Rag Files Of A Fashion Diva

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

A Misguided Legislature and Freaky Weather

Exercise: None. One of my business managers along with a regional manager took me to lunch today (not bad scoring a free meal first day back from vacation) and I ended up with a little bit of a stomach ache because I'm not used to rich food like that.

I heard on the news tonight that a legislative task force met today to decide how to toughen a law that bans sex offenders from living within 2000 feet from schools or day care centers. I think the law to begin with is ridiculous. So you ban them from living within 2000 feet. It doesn't stop them from passing by. I'm not saying that I want to see these people given an easy temptation, however, I think in reality this law is a crude form of segregation. I feel it's wrong especially when you are talking about people who have done their time and some cases there are circumstances which would make this law even more unfair to some than others.

It sounds like this whole thing is now getting even more asinine. When the legislature reconvenes, Republican Senator Larry McKibben will be reintroducing the death penalty for those who kidnap, sexually assault, and murder a child. I think there should be stiff penalties for people who commit this sort of crime, but people who can do this to another human being particularly a child aren't right in the brain to the point where I don't think consequences occur to them and essentially mean nothing. Then there is the whole issue of execution costing the tax payer more. I know those of you who are in favor of death think it doesn't but it does because of the different sort of trial that must be given for starters.

My solution....you jail and worry most about those who committed the worst crimes - those I believe are the ones who have little hope for rehabilitation. The others, you give them a two strike rule....they serve time, receive parole, and are required to wear a tracking device for a set length of time however, if they offend again - off to jail with no chance of getting out.

And now for something completely different.....

Once again we are having crazy weather. This past weekend we had highs close to 60 complete with thunderstorms and tornado watches and now we are having a snow storm. At least it started after I got home so I was able to keep my car clean one more day. Tomorrow is going to suck. I can hardly wait to see what sort of mess they make of the roads in our neighborhood. *Rolls Eyes*

Otay, I's outta here so I can watch the news and Chef! before heading to bed.

Til next time....

PS: Charles Grassley - shut your pie hole. You really give Iowans a bad reputation.

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Some commercials really irk my taters!

Exercise: Cleaning carpets - oh how I love to do that! NOT

Lately I've been seeing all kinds of commercials for the military and I think they are disgusting because you can see just how desperate they are to get new recruits. At least the American public doesn't seem to be buying into it. Har har hardy har har stick that in your ass and smoke it Dubya!

And now for something completely different......

I can see someone from not too far from here is very interested in the 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT. Whoever is it did a search and found me then came back several times. So mystery person don't be shy - speak up. If you're thinking about buying one, don't buy from the dealer in Des Moines. They will seriously rip you off.

Otay kiddies I's off. I know. - lame post tonight but it's been a slow day.

Til next time.....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Friday, November 25, 2005

The theory and Thanksgiving Day wrap up

Exercise: House cleaning - oh how I love it. After the last windy run, I decided to skip trying today.

Well yesterday was a sort of strange holiday. Everybody got together at my parents' house. Usually we go to my sister's but she's been doing a little remodeling and has even less space for stuff at the mo than usual. We all sat around having our typical warped banter. At one point my mom and sis were talking about something they saw on Oprah where this woman had let her house go to the point that there was dog poop in her bed that she didn't clean up. I made some comment about her "sleepin' with the feces" and everyone went into fits of uncontrollable laughter (told you we're warped). My oldest nephew and actor of the family of course was all over that. LOL

Anyway, the weird part came with the discussion of my parents' will and stuff. I've been named as their power of attorney and my sis is the one that has the responsibility of telling the docs to pull the plug should that decision ever need to be made. I can remember times when I was little where I would actually cry from thinking about the fact that my parents would one day be gone. I know - sounds silly but I did. Having that discussion yesterday (even though we were all kinda cracking jokes about stuff (and yes, I know it really isn't funny)) just kind of made those thoughts I had when I was little more real but I didn't feel as sad as I did when I was 9. I know that I will miss my parents very much when they are gone but I also know that death is a part of life and even though they aren't there physically, they will always be in my heart.

