My mind is so jumbled right now. I am overwhelmed by the past and the present. No matter where you go and what you do, there are things that follow you and stand in your path until you address them or find a new way to avoid them. As much as I like to believe that I possess enough self-awareness to not be sidetracked by these events, I am so very wrong. At times like this, I find myself almost incapacitated by all the thoughts crowding my mind at the same time. Even my notes that I make almost every day don’t seem to help me make sense of everything I am trying to process and keep in order. So here I am, starting on a blank page and just writing whatever comes to mind that I can (hopefully) fashion into some sort of cohesive thought. You can all judge me later on my success or failure. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I switch topics in mid-sentence. Try and keep up.
Bad moods happen to everyone. Sometimes you can try to head it off by occupying your mind with trivial things like grocery shopping or paying bills, or cleaning your closet or whatever you think is going to give you some relief by the sheer mundaneness of the task. (That’s not even getting in to other escapes like drugs and/or alcohol, but those never were my things, thank goodness) Eventually you find that everything is clean, you have plenty of food, your kids are clean and asleep and you are still left with the thoughts you work so hard to forget. I’d like to think that being alone gives me the luxury of wallowing in the moment rather than attempting to bottle it up or push it aside until “later”. I try to look at it the same way I would look at a good mood. As much as you want to hold on to those, you know eventually, they will pass too. As sure as Monday follows Sunday, bad moods and good moods follow one another and sometimes with almost the same regularity.
Before you can go about the business of getting what you want, you need to recognize what it is that you need. It is always so much easier to do this kind of armchair analysis for others than it is to do for yourself. Lately, I have been swamped by family drama. As much as I would like to go into details, I find that I am too tired to do so and certainly not with any real objectivity. Besides, my drama is no more special than anyone else’s. I often find it difficult to really come clean and state what is bothering me and more importantly, to actually voice what I need. This is part of my pattern, I guess. This is part of the private side that through this outlet is slowly (think molasses running uphill in winter) starting to spill out. Maybe it’s the feeling of being able to tell it my way with no need for anyone to see my expression as I tell it, or for me to modify the telling based on the expressions I see in my audience.
When I started this site, I’m not sure exactly what I had in mind. I wanted an opportunity to describe the world around me and inside me that I may not always do in person. I had intentions of making these entries much more revealing than they have been. I think once I started to realize how many people were reading this, it was far safer and easier to switch to a more entertaining mode than a revealing one. This is another part of me, I suppose. In my mind I believe that the people I know have come to expect certain behaviors from me and therefore I “give them what they want.” Isn’t it nice that I have made that decision for all of you? I have given myself an “out” before I ever even let you in. Granted, there have certainly been some personal entries here. I think of it as sticking a toe in the water to see what happens. So far, everything about this experience has been positive, making it clear to me that all of us are indeed our own worst enemies.
And now that I have revealed even this much, I find myself wanting to go find mundane tasks to do. In the light of day tomorrow, I will probably cringe over this entry, but for tonight it’s where I am so I’d better post it now. Besides, I will probably be in a better mood tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Rocky Mountain High
My Thanksgiving plans for this year were vastly different from last year. Last year I spent in Los Angeles with my grandma. It was my first time to cook the turkey and unfortunately, my last holiday with her. Even after losing her, I never imagined the strange events that would lead me to my first Thanksgiving in Denver.
Day and Night, Night and Day
A few months ago, I was harassing my mother about putting her will together. Isn’t that a nice sentence? Geesh. Anyway, I was asking her about her relatives and making sure she had a way for us to get in touch with them if needed. Growing up, we never spent much time with her family, and she never appeared to keep in touch with them either. It’s really amazing what passed for normal behavior when you don’t know any different. Well, one thing led to another, and one day my sister called to tell me she had spoken to my mother’s sister (yes, this is my aunt, it is just taking me some time to adjust to saying it) and that I should be expecting a call any time. Sure enough, she called me. It was so bizarre.
My mom is a hermit, an introvert, a lone wolf, whatever you want to call it. My aunt is not. Well, not really. She likes to like outside of what I would define as civilization, but otherwise, she’s pretty social. Where my mother is passive, my aunt is aggressive; where mom is contemplative, my aunt is impulsive. You get the idea. They sound very similar on the phone. It was really weird to talk to someone that sounded like my mom, but with a completely different personality. We talked for a bit and over the next series of conversations, she invited me to come for a visit on Thanksgiving.
The Gentle Giant
My uncle Chris is a very nice man. He came and picked me up from the airport. On the hour drive back to their house, we made some small talk and basically got to know one another. He is a soft-spoken man and about 6’2” or 6’3”. He is also very attentive and seemed very eager to make me feel welcome. I had to be careful what I said because it was likely to appear before me. Every morning when I got up, uncle Chris would have made a coffee run for me and presented me with Starbucks. How nice is that? I was talking to Aunt Heather about collecting cooking gadgets and lamenting over the fact that I didn’t have a garlic press. Yeah, he came back from the grocery with one. Hmm. So like I said, I had to be careful what I was talking about otherwise it would have appeared. He was like a genie.
