Devil's Crossroads

I am up too early for a Sunday, watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels, which I haven't seen in a few years. Turns out, I still want my daughter to marry Nick Simmons, Gene's son. That kid is hilarious.

This episode is "Memphis Blues," and Nick goes to the Devil's Crossroads, where highways 49 and 61 cross in Mississippi. The Crossroads, if you recall from O Brother Where Art Thou? (I get all my history through George Clooney films), is where Tommy Johnson sold his soul to the devil to be the best blues guitarist who ever lived. In real life, this legend later became associated with blues singer Robert Johnson, after Robert wrote a song about it. (I supplement my history lessons with Wikipedia.)

Anyhoo... Nick and his friend are at the Crossroads and there is a fast food joint across the street.

Nick: When you're at The Crossroads, selling your soul to the Devil, it's good to know... that you can get yourself some chicken strips with a sweet dipping sauce.

Ahaha.

Enjoy the Oscars tonight, people!

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FInally the Weekend!

Song Lyrics of the Day

...Kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band
Make the fireflies dance
Silver moon's sparkling
So kiss me...

Sixpence None the Richer "Kiss Me"


Saturday 9: Waterfalls
Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1) This song encourages us to "stick to the rivers and lakes you're used to." What body of water is nearest your home -- pond, lake, river, gulf or sea?
Lady Bird Lake, technically a reservoir

2) Have you ever visited a waterfall? If so, please tell us about it.
I've visited Niagara Falls three times- once with Cathy in college and twice with Jeff and Lauren. I just think the falls are awe inspiring. The sheer volume of water is indescribable, something to behold. (I put this post on hold for a moment to look for my video of it just now, but ended up spending three hours organizing my photos and videos. I didn't find that one, but wow- I found a lot of cool stuff! Moving on...)

3) This song is from a CD entitled CrazySexyCool. Which word best describes how you feel today: Crazy, sexy or cool?
None of the above! I'm exhausted. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

4) The girls in TLC originally began hanging around together in an Atlanta-area hair salon. When did you last sit in a stylist's chair?
Maybe 3 months ago. I really need to get in and chop my hair again.

5) While she she spent her adolescence in Atlanta, bandmember Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins was born in Des Moines. Do you live in or near the town where you were born?
only 5,321 miles away

6) One of T-Boz' recent public appearances was on the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Do you watch any of the popular Bravo Real Housewives shows?
I love RH of New York ("TAKE. A. XANAX!"), RH of New Jersey ("My husband didn't call me a (C word) to my face!") and RH of Orange County ("You are psychotic, Jesus Jugs.")

7) In the 1990s, band member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was romantically involved with an Atlanta Falcons football player. They shared his upscale, two-story mansion. How would you describe your abode (house, cottage, apartment, condo, studio, etc.)?
house

8) Ms. Lopes was accused of arson when, after the couple argued, that mansion happened to burn down. When was the last time you lost your temper? How did you express your anger? (If it was with a criminal act, you may wish to keep it to yourself.)
The most pissed off I've been recently was at work a couple of weeks ago, arguing with someone who is disrespectful to our clients on a daily basis. I literally took a deep breath and reminded her, loudly, but not yelling, that unless the client wants us to do something illegal or there is something we want to suggest as a more desirable alternative to the process in place, the client gets what they want. As soon as it became obvious that the argument was escalating, I removed myself from the situation. There are very few things I feel are worth a serious down-and-out. Work issues are definitely not.

9) Today the third member of TLC, Chilli, designs personalized handbags. They cost about $225 each. What's the most expensive thing you have bought recently?
A sectional sofa a couple of weeks ago. Yay! It's way cool!

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Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: Fifteen Meme

What was your first job like? 
I worked for a very short time as a Houston Post telephone sales girl when I was 16. I was in a small office with about ten other salespeople on phones. It was boring and everyone there was at least in their late 20's. Plus I hated being that annoying salesperson cold-calling people at home. I consider my first "real" job to be my technically second job, hostessing at a steak restaurant. Superfun!

It’s a typical Sunday, how are you spending it? 
Doing an interesting activity around town or taking a hike. Today we're going to the RV Show downtown with Scott and Julie. I've never been to an RV show, although we did look at a bunch of RVs at Bass Pro Shop in Missouri once. We would never own an RV (Jeff hates to drive and I hate to camp), but some of them are supercool!

What was the happiest day of your life?
I would say a tie between my wedding day and the day Lauren was born. I know, it's the same answer most people have, but it's true!

