Stalker?

I know that in this day and age, everyone has different boundaries, and I would suspect that people's various definitions of voyeurism has changed. But I can't get over the fact that in my lifetime, we didn't have cell phones...let alone live webcams. As I have watched some of the Waiting Kind on mogulus.com, I have realized my uneasiness. It's like you're peering in on people's lives. It's not like television shows (i.e. Real World). It's more like peeping. I don't like it. But if you'd like to check out a really great, phenomenal, annointed worship band...check 'em out at:


http://www.mogulus.com/thewaitingkind

Enjoy!

How do you talk "Valley"?

Does anyone remember back in the day when people talked with hand motions that included distinct hand gestures, not just floppy wrists? Now, if you're an individual that talks with over-exclamatory hand gestures, you're seen as a little femmie. But back in the day, talking with hand gestures was very common. For instance...do you remember using the "retard" hand gesture? You know, when someone says, hey put your right hand on your chest, and try and bite your left ear. Der...what? Haha. Or perhaps the Stephanie Tanner, "sick-en-ing" face. To do this gesture, all that you need to do is take your pointer finger and stick it partially in your mouth while rolling your eyes. This was the hand gesture that conveyed...gross. Or my personal favorite...the energetic "YES!". To do this...you simply bend your right arm, make a fist and act like you're elbowing a little person in the nose behind you. If you are really excited, you can add the lift of the right knee as well. I remember this gesture primarily being used in two different scenarios. The first being after someone got away with a prank or other devious acts. The second being, when an individual scores a hot date with someone totally out of their league.

Why not bring these back? I think we should. Deal?

Flurp?

Has anyone heard of "flurping"? My co-worker Megan told us the following story the other day:

"I didn't have lockers in grade school. We had cubbies. I remember when I was in Kindergarten, I went to get something out of my cubby, and I flurped. Then when I went to stand up, I slipped on my flurp because some of it came out of my mouth! It got all over my skirt! Then Miss Bop had to clean it off and help me out."

Now, I understand we all had words we couldn't pronounce as children. And many of us had made up words that we used in common language. In fact, Cool Ric had one of the most priceless stories from his childhood that directly depicts this. When Ric was a young Korean-American child, his family would occasionally partake in a hot dog or two. Because Ric's mom, as precious as she is, couldn't pronounce the word "buns" very well because she still has a fairly thick accent. Young, impressionable Ric then went to a friends birthday party in Junior High! At this bbq, they were having hot dogs and hamburgers, like any normal bbq. There were hamburger buns on the table, but they had yet to bring out the hot dog buns. So Ric proceeds to say, "Hey guys, where are the bonzas?" Everyone looked at him, and were like, what are bonzas? Ric was flabbergasted and didn't know what to say. "You know guys...the bonzas!?!" Turns out, Ric knew that hamburger buns were buns, but thought that hot dog buns were called bonzas! Haha!

Well, evidentally, Megan (the above mentioned co-worker) has always heard the term "flurp". She says it so matter-of-fact; like we should all know what she's talking about. She explains it as a small burp, when a little bit of throw up comes up the throat. I don't know if this is a common word and I've been left out of the loop or what. Any idea?

So funny!

As a follow up to my earlier, SNL version...you should watch this video. I can't tell you how funny it is!

Can You Hear Me Now?

If you were to take one look at me...what would you think I was listening to? Don't get this confused with a previous posting by me regarding theme songs. Just by looks, what would you guess I was listening to.

Have you ever wondered what people are listening to on their ipods? I have found myself very curious of this lately. So curious, that I play a game with myself...guessing what it is that they're listening to. Today at Panera Bread, there was this guy, by himself...listening to his headphones and reading a play manuscript. "What is it that he's listening to?" I thought. In all actuality...I don't know. And I won't ever know, unless I go and ask him. I decided that I thought he was listening to either Wycle Jean's the Carnival or "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. Either way...it was kinda fun to guess.

For instance...

Jake Lee: Avril Levigne (sorry, don't be offended)
Katie Powell: Janis Joplin
Tracy Wilde: Michael Buble
Sarah Walker: Rascal Flatts (even though I know this isn't true)
Austin Zander: Linkin Park

Of course these are only if I didn't know these individuals. And I don't really think that this says anything about the person. But it is a fun game.

