Lovefool by the Cardigans

It was Spring Break, 1997.  We were cruising down I-5 in Melinda M's car.  It was no Spring Break Girls Gone Wild in Florida or Mexico, but never fear, I would have plenty of opportunities to live that out in Spain the following year.  4 of us, Jenn K, Kristin W, Melinda, and I decided we absolutely must embark on a Spring Break adventure and we decided on a road trip to San Diego.  We made a couple stops along the way, first at Melinda's sister's house, then in Santa Barbara to visit a friend of mine from high school, LA, and finally San Diego.  It was a bit cooler than we had hoped so there wasn't a lot of tanning, oceanside, but we did visit the beach in Santa Barbara.  We followed in the footsteps of Pretty Woman as we walked down Rodeo Drive and certainly did not try to shop anywhere, even though we weren't wearing thigh high boots! 

The Reg Bev Wil

We met up with Jenn's roommate Amy who was at Camp Pelandale (I think) doing something for ROTC.  Amy crashed with us in our hotel one night and we giggled the night away, happy to share 3 to 1 bed and 2 to the other.  There was the obligatory dinner in Old Town San Diego with some yummy Mexican food and good conversation and lots of laughter.  And of course, no road trip would be complete without a mix tape.  This one started out with Lovefool and also included Don't Mess Around with Jim and Mana Mana by the Muppets.  Quite the mix!  We listened to it several times, but Lovefool has had a place on my road trip mixes almost every time since as it reminds me of such a fun time. 

Story of My Life by Social Distortion

In the days before kids, spouses, and families getting bigger and more complicated, we had a pre-Christmas celebration with the M family.  It was always a lot of fun and included dinner, a gift exchange, and photos taken while wearing goofy hats like elf ears, Christmas lights, and reindeer antlers.  One year Steven G. brought his Wii and I was initially a little annoyed because I figured we could entertain ourselves just fine without it.  I kind of have this thing against parties and activities that revolve around the television.  Super Bowl, I am talking to you!  But then Steven pulled out the accessories for the game Rock Band and I completely changed my opinion.  Why had I never played this before?  Why wasn't I being invited to Rock Band parties?  Why didn't I buy it for myself?  (I don't know.  I don't know.  This was another example of me being too cheap to buy something for myself, even though I would have enjoyed it immensely).

Rock Band challenges you to "play" instruments such as the drums or guitar or sing along to the music.  It is full of great songs, everything from Aerosmith to Green Day to Garbage.  The game gives you the notes and it is up to you to not only get the right notes, but play them at the right time.  It is super fun, the crowd sings along with you, and you can totally play into it and pretend you are a rock star as you play your guitar as awesomely as possible.  I loved it!  Frank R. took a turn on guitar and selected a song I had never heard before.  He played it nearly perfectly, with all the confidence of a rock star.  I was so impressed with both his Rock Band skills and his knowledge of songs.  I was still getting to know Frank and did not yet realize what a wide reaching, interesting range of music he liked. Some of the songs I knew, but a lot of them I did not, giving me all kinds of new stuff to download, enjoy, and add to the Story (and Soundtrack) of My Life. 

1985 by Bowling for Soup

In August 2009, I started working at OpsTechnology in San Francisco and it was, to date, the best job I have ever had.  I loved everything about it, from the location (Union Square), to the environment (start-up, no cubicles, and amazingly, absolutely no pressure to work late), to my co-workers.  What really made the job so great though was my boss Melissa K.  In fact, what put me over the top during the interview process was when she told me she enjoyed coming to work so much that she practically skipped to work.  I later found out she didn't mean this in the slightest, but it meant a lot to me.  I did honestly come to work smiling every day, as I walked past Macy's, stopped by the flower vendor each Monday to purchase a bouquet for myself, and settled in for a week of interesting, challenging work.

