80’s – I’m ready to pogo bounce

I’m a huge 80’s fan.

I was a teenager when all the John Hughes “Brat Pack” movies were the rage.  I loved Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Emilo Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, James Spader…etc.

Also, during this time, I loved the 80’s New Wave, punk, ska, reggae music.  Around this time, English Beat had a hit with Mirror in the Bathroom.  It was one of my favorites.  Sadly, I was too young to attend concerts and see all these great bands during their peak days.  However, now that we have the Jack FM concert (that combines all different genres of 80/90s bands) and the Fair grounds that like to “flash back,” I’ve been able to see some of my favorites from youth.

I was so excited to have seen Joan Jett, Adam Ant and lead singer of Bow Wow Wow, Psychedelic Furs, Stray Cats, B52s, Huey Lewis and the News.  So many bands that still sound fantastic.  (even if they can’t hit the same ranges they used to)

With that said, one band I’ve never seen is the English Beat, or simply, The Beat.  The O.C. Fairgrounds, Pacific Amphitheater, has their summer concert series.  UB40, English Beat, and Bob Marley’s grandson are playing today!  And we got tickets!  I’m going to be in a relaxed mood here in just a few short hours!

Great thing about Sunday concerts at the fair, they begin at 6pm.  That’s good, because we older folk, we want to get to bed in a reasonable hour.  (hahahah)  Especially, if we were (or attempted) pogo dancing.

Persuasive Argument?

A couple posts ago, I blogged about my husband being stuck out of town due to Southwest Airlines not having crews in place, and pilots to fly the planes.  After having his flight canceled twice, two consecutive days…he didn’t want to chance a third night, so he decided to drive home.  Of course,  at 9PM, the car rental place had limited cars, two, to be precise.  His options were a truck or a shiny, red mustang, for just $10.00 more.  I’m sure that was a tough choice there.

He drove from Sacramento to Orange County and had a great time.  He took a picture and posted to Facebook joking that the speedometer goes to 160 mph and he only got to 120.  (oh, boys…)

So, before returning the car the following day, he took me and the kids for a fun ride.  As we were exiting the vehicle, my hubby longingly looked at what I deemed a “ticket-waiting-to-happen,” and I told him to quickly return it because we don’t want anyone to ding it.  No damage before we can safely get it back on the lot.

It just so happens that my husband needs a new company car, something practical, that he can take customers out to lunch.  I could see the gears turning in his head.

Husband:  “That sure is a nice ride.”

Me: “Don’t get any ideas about having that as your next car, we have to pay for sports.” 

Husband, and 12-year-old son: “Yeah, sports…CAR.”

Husband: “It’s called a sports car, because after you buy that, you can no longer afford to pay for kids’ sports.”

My son: “Yeah, we don’t need to play sports when we have that.”

Wait. What? That is NOT logical. Let me answer that with a Hall and Oats tune.

Million Miles Away – A to Z Challenge

Letter M of A to Z challenge

The only “M” word that immediately popped into my head, was this 80’s tune that I just loved!  A Million Miles away, by The Plimsouls, was featured in one of my favorite 80’s flicks, Valley Girl. (1983)  It had Nicholas Cage before he was “known.”  And I was just 12 years old.

Anyway, KROQ (Southern California radio station, known for alternative/new wave music) blasted them all the time.  I think they were one of my first tape cassettes I bought, yeah, if you remember those.  (Before CDs and the internet.)  I immediately liked other songs of theirs.  MTV provides a great biography, how Rodney Bingenheimer (KROQ DJ on late at night called “Rodney on the Roq”) was known for playing unknown bands and having them discovered.  I believe he was the first to play the Plimsouls.  In 2007, he got a Hollywood Star and is almost 70 years old.  Rodney is still on between 12AM – 3AM

Actually, this video held up well over the years.  It’s funny to watch and immediately see things from the 80’s – they are on a bus and there’s a Flash Dance movie poster on the marquee.  The crazy hair dos at the party.  It makes me miss that time, and I wish I had been a little older when all these bands were really coming on the scene, as I would have loved to have gone to their concerts.  The Plimsouls were getting their start in the late 70’s, from Paramount, California.  I believe they formed in 1978.  By 1980, people already knew who they were.  1983, they were all over the radio.

 

Lucky Charms, Cat food, and green poop – A to Z Challenge

Letter L of A to Z challenge

Lucky Charms.  Are you certain it’s cereal?  Because the non-marshmallow pieces certainly look like cat food, with a sugar coating?  Just sayin’.

