That's What Z Said

Happy Birthday Gus!

2011-03-28T22:54:00.006-05:00

An Interview with the Birthday Girl, March 28, 2011

What is special about today? Uh, my birthday?

Did anything nice happen to you today?

Yes. Miss Nancy hugged me. Uh, uh, hmmm… Granny and Papa came to visit. They gave me hugs and kisses.

What were your favorite presents? I got a hot wheels toy. My favorite present, oh this is a hard one. I don’t know yet. I can’t remember yet.

What is your favorite color? Pink.

What is your favorite dinner? Tonight it was spaghetti and meat balls

What is your favorite dessert? Cake. Uh, strawberry cake.

What is your favorite drink? Mmmmmmilk. I mean juice.

Where do you want to live when you grow up? Uh, in a big house. It will have big tables like ours. It will be purple. It will be special because I don’t know.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a scientist. I will make stuff. I don’t know what a scientist does.

Do you have a boyfriend? LEVI!!!! He’s my beau.

What is your favorite song? Call Me. I also like Don’t Stop Believin.

Where is your favorite place to visit? Granny’s House. And Shaeli and Raegan’s.

What’s your favorite movie? Barbie Shhhhhhhhh (Barbie in a Fairy Secret. She’s never seen it – just got it today for her birthday)

What does Mommy do for her job? You work with people and you help work. You fix computers and stuff.

What does Daddy do for his job? He works with people doing work. Help fixing computers? What does he do anyway?

If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be? A unicorn. Are unicorns real? Actually I will be a horse. Because I neeeeeigh.

What is your favorite snack? Um, I like cookies. And cheetos. Because they are so cheesy.

Who is your best friend? Marin. Ella and Emaree and Brianna and Jack. Except for my mama.

What is your favorite thing to play? Um, I don’t know. Outside?

What would you like the people of the future to know? I like Miss Nancy. I like lollipops. And I like fruit snacks.

What do you know about the world? The world has oceans around it. All the blue stuff is ocean. And Earth has always had grass. And there was an earthquake inside Japan.

What language do you speak? English. Yeah, and I can speak hmmmm… I don’t know. Yet. Oh yeah, I speak Spanish and French. Bonjour!

What songs do you like to sing? Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. And I like to sing Don’t Stop Believin’. And I like to sing Call Me. Also, I love you mama. At school I like to sing Oh I Wish I were a little juicy orange, juicy orange, oh I wish I were a little juicy orange, juicy orange, I’d go squirty squirty squirty over everybody’s shirty, oh I wish i were a little juicy orange!

Who is our president? Barack Obaaaamaaaaaa. I like him. Because he’s the best president. He made speeches to everyone. And he talked about our world.

What do you think about the Jayhawks? The Jayhawks play basketball and they always win it! They lost yesterday. So I’m gonna make them win today.

How tall are you? 50 hundred pounds.

How much do you weigh? 57 pounds. (mom note: close! 50)

Do you have a pet? Ranger Dog. He is the best doggy ever. Even when he wiped his butt on the floor.

The End.

By Augusta Anne M. age 5 (today!)

2010-07-12T21:42:00.002-05:00

Mom, I can feel your heart

in your boob!

New Gus-isms

2010-06-24T22:47:00.001-05:00

As I was getting ready to leave for a business trip, Augusta started writing me a love note to tuck in my suitcase. It consisted of "A-U-G-U-S-T-A M-O-M D-A-D" over and over. I suggested she draw me a picture on the note. She rolled her eyes and said, "Excuse me, MOM. It's called a love NOTE, not a love DRAWING". I stood, corrected.

Augusta told me, "I love you". I replied, "me too." She said back to me, "me twenty!"

I was sad when she stopped calling them "hoowee hoops" and started calling them hula hoops.

After a field trip to the school, she came home and announced, "I smell like a MONKEY!"

Title goes here, blog below.