One day, Melissa told us that her friend Steve M from Chicago had sent her another mystery mix CD.  Steve would put together mixes, but he wouldn't label them or tell her the track or artist names.  It was up to her to figure out (or not).  Apparently it was something fun she offered to her employees to do.  As you can imagine, this was totally up my alley and I jumped at the chance to play Name that Tune!  It was easy enough to do while working because I would just put my headphones on and listen to the CD.  If I knew the song, it was easy enough to write it down and continue working.  If I didn't, I had to take a second to figure it out.  I couldn't use Shazam because, well, I had a Blackberry at the time and also because I couldn't go interrupting other people's work.  I had to google lyrics and I was really good at it.  It was also fun because I was introduced to some new songs, such as 1985.  It always reminds me of working at Ops, in that office on Geary St, and how contented I was that year.  2009, that is. 

I Believe in Santa Claus by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

It was shortly before Christmas in, I want to say the late 90's, and we were visiting the M Family in Lafayette.  We decided it would be fun to head into San Francisco for the day for some window shopping and probably a Ghirardelli sundae, although I can't remember the specifics of what we did that day.  What I do remember is we decided to all pile into Aunty P's 1992 (right?) Honda Civic.  Imagine, 2 people in front and 4 grown people (3 girls + Matt) in the backseat.  In a Civic.  We were going through the Caldecott Tunnel laughing hysterically because the tunnel has this rhythm or something to it and it seems like you go over bumps at a regular pace.  Every time we would hit a bump, we thought for sure we would bottom out.  Not super hilarious in reality, but the situation certainly warranted laughter.

We were also listening to the Kenny and Dolly Christmas Album.  I don't know anyone else who listens to this during the holidays, but it is a tradition in our 2 families.  I am sure one of the moms introduced it to the other one.  Kenny and Dolly were both popular in the 80's, but this album is the cheesiest thing imaginable.  It is mostly Dolly's fault, but it is so gosh dang cheerful and jolly, you just can't stand it!  The best line is when she sings:  "I believe in miracles!  I believe in magic, too!"  Her voice breaks on "magic" and it is hysterical.  Julene sang along with her that day in the car and got the giggly "magic" just right.  I have the album mixed into my Christmas playlist and look forward to hearing it every year. 

Hell by Squirrel Nut Zippers

It was the summer of 1997, just before my Junior Year abroad in Barcelona.  Ariel C. had come over while I was studying and listening to music.  He said that he hated that I was listening to such depressing music.  Now I could understand if I had been listening to Tori Amos, which I also did quite a bit as I was going through a major breakup that summer.  But I was listening to Squirrel Nut Zippers!  Granted, the song is literally called HELL, but it is totally upbeat and funky and fun.  I never understood why he thought that particular music was depressing, especially since I wasn't feeling that way at that moment.

I was living in Berkeley for the summer because due to some poor planning, I needed to finish up a couple semesters of Spanish in order to study abroad.  So summer school it was!  I found a summer sublet and my mother was horrified and rightly so!  The linoleum in the kitchen was so dirty and worn that it had worn out completely.  The bathroom was covered in mold.  She is magic though so we washed at least my large room from top to bottom and stored everything, down to my dry foods and dishes, in the built in cupboards in the bedroom.  It was a pretty cool room when we were finished and more importantly, all mine to share with no one! 

It was a really great summer and I enjoyed myself immensely, in spite of the breakup.  I loved my Spanish class and classmates.  I also worked 2 jobs - the Cal Annual Fund and Security Monitor at the Unit 3 dorms.  The Security Monitor job was especially fun (and perfect) for me because I got to be very social and friendly.  During the summer, there are tons of international students.  I quickly got to know 3 great guys from Puerto Rico and we spent much of the summer together.  I would finish my shift and head up to Ariel C. and Harry G.'s room where we would be joined by Armando R.  They would crank up the merengue music, pour me a rum and coke (Cuba Libre) and we would dance the night away.  They were so full of life and energy and I found it so exciting and fun.  I am so glad I met them for a variety of reasons, but what I didn't realize until about a month later is how well they prepared me for the nightlife and Spanish lifestyle! 

