Go Team!

What is it about a game, a sport that turns adults into children again? Countless times, I have watched my adult husband who rarely gets visibly excited about anything (I think I got a "that's cool" when I told him we were going to spend a week in Cabo for our honeymoon), turn giddy with excitement at a play that gets made by one of his favorite sports teams. His voice gets all high, he will clap really loud, say "Yeah heah heah!!" and look for someone to high five (usually me or our 3 year old). There isn't anything else that does this to him. My husband isn't fond of strangers but I've seen him hug a few at a Tigers game that went into extra innings and was ultimately won by our beloved kitties after a Granderson walk-off (Grandy, we miss you). And I don't want to pigeon-hole these reactions to professional or college sports. We were at our niece's soccer game and she had the ball, dribbling it down the field towards the goal as fast as her little 8 year old legs could carry her. I watched my husband and our niece's grandpa jump up and down from one end of the field to the other screaming "GOOOOO! GOOOOO!" and when she made the goal, my husband and her grandpa threw their arms in the air and then I think they may have even made out.


And these emotions aren't limited to the real world. Have you ever found yourself cheering for the Dillon Panthers (later the East Dillon Lions) while watching Friday Night Lights? Who wasn't cheering for the T.C. Williams Titans, even though they were coached by Denzel Washington? The same goes for the West Canaan Coyotes and their conflicted leader, James Van Der Beek. And if you didn't cry when Kevin Costner pitched a perfect game for the Tigers then you have no soul. I mean, you even find yourself pulling for Charlie Sheen in Major League. Winning! What is it - that primal, internal force that makes us metamorphose into silly, impulsive kids. There's something about sports that just leaves us stupefied.


And why not? We all have some sort of competitive nature inside of us, whether it's on a sports field or within ourselves - we all strive to be the best at something. Sports just overtly illustrates that drive to compete and desire to win and succeed. Is there anyone out there who wants to lose, whether it's at a football game or Monopoly? No, the object is to win. Either for money, status or a sense of pride, none of us want to be stamped as "The Loser."


Who's your team? Your team. You have a team right? While it may be owned by some random b/millionaire, their purpose, their dignity, their history is yours. You call them "my Yankees" or "my Tigers." You identify with them. They represent you and your fellow fans. What are the Detroit Lions? Some would say that historically speaking, one of the worst teams in football - one of the sorriest - the only team to go 0-16 in one season - a team that wasted several draft opportunities on a series of defunct wide receivers. But to the Lions faithful, they represent Detroit (the city), Michigan (the state), blue-collar, a will-rise-again attitude. And more recently, if the Lions can claw their way back to prosperity, so can we. Lions fans take "pride" in their team. I'm willing to bet that there are some who have stuck with their Lions longer than with their spouses, for better or for worse. And the same goes around the country and across all leagues. A Steeler fan carries the same bag of emotions for their team...so does the Cubs fan (poor cubbies), so does the Yank...You even do it as a country. My husband and I were jumping up and down screaming "Go!!" during the Men's 4 X 100 Freestyle Relay in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, witnessing Jason Lezak and Team U.S.A.'s comeback against France to take gold - and we're not swimfans (terrible movie by the way). In fact, that may have been the first swimming race we ever witnessed and the only one since. But they were "our team," we are U.S.A. I've never felt so patriotic. I just teared up watching it on YouTube. If you have that relationship with your team, consider them an extension of you - if they win, you win. And if you win, you celebrate. "Yeah heah heah!" High five anyone?


Lastly, sports is pure. It is apolitical, although some try to defy that. It isn't religious although some claim it as their religion and it has no lingering effects outside of the occasional broken heart which gets snuffed out by the hope of the next game. The dips and dives of the emotions you feel during a game are genuine, like a child's. No filter, no inhibitions...24 karat emotions.


So while you may not watch sports regularly or consider yourself a fan, don't say your heart doesn't pound a little harder and that you don't get goosebumps when Rocky Balboa downs Ivan Drago in the final minutes of Rocky IV. Hell, even the Russians were cheering for him.