Filling in the Blanks
While the turkey was cooking, aunt Heather and I went through boxes of pictures. It was funny because she didn’t even know half of the people in them. This too was a strange experience, because I was able to see so many pictures of my mother’s family (MY family) that I had never seen. My grandfather died in a car accident the month before I was born. I now have several pictures of him, which is nice. Aunt Heather says I have the same type of skin tone, whatever that means. She asked me if I was ever mistaken for Hispanic or Italian. I am, but not as often as you might think. She had an envelope that contained my grandfather’s effects from the accident. (Still in the same envelope as when it was given to my grandma). It was a little creepy to go through, but I have long since thought of Mom’s side of the family as a little bit “Ripley’s Believe it or Not”, so what the hell, right?
I also heard a lot of stories about the relatives. Some of it was fun, some of it was weird, and some of it was just terrible. I think I am probably still processing some of the information and will be for a long time. I wouldn’t call it life altering, but it doesn’t shed some light on some gray areas in the past. They say knowledge is power, and I feel like I suffered a power surge while I was gone. There is something to be said for remaining ignorant. Ah well. Too late now.
All in all, it was a good visit. I came back with a huge stack of pictures that I need to make copies of for the rest of the family. When I got home there was a message on my answering machine from my mother. She wanted to know how my trip went. That may not seem like a significant event, but my mother has a hate/hate relationship with the phone, so to get her to spontaneously call me probably required a goat being slaughtered somewhere. I figured she was a bit nervous as to whether aunt Heather told any secrets. You know what siblings are like, right? I think we ended that conversation with her feeling a bit relieved and me feeling a bit drained from the tap dancing I was doing. Like I said, I am still processing some of the information and I wasn’t about to spill my guts to her before I am good and ready. So unless one of my relatives that reads this blabs to Mom, I think I’m fine for a while.
Here is an old picture of my Mom and her family. This was taken in June of 1959 in Canada. It was before my uncle came along. My mom is the tall drink of water standing between my grandparents.
Day and Night, Night and Day
A few months ago, I was harassing my mother about putting her will together. Isn’t that a nice sentence? Geesh. Anyway, I was asking her about her relatives and making sure she had a way for us to get in touch with them if needed. Growing up, we never spent much time with her family, and she never appeared to keep in touch with them either. It’s really amazing what passed for normal behavior when you don’t know any different. Well, one thing led to another, and one day my sister called to tell me she had spoken to my mother’s sister (yes, this is my aunt, it is just taking me some time to adjust to saying it) and that I should be expecting a call any time. Sure enough, she called me. It was so bizarre.
My mom is a hermit, an introvert, a lone wolf, whatever you want to call it. My aunt is not. Well, not really. She likes to like outside of what I would define as civilization, but otherwise, she’s pretty social. Where my mother is passive, my aunt is aggressive; where mom is contemplative, my aunt is impulsive. You get the idea. They sound very similar on the phone. It was really weird to talk to someone that sounded like my mom, but with a completely different personality. We talked for a bit and over the next series of conversations, she invited me to come for a visit on Thanksgiving.
The Gentle Giant
My uncle Chris is a very nice man. He came and picked me up from the airport. On the hour drive back to their house, we made some small talk and basically got to know one another. He is a soft-spoken man and about 6’2” or 6’3”. He is also very attentive and seemed very eager to make me feel welcome. I had to be careful what I said because it was likely to appear before me. Every morning when I got up, uncle Chris would have made a coffee run for me and presented me with Starbucks. How nice is that? I was talking to Aunt Heather about collecting cooking gadgets and lamenting over the fact that I didn’t have a garlic press. Yeah, he came back from the grocery with one. Hmm. So like I said, I had to be careful what I was talking about otherwise it would have appeared. He was like a genie.
Filling in the Blanks
While the turkey was cooking, aunt Heather and I went through boxes of pictures. It was funny because she didn’t even know half of the people in them. This too was a strange experience, because I was able to see so many pictures of my mother’s family (MY family) that I had never seen. My grandfather died in a car accident the month before I was born. I now have several pictures of him, which is nice. Aunt Heather says I have the same type of skin tone, whatever that means. She asked me if I was ever mistaken for Hispanic or Italian. I am, but not as often as you might think. She had an envelope that contained my grandfather’s effects from the accident. (Still in the same envelope as when it was given to my grandma). It was a little creepy to go through, but I have long since thought of Mom’s side of the family as a little bit “Ripley’s Believe it or Not”, so what the hell, right?
I also heard a lot of stories about the relatives. Some of it was fun, some of it was weird, and some of it was just terrible. I think I am probably still processing some of the information and will be for a long time. I wouldn’t call it life altering, but it doesn’t shed some light on some gray areas in the past. They say knowledge is power, and I feel like I suffered a power surge while I was gone. There is something to be said for remaining ignorant. Ah well. Too late now.