What was the best decision you ever made?
To participate in a clinical trial at MD Anderson when I was 21, for a brand new Hodgkins Lymphoma treatment that would end up allowing me to have kids someday.

Tell your go-to “pretend” game as a child (who was your alter-ego?) 
Oh man. For a while I was Marie Osmond. SERIOUSLY. My BFF Lori was married to Donny, so we were pretend sisters-in-law. She was a performer on the Donny and Marie Show, which we re-enacted every week at my house with the audio we had taped from the show. Good times!

What email service do you use? 
gmail

What fandoms would you consider yourself a part of?
Lord of the Rings (not in a ComiCon sort of way though) (not that there's anything wrong with that), Daughtry, Duran Duran, Maroon 5, Train, Gavin DeGraw, The Chew (one of the best shows on TV that you should be recording during the day)

Do you use anything on your lips? (eg. Chapstick, gloss, balm, lipstick)
Burt's Bees or lipstick. I hate waxy Chapstick with a passion.

How many devices do you own which can access the internet?
two desktops, one laptop, two TVs, two phones, one iPad = 8

Last strong smell you can remember smelling?
It's not the "last" strong smell, but it definitely stands out from the rest. Our cat Kiptyn has long hair. Every now and then (surprisingly rarely), he gets a little bit of poop on his booty fur. Someone will catch a little whiff of it and clean him up. One day a few months ago, I smelled something and checked to see if that's what it was... and he had an ENTIRE, FULL-SIZE poop stuck in his fur down the back of his leg. It was hilarious.

If you had to move your birthday to another date, which one would you choose and why?
Anything a little further away from April Fool's Day. Not on a holiday.

Inspiration behind your blog title? 
It's a lyric from Duran Duran's song "New Religion."

If you could spend a rainy day with anyone in the world, who would you choose and why? 
The fam! I spend a lot of rainy days with them. We usually watch movies.

Is there a foreign culture that you love? 
Other than Germany (of course), I love the fun-loving, laid back culture of Australia.

Do you have a favorite soft drink?
Diet Dr. Pepper

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Patrick's Saturday Six!

This week...

Me (about a guy on TV): Hey. The 1820's called. They want their mustache back.
Lauren: They CALLED.
Me: On cans and string.

Heh.


Patrick's Saturday Six: G & H

1. G is for GENDER: To which gender does the majority of your friends belong?
Female. Until I got married, I was one of those girls who had mostly male friends.

2. G is for GENEALOGY: How far back have you traced your family line?
Not far. I haven't done much genealogy, although I typed Jeff's family history for his grandfather, so I know his back to the 1700s. My family goes back to Germany very quickly on both sides.

3. G is for GENERIC: For prescription medication, how often do you use a generic versus a name brand?
always

4. G is for GOURMET: Which dish do you make that you think would most closely resemble what others might call a “gourmet” dish?
Honey-Pecan Chicken or my Chicken Parm

5. G is for GOVERN: If you were forced to run for office, local, state or federal, which position would you choose and why?
Egads. I would have to be forced.  I would be Mayor of College Station, because it could be interesting and it wouldn't be too much drama. (I think.)

6. G is for GRADUATION: What do you think was your biggest accomplishment prior to graduating from high school or college?
Earning a spot in the National Science Foundation's Summer Research Program for High School Students.


1. H is for HABITAT: How close is your current home to your “dream” home? 
It's close, as far as rooms, bathrooms, backyard, etc. but the layout isn't my dream home. I dream of a one story with a giant media room.

2. H is for HACKER: How concerned are you about the threat of someone hacking into your personal accounts?
I'm most concerned with shopping and banking accounts, rather than Facebook and gmail. Recovering your email or Facebook account is fairly easy.  Speaking of hackers, Lauren's Twitter account was hacked on Friday!

3. H is for HELICOPTER: Have you ever ridden in a helicopter? If not, would you if you had the chance? 
No and no thank you. They're not the safest mode of travel.

4. H is for HELL: Do you believe that Hell is a real place, and if so, how do you picture it? 
I believe Hell is a real place and I picture it as pitch dark, hot and full of politicians.

5. H is for HITCHCOCK: What’s your favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie? 
I've only ever seen Psycho and The Birds, so I'll go with Psycho.

6. H is for HOLIDAY: Which holiday do you wish people would take more seriously and why?
National Margarita Day (TODAY), because... margaritas!