Extreme Makeover: Job Interview Edition

This may sound like a starving person critiquing cuisine but the content of job interviews has become so generic, so cliche and predictable, I might go crazy if another potential employer asks me what my greatest weakness is. As a result of my increasing frustration with job interviews and how they are conducted I have compiled the Top 5 Job Interview Questions That Should Be Banned From All Future Job Interviews and what they should be replaced with:


Top 5 Job Interview Questions That Should Be Banned From All Future Job Interviews


1) Tell me about yourself: "Well, I am [insert any self-flattering adjective that is a derivative of whatever self-flattering adjective the applicant before you has used (I like, "quick-learner")] who is motivated (keyword) by setting and achieving goals for myself." Smile, blink, continue your self-promoting rant by briefly describing your former position, your greatest achievement (which for me was just being one of the last ones standing at the company) and make an enthusiastic declaration of how ready you are to hit the ground running in your new venture. Basically, applicant after applicant is just vomiting thesaurus words at the interviewer(s). This question is way too open-ended and leaves the interviewer(s) subject to the same BS response, over and over and over and...
Instead, this question should be replaced by If you could be any hat, what would you be and why? This will get you a load of completely different responses, guaranteed to tell you a lot about your applicant, especially how they think on their feet because you know, you know, they did not study for this. And since we're on the subject, I would be a Michigan football helmet. This because I am an avid Michigan football fan, protective, love tradition and would very much like to have wings.


2) Why should we hire you? This is really just another version of #1. Again, very open-ended and subject to monotonous responses which may or may not include such words as "team-player", "highly-organized", and "positive." Alternative? Rate yourself from 1-10, 1 being Derelict, 10 being superhero.  This is good because it's an open-ended question but there are a limited number of answers. And having to explain why you're a 7 and not an 8 or a 6 would be tricky. You can always end it with..."but my kids think I'm a 10." Consider their heart strings plucked.


3) Tell us about your last position? Um...it's on my resume. It's right there, bulleted and everything. Have a look. See? Not joking. It's all there but if you need dictation, fine. In one interview, the interviewer asked me how one goes from working at a canoe livery for 10 years to being an Airline Analyst. "Wait, are you judging me?" Actually yes. Well...that's really all there is in this area for those with a generic degree from a public university - tourism and customer service. In lieu, they should ask How often do you get a 'case of the Mondays'? This will show you they have seen and appreciate Office Space and you can cleverly respond, "Weekly."


4) What is your greatest weakness? Bah! This one gets me every time. Seriously? Here, let me disguise one of my strengths as a weakness and then explain how I'm aware that it can be a problem (which it's not because it's actually a strength) and that I do my best not to let it affect those around me (which I don't because it's a strength). No one, NO ONE answers this honestly. No one says, "Well Mr. Smith, cupcakes. Cupcakes are my greatest weakness. I could eat the shit out of like, a dozen cupcakes right now. Actually, do you happen to have any cupcakes? Just cake maybe?" or "Mr. Jones, I do have an anger issue. In fact, when you run that background check you'll see I have multiple offenses for domestic violence but I'm taking classes..." In sum, you're not going to get an honest answer and chances are you don't want to hear an honest answer so let's instead use What is your least favorite interview question? I have to pick just one?


5) Where do you see yourself in 5 years? This is one of those trick questions. If you shoot for the stars, they may think you're pretentious, overly ambitious, unrealistic and even...a threat. Contrastly, if you aim too low, then you lack determination and enthusiasm. If you stay vague then you can't set goals. Instead, I want the interviewer(s) to reach in their desk and pull out one of those magic 8 balls and ask it if they should hire me. Let the answer be what it may. Note: Magic 8 balls have 20 possible answers, 10 are positive, 5 are non-committal and 5 are negative so your chances of getting an affirmative or even hazy response are good. If you happen to get "Outlook not so good" maybe suggest, best 2 out of 3?

Daughter, Meet World.

