itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini...

Yes mum, I've gone demented to the point beyond redemption - I bought my first [2] bikini[s]!
After going to the beach at Viareggio, I realise the only ppl in Italy who wear full length bathing suits are blubbery, bloated obasan's. Sooo... even if I am blubbery and bloated in all the wrong places, I have to dress my age.
What with the glorious summer sales [apparently all of Italy goes on sale on the same weekend; =D instinctively I went berserk] I picked meself 2 halterneck bikinis. Now I can "show off" all my newly acquired ungainly + untanned flabby bits from all the gelatos I've consumed over the past month.
Be warned: If you happen to be in Italy / Spain this summer, and spot a short-haired, pear-shaped Asian chick with her belly hanging all out, COVER YOUR EYES to avoid baaaad mental images~~
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Alanis in Lucca:

Entertainment post-10-pm has finally landed in Ye Olde Historic Lucca, even if it's only for the month of July. Went to an Alanis Morrisette concert yesterday. Was totally random cos I'd never pay to see her in the States. I don't know any of her songs besides the ones on Jagged Little Pill, my high school's unofficial anthems circa 1996.
The venue: A nice big piazza bound by tall trees and the Duke's Palace, 2 mins from my apartment - basically I could have listened to it from my apartment, had i known I couldn't see the stage anyway.
The crowd: A lot older than one would expect at a rock concert. we, aged 22-24, seemed to be the youngest lot. Everyone else is in their late 20's to early 40's. What's even stranger is that ppl don't seem to like the music for their lyrics, as no one apart from us + other English-speaking tourists seem to know the words to her songs. The Italians either sway to the beat, or not move at all when Alanis played her new, lesser-known songs.