And one other funny from yesterday....I love making little boys cry. As I drove through my home town in my lovely little sports car, all the little teenaged boys were drooling all over the place. >:) Even the other folk couldn't help but look. Like the commercial says, "It DEMANDS respect!" LOL

Ok so by popular demand of one very persistent guy who has turned up lately, I'll give my theory about the past coming back to say hello.

As I sat in my whirlpool bath the other night, it occurred to me that the reason our past comes back to us is that there is a connection beyond the physical world that exists between those you really care about and love. Regardless of how you may get separated from them, that connection remains and even if terms weren't that great when you parted, that connection keeps the negative experiences from overpowering the good so that when thoughts of these people or the people themselves show up later, it's easier to forgive the past. Ok, I'm sure that didn't make any sense but it did when it popped into my head. LOL

And now for something completely different.....

I have decided to rename one of our little furballs Boomer. I swear the minute I sit down, she's on my lap (this being the one that can be extremely bitchy when she so chooses) and even if I put her down, she's right back up the first chance she gets. Today I had been up cleaning and had to check something online really quick for Ant. Literally two seconds after my butt hit the chair, she was on me rooting around trying to get comfy. Just now even though I had the computer on my lap, she hopped up here looking for a place to sit and plopped her furry little fat body right down on top of everything. I guess we know who runs this house! LOL

Otay kiddies that's it for today.

Til next time.....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Another blast from the past

Exercise: 2 very WINDY miles. I think the local stations weather equipment was busted or something because they were saying the winds were NW7. Going outside was a much different experience - something like NW20. At least I had music tonight complete with a completely cool remix of Deep Purple's Hush and it smelled like the people at #46 fixed their "shitty situation".

Chi and I went to Wally World this afternoon and as we were wandering around picking up the things that we needed we passed by this man I haven't seen in about 10 years. It was my ex-boyfriend's best friend. I think he may have recognized me too. He had this look on his face like he knew who I was and kinda like he was wondering if I was going to say something to him or if he should say something to me. I thought about saying something to him but when I remembered my ex-boyfriend telling me after we broke up that this guy thought that I was a heartless bitch for breaking things off, I decided maybe it would be better just to keep my mouth shut. I was really surprised to see this guy though. The last I knew he had met some woman from Dallas, TX, got married, and moved down there. I had the thought that he might have come back for the holidays but it didn't make sense because his family lives in Perry (about 40 or so miles from here) and there wouldn't be any reason for him to be shopping at the Wal-Mart here.

The other strange part of the day - I woke up at 7:30 again this morning.

And now for something completely different....

I see Jean Schmidt is trying harder than hell to pull her foot out of her mouth. I think, however, it might be better if it stayed in there to keep her from making any more asinine statements and further showing the ignorance of the GOP in DC. Now there's one person I will be surprised to see re-elected.

I also heard on the news that Venezuelan prez Hugo Chavez is making it possible for people in Massachusetts to have discounted heating oil. Pretty sad when our own prez can't seem to do this but one from another country who can't stand Dubya is willing to.

Otay I think I will be off now. Chi's got a pizza in the going in the oven and I need to have a shower before getting to bed. Gotta be up semi early tomorrow to make the trip to my parents' house for Turkey day. :)

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

The sad reality of it all...

Exercise: 160 crunches, 40 leg lifts, and another 2 mile musicless power run. I put my player on the charger but it seems one of the little fur brats that runs around here knocked it off - I didn't notice until it was too late. :( Oh to the people at #46, please clean the dog shit up from your yard. It's stinks like none other and it's against association policy to leave crap lying around.

Today was the first day of a week long vacation from work and even though I didn't get out of bed until 10, I feel like it was more productive than most days I have at work. I gave my car a handwashing that it desperately needed after this past week's weather, cleaned out the refrigerator only to find a couple of nasty surprises (Chi likes to open stuff and "hide" it in there so well that even he forgets about it), and I cleaned the rest of the kitchen. Of course that means I still have three bathrooms, the dining room, the living room, the loft and two bedrooms left to touch up tomorrow. ARGH! I also noticed that this is the first time in a long time I haven't had a headache during the week. I swear ever since they remodeled our office there is something in there that is making me "sick" and it doesn't have to do with being stressed.