Tomorrow morning my 3 year old, Kasen, has her first dance class. The class is called Creative Movement. I've done some creative movement in my day without the help of a class you have to pay for but I'm sure her experience will be much more informative. That's neither here nor there. This is going to be her first social experience. She hasn't ever attended a daycare and has not started any type of preschool or head start program. As a result, this is going to be a completely new experience for her on a couple of levels. Not only is she going to begin learning how to move creatively, she is going to dive into a social pool. For some kids this is pool is very deep and dangerous and they end up drowning.


I am so nervous for her because I don't know what is in store for her socially. Dance? She'll probably master. Interaction with others? I'm not so sure. It isn't that I think she will be a social outcast or that I don't have the confidence in her to make friends. You just never know how well a person, a child no less, is going to react and adjust to the social world. I wouldn't describe Kasen as an extrovert. She's careful, not entirely unreserved and conscious. I like that she is these things but sometimes, kids don't. Kids are the worst judges. They haven't fully tapped into their conscience or the art of bullshitting so they're oblivious and their thoughts and opinions are pure and sometimes unforgiving. If she becomes familiar with you she can cut loose but kids aren't always given the chance to reach that comfort zone before others have already made up their minds about whether to befriend you or not. What if they don't like her? What if they think she's too tall? Or her leotard isn't as cool as theirs? I, as her parent, can't think of a reason why anyone could not like her but as stated, I'm her mom; my kid is cooler than your kid (and if you're a parent and don't think this same thing about your child then something is wrong with you). I just -- I want her to be happy. I want her to love it and be so happy. Anything less and I feel like I've failed, like I've thrown her in the deep end of the pool with no life vest...or swim lessons. Not even little arm floatie things.


I can't help but think of how many more instances are going to come along where I have this same feeling. Nervous, scared and hopeful for her. The wish to make sure she never has her feelings hurt or gets let down.
I can already envision myself the night before her first day of school --Please make a friend, just one friend - and don't pee your pants like I did on my first day of Kindergarten because I was too shy to ask where the bathroom is. --
What if she doesn't make a team? Or makes the team but rides pine? What if the boy she likes tells her no? Or worse yet, says he'd rather date her younger sister? (Shit, that's a whole other entry.) What if she gets bullied - God, what if she gets bullied? To hell with dance, karate lessons!


I realize that a lot of this worry is based on my own social insecurities. I can be VERY awkward when I'm thrown into a new social setting. My nerves explode, palms sweat, I say um a lot, and fumble my words while unknowingly talking really fast because I just want to get the hell out. Unless I'm drinking. Then it's all good. But sometimes being drunk isn't favored, like during your first Creative Movement class at the age of 3.


I know I can't protect her from all the bad. I know there are going to be days when she comes home and says, "Mom? So-and-so said she doesn't like me." And my heart will shatter. And I'll want to say, "That bitch!" but I won't. I'll have to teach her just to be friendly anyways and disregard the negativity. To still love despite the hate - such a hard lesson to teach and to live.


All this because my 3 year old starts dance class tomorrow. Imagine the mess I'll be when she starts college.

Video Game Ads: The Deception of a Housewife

I was just sitting here, enjoying my day off (ha! I'm unemployed), milling about the house, doing laundry...housewife things. Suddenly, my ears piqued at the sound of a song playing on TV. "What song is this? Who sings it? What's it advertising?" Another fucking video game. This has now happened to me too many times. I am not knocking video games or the gamers who play them but, I have had it up-to-here with the random mismatch of video game advertising and their song usage.