All in all, it was a good visit. I came back with a huge stack of pictures that I need to make copies of for the rest of the family. When I got home there was a message on my answering machine from my mother. She wanted to know how my trip went. That may not seem like a significant event, but my mother has a hate/hate relationship with the phone, so to get her to spontaneously call me probably required a goat being slaughtered somewhere. I figured she was a bit nervous as to whether aunt Heather told any secrets. You know what siblings are like, right? I think we ended that conversation with her feeling a bit relieved and me feeling a bit drained from the tap dancing I was doing. Like I said, I am still processing some of the information and I wasn’t about to spill my guts to her before I am good and ready. So unless one of my relatives that reads this blabs to Mom, I think I’m fine for a while.
Here is an old picture of my Mom and her family. This was taken in June of 1959 in Canada. It was before my uncle came along. My mom is the tall drink of water standing between my grandparents.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Bob, Bucks, and Babs
Ok, here we go. I had some friends in town this weekend. Well really just a couple of friends who brought friends with them. Anyway, it was a guy’s weekend, and I was an honorary guy. At least until Saturday when they broke up with me so they could go do guy things and I could go see Barbra Streisand.
Bob
Friday night I went with the guys to go see a comedy show. The Comedy Festival was in town (think Billy, Whoopi and Robin) and this place was a zoo. After eating dinner at The Pink Taco (Yeah, the name is icky, but the food is good if you can get past it). We headed over to Cesar's for the show. It was with Bob Saget and friends. This guy is just not funny. He talks about being the dad on Full House and that’s about it. He is incredibly foul and he repeats himself over and over again. He was only on for maybe 10-15 minutes at the beginning, thank goodness. The rest of the time he served as emcee for the other comedians.
As a special guest, Craig Ferguson, who was performing at the Orleans, stopped by for about a 10 minute set. Honestly? I didn’t think he was that funny either. Now I was starting to get worried. Was it me or are these people just not funny? Luckily, after that the next few comics were much better. I wish I could remember who they were, because they were names I didn’t recognize. Oh, except I just remembered one: Jim Norton. I think he was the last guy on and he was pretty funny. There was also one woman in the line up who was pretty funny too. Since the show didn’t even start until 1am, I don’t think I can be blamed for not remembering much of the details.
Bucks
The OSU- Michigan game was on Saturday. At first, the guys said we were all going to watch the game at the Hooters hotel. Ugh. Needless to say, I was talking my time getting ready the next morning. Before I left to head back to the Strip, I got a call saying that the only thing big about Hooters was well, the hooters. The TV screens were pretty small, so they guys wanted to go somewhere else. They decided on the ESPN Zone at New York New York. It was unbelievable. I mean I knew it was going to be crowded, but it was unreal. There was a sea of red and not a lot of blue and gold. Clearly a strong presence for OSU. We ended up standing for the entire game, but that was ok. Lots of chanting going on, lots of commentary. Most of the guys are theater geeks, so hearing them discuss the football game was really weird. I thought it would be even funnier if they did it using Shakespearian English, but decided to keep that comment to myself. Anyway, Go Bucks!!!
Babs
After the game, it was time for me to end guy’s weekend. They decided to head across the street to go check out the new Bond movie and I went home to go get changed for my concert. Barbra was fantastic. My seat was terrible, but I didn’t care. She was so funny and warm. It took me a while to realize why she looked a little strange. I realized that she hasn’t had any work done on her face. She is actually aging naturally. It’s weird to see a 60 year old that doesn’t look like a 40 year old. Good for her, I say. She is never more beautiful to me than when she is singing a song. Her voice was still pretty good, although she wasn’t going for many high notes. She also had Teleprompters, which she mentioned using as a crutch in case she forgot something since she has such bad stage fright. Yes, she still did the President Bush skit, and yes, it was funny. I suppose I can see why people might be upset because she skewers him pretty good, but you really have to admire the actor pulling this off. He is incredible. After he left the stage, she showed a picture of him with the real “Dubya” and talked about how the 2 men knew each other and respected each other, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. It was funny.
She played for about 2 and a half hours, although she did also give herself a 20-minute intermission. I thought she was kidding. Nope. She left, the lights came on and there we sat for 20 minutes. Il Divo is touring with her. I don’t like them. Pop-Opera? Yuck. Who needs to hear an Italian version of Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart? I was a little confused at first seeing these 4 men dressed alike on the stage. I wondered when they were going to start stripping. Turns out Il Divo doesn’t mean “Chippendales" in Italian. Oh well. Luckily, they didn’t get a lot of stage time.
Before I left, I did finally cave and go get a T-shirt and a coffee mug. The T-shirt is a picture of her head when she wore the giant white bejeweled turban from Funny Girl. Really, it’s a terrible shot, but so over the top, I couldn’t resist. There was a bunch of artwork in the lobby that you could pay to have one of the photographers take your picture next to. I skipped that one. I saw only one celebrity, although I heard there were others there. Rosie O’Donnell sat in the front row. The older woman in front of me with binoculars confirmed this for me. Seriously, I was sitting in the rafters. I had a carabiner attached to my waist in case I fell. No wonder my ticket was so expensive. The fine print said I had also purchased extra life insurance. There were also "Tips and Tricks" for beating altitude sickness.