Under my Thumb by the Rolling Stones

So much of my first trip to Vegas truly falls under the "what stays in Vegas" category, but there are still plenty of anecdotes that I CAN share. Bryan A. invited me to come along as his date to a wedding in September, 2001.  Lucky for him, it was mere days before 9/11/01.  On our way to the airport (in Oakland), he realized he had forgotten his wallet.  Being that this was (just) before 9/11, a game of 20 questions was enough to get him on the plane.  I can't remember exactly how he got the wallet, but I think that someone came by the house and picked it up and brought it to Vegas.  Bryan then somehow lost his boarding pass between the ticket counter and the gate, but again, this was no big deal.  We made it to Vegas in one piece!

Vegas was amazing and I immediately understood why Bryan thought I would enjoy it there so much.  Lights!  Drinking!  Beautiful people!  Nightclubs!  Pools!  Music!  Staying up all night!  No rules!  It truly was the adult version of Disneyland and I had a blast.  The wedding was also 100% Vegas.  The bride walked down the aisle, accompanied by Elvis.  Elvis officiated the wedding and it was still totally sweet and she wore a white dress and had a wedding party and everything.  Elvis serenaded the happy couple with Love Me Tender and it was a lovely service.

The rest of the trip was all about those things I exclaimed about above.  I think my favorite thing we did the entire weekend was a walk down the strip.  We each had a 40 oz, which you can drink, right there on the street, legally (right?).  We walked to each hotel to check out its spectacular features, like the fountains and amazing ceiling at the Bellagio and the Roman columns inside Caesar's Palace.  But my very favorite memory of the entire trip was just a little thing.  Bryan and I were getting ready to meet the group and we were hanging out in our room, listening to the radio.  We were about to leave and Bryan says, "Wait!  I have to listen to this song!"  It was Under my Thumb, admittedly an excellent song.  He sits down on his bed and starts bobbing his head, tapping his toes, and drumming his fingers on his legs.  He might have been singing under his breath.  It was so hilarious and endearing, the cutest thing Bryan had ever done!

Tutti Frutti by Little Richard

Let's head back to Silver Lake.  We're talking way back, back into the 80's.   No trip to Silver Lake was complete without a fully staged production of Saturday Night Live on the last evening of our week long camping adventure.  Back then, I could quote almost anything from Saturday Night Live without actually ever having seen (or been allowed to stay up and watch) Saturday Night Live. It was a much anticipated event with rehearsals going on in secret throughout the week.  As the years went by, Matt pretended that we wouldn't be performing, that he was too cool, but we all knew that by the end of the week, we'd be throwing together a show, often madly improvised at the last minute. 

When I say fully staged, picture a curtain made out of the clothesline and blankets; stagelights (lanterns); and spotlights (our mothers, the sole audience, shining flashlights at appropriate moments).  And you can't forget the props and costumes.  We had wigs, glasses, hats, papier mache guitars, and one year, an Elvis costume (Matt's choir suit from high school.  And no one will forget that he split the pants during a particularly quintessential Elvis hip thrusting maneuver).  So yes, not only did we pack up a week's worth of camping gear, clothing, food, books, and games....we also brought a large costume box.  In fact one year, Matt forgot to bring any jeans and spent the entire week in shorts or sweats! 

There are oh so many SNL stories, but today it is about Aunty Phyllis.  In the 80's, we were treated to perhaps the only performance by the moms.  They surprised us all by appearing on stage in matching perms (it WAS the 80's!), huge sunglasses (with pink embellishments, of course), and jean jackets.  They used pastel flashlights as microphones and danced and lip synced to Tutti Frutti.  It was on the Cocktail soundtrack which was all the rage that year, so I am guessing this would make it 1988.   We cheered and cheered, giving them all the love and appreciation due to them as it was an excellent performance. 