2010-02-21T00:47:00.002-06:00

I've been seriously lame about keeping up with this blog. That's a shocker. I can't keep my house clean or my dishes out of the sink, what possibly made me think I could keep a blog going? So, for lack of commitment to actual topics, once again I'll resort to the random samplings my brain produces:

Loved the little bit of the original Battlestar Galactica theme that played on Caprica Friday evening.

Heading to Florida this week for work. Sorry I won't get to visit my family – just no time to visit and no car, and I'll be 2 hours away from them. Sorry family, next time!

A woman I strongly dislike lost her job Friday at the company I work for. After my initial elation, I felt ashamed that I reacted the way I did. No one should have to start over in this terrible economy. Not even the devil incarnate. In all seriousness, I should be ashamed of myself for making light of someone else's misfortune. I'm better than that. I still don't like her, but I still didn't have to be all 'walking on sunshine' about it, especially around others.

My very cool almost-4-year-old requested to watch the Tim Burton Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie tonight. I freaking love that kid. Speaking of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, a friend of mine won a radio contest and will fly to London on Monday to attend the premiere of the new Alice in Wonderland movie. I can't think of a more deserving person to win such an awesome prize. Congrats Amy B, and have the time of your life!

A friend is having her first baby on Monday. Happy birth day, G-man!

Eric Stolz is hotter than donut grease. Still.

I can't wait for Flash Forward to come back. I want to flash-forward and see what happens, but I'm living my life spoiler-free these days.

"The Invention of Lying" was cute. I love Ricky Gervais. I wouldn't mind if he made a ton more movies.

What business does wrestling have on the Sy-Fy channel?? Seriously, I gotta know. And why did they find it necessary to change from "sci-fi" to "sy-fy"? How geeky does this make me sound? Rhetorical.

'Aliens'. Saw it again on tv recently. Ripley's so badass. I forgot Paul Reiser was in this. Oh, I had such the crush on him back in the day.

ALS sucks. Can we just get that out on the table? It took my friend Kathy yesterday. She was an awesome lady. A nice, genuine person with an eye for color, a flair for fabrics and a keen eye for design. She was a member of my quilt guild and was really a very cool lady. I will miss her. I wish I'd written her the letter I'd planned to write her since I heard that she was sick a few years ago. Don't wait. If you think you should, do it.

That's all for now.

Should we just start another group instead?

2010-01-28T23:18:00.001-06:00

A girlfriend of mine asked me recently if I'd be interested in helping to plan our 20th reunion. First of all, TWENTY YEARS?!? Really?? It sure doesn't feel like 20 years, though I'm reminded of it each and every time I wash-that-grey-right-outta-my-hair. But this isn't really about us getting older. I went to our 10 year reunion. I came to the conclusion that we all looked the same but wider. Some of us had been in contact via email, or found each other on various websites like classmates.com but for most of us, it was a surprise to see what everyone looked like. We got to listen with awe and a twinge of jealousy to our friends who'd "made it", cheer for those who'd gotten married or just had their first babies. Others, like me, hadn't done anything of consequence but we all stood around and talked and laughed and caught up with each other. The thing was, we were hearing about it all firsthand, for the first time. A lot has changed since the last reunion. Now with tools like Facebook, we all "see" each other so regularly that I wonder if it will all be anti-climactic? Will we have anything to talk about other than Farmville and Vampire Wars? Will any of us be as interesting and witty without the aid of Photoshop and Google? More importantly, will we all be tweeting the entire event as it unfolds? OMG!!! You'll never believe who got FAT?!? Oh come on, we're all thinkin' it.

What bad mood?

2010-01-08T20:45:00.004-06:00

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Let me rephrase that. I was angrily shaken awake this morning by a crabby 3 year old who demanded that I wake up and put on her show NOW. Hoping I'd be able to catch a few more winks while Augusta watched her show, I punched the power button on the remote, zoomed up to the channel of choice and shut my eyes. It wasn't to be. She complained about the show, the volume, the tv was too "sunny" (bright), she was hungry, she wanted MOMMY to give her breakfast NOW, DADDY DID IT YESTERDAY, you name it, she complained about it. I sent her to get changed and she yelled – YELLED at me, defiantly, NO!!!! We went around and around until finally I exploded and sent her to her room. I was so angry, and she was being so horrible and I just couldn't deal with her.