I had another dream last night but I'm not sure what it was about but I know a certain someone made another appearance. I woke up at 7:30 this morning with a start (something that just doesn't happen especially when I went to bed late the night before) and this odd feeling. I also had quick snapshots of bits of the dream going through my brain but not enough to put together in order to remember the events of it.

Oh....I heard on the world news that congress is going to start giving couples money to get married. If this isn't the most harebrained idea I've heard. Then again when I found out it was the idea of Sam Brownback (a Kansas Republican) it didn't really surprise me. Here's a guy that comes from a state who voted to have "intelligent design" taught in schools and is very much against things like gay marriage yet he wants to pay heterosexual couples in the inner city money to get married because he thinks children are going to benefit from having two parents. I won't deny that having two parents does make things easier, however, offering money to people in this manner could potentially make things worse. I can just see two people who shouldn't be getting married doing so because of the incentive then having a child who is raised in a household with bickering parents or worse. Even if they require counseling as a prerequisite, I still think it isn't a good idea - anyone can fool a counselor if they want to. I mean look at my brother and his first wife. They got counseling before they got married - it lasted all of 7 months. He and his current wife didn't and it is 9 years in and going strong. If this congressman really decided to use his brain, he would take that money and help fund programs to help keep parents in their children's lives but not necessarily under one roof or for people who wish to live together but not get married. I think as long as a child knows both parents love them, both parents are there for them when needed, and the parents have a civil relationship they don't have to be married or living in the same house to make things work because it doesn't take a genius to know that marriage just isn't for everyone.

And now for something completely different....

How come people you know don't care for you still show up periodically to read your blog? I noticed that "Justine" still likes to swing by from time to time. You would have thought by the way she acted towards me on our Lep adventures, she would want nothing to do with me but I guess I must be wrong.

Well, I's outta here. Time to have a shower and get off to bed so have my dreams can haunted by a stalker from the past again.

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Monday, November 21, 2005

Tis the season - Oh joy!

Exercise: 2 mile power run. There's nothing like not having any music for entertainment (my mp3 player wasn't charged) and having a brisk wind numbing your legs to light a candle under your ass and keep you going at record speed. :)

So here we are a few days before Thanksgiving and the Christmas frenzy has already started. Friday night I went out running and I couldn't believe all the cars I saw turning into the mall out by our house. It gave new meaning to maggots on a shit pile. You would have thought they were giving away money at the place or something as many people were crawling all over the dump. I think there was some sort of tree lighting festival going on but it didn't seem to matter much because Saturday night there were just as many or more cars along with six coach type buses. YIKES!

I also noticed that at some point over the weekend many of the neighbors put up their decorations and the association people had obviously been out setting shit up too. At least they waited this long to do it unlike some nimrod in a house not too far from us. The decorations there were up and turned on at Halloween time. As one of the morning DJs here would say, "They all need a punch in the gut!" It's one thing when I have to think ahead about this stuff at work (I think they are already talking about Valentine's & Easter candy) but when the stores are putting crap out on the shelves for one major holiday before the one that precedes it even arrives with people snagging it up, that's when I say ENOUGH ALREADY! Time passes quick enough as is especially when you get older. Why not at least take some time to enjoy it instead of rush it.

And now for something completely different......

Sunday I got sucked into one of those Lifetime movies. It had Randall Batinkoff in it and I just have to say that he is one dishy piece of man just like that Jake Weber dude on Medium. :)

Otay I's off now so I can quack at the ducks. Hopefully I will have a more restful night tonight than I've had the last couple. That dream just left me freaking a little.

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Should we stay or should we go?

Exercise: None. Today is veg out day. My back is better though thanks to my "fuck it" attitude. My back wasn't completely better but I decided to start running again anyway. Turns out it was just what the doc ordered - no more back pain.

