TN Science Bowl 2014

Wanna feel old? Volunteer to help out with a grade school competition. Wanna feel old and stupid? Volunteer to help out with a grade school competition in a subject you never mastered.

I always did well in science, but it was not my favorite subject. For four years now, I've volunteered to help out with the TN Science Bowl (#TSB to the cool kids). I got involved through Pellissippi (where I work); every semester they send out emails asking for volunteers. I decided to respond one year, and the rest is history.

For those of you who don't know what a competition like this entails, it's basically like this: Teams from different high schools around the state gather and go head to head, answering questions in the topics of biology, chemistry, physics, math, earth science, general science, and astronomy. The teams have a very short amount of time to answer the toss-ups--as an observer, it seems like you blink and the timekeeper says "time." If a team correctly answers the toss-up, they get to answer a bonus question and are given more time for that. Whichever team has the most points at the end of two rounds advances to the next round. Eventually there is only one team left. The top three teams win money, as well as the winner of the Civility Award (which I'll explain later).

There are different roles that a volunteer can fill:

• Moderator
• Science Judge
• Rules Judge
• Scorekeeper
• Timekeeper
• Runner
• Crowd Control
• Civility Award Judge
• Registration

I've volunteered to be a Civility Award Judge all four years, though one year I was drafted to be Scorekeeper when one didn't show up. That was a stressful day, because I hadn't trained for the role of Scorekeeper! There were lots of rules to keep up with. A competing student actually had to correct me at one point because I had incorrectly awarded points to someone! #yikes

This is the first year since I started that I wasn't able to volunteer, so I thought I'd share some of the highlights of last year's Science Bowl, from a volunteer's point of view. All the Civility Award Judges met at 6:45 am (ugh) to register and go over the rules for evaluating the teams. Basically we observe the students interacting with each other and with all the adults, rate them on several aspects, and then tally our results to figure out the winner. Each judge is assigned several teams, and no team is observed twice. Most of these kids are very well-behaved, so it's really about looking for those who go above and beyond with their behavior/attitude.

In addition to adults who volunteered to be runners, there were also Boy Scouts who helped out. In the first room where I observed, this adorable Scout was serving as a runner. We both sat at a table in the back of the classroom, out of the way. Seriously, this kid was one of the sweetest kids I've ever met. Before the competition began, I chatted with him about what it's like to be a Boy Scout. Once the competition began, we sat there quietly playing with a puzzle that was given to all of the volunteers. It's called a Rubik's Snake or Twist and it's WAY too much fun. The Scout and I kept comparing shapes while the teams were hard at work answering questions. Here are a couple of my creations:

It's the letter "R." Can you see it? :)

I don't know what this one is. A train? A house?

I had a major #geek moment when one of the questions dealt with the second law of thermodynamics. For those of you who don't know, my favorite band's most recent album is entitled The 2nd Law. The overall theme of the album is energy use, entropy, and all that. I'm glad I was sitting at the back of the room so that no one could see me having a fangirl moment. #squee

The teams rang in using buzzers that were connected to a large box in front of the Science Judge. These buzzers were apparently very old because every year there's at least one malfunction. But last year, it was absolutely ridiculous. They wouldn't buzz when students pressed them, and then they buzzed when no one had touched them. It was funny at first but it got old pretty quickly. I wish someone would donate a new buzzer system! We blamed the malfunctions on the Ghost of Science Bowls Past...

Despite all the equipment errors and whatnot, it was a good day overall. There was even a kid dressed in a banana suit. I unfortunately didn't see him, but I'll bet it was hilarious! I'll bet he did it to psych out the other teams. Or just confuse them so they couldn't answer any questions?

Every year I ask myself, "Why do you get up before the sun to volunteer for something?" Then I watch all these talented kids compete and I remember. It's so rewarding to see them get excited about science. Oh, and the goodie bags and free doughnuts don't hurt either.

Got any favorite volunteer experiences to share?

