Rave and Bitch Topics 2/25

RAVE

People
Carlos Mencia - Comedian. Politically incorrect, but honest. He was in town last weekend and I got to catch a midnight show. Didn't have me crying and falling out of my chair like last time, but still a good show.

Stanford Women's Basketball - Never cared much for college/women's/college women's hoops, but I went to 2 of their games this season, including last night's whooping on U of Oregon. A very talented and disciplined group. Exploited U of O's 3-2 zone very efficiently. The crowd was very involved. The loud men behind us complained at every single ref call, as if Stanford's game was so impeccable as not to commit a single foul or turnover. My friend Michael noticed late in the 4th that we were surrounded by tons of "women with mullets, wearing jeans and brown hiking boots"....

DVD
The Jerk (1979). Steve Martin is hilarious. I was inspired by the several references to it in Freaks and Geeks, another great DVD set.

Food
Meatloaf Muffins with BBQ Sauce and mashed red potatoes with fresh chives. Very easy to make.

on iPod
I Remember You - Brian McKnight

BITCH

DVD
In the Bedroom (Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei). Great acting + boring plot + ending that unravels into nowhere rather than brings closure = movie to skip

Product
Lysol Sanitizing Wipes on computer screen - bad idea.

TV
American Idol - Not a regular watcher, but have casual check-ins during channel surfing. It's not even the top 10 yet, and the eliminations are already really, really painful and drawn out. And Ryan Seacrest or whatever his name is - he's kind of a dork.

Workout
Cung Le's kickboxing, Santa Clara studio. Been a member since 2000. Some of the best workouts I've ever had and part of the reason my bf's brother thinks Ed's going out with Flo-Jo....on my bitch list today, cuz it's time to mop the feet-smell off that floor, yo! Until then, I wear socks.

Picks of the Day 2/23

Website
http://www.thesimpsonsquotes.com

Food
Girl Scout Cookies - Pinatas

DVD
Coupling - I'm on the 3rd of 4 seasons. It's like Friends, but better! More crude and crass, and British comedy is just great.

Rainy Day Playlist

Grooves that were meant for rainy day driving:

1. "After the Love is Gone" - Earth, Wind & Fire
2. "Still in Love with You" - Al Green
3. "Thinking of You" - Tony Toni Tone
4. "Till the Cops Come Knockin'" - Maxwell
5. "Feel Like Makin' Love" - D'Angelo
6. "Till You Do Me Right" - After 7
7. "Whip Appeal" - Babyface
8. "All My Tomorrows" - Kenny Lattimore
9. "Could" - Brian McKnight
10. "Turn the Lights Down Low" - Lauryn Hill

Random Memories 2/16

It just hit me that it was seven years ago that I moved back from New York City. So I was thinking about what I was doing around this time in 1998. A Pentathlon at SCSU (crashing the drunk guy's graduation party) and the UAA indoor meet in Chicago (Michelle trying on engagement rings at Tiffany's). God, I was in great shape then, and probably still thought I was fat. Alumni Hall. Ballet Tech. The NBA All-Star Jam Session in NYC. Sweet n Tart. Dawson's Creek and Party of Five. That shy Puerto Rican guy Vielka had a crush on. The Esplanade. Taking pictures of everything. Killing time in CBS building. The Armory. Naps at Coles. The professor who wore the same white linen suit every day. All the Miami Vice jokes. The ice-skating Bobcat mascot. The lab coordinator (who ate everything with ketchup) with the imaginary fiance. The big letters suspended from the ceiling. The Chuck Close exhibit.

Chuck Close is an awesome artist. Already an accomplished painter, this man became a quadriplegic and didn't stop making great paintings and drawings. He created many of his later works using a paintbrush between his teeth. I saw him during an exhibit sponsored by the visual psychophysics lab I worked at my senior year. That same year, he had a big exhibit at the MoMA.

That job at Prof. Pelli's lab was easy work. We spent a lot of time running errands, eating lunch and being subjects for Stuyvesant HS students working on their Westinghouse projects. It was nice to have somewhere to lounge between classes or do late-night homework in peace, even though the CD player played the same music over and over again all year (and we never thought to bring in other CDs): Sarah McLaughlin, some Best of Prince CD, some Best of Stevie Wonder (but not the good 2-disc) CD, The Austin Powers soundtrack. I heard rumors that the 10th floor (right above us) was where they kept the caged monkeys and animals for research. Only one of the elevators went to that floor and you needed a key to access it.

