i think yesterday i was busying doing work almost every minute of the day. there was also some fancy cooking at home (the mushroom tart turned out lovely thanks, though i am always interested in there being more goat cheese if possible). all in all, a full tuesday, if not very storied.

but monday night there was a decemberists show, which i liked. i think jessica and i agreed it was not their best, perhaps due to energy levels, or song selection — though they did play ‘on the bus mall’ AND ‘engine driver’, two of my faves — or because it was a weeknight and i am getting too old to be super into something on a monday at 10pm.

my biggest gripe though is with the wiltern, which is a really nice place laid out terribly for standing room, general admission live music. any other place, everyone is on the same level, and the stage is raised above that to give everyone at least the chance of seeing over the crowd. or at the very least between the heads of the people in front of you. this trip, we were not there early enough to get nearer the front of any of the different tiers of space, and so we were standing almost level with the stage, and far away, and it made for difficult viewing. i normally don’t have a problem, being of average height, but this time even i was obstructed a lot of the time. to say nothing of jessica, who has a hard time at some normal shows, but at this one was almost entirely screwed. i’ve illustrated how dumb this setup is with this handy wiltern seating chart for tall and short people.

whose idea was this? it probably works great if you’re sitting in chairs, but what percentage of concerts that they put on have seats? are the wiltern architects all 6’2″? anyway, it was frustrating.

less so is the good news that the don hertzfeldt screening this weekend, which i tried to buy tickets to six weeks ago before they were on sale, then three weeks ago when they had gone on sale and sold out, has added a third show at midnight to which i quickly scooped up two tickets. now i just have to talk someone into going to a midnight movie with me on a sunday night.

also, i didn’t go to work today because no one else was, so i stayed home to sleep, launder, buy a pumpkin pie and play mirror’s edge. so far, mission accomplished.