So the biggest topic in DC right now seems to be whether or not the US should stay or leave Iraq. I applaud Murtha for standing up and saying what he did and like him, I agree it is time to get out of there. Of course I think we should have never gone in the first place but there's no point going back over the "should haves" because the past can't be changed. The fact that Dubya is willing to leave our troops in a place where they are in even greater danger now than they were to begin with says to me that the guy does not support them but is instead their executioner. I also believe that he is very delusional to think there will ever be a winner in a war on terrorism (an oxymoron in itself) especially by using terror tactics and approaching things from our cultural point of view rather than that of the "opponent".

Dubya....do the country and the rest of the world a favor. Bring the troops home and then step down along with all your cronies.

And now for something completely different.....

For the first time in a pretty long time, I actually had a dream I could remember but it was a strange one involving that person (will call them "C") I mentioned in a previous post who kept working their way back into my brain. I haven't spoken to "C" in 7 month's time and rather than being pissed off about "C" being there, I was happy. Oh the wonders of the things your brain comes up with when snoozing away.

On another note under this section, I just gotta mention how much I love the stereo in my car. The Leps (and many other numerous artists) have never sounded so good coming from factory equipment. On the other hand, most manufacturers don't outfit their cars with a 650 watt Rockford Phosgate AM/FM radio 6 disc CD changer complete with 10in sub. The Acura RSX also had a sub but it just didn't have the same rich sound or the kind of acoustics you get in the Eclipse.

Otay laundry is done so I'm outta here.

Til next time.....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

There was a need for a conference call about that why?

Exercise: None again. My back isn't quite healed and because the stupid ass association people once again have decided to let the roads & sidewalks go to shit by not clearing them after yesterday's little storm.

Ever so slowly the powers that be at my company have been working on bringing our website up to date from the Stone Age. The latest addition is a link to an area where you can see information about every office including a picture (Ooh I'm so impressed! *rolls eyes*), directions to and from the airport closest to the office, and area hotels/restaurants. Ok so some people will probably find this helpful but did we really need to have a conference call about how to use it? I mean if you're that lost when it comes to using a simplistically laid out website at this point in the game, I think the big cheese should be showing you the door and telling you not to let it slam you in the ass on the way out. I admit that I work with some real computer dumdums and I certainly don't know everything there is to know about the things but geebus people all it takes is a little common sense. I lost 20 minutes that I will never get back going to that worthless meeting. At least the office prez offered a little entertainment when he started to spaz thinking there was "confidential" material out there for all the world to see. I swear the lack of intelligence and logic a person has to have in order to be part of upper management these days is frightening.

And now for something completely different....

People who make derogatory statements about others because of sexual preference, color, etc. then say they have nothing against them really piss me off!

That said, I'm off. Chef is on.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Adios "pickemuptruck" hell!

Exercise: Not much. Mainly just some stretching to try to get my back recooped. It seems to be working. :)

What's better than going to Vegas to see Def Leppard? Staying home and getting a phone call that this lovely little machine arrived earlier than expected and it's ready for pick up.

Unfortunately the camera just doesn't do justice to the color of the car.

Friday just before lunchtime I got a call from my sales guy Lee telling me that even though the online order database showed the car was supposed to ship yesterday and deliver tomorrow, it was already there. He said he really would have liked to give me a week's notice so I wouldn't feel rushed but it actually worked out for the best. Chi is on call this weekend which means I would have had to wait another week to pick up my new "baby" had it arrived when expected. So.......

Saturday we made the 3 hour trek to Sioux City to pick the car up. I was a little concerned because some rather crappy weather (possible severe thunderstorms) had been forecasted for our area. The last thing I wanted to do is have a brand spankin new car out in that. At first it didn't look like it was going to be too horrible and Lee told me Sioux City wasn't expecting anything worse than rain so we decided to risk it. We left the house about 9am and it was actually looking like the sun was going to shine. That didn't last long though. By the time we got gas and were 10 miles out of town, it started to rain. It wasn't anything major so we continued on. It seemed like the whole drive was met with bands of rain, sun, cloudiness, and fairly strong winds but still nothing over the top or dangerous.

