bla(h)g.

wow! yesterday was a tired tired day. but i survived and am alive to talk about it today so this is good!

the reason i was so dead yesterday is that i had my first marathon training practice! about a week ago i decided to register for a marathon this october with Team in Training, a branch of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. i am a big supporter of blood cancer research, so to be running in honor of the LLS is very meaningful to me. i am incredibly excited to take this on.

this also means that i might make a habit of posting a bit later on mondays since my long runs will always be on sundays. right now that doesn’t mean much… but in a few months that will mean a few hours of running… AH! so i’ll need to recuperate on sundays and record blogs early monday.

the el rey was SO FUN! oh my goodness… this was my first time having a curtain open on me and wow was that crazy to be staring at a wall of red and suddenly see hundreds of faces smiling up at you. i wanted to hug every one of them. i played “message” at the end of the set and everyone started singing along… i almost died of happiness. i have dreamt of that moment. thank you all for making it real :)

oh plus i met emceemiko at the show!! twas quite a treat. i even saw him in the crowd dancing all cool-style to my songs like only a true emcee would :)

oovrets questions of the week:
What was the first album you purchased? ace of base
At what venue did you first publicly perform one of your songs? AP Calculus, CAPO valley high school, 2002
What was the first song (cover) you learned to play on the guitar? I don’t even know what the song is called, but it was that song that goes “hello world, this is me, life should be fun for everyone”
What was your first job? barista at diedrich coffee!
To whom did you give your first fan autograph? oh hmm. i don’t remember. i’m not sure when people asking for my autograph went from feeling like a silly joke people were playing on me to a legitimate request… haha

えみさんときよじさんへ
よこうそ！日本語で歌を歌いたいですが、いい歌が知らない。。。

hello friends!

try as i might, the mental and physical fatigue that has resulted from last night’s incredibly fun show at the el rey, followed by this morning’s 6:30am wake up to go run too many miles at too fast a pace (i’ll explain this part later), i find myself unable to find the gusto to record the blog tonight. i’ve spent a few hours deliberating over it, but this time my mental power isn’t enough, and the urge to curl up on the floor and take a nap is overwhelming me. therefore, to spare you having to watch a very boring video, i’m going to save it for tomorrow. so it’ll still be up on monday, just later… you know the drill. it’s possible that these monDAY as opposed to monMORNING posts may become a more regular occurrence due to a certain something that is going to be wearing me out to no end on sundays. again, i shall explain this all to you more later :) for now, sleep.

kina

woohoo! so new york has been a ton of fun! i survived my first east coast show. actually it was incredibly fun and i so enjoyed meeting everyone there :) i can’t wait to be back!

notable things so far:
- smoked salmon sliced fresh from the grocery store is SO much better than the prepackaged kind. bagels and lox… AHH. yum.
- subways are fun! so very very sad that efficient public transportation doesn’t exist in LA.
- cake batter italian ice! mmm.
- so many buildings.
- also, so many dachshunds! yay

street team update:
i’m still processing everyone’s forms! we’ll kick into action early june :)

also– tervoo interview is up!
http://www.tervoo.com/results.php?i=25

i’ve been graduated for a year!! ah! where has the time gone?!

oovrets questions:
Which do you prefer:
subways or freeways?
subways (i falls asleep on freeways. it’s possible i could fall asleep on a subway too… but at least that wont kill me)
Manhattan or Manhattan Beach?
hmmmmmmmmm. both
65°(rain) or 95°(sunny)?
probably sunny, but 95 is HOT. i do enjoy the rain when i’m not needing to get somewhere. it’s fun to play in/ look at from inside a warm house wrapped up in a blanket reading a book by the fire and drinking hot chocolate.
Statue of Liberty or statue of Flo-Jo?
either
Knicks or Lakers?
ha… i’m assuming knicks have something to do with new york? yup. sports…

el rey this weekend! yayyyy!

@hydro
i’m so sorry we couldn’t make it to your show on sunday! i am so so glad i finally got to meet you though!
@addie
hi!

will be up sometime monday! i’ve been a little busy during my NY trip, but i’ll get it up as soon as possible!

talk to you soon :)

kina

before i forget — FINALLY, the shirts are up on the website. check them out! we can ship them anywhere.

http://www.kinagrannis.com/merch.html

okay!

so we’ve done a lot of talking about it, but i think it’s time we make this happen! no sense in waiting around.

i sat down this weekend and had a brainstorm session, and between that and all the suggestions i received from a number of you, i think this is going to be the most super awesome street team ever.

intrigued? wondering if you can play the part?
- anyone can be on the street team! if helping spread the word and getting in on some cool “missions” i’ve planned sounds fun to you, that’s all that counts.
- in a different country? doesn’t mean a thing. you can still be a super awesome member of the kg street team.
- joining doesn’t necessarily mean a big time commitment, but your participation is important to help fulfill the purpose of the street team.
- and of course, there will perks for your efforts. :)

so if you think this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, shoot me an email at streetteam@kinagrannis.com and i’ll send you some more information and the “registration form.” the “registration form” is not as scary as it sounds, it just amused me to call it something so professional sounding. haha.

i could’ve gone into more detail… but i want to keep things exciting.

questions? comments? suggestions? just want to get going already?
email streetteam@kinagrannis.com

thanks for being really awesome people.
kina

some responses from last weeks blog:
@deana
so so fun to finally talk to you! and also, noah is about the cutest child that ever was.
@meeks and dro
we are totally meeting soon. crazy??
@strong bad
strong bad?! you were on my blog?!
@anna
welcome to the blog and thanks for the support! by the way– your english sounds perfect.
@grace
yes, my hair is naturally curly. or naturally crazy, perhaps. :) thanks so much and keep up the guitar playing :)
@oovret
thanks and you too. (rock)
@gene p.
congrats on your win and re:stacks is my favorite.

this one is an oldie! i guess in my mind i had just played this song to death, but playing it again was actually kind of fun.

here are some answers to some questions:
What type of plectrum do you use?
- generally i use orange dunlop picks. but i have a few special others. (but they are probably lost)
What is the largest venue in which you have performed?
- some outdoor area this feb in arizona opening for the counting crows
Can I have the tabs to your songs?
- if only i had the time to write tabs for them! some day… i really would love to share.
What is the most played song on your iPod?
- i tend to lose my ipod for months on end, but the most played song on my itunes is “Let Go” by Frou Frou with 640 plays.
kina, what ARE the many uses of pennies?
- well, one is spending them. but the BEST one is strategically leaving heads up pennies everywhere you go in hopes that you will make someone feel happy and lucky later when they find it.
why is it that sometimes when you’re playing a song [like in the part of the new song that you posted with the bleeding love video] you like slide down your left hand after playing a chord? do you know what i mean?
- yes i know what you mean, and the answer is… it feels right? haha. i’m actually not very conscious of the movement but i have realized that i do it, and it doesn’t actually accomplish much. except feel good.
do any bugs/reptiles just gross you out?? or just plain annoy the heck out of you? because.. i mean you wanted to be an entomologist or a herpetologist but dont you find them annoying??
- i strongly dislike mosquitos. ants are annoying but are totally necessary. mosquitos are just awful. also, there are a few that i would prefer to not be ON me. such as: spiders. i like to carry them by their little web strands, but don’t like them to crawl on me. cockroaches. fine to look at but when they 1) fly straight at my face 2) grab onto my big toe in the dark or 3) are chilling on my hand when i wake up, then i have a problem. all reptiles are great unless they are poisonous and biting me. :)

love love
kina

i’m playing a live set on one of KSCR’s radio shows friday morning at 11amPST! www. kscr.org

tune in!

heart,
kina