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Antmusic 2014

Shane just shared on Facebook (especially for his 1982 concert mates- John, Everett and me) this awesome vid of Adam Ant himself, who performed on UK television THIS MORNING:




Hell YEAH! And not poppy Friend or Foe Adam either. Punk, vintage "Adam and the Ants" Adam Ant. Love it. He's doing shows in England in April. I hope he comes to the States sometime.

Speaking of the 80's... at Target the other night...

Me: Know what I mean, Vern?
Lauren: I know what you mean. Bro'.... or whatever you just said.

Ahahaa.

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Valentine's Day Week

But first... Sage gets the GOLD!!!! WHEE!! Is everyone enjoying the Olympics??! I love snowboarding.

So, the other morning, the radio DJs said Valentine's Day is really rough on people who just started dating, particularly in January. There is a lot of pressure to make a really romantic overture if you are into the other person, yet it's been a short time, so people aren't sure they want to make a big deal out of Valentine's day, or perhaps they don't know if the other person wants to make a thing of it. So it's all sorts of awkward.

Jeff and I started dating in January and Valentine's Day was awesome! I didn't wonder if I should make a big deal out of it or not. It was obviously going to be a special day.

(Jeff is reading this, probably remembering the opposite. Ahaha!)

I even have a photo of our first Valentine's Day. He was wearing a tie and everything, y'all.

So our first date was Jan 28 and V-day was 17 days later. We rocked it!


Sunday Stealing: Cupid's Questions Meme

1.) Do you like Valentine's Day?
It's fun. Anniversaries are more sentimental though.

2.)Are you going to celebrate it?
Yes

3.)Celebrate Valentine's Day with Friends or someone Special? 
Someone special.

4.)Pink or red?
Red.

5.)Candy Hearts OR cards?
Cards! Candy hearts suck rocks.

6.)A short kiss or a big hug?
I prefer a big hug to a short kiss any day.

7.)What are your plans for V-day?
We are planning to go out to dinner.

8.)What would be the best gift to receive?
We don't do gifts on Vday. If any gifts do exchange hands, the best is Godiva chocolate.

9.)Would you get back with any of your ex's for V-day?
Nope. That sounds like a terrible idea for anyone.

10.)Is there a food or beverage you associate with V-day?
chocolate-covered strawberries

11.) What are your thoughts on "Love at first sight"? 
Believe it! I think that is the norm. I rarely meet anyone who didn't feel something when they first met the person they're with.

12.)Do you think people who have dated can stay friends?
Absolutely. After time passes, of course.

13.) If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice about dating or relationships what would it be?
Relationships shouldn't be difficult. Most of the time, relationships are easy and life-enriching. Challenges should be a relative rarity. If not, get out, because you can have the right relationship with another person.

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Saturday Six... Catch-Up!

Patrick's Saturday Six: C thru F

1. C is for CABLE: Do you pay for cable or satellite television or have you “cut the cord”? 
We have DirectTV

2. C is for CACOEPY: Which common mispronunciation do you find most annoying? 
Anything involving the inappropriate placement of a hard G at the end of an -ng. Like "sing-ger" instead of "singer."

3. C is for CANDLE: At which age do you think it’s appropriate to stop placing a candle for every year on someone’s birthday cake?
12

4. C is for CENT: Do you think pennies should still be minted or should we just give up on the single cents? 
Give it up.

5. C is for CHAIR: Describe your favorite chair in your home?
My favorite chair is my office chair upstairs. It's black pleather, with arms and wheels.

6. C is for CORN: What’s your favorite way to eat corn?
off the cob, with butter and salt


1. D is for DALLY: What activity causes you to waste the most time in your day? 
Candy Crush Saga

2. D is for DANCE: Do you enjoy dancing in public, and how often do you do so? 
Yes. I don't have the opportunity to do it often.

3. D is for DECAF: Do you get a genuine buzz from coffee and if so, how many cups per day is your limit? 
I get very jittery with more than about 1 cup of coffee. I almost always drink decaf to avoid that feeling.

4. D is for DISK: What was the size, in inches, of the floppy disk most commonly in use when you got your first computer: 8”, 5.25”, or 3.5” or were floppies already out of use?
I got my first computer in grad school (a Mac assigned to me by the university). It had a 3.5" disk.

5. D is for DORMITORY: How much appeal did you or would you have seen in living in a dormitory in college? 
I wasn't into the dorm thing, but I got a dose of it, because I hung out with friends who lived in the dorms. I liked living off campus, because it made me feel more independent, but I could see how living on campus makes it easy to participate in everything going on there. Luckily, I was very close to campus and just rode my bike to everything I wanted to do.

