A View From Saturday

I borrow this title from a book that my friend Nathan always says I should read. Appropriately enough, it's about trivia competition, which is exactly how I spent my Saturday in Chicago. (Ah, if I'd only spent "Saturday In The Park"!)

We started the morning with a staff meeting, led by our roommate Frank. He promised two things: 1. Those who found errors would receive a Scooby Snack and, 2. Those who messed up the venerated card system (for organizing team matches) would be shot. Fair enough.

I think Frank and I were the coolest room of the tournament. Besides having a sweet suite (meaning 10 people weren't crammed against the walls of a two-person hotel room like I saw happen last year), we had some fun Johnny/Ed and Pat/Vanna schtick going on. Hopefully this mitigated the fact that I couldn't add worth a hill of beans most of the day (Sorry Frank!). In my defense I was much better when I was fully awake... around 2:30 p.m. By this time Frank had shot four people.

For lunch I went to Panda Express, one of my very favorite places, followed by a Coke at Target, one of my other favorite places. As if lunch we're already perfect enough, I passed a Flea Market. My heart fluttered at the prospect of old stuff.

It's very interesting being a trivia nerd among trivia nerds, as you find yourself silently screaming answers they either don't get, or don't get nearly as fast as you would have. For me, these included Simon Cowell, Alveoli, and Stephen Foster. We got to see a couple teams more than once. After Frank noted this situation with one team, I looked at the other and said "Yeah! They had me last night!". ::Pause:: ::Laughter:: So I added my own: "That's what she said!" to lots of appreciative laughter from all. It's fun being your own heckler sometimes :-)

It was 6:00 in no time and we went up to our rooms to change for dinner. I took off my shoes and collapsed on the bed in the guys' room. "Well, if you're taking off your shoes and laying on my bed, I'm going to loosen my tie!" Frank joked. Jokes (not to mention pictures) about me falling asleep anywhere and everywhere seemed to be a recurring theme of the trip.

Dinner at Harry Caray's was good, but the best part was undoubtedly after when we played Chrononauts (a complex and fun time travel game) and many other card games late into the night (despite the fact that I scored so low at one that I had to be designated (*) for the remainder of the game.) I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. I highly recommend playing "Store" when you're punchdrunk sleepy.

To Paul, Paolo, Frank, and Nathan: Thanks for one of the best nights of my life. And you know that's what she said...

Current Mood: Charged
Current Music: The Ventures

With Any Luck, This Commercial Will Air Many Times Over

David Cook (followed by David Archuleta, but that's of little consequence) advertising Guitar Hero. He could be advertising Cooking Mama for all I care.



I'd rather see him than Tom Cruise any day.

It's All Happening At The Zoo

For maximum enjoyment of this post, I recommend reading it with the accompanying YouTube Video playing in the background. It's a song by Simon and Garfunkel called, appropriately, "At The Zoo". The menagerie of photos on the page are mine, but those in the video are not. Enjoy them or ignore them as you will:



When I woke up Friday morning in Chicago, I felt like I hadn't slept at all. I blame this on my snoring roommate. Despite this, I was excited for a day of fun with my Gonzaga guys. We started off at the Rosemont el station for the sole purpose of picking up Duncan Donuts. To folks in the midwestern and eastern United States, they aren't such a big deal, but to smalltowners from the Pacific Northwest, the orange and pink signs are a rarity to be cherished. We got a dozen donuts between us (I had only one, but I also had some delicious hashbrowns!). Soon, we were on a bus to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It seems like an odd destination of all places to go in Chicago, but we'd heard it was fun and free, and we weren't disappointed. It had been five years since I'd been to the zoo and I thoroughly relished the opportunity to go again. It was filled with elementary school children, whose enthusiasm made it all the more fun. While visiting the kangaroos there was a street performer* (Zoo walkway performer?) playing "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport". I always hated that song, but in that setting it worked. We saw alpacas, zebras and chimpanzees, too. We also saw the giraffe pictured above, who was inexplicably sharing its zone with an ostrich... If there's a symbiotic relationship there I'm not aware of it...We had a quick bite of lunch at the snack bar. Nathan and Paul had Chicago style hot dogs... I had a regular, boring hot dog, but it was good, and we supported the animal aid efforts of the zoo, I'm sure. We also got our picture taken in a photo booth. I got the picture above when we were going through the "African Safari" section. It's one of many adorable Meerkat photos our group captured. Not surprisingly, they were some of the most fun animals to watch... probably because they were awake. I saw sleeping lions, sleeping tigers, sleeping leopards, not to mention some adorable sleeping gorillas. (See below)
This was the most profound moment we saw. We just stood there watching this momma and baby gorilla sleep. It was precious. The rest of the monkeys were much less profound, but incredibly entertaining. I didn't have good pictures of them to show because they hardly stopped moving! I was most impressed by a gibbon that had lost part of its forearm, yet still managed to make acrobatic leaps through his faux habitat with the rest of the gang. Wow.
On our way back past the lions, we were delighted to see that he woke up! We got to see him yawn, walk about 20 paces, then lay down again in a different spot. Not all that exciting, but more than we'd gotten to see of him all day, and it made for a great photo op. We managed to swing by the seal tent, also, before leaving, and upon hearing this I started clapping. Just like a seal. This unconscious reflex was both frightening and hilarious. Kind of like my fellow seal clapper Paula Abdul.