Umbabarauma by Jorge Ben

Mark F. was one of the first people I met at the Monterey Institute.  We were assigned to the same team for a scavenger hunt during orientation week.  We had a lot in common like the fact that we were both living in San Francisco and working for Telco companies before starting MIIS and we both spoke Spanish.  It wasn't until later that I learned that we also both loved making music mix CDs and DJing at parties and get togethers.  Mark is a lot of fun, full of self deprecating humor, and very smart.  Sadly, we didn't work on very many academic teams together, but I always counted on seeing him at any social event. 

It wasn't until the very end of our 2 years at MIIS that I finally got my very own Mark Mix.  In fact, I think we had already graduated and we were all packing up our apartments.  It was an impromptu get together at Mark and Liam's house and he finally gave me the CD.  To be fair, it's not like I had been asking for 2 years.  I am just lamenting not having more of them!  The mix is excellent with a wide variety of styles and even different languages.  This presented a challenge for me as I hate seeing Track 01, Track 02 in iTunes.  Thanks to Google and Shazam I was eventually able to figure them all out.  My favorite song on the CD is the very first one:  Umbabarauma.  It is awesome.  The song starts with this rumbling, low beat and it then escalates into this very exciting song.  I have no idea what Umbabarauma means, but once I figured out it was Brazilian Portuguese I was able to ascertain that the song was about a soccer player.  I put it on my own mix when I worked in soccer marketing and it was a huge hit with the soccer players when I played it during tournaments.  I liked it so much I even put the song on our Wedding Mix.  Thank you Mark for introducing me to such an amazing song. 

Rag Doll by Aerosmith

I am not the greatest driver and I have no problem admitting this.  I got a late start and in general, I do not have the best attention span or attention to detail that driving requires.  I also seem to have a poor sense of spatial awareness and depth.  Add to that the fact that I really do not care about cars and you have a fair driver, at best.  I have never caused a major accident and I get to where I need to go.  I have driven in several of the large cities, including Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City (Queens Borough) without incident and even with a fair amount of confidence.  Driving is something I can do, but I don't love it.

My dad purchased a 1967 Mustang for me and my sister when we were in high school with high hopes that we would love tinkering with it.  My sister did, but me, not so much.  I didn't get my license until half way through my Senior year and then it was off to college in Berkeley which did not require a car.  I didn't get a car until 2000 when I moved to Daly City.  I purchased my aunt's Taurus (can't remember the year or even the color) for $2,000.  It was an enormous sedan and the least cool car on the planet.  It lasted for 1 year and then the transmission died.  I bought my very first car in late 2001.  My dad suggested the Hyundai Elantra because of its 10 year/100,000 mile warranty.  I thought that sounded fine and more importantly, it required no thought or research on my part.  I almost let him talk me into a color I didn't like and I did let him talk me out of getting a CD player installed.  I bought the car in about 30 minutes, didn't even try to negotiate price.  My dad had panicked and left at this point because he couldn't believe I could make a $15,000 purchase so quickly.  I felt like a winner though because this was in the days when the sales tax was based on the zip code where you bought it, not where you garaged it, so I saved about $1,000.  I drove off in my brand new, BLACK, 2002 Hyundai Elantra, happy as a clam. 

For a couple years I even took really good care of it.  I religiously changed the oil and got it serviced, right on schedule.  I also kept it looking good and washed it frequently, inside and out.  There was a car wash in Daly City on John Daly Ave that I liked to frequent, but it was often busy.  I would bring a book and crank up the tunes while waiting for the car wash.  Rag Doll was one of the songs I would crank up (in my Discman with adaptor since I didn't get that CD player installed until 2003).  I loved the intro with the thumping bass line.  It made me feel rebellious because I remembered the scandalous music video.  The next time I get a car wash, I'll have to blast it for old times sake. 