6. D is for DRIVE-THROUGH: What’s the last restaurant you purchased food from via its drive-through?
Hmm.  Whataburger?


1. E is for EMAIL: When is the last time your personal email inbox was completely empty? 
My personal AND work email inboxes are typically empty. I empty them every time I check them. I either reply then archive, or just file away all my emails. If I need to action something later, I flag it, but it still gets filed in the appropriate folder.

2. E is for EAR: Do you consider your hearing to be better than average, average or worse than average? 
Probably average. I haven't noticed that I hear the sound of insects walking or anything.

3. E is for EARLY: Are you generally early to appointments, late or right on time?
Early.

4. E is for EDUCATION: Which grade of school (or year of college) did you find most difficult and why?
Sophomore year of college, because that's the year of engineering school when the classes get tough. It's weed-out year, a.k.a. "Maybe I'll Be a Travel Agent" year.

5. E is for EGG: How do you normally eat your eggs? 
soft-boiled or poached

6. E is for ESSAY: What was the topic of the longest blog post you’ve written?
I don't know which is my longest blog post, but it probably had more than one topic. Cuz I tend to do that, even on short posts.


1. F is for FAN: Which celebrity are you proud to consider yourself a fan of? 
Clooney

2. F is for FLIPPER: If you had a chance to swim with a dolphin, would you take it? 
I was in the water with a dolphin at Sea Life Park in Hawaii, doing the whole one-on-one interaction thing, but we weren't allowed to swim with them. It was very cool. I would love to swim with them though!

3. F is for FOG: Do you find fog beautiful or creepy? 
Beautiful and creepy. My favorite fog experience was in the port at Halifax, Nova Scotia when we were leaving on a cruise ship in the dense fog after visiting the Titanic exhibit at the Maritime Museum. A guy was playing us off with a bagpipe from the shore. It wasn't long before we could hear him, but no longer see him. It was so neat, but so creepy at the same time.

4. F is for FRIGHT: When was the last time an amusement park ride truly frightened you? 
Jim and I rode Mr. Freeze at Six Flags in Dallas when the kids were in a cheer competition there. I hadn't ridden it before. It's short, but pretty darn scary.

5. F is for FUR: Should real fur coats be banned over animal cruelty concerns? Why or why not? 
Sure. I mean, with the realistic fake stuff we have, why wear the real stuff?

6. F is for FURNITURE: What is the oldest piece of furniture you own and how long have you owned it?
I have an English washstand that belonged to my grandmother that is at least 50 years old. I got it from my mom and I've owned it for 13 years.

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Football Season Tix 2014

OH. And A&M got it right this time, with the interim reseating of the improved stadium for 2014. Season tix holders have first dibs, and only for the tickets we currently have. (THAT is how you reseat a stadium.) Then things will open up for additional tickets and for people who haven't ever had season tix. (But only for 2014. 2015 seats are sold out.)

Although some season tix holders on the east side have been reseated to who-knows-where, our North seats stayed almost exactly the same. We're one row back, same seat numbers. Whoop!

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JunkOfTheMonth.com

So, as background on the following story, there's a long(er) story from Tuesday that resulted in Mel, Crystal and I deciding we would start a website called JunkOfTheMonth.com that would feature photos of guys in skimpy, tight clothing.

[fast forward]

Today we were attending a vendor training teleconference and we were having massive technical difficulties on both ends. It started when we couldn't get our projector to work. When the audiovisual equipment was finally hanging together with chewing gum and hope, we dialed into the videoconference, introduced everyone in our room and accidentally hung up, instead of pressing Mute.

We called in again, but the previous call was still connected and our company "hold" music was softly annoying everyone. The vendor just went with it and started their presentation.

Then their trainer couldn't get their "awesome new" system to work. While he was dorking around with it, we disconnected from the meeting, on both the phone and the net, and called/logged in again.

Then two sets of our company elevator music were playing in the background. The vendor had us all leave the meeting, set up a new meeting, sent invites, and we all logged in and called in again.

All would have been fine, except that their product still wasn't working. It was just sort of funny at that point.

Also, we had an mystery phone attendee on the meeting screen.