Advertising interests me and I've been turned on to many an artist by the use of their songs in commercials (i.e. Band of Horses, Sean Hayes, Amos Lee, etc.) But, someone tell me how Mazzy Star's Into Dust, can coincide with Gears of War: 3. I realize, on some deeper level, Mazzy Star's melancholic lyrics and slow, sweeping melody contrasts with the violent nature of futuristic alien battles yet both compliment each other with their tragic natures. I get it. Deep. And I can appreciate deep but - COME ON! I get so pissed when I see a song I like have Mortal Grand Theft Evil: Black Ops IV, Halo Edition as a backdrop. I associate good ad music with a creative and entertaining commercial and when it's not that, it's a frickin' video game? Kind of a kick in the crotch. Sia's Breathe Me doesn't belong in Prince of Persia, it belongs on the series finale of Six Feet Under. Did Bill Withers write Ain't No Sunshine to promote Dante's Inferno (the 2010 video game, not the first part of Alighieri's classic poem, Divine Comedy, which sadly, when Googled, comes up second (!!!) to the 2010 video game) or did he write it after being inspired by a 1962 Jack Lemmon movie? Hint: It's the latter.

I guess I have to hand it to them - those ad execs who are probably younger than I am - when I hear their ad tracks playing, I look up to see what's being sold to me and maybe that's the master plan. Can't say I wouldn't use it myself if I were a marketing genius. But I'm not. I'm just a stay-at-home mom with a lot of time on her hands who thinks some decent music is being misused. 

Poles apart, I want to thank Saints Row 2 for using the late Easy E's Real Mothaphukkin G's for their ad spot. 

Pregnancy Blogs

During both of my pregnancies I maintained pregnancy blogs to track and share the experiences I had with both. Their links are listed below in case you have an hour to kill.


Baby 1 (Kasen):
http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/gobluemommy/


Baby 2 (Eden):
http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/gobluemommy2/

Never Forget

-- I wrote this on September 9, 2011 - two days before the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I liked it enough to post here albeit, a few days late. --

I was a Junior in college at the University of Michigan. I was living in a house with five other girls at 917 State St. in Ann Arbor. Classes had just started the week before - it was Tuesday and my housemate (Dayna) and I had our first class that day at 10am, a Communications lecture. We learned early Freshman year not to schedule a class before 10am...noon if you can help it. We also tried to avoid Mondays and Fridays.

It was close to 9:00-ish am and naturally, I was still sleeping. Our house sat about 10 feet away from our neighbors' house and my bedroom window faced one of my neighbor's (Matt) bedroom windows. We would often talk through our windows as it was easier than by phone or walking 10 feet to the other's house. If it were warm enough outside, I would often keep my window open, blinds drawn to keep Matt from seeing me in my skivvies. So I'm sleeping...and I hear, "Aubrey! Aubrey, wake up! Aubrey, you need to wake up and turn on your TV!" I sluggishly come to and realize it's Matt yelling at me, via window. I opened my blinds and said, "What's going on?!" He said, "You need to turn on your TV, just turn it on!" He wouldn't tell me what was going on. I knew something outrageous must be happening if he was waking me, of all people, up at 9:00am and I knew he was serious about whatever it was. I secretly thanked myself for at least sleeping in a T-shirt as I realized Matt probably just saw me in my underwear. Later I realized, he probably couldn't have cared less about my underwear at the time. So I turned on the television in my bedroom. 

NBC was my news channel of choice then. Smoke was billowing out of one of the World Trade Center buildings. I was kind of confused and shocked and ... tired. "How'd that happen, why is it on fire? ....Oh, a plane flew into it? How could that have happened? Matt, what's going on?!" I then thought of my roommates, specifically the ones who were from the NY/NJ area. "They might have family or friends working in the city, I should wake them up." I woke Dayna up and she moves about as fast as I do after death sleeping, which is what we did back then. I think she called a few people and thankfully everyone was okay. We sat on the edge of my bed, in my room and watched, and watched, and watched...as a second airplane flew in from the side of the screen and I remember saying, "There's another plane!" Duh. "It's going to hit it. Oh my God, it's going to it!" And then it did. Dayna and I had just watched dozens of people get killed on live television.

---

Immediately, it became certain that these were deliberate attacks and fear set in. My first thought took me back to a conversation I had with my mom when I was...16? 

"Mom, all the 'big' stuff happened when you were younger. You had Vietnam, Civil Rights Movement, Kennedy Assassination...nothing 'big' is ever going to happen for my generation. It's so boring." 