Muse dream with a Mozart ending (Warning: adult language)

I was sleeping in my dorm room. I awakened to the sound of someone getting in bed next to me. I could've pretended to stay asleep, but I wanted to know who was here and why. I turned and saw that it was Beth, one of my best friends from college. She and my senior year college roommate, Jennifer, were coming back from some kind of gathering. Then I remembered--it was Jennifer's birthday and I'd missed her party. But I was sick and hadn't been feeling well, hence my being in bed. It was dark outside and I tried to read the alarm clock. I think it said it was 5:30 in the morning. They had been partying hard, and they weren't done yet. Apparently they were just taking a break, and were returning shortly to play some kind of game. I was feeling better (and also feeling left out) and wanted to help celebrate Jennifer's birthday. So I asked what kind of game they were playing. They explained, and I decided to join them.

The game was being played in a large symphony hall with the usual slanted floors that went lower as you got to the stage. It involved using controllers that looked and felt just like real guitars. Apparently the game was kind of like Guitar Hero but with an actual band and orchestra on stage. The band on stage was Muse, much to my delight. A lot of my friends were there, including Julia, another best friend. Most of the players were in the audience (or maybe they were just spectators?) but for some reason I was on stage in front of the orchestra, stage right. I was being silly and dancing around like some rock guitarists do. It caught the attention of Matt (Muse's guitarist) and he smiled at me. This made me happy to no end, and I gyrated more with my guitar controller.

At one point, Matt and Dom (Muse's drummer; but if you know me at all, you already knew that) were yelling out something about someone named "Grace." They were doing it in time to the music and it was pretty funny. Julia, who is a relatively new Muse fan, asked me "Who's Grace?" She was pretty far away from me so I mouthed to her "She's a fan of the band." She couldn't understand me, so I mouthed it again. I didn't want to actually yell it because the music was very loud.

When the game was over, I didn't want to leave. I also wanted an excuse to get near the band and ask them where they were hanging out after they were done with this (apparently they were rehearsing with the orchestra for something). Morgan, the guy the band hires to play with them when they tour, was stage right (which is odd because in real life, he's always stage left), sitting at an upright piano (what, no grand?!). I noticed someone's guitar controller on the floor and saw my chance. I picked up the white guitar with black control knobs and looked for a stage hand to give it to. I found one, and mentioned that I found it and thought I should turn it in. The guy took it, and now was my chance because I was only a few steps away from Morgan. I screwed up my courage, and just then the conductor of the orchestra spotted me.

The conductor stopped the rehearsal and called me out. He yelled at me, saying that I was disrupting the rehearsal and bothering the band members. He humiliated me in front of my peers in the audience, the orchestra (which included colleagues of mine), and my favorite band on the planet. I turned to see Morgan looking right at me, a mix of anger and pity on his face.

I'd had it. The conductor was completely out of line and blew things way out of proportion. I stormed to the front of the stage, turned to the conductor, and yelled at the top of my lungs "You...are an asshole!" The audience met my outburst with rousing applause. I bowed graciously, then exited stage right. They continued applauding as I walked up the center aisle of the auditorium. Once I got to the top (the entrance to the hall), I had a wonderful idea. I swung open the doors, leaned over, and stuck my butt out toward the direction of everyone on stage, a la Mozart in the film Amadeus. I think I also shook my butt a bit for good measure. I was met with more applause as I left the hall.

Once outside the hall, I saw people seated around the area. I told several groups of them what had happened as I walked by and they all met me with smiles and pats on the back. I felt vindicated, and it felt good.

The End.

Why's everybody always pickin' on me?

Okay, time for another weird dream. For those of you who aren't Musers, Dom = drummer of Muse. Chris = bass player of Muse. Matt = lead singer and guitarist of Muse.

---
I dreamt I was second row center for a private soundcheck for Muse. The first thing I remember though is being in a diner-type room with my mom. There were lots of different sodas to pick from. We were the only ones in the place; it's like it wasn't even open. It was in the backstage area of the soundcheck. I think I chose an orange soda.

