washwords

Today’s guest blogger and guest photographer is the lovely and talented Cheryl Nichols.

I saw George Michael on Tuesday night at the Verizon Center in Washington DC.  He had as much, if not more, energy that night as he did when I saw him 20 years ago!  I saw GM my freshman year of college at the Tacoma Dome in the 2nd row on the side of the stage.  For fun I pulled out my scrapbook to dig out my ticket stub.  I saw GM on 9/23/1988 in the 2nd row for $20!!!!!  This time the Ticketmaster “Unservice” charges were more than my ticket 20 years ago.

Hi Cheryl of the 2nd row, Tacoma Dome, 1988!

I could have been on the floor, but am very happy with my decision with the 5th row on the side of the stage.  GM was constantly coming over to my side of the stage.  He was about 25 ft away from me at times.  Incredible.

He looked fabulous and sounded great.  GM’s voice was definitely in good form, although he eschewed the high notes, letting the eager audience (attempt to) hit them instead.

And he can still SHAKE THOSE HIPS!  He was a dancing machine!  He didn’t stop moving on the fast songs and sat down in a chair on a couple of the slow songs.

The stage and lights were incredible and it was like we were in a dance club. By the end of the night, I felt like I had been to aerobics.    Everyone was dancing and had a great time. Read more »

Sometimes out of the loop is the best place to be.

The top mommy nag my mom sent me off to college with was this: “Don’t join anything before October 15.” Why? Because in high school, I was kind of… well, a joiner is probably a kind way to put it. (Think “Tracey Flick” as played by Reese Witherspoon in “Election”)

Because join I did! I was secretary of honor society, Spanish class, sophomore class, junior class, Student Senate, Student Council (Yes, they were two different things – how very bicameral of us), editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper (and sole staff member most of its history).

(Sidebar: Who can’t wait for MTV’s “The Paper?” tomorrow night. Me! and all the other Tracy Flicks out there! Anywho…) I tried to take mom’s words to heart – after all working on that student paper (on my Apple IIC and using, yes, stencils, and literal cutting and pasting, with scissors till 3 and 4 a.m.) was a wee bit tiring.

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