Augusta played quietly in her room (read: made a ginormous mess of teeny tiny scraps of wadded up paper strewn all over her entire room and in drawers) while I began getting ready for work. I stomped all grumpy-gills into her room and laid out her clothes. Getting her to get dressed in the morning on her own is a chore that I'm not cut out for. I typically ask her 5 or 6 times to please get dressed, then by the 7^th time I'm so worked up and cranky that I start threatening to take things away. This morning I was so irritated that I simply told her that 1. I was very angry about her behavior this morning, 2. I was not going to speak to her again until she got dressed and 3. if I had to remind her to get dressed ONE MORE TIME I was going to throw out her coveted Wizard of Oz pillow. She simply said, "Ok, Mommy. I'm sorry for being so mean at you and I will get dressed." I told her not to speak to me again until she was dressed and returned to my bathroom to dry my hair.

A few minutes later, I felt a teeny tiny hand tug on my shirt. I turned off my hair dryer and she said, "Mommy, I got dressed. How do you like my outfit?" I turned to look. I snorted.

I said, "wait right there! DON'T MOVE!!!"

She cautiously said, "why Mommy? Am I in trouble???"

"No!! " I shouted as I darted down the stairs. "I have to get my camera!"

For this is what she'd put together:

I have absolutely no idea to which bad mood you are referring.

xoxoZ

It’s all Greek to me.

2009-11-27T08:29:00.001-06:00

Gus makes up words. Today in the bath she swirled up some bubbles, poured them into a cup and said, "Mommy, this is a squirtydortydirtysquirbydabbaopowinaweena." Easy for her to say.

What words do your kids invent?

Leader of the [Brat] Pack

2009-11-12T22:26:00.005-06:00

This is a repost of a blog I originally published on myspace in 2008.

I didn't always love being an Army brat when I was one, but now I am so glad that was my life growing up. I had so many opportunities that I'd never have had if my Dad had been in another line of work. We got to live in Germany twice, Washington D.C. a time or two, Kansas a few times. I got to be born in the Great State of Oklahoma (Lawton), I got to have a built-in best friend in each location named Jeremy, my cooler-than-Cheez Whiz older brother who always let me hang with him and his friends. We played some of the coolest games of "war" together, complete with Star Wars blasters and real Army stuff like canteens and field jackets and other things I don't know the official names of, courtesy of Dear Old Dad.

Growing up Brat was pretty rock and roll. Except the moving every 2-3 years part. I still get antsy every 3 years or so, thinking that at any moment, a team of movers should be storming my house to put all my belongings on a truck to take it to the next place. The moving away from friends business sucked pretty much and I cried buckets and buckets and cursed my dad each time certain I'd never fit in anywhere else ever again EVER, then 3 years later I was doing it all over again. Even with all the moving around, I crossed paths with some of my friends in many different places - for example, my senior year boyfriend had lived down the street when we were 3 and his mom had the birthday party photos to prove it, and my best friend from Kindergarten who moved away was again my best friend in 6th and 7th when our dad's got stationed at the Pentagon. My dear friend Kellie from 4^th grade was again a dear friend in 11^th and 12^th. It did get a bit confusing at times though – sometimes I'd see people in the halls at school and wasn't sure if I remembered them from our last station or from last week. Having to make new friends so often did force me to be more outgoing and take a use-it-or-lose-it approach to making friends. Why sit in the house moping all summer when you can be out there meeting people and ensuring you won't sit alone in the cafeteria the first day of school?