Crystal (whispering): Hackers.
Me: Stealing corporate secrets.
Crystal: Any minute now, we'll start getting popups.
Me: That's how we'll advertise our new website, hacking into company videoconferences with "JunkOfTheMonth.com. Click here..."And a sample photo...
Crystal: Those would be some fun meetings. The ladies would be like, "Oh my gosh. Did you see that? How distasteful." And then later, "Did someone get that URL to... um... record in the minutes?"

Ahaha.

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Life Soundtrack

People doing surveys and talking about the soundtracks of their lives typically think of the songs that would play during the scenes if their life were a movie. The true soundtrack of your life would be made up of songs that were very important to you. Right? What would yours be??

Here are just a precious few of mine.

Pratt and McClain "Happy Days" - Yep, the TV show theme song. I had brought my 45 (that's a the single, for those who haven't heard of it) and some other albums with me to Wisconsin when my mom, aunt, grandma and I went to visit Grandma's side of the family. Once, while the adults were downstairs chatting, I listened to my music on the record player in my mom's cousin's room, where I was staying. I was dancing around and singing and when I came down later, mom's cousins (I was 8, they were all college-age) gleefully reported that they could hear me the whole time. YAY. Waited for a hole to appear and swallow me up. But no.

Grease soundtrack "Grease" - Not my favorite song from the movie, by any means, but this was the song we listened to over and over again in "Modeling Class" which I took with Lori at a department store in Houston when we were 11. It was a summer camp of sorts. Ten girls met over two weeks or something like that. We learned etiquette (including what all the forks are for at a fancy dinner), nutrition and exercise, fashion and hair styling and makeup, etc. We also learned about modeling and did a runway show the last day for our parents (superfun!). In the room we where we had class, during any time we were practicing our skills- makeup, etc.- we would turn up the Grease soundtrack, because the movie was out and SO popular. We mostly played the title track, because it was our fave at the time.

Any version of "Town Without Pity" - A local Houston 50's and 60's cover band called Tom Slick (and later Grease Lightning) played Astroworld for a couple of years when Lori and I had season passes. We were total groupies, along with several other squealy middle school girls. We watched every show through the day and then hit some rides until our parents came to pick us up at night. ALL SUMMER for two summers in a row. Anyhoo... the hunky one, Rocky (Howard in real life), sang a beautiful and swoon-worthy version of "Town Without Pity." We couldn't WAIT for him to sing it.*sigh*

"Rock-a-Bye Your Baby (with a Dixie Melody)" It's an Al Jolson jazz standard, but we knew it from a production show called "Razzamatazz" at Astroworld's Crystal Palace. (I can sing the entire show for you now, if you'd like.) This was the one that Cathy and I sang ALL THE TIME. We jazzed that thing up until it was dripping with Judy Garland drama. We would sing it in harmony in some places. It was almost a challenge to see how "concert finale" a-freakin'-mazing we could make the song performance. Exactly like this...



Seriously. This has me giggling, because it is exactly how we used to sing it.

Songs from high school. There are so many, of course. Here are a few of my particularly memory-filled ones:

1) Phil Collins "Take a Look at Me Now"- a high school cafeteria juke box song with major drama
2) Berlin "Sex (I'm A...)"- big night on Westheimer in downtown Houston (no sex)
3) anything Prince- because he was The Man. I had the shower poster that came with the Controversy album over my bed. Mom thought it was fine (well, she shook her head when I put it up), but my grandma wasn't so thrilled when they were visiting and sleeping in my room.
4) Bow Wow Wow "I Want Candy"- our beach tune
5) Soft Cell "Tainted Love" - I had a recording of this from the radio that I listened to until the tape broke
6) Eddie Murphy "Boogie in Your Butt" - senior musical Official Afterparty Song (for four weekend afterparties in Nassau Bay, where one night we received a police warning for being too loud... and this song was playing)

College. Tons again, but a few of my big ones...

1) REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It" - road tripping with Scotty
2) Erasure "Oh L'Amour"- best. club. song. ever.
3) anything The Judy's- because they were The Band. I remember being squashed in like sardines at one concert at Eastgate in College Station, dancing and having the best time ever
4) Huey Lewis and the News "The Power of Love"- I won tickets on the radio to this concert. Awesomesauce! I was all, "Shout out to mah homies in NUKE 301!" (or some 80's version of that)
5) "The Aggie War Hymn"- goes without saying. I said it anyway.

Well, I need to work on a "Life as a grownup" continuation at some point when the Superbowl isn't coming up in a few hours. (Plus, I have to send CJ that Judy Garland vid.) GO BRONCOS!

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