Next I went to the soundcheck. For some reason Dom wasn't on the drums. The guy who was on drums wasn't playing them--he was playing a bass that wasn't plugged in. But someone was playing drums because I heard them during the song! And Chris was missing too--some other guy was in his place. At first I was talking to a roadie near the diner and asking where Dom was, saying he was my fave or something. The roadie walked away after a while and I was like "Hey, you're cute, too!" Too little, too late, haha! Then I was sitting down and Matt (a young Matt) was talking to us and having contests to win stuff. This guy behind me was harassing me. Like, a lot. Flicking snot on me, spitting on me. Finally Matt said I could move to the front row and that security could take that guy out. Then the guy tried to touch my face and I snapped at him. The security guy was like "Did he touch her again?" and everyone around me went "YES!" I went to get a drink from the diner and when I got back I decided to stay with my friends on the second row instead of taking Matt up on his invitation to sit on the front row. I also took my hair down. Unfortunately security hadn't taken the annoying guy away. I felt him pull my hair once I sat down but ignored him.

Next I remember being in a mall and looking all over for a water fountain. Once I finally found one I was told it was for employees only. I asked where a public one was and the guy didn't know. I asked if I could take a cup from the employee area and use it you get water elsewhere. He said no. I was like "What if I give you a dollar for it? I'm sure it cost like, 7 cents to make." He was like "I didn't pay for the cups." So I countered "Give it to your boss and he can give it to whoever buys the cups and they can handle it. I'm offering to pay you for a cup that no one is going to miss." It was getting ridiculous. I don't think I ever got the cup.

Next I was being harassed again, this time by three young white guys, maybe early college age. I think the water fountain guy sent them after me. Anyway, I thought Maybe if I just leave the mall, they'll leave me alone. But once I was outside they still bothered me. By this time I was starting to wake up so I had some control over the dream. I beat the guys up one at a time, taking the last guy's shoes. He said he wanted them back so I spit on the sole of one and offered it to him. This might have been the guy from soundcheck who spit on me.

They finally left me alone and then I was outside, in the dark, looking for my car. I hadn't come out of the mall where I entered; I was just trying to get away from those guys. As I wandered around the parking area I ran into this group of young black guys (3 or 4 of them). I asked if I could walk with them while I looked for my car, in case those other guys came back to bother me again. They said yes and then I started bragging about how I'd beaten up the guys. Then I woke up.

----
Weird one, huh? And why was everybody after me?!?!

New Dream: Meeting Chris Wolstenholme of Muse!

Okay, so I was in the bar of some restaurant (I'm assuming I was in Knoxville, my current place of residence). It was dimly lit and I was walking around looking for a place to sit. I looked up at one of the flat screen TVs to see Muse performing "Uprising" live on an awards show. Of course I geeked out a little on the inside. But then I turned to see the Wolstenbeast himself walking around the bar area. I went up to him and asked "If you're here, then who's playing bass [with the band]?" I thought he'd say "Morgan" but he said some name I didn't recognize. Apparently this instantly made us friends because he let me hang around him like a little puppy. We stood and talked a little bit and he also took pictures with a few other fans. Then I got my brother to take a picture of us with my camera. The other fans just kind of stood next to him but I pulled a Lisa "Bellamy" Smith :) and wrapped my arms around his neck. He was sweaty for some reason but I didn't care (okay, maybe I minded a little bit, but I got over it quickly because it was the WOLSTENBEAST). He leaned over a bit (he had to, or I wouldn't have been able to reach around his neck) and went "C'mon camera!" because my brother was having trouble taking the picture.

With the picture finally secured, we sat down at this table we'd been standing near. We talked about some other things, most of which I've forgotten now. But I know I confirmed that his and Dom's birthdays are in December and then asked him how old they were (even though I already knew all of this). I was remarking on how most of the bands I like have members way older than me or way younger, so I was glad I'm in the same age range as the members of Muse. I mentioned how I'd love to meet the rest of the band but they wouldn't be showing up here because the awards show was in a different city. Chris said "You should come to our show on Thursday." I asked where it was going to be, thinking he'd say Nashville or Atlanta. "Livin," he replied. [Those of you in real life know this is a fictional city; however, Dream Robyn knew that this was a city in the UK.] I was like "Chris, I can't afford to go all the way to the UK just to see you guys! I'm a poor teacher!!" Then I changed my tune and said something along the lines of "Unless I can be Dom's girlfriend and then he would probably pay my way...and then I'd definitely meet all the guys..." I don't remember Chris's response to that but soon after he had to go. I was thinking about asking if we could exchange phone numbers so we could text (I thought he might actually say yes), but I didn't get up the courage to do it. By this time my mouth had become full of some kind of white, crusty substance. I mean, literally, my mouth was full of it, and it was making it hard to talk. Oh yeah, and if I was talking to you, you could totally see the stuff. So of course Chris was all WTH and I'm trying to talk around it. But it just kept getting worse; it was like the more I talked the more stuff showed up. I quickly turned around and tried to spit a bunch of it out (gross, LOL) and then continue talking, but it didn't help much. Now Chris was walking away (he didn't even say goodbye) toward a back exit of some kind and I was chasing after him. He went through a set of swinging double doors (like he was entering the restaurant's kitchen) and I went through them as well. He had disappeared though. I yelled into the darkness of a long hallway "My name is Robyn, by the way!"