Bob
Friday night I went with the guys to go see a comedy show. The Comedy Festival was in town (think Billy, Whoopi and Robin) and this place was a zoo. After eating dinner at The Pink Taco (Yeah, the name is icky, but the food is good if you can get past it). We headed over to Cesar's for the show. It was with Bob Saget and friends. This guy is just not funny. He talks about being the dad on Full House and that’s about it. He is incredibly foul and he repeats himself over and over again. He was only on for maybe 10-15 minutes at the beginning, thank goodness. The rest of the time he served as emcee for the other comedians.
As a special guest, Craig Ferguson, who was performing at the Orleans, stopped by for about a 10 minute set. Honestly? I didn’t think he was that funny either. Now I was starting to get worried. Was it me or are these people just not funny? Luckily, after that the next few comics were much better. I wish I could remember who they were, because they were names I didn’t recognize. Oh, except I just remembered one: Jim Norton. I think he was the last guy on and he was pretty funny. There was also one woman in the line up who was pretty funny too. Since the show didn’t even start until 1am, I don’t think I can be blamed for not remembering much of the details.
Bucks
The OSU- Michigan game was on Saturday. At first, the guys said we were all going to watch the game at the Hooters hotel. Ugh. Needless to say, I was talking my time getting ready the next morning. Before I left to head back to the Strip, I got a call saying that the only thing big about Hooters was well, the hooters. The TV screens were pretty small, so they guys wanted to go somewhere else. They decided on the ESPN Zone at New York New York. It was unbelievable. I mean I knew it was going to be crowded, but it was unreal. There was a sea of red and not a lot of blue and gold. Clearly a strong presence for OSU. We ended up standing for the entire game, but that was ok. Lots of chanting going on, lots of commentary. Most of the guys are theater geeks, so hearing them discuss the football game was really weird. I thought it would be even funnier if they did it using Shakespearian English, but decided to keep that comment to myself. Anyway, Go Bucks!!!
Babs
After the game, it was time for me to end guy’s weekend. They decided to head across the street to go check out the new Bond movie and I went home to go get changed for my concert. Barbra was fantastic. My seat was terrible, but I didn’t care. She was so funny and warm. It took me a while to realize why she looked a little strange. I realized that she hasn’t had any work done on her face. She is actually aging naturally. It’s weird to see a 60 year old that doesn’t look like a 40 year old. Good for her, I say. She is never more beautiful to me than when she is singing a song. Her voice was still pretty good, although she wasn’t going for many high notes. She also had Teleprompters, which she mentioned using as a crutch in case she forgot something since she has such bad stage fright. Yes, she still did the President Bush skit, and yes, it was funny. I suppose I can see why people might be upset because she skewers him pretty good, but you really have to admire the actor pulling this off. He is incredible. After he left the stage, she showed a picture of him with the real “Dubya” and talked about how the 2 men knew each other and respected each other, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. It was funny.
She played for about 2 and a half hours, although she did also give herself a 20-minute intermission. I thought she was kidding. Nope. She left, the lights came on and there we sat for 20 minutes. Il Divo is touring with her. I don’t like them. Pop-Opera? Yuck. Who needs to hear an Italian version of Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart? I was a little confused at first seeing these 4 men dressed alike on the stage. I wondered when they were going to start stripping. Turns out Il Divo doesn’t mean “Chippendales" in Italian. Oh well. Luckily, they didn’t get a lot of stage time.
Before I left, I did finally cave and go get a T-shirt and a coffee mug. The T-shirt is a picture of her head when she wore the giant white bejeweled turban from Funny Girl. Really, it’s a terrible shot, but so over the top, I couldn’t resist. There was a bunch of artwork in the lobby that you could pay to have one of the photographers take your picture next to. I skipped that one. I saw only one celebrity, although I heard there were others there. Rosie O’Donnell sat in the front row. The older woman in front of me with binoculars confirmed this for me. Seriously, I was sitting in the rafters. I had a carabiner attached to my waist in case I fell. No wonder my ticket was so expensive. The fine print said I had also purchased extra life insurance. There were also "Tips and Tricks" for beating altitude sickness.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Monsters
It’s been a weird week so far. Tuesday I came face to face with the blue screen of death. I hate that thing. Hasn’t happened to me in ages. For a while I was stuck in a loop where I couldn’t even log on to figure out what to do next. Luckily, I have another laptop. I logged on to that one so I could use my trusty friend Google to search for an answer. Several hours later, I finally fixed the problem (fingers crossed on that one).
Then last night I was watching the news and I saw this horrible story. Why in the world do I watch the news? There are so many terrible people out there. It was a child abuse story, which is even worse. A three-year old little girl abused by both of her parents to the point where she had to have emergency brain surgery. They then went on to list the various things done to this child. Why was it necessary to go into all the details? Isn’t it bad enough to know it happened in the first place? You know you are in a bad place when the local news makes you bawl like a baby. Makes you want to become a vigilante. Neither of the parents is in jail and there is a good chance they will end up fleeing the country since neither is from here. Please, please let there be a special Hell for these people.