All too soon we were on the bus back to the hotel and checked in. Funny enough, the guy checking us in was Paul, Paolo, and Nathan's fourth roommate, Frank. This was especially funny because they had jokingly said they were going to Gaslight him (ie: pretend he didn't exist to drive him crazy)... But that's pretty much impossible when he's the guy giving you your lunch money. He ended up being my roommate too, in that he was reading questions in the room I was scorekeeping in. The four of us would mostly scorekeep on Saturday, so the scrimmage rounds Friday night were a good opportunity to moderate.

What we didn't count on was just how long we'd be scrimmaging. It was 10:00 before we reached the gleaming mecca of IHOP and got some dinner (or breakfast). It was delicious. Below is a polar bear who thought Nathan looked delicious.

Chicago! Indiana!

I'm experiencing the catch-22 of blogging: The days in your life where the most stuff happens are also the days where you have absolutely no time to write about said happenings. So it was with my Chicago trip. I might make this a multi-part entry.

Paul and I left for Seattle late Wednesday night, just as American Idol was starting. I was upset that I didn't get to watch the results show live, but I was able to record it and watch it in all its glory about an hour ago. (My David Cook won! I'm so happy for him! I hope he makes an album that has "Hello" on it...). We passed our time in the usual way, playing car games and listening to music. Our friend Christene doesn't live too far from the airport and she generously let us "Park 'N Ride" at her house.

The flight was fairly uneventful, and by 2:30 we'd arrived at O'Hare to be greeted by Paolo, our friend and fellow Gonzaga graduate now attending Marquette University in Milwaukee. After a quick trip to drop off our stuff at the hotel, we dashed back downtown to:

1. Enjoy dinner at Giordano's Pizza (Mmmm...Cheese...)

2. Attend opening night of "Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (Mmmm... Shia LaBeouf... LOL I'm not a groupie of his, but seeing him all dressed up in 50's garb was pretty special).

Despite the enthusiasm surrounding these things, we were able to get good, prompt seating at both. I'd had Giordano's Pizza before, and it didn't disappoint me. Movie critics Paul and Paolo judged "Indiana Jones" a little more harshly: "I knew Raiders of the Lost Ark, I was in the Senate with Raiders, and you, sir, are no Raiders." While that may be true, I enjoyed the flick wholeheartedly and, as is often the case with me and movie franchises, I felt like a very special part of history watching it. They did an excellent job with the 50's setting (including some great music), and I enjoyed seeing some evil communists meet their doom. Though it can't compete with "Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade" (my favorite film of the series), it kept the jovial quality that movie had... I would have liked it even more if it kept the Sean Connery quality that movie had! :-) I definitely recommend it to all but strict Indy Purists.

After seeing Indiana Jones, we went back to our hotel to meet our friend Nathan that had just arrived. The following day was ours to spend in the city, but more about that later...

Current Mood: Tired, But Delighted With Life
Current Music: "The Very Best of the Brothers Johnson: Strawberry Letter 23"

Must. Go-Go. Dance.