I called my mom after the second plane hit and stupidly asked her if she knew what was going on. "Yes," she said. And then she referenced that old conversation...

"Remember when you asked me why nothing 'big' ever happens?" I shamefully hung my head. This was our "big". Since, I've regretted saying anything like that. I guess I didn't know how great it was to be so boring. 

---

Reports and news and accounts of the tragedy and turmoil that was going on in our forever-changed world flooded in as Dayna and I both decided not to shower and head to class. Remember this was before Facebook and other social media. My cell phone, which I had just gotten that fall, still had a pea-green screen. For some reason, we were continuing on with life as usual even though it was as if the world had stopped. While walking to class, there was a mass exodus of students walking away from campus and we had overheard all classes had been cancelled for that day. There's something inside of you that elates when you hear, "Classes have been cancelled," despite the reason. Dayna and I exchanged jubilous outbursts which were snuffed out quickly by another student who verbally lashed us for being happy about cancelled classes. "Hundreds of people are dying! Don't you know?!" She was very upset at the circumstances that had led to the cancelled classes whereas Dayna and I hadn't considered the reasons, even though we knew them fully well. The student kept walking and Dayna and I just turned around to schlep back to the house, half-embarrassed, half-still excited about not having to go to class that day. 

That's where my "Where Were You?" memory ends. Not all that poignant of a story but I remember every minute like it was yesterday, not 10 years ago. Ask me about anything else that happened 10 years ago and I will probably relay a fuzzy recollection with a bit of bullshit filler for the details I can't recall. 

The fact that it's been 10 years hasn't changed much. It hasn't made it any less fresh. People still question how it happened, it was an inside job, it wasn't Bin Laden, Santa Claus did it, etc. None of the conspiracy theorists unfortunately can't say that it didn't happen. Whether it was a terrorist attack or the Man in the Moon, it happened and over 3,000 people were murdered that day - their families' and friends' lives changed forever in the most horrible of fashions.

It pisses me off a little bit that it takes something like this to unify people. It takes a tragedy to realize that we all have a commonality, being human and being alive...and are mortal. I'm not sure it's worth it. 

The fingers of the 9/11 devastation have reached into political, religious, and conspiracy theorist arenas. Its effects have trickled into nearly every aspect of our infrastructure, how we travel, our security, what to put in our suitcases. I've heard people damn 9/11 because it's made them late for flights due to heightened, lengthy security measures. I damn 9/11 because it took innocent lives. And suddenly I've become that random student, rebuking Dayna and me on our way to class that day. "Don't you know people have died?"

In the end, it's not political, it's not a conspiracy, it's not "a sign". It's tragic. And we'll never forget, as if we could anyway. 

Please Don't Stop the Music

If you don't love or aren't passionate about music or at least respect it, then you won't appreciate the remainder of the words written here, so you can stop reading now. It's kind of just my rambling anyway so if you have other things to do, do them. Only if you have 5-7 minutes to absolutely waste without consequence should you continue.

Now that I've self-deprecated myself down to around three readers I'll begin: 

I started thinking about music and the impact it has had on me when I noticed my 10 month old dancing to some stupid toy we have that plays a horrendous version of Baa Baa Black Sheep. I thought, my 10 month old is dancing. She can't walk, she can't talk, she can't feed herself (unfortunately) or use the toilet (double-unfortunately) yet, she's dancing. What is making her do that!? Music. Already, music is seeping into her body, her bones and making her move for reasons she doesn't know why. As adults we do it too. Tapping our feet without realizing when our ears receive a catchy beat. Chair-dancing or butt-dancing - moving to the groove while seated, usually in a car. This is my fave as it requires a lot of shoulder, arms, head and neck action.