Here Kitty, Kitty. Meow-liciious

Normally, we don’t buy this cereal, but I thought it would be fun.  The thought about the cat food only hit as I was picking up pieces off the floor as my 12 year old son and 10 year old daughter polished off an entire box within a day and 1/2.

Well, except a tiny, itty bitty amount left that I ate… my son came strolling out of his room 30 minutes later, after his first bowl, and had a complete hissy-fit because the remaining tiny portion was gone.  Immediately, he charged his sister’s room to go yell at her.

Just before stopping him to admit my guilt,  the tiny Lucky Charms Leprechaun popped on my shoulder and in his Irish accent said,

What?

 “Oh, my stars!  Quick!  Blame it on the Trix Rabbit!”

But I fessed-up anyway:

“Dude, I ate it.  It was a tiny amount left and I wanted to throw out the box.”

OMG – MOMMMMMMMMM!  He marched into his room and slammed the door.

That was how I was able to compare my day to my husband’s.  Just to put it ALL into perspective for him.  At least, he didn’t have to deal with a Charms war.  Oh, and if you eat too much, it turns your poop GREEN.  Don’t ask me how I know that, not from experience or anything.

Happy as a Hippo – A to Z Challenge

Letter H of the A to Z challenge, and all I can think of is the Hippo story on the movie Along Came Polly.  However, we can’t help but love Claude, the Frenchman. (played by Hank Azaria)  I was like Reuben, played by Ben Stiller, not familiar with that story.  Be like the hippo?  What the heck does that mean?

Oh, be like the hippo.  Happy to be who you are, yes I can agree with that. How it applied to Reuben’s situation could be argued.  But in general, Be like the Hippo is a great way to live your life.  Unless you  live in a condo/apartment above someone.  Then, no.  No hippos.  (see my F post)

Footsteps, football, and freakin’ roller skates

My first few posts of A to Z came to me fairly quickly and easily.  However, I had to sit and think about the letter F.  As if right on cue, my upstairs neighbor began their daily pacing back-n-forth.

We recently moved into a 3 bedroom apartment, and it’s on the 1st floor.  I’m not used to having someone live above me.

When I first moved out on my own, it was a series of roommates and they all happened to be 1 level homes or apartments on upper floor.  Until, one day, a friend of mine had her roommate move out sooner than the lease was up and she was begging me to help her.  I was in a spot of soon to be moving in with my boyfriend, so I agreed to be her roommate for a few months.  It was the longest 3 months of my life!

That was a lower unit, which reminded me WHY I should always insist on upstairs units.  We would hear rolling every night above our kitchen.  ROLL….ROLL….roll.  What the hell is that?  We saw a little girl on skates, not sure if she lived above us, and we quickly concluded she must be skating in the kitchen.  Later, we found out, she didn’t live above us…but the individuals that did were vacuuming the kitchen floor.  Who does that?  (by the way, it’s nice to cheat that way, but it’s not very effective at getting under the cabinets and oven.)  But if you live above someone, DON’T DO THAT!

From that point, I ensured my hubby and I always had an upper unit.  I would rather be the stomper than the stompee.  However, we always took great measures to ensure we were quiet.  That’s awesome until you have kids that are heavy steppers.  I’m surprised our “forever bachelor” living beneath us never just hauled off and smacked us.  He claimed in the 11 years we lived above him, he rarely heard us.  We concluded, being that he was now retired, he must be hard of hearing, because I was always yelling out:

“Stop walking on your heels, walk on the balls of your feet- light steps.  No running!   Our neighbors are going to think we got a pet elephant, for crying out loud.”

Well, we’re getting “paid back,” because 3 bedroom apartments are really difficult to come by in Lake Forest, CA.  One complex told us they only had a few 3 bedroom units and one was opening up, and we better claim it quickly… unfortunately, to our dismay, it was a lower unit… to later discover is directly under a family of 4, with 2 little boys- ages 5 and 3.  Their dad works with professional soccer players.  Therefore, his sons are (of course) future day pro-footballers.  He has them outside with their soccer balls.  And if that’s not enough…they “play” indoor football every night.  Every.  night.  at 8:00 to 9:00, 9:15ish (when they should be in bed.)  You hear running of feet and then heavy footsteps by mom and dad.  CRAP.  Once they are in bed, mom and dad fricken pace the floor BAM, BAM, BAM… BAM…BAM…BAM.  How many times are they going to walk back-n-forth?  All night.  My kids had difficulty going to sleep the first week here.

For a physically fit family, they sure do walk around like a herd of hippos.  Someone posted this video on Facebook and I laughed so hard!