For Ever, For Never, For Now: Boy Bands and Girl Groups

Boy Bands:
Backstreet Boys
Nsync
New Kids on the Block

Girl Groups:
Destiny's Child
Spice Girls
The Bangles

For Ever, For Never, For Now: The Brat Pack (Then)

You can't expect me to narrow the men down to 3, so you're getting all 5. Do with them what you wish.

Men:
Andrew McCarthy
Rob Lowe
Emilio Estevez
Judd Nelson
Anthony Michael Hall

Women:
Molly Ringwald
Demi Moore
Ally Sheedy

Never crying over spilt milk.

A couple of weekends ago, I attended a slumber party with some of the girls. It was a good time, but that's not the point of this post. At said slumber party, Kelly P accidently spilled some strawberry milk on my blanket. She apologized profusely, and I insisted it was no big deal. And she apologized again. And I again said it was ok. And we continued in the "I'm sorry/no really, it's ok" banter for a bit.

Later that day, I got home, blanket was washed, and no permanent damage was done. I even had the foresight to toss it in the trunk of the car so that I wouldn't be smelling it on the drive home. And yesterday, I changed my bedding and put the nice, clean, fluffy blanket on my bed. Few moments rival the feeling of sleeping in clean sheets for the first time after a washing. Then tonight, I came up to my room to go to bed, and in the middle of clean, fluffy blanket is a nice pile of cat vomit courtesy of my mom's cat.

Feel better about that milk Kel?

Snark 'R Us

I love Television Without Pity. Their recaps of shows are so snarky and are right up my sarcasm alley. Sometimes I even enjoy reading the recaps more than watching the actual show itself.Tonight, I was flipping through last week's recap of American Idol, and loved this comment:

Donny Osmond finds himself in the theatre just in time to say hi to Seacrest and get his album plugged, and I am being straight with you when I tell you that this is his 54th album, okay, and they joke about how he's only 152. 54, dude. You know how many albums I have made? None. Now, I'm not a musician, so it's not surprising, but the gap between zero and 54 is simply huge, especially considering this is the first I've heard of these "albums" since he was a little bit rock and roll and I was a little bit fetus.

Just had to share.

Sometimes I'm smarter than I look. Usually I'm not.

A recent post by Kelly about the cleanliness of our cafeteria brought to mind a post I lost a while back. [I was going to make some snarky comment about it being appropriate to resurrect it now being so close to Easter, but I'll refrain from blasphemy.]

As long time, attentive readers will remember, I commute an hour and fifteen minutes each way to school. This means that my Saturn SL2 plastic edition tends to double as a restaurant for a majority of my meals. I'm usually pretty good about keeping some wet wipes on hand so that I can somewhat sanitize my hands from whatever awful diseases I have picked up along my day's journey. But I'm not always prepared.

The other day I had to stop and get gas on my way home. [Which is not an unusual occurence considering the Saturn has an 8 cup tank capacity and I have to stop to get gas approximately every 36 hours.] It was after my night class, and I knew I was going to be eating my dinner in the car. But I didn't have any wipes. So I decided to be smart and wear my gloves while pumping the gas so that I didn't get any of those nasty gas pump germs on my hands, and thus on my food.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself as I fiddled with the gas cap and all the buttons on the pump. And using God's gift to man known as the 'pay at the pump' feature, I swiped my ATM/credit card through the machine. While giving myself a self-congratulatory pat on the back, I did what I do every time I pump gas so that I don't lose my card; I stuck it in between my teeth to hold it. This is the card that I've dropped on the ground in 5 states and 7 foreign countries. This is the card that has been inserted in 300 gas pumps, 40 ATM machines and hundreds of Walmart/Target/CVS card readers. This is the card that has collected more germs and bacteria over the last 3 years than any other item I own.

Yeah. I'm a freaking genius.

Easter in the Jesus Town

What would the Jesus Town be good for without an Easter musical? And this year didn't disappoint. My church put on a production of "The Promise" [made famous in that Broadway of the south; Branson, MO] for the 5th time in the last 7 years. And I had a few observations.