And that's how my dream ended. Oh, well. Chris was really nice up until that crusty stuff showed up. That's happened to me in dreams before but not in years. It was funny when I woke up but I was MAD in the dream!

Muse: Live at Olympic Stadium REVIEW

Since I don't own any official Muse tee shirts (yet) I donned my "#1 Dom Fan" shirt and headed to Franklin, TN (which is outside of Nashville).

First of all, I expected to see more people there. The show started at 8:00 and I got there at 7:15 in hopes of getting a good seat. When I walked in, there were four other people in the theater. The mother cheered "Yay, another Muse fan!" and I responded "Yay, Musers!" She said they'd been there since like, 5:00 because they expected a crowd, too. Eventually the theater filled up with more people. I'd say maybe 40-50 total?

Anyway, I chatted with the lady and the three younger people (I almost called them "kids" but I'm trying not to do that to every young person I see) for a while. They were at the Nashville show back in September like I was. They also saw the guys in Nashville a couple of years ago. When the woman asked me if I was there, I had to admit "I didn't know Muse existed then!" It feels like I've been a fan forever, but it's really only been a couple years.

Carmike designated the smallest theater with the smallest screen for the showing...losers. And the sound was not loud enough. Also, I couldn't tell you if it was in 4K or not. It looked really clear, but I have nothing to compare it to (haven't seen a movie in ages). Oh yeah, and I found out that tickets were only $8 when they first went on sale. When I bought my ticket Tuesday afternoon, it was $12.50. Not cool.

Okay, onto the show. Is there anything Morgan Nicholls can't do? He sang a lot (like in Madness--he's doing the "m-m-m-mad" part) and also played guitar, cabasa, drums, tambourine, and glockenspiel. And probably other things I didn't even see. I totally have a crush on that man sheerly because of his skills.

I finally know during which songs Dom comes out and plays drums on the thrust. I've asked several fans on their pictures and no one ever gets back to me. It's for Guiding Light and Undisclosed Desires.

I'm so glad (but also jealous) that they played Animals! I've never heard it live and it's one of my favorite songs. I thought the visuals were really cool, and the guy throwing money around was cool, too. But it was weird when he fell on the floor and pretended to be dead, and then Chris walked up and played Man with a Harmonica.* It was just awkward. I also wonder when the guy got up and left (of course they didn't show that).

During Guiding Light, an acrobat was dancing around while hanging from a light bulb. The dancing was awesome. The light bulb was a bit cheesy in my opinion. Oooh, Guiding Light bulb. *ba-dum-ching*

I was glad they did Feeling Good, but the dramatization with the lady drinking gasoline at the end seemed out of place. Was it supposed to be ironic?

After the first barrier run in Undisclosed Desires, Matt went under the stage and sang to the Animals man and the Feeling Good woman, who were lying in coffins propped up. Um...weird?

I looked for the infamous Lisa (Muser who's been to over 100 shows!) but I never spotted her. I've heard she made an appearance in Starlight, so I'll be sure to look for it when I get the DVD.

I totally didn't know that Matt used a 7-string guitar for Supremacy and Survival. Sooooo cool. Oh, and in Survival he sang the octave at the very end (the high note from the album)! I had to contain a squeal of delight...