One of the best parts of growing up Brat was the travel. I lived in Germany twice – the first time in 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th grade, then again in 9^th and 10^th. The first time we lived in Germany, Jeremy and I would travel together to the bakery down the street and fill our mom's order for bread and rolls and sometimes there would be enough left over for a few selections from the wall of candy. We'd also take trips through the scary woods where we were sure Bigfoot was buried or scarier still, Nazi bunkers filled with old men in uniforms just waiting for an opportunity like us. Then there were real live trips: my family traveled through France to the ferry which took us to England, then drove up to Scotland – even to LOCH NESS which was the scariest, coolest and most disappointing place my 8 year old self had ever been (was that the monster, Mom?? No, just a branch. ARRRGH!). The second time I lived in Germany, my brother and I traveled by train each Sunday to Bremerhaven for school. We lived in dorms during the week and went home every Friday to spend the weekend with our parents. It was the closest American high school, and the alternative was German school (didn't speak the language well enough) or the British school (spoke the language, but oh, that's a whole 'nother blog). We chose American. I was a freshman, he was a senior, our Mom was a wreck. We had to transfer trains at the station in Bremen which, in case you ever find yourself there, had a little stand outside which sold the best gyros sandwiches in the world. Jeremy and I also traveled to Paris and Egypt (with groups) and to Holland for shopping and American movies (in English, with Dutch subtitles – worth the hour drive and the fumbling for passports). I got to see the Berlin Wall when there still was one– I wrote on it in eyeliner because stupid me didn't bring a Sharpie. Want to teach a teenager to appreciate freedom? Take them to a place where there isn't any. Make them hold their face up to the bus window next to their passport and let an East German with a machine gun approve or deny their travel back to the West.

I got my first passport at age 7. Along with a buttload of shots (literally, though some also went into my leg). My mom always kept my passport in a lockbox at home when we weren't traveling, but as a teenager I was trusted with it. In Europe, sometimes traveling to another country was less than an hours train ride and you had to have a passport or you couldn't enter the country. Years after I came back to the states – years after my passport expired even – I drove from Lawrence to Oklahoma with a boyfriend. As the toll booth appeared in the distance, I got a nervous pang as I realized I'd forgotten my passport. Seconds later I realized that one doesn't need a passport to get from Kansas to Oklahoma, dumbass. And in that moment, it occurred to me that traveling from state to state ought to be a little more dramatic with fanfare and documents to make it more exciting.

There are times I really miss being a Brat. I loved watching my dad get all dressed up in his Dress Blues and go to big events with my mom. My mom always laughed that her job was to make him look good, and boy did she ever. I even got to dress up a time or two and accompany my dad to some pretty glam events. All girls love a man in uniform, and I'm no exception. It's just that my vision of a man in uniform is my Daddy and there's really no topping that.

When I dropped out of school at 20, I received my walking papers from Uncle Sam. I was no longer eligible for dependent benefits – had I stayed in school, they would have extended but because I dropped out, my number was up. I kept my military dependent ID card, though I was supposed to turn it in. I told my dad it was because I loved the picture but in all honesty, it was just my way of holding on to a little piece of my history. My card that said I belonged somewhere. That little orange card gave me a place in the world. When you're a Brat, you don't have a home. But you always have a place. And an ID card to prove it. And sometimes, if you're lucky, some really cool stamps in your passport. And a lot of friends who can totally relate.

GO ARMY!

writing on the Berlin Wall, 1988.

Ottobeuren, Germany 1982

The hills are alive with the sound of snickering.

Interview with the Vampire (slayer-musical-episode-soundtrack-loving-3-year-old)

2009-11-10T23:10:00.003-06:00

Tonight I "interviewed" my daughter at bedtime.

What is your favorite color?

Blue. And pink and green and red and green and BWACK!!!

What is your favorite food?

Cereal and milk, cheese and boogers. Just kiddin'!!! I love Spaghetti and meatballs. Can I have some spaghetti and meatballs now?

What is your favorite movie?

The Wizard of Woz, Nightmare Before Christmas because it has a pumpkin king and Santa Claus, the Powerpuff Girls where they all change bodies but not the one with Mojo because I don't like him. He is a jerk and he is creepy.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A doctor because I wuv animals. And people too. I could be a girl doctor, because I'm a girl. Or maybe a doctor who helps all people.

Where do you want to live when you grow up?

In this house, with Mommy and Daddy. And they can be doctors too.