1. I am far to cynical for the amateur theatre.
2. At the beginning, our youth minister made an announcement that if children become "distressed or disruptive" the parents should be courteous to all other patrons and "take them out." Finally, they're giving me permission.
3. The directors did not allow the performers to wear glasses since that wouldn't be accurate for the time period. To which I pointed out, that if they had had glasses back then, I'm sure they would have worn them. I then suggested that if we were going for authenticity, they should rope off the bathrooms and make everyone go dig a hole on the back lawn to do their business.
4. They wouldn't let my niece be baby Jesus because she was too old. This is inadequate justifcation for a few reasons. The man playing the older Jesus was in his 50s. Not the 33 we all know is accurate. I guess Jim Caveziel was unavailable. Additionally, those biblical/historical scholars among you probably know that our conception of the wise men visiting the newborn baby Jesus is inaccurate. Commercial airline transportation hadn't picked up quite yet in Bethelehem, and travel across the country would have taken years. So "baby" Jesus was likely in his terrible twos by the time he was visited by the Magi.
5. Which leads me to a final point. I believe the true reason my niece was not permitted to repeat her role as Jesus was because she is female. It's that sex discrimination in the church I tell ya. I just submitted my senior thesis on how the religious exemption to Title VII facilitates discrimination against women by religious employers. [Copies available upon request.] And I'm not sure I want to live in a world where a woman can't be Jesus.*

Yes, I am being sarcastic, Dad.

Bollocks

According to this site, the US News 2006 Rankings are out for law schools. And where does IU-Indy fall? 95th. Whatever. There's no way we fell from 63rd to 95th in one year. Nothing has changed here, with the exception of our dean leaving. But, as great as he is, he's not the equivalent of 30 spots. I know we shouldn't pay heed to these, but that's bologna.

*Link pilfered from Stag

For Ever, For Never, For Now: In honor of Bridget Jones

Preface: Ok kids. I didn't realize this game was going to be so problematic. It sounds simple in theory: I give you 3 choices, you then make your decisions. How hard can that be?

But leave it to the lawyers and pre-lawyers to question everything. So as some clarification, I'd like to point out a few things. You are not actually going to marry anybody. If you are already married, you won't be violating any polygamy statutes by choosing someone for the For Ever category. Additionally, there are no underage laws being violated here. My intention with the 80s sitcom was that you would view them from the point you did when you watched the show. I was like 12 when I watched 80s sitcoms and Mike Seaver was a cool 17 year old. I was not referring to the 27 year old me fawning over a 14 year old Kevin Arnold. Eww. Sometimes the category will be in the past and sometimes the future [For instance, I've already got the Brat Pack then prepared, and I'll have the Brat Pack now following. There is a difference between Anthony Michael Hall of 1986 and him of 2005. Or at least in my view.] And I've got some upcoming categories that don't fit the "marry, date or dump" mold, but is more of a who would you put up with for ever, for never, etc. If you prefer, don't think of these as romantic categories at all. Just work with me here.

I am also borderline obsessive compulsive, and if you notice, all the pics have to be the same. They're formatted to be the same height and width, and I even make an effort to be sure they look the same. [i.e. head shots, full body pics, smiling, etc]. Yes, I'm anal-retentive, but I've learned to live with it.

All that said, this edition is in honor of the Bridget Jones movie that was just released on DVD. It's the Colin's and Rene(e)s. However, I couldn't find a third Renee, and rather than list Renee Flufferbahumptner who you've never heard of, I just chose another actress who rocks and her name starts with the same letter. My game. My rules.

Men:
Colin Firth
Colin Farrell
Colin Hanks

Women:
Renee Zellweger
Rene Russo
Regina King

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting.

There's a strip mall along the highway in the town where I used to live that houses a variety of businesses. The combined marquee lists the stores by type of store, one on top of the other:

Karate
Guns
Tanning
Hair

I'm not sure why, but every time I drive by it, I get a mental picture of Chuck Norris floating through my head.

Friday Spies

Ok, I finally figured out where these came from. Friday Spies is the brainchild of Begging the Question.

1. What blog, other than your own, do you read the most?
Either Just Playin', Martinis, Persistence and a Smile or Will Work for Favorable Dicta. I read several others, but these 3 tend to be the most regularly updated.

2. Are you a gadget person? Do you have the latest thingamajigs and whoozits and geegaws? What sort of gadgets do you own?
I *heart* gadgets. If I didn't control myself, I would own everything I could get my hands on. I bought a mini-disc player a few years ago, and even though they're falling way to mp3 players, I still enjoy it. I own 2 laptops (though one is not full-functioning) and a video camera, which incidentally has disappeared this year. Can't remember when the last time was that I used it, and may have left it somewhere. I don't think it will be returning to me any time soon.

3. If I gave you $1000 on the condition that you couldn't spend it on something responsible (e.g., bills), or save it, what would you do with the money?
Gadgets. Or vacations. Maybe a week in a hotel in New York City. Ok, make that a night as it's only a $1000.

