Pt 1 Wednesday, October 22.

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I know, I've been M.I.A for about a week now, but with good reason.

Let me preface this post by telling people that I have been excited about seeing Stevie Wonder in concert since we heard he was touring. My friend John-Paul bought our tickets on his credit card and offered to hold onto them until the concert in October.

I checked the date of the show so Barry could swap shifts because he works until 11pm. I confirmed with Mama Synesthesia as well - Thursday, October 23, 8pm.

Imagine my surprise, then, when on WEDNESDAY night, October 22, at 8pm, I got a call from John-Paul asking where we were... He said that he was waiting out the front of the Stevie Wonder concert, with our tickets!

All right. My bad. When I confirmed the date, the website was advertising the second show - and we had tickets to the first. :(

But I digress. When I got the call from JP, I was in my PJs settled for a night of TV-watching. Barry was at work. Mama Synesthesia was at home cooking fish for her brother.

I. Am. A. Virgo. I cannot handle surprises, things that are unplanned, randomness of any kind.

Without going into too much more detail, here's a brief rundown of events between 8:00 and 8:40pm:

* I threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt - no shower, no make-up, and I collected some of Barry's clothes.
* My mum threw down her cooking utensils and picked me up from home.
* We drove to Barry's work. I ran in and made up a terrible excuse to get him out of his shift. (I apologise to his colleagues but it was a worthy cause!)
* We drove to ACER Arena, found a very lucky parking spot and arrived at the front desk to find our 3 tickets waiting at the door.

From then on, it was magical. We had the BEST time of our lives. Stevie Wonder is an amazing musician and a true musical genius.

The concert was worth all the stress and anxiety we went through to get there, plus more... Which is probably why my mum and I decided to go the next night as well... :)

Please enjoy some of the video footage I took, and remember to press pause on the playlist at the bottom of my page.

'Part-Time Lover'



'Lately'

An amazing Birthday present

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About a month before my birthday, Vicki the Viking asked me to name my four favourite soul singers. Of course I needed time to think about it, but I finally got back to her with the names of 4 singers who have really touched my soul.

1. Otis Redding
2. Aretha Franklin
3. Gladys Knight
4. Stevie Wonder

I couldn't quite work out why Vicki needed the names of four singers for my birthday present. Perhaps she was going to buy me four CDs?

I was waaaay off.

Just take a look at what she presented me with...

All hand-made by the Viking, with thought and soul - and a whole lotta talent. I still can't get over it. Thanks so much, Vicki. You're amazing.

By the way, I heard 'Idioteque' by Radiohead and I thought of you, Victoria.
Thanks for introducing me to this song, it means a whole lot to me, as do you.