So naturally, by free-association I ended up thinking about when I first, FIRST remember music and falling in love with it. When I was five, Santa brought me a full-size upright piano. Imagine lugging that around in the sleigh all night. Hopefully we were an early stop. He wrapped that son-of-a-bitch and everything! I remember looking at it with surprise and some curiosity at the time. I had not known a thing about the massive instrument I'd spend the rest of my life loving. My parents...and Santa, took a huge leap of faith with the hope that I'd say yes to piano lessons. I did. Phew! Are pianos even returnable? 

"This is Middle C." That was my first note. The rest was just alphabet and math. Strip it down and that's what music is. And so then and there I made 88 new friends. $5/week for 13 years, my teacher, Mrs. Marshall, saturated me with her music genius and wouldn't let me "advance" until I'd perfected the prior week's lesson which usually included, a scale or two and a couple of songs. I mastered sight-reading and hated recitals. Above all else, I learned the back-end of music - it wasn't just something I listened to anymore.

I love it - all of it. Melodies, harmonies, rhythms, lyrics, chords, scores, how it looks on paper. I think it all rocks - pun. Aside from playing and performing music both via piano and band (concert, jazz and marching (yup, total nerd in da house!!)), I began to appreciate music and broaden my definition of what was "good." 

Like certain scents, a song can take you back to a specific moment in time with just one note. For some reason my best friend and I got our hands on a couple of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik tapes when we were 10 years old. We'd walk around town with our Walkmans playing the same song at the same time - Apache Rose Peacock. Why that song I'll never know, and while it had a meaning a 10 year old shouldn't know, I loved it. And I still love it to this day; I know every word. So when you hear an RHCP song, I don't know where it takes you, but I think about walking around town with my best friend being happy and thinking we were cool. The next year I ordered my first CDs from one of those mail music clubs that used to but no longer exist. Bryan Adams (thanks to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and my crush on Kevin Costner which I still have to this day) and Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes. 

"Oh. My. God...Becky..." Yup, I'm at The Hut - a local tween/teen "club", now closed, that we used to go to from about age 12.  Easily, the most-played song on that jukebox, later to be replaced by I'm Too Sexy.  "Poor pussy..." 

Junior High - angsty pre-teen in-betweenness. Who am I? No one understands, especially my parents. "WITH THE LIGHTS OUT...IT'S LESS DANGEROUS!!!" "What's a mulatto? ...  OOOooohh." I also became a tiny bit infatuated with album covers thanks to Nevermind. "Did they really put that naked baby underwater?" I would also become very upset when the CD booklets didn't contain the lyrics. Let's face it, Eddie Vedder doesn't enunciate 100% of the time but that doesn't lessen my love for Pearl Jam. To this day, I still have every single CD booklet/cover I've ever had despite my husband's recurring inquiry as to what the hell I'm going to do with them. "I don't know...I just don't want to get rid of them." Maybe, someday, the cover for the Blues Traveler four CD, will be worth a couple bucks. Maybe not, but if so? Aubrey: 1, World: 0

Dave. Matthews of course. Although I enjoy other Daves - Letterman, Grohl, Gray....Hasselhoff. Dave Matthews is my favorite by miles. The summer when I was 16 I purchased Crash. Mmmm, Dave...being 16, summer. Before Dave, I loved harmonies. After Dave, crazy loved harmonies. I would better some of the more mediocre shit on the radio by adding harmonies to them in my head and still do. 

College. Yeesh. Day 1 - move in day. I realized I wasn't in Benzie County anymore when my yet-to-be-met dorm neighbor was blaring...BLARING...O Fortuna from Carmina Burana. It was then followed by Con Te Partiro as performed by Andrea Bocelli. And that opened a tiny, little, undiscovered doorway to Opera. La Traviata is amazing. Check it out. 

College. Yeesh. Day 2 - The roommate of dorm neighbor blared...BLARED Scarlet's Independent Love Song. Utter ridiculousness and I found that a song does not need to be good to be appreciated and totally awesome. The primest of prime examples is Biz Markie's You Got What I Need.  I mean, when the man interrupts himself just to get through the chorus, you've crossed a line into greatness. Did you know that Snow by Informer has actual lyrics? Like, English ones? No one knew that, except for the "A licky boom boom down..." part.