4. What are your five favorite sitcoms of all time, other than "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons"?
For the record, I abhor "Seinfeld". But the best sitcoms come from the 80s: Growing Pains, The Wonder Years, Family Ties, The Cosby Show. (Ironically, these were the inspiration for a recent "For Ever, For Never, For Now".)

5. Organize a film festival based on a theme. Choose a theme and a handful of movies with that theme, and tell us what you've chosen.
Ok, way too late to deal with this one right now. May come back later and edit.

Sweets of the Season

It's Easter time, and you know what that means. The re-surgence of one of the most disgusting foods ever created by man. Peeps.



Nasty. Do me a favor, if you run into any of these vile creatures over the next few days, vomit twice for me.

After Further Review

I've decided to change the name of the new feature yet again. While I find "I do, I'd screw, I'd spew" humorous, it is decidedly shallow and objectifying. Not to mention, it essentially elminates the purpose of choosing fictional characters for the game. If we're basing it solely on the physical, it would be the actor not the character. The game requires a more well-rounded approach. Thus, the new title is "For Ever, For Never, For Now."

[And to clarify, since nothing is self-explanatory: For Ever (marry), For Never (dump), For Now (date).]

The only problem now is that I'm becoming addicted to this feature. Kelly P. has already suggested half a dozen categories and I've got a few on the backburner. Now that they're visually enhanced, it takes a bit more time as I have to find pictures, resize them, upload them, and then link them. I just hope I can avoid posting all my ideas in 2 or 3 days.

For Ever, For Never, For Now: 80's Sitcom Characters

Please note, these are the characters of shows, not the actors.

Men:
Mike Seaver (Growing Pains)
Kevin Arnold (Wonder Years)
Doogie Howser (Doogie Howser, M.D.)

Women:
Mallory Keaton (Family Ties)
Winnie Cooper (Wonder Years)
Denise Huxtable (The Cosby Show)

Updated Feature

I mistakenly assumed that readers would know who the people were I'd chosen for the new feature. Apparently, I was wrong. As such, I will now be visually enhancing Dump, Date, or I do so as to clarify.

Additionally, please be aware that sometimes the list includes real people, and sometimes it includes fictional characters. In those circumstances, you view it as the character, not the actor.

Finally, as Stag pointed out, "I do" often rolls off the tongue as "I'd do." In fact, the first time I typed it I freudian slipped. Incidentally, alternative titles are:
I do, I don't, I date or I do, I'd screw, I'd spew. I will take suggestions as the title is not set in stone. However, if the latter is chosen, I will be asking the parents to turn a blind eye to the non-PGishness of the title. It's just a game that needs a catchy title.

Dump, Date, or I do: The inaugural edition.

The two biggest complaints I get about my blog are (1)that I don't post enough, and (2) when I do post, the content does not tend to inspire comments. Therefore, I'm attempting to remedy the situation by introducing a new feature called "Dump, Date, or I do." [Based on the game "Marry, Date, or Dump" but titled differently so as not to step on any trademark toes.] The rules are simple. I list 3 people/characters/whatever I'm in the mood for, and you state which one you would dump, which one you would date, and to whom you would say "I do." In fairness, I will have a category of men and a category of women and you can participate in either or both. My answers will appear in the comments.

In honor of my addictive viewing of "Dawson's Creek" DVDs during break, I give you the Joshes and the Katies.

Men:
Josh Jackson
Josh Hartnett
Josh Lyman

Women:
Katie Holmes
Katie Couric
Kate Bosworth

You get what you pay for.

An Iowa high school senior auctioned himself off for his high school prom. The winning bidder will have to shell out $30 for the pleasure of his company. According to the article, "Stu thinks his date will be getting a lot for her money. He said he's popular and a wrestler. Stu added that girls tell him he's pretty hot."

Hey Stu, here's a reality check for ya: You went for $30. I've spent more than that on a pizza. And it wasn't all that hot.

For Once in my Life...

...I know a song that Kelly P doesn't. I've got Stevie Wonder's "For Once in my Life" running through my head, and I turned to Kelly for sympathy, and she informs me she doesn't know the song. I even sent her the lyrics and a music clip, and still no recognition.

My jaw is practically on the floor.

Post-Game Wrapup

End of Round 1 and I stand at 24-8. Running at 75%. Not bad. And I've only got 1 pre-round loss for Round 2. It's kinda hard to pick an accurate winner in that game when both of my 1st rounders lost. But all 15 of my other sweet 16 picks are still in the running. It's sad that I didn't watch a college basketball game all season, but as always, I've seemed to become attached the the scoreboard during the tourney.

As Days Go By.