Even though I saw it live in Nashville, it was still so awesome to see the armies of Matt, Chris, and Dom during Uprising. I wonder how long it took Tom Kirk to put all that together? Oh, and speaking of the visuals, seeing President Obama and the Pope dancing to Panic Station was great. I was cackling the whole time, as was the lady next to me.

Back to Morgan for a bit--he played several parts that I thought Matt would play. For example, the guitar in Starlight. At the end of Uprising, Matt handed his guitar to a stage hand and I expected him to get another one in return. When he didn't, I started wracking my brain trying to think what other songs there were where he doesn't play guitar (since they'd already done Undisclosed Desires and Follow Me). So when Starlight began, I was a little confused. I was thinking, "Are they not going to have guitar on it at all?"

I thought it was so cute at the end when Dom took pictures of the crowd with his iPhone. And that's my remembrance! Hope you enjoyed it.


*Does anyone else get bored during Man with a Harmonica? What is the big deal? Chris plays two whole notes. Whoop-de-doo. Am I missing something??

MUSE in Nashville

Alrighty, it's finally time for the recap of my amazing night with the best band in the world! I put the setlist near the bottom of the post. For a complete photo album, check out my Facebook photos.

As soon as Muse made their new Southeast US tour dates public I marked my calendar for the day the Nashville tickets went on sale (April) and snatched them up as soon as the fan pre-sale began. It's a little over a couple hours away for me, and the show was on a Friday night, so it worked really well. I also entered the contest (with that stupid orb game--some of you know what I'm talking about) to win a chance to meet the guys and whatnot in Atlanta, which would've been the Wednesday before. Obviously I didn't win. But there's always next time!

So I drove over to Nashville Friday afternoon, as soon as I was done teaching for the day. I got really confused because I was leaving at 3:00 and my GPS said that I would arrive at 4:15. Okay, maybe Google Maps was off a little bit in the time estimate, I thought to myself. But once I got on I-40, it said I'd be on it for 153 miles. I can't go that far in an hour and 15 minutes! What is going ON? Then it occurred to me. Nashville is in Central Time. My GPS was telling me my arrival time in the tie zone of my destination. Finally convinced that I wasn't going crazy, my brain resumed its normal chatter as I drove west to Nashville.

When I got to my hotel (Double Tree--yay, cookies!) I got settled in and waited for my friend Julia (my bestie who was driving in from Virginia) to arrive. After she arrived we both took showers and then did some taxi research. Now, for those of you who don't know, we had terrible luck with the taxi company we chose when we went to see Justin Timberlake and Jay Z in Baltimore. Well, things weren't much better this time. The dispatcher didn't cut us off and hang up on us (twice) like in Baltimore, but the cab driver got really exasperated when we told him we were paying by credit card. We specifically asked for a cab which took credit cards when we made the reservation but this guy's credit card reader wasn't working. So he's complaining and going "Are you sure you don't have any cash?" I did have cash, but I wasn't about to use it because he should've had a working card reader. If your reader isn't working, you tell your supervisor so they don't send you to a customer who wants to pay by credit card. Isn't that a simple concept? Anyway, he got a very low tip because he practically treated us like it was all our fault.

We finally got to the Bridgestone Arena. I took a few pictures while outside, because downtown Nashville is so bright!

Julia and I had VIP tickets that I purchased through the MUSE website. The "VIP" label meant that we got primo seats in the first few rows of the lower bowl, we had access to a pre-show party with special merchandise and dinner, and we got some freebies (water bottle, tote bag, limited edition poster). Will I be using that tote bag and water bottle every day for work? You betcha!

Getting our actual tickets was a bit confusing. My paperwork said to go to Will Call, then go check in at the VIP table. Well, Will Call didn't have our tickets; the VIP table did. So why did the paper say to go to Will Call? Anyway, we went to the VIP table (which we passed to go to Will Call), got our goodies, and then attempted to find the VIP party. More confusion ensued.

After asking for directions, we finally found the "party." It was in a small, dimly lit room near the entrance to the floor seats (well, not seats, because it was standing only on the floor...but you know what I mean). There was a huge backdrop with "MUSE" on it, with lights all around and different images showing in the word MUSE. Here's a slightly fuzzy picture of it:

The room had blown up professional photos of the guys from earlier on the tour. There was no seating; only tables made for standing at. There were also TV screens showing live footage of the band (it later occurred to me that this was from H.A.A.R.P.). As we walked in they were playing Take a Bow, then the video started over.