What is your favorite song?

Shut Up and Let Me Go, and the number two song from Buffy [the Vampire Slayer musical episode soundtrack, "I've Got a Theory" is the song she means] and also Journey.

What is your favorite place to visit?

The STORE but only when they have COOKIES!! And Granny's house. Can we go to Granny's house? And the GYM because Miss Linda lets me cut yarn after I pick up all the toys and I can get the paper towels ready for the next person.

What is your…

Ok, Mommy. It's time for you to go to sweep in your own bed.

A few gems from my best gal

2009-11-02T21:51:00.002-06:00

Augusta asked how old I am. I told her to guess. She said, "Five teen". When I told her my actual age, she said incredulously, "thirtyFIVE??!?!??!"

She likes the song "I Kissed a Girl". She sings it "I kissed a girl and I liked it and then I married Jackman".

Tonight she told me: "I don't like you Mommy. But I WUV YOU!!"

Augusta dressed as Dorothy for Halloween. We trick or treated all over the neighborhood, and by the time I said it was time to get home, she didn't argue. In fact, when we neared the house she grabbed my hand a little tighter and said, "Oh Mommy, there's NO place like HOME!"

Silent Sunday

2009-11-01T07:58:00.001-06:00

bubble bursting 101

2009-10-24T08:34:00.001-05:00

I had my first parent-teacher conference with Augusta's preschool teacher recently. As I made the trek from the parking lot to the preschool classroom, I practiced my humble face. I just knew that momentarily, Mrs. Schoettlin would sit me down to gush about how my sweet angel had charmed them all with her enthusiasm, overwhelmed them all with her generosity and served as a shining example to all of the other children as a beacon of amazing selflessness and wit. Turns out, mine is the bossy kid who scolds the other children, cries – no, sobs - when she's corrected and pouts when she has to wait her turn. Awesome. I guess it could be worse. She could be the paste-eater.

More random acts of randomness…

2009-10-21T23:04:00.002-05:00

Reduced Fat Cheese Nips? Not delicious.

First Watch for lunch is ridiculously good. That marinated salad they serve with sandwiches is the BEST!!!

Heroes: where the heck is Mohinder??? But in the meantime, I'm digging the new Carny guy from Prison Break. And of course, Peter Petrelli.

I can't believe NBC is keeping "Trauma" on the air but cancelled "Southland". The former is just ridiculous, but the latter was one of the best shows on tv in a long time. The season finale last year was the most suspenseful hour of television I can remember seeing. Dude, who the heck is running NBC these days? I would say maybe a monkey, but that would be insulting to monkeys.

I hate when I'm so busy at work that I can't get to everyone on my list, but other people sit there at their desks and watch videos all day.

I'm really liking the new show on ABC, "Eastwick". It's a nice mix between "Charmed" and "Desperate Housewives". Nice and campy, just how I like my shows.

And one more thing: I love my Ranger dog and all, but could he please stop with the farting??? Pretty please?

Talk about random…!

2009-10-20T23:10:00.001-05:00

I'm over Kristen Wiig. I don't recall the exact moment that SNL became "the Kristen Wiig Show featuring SNL", but seriously. I'd be willing to overlook it if they'd kept Michaela Watkins around, but instead they kept the terribly unfunny (but cute) Abby Elliott and added two equally cute but painfully unfunny other girls. I shouldn't say they aren't funny – how would we know, we never see them. I used to really laugh at Kristen Wiig. I sang her praises to all around (ok, only when discussing SNL – I'm not THAT much of a weirdo). Now, I cringe when she makes her entrance into the sketch just waiting for whichever variation of that grating, bizarrely high-pitched-yet-nasal talking-from-the-back-of-her-throat thing she does. In every sketch. Seriously, enough with the Wiig!

I'm annoyed by the way people drink coffee on tv. You know what I'm talking about: hold-the-cup-with-two-hands-followed-by-the-deep-sniff-of-contents-with-eyes-closed-then-slowly-sip-with-shoulders-raised-aaaaaaand-finally-a-satisfied-smile. That's not how people really drink it. No. It's slurped, quickly, in our cars. While flipping off the jerk in the yellow mustang who passes on the shoulder.