Eat at Mo's

I'm not entirely sure why, but it always baffles me why somethings have lasting power, whereas others can't seem to withstand long at all. For instance, how is it that Lil' Wayne is still heard on every radio station...that man is nasty. Or why is it that after all of the ludacris happenings with Britney and KFed, Britney still manages to go on a sold-out tour and be heard everyday? My stock lead, Alyssa bought a birthday dress, which is kind of ridiculous to me in principle anyway, and it is zebra print with black sequence around the waist and the neck. Why is it that zebra print is lingering in fashion?

When I was a kid, my family and I use to vacation on the Oregon Coast every summer. There's this place called Mo's that has the most amazing clam chowder. Many of the waiters wear these t-shirts with a big shark's mouth on the back and in the frame of the jaw it says, "Bite me". What happened to this slang? I remember it being said all the time, whether it was my friend Brenda slightly upset but not willing to let others know so, or it was Urkel mad that Laura wouldn't go to the dance with him, or Kimmi Gibbler using it as an exit line..."Bite me blondie."

Or what about Freddie Prinze, Jr. Wasn't he a teenage hearthrob? Where'd he go? Could he not make the jump from child star to full-pledged movie star? The last time we saw him was on the Scooby Doo remakes, but let's be honest, we wish those movies weren't made to begin with. But where has this She's All That star fleeted to? It seems to me that if Sean William Scott can continue to get roles, Freddie surely should. Perhaps Freddie is hangin' out with Topher Grace somewhere...kickin' back and gabbin' about American Idol...they've both been MIA for quite sometime.

The last two things that seem absurd to me, but have without a doubt been out of commission for awhile are primetime sitcoms and children's books' stars. Sure we have television dramas...and I enjoy them from time to time.
But what happened to the humor of America? There are no sitcoms anymore! The ones we do have aren't funny, and are made for a very narrow audience. Where have they gone? Where are Friends? Where is Seinfeld? Have they been swallowed by what was once called Reality TV and is now simply just...TV?


And let us not forget about Harry Potter and Edward Cullen. Of course there are still children's book characters. But I miss characters like the Hardy Boys, or the Box Car Children, or best of all, Clifford the big red dog! Where are they?

Now, don't misunderstand me...all of these things that have gone missing are not necessarily things that I think we need. But c'mon...how does JC Chavez have more lasting power than Clifford? It just doesn't make sense.

Have we lost touch?

I created a quiz that I hope you all do. It's called, "This is me". We'll see if you can get it done. Just copy and paste the address below into your browser.

http://www.quizyourfriends.com/take-quiz.php?id=0901152321071193&a=1&

Good Luck!

My Week in the Ghetto

For those of you that don't know...Tacoma, Washington is the ghetto of the Puget Sound. It is crazy ghetto. Now, I understand that many people have taken this term "ghetto" and applied it to various meanings. When I use the term, I mean it plain and simple...the projects. Granted, these are nothing like South Central folks, but there is shadiness around every corner. I have been working at our company's stores in the Tacoma Mall for just over a week. In general, people steal from all retail stores more than they should. But in Tacoma...it happens more than not. Crazy, I know. After a week there, I was ready to return to my spoiled kids' store in Olympia. Good experience, and fun to be in a high volume store...but it was kind of like a toddler, testing his/her parents to see how much they can get away with. That is the comparison of not only the shoppers, but the workers as well. Back in Oly, we have recovered from holiday, and are ready to start perfecting the store again.