Other local stories keep talking about school shootings, parents that have their kids enrolled in martial arts classes, and the nightly profiling of sex offenders living in the valley that haven’t registered. So many things that make me glad I don’t have a child to constantly worry over. Naturally, I ended up thinking about what kind of mother I would be. How could I not turn into a smothering, over-protective, hyper-vigilant nightmare? These stories aren’t unique to this town, so even if I didn’t live here, it isn’t as if I would be better off living in Wisconsin. I don’t know how parents do it. I would probably never sleep again.
Then last night I was watching the news and I saw this horrible story. Why in the world do I watch the news? There are so many terrible people out there. It was a child abuse story, which is even worse. A three-year old little girl abused by both of her parents to the point where she had to have emergency brain surgery. They then went on to list the various things done to this child. Why was it necessary to go into all the details? Isn’t it bad enough to know it happened in the first place? You know you are in a bad place when the local news makes you bawl like a baby. Makes you want to become a vigilante. Neither of the parents is in jail and there is a good chance they will end up fleeing the country since neither is from here. Please, please let there be a special Hell for these people.
Other local stories keep talking about school shootings, parents that have their kids enrolled in martial arts classes, and the nightly profiling of sex offenders living in the valley that haven’t registered. So many things that make me glad I don’t have a child to constantly worry over. Naturally, I ended up thinking about what kind of mother I would be. How could I not turn into a smothering, over-protective, hyper-vigilant nightmare? These stories aren’t unique to this town, so even if I didn’t live here, it isn’t as if I would be better off living in Wisconsin. I don’t know how parents do it. I would probably never sleep again.
Monday, November 13, 2006
You Better, You Better, You Bet!
Friday night I saw The Who in concert. They were amazing. They were playing at Mandalay Bay, which is another huge arena like the one at the MGM Grand. My seat wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t close either. I’m just glad I could sit this time if I wanted to.
As an added bonus, The Pretenders opened for them. I had no idea when I bought my ticket they would be there. They were pretty good too, although they didn’t play a lot of old stuff. They have a new album out, so most of the songs were from the new album. Chrissy looked great. I wonder how old she is now? I have no idea. I also didn’t know she was from Ohio. She sang some song about it. Apparently it’s an old song, but I wasn’t familiar with it. What I liked best about them was that they started on time. I can’t think of a concert lately where they actually started on time.
So after the Pretenders finished, there were some advertisements running on the screens about being able to buy recordings of the concert. CD’s or DVD’s of the show. Pretty cool, really. It’s nice to be able to go out and buy a copy of a show you actually attended. I see concert DVD’s in stores and I think, yeah this is nice, but it was recorded at a show I didn’t even attend. I haven’t gone out to the website yet to check out the prices, but I’m sure I will.
I know a few songs by The Who, as I’m sure we all do now if you watch any of the CSI shows at all. They played all of those of course, plus Pinball Wizard, Behind Blue Eyes, and my favorite, You Better You Bet. That song cracks me up. It reminds me of my Dad and long car trips. It also makes me think of ThreeL and college. She liked singing that one. I can picture it clearly. What I thought was really interesting was the dynamic between Pete and Roger. I don’t really know a lot of history about the band, but I was surprised at how little Roger spoke during the show. Generally, I think of the lead singer as being the spokesperson, but that clearly wasn’t the case here. I suppose since Pete writes all the songs, it makes sense that he would have more to say about them. Plus, he sings on most of the tracks too, so there you go.
I was also really impressed by how great a guitar player he is. There were these giant video screens they used during the performance and in a few songs they used old concert footage. It was interesting to see them when they were young and jumping around everywhere and then to see them now. Pete hopped around a bit, but clearly nothing like the early days. Good thing. I was a little worried about him falling and breaking a hip. Roger still sounded pretty good. He made a comment at one point about how hard it is for singers to perform in Vegas, mentioning some condition called “Vegas throat.” I guess the dry air doesn’t help the singing voice. It didn’t seem to be a big deal until he got around to singing Won’t Get Fooled Again. It has that lovely scream in it and I was hoping he could still do it. It didn’t happen at first, but he did try it at the end. It was good and the crowd went bananas.
All in all, it was a great show and I’m so glad I saw them. This Saturday is Streisand. My seat totally sucks, but it’s more important to hear her than see her, so I can live with that. I wonder if she is going to get pissed off at this crowd too? If the trend continues with taping the individual shows, then maybe I’ll buy a copy of this one.
As an added bonus, The Pretenders opened for them. I had no idea when I bought my ticket they would be there. They were pretty good too, although they didn’t play a lot of old stuff. They have a new album out, so most of the songs were from the new album. Chrissy looked great. I wonder how old she is now? I have no idea. I also didn’t know she was from Ohio. She sang some song about it. Apparently it’s an old song, but I wasn’t familiar with it. What I liked best about them was that they started on time. I can’t think of a concert lately where they actually started on time.