Lyrics. In college, my housemate and I would joke, "If only we could remember what we're studying as well as we can remember song lyrics, we'd be acing this shit." Maybe if we had set our studies to the tune of Jump Around by House of Pain we would have retained more. Alas, we didn't but still both left with 4-year degrees. 

I went to visit my friend where she went to college once. She was going to set me up with some dude who was a friend of the dude she was seeing or something. Ben Harper, Live From Mars (disc 2) was on - clearly his hook-up CD. Unfortunately we hated each other and got along about as well as a couple of politicians so while it wasn't written in the stars for us, I'm thankful he turned me on to Ben Harper. Power of the Gospel  makes me cry. Every time. 

Speaking of hook-up CDs, one of my good friends from college and I were always striving to make the perfect hook-up soundtrack or a CD of the most depressing songs we could find because being single was the worst feeling in the world. Instead we always ended up putting something ludicrous on it like the theme from Three's Company, so they never really got used. We weren't as depressed as we thought. 

And speaking of soundtracks, I intently listen to background and soundtrack music now (thanks to Pulp Fiction, one of the best soundtracks of all time*). Most of the time, it's just there to create a mood or drama but sometimes this music is much better than it gets credit for. A movie without a soundtrack, not the same. It's less evocative.  [*also Garden State, Dazed and Confused, Almost Famous and any 80's movie starring John Cusack].

Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love (not the UB40's version) will always be associated with my wedding day, how perfect it was. Elvis' voice, with the lyrics and melody. Simple and perfect. I was also 15 pounds lighter, that's nice to think about too. The first time my husband Kyle and I met, he was standing next to a jukebox. Fairly significant, my two true loves. Any George Strait or Blink 182 will make me think of Kyle. So will Party Like a Rockstar because he likes the song although he doesn't party like a rockstar all that often and he isn't fond of strip bars, but maybe that's because the ones where we live leave something to be desired. Sometimes I'll find an old CD of Kyle's that he made in high school or college and I get pleasantly surprised when Total Eclipse of the Heart starts playing. Dude's got a soft spot.

In the end, I still have the piano. It sits in my house now and my two daughters play on it or listen to me play. It's 25 years old and needs to be tuned, but my thought is that everyone needs a good tuning every quarter of a century or so anyway. But it still works and has all its parts. I hope it does for them what it's done for me. 

Welcome to The Bandwagon

First post...lots of pressure.


I have decided to start a blog because I found myself posting Notes on Facebook with more frequency. My Notes posts are usually followed by incessant chirping from loved ones, insistent that I write a book. Write a book about what? No one knows. Plus, I think you need an agent or something to get a project like that off the ground and that's not a cliff I'm ready to jump off of yet.


I write because I'm usually thinking about something over the course of a few days and finally decide to share it in an attempt to ignite some sort of conversation. "Do people agree with me or am I completely off-base when I can't find one iota of talent in Taylor Swift?" sort-of-thing. I try to work humor in when I can but sometimes I end up crying by the end of a post.


I try to stay apolitical because it's so divisive these days but most would say I'm more left than right. I am spiritual and believe in God but there's no Bible on my nightstand. For me, religion is more private; I'd never throw Jesus at you. I am open to others' opinions and in fact, welcome them. I never think mine is the end all-be all. Respect is crucial. I have been known to use four-letter words on occasion. I apologize in advance if it offends you but to me they are just words and can really make something hit home when used in the right way. And sometimes, swearing just makes you feel better.


Things you might see while riding The Bandwagon:
Live-blogging - During televised programs like award shows and sporting events.
Nostalgia - Usually occurs around holidays and family get-togethers.
Perspective - My take on major events in and around the world, i.e. 9/11, natural disasters, etc.
Social - Variety of social topics that may have recently hit home with me and usually pissed me off.
Random - Miscellaneous subject matter that will typically result in extensive free-association.


-- Welcome to The Bandwagon. --