When we arrived in Sioux City, it was still pretty cloudy but the rain had stopped. I went in and met with Lee briefly and then went back to the finance office to sign papers. Lemme tell you I think that was the quickest I've been in and out of one of those places and I saved an additional $500 (manufacturer rebate - SCORE!) which enabled me to take the 3.9%/4 year financing for the same payment 4.9%/5 year deal would have worked out without the $500 savings (SCORE 2!). During the time I was there, Chi and Lee took a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR (Evo for short - see pic below) out for a test drive.

When I came back out into the showroom, one of the other sales guys told me that they hadn't come back yet. I told him I wouldn't be surprised if they never came back. Chi is absolutely in love with this car and it was all I could do to get him out of the place without taking this car home too. Of course six months from now will be a very different story unless something drastic happens. Yep, that's right. If things go as planned, one of these little beauties which can kick a Corvette's ass in a race will be on order for the little man of the house. LOL Boys and their toys!

When the test drive was over, Lee gave me the books for my car along with the keys then took us out to where it was sitting on the lot. He had me inspect it and then we just shot the shit for a few minutes. He told me if I ever had trouble with the Mitsu dealer down here to let him know and he would make a phone call so it wouldn't happen any more (I totally love that guy!). I also took at look at the Evo. It's a pretty nice little car (for a sedan - can you tell that I prefer coupes? LOL). The interior is a little bland but that's to be expected when it comes to a performance car and the recaro seats more than make up for it because they absolutely rock! It's also got a ton of room for no bigger than it is. Chi said that even with the seat adjusted for him to comfortably drive, he could sit in the back and have plenty of room. That's good considering he's 6' tall. I didn't get a chance to drive it but Chi told me it takes off like a bat out of hell and corners like it's on rails so I'm sure that he will more than enjoy his little $40000 toy.

Since it was around lunchtime when we got done, Lee said we were more than welcome to leave one of our cars at the lot, go eat, then come back and get it so we wouldn't have to mess around with both vehicles. TBB is just going to love this....we ended up going to eat at the Perkins she and I went to when we went to see Def Leppard in Sioux City back in 2003. It was much less lively this time and I didn't see any weirdo guys exposing themselves - thank God!

By the time we got back from lunch and picked up Chi's car at the dealer, it was starting to clear off and we thought we might have actually managed to escape the bad weather. Not so. We were maybe on the road for a half hour when we hit rain. At first I thought it was hail and I started swearing up a storm but it turned out to only be BIG drops of water thank goodness. We weren't out of the clear though. As we continued on down the road, Chi called me and said that he was receiving tornado warnings for Dallas county (the one we live in) on his phone. SHIT! Now you can bet your ass there was no fucking way I was going to risk bringing a new car into that so I told him we would just wait and see what was going on when we got closer to the I-29/I-680 interchange. When we got down there, the sky was sunny to our west, still a little cloudy to our east, and warnings still coming through for our area back home. It was then I decided we would take a detour through Omaha and hang out at the mall for awhile so the crap going on at home could blow over before we arrived.

The drive home was windier than hell and I was pissed that there was brush blowing across the road just as I was driving through. At least it didn't end up scratching the paint and we did make it home to a house with no damage rather than a pile of rubble. From the reports I heard, it just missed our house since some of the tornadoes that hit were only about 30 miles away. There was even one in north Ames which caused them to evac the stadium 30 minutes before game time.

To sum everything up....I absolutely LOVE my car. I didn't get to test drive a manual but lemme just say that I love it even more than I thought I would. I'm especially impressed with the gear box arrangement. Reverse is up by 1st gear rather than down by 6th and you have to lift a lever to put it in reverse so there is no way to mistake it or have trouble finding it unlike the Acura RSX. Oh yah, this car also takes off like a bat out of hell. You barely touch the gas and you're flying. Hell, you could do 80 in 3rd gear and it wouldn't complain. LOL

And now for something completely different....

This weather completely SUCKS! It actually started snowing today causing a cold, slushy mess to be waiting for me when I came out of work. Oh how I love having the heated seat feature in my car - they are fantastic! Within five minutes of starting the car, that bad boy was feeling tropical - gotta love it! Anyway....now the winds have picked up and it's nothing but a God awful blowing, freezing mess outside. YUCK! And it was how warm last week???