I like the 5 gum commercials. They're pretty. And original. And no one folds a stick of gum into their mouths, which is another of my pet peeves. Real people do not fold gum into their mouths on the beach with their twin. Real people just shove it into their mouths and chomp loudly. Some of us crack it, but don't realize it until our office mates point it out to us. Then we crack it louder.

I could watch "the Office" every day, many times in a row.

"Eye-candy". I hate hate hate that phrase. Not as much as I hate Blues Traveler, but close.

Every movie should be directed by Tim Burton and scored by Danny Elfman. Well, all the good ones anyway. I met a four-year-old recently who has studied the collected works of Tim Burton, and quizzed me on my knowledge of the films. He won, by default (he was too cute to defeat). Robert, you are one cool kid with great taste in films.

Turner Classic Movies helps me stay sane.

I really need to do something about my hair. And I really wish a pedicurist would knock on my front door and haul in the cool chair. She could bring her friend the massage therapist.

I heard Bob Mould on the radio at the grocery store today. A part of me was really excited, but another part of me felt very sad that Bob Mould has become "adult contemporary". But mostly, the excited part won.

I haven't smoked a cigarette in over 4 years. Take that, doubters! And when I say doubters, I really mean me because I was the biggest doubter of them all. Never ever did I think I could quit. But I quit for Augusta (found out I was pregnant and quit cold turkey that day), so I think that's the trick. I couldn't quit for myself, but I found a better reason. Do I still think about cigarettes? Yep. Do I still want to smoke? Sometimes, usually when I'm irritated or feeling super fat. But the reality is, cigarettes suck. They control you, they make you stink like crap, they break your bank and they are just plain not worth it. I still miss that first drag and the instant calm, but then I get on the elevator at work after a smoker has been on it – or I look at my daughter – and remember that I don't smoke anymore, and won't ever again.

I wish Mad Men was a daily soap.

Where the hell did my waistline go!? Hey, look! OREOS!!

Wizard of Oz fans will appreciate this: The other day, I asked Augusta what she was doing and she said, "I'm just flying on a broomstick, thumbing for a hitch."

Speaking of Augusta, recently after not pooping for 3 days, she went during the night in her sleep. She woke me up and said, "MOM! I pooped my pants!!! Why did that happen???? I WAS SLEEPING!!!!!!!"

Last but not least, Augusta has her own way of saying her prayers. She came home from daycare one day and asked if she could say Grace at dinner. We obliged. She very solemnly crossed herself and said, "bwess us o' Lord for these thy thank you for our dinner. The father, the song, hold the spirit, Amen."

These Go to Eleven

2009-09-09T23:27:00.002-05:00

I introduced my daughter to the soundtrack to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode (Once More With Feeling) a couple of days ago in the car. It's one of my favorites, both to watch and to listen to. Chock full of humor and wacky nods to well, I don't want to bore you so I'll just say that I love it. It used to be a staple in the car for B and I, but it hasn't had much play lately. I tricked Gus into listening to it over the weekend and surprise surprise, she loved it. As we were getting out of the car tonight, she said "Mommy. You must roll me a copy of that for my room." I asked, "do you mean burn? You want me to burn you a copy?" She replied, "I just want it in my room, OK???" So, I "rolled" her a copy and we rocked to it this evening at bedtime. I can still hear it playing in her room as I write this. That's my girl!