The "dinner" was nachos and an assortment of toppings (salsas, guacamole, a big vat of queso, sour cream, and a big vat of chili). There was no VIP shopping area with special merchandise that I could see, but that's okay. I didn't really plan on spending any more money than I'd already spent anyway!

Dinner

Julia got us drinks with double shots so I quickly ate some nachos and chili to absorb some of the alcohol! ;-) While we were standing around feeling underwhelmed by the "party," this tall guy came over and remarked on how odd it was to be showing live footage of the band at a pre-concert party. We agreed and he asked what we'd prefer. Actually, he asked me, kind of ignoring Julia. I couldn't think of anything besides music videos. Julia suggested interviews with the guys, which I think is a great idea. We chatted a bit more and then he left us to go back to his group of friends. It was sort of weird because I felt like we were being interviewed by a member of the media or something. He had a VIP wristband like we did but he was also wearing some kind of lanyard.

Anyway, I ate a little more and then we headed out. As we left, a nice gentleman who worked there told us how to get to our seats. Once we got to our seats (front row of Section 105) we met a young girl who had a custom tee shirt like mine--it said "I ♥ MUSE" and had the show location and date and whatnot. She said her dad brought her. I marveled at this because my dad would not take me to a Muse show! :-D We struck up a conversation with the girl and found out that her name was also Julia. Her dad came back from wherever he had gone and we told him how cool he was for bringing his daughter to the show. He said if he wasn't also a fan, he probably wouldn't have done it!

Throughout the show I told Julia (bestie) what some of the songs were, since she only owns the two most recent albums. I also filled Julia (teen) in on a couple (Agitated and Neutron Star Collision) because they were from albums she didn't have.

They had the pyramid and showed ninja Dom but he didn't change into his red suit. I was disappointed... But I'm so glad they played Agitated, since I'd heard that Charlotte and Atlanta got it. I was hoping for New Born, Animals, or Undisclosed Desires but alas, none of them were played. I did get some other faves, though--Panic Station and Supermassive Black Hole. I stood almost the entire time, which is a big deal for my tired, old feet. I only sat down twice! And before I went to bed Julia (bestie) made me take Advil so my feet wouldn't hate me the next day. Thanks, Julia!

So about 4-5 songs into the show I realized I hadn't been keeping track of the set list. Thankfully Julia (teen) was. I gave her my email so she could send it to me. Also, it was posted on one of my Facebook Muser groups so I could double check everything. Glad it all worked out!

The show was AMAZING, as if we would expect anything less from our boys. :-) The show started out with the pyramid on the floor, and they showed video as Isolated System played. Then the pyramid went dark, turned red, then began to rise. The band played Supremacy as this all took place. During the show the pyramid changed shapes and whatnot, showing different images depending on the song. For Madness Matt put on the word glasses and the lyrics also showed up on the pyramid. For Survival the faces singing "So I...told you..." and "You were warned and didn't listen" showed up.

There were no guitar-throwing or amp-destroying antics at this show unfortunately. The most we got was Matt spinning the amp around and causing a mini light show during one song (can't remember which one it was, sorry).

When Matt went to the piano I got really excited. I love it when he plays piano! Then I was so shocked when they played Neutron Star Collision. Some fans don't like it because it was used for one of the Twilight movies, but it's still a beautiful song. And Matt didn't write it for Twilight as some people think. According to the article about the song on MuseWiki, Matt wrote it about a girl he'd broken up with a few months prior.

Anyway, back to the music. Here's the setlist:

Isolated System
Supremacy
Supermassive Black Hole
The Star-Spangled Banner + Hysteria
Panic Station
Resistance
Man with a Harmonica + Knights of Cydonia
Montpellier Jam + Feeling Good
Follow Me
Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)
Liquid State
Madness
Time Is Running Out
Unnatural Selection
Agitated + Freedom outro
Uprising 

Encore
Unsustainable
Starlight
Survival

Other interesting tidbits: There was this guy sitting behind us who totally hit on Julia (bestie), which is weird because he was sitting with his girlfriend. At least, we assume it was his girlfriend because apparently he had his arms around her the whole show...