Otay....I's off now so I can have a shower and get to bed.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Monday, November 14, 2005

Question

Exercise: None. I spent a lot of time in the car over the weekend and I think I managed to do something nasty to my back. The weather was crappy anyway so running wasn't really much of an option.

So to go back to the title of this post, here's my question....How come when there is someone who comes into your life and leaves after a while, you think about them and miss them even when the parting wasn't exactly on the greatest terms? There have only been about three people I've had bad splits from but I've never had another thought about them with the exception of one. For some reason, the person just keeps making their way back into my brain. I just don't get it.

And now for something completely different.....

What is with this weather? We had been having unseasonably warm temperatures. Saturday even brought about tornadoes because of them. It's now Monday, the temps have fallen drastically, and now we are under a winter storm watch. YUCK!

Tomorrow's headlines....

How to get out of pickemuptruck hell.

Til next time...

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Tell me again why they call them benefits.

Exercise: 4 ass kicking miles :)

So it's that dreaded time of year again - benefits enrollment time. Once again our company has decided to change things up. Oh how I love it so much when they do that. I've been lucky the last few years because the other than the cost, nothing changed with the dental & vision plans I had but this year, the luck ran out at least when it comes to the dental. They have decided to go with a provider who doesn't even have HMO dentists in our area (The plan I have now is an HMO which means I pay less than $20/month and preventative care is free). My dentist isn't even listed for the PPO which means unless I switch, I will be going to an out of network doctor who can charge me more than the "reasonable fees" if he so chooses and I will have to pay for it. Oh and even if I did switch to a PPO dentist, the benefits (if that's what you can call it) are scarce. The other downside...Chi's enrollment period has already ended so there's no way to sign up for any dental plan he could get that might be better than what I have been offered. Even if what he could have got wouldn't have been that great, it still wouldn't have cost twice what I'm paying now like our new plan will. Fuck you once again Dubya and all your little cronies who like to put the pinch on medical care.

Oh and just to further show just how out of wack the insurance gig is try this on for size....The majority of people I have talked to are paying close to if not more than $300/month for health insurance for employee and spouse (this is the fee at my company too). Chi and I get health insurance where he works for about $100/year and the coverage is just as good or better than the plans offered at my employer. I feel for those who don't work a company close with the health insurance providers because they are REALLY getting screwed!

And now for something completely different.....

Never in my life have I smelled BO worse than I did the other day. There was a sales guy that came in to talk with one of the managers who has an office back by my desk. From the moment he walked by my cubicle until about 5 or 10 minutes after he left, that whole corner of the office just reaked of a nasty sweaty man. I thought I was going to harf on my shoes it was so bad. As I told J-Lo, a fart would have cleaned the air. I had a can of air freshener at my desk and sprayed it but it didn't do much to help. I also don't think I shook it up enough because when I hit the button, there was this funny stream that came out instead of a mist. It was all I could do to keep from cracking up hysterically because it was so comical. J-Lo (who I had previously made mention of the offending odor to) heard the spray can and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was sniffing my pits to make fully sure it wasn't me and about the stream coming out of the air freshener can and it going all over the wall and window across the walkway from me, she too started cracking up.

The next morning didn't prove to be much better. The guy came in and although I could tell he had taken a shower, I think he also took a bath in some cologne but still forgot the DO for the BO. This time instead of the smell being outright sweat, it was more of that earthy sort of woodsy smell of someone who has just started to "offend". It was like the smell you get right after a light rain that just dampens the ground a bit. In small quantities it's refreshing. In large quantities, it's enough to make you want to hurl.

Otay....I's be outta here.

Til next time......

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Monday, November 07, 2005

Someone out there has my same messed up sense of humor! :)

Exercise: Errand running since we were too busy over the weekend to get to the store.