Vagina Monologues

I'm watching this while working and uhh, I don't Get it....

One more residual Valentines Day thought: WHY do they make V-day cards from a cat/dog to its Owner? What a waste of time and space.

I'm exhausted and I still have tons of work to finish tonight. Ugh. And we lost our basketball game vs. Go Large (the lesbian cops and firefighters).

My Romance Collection

Inspired by today's "holiday", here are some of my favorite romantic movies. No Meg Ryan or Julia Roberts in this collection. And just for the record, Jerry Maguire was Such an awful movie. Not that any of those actresses are in this movie. A kid is not cute, just because he wears glasses and says stupid things.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Amelie
3. Love Jones
4. Bridget Jones's Diary
5. Love and Basketball
6. 50 First Dates
7. Some Kind of Wonderful
8. The Princess Bride
9. So I Married an Axe Murderer
10. The Wedding Singer

I originally had Bend it Like Beckham on the list. I liked the movie, but then I remembered the ending. Their agreement to start a long-distance relationship type thing at the end of a movie was lame and gave doubt to the happy ending.

Ointment-Filled Chocolate

Peeve
Getting a nice heart-shaped box of chocolates around Valentines Day and biting into each piece of chocolate to find that it is filled with OINTMENT (that drippy, gooey, syrupy Stuff inside, sometimes in flavors such as coconut). Yuck.

Rave
http://www.dans.com/

Picks of the Day 2/11

DVD
Night Court Season 1 - I forgot how cute and funny this show was. I watched the whole season while working late last night. Judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson) has such a big heart and each episode left me feeling warm and fuzzy.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Collector's Edition) - No, it never gets old.

Music on iPod
Thompson Twins - Greatest Hits. I often reminisce about "when music was good"....

Book
Naked by David Sedaris - I'm almost halfway done. The characters are quirky and writing is sharp, sometimes making me laughing out loud.

***
This is some of the stuff that helps lift my mood or divert my attention from work stress or anything that's getting me down. One of the parents of a kid on the basketball team I coach is starting to give me all sorts of shit about the way I'm running the team. I wish it didn't hit me so hard, because I really think I'm doing a good job, given the circumstances. Furthermore, she's a great kid, as are all the kids on the team, and I love working with them. I hate when the experience is tainted by overbearing parents. Parents like this are the Only downside of coaching and are extremely exhausting to deal with.

I'm feeling a little sick, so I took the day off to regroup. I'm bummed that I'll be missing tomorrow's snowboarding trip, but I think I should relax.

Yesterday I heard that one of my basketball league buddies was just diagnosed with breast cancer. She sounds optimistic and is in good spirits, but I can't image how difficult this is on her. We're all hoping for the best.

Keynote Address

Wow, that makes me sound important. This is my new Blog. I still am not sure about the purpose of Blogs. It seems like a passive way to communicate to the world, to publish one's thoughts to an unknown audience. I created my first Blog last year for an online programming class, and thought it was a little fun. I published random lists (you know, the important stuff like "The last 10 people I'd want to run into if I'm alone in the woods at night") and other slabs of mental diarrhea. I plan to maintain a similar tone here. If nothing, its purpose will be to kill more time I already know I don't have, and to amuse myself while doing so.

My sister Barb is a writer. Her thoughts are well-contained and eloquently communicated. Unapologetically, I am not a writer and won't promise any cohesiveness or organization to my posts. Furthermore, knowing that I am very busy and overcommitted, I don't promise a regular publishing schedule.

From my posts, you will gain an insight into my world. If you are interested, then I invite you to visit frequently. However, the following people are not invited to play: those who think the Dave Matthews Band is GOOD, Kobe Bryant, Element or Aztek drivers, those who just don't GET it, those who think Lil Jon is talented, those who told me that i HAVE TO see Pulp Fiction (I'll bet these are the same people who thought Lost in Translation was so great), and lastly, boring people with no imagination or personality.