So after the Pretenders finished, there were some advertisements running on the screens about being able to buy recordings of the concert. CD’s or DVD’s of the show. Pretty cool, really. It’s nice to be able to go out and buy a copy of a show you actually attended. I see concert DVD’s in stores and I think, yeah this is nice, but it was recorded at a show I didn’t even attend. I haven’t gone out to the website yet to check out the prices, but I’m sure I will.
I know a few songs by The Who, as I’m sure we all do now if you watch any of the CSI shows at all. They played all of those of course, plus Pinball Wizard, Behind Blue Eyes, and my favorite, You Better You Bet. That song cracks me up. It reminds me of my Dad and long car trips. It also makes me think of ThreeL and college. She liked singing that one. I can picture it clearly. What I thought was really interesting was the dynamic between Pete and Roger. I don’t really know a lot of history about the band, but I was surprised at how little Roger spoke during the show. Generally, I think of the lead singer as being the spokesperson, but that clearly wasn’t the case here. I suppose since Pete writes all the songs, it makes sense that he would have more to say about them. Plus, he sings on most of the tracks too, so there you go.
I was also really impressed by how great a guitar player he is. There were these giant video screens they used during the performance and in a few songs they used old concert footage. It was interesting to see them when they were young and jumping around everywhere and then to see them now. Pete hopped around a bit, but clearly nothing like the early days. Good thing. I was a little worried about him falling and breaking a hip. Roger still sounded pretty good. He made a comment at one point about how hard it is for singers to perform in Vegas, mentioning some condition called “Vegas throat.” I guess the dry air doesn’t help the singing voice. It didn’t seem to be a big deal until he got around to singing Won’t Get Fooled Again. It has that lovely scream in it and I was hoping he could still do it. It didn’t happen at first, but he did try it at the end. It was good and the crowd went bananas.
All in all, it was a great show and I’m so glad I saw them. This Saturday is Streisand. My seat totally sucks, but it’s more important to hear her than see her, so I can live with that. I wonder if she is going to get pissed off at this crowd too? If the trend continues with taping the individual shows, then maybe I’ll buy a copy of this one.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Jonesing for Fall and other Random Thoughts
I have surrendered to the dark side. This weekend I went to get my hair done and ended up going darker rather than lighter. It was time. Highlights are fine for summer, but my inner-Goth wannabe was calling and it was time to let her out again. The lady that does my hair, Ruth, decided to do something fun and leave some of the highlights in. The result is really…interesting. What do I care? Its just hair. No matter what I do to it, I can undo it, so I never mind experiments. Then again, there was that one time I ended up with hot pink hair. That was a bad day. I looked like a scratch and sniff Strawberry Shortcake character. Even so, I really want some purple or a really dark red. My color coordination will really go too far one day.
Anyway, I’m traveling again this week. It’s nice, because I headed east and I finally get to see some fall colors. I miss the season change. Flying in to Virginia this afternoon was really pretty. It was like a patchwork quilt full of reds, oranges and browns in between lots of green. The window seat on the plane is the best place to sit, at least for me. I love being able to look out the window and watch the different landscapes go by below me. After all this time, it just doesn’t get old. Fall is fun because the colors are so vibrant. The only weird thing about traveling today was dealing with the daylight. I had an early morning flight, so the sun was just coming up when I got to the airport. By the time I landed here, got my luggage, picked up my rental car and drove to the hotel, it was dark again. Crazy.
I finally opened up all the boxes with my winter clothes. I had to since I needed warmer clothes to wear this week. So I have now seen the return of the sweater set. I really am not loving them anymore. They are just so darn easy to pack for work. I also got a package in the mail this weekend from my friend Mike and he sent me a new pair of pj’s from the Gap. Guess what they have on them? Yep. Cherries. How cool is that? I brought them with me this week. (I just read those last sentences again and it occurs to me that it might sound a bit strange to have men sending me pajamas in the mail. It was a very belated birthday gift, but yeah I guess it sounds strange. It really isn't).
I have another concert to go to when I get home. This time it’s the Who. I recently found out the Pretenders are opening for them. It should be a really good show. I don’t know a lot of songs by the Who although I did buy a Greatest Hits CD within the last year. Still, I think CSI has helped them immensely in terms of keeping their music in the public’s mind. As for the Pretenders, I hope they sing Middle of the Road. I like that song best. I’m over Brass in Pocket, but I’m sure they’ll end up playing it.
Ok, I have something to tell you. I have a song stuck in my head. Last week, Keane did a radio show in London and they ended up doing a weird cover by combining 2 songs: Bootylicious by Destiny’s Child and Dirrty by Christina Aguilera. I know, I know. It sounds like a really dumb thing for pasty, white boys from England to try and attempt, and they are certainly having fun and being silly while singing it, but it is stuck in my head. I guess it isn’t all that different than listening to that new Weird Al song, White and Nerdy. If you haven’t seen the video, you really need to. It has Donnie Osmond dancing in the background. It cracks me up!