Ok, so while I'm working on things this week, I've happened to have ABC Family on in the background showing classic shows like "Full House" and "Family Matters." Sadly, I have to admit that I enjoyed these shows in their early years until I got too cool for them and actually had things to do and places to go on Friday nights.

But I've commented before about how there's not a single show on TV today that I can imagine sitting down with my family (were I 12) and watching. Those shows just don't happen anymore. What happened to the days of the half hour sitcom where the big problem was that Stephanie's rival at school spread a rumor that Stephanie (brace yourself) paid a guy 20 bucks to go on a date with her? Oh the horror!

Anyway, the reason for this post. For some reason I was wondering whatever happened to Jaleel White, aka Steve Urkel, so I looked up the show on TV Tome. And I was greeted with a post from last week claiming that the actors who played Steve and Laura are reprising the characters in a new pilot called "The Family Table". Say it ain't so. The post, dated March 9, 2005 reads:

Kellie Shanygne Williams and Jaleel White are to be filming the first 7 episodes of their new sitcom "The Family Table" tomorrow! The new sitcom will be a salute to Nick & Nite and TVLand's "Share More than MEals at the Family Table" they will be playing Laura and Steve.

Because of Jaleel's sickening of playing the nerdy Steve Urkel he wants to be himself by creating the backstory of the fact that Steve's voice cleared, his back straightened and became a little mature but is still the same old Steve.


Laura and Steve have been married for 7 years since the finaly of Family Matters. They have 6 year old twins, Stanley (Bobbe' J. Thompson) and Estelle "Stelle" Urkel-Winslow (Jamia Simone Nash) and are going to adopt two teens, Michelle Bell (Solange Knowles)and DJ Harvey (Bow Wow) now they have to figure out how to share more than meals at the family table while dealing with Stanley's girlfriend Sierra (Juliete Goglia).

I googled the title and didn't find anything else on this so it may just be rumor. I'm not setting my Tivo just yet.

QB had a little lamb.

An Oregon State football player was found in possession of a stolen sheep when cops arrested him for drunk driving this week. The funniest part of the story, however, is not that the footballer was too intoxicated to remember how (or why) he was in possession of the sheep, but that the sheep lived at the university and was "part of a study on homosexuality in sheep".

Oregonians, those are your tax dollars at work.

The Big Dance

There is only 1 rule I live by when making my picks for the NCAA Tournament: always pick a 12 over a 5. And so far, my strategy is working. UW-Milwaukee just defeated Alabama. The only 5 seed I have winning is Michigan St. Gotta pull for the Big 10 in round 1.

So far only one loss in my picks. Eastern Kentucky didn't get it done against Kentucky. But they almost did. And some people would think me foolish for taking a 15 over a 2. Maybe they'd reconsider their opinions if they knew my track record of having the most correct picks amongst 'unofficial' office pools in the past decade.

If Pacific holds of Pitt for the next 45 seconds, it will be a nice start indeed.

And you heard it here first... Final Four: Illinois, Gonzaga, UConn and Duke. With Illinois v. Duke in the final, and Illini getting it done. And if I'm wrong, I'm blaming the Sudafed.

The Cell Phone Fiasco

The dad and I went to the cell phone store today to upgrade my mom's phone and start her new plan. It was a trip to say the least. First off, barbie cell babe seemed to not have any idea what we were asking, and acted like it was killing her to help us.

After we got the plan switched, we went to look at the phones. I had been in to get my phone about a month ago, and had looked online, so I knew what they should cost. My mom needs no bells and whistles, so we were looking at the basic phones. The one we were interested in was $29, but only with the 2 year agreement and some special features plan for $10 a month. Without the features plan, the phone was $49. Except I had been online the night before and knew it was free there.

So I asked barbie if it's cheaper to buy online. And she informed me that they were the corporate store so *cell carrier* set their prices and she didn't know who set the prices online. Interesting, since it is www.*cellcarrier*.com. After confirming that we could come back at any point to get the new phone, we left.

When we got home, I checked online, and sure enough, same cell phone was free. I tried to upgrade via internet, and kept telling me it wouldn't. The dad calls customer service to explain, and they say they can upgrade for him. Phone is now $99. Dad explains the situation, tells him that online we can get it for free, and the guy actually works with us and is willing to give it to us for $0. Only his system is down. So transfers us to another lady, whose system is down. She gives us a new number to call, and long story short, they're willing to sell it for $49. The dad then explains the situation, and new guy agrees and is all excited that he's giving us the phone for free.

At the end of the day, the mom's new cell will arrive in 3 days and all we had to pay was $5.95 in shipping. And this is all from the same company, not like a Best Buy that handles many carriers. This cell phone thing is such a racket.