Before the show Julia (bestie) was remarking how cute this guy was who was on the floor in front of us. She tried to inconspicuously take his picture (from behind) with her phone but the flash went off. He actually turned around and said something like "Did you get a good shot?" I nearly died laughing.

Also, the nice gentleman from VIP who told us how to find our seats showed up on the floor about halfway through the show. We talked to him afterward. He said once he was done at the VIP room he was able to come out and watch the rest of the show. He also said he had as much fun watching us as he did watching the band. It wasn't as creepy as it sounds, I promise... Anyway, we shook his hand and made our way out.

I then slept like a ROCK because I had jumped, sung, and screamed my heart out for those boys. Did I mention that I love Muse? Because I kind of do. I hope you do, too. :-)

Dream: Meeting rock legends

I know it's been a while since I've blogged...sorry! I've been busy working and also writing my first novel. Maybe I'll post an excerpt from the novel soon, if y'all are interested. :)

So I dreamt that I got to watch bands rehearse for some kind of concert. First the Rolling Stones, then Muse. I got to the place (which just looked like a church gymnasium or something) and then the Stones arrived one by one. It was a brightly lit room and I believe there was a bulletin board with light blue construction paper tacked onto it. I was the only person there when the band arrived, so I chatted them up and took pictures. It randomly occurred to me that in the song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Mick Jagger totally has enough time to sing "I can't get any satisfaction." I made a mental note to tweet that later.

When it came time for Muse to rehearse, they were in a different room. It was darker than the room the Stones were in and there were many more people there. I was bummed because the battery on my phone was too low to take pictures or video. I turned to my mom (who's apparently now with me) and said I'd have to run home and get my phone charger. I was not going to miss a chance to document the experience, especially since I was so close to Matt, the lead singer!

For Muse's rehearsal I was in the orchestra pit with the band and the other musicians (and other fans). They were rehearsing "Uprising." I was jealous because there was a young girl playing violin (it should've been me, of course!). They were using students to play in the orchestra and I was not happy. Also, Chris wasn't there so some girl was playing bass. The violinist looked familiar and I planned on asking her if we'd played together at a gig. Of course I wanted this to happen in front of the band, so they'd know I play as well...

At one point they were discussing which instruments to use for the song and the students couldn't decide who was playing what. Penny whistle was brought up and I was trying to get the guy next to me to tell me if he didn't want to play it because 1) he didn't like it or 2) because he couldn't play it well. If it was the latter I was going to offer to play. I had to get involved in this performance somehow! I also tried to get the guy to tell me what key the whistle was in because that would determine whether I could play it or not. Unfortunately Matt squelched my plans by interrupting the bickering kids and telling one of them that he (the student) would do it.

The end. I didn't get to talk to Muse. I don't think I even saw Dom, the drummer. And no Chris. Very disappointing dream overall. Ever had a dream where you wanted to change the ending? What happened, and what did you want to happen?

My First Muse Show EVAR

To my regular readers: This post is mainly for my fellow Musers. If you're not a fan of Muse, or don't enjoy reading concert reviews, you have my permission to skip this entry. :)

Some of my readers may know that I'm a bit of a Muse fan. In case you didn't know, I love Muse with all of my being. They can do no musical wrong in my mind. And that's a lot coming from me, because the list of bands who have yet to write a bad song in my book is a short list indeed...

Anyway, Muse is currently on tour, but they have yet to come near my town. So when they announced that they were playing a show in Atlanta (which is only three hours away from me) and that it was FREE, I jumped on that. I made plans, secured a hotel room (yay Expedia for great deals), tried unsuccessfully to find a traveling companion or two (it wasn't for lack of interest, just lack of funds or time), and designed my own tee shirt on the off chance I might actually meet the guys (it happened before with Bryan Adams!).

On Saturday morning, I drove down to Atlanta. The drive went by fairly quickly, thanks to the Muse CDs I played in the stereo.

