Santa Slam 2013

About a few weeks ago, me and my friend attended Santa Slam 2013, which featured Backstreet Boys and The Fray in Aces of Spades in Downtown Sacramento. The Aces of Spades has got the be the smallest venue ever for a concert, especially for the Backstreet Boys and The Fray. I came to the venue early because I knew there was going to be a line. I probably arrived sometime before 6. However, the venue was scheduled to start at 7pm. As I went to the line, I noticed that at least 90% or more of the people standing in line were females. The line was pretty long. I think the venue didn't have the most accommodating way of letting people in. That being said, me and my friend didn't get to go inside the venue until much later after 7pm and there was still a lot of people behind us. After we got inside the venue, we noticed that it was very small inside with lots of people already in. Since all the tickets were floor, we just had to stand there without much room. The people in front us was very tall, so since I was short I had only mere glimpses of the stage and anyone else on the stage, which was why I didn't post any pictures for this blog post.

There wasn't anyone opening up for the Fray and the Backstreet Boys. So, The Fray came out and gave a great performance. The Fray's performance was about an hour long or so. They played all their popular songs and some new ones. After The Fray, it was about 30-45 minutes for the Backstreet Boys to finally come out. By that time, the venue was very crowded and my friend wanted to leave before the Backstreet Boys came out, but I wanted to see the performance. Before the Backstreet Boys came out, I agreed to go in the back of the crowd since it was very crowded in front and didn't want to be squished much. Nonetheless, during Backstreet Boys performance so people were leaving and I was squished and pushed as they made there way out. Backstreet Boys played a few of their popular songs and some new ones. The Backstreet Boys played "Quit playing games with my heart," "I want it that way", etc, and they ended with "Everybody Backstreets Boy Back," which was really the best part of the whole night. I was hoping there performance be longer than The Fray's performance, but it wasn't.

Honda Civic Concert in Wheatland, CA

Back in October, me and my sister attended the Honda Civic tour that had Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, and Rozzi Crane as the performers this year. As soon as I found out Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5 were going to be there, I knew that I had to go. As I checked the prices, the floor prices seemed decent, so I bought me and my sister floor tickets.

On the day of the event, we showed up about 2 hours early for the event, but there was already a line. Although the show started at 7:00pm, the doors didn't start opening until around 6pm. The venue seemed like a deserted area, but definitely had room the expand if they wanted to.

Once we entered the doors, we were free to buy some drinks or food. But, instead, me and my sister decided to stand in line and wait in the area where the performance was going to be at.

We were very close to the stage. It was the gates, about 2 rows in front of us, and then it was us. It took the longest time for the show to open.

When Rozzi came out, I surprised that she was a girl. But, I was more surprised of how good her singing was when she first sang. I love her song, "Crazyass Bitch".

Next performer to come out was Kelly Clarkson and I was so excited to see her. I really wanted her to win American Idol and I loved most of her songs. Her opening song was "Stronger (what doesn't kill you)". Before seeing her perform "Stronger" live, I didn't like the song, but after hearing and seeing how she performed the song made me love the song now. Kelly Clarkson sounded exactly like she does on radio and on American Idol. She was really good.

Maroon 5 was the final performance and everyone was just so excited to see him come out. When Adam Levine finally came out, he opened up with "One More Night". He was a very passionate singer with great moves. When he performed some songs, he didn't sing it exactly like it was on the radio, but added his own twists and such. Just when we thought the concert might have been over, Maroon 5 came back out, they performed "Payphone". I'm glad that I knew just about every song, except that song from their first album.

I loved that concert. That has got to be the best concert I have been to yet. I got to see a few of my favorite artists and the opening was good. Also, I was in a good spot for the concert.

Hiking in Napa

Me and a few friends decided to go hiking a few weeks back. I been hiking with them before, but to different locations. Our last hike was in Napa, but we went to go see Lake Berryessa and is surrounding areas.

Parking lot view

This was my first view of Lake Berryessa that day.

Lizard

 When my friends told me they saw a lizard, I was really expecting something much bigger than this one. But, I like this one :).

This is another view of Lake Berryessa. I really like taking pictures with the sun in it.

There was so much graffiti on this bridge, but I thought it was kind of interesting.

Another view of the bridge.

A bigger view of the bridge. And yes, I did drive on the bridge to get there and to go back.

A really big boulder that two of my friends decided to climb on.

Two of my friends on a really big rock.