So many places, so little money

BFF Kristina and I are planning a vacation to China in March and it happens to fall on my birthday. I have not been in the city that I live in on my birthday in 10 years. I do this on purpose. It is going to be a tour which usually isn't my style but I thought I'd give it a try this time. Highlights of the tour include:

* Beijing
* Great Wall
* Forbidden City
* Xian
* Terracotta Warriors
* Shanghai

I haven't been out of the country in over a year (gasp!) so I'm incredibly excited. This is also the first time I've ever planned a trip more than a month away. Spontaneous? Just a little bit. Other planned trips include:

LA for the weekend this fall to visit an old friend and hopefully San Jose/San Fran and Boston. My favorite cities! Not including NYC of course. I'm afraid the days of never being in the same place for more than a month have almost come to an end. Maybe that's a good thing. I haven't decided yet or given up hope to live in all place at all times. Still waiting on some physicists to work that one out for me. Maybe 2008?

Houston Has Redeemed Itself-Sort Of

As some of you may or may not know Houston has not been one of my favorite places to be or live. Lack of a train system that causes me and all the other Houstonians to have to drive everywhere and waste gazillions of dollars in gas money has been at the top of my list for reasons to dislike Houston. "But we do have a train!" say the natives. That would be useful to me if it didn't go in only two directions-to the medical center and away from the medical center. I digress. I didn't come here today to talk about Houston's (lack of a) transportation system.

I came to talk about how two of my favorite artists are coming to Houston in November-Regina Spektor and Silverchair. Even better, they are playing at venues that are only a block away from my place. Regina Spektor will be at Warehouse Live on November 7 and Silverchair will be at Meridian on November 28.

Other bands I'm excited to see playing around these here parts are Dashboard with Augustana at Warehouse Live and Hot Hot Heat at Meridian. Yay Houston!