Friday Spies

Because I have no original thoughts these days, I stole borrowed this from the likes of Frolics and Detours, E. McPan and others. Don't hate me, at least it's a post.

1. Tell me what's in your desk drawers right now.
I don't have a desk. And if I did, there would probably be nothing in it as everything I own is strewn all over the dining room table and floor. That is until I have to move everything upstairs per the dad's ultimatum. But if I had a desk, I imagine it would be filled with everything I put in one place so I can remember it, and then of course would never remember it and still spend hours searching the house from top to bottom to find.

2. How many states have you visited or lived in, and which of the others do you most want to visit?
Lived in: Indiana
Visited: (in alphabetical order for your convenience) Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
P.S.: My mother has been to all but Alaska and plans to go someday. I'm aiming for the same.

3. What was the last cd you purchased, and what was the last movie you rented/bought a ticket to?
CD: See post below.
Movie: We rented Cellular and Friday Night Lights the other day. Cellular is remarkable only in how incredibly terrible the acting can be. FNL deserves no comment.

4. Have you ever sung karaoke? If not, what song would you be willing to sing in front of people?
Yes. And I quit when people started bleeding from the ears and begging me to stop.

5. What was the best concert you've ever attended, either because of the performance or because it was otherwise memorable?
I admit, I'm not much of a concert goer. I've posted before about how I'd much rather drop money on CDs than waste it on a live show. That said, Guster live is one of the best shows around.

End. And yes, I realize it's not Friday. Whoopittee do da.

Music of the Moment

Since I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath to find out who's spinning around in my CD player these days, I give to you, in no particular order, the soundtrack of my life.

Keane: A Scottish group that sounds a lot like U2, but whom I find less annoying to listen to. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some of U2s songs, but never did hop on that whole bandwagon.

Megan Slankard Band: After getting over the initial shock that I actually had a female artist amongst my collection, I've really enjoyed this CD. Unique lyrics. Catchy tunes. Everything I love in a band.

Counting Crows: An oldie but a goodie.

Ingram Hill: Was labeled as a "much anticipated debut" and was on sale for $7 at Target, so I couldn't resist. And they're actually pretty good to boot.

Plumb: A contemporary Christian band who hasn't had as much success crossing over [a la bands like Jars of Clay]. Except for their one song "Stranded" which has appeared in every teen movie produced since 1997.

Bowling for Soup: What can I say, I'm a sucker for "1985" and "Almost".

It's been awhile...

You know your posting has been a bit lackluster when your parents start pointing out how long it's been since the last post and even suggesting post topics to get you going.

So not in the mood.

I realize I should probably be posting more now that all of my paper obligations are out of the way. But I just can't bring myself to it today. I'm blaming my feet. They hurt from dancing the night away on Saturday in new shoes. Not always a good idea. I didn't have the foresight to removed them during the evening, a la Kelly P., but judging how the bottom of my dress and my shoes looked post-after-party, I'm kinda glad I didn't.

Ready to Rumble

Today's horoscope:

Someone's mumbling, and from the rumble of their voice, it sounds like fighting words. You'd recognize them anywhere, and you're not at all intimidated. In fact, you're already thinking about how to apologize once the debate's over, because you know you're going to win. You probably even know how many sentences it will take to completely befuddle the opponent. Get over the guilt thing. It's not your fault you're better equipped than they are to handle this -- and just about everything else.

I'd like to think that last part is simply saying that I'm the better person. So who's it going to be? Step on up. I'm ready to throw down.

Random Search of the Day

Someone just got to this site by searching for "quotes from Fivel Goes West." Who is searching for quotes from that movie? Probably the same person downloading to his IPod the version of "Somewhere Out There" as performed by the mice.

Movin' on Up

The Democrat State Representatives walked out of session yesterday effectively stalling or killing some bills. The bill that sparked this walk-out was the creation of an Inspector General position for the state. A position which was created and filled by the Jesus Town Prosecutor. Apparently, in his tour of the state, My Man Mitch* loved the Jesus Town so much, he decided that our peeps would be perfect for state service. Since taking office, he has taken our prosecutor, our judge, and our sheriff and given them high ranking agency jobs. Which is great for them, but bad for the Jesus Town. It's starting to look like the Jesus Town is in a handbasket... and we all know where we're headed.

*For those outside of Indiana, "My Man Mitch" was the incredibly stupid campaign slogan for the newly elected governor of Indiana. He hopped in an RV and spent a year driving around the state to get to know people. Yes, we are as hickish as that sounds.