I am generally a nice person and enjoy speaking or greeting people I meet on the sidewalk or en route by foot somewhere. Last evening I had tae kwon do fitness which is aimed at building our stamina for fighting in a match. In other words we do about a gazillion kicks and sit ups until we are to the point of exhaustion. Last night was special since there was no AC in the room.

On my way to the car I met a man in the parking lot and he made some comments to me about doing front, side and back kicks. I affirmed that I had done every kick under the sun tonight. He said he really enjoyed it years ago when he had done it, but at 70 years he is too old. I commented that he didn't look 70, and that we also had older people in the class that were over 50, so he may want to check it out. He really didn't look 70, and he was a very pleasant looking fellow.

Then he starts rambling about God and how god is going to be with me and several other rants about God. I was as polite as could be and my body language said "I am on my way to my car trying to leave." He came around me, as if he knew I was trying to escape. He was acting kind of strange, other than the God comments, with his hand and eye movements. My only thought was that I just did a gazillion kicks and am gonna have to find the strength to fight in the parking lot.

I diffused this situation by telling the man he was blessed too and turned and walked to my car. One pearl of tae kwon do is that it really gives me the ability to be calm. We work on breathing a lot and using our senses (TKD with eyes closed).

Since this is my and my husband's first rock concert I have to write a post about this incredible experience. I should start off by saying that Jens and I have nothing in common- nothing on the surface anyway. This includes music. He likes the classics and was trained in classical piano. I was raised in juke joints and other seedy live music venues and generally listen to blues, jazz and rock-n-rhythm. I have always wanted to go to a rock concert but just never got around to it. The thought of being in the same room with 22,000 people was also very daunting, which was clearly over powered by being in the same room as Daughtry and Bon Jovi.

Daughtry came on stage with with a huge opening and screaming crowd. He had a very good command of the stage, but didn't make it around to the side very often where we were seated. The audio was not that great from where we were sitting either. I truly enjoyed Daughtry and loved the way he meandered through his set. He has an excellent voice.

Enter Bon Jovi. First, I have never seen so many men over 30 who had so many boy crushes on Bon Jovi. I can't blame them, either. Make no mistake that when Bon Jovi took the stage people within a 1 mile radius could hear it. His stage presence is like no other I have witnessed (sorry Hot Chocolate....maybe Clarence Carter). He tore up that stage and worked almost every angle of the crowd and vocals were on. He looked very good and knew it. My favorite part was when he did a booty shake and people swooned in similar fashion as if it were Elvis. I really had no idea the concert would be that great and it was worth every penny.

Mid-way through the concert Chris Daughtry joined Bon Jovi to sing Blaze of Glory and people went nuts in the audience. The vocals were amazing and both blended so well together. Bon Jovi also had many kinds words for Chris and Greensboro. He did film a movie here a few years ago, The Trouble With Frank.

What is amazing is that Jens really loved it. He said he had a great time and would love to do it again. I just hope it doesn't mean I have to go hear Mahler's 6th symphony.

Although I could not imagine a better first-rock concert, I will likely not do this again anytime soon; unless it is Daughtry and Bon Jovi. Jens and I do plan on seeing more smaller venues, though.

Oh- and we didn't even need our ear plugs.

I have had my digital camera for a few months and had no idea I would have to work so hard to take a good picture. It was so simple with my old SLR and even easier with my plain HP digital. I am sporting a Pentax K10D SLR and I finally found a setting that works well, shich I must adjust the aperture and shutter speed and the camers automatically selects the correct ISO. I still am not sure if it is the same quality that I had with my old Pentax SLR, but we'll see how better I can get with it.

Some snaps from the brief snow day this week.

With my hosting package I get 3 different types of blogs, MediaWiki, a Forum, Photo catalog, a Chat application, 3 databases and many other extras. The blog engine I am using is Pblog and I really don't like the way the fonts look and have very few options with it. I also have WordPress and Serendipity (Advanced Blog). I would love to move this to Serendipity, but am unable to export the entries.

I have only had this domain for half a year. Apparently it belonged to another Natalie, who was in high school at the time and is a very talented web designer. She is probably shaking her head to see what I have done with it. I am working on it, other Natalie.