Crystal Aura Gaze

It’s time for a personal update. And I have a lot to catch up on. I left off here, sometime in late April.

The coolest bookstore

I took a day trip by myself to Baldwin’s Bookstore, which is a used bookstore with about five floors – lots to explore! It has about every genre you could imagine. It took a lot of self-control to only buy two books, but I settled on some ancient Roman nonfiction. But I was very tempted towards some astrology books as well as a book on aphrodisiacs.

It was such a magical bookshop. It smelt like my grandfather’s house. The floors were creaky. I absolutely loved the vintage feel. There were so many rare gems that you can’t find on Amazon.

---

Silladelphia

My sister and I went to visit our cousin Priscilla in Philadelphia – AKA Silladelphia. We watched a masterclass on Esther Perel and did a lot of introspection on our relationship psychology. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that had super delicious vegan tacos. The best highlight – getting banana ice cream – “ice cream” made from frozen bananas! YUM!

---

The FRIENDS Experience

Kevin and I went to The FRIENDS Experience which is basically an exhibit with all of the sets for Friends. As this is one of my favorite shows, with so many memories of watching it with my family growing up, this was such a blast.

As we waited for everyone to arrive, we stood in line where there was a TV playing a highlight reel of notable Friends scenes. They started out asking us some trivia questions about the show. Then there was an introduction about rules and such. When we first walked in, they had everyone take turns getting photos taken at the fountain (above). After that, we were free to walk around and explore the sets.

There were little “exhibits” like there would be at a museum. It had the outfits that they wore, Rachel’s hairstyles, and props like the dog statue. The funniest one was this “Who’s dated whom?” chart that shows the timeline between when all of the characters dated someone.

It had Joey and Chandler’s apartment…

Monica and Rachel’s apartment…

The hallway in between… (with cheesecake on the floor from the cheesecake episode.)

And Central Perk…

The funniest part was the couch from the “PIVOT!” scene. They had us take a photo holding the couch. Over the speaker, they replayed Ross screaming “PIVOT! PIVOT! PIVOT!” the entire time – it was sooo funny!

---

I got my nose pierced!

I had been wanting to pierce my nose for a while, and I just finally did it! I wanted my eyebrow pierced for a while, but then I decided that a nose would be a little more subtle (maybe someday…) I tried making an appointment when I visited Silla, but they were booked for a long time. So, I went to the place down my street which takes walk-ins. I was really nervous to do it alone, I wanted to have someone with me, but I was growing super impatient and wanted it done ASAP!

The piercer was really nice. I had my belly piercing done when I was 18, and surprisingly my nose piercing hurt way less. I expected it to be way more painful and I was shocked after he pierced it – it was so quick and easy. I’m really happy with it! I’ll have to wait a few months for it to heal before I can switch from a stud to a ring.

---

ED SHEERAN!!!

My friend Laura G came out for the weekend and we saw Ed Sheeran at the Lincoln Financial Field. Ed Sheeran is one of my favorite artists of all times. Watching him perform went beyond my expectations which were already quite high. His voice is perfect – his live voice sounds exactly like his albums. He even messed up one of his introductions and then said “that’s how you know this is live!” It was so cute. He also kept mentioning Philly cheesesteaks which must’ve really stuck with him. His energy was so strong and he looked so pumped up the entire time.

There was one slight annoyance – about two songs in, an older woman taps my back and I turn around and she starts screaming at me for standing, telling me that I’m being rude and that I was the only person standing. But, literally, everyone else around me was standing. 90% of us were standing and you can even see that from my photos. I even had a very tall man in front of me who was standing. And yet this woman targeted me out specifically. I tried to ignore her for the rest of the concert, until the very end when another older woman next to me who was also sitting, joined in and also told me to sit down. But again, at least 90% of us were all standing, including my friend, and neither ladies were targeting them. Since the people in front of us had just left, we moved our seats to stand there. And as soon as the song ended, I turned around, to see that both the woman who was behind me and the one who was next to me had both left to go home already.

Once the show ended, a girl who had been in the row behind me came up to me and said “don’t you ever let someone try to ruin your night and be rude to you like that ever again!” and she felt so bad for me. There were also a few other people who had my back and agreed that this woman was being crazy. Leaving the parking lot was kind of crazy, it took literally 45 minutes to drive from the parking lot into the actual road, but that was still totally worth it to stay there for the final song. We ordered Domino’s and made it there by 12:55 AM – they closed at 1AM.

The setlist was amazing – he played a good variety of recent and older songs. He played all of his popular singles, but also a few lesser known songs! If I had it my way, I would’ve wanted him to play every single song he’s ever recorded – of course that’s impossible. I cannot say what my favorite song he performed was because they were all equally fantastic.

---

Gryffin

And finally, this weekend I went with Kevin to see Gryffin. He played at the Franklin Music Hall. It was really high energy and a lot of fun!!!

I love going out dancing and I don’t think this is something I will ever “outgrow.” Yes, the two ladies at the Ed Sheeran concert who yelled at me looked like they were in their 60s. But the couple in front of me also looked close to that age, and they were standing and dancing just like me. You can be a grown and responsible person but also still enjoy yourself and have fun. And lately I question “is late twenties too old to be going out to clubs and raves?” No, it’s not. Maybe I will feel different in ten years, or maybe not. I have totally seen people who are decades older than me at raves and music festivals. But if I ever do feel like loud concerts are too much for me, then I will just stay at home – not go out and yell at people who are enjoying it.

It’s been a very active spring and it’s been so nice to go out and do things after one or two-ish years of not being able to. I still can’t believe that we all lived through a pandemic, and that those restrictions lasted as long as they did. I don’t even mind the traffic, the crowds, etc. compared to the face masks and the “social distancing.”