La Flaca by Jarabe de Palo

It was my first weekend in Barcelona in late summer, 1997.  I was beyond excited because I was about to take a bus to the Mediterranean.  In fact, I told my dad this very thing when he called the dorm right before we left.  I couldn't get over it.  A short bus ride across town to the Mediterranean.  How cool is that??  My dad responded by quoting skin cancer facts and horrors.  I was so disgusted that I told him I had no intention of wearing sunscreen and I had a bus to catch.  I mean, honestly!  Sunscreen in hand, I headed to the beach with Anhchi L, Christy R, and Lia B. It was everything I hoped for and more.  Topless sunbathing.  Cute boys everywhere.  The beautiful, sparkling Mediterranean.  Vendors with funny songs promoting their snacks (my favorite: Agua!  Coca Cola!  Cerveza Fria!).  We settled in for an afternoon of sun, sand, and fun.

At some point we were joined by some cute Barcelona boys.  I can't remember how we started talking to them.  Anhchi might have joined their soccer game and then they came over and sat with us.  There were 2 of them and they were obsessed with their soccer ball, to which I thought, of course they are!  Spaniards love soccer!  The boys shared some of their music with me since I was listening to music on my Walkman.  Pretty sure it was a Walkman back then.  Some of the music was not to my liking, but then they played La Flaca.  I might have heard it before then.  It was totally the song of the summer in Barcelona definitely (the band is from Barcelona) and possibly all of Spain.  It has a clever beat, the singer's voice is really sexy, the chorus is fun.  I was singing along, but since I didn't know exactly what they were saying, I wasn't singing the correct words, which are:  "Por un beso de la Flaca daria lo que fuera.  Aunque solo uno fuera".  On a nerdy note, this song would be an awesome example of the subjunctive for a lesson in a Spanish class.  Just saying.  The boys corrected me and I later learned precisely what I was saying and I love everything about this song to this date. 

After the beach, we proceeded to follow the boys back into Barcelona.  They kicked the ball the entire time and I am not sure where we thought we were going.  I hoped we were going somewhere fun, perhaps to a bar to grab a drink, but no.  We just walked around aimlessly, watching them kick that stupid ball.  I think we eventually said to heck with this and got back on a bus to our dorm.  And that was my first trip to the Mediterranean!

Thriller by Michael Jackson

Sometimes I wasn't a very nice big sister.  My sister and I are very different people and we do not share the same sense of humor.  We also react to things very differently.  I would argue that I do in fact possess a great deal of sensitivity and empathy, but it cannot be argued that my sister is much more sensitive than I am.  She doesn't care for being teased, but I have never minded because I crave attention.  I admit it. 

In the early 80's, we were living in Concord, CA.  Michael Jackson's Thriller album was all the rage.  I remember the stereo was in a closet or cupboard in the front room of our house which was the office/TV room.  Today, I am amazed daily at Dexter's ability to use the iPad and iPhone.  He turns them on, navigates to the folder he wants, and watches videos and plays games.  Now I am remembering I was no slouch myself when it came to technology.  I knew how to turn on the stereo, insert a cassette, press play AND press rewind!  Thriller came out in 1982 and we probably didn't buy the cassette until 1983, making me 5.  3 entire years older than Dexter is now, but still.  Technologically savvy!  I used this knowledge to torment my little sister who was only 2 at the time.  She was absolutely terrified of the maniacal laughter at the end of Thriller, so of course, I rewound that part over and over and laughed hysterically when she would run from the room crying.  I was so mean! 

Happy Halloween Cato!  I hope that nothing scares you today!

