Tag Archives: NKOTB

Promises are Promises – NKOTB Round 2 Pt. 2

Everyone has a crazy friend. You know the one you have to talk out of bad ideas constantly. The one who instigates the streaking and cusses out random people on the street. The dirty joke friend, the drives like a maniac friend. Well… Renee is that friend to me. And if I am the wild one among my circle of friends, Renee always coaxes me into new heights of libertine decadence. I promised more New Kids dish and today I’m turning over the blog to her to tell the real story of our shennanigans at the Concord Pavillion last week. Take it away Renee…

Lisa, me and Renee

It’s Mac Tonight!-See what happens when a crazy hot Latina finds herself at the feet of her teenage heart-throb.

Call it fate. Call it destiny. Call it karma.

I call it the happiest night of my life.

But let me back up. Things started out pretty normal (me running late to Em’s, Em’s well-intentioned but lackluster navigation skills, Em’s mis-guided tour of Concord, a muy deli taqueria pit-stop, undecipherable hand signals from Pavillion parking lot attendees…) You know, normal.

Soon enough, we three were bopping and singing along to our favorite NKOTB songs, proving no matter how old you are, girls just want to have fun. But then about half-way through the set, Em’s spidey senses went off. Something was afoot.She noticed that concert staff were bringing in tables into the lower level a few yards from where we sat. And when, the opening notes of “Single” rang out and spotlights showed the boys from Boston snaking their way up the stage right aisle toward the lower level, Em, in a rare moment of f-it-all impulse, took charge and lead us in a sprint towards them. (I swear, I never do stuff like that, it was some kind of out-of-body experience.) Soon she and I were standing a mere feet away from Donnie. I was like, “Where’s Joey?!!” And Em pointed toward the center and screamed, “He’s over there!”

I ran back like my feet were on fire avoiding the arms and elbows of other fans pressed against the guard rail separating Level 1 and Level 2. As I came dead center, lo, and behold, the seas parted revealing a three foot opening in the fangate. And in the middle of that parting, like an angel, stood my beloved Joey MacIntyre. Seeing my window quickly closing, I pulled myself pommel-horse style up onto the guard railing, reached out the Joey and screamed, “I love you!!!” Mid-verse, he pointed directly at me and smiled! (This is where it got dicey – Renee got the crazy eye, the look she gets right before I have to prevent her from doing something illegal. I was ready to restrain her at this point. Seriously, I grabbed her arm and braced my feet.)

I about died! But then, imagine my utter awe when he locked eyes with me and proceeded to walk over tables, chairs and other fans towards ME! I pommelled the guard rail again but this time came to straddle it just as Joey grasped my hand and hoisted himself onto a guard rail alongside me!

And for what seemed like an eternity, Joey held my arm for balance and dear life as he continued to croon to the frenzied audience. For the record, this is the closest I have ever gotten to a celebrity. I could have reached up and touched his face. When I was a girl I would spend HOURS rearranging my New Kids posters and then staring at them moonily while listening to Please don’t go girl. Never, ever in my life could I have dreamed that I would get that close to one of my first crushes. It was surreal.I wildly searched the crowd at his feet for Em, pleading that someone, anyone was getting this moment on film. Because I couldn’t believe it myself! Was I dreaming? Was this really happening to me?

And then, above the throng, as a body guard helped Joe Mac down from the railing and back to safety, I heard Em’s excited screams of “I got it! I got it!”, I knew my life’s mission as an NKOTB fan was complete.

So Joey, if you’re out there, thank you for making this 35-year-old-going-on-13′s mental book of memories a whole lot sweeter…

Oops we did it again…

New Kids on the Block played the Concord Pavilion last night! I did not tire of telling the girls that I also have played the Concord Pavilion! Joey sang Popsicle in a topless hat! Someone tried to run Renee over! It was generally as much fun as the first time, with a little mayhem thrown in. We went with Renee so this time we really took it to another level of crazy… more on that to come. Until then, some general notes…

1) To stupid opening act Jesse McCartney. Yeah, you can sing and you have catchy songs but I am almost 3o now and not interested in your little boy antics. Cussing does not give you street cred and for the love of all things please DO NOT shout out to the crowd in Concord “What up San Fran.” There is just so much wrong with that… CONCORD. YOU ARE IN CONCORD. Douche.

2) Jabawockeez dance crew was the 1st opening act. They were amazing. I heart them so much now and am inspired to start dancing again. They’re from Sac too, that means I can also become an awesome B-girl, right?