Music was always a big part of my world, right from the beginning. I never played an instrument but I can play the hell out of the radio. Ba-dum-bump! My folks always had good music on, and I remember being the only kid in Kindergarten who could name (or cared about) the Beatles. I got into an argument once with my best friend Meagan about the song "Copa Cabana" – I insisted it was 'Copa' while she remained convinced that it was 'cobra'. The first single I ever begged my mom to buy for me was "Dust in the Wind". My first album bought with my own money was Kool and the Gang. I was obsessed with Brit pop in the early 80s due to our easy access to British tv featuring Top of the Pops (we lived in Germany near a large British Army post). I was sure I would marry one of the Duran Duran boys. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" got me through a particularly rough fifth grade year (girls are MEAN!) and Prince got me through well, he still gets me through. The Cure. The Church. Psyche Furs. REM. The Replacements. All that great stuff my brother got me into in high school. My first concert was BB King. I hate Blues Traveler right down to my core. I was ticked with the gal seated in front of me sang along out loud with Johnny Mathis. Yes, I said it. I saw Johnny Mathis. I've also seen Jane's Addiction, Violent Femmes, Bad Brains and handed Bjork a plastic spider to keep in her pocket. Movie scores are a current love of mine. I walked down the aisle to "You're So Cool", Hans Zimmer's tune for the film True Romance. I could listen to the Shakespeare in Love soundtrack every day and never tire of it. Ravenous is another great one that never gets old, and still gives me the creeps every time I hear it. I just might wear out my copy of the Once soundtrack. Then there are albums which are my own personally adopted soundtracks. There's my old standard go-to disk, "Love Everything" by the Glitter Kicks, featuring my good friends Craig (best drummer of all time) and Tawni (when I grow up, can I please be T?). I flew to Chicago last summer to see a once-in-a-lifetime show with my best friend. Well, mostly to see my best friend, but also to watch Liz Phair perform her album "Exile in Guyville" live and in its entirety on its 15^th anniversary (with Suz, who introduced me to that album in the first place). Though I'm not by any means a Neil Young fan, I'm back in the living room at 1001 Rhode Island with every annoying little off-key note. I love how a song can take you back into a moment right from the introduction. I hear the single opening note to "Here Comes Your Man" and I'm suddenly riding around Leavenworth with Shannon. I hear the beginning of "I Love Rock and Roll" and I'm back in third grade with Carol Cullum. We are wearing matching knickerbocker pants and singing our hearts out. There are about 85 songs I can't listen to without thinking of my mom, but the list is topped with "You Can Call me Al". And Meredith Brooks "Bitch". Not because my mom is a bitch (she isn't) but because she loves that song, and now I do too because of her.

I'm not trying to cure cancer here, I'm just sayin I love music. And I love that my girl does too. I get a kick out the fact that she can identify a Coldplay song, or that she knows the sound of Glen Hansard's voice (I love it even more that she calls him Glen Handsome). I not-at-all-secretly love that "Don't Stop Believin" fills her with joy and calms her down when she's upset. It's a great song and you know it. I'm determined that she will have a well-rounded appreciation for music. Much like my dad educated me on great stuff like the Four Tops, the Bee-Gees (before they were disco, even!) and the aforementioned Beatles (great bunch of guys, you really should check them out sometime), I want my girl to know what she likes and have an appreciation for the rest of it, even if it's stuff she doesn't care for. She's got a pretty good head start, if you ask me.

the starter blog

2009-09-05T00:10:00.001-05:00

Well, here goes. All the other kids are doing it, so why not? But what to talk about? Topic suggestions welcome. I don't do politics. And I try really hard not to say mean things about people. At least not where they'll be able to read them.

Tonight I re-watched the pilot of my new favorite show, Glee. I'm sure since it's well written, clever, funny, entertaining and on Fox, it won't last the season. But for now, I love it. The final scene gave me chills – real live, actual chills! The underdog, put-upon, misfit kids sing their hearts out to "Don't Stop Believin" and it just touched me, I guess. Anyone who knows me knows I have a bond with that song, because of my sugar pie/tsunami of a daughter, Augusta, who is obsessed with that tune. But I digress. If you have seen Glee, tell Fox that you like it. If you haven't seen it, you need to find it and watch it. And then tell Fox that you like it. It's too late now for my other favorite show, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, but maybe together we can keep the delightful GLEE on the air.

That's all I got. Terrifically boring First Blog Post, but in all honesty, no one is reading this AND I really kinda just wanted to see what it would look like all posted and stuff.