I'm beyond thrilled at an album released today... And here's the story:

I first heard "Mother Mary" while flipping through the channels on my XM radio. With a name like "Foxboro Hottubs" I was curious and gave it a listen and fell in love with it. A few months later, I happened to hear another song (I think it was "The Pedestrian") and I thought "Awesome! The Foxboro Hottubs have another song!" Little knowing it was Green Day, even though I commented they reminded me of them. No sooner were the words out of my mouth when the DJ said "So, what's a bigger shock? That the Foxboro Hottubs were revealed to be Green Day, or that Michael Stipe of R.E.M. is gay?" In my case, obviously the former. I listened through to the songs on iTunes and wrote a review:

This album is a throwback to bands like The Who and The Kinks, with their choppy guitar and driving drums. I kind of wanted to get up and go-go dance to a few of these songs. Yet, it doesn't play like an Austin Powers soundtrack by any means. Green Day keeps it current and infused with their alternative style and distinctive vocals. It's a win-win, because it draws in "old school" rock fans like me AND makes this awesome mid-1960's sound accessible to a whole new audience.

Congratulations, Foxboro Hottubs, and the Cyrano De Green Day behind you. :-)

Dream Big

Well, I just finished watching the American Idol finale and I'm holding my cell phone on my shoulder so I can vote and blog at the same time. Isn't technology wonderful? But you know what isn't wonderful? The way the judges treated David Cook tonight. But I'll get to that later.

Vote status: I've gotten about 10 votes in and twice that many busy signals.

The show opened with a fun "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!" exhortation by that guy of rumbling exhortation fame. Then, they continued the metaphor all through the show, most bizarrely by having both Davids come out in shiny robes, ready for a day at the boxing spa. This was followed by a touching scene where each David said nice things about the other David, which I appreciated.

The first song for each was chosen by the "Man With The Golden Ears", Clive Davis. He chose these songs for the guys:
David C.: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
David A.: "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"

David Cook did a wonderful rendition of the U2 hit that came out when he was 5 years old. He really felt the song, and he used the platform behind the judges. I really enjoyed it.

David Archuleta did an equally fantastic version of his tune, released by Elton John was David A. was -16. He incorporated some of his trademark runs into the song, and did some cool things vocally at the end. However, it still didn't give me the chills it did when Clay Aiken sang it. Despite this, Simon gave Round 1 to Archuleta. It was a tie at best.

The next round was devoted to the Songwriting Contest Top 10 Winners. Rather than giving only a couple choices or, worse, making both contestants sing the exact same song, Idol gave the guys room for discretion. David C. selected a song called "Dream Big" and David Archuleta chose "In This Moment", traditional American Idol themes both.

I didn't particularly care for "Dream Big" when I first heard it on the Idol songwriting contest website (yes, I voted), but I found it quite stirring when Cook sang it. Its rocky quality belied the trite message. I must say here that I'm a big fan of trite, when done well, and by infusing a sentimental lyric with driving guitar, Cook did just that, making "Dream Big" a song I will surely download and sing loudly while doing dishes... If I did dishes. Once I have that song, I'll do some dishes :-)

"In This Moment" was a very pretty song, but it bored me, and it kind of encompasses the Entertainment Weekly joke of an amalgam of past Idol tunes: "This Is My Moment Like This Inside My Now" or something to that effect. I did really like the Ooh-ooh-ooh melody run in the middle, but I swear I've heard it before. I don't know from what song though. Again, Simon unfairly grants this round to Archuleta.

P.S. One of the best moments of this song during rehearsal with vocal coach Andrew Lloyd Webber. At one point the lyrics rhyme "reflection" with "perfection" and Andrew quipped "It looks like Simon wrote these lyrics." LOL

Finally, it was contestant's choice. David C. sang "The World I Know" by Collective Soul. I always thought Collective Soul would suit him well, though I would have picked when of their older hits like "Shine" or "December". It was a good performance, but it didn't blow me away. However, I was pleased that all three of his songs were new this week, instead of some recycled finales we've seen in the past. (Though he could have recycled "Hello" as much as he wanted and I wouldn't complain!). All new material, unlike...

David Archuleta encored one of his "biggest hits", John Lennon's "Imagine". It was well done, but lacked the punch it did when he played at the piano the first time.

In short, I'd give the edge to Cook for my own preferences, but I really think it was a close as could be. And yet Simon called it a KNOCKOUT for David Archuleta. Wait, WHAT? To compound the injustice, Ryan says "Well said, Simon." Again, WHAT? That was neither kind nor professional of them.