Report Card

Back in November I blogged a list of things I was going to do with my newly free non-studying time. Let’s re-visit my lofty goals, shall we?

1) Volunteer to do something at church- B+! I did some P.R. :)

2) Learn all the words to T.I.’s rap in “Live your life” Mm, I give myself a C+ on this one. I do not know it well enough to karaoke it. I think it’s time to accept that lyrics are not my strong point, unless of course we’re talking NKOTB or musicals.

3) Re-design the blog – I learned to embed videos, does that count?

4) Learn how to use my digital camera better- Rachel taught me that almost everything looks like crap with the flash. I’ve been taking that to heart but after my Panama trip I am painfully aware of how amateur my picture taking is.

5) Continue to indulge my NKOTB fanaticism – A+ ! We’re seeing them again this summer.

6) Read a book for fun – I’ve read so MANY! I am the valedictorian of this task.

7) Finish watching Season 3 of Entourage – A+ I watched Season 4 too.

8) Paint stuff around the house – B + OH, if only you knew how much stuff I’ve painted/will paint.

9) Learn new slang. Flunking out.

10) Exercise all my MA comp exam fat off. – I ran a ½ marathon with mixed results. Must be my jar of peanut butter a week habit. B+ for the effort, 140 minutes of running is still a lot of running.

Actually, for the most part I did really well, right? Some of those things actually became good habits, like reading and not using the flash on my camera. I think I’m going to make a new list because I love lists! Suggestions?

Best. Husband.Ever.

Last week wasn’t the best. Any week that involves you discovering you have the stomach flu in a public place just doesn’t bode well. And then, last night it got really windy, which we all know I hate because I am terrified that the trees will fall on us. Paranoia, my friends, it runs in the family.

Luckily there are two shining spots in my week. My getting-cuter with every day dog (chasing Arnold’s slipper as we speak) and Arnold, easily the best husband ever. Not only did my husband remember Valentine’s Day but he got me not flowers, not chocolate…. but a New kids on the Block T-Shirt!

I really couldn’t believe it. I looked at him in disbelief and said “Where did you get this?” And he said ” I went to a store called Hot Topic, found the person in the store closest to your age and asked her if they had New Kids on the Block T-Shirts”.

Wow. And wow.

There is so much to love about a husband devoted enough and secure enough to

A) Indulge his wife’s childhood obsessions

B) Go to Hot Topic and ask a saleslady if they had New Kids on the Block.

I was like “Wow, wasn’t that embarrassing?” And he just shrugged and said “Well, whatever, at least I didn’t have to figure out how to buy it on the internet. ”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Being a Grown Up

Lately it seems there are two types of people in life. Those who understand my New Kids on the Block infatuation and those who insist I should be embarrassed about it… but here’s the thing… I get tired of being a grown up. Sure, it’s great to have control “sort of” over your life. Choose where you live, what you do, what you eat etc. but it’s also tons of responsibility. And despite opinions to the contrary, I get tired of being responsible. It is annoying to spend money on things like clearing drains and life insurance. I am tired of doing immigration paperwork and open enrollment. A privilege of course to have the resources to do things like that, but still, it’s really a drag. Which is why I am currently infatuated with living the NKOTB craze of my youth, and I would be embarrassed about being uncool, except that I have never really cared about that kind of crap. And Thank God, becasue my lack of coolness enabled me to spend the whole two hours of the concert screaming like a fainting Beatles fan and why I almost lost it when in the middle of the concert they popped up in the middle of Arco, like literally 5 feet from us. Seriously! A childhood dream come to life. It was THE BEST concert I have ever been too (I love Mr. Timberlake, but I met them first) with everybody in on the joke, that we’re all adults now, but it’s fun to relieve being young and carefree. Luckily our much-loved boy band also understood that you can’t take this stuff too seriously, towing the line between cheese and self-deprecation.

I know. I know. Look how grown-up I am using words like “self-deprecation”.

Anyways, after two hours of screaming so hard my neck still hurts 3 days later, I was deposited back at home where I proceeded to sing a sample of each song and detail of the concert to Arnold. After about 5 minutes of this he looked at me and said “Seriously? You are sleeping on the couch.”

Well-worth it my friends. Well worth it!

It was SO AWESOME! The ten-year old inside me, almost fainted with excitement. I would be embarrassed except that the first thing my friend Maria said after the concert was “I got too excited and I cried.” More details to come…