Last night Chi and I watched this show on Comedy Central called Drawn Together. It's CC's new animated "reality show" where eight parodied cartoon stereotypes are placed in one house to live together. As disturbing and tactless as it is, I have to give the writer props for drudging up and referrencing one of the most obscure "skits" from Sesame Street. It's actually one that I have been known to do from time to time and get weird looks for because no one has any idea of what it's all about. It's where two aliens (one blue, one pink) come down to Earth and have an encounter with a telephone. What is most memorable about this "skit" is the two alien's form of communication. Yep yep yep yep uh huh uh huh. When the telephone rings, they then start making the ringing noise of the phone. The cartoon didn't go quite that far last night but it did show most of the characters standing around a phone and when it rings, they all start saying, "Yep yep yep yep uh huh uh huh". Oh and their mouths were drawn to take on the odd shape of the aliens too. I was completely busting a gut when I saw it and at first Chi had this funny look on his face. I explained to him what it was (I had told him about this SS bit before and he thought I was nuts) and said, "See, I'm not off my wig! There really was a bit like that!" His reaction..."Um yah" LOL

And now for something completely different......

Pirates attacking cruise ships and violence in Paris - Holy hell what is this world coming to! Of course when I heard the details about the whole pirate bit, it was almost commical. Three 25 foot boats taking on a cruiseliner. Uh, I guess someone forgot to tell the assholes they didn't have a chance. I mean it was like a Mini taking on a Viper in a race - laughable at best.

Otay....it be almost time for The Vicar Of Dibley so I shall be off oh and ooh looks like there is a metor shower to be seen. Will definitely have to keep my eye out for that. :)

Til next time.....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Yep, TBB and I totally suck!

Exercise: None - I had a bit of a sore throat from all the singing and yelling and I didn't want to aggrivate it by working out.

Yesterday afternoon a couple of my co-workers had been trying at the last minute to get a hold of a couple of Bon Jovi tickets. The one said she knew someone that was a relative or something of one of the guys in the opening band so she thought she would give that route a stab. No luck. She later called me on the phone to ask when the concert started. I told her that the doors opened at 6 and the show started at 7:30. I then asked if she was able to get some tickets. She said she wasn't but they were going to be giving some away on the radio shortly that she was going to try for. She made some sarcastic comment about winning tickets that would put them right down front like TBB and me so I said, "Hey, it could happen". About a half hour later I walked by her desk and the other co-worker that had been trying to help win the tickets. As it turned out, they won them!!! The seats weren't in the first couple of rows but they weren't bad. They were actually where I thought the first bunch of tickets I bought were (right off to the right hand side of the stage) before I double checked the confirmation when I had to put those on eBay. I swear when I bought that first set, it said section 101 (lower level by the stage) not 110 (lower level opposite end of the arena with a straight on view). Either way they would have been good seats (there really isn't a bad one) but I was afraid it might be a little harder to sell the ones that I needed to get rid of.

I put the tickets up for a week and at the end of the auction, I had a buyer willing to meet my reserve which was the ticket price plus the fees eBay charges to list. That was fine with me because I wasn't looking to profit, just get my money back. When I found out that the buyer was a youngish guy with a daughter and step daughter both around the age of 10 and extremely excited to be attending their first concert, I just thought it was so neat. I couldn't ask for a better bunch of people to be handing those tickets over to.

TBB and I met at the venue when I finally stopped being a blind blonde biotch LOL (sorry inside joke). More than anything I was just glad to be there in one piece because some woman that obviously had her head shoved up her ass so far she couldn't see nearly ran me off the road. I don't know what it is with people that can't read road signs these days and pick their exits a mile or so before they come where stuff is first posted. Anyway, I was really surprised that the security seemed to be more laid back than it was for McCartney and it wasn't what I would call overly tight then. They were sort of checking bags (asking people to open them) but not really getting picky about it like some do and they weren't even wanding. They were also letting cameras in. I was kinda miffed about that since I left mine home thinking there was no way I would be able to "hide" it and I didn't want to have to be faced with leaving it in the car again. At least TBB had her camera on her even if she didn't bring the extra memory card so we didn't go completely without pictures.