My cell phone is getting hot and I'm getting a little crick in my neck. I'm going to take a break from dialing.

Either of them deserves to win, but I'll send a prayer (along with scores of votes) David Cook's way.

::Sniffle::

Well, I've got a cold. Who gets colds in May?! It doesn't seem fair. The weather is beautiful (not to mention hot, which isn't too pleasant when you've got a fever), and I'd much rather be off frolicking. And, I've gone two days without continuing my walking habit so my miles logged still stands at 3.2ish... But I know that this can't last too long, and I'll certainly be well in time for my Chicago trip, Lord willing. In the meantime, I've been doing lots of crossword puzzles and watching "Old School Sesame Street" that I rented on Netflix. I've always loved Sesame Street, and getting to see the old episodes is a real treat.

I was also entertained this week by American Idol... Between January and May, Tuesday is my favorite day of the week. This season, my friend Paul and I have made a habit of making song choices for the contestants each week, and scoring unofficial "points" if we make a correct prediction. More than that, though, the purpose is to satisfy our armchair quarterback syndrome :-) This week, it was very difficult to figure out contestant intentions because there was no theme. David A., David C., and Syesha each selected a song, one of the judges selected one for each of them, and so did the producers. In my lineup, I would have had David A. sing "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor, David C. sing "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers, and Syesha sing "Tell Me Something Good" by Chaka Khan and Rufus. But my favorite performances of the night were probably "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel (David A.) and "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith (David C.). And those two outdid Syesha in votes, so we'll see them next week in the finale. I really hope we'll get three performances of new material instead of boring reprises as some years have been. I've been rooting for David Cook ever since he performed "Hello" on 80's Night in the Top 16.



But I know David Archuleta would make a very good Idol, and a more traditional one. They're both very talented, and I can't wait until Tuesday (when I'll hopefully be well, too!)

Current Mood: Sniffly!
Current Music: Ditto.

YouTube Stream of Consciousness

I'm a little bit in love with YouTube. When I visit that site I inevitably go on a stream of consciousness journey (Anyone remember "The Jilting of Granny Weatherald?" No? Somewhere out there Mr.Weisbeck, my junior year English teacher, is saying yes.) I start out with the clip I sought, followed by another mentioned on the page. It sparks a memory of something else I'd like to see, and the whole process starts over. If you ever have a boring afternoon/late night/week, I highly recommend losing yourself in a YouTube journey of your creation. In my case, I was reading an Entertainment Weekly page that stated Syesha Mercado, American Idol Top 3 contestant, was not copying the Tina Turner version, but, (yikes!) the Trenyce cover from American Idol Season 2. "Oh, goodness gracious, I remember Trenyce!" I thought, and off I went.



Trenyce led me to the much more delightful Tamyra Gray (Simon was right. "A House Is Not A Home" truly knocks your socks off.)



And so I traversed the land of Internet videos, past Dionne Warwick and George Harrison, Herb Alpert and Kelly Clarkson... Then, on a whim, decided to see if an obscure 1960's hit called "Yellow Balloon" by the group of the same name happened to be there. The answer is below.



Most will probably consider it drivel, but as one YouTube commentator put it, "Ba Ba Ba music! We need more sunshine rock!" or something to that effect. So true. Also true: I should probably be sleeping.

Current Music: "Yellow Balloon", "Proud Mary", "Sky High" (By an obscure disco band called Jigsaw. They're on YouTube too. You know you're curious.), and many other YouTube tracks
Current Mood: Not as sleepy as I should be.

Pigeon Toed

I continued my walks today... So far I've logged about 2 miles; I figured this out by driving the distance in my car, since currently I don't have a pedometer. Once again I felt so proud of myself... a fact I'll try not to bother the World Wide Web with every day. I think instead I'll just record a running tally of my miles/days I've walked, for my own personal accomplishment.

So, today I was driving past a Car Wash, and a pigeon flew out of the one labeled "No Touch Automatic". And it didn't just walk or hop out- it fluttered with gusto. Probably because it felt fresh and clean and newly waxed. It reminded me of one of my favorite "Friends" openers ever, and YouTube didn't disappoint me when I searched for it to share:



I honestly believe I would have done the same thing if I was in that situation.

Additional happy moments of the day:
* Some guys cat-called me as my car was alongside theirs. Very flattering. :-)
* I was complimented on my smile at Subway.
* It was 70° and SUNNY today! Rumor has it that it will be 90° later in the week, but we shall see. I've learned to regard the weatherman with skepticism.