Anyway, I’m traveling again this week. It’s nice, because I headed east and I finally get to see some fall colors. I miss the season change. Flying in to Virginia this afternoon was really pretty. It was like a patchwork quilt full of reds, oranges and browns in between lots of green. The window seat on the plane is the best place to sit, at least for me. I love being able to look out the window and watch the different landscapes go by below me. After all this time, it just doesn’t get old. Fall is fun because the colors are so vibrant. The only weird thing about traveling today was dealing with the daylight. I had an early morning flight, so the sun was just coming up when I got to the airport. By the time I landed here, got my luggage, picked up my rental car and drove to the hotel, it was dark again. Crazy.
I finally opened up all the boxes with my winter clothes. I had to since I needed warmer clothes to wear this week. So I have now seen the return of the sweater set. I really am not loving them anymore. They are just so darn easy to pack for work. I also got a package in the mail this weekend from my friend Mike and he sent me a new pair of pj’s from the Gap. Guess what they have on them? Yep. Cherries. How cool is that? I brought them with me this week. (I just read those last sentences again and it occurs to me that it might sound a bit strange to have men sending me pajamas in the mail. It was a very belated birthday gift, but yeah I guess it sounds strange. It really isn't).
I have another concert to go to when I get home. This time it’s the Who. I recently found out the Pretenders are opening for them. It should be a really good show. I don’t know a lot of songs by the Who although I did buy a Greatest Hits CD within the last year. Still, I think CSI has helped them immensely in terms of keeping their music in the public’s mind. As for the Pretenders, I hope they sing Middle of the Road. I like that song best. I’m over Brass in Pocket, but I’m sure they’ll end up playing it.
Ok, I have something to tell you. I have a song stuck in my head. Last week, Keane did a radio show in London and they ended up doing a weird cover by combining 2 songs: Bootylicious by Destiny’s Child and Dirrty by Christina Aguilera. I know, I know. It sounds like a really dumb thing for pasty, white boys from England to try and attempt, and they are certainly having fun and being silly while singing it, but it is stuck in my head. I guess it isn’t all that different than listening to that new Weird Al song, White and Nerdy. If you haven’t seen the video, you really need to. It has Donnie Osmond dancing in the background. It cracks me up!
Friday, November 03, 2006
Word!
I’m in a hurry up and wait mode. I hate this mode. At the moment, I have nothing to do. However, one word and I could suddenly be buried in tasks that need to be done immediately. So, here I sit. Needing something to do besides looking at my poor toe to see what color and size it is today, I turned on my other computer and decided to check out iTunes and see if there was anything new I couldn’t live without. And, I had a couple of bands I wanted to look up after the Vegoose festival.
Once I got into iTunes, there was a message saying an upgrade was available, so that killed some time. I can’t see too many changes, at least not to the player. As it was cycling through my library, I was catching glimpses of titles as they were flashing past and saw the word “break” appear a few times. Since I have broken things on my mind, I decided to check through my library for all songs with the words “Break” or “Broken” in the title. See what happens to me with too much time on my hands?
Here we go. As you might expect, most songs with the words “break” or “broken” also have the word “heart” near by. A couple of extras that showed up from my search also included the word “breakfast” as in Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Deep Blue Something and anything by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Aside from those, everything else was pretty obvious. Kind of a nice mix too, I guess. Maybe I should turn it into a playlist. Here are some of the songs for Break:
Once I got into iTunes, there was a message saying an upgrade was available, so that killed some time. I can’t see too many changes, at least not to the player. As it was cycling through my library, I was catching glimpses of titles as they were flashing past and saw the word “break” appear a few times. Since I have broken things on my mind, I decided to check through my library for all songs with the words “Break” or “Broken” in the title. See what happens to me with too much time on my hands?
Here we go. As you might expect, most songs with the words “break” or “broken” also have the word “heart” near by. A couple of extras that showed up from my search also included the word “breakfast” as in Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Deep Blue Something and anything by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Aside from those, everything else was pretty obvious. Kind of a nice mix too, I guess. Maybe I should turn it into a playlist. Here are some of the songs for Break:
- Break My Stride- Matthew Wilder
- Daybreak- Barry Manilow
- Breaking the Habit- Linkin Park
- Headed for a Heartbreak- Winger
- Break it to Me Gently – Juice Newton
Here are some for Broken:
- How Can You Mend a Broken Heart – Al Green and also the Bee Gees. I love both versions.
- Broken Wings- Mr. Mister
- Edge of a Broken Heart- Vixen
- Broken Toy- Keane
- Broken Man- Paul Young
Once I had warmed up to this topic, I decided to try other searches to see what I might get. This time I was aiming for body parts. "Heart" was too easy (and it came back with no less than 87 songs), so I skipped that one. "Head" was more interesting, although not much shorter with 57 songs. "Eyes" came in at 27 songs, "Mouth" had 12, but I don’t understand how it came up with some of them. What does Burning Down the House by the Talking Heads have to do with the word mouth? Surely it isn’t intuitive enough to associate talking with your mouth? I did a search for "Talk" and got the answer. A different list.
