack for $10 that I can use for occasional beach outings, so it doesn't have to be a quality item.



Ooh, these look fun.



Sunday some of us went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch game seven between the Houston Rockets and the LA Lakers. I don't like basketball at all, but it was fun being with a crowd that was really into it.



Afterward we went to Little Woodrow's, where we could sit and drink outside because it was a really nice day. They ran out of orange juice for mimosas, so the girls in our group who were drinking them drove to a grocery store, bought some OJ, and brought it back so they could keep making them.

After that, a few of us ended up at Sherlock's, where they had open mic comedy night. The guys weren't very funny, though. One poor guy couldn't even get through a single joke, even though he kept going up a trying.



The bathrooms there are hidden behind this bookcase.