The first thing we did after we walked through the "gate" was get t-shirts. I couldn't believe they were charging $40 for a babydoll ($5 more than the "regular" t's). It might be one thing if the quality of the shirt were better but it wasn't (oh the drawbacks of being a clothing/sewing guru). It's very obvious where they are making all of their money. Once we managed to fight our way out of the merchandise crowd from hell, TBB got a drink and then went on a mission to hunt down the smoking deck - took us about 10 minutes and directions from a very nice security lady but we did find it. From there it was hit the bathrooms before making our way down to our seats. We sat and watched the opener for a bit. They were alright but I really just couldn't find that much interest in them. TBB wasn't impressed either so we went back up to the smoking deck to wait for BJ to hit the stage. After the second trip there, I'm positive I'm not "wowed" by the architect's design of it. At one end, it's fairly deep. At the other very narrow - not good when you have a ton of people like maggots on a shit pile frequenting the place. Many of those people being drunk or carrying drinks doesn't help at all either.

Overall I really liked the show. BJ had a neat stage (made mostly of vid screens) and I liked the fact that there was a huge wall behind that was used as a display for those sitting at the back of the arena. Even with that though, I don't think the stage was nearly as impressive as McCartney's and in some ways took away from the light show rather than adding to it. The cool thing was because there was extra room up front when the show started, TBB and I ended up in the front row - Yep, we know....we suck! At least that's what my friend who was sitting in the nosebleed section told me through a text message. LOL We also had a really cool security dude in front of us too. DeKarlo I think was his name. We ended up seeking him out after the concert so we could get our pic with him. He laughed and asked why when I approached him and I told him because he was just the coolest security dude we had come across. He was kind enough to oblige us and I think he also enjoyed his 15 seconds of fame. :)

Toward the end of the show, Jon came down off the stage on our side. At first it looked like he was going to walk out in the crowd but he started getting mauled by all these woman who came out of no where so he was pulled back. Instead, he came closer to us (we were about 3 - 5 seats in) and stood up on the barrier. This one chic (amazingly not the one who was constantly screaming "We love you Jon!". I swear we always get stuck by the nutballs!), grabbed the guy's shirt, twisted it around her hand and then started yanking on him. I thought the poor guy was going to fall over and land on us. Now not that having Jon Bon Jovi on top of you is a bad thing, but when you've got thousands of woman dying to get a piece of him, being in the frenzy "tain't" fun. He seemed to be enjoying all of it just like all the chic kissing he was doing on stage with the contest winners - such a ham. It's obvious this guy was meant to perform and I also got the impression that he realized there were "delicate" ears in the audience because I don't think there was one swear word uttered the whole evening by him.

There were a few things I would have changed about this show especially when I think back to the last concert of theirs I went to in the late 80s. Back then they had a catwalk that basically went all the way around the arena and Jon would run the thing and the other guys would be all over the stage. He was fairly active this time too but mainly focused on center stage and the other guys stayed put for the most part too. Then there was the camera guy on our side. I swear someone was feeding him TBB's every last move when she went to take a picture because it never failed he would always move right in her way. At least she was able to out fox him here and there so she could get some really nice shots including the one up on her blog right now.

Speaking of that picture, TBB had emailed it to me so I could take it to work for "bragging" rights. All of my co-workers who are women were drooling over it which I can't say that I blame them. It's a great shot of a great looking guy. I can't wait to see the rest. One of my co-workers came over to my desk a little later on in the day and asked if I had anyway to animate it because she wanted to see Jon wiggle his little tushy. LOL J-Lo (who turned down the chance to go with us when I first started talking about getting tickets) even said she wished she would have gone after seeing the picture. She didn't realize just how good looking Mr. BJ really is. LOL

The biggest disappointment of the evening was that they didn't come out for autographs and pictures afterward. As much as I can understand some of the security issues and all when it comes to doing that, I can't help but feel that not doing it is sort of a slap in the face of the fans and a way of saying that the band is too important for them. I mean the fans are the ones who put them where they are, it would only make sense if you want to keep that fan base, you take time for them. Ah well....maybe next time.

And now for something completely different.....

There are so many things I could put here. I haven't had a lot of time to write lately so ideas for this section have kinda piled up. Anyway, I think the biggest one of the day are the "Brownie" emails that have been published. What a damn fool! Oh and he doesn't even know how to spell Nordstrom. No wonder Bush picked him. They both seem to have ineffective communication skills.

Alrighty Red Dwarf is on so I'm outta here.

Til next time.....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|