I did a search on “hands” and came up with a pretty good (and short) list. Check it out:
- Cold Hands (Warm Heart)- Brendan Benson
- Hemorrage (In My Hands)- Fuel
- Look at Your Hands- George Michael
- Keep Your Hands to Yourself- The Georgia Satellites
- The Girl with the Weight of the World in her Hands- Indigo Girls
- I Can’t Get my Hands on You- The Jeff Healey Band
- Hands- The Raconteurs
- Handsome Man- Robbie Williams
- Too Much Time on my Hands- Styx
- Blood on my Hands- The Sundays
I seem to be without any songs with the words “legs” (Yes, I hate that song), but I do have some “booty” songs as long as I look it up the right way. Looking up the word “shake” for example gave me Shake your Booty by KC and the Sunshine band, Shake your Bon Bon, by Ricky Martin and Shake your Grove Thing by Peaches and Herb. May as well throw Shakira in there too, right? Her Hips Don’t Lie.
I had to get creative with feet too. Looking up “foot” only led me to my Gordon Lightfoot collection and remakes. Jealous? Yeah, I know. “Feet” gave me Head Over Feet by Alanis Morissette and Fall at Your Feet by Crowded House, “Heel” gave me Head over Heels by Tears for Fears, and finally, “Toe” gave me Head to Toe by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.
“You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around…” Oh sorry. Now you are going to have that song stuck in your head all day. Did I mention how bored I am?
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Poor Piggy
I think I may have broken my toe. Right now it’s just swelling up, but I’m still able to walk on it. This poor toe is having a bad year. It lost its nail a few months ago. How can you ever be sure that you have broken one of these things anyway? Maybe it’s just really badly bruised. Not that you can do anything about it. This same toe has had a tough life.
Remember when I told the story about the different hobbies I try? Well, this was the toe I think I may have broken when I was trying to teach myself to juggle. I was in my living room and trying to get that whole hand-eye coordination thing down. Basically, I spent a lot of time running after the stupid beanbags. Well, one of them had rolled under my coffee table. As I bent down to get it, I stubbed my toe really hard on one of the table legs. That may have been when I decided to quit that particular hobby. I couldn’t wear any of my shoes, so I came in to work the next day with a slipper on my foot. I will never forget the shrieks of laughter coming from my evil, horrible coworkers as I told the story. Ok, maybe it was funny.
A few years before that, I went canoeing with some of my coworkers. Actually, it was more “ca-brewing” since each canoe was armed with its own cooler. Well, there I was in my canoe with my manager, and we just couldn’t seem to canoe very well together. The drinking part was fine, it was the steering part that seemed to give us the trouble. I think I spent more time falling out of the darn thing than sitting in it. Our main priority was to save the cooler, of course. I am thinking that it was one of these spills that caused the injury. It’s hard to say. Between the alcohol and the freezing water, the feeling in my extremities wasn’t exactly sharp. It wasn’t until later that I realized that walking was a bit more difficult than it should have been.
So this time around I was in my closet moving things around, getting ready to unpack my winter clothes and move them in. I have a stool that I keep in there so I can get to the higher shelves. Anyway, I stepped down off the stool and right onto a pair of shoes that are currently without an assigned location in the closet. Ouch. So, here we go again. Looks like I need to find some tape so I can tape this poor thing to his neighbor. Does this mean I can stop working out?
Remember when I told the story about the different hobbies I try? Well, this was the toe I think I may have broken when I was trying to teach myself to juggle. I was in my living room and trying to get that whole hand-eye coordination thing down. Basically, I spent a lot of time running after the stupid beanbags. Well, one of them had rolled under my coffee table. As I bent down to get it, I stubbed my toe really hard on one of the table legs. That may have been when I decided to quit that particular hobby. I couldn’t wear any of my shoes, so I came in to work the next day with a slipper on my foot. I will never forget the shrieks of laughter coming from my evil, horrible coworkers as I told the story. Ok, maybe it was funny.
A few years before that, I went canoeing with some of my coworkers. Actually, it was more “ca-brewing” since each canoe was armed with its own cooler. Well, there I was in my canoe with my manager, and we just couldn’t seem to canoe very well together. The drinking part was fine, it was the steering part that seemed to give us the trouble. I think I spent more time falling out of the darn thing than sitting in it. Our main priority was to save the cooler, of course. I am thinking that it was one of these spills that caused the injury. It’s hard to say. Between the alcohol and the freezing water, the feeling in my extremities wasn’t exactly sharp. It wasn’t until later that I realized that walking was a bit more difficult than it should have been.
So this time around I was in my closet moving things around, getting ready to unpack my winter clothes and move them in. I have a stool that I keep in there so I can get to the higher shelves. Anyway, I stepped down off the stool and right onto a pair of shoes that are currently without an assigned location in the closet. Ouch. So, here we go again. Looks like I need to find some tape so I can tape this poor thing to his neighbor. Does this mean I can stop working out?
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