I can't believe that I've been back in Washington for almost six months now. It really is true mom and dad, time does fly by faster as you get older. Not a lot of anything has changed. I'm working. Sleeping. And occasionally eating. I wouldn't say that this is a bad season of my life, but I will be forth-coming and let you know its definitely a desert season for me. It feels like I'm just kinda wandering. Searching. And obviously in doing so, there's a lot of realization and growth that takes place. Marc and I were just talking the other night about our past life in Ada County. It would be naive to think that we would always live across the street from our friends, and have great jobs, and live in a desired community for the rest of our lives. Man, we basically just had it too good...right out of college. My dad told me that I would regret moving into a brand new home with brand new furniture right out of college because it'd probably go down hill from there. I took that to be very negative thinking at the time...but he has proven to be right. My great job...gone. My great house(s)...gone. My possessions...everywhere. And now, I'm living in Olympia, in a small, trashy apartment with not one picture hung on the wall. I have returned to college. I believe for better days. I hope that direction comes soon. Its so crazy how security is blinding. And now...we'll see where I end up. In spite of everything...I really do have this sense of temporary status. God will move me. I think that I get through each day becase I know that this situation is temporary. I don't mean that to sound as though each day is so tough, and hard to even survive. But I can't remember the last time I had a blissful, annointed day. That's a little daunting. Perhaps one is right around the corner.

Hello, Hee-Haw!

This just shows how quirky Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and other Saddle Creek compilations truly is. This music video makes me smile.

Patterns in the Sound

This is an incredibly old music video, but I love it as much as I did years ago. Enjoy.

"T" Stands for Blog

In case you haven't heard, my roommate now has a blog. You should probably check it out sometime.

http://anightschange.blogspot.com/

Put a Ring on It

How is this not one of the most hilarious music videos of 2008? SNL went through a few years of a drought. The Bush jokes continued to get older and older. But with the Sarah Palin impersonations and cameos from Justin Timberlake...SNL is back on the right track. Too bad Chris Farley and David Spade aren't able to conjure up a reunion show of all the great comedians of SNL. Speaking of, I cannot wait for Jimmy Falon to take over as a late night talk show host. SNL live on.

Tunage of Two Thousand Eight

Today I was thinking about how often we spent time making top ten lists for the Brick House's Top Ten Cafe. I don't even know if the Brick House continues its legacy, but nonetheless, in 2002, we spent a lot of time coming up with less than clever top ten lists. Top Ten Girls that are Marriage Material, or Top Ten places to Twix...and today, I have my Top Ten Albums of 2008 for you.




Now, the albums I listened to the most included some of the above albums, but mostly I spent my time listening to the following:

Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton-Knives Don't Have Your Back
Into the Wild Soundtrack-Songs by Eddie Vedder
Sunset Rubdown-Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Animal Collective-Campfire Songs
Neva Dinova-You May Already Be Dreaming
Arcade Fire-Neon Bible
Beck-Modern Guilt
Belle and Sebastian (everything)
Bright Eyes (everything)
The Cure-Wish
The Weepies-Say I Am You
Led Zepplin (everything)
Paul Westerberg-14 Songs
Georgie James-Places
Lullaby for the Working Class-I Never Even Asked for Light
M.I.A.-Kala
Maria Taylor-Lynn Teeter Flower
Azure Ray-November
Commander Venus-The Uneventful Vacation
Orenda Fink-Bloodline
The National-Alligator
Sorry About Dresden-The Inconvenience of Indecision
Bowerbirds-Hymns for a Dark Horse
Of Montreal-Sundlandic Twins
Rilo Kiley-The Execution of All Things
Jenny Lewis-Rabbit Fur Coat
Rocky Votaloto-The Brag and Cuss
Ryan Adams-Easy Tiger
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin-Broom
Spoon-Ga Ga Ga

And the biggest disappointments...
Interpol-Our Love to Admire
Nick Drake-Family Tree

I feel like I'm in a little bit of a rut...so if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears! Happy listening.

Boomboxes and Bananas!

My lovely sister came to town for New Years. After getting off work, we headed downtown with co-worker Megan and joined a few thousand other Seattle-lites at the Space Needle. There we froze, listened to a few cover bands, and watched an awesome fireworks show off the Needle. It was great. The guys running around with boomboxes strapped to their backs tackling each other in banana suits were definitely a highlight of the night.

As far as resolutions go...I don't know that I really have any. Here are a few things I'd like to attempt to correct, but I'm guessing I won't have much success.

-change my "house smell" (evidentally I smell like Melissa's friend(s))
-get accustomed to Rebecca Stevenson (let's be honest...I miss Steve Dorval)
-not make fun of people with transition lens (even highschool Urkel look-a-likes)
-and drink my beverage before the cup sweats too much and leaves a ring on the coffee table

I'll keep you posted.