I'm leaving in 24 hours! So please hold your subs. I'll be gone two weeks.

ALSO. Remember not to mass-submit to guides. It's against the rules! I came to check tonight and there was 40 items in my queue since yesterday, almost all from the same person, and almost all had to be rejected!

Remember to check with the editor if they are cool with hyperlinks within their guides. I have never accepted hyperlinks, dating back to the very early days of tv.com, when zero were accepted (even linking to other guides on the site). I do not plan to ever accept them, unless tv.com has changed their rules on them. At this point, I still believe it's up to the editor (do let me know if I'm wrong here).

Have a good two weeks, and I'll write once I get back!

Lisa

Alrighty folks! July 12 - July 27, I will be in the UK with one of my best friends from college! Haven't been in 10 years, so I'm very excited to go back. Will be going to London, Northampton (relatives there!), Edinburgh, and hopefully Dublin. Slight chance we may fit in a day trip to Paris as well.

Also, the big thing we're planning to do is hit up RSC's Hamlet in Stratford. Patrick Stewart and David Tennant are both starring in it, so it's pretty much a must-see.

I will not be able to check my queue much--if at all--so please be patient!

Cheers,
Lisa

I will be out of town with limited email access June 26-July 2. Heading to San Francisco, then Los Angeles to see friends and family.

Hope everyone's well. Will get to my queue when I return.

Thanks,
Lisa

As I have a new job starting soon, I hearby bequeath the coveted editorship of Everybody Loves Raymond to the ever capable jekyll! I'm sure he'll do a great job with it.

Good luck to you, my friend!

Lisa

Well my road trip went pretty well. It was my first time in Philly, and my second time in DC (first time in DC was when I was 12, so it had been a while!). The drive to Philly wasn't too bad. My GPS only f***ed up once... told me to stay on one highway where I should have exited. I ended up having to drive around in downtown Philly for about 15 minutes extra, but I spotted a cool music shop on the way to my hotel, that I eventually later went back to, so it all worked out.

I chilled in the hotel for a while, and got ready for the show--OURS was opening for Filter at the Fillmore at the TLA. I headed over fairly early, and spotted Philadelphia Eddie's, a relatively famous tattoo parlor. I poked my head inside and the lady there was really nice. I looked over the designs they had, but wasn't sure. I then headed to Starbucks across from the Fillmore and had a coffee before the show. I figured it was better to chill at Starbucks than wait in line in the 90 degree weather, ugh. Once I saw the doors were opened, I went inside. Now, it's pretty funny, but the first thing I did was head to the ladies room. I figured it would be a good call to pee early so I didn't have to during the show. EEP. Bad call. The bathrooms were overflowed right at doors! I wrote a detailed review on Yelp.com pretty much bashing the Fillmore. It was truly apalling. If you like Yelp, be sure to check out my review (and feel free to add me as a friend there as well).

Anyway, the show was good, although I did get busted for videoing. But the dude was cool about it and let me carry on, so long as his boss didn't see. Filter kinda sucked, so I didn't stick around. I think I was just really tired from the drive and also pretty deaf from Opiate for the Masses (the first opening band; OURS was on second). They were so ----ing loud... and I just wasn't digging it. But that said, OURS was great, and I got a couple vids up on YouTube from the show, of Mercy and Black.

I did all the touristy stuff in Philly on Wednesday. It was okay, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I honestly sorta felt like WTF about a lot of stuff, if that makes any sense. The state of things in our nation today... its depressing. Anyway, I headed back to my hotel, but the cleaning lady arrived shortly after I got there. So I decided to let her do her thing, and headed to the convenience store to get a cold bottle of water. Lo-and-behold, I ended up back at Philadelphia Eddie's. I decided on the butterfly, on my wrist, right above my other one. Kinda gives it the touch of femininity I'd been craving.

Anyhow, Thursday I headed for DC. It was a fairly quick drive, about 2.5 hrs. I stayed at the Windsor Inn, which was a bed and breakfast (a dump at that), incidentally the cheapest hotel within reasonable walking distance to the show venue. It was about a mile to the venue, and I got there so freakin' early, I kept walking a few blocks and ended up at Howard University. It was cool checking out the student store there, and also, I hung out at another Starbucks for a while, keeping cool. It wasn't as hot as in Philly though. When I decided to mosey on over to the venue, the 9:30 Club, they had the front door of the club open, and I was able to hear some of the sound check for "Mercy" and "Live Again." That was pretty bad ass. Then some poopy-head went and shut the door. Booooo.

The show itself was good, but I admittedly enjoyed Philly better. Jimmy had more positive words to say in Philly, which I think made it better. The cool part about DC though was the fact that I got a photography pass! That was awesome. However, I wasn't told that the venue didn't allow videoing at all (thought the pass covered it), so I did get kinda busted for that. I got some pretty cool photos though. Wish I had a better camera.

Friday I drove back. Brutal, brutal drive, mainly because my throat was sore as hell, partly from my recurring cold, partly from cheering the night before, and partly because of leaving the AC on way too cold in the hotel. It took me a little over nine hours to get from DC to Boston, ouch. Also, I was feeling too **** to really check out the touristy things in DC too. Just snapped a photo of the Washington Monument from the car. I don't know... part of me feels guilty about it, but I just don't feel very patriotic. I feel like the whole thing in Iraq is a mistake, and it really tears me apart to think of all the lives that have been lost over there. And seeing all the stuff in Philly and being in DC... well I didn't really end up feeling how I thought I would.

All in all though, it was a good trip. I'm so glad I moved, so glad I got out of California, so glad I'm moving on and doing sh-- that I never thought I'd do. I'm finally getting over being that scared little girl, and it rocks.

Retired from some more guides.

If there was anyone in trusted range, I made sure to give it to them so that they could get the guide a bit easier.

*NSYNC - band
Eric Johnson - actor
Heath Franklin - actor
Luc Robitaille - athlete
William Sadler - actor
Josh Groban - singer
Jeffrey Combs - actor
Gabriel Macht - actor
Timothy Olyphant - actor
Jolene Blalock - actress

Hope everyone's doing well! Phily has been a blast!

Lisa