Long story of pre-Muse stuff short: I got really bored and seriously considered driving back home, since I went alone I had no one to talk to. I ran into a few Muse fans in passing, but none of the friends I'd made on Facebook. :-( Also there was very limited seating and my feet get tired fairly quickly. But I toughed it out, sitting on benches or raised concrete slabs whenever I found space. At one point I went back to my car to eat a snack I'd brought, to avoid spending $$ on concessions. Oh, and I used a port-a-potty for the first time. The joy of all-day, outdoor concerts!

One more thing--I did meet up with a couple of friends who live in the area later in the evening, so I got to watch the concert with people I knew! :-)

So now onto Muse. Here's the set list:

1. Supremacy
2. Madness
3. Supermassive Black Hole
4. Panic Station
5. Resistance
6. Star-Spangled Banner
7. Hysteria
8. Some kind of jam...?
9. Survival
10. Follow Me
11. Time Is Running Out
12. Liquid State
13. Uprising
14. Man with a Harmonica
15. Knights of Cydonia

I'm really glad they didn't just do an hour set like I thought they'd do (something on the NCAA website made me think that). I would've liked an encore, but I understand that this wasn't part of their regular tour and things work differently.

Highlights from the show:

• The first time Matt sang the word "Supremacy" I screamed it right along with him. Later, the dude in front of me went "I could tell you were a huge fan when you hit that high note!" He could also tell because of my shirt. 
  
• Whenever they showed Dom on the big screen, he always looked like he was having such a good time! Except for during the Star-Spangled Banner. He looked totally bored as Matt shredded away, haha!
• When they started "Supermassive Black Hole" I got all giddy and turned to my friends and said "This was my ringtone!" (Right now it's the chorus from "Resistance.") Then they went straight into Panic Station, which made me uber-happy because those are two of my FAVORITE Muse songs!
• It looked like Morgan was singing during "Survival," but it was hard to tell. Is there anything that man can't do?
• Also during "Survival," Chris's bass sounded flat. I was just standing there thinking "Will someone please tune that thing?"
• I don't know if Matt was under the weather or just not feeling like hitting high notes, but he changed the very last note of "Survival." (For those of you who are musically inclined, instead of singing that final octave he only sang a fifth.)
• The graphics on the back screen of the stage were awesome. At one point during "Survival," the image from the 2nd Law's cover art kind of disintegrated from bottom to top. It was so cool!
• I finally know now that the 2nd Law booklet is wrong in the lyrics for "Follow Me." Matt is definitely singing "I won't let them harm you" and not "hurt/they're hurting you."
• Second craziest part of the show: Many of you have already heard about this, but the power went out during "Follow Me." They were about halfway through and Matt was pouring his heart and soul into it and suddenly there's no sound! Matt made some faces and tried talking into the mic. No luck. So they left the stage while the tech people worked their magic. My friend Tim joked that the power went out because "They didn't have a British plug." He also said he wanted a reimbursement, but since the concert was free...yeah. ;-)
• When they performed "Liquid State" (yay, Chris!) I got really giddy because it occurred to me that this was my first time hearing this song live. I mean, yes, it was my first time seeing Muse in person, but I've watched many videos from this tour on the internet. Unfortunately they always did "Save Me." I'm glad for the switch because I feel like "Save Me" is a bit too slow for a rock concert.
• During "Starlight" I noticed that Chris' bass was red with red lights on the fretboard. I've seen the one with blue lights before but don't remember having seen the red one before. Does anyone know if that's new?
• Craziest part of the show: At the end of "Uprising," Matt decided to go all rock star and start trashing his equipment. First he knocked over an amp (which looked like it was about to push back and fall on top of him at one point) and then stood on top of it to play. Then he decided to throw his guitar toward the back screen multiple times. I'm just glad he didn't throw it toward poor Dom, like he usually does! I took video of parts of "Starlight" and "Uprising" and will add those to this post once they're done being edited by YouTube (gotta take out the shakiness from my excited hand, haha).

And that's it for the concert! I wanted to go in search of the band's tour bus so I could profess my undying love to Dom, but instead I went out to eat with my friends. At the very end of the show, Matt said "See you in September!" so maybe I'll try to meet them then... *starts planning*