I bought a CD with a song I've always wanted on it: "Girl From Ipanema" by Getz/ Gilberto. It embodies that 60's bossa nova, elegant cocktail (or in my case mocktail) party, classy department store lobby, etc. feeling that I wish I got to experience back in the day. I'll certainly play said CD at the next mocktail party I have.

By the way, does anybody know of cool stuff to put on my blog? I love fun quizzes and memes, especially ones with cool result graphics. Please post a comment or give me a link you've found.

Current Music: The Byrds, "There Is A Season" Boxed Set, Disc 1. I have mixed feelings about folk rock. If it's good and doesn't get too preachy, I rather enjoy it, but if it does, or starts sounding like "Too much folk, not enough rock", then I've had enough. I like some of The Byrds, especially "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better When You're Gone", "Mr. Spaceman", and, of course, "Turn, Turn, Turn"... aka the most popular Ecclesiastes has ever been in secular circles. They also sing a lot of great Dylan songs better than Dylan sings them himself, let's be honest.

Current Mood: Happy!

Walk, Don't Run

I actually went for a walk today! While this might not seem like a monumental accomplishment to most, it definitely was for me. The closest I ever got to playing a sport was "College Bowl" and, let's face it, trivia is pretty anaerobic exercise. So, the fact that I burned some calories today was pretty special. I put on my iPod and went for a short walk around the neighborhood (including a hill! :-)). I used a previously created playlist called, appropriately, "Work Out":

"No Matter What Shape Your Stomach's In" by The T-Bones
"Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)" by Reunion
"Woke Up This Morning" by A3 (Better known as the Sopranos Themesong)
"Take Me To Your Leader" by Newsboys
"The Kids Are All Right" by The Who
"1985" by Bowling For Soup
"Fortunate Son" by Creedance Clearwater Revival

When I got back in the house my muscles were tweaking out, saying "Wait...We didn't sign up for this!" but I felt very good about myself. So, of course, I had to share :-).

Current Music: The Temptations: Emperors of Soul Box Set, Disc 2. There are a lot of great songs on this CD. It includes some of their biggest hits, like "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", but I often skip past those. If you're looking for slightly lesser known hits (Still Top 40 but not Top 5), check out "All I Need" and "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep", plus plenty of other gems.
Current Mood: A few calories lighter...

I Promised A Quiz

I agree with some of this. I am loyal and traditional, but I do like novelty, and I'm about as easygoing as Monica Gellar...

You Are Corn Flakes

You are traditional and easy going. If something is high quality, you're satisfied with it. You don't need much variety or novelty in your life. You're happy with what you have. You're quite loyal. You're the type of person who eats the same breakfast every day... And likely at the exact same time each day!

What Kind of Cereal Are You?

Look, it's Edie McClurg!

Blog Inspired

I went to a conference in Portland a couple days ago and attended a workshop on blogging. It inspired me to create a blog of my own. I don't know what will come of this, or what I'll end up writing, but I'm excited to see where it goes. I think it will be a good place to put my various musings about life, such as:

I think Americans have an odd desire to be reprimanded, nay berated, by English people. This occurred to me after watching "American Idol" (one of my favorite shows), embedded in which was an advertisement for "Hell's Kitchen". What nationality is the angry chef? English. Just like Simon Cowell, Piers What's-His-Name from "America's Got Talent", Anne Robinson from "The Weakest Link"... I think this must be a genetic predisposition that goes back to Colonial times: We want the Brits to tell us what's what, even if we act like we hate it.

Such musings are only one aspect I'd like to incorporate in my blog. I'll also use it as an opportunity to talk about my favorite things, ranging from cupcakes to personality tests (you'll see a lot of random quizzes here, I can promise you that), to, yes, "American Idol" when it's in season. I hope it's an enjoyable diversion for my friends and perhaps wandering surfers. Regardless, I know it will be an enjoyable diversion for me :-) If anyone feels like posting a topic for discussion, or commenting on anything I post, please do! Therein lies the delightful social aspect of having a blog.

Nostalchick Reflections seemed an appropriate title for this endeavor, since I'm a retro girl (I consider the wonder of the Internet small consolation for not growing up in the 1950's :-)). More to come!