Somebody Dance with Me by DJ Bobo

It was early in my exchange year in Germany in the fall of 1993.  I was living with my third host family, the G-Z family.  My first host family was only for the summer orientation program and my original, permanent family did not work out, which is a story for another song.  The exchange program would have easily placed me with another family, but there were no guarantees I would stay in the same town where I had already started school and begun to made new friends.  They said I had the option to find another family on my own and then they would provide support to that new family.  A student at my school, Ariane Z, who I didn't even know at the time, had heard about my plight and she called her mother to plead my case.  Her mother was in Berlin at the time and I can only imagine what she was thinking when she heard that Ariane wanted to take in an American student who had been kicked out of her host family's home!  Luckily for me, her mother was a kind, generous, trusting person who agreed to take me and then championed a huge outreach to find me a new, permanent family.   Those two weeks with the G-Z family were so wonderful and I felt like I had been saved from an unknown fate.  They were spirited, very busy, fast talkers, opinionated, close knit, and loving.  Just like my very own family back in  California.  We stayed in touch throughout my year there, I visited them every time I returned to Germany, they visited me in California, and I am still in touch with them to this day.

During my two weeks, they took me on a few outings.  One of the outings was a birthday party in another village.  We took the train to the birthday party, but when we arrived, to my surprise, I learned that we would now be taking a 1-hour stroll through the woods to get to the party.  Did I forget to mention it was raining fairly steadily?  I thought this was a little strange, not that I was lazy, but we were wearing party clothes and shoes.  After the party we walked a very short distance to another train station and I realized that hike was for fun!  It was actually fun, aside from being really concerned about my hair, as we met up with some of their friends and we all walked together.  Between the families, there were many younger kids and I was plenty entertained.  At the same time, it was really only my 3rd month in Germany and I still had a ways to go before I could really communicate with ease in German.  So I had a lot of time in my own head, with my own thoughts.  I also had my own soundtrack for the day, which was Somebody Dance with Me.  I thought that song was the best thing I had ever heard.  I listened to it over and over, it had an amazing dance beat.  The rapping was kind of cheesy, but I loved the chorus, which was sung with such great emotion.  I loved it so much and I kept playing it in my hear over and over as we walked.  It was also the song of the moment in Germany so I luckily had plenty of options to hear it at parties, on the radio, and on MTV.  A couple years later I heard the recording of a live version in Switzerland and it was amazing.  It made me want to stroll through the woods.  In the rain!

Paul Revere by The Beastie Boys

Washbag was a favorite Big Game Week tradition.  Washbag stands for the Washington Square Bar & Grill in San Francisco.  The Cal Band would descend on the restaurant in Straw Hat attire.  We spread out throughout the entire restaurant, an already fully packed house, lining up the stairs, amongst the patrons, against the bar.  We played a variety of Cal favorites as well as some rock n roll hits.  It was always a lot of fun.  The party continued as we lined up in the street outside the restaurant and continued our concert.  There was usually (ok always) free booze involved in this event, usually from dining patrons who were so caught up in the excitement, they would start slipping us their glasses of wine or beer.   In 1998, either some of the drinking-age bandsmen or perhaps some of the patrons dashed across the street to a corner store and the next thing you know, a dolly full of cases of beer is being wheeled our way. 

Fun Club - June, 2001

The party continued on the bus ride home, beers in hand.  Bryan H. stood up in the front of the bus, microphone in hand, and proceeded to sing/rap the entire Beastie Boys classic, Paul Revere.  He had it down, from the lyrics, to the accents, to the intonation.  It rocked and everyone enjoyed it so much.  I remember looking around the bus and everyone was smiling, clapping to the beat, totally in the moment.  I didn't know Bryan very well at this point.  I knew him mostly as Kathy R's boyfriend, but after this, he became Kathy's cool, enviable boyfriend.  It turned out, Bryan was cool without trying and even better, he was so friendly and it was the easiest thing in the world to like Bryan.  I got to know him a lot better in the years following college when he and Kathy would come over to my house for dinner (or vice versa) or when we would meet up in the city for drinks, dancing, and Fun Club.  Bryan was 100% fun, full of life, adventure, and positivity.  He will be missed, but will live on in my memory whenever I hear Paul Revere.

Me and Bobbie McGee by Janis Joplin

We were in Mitch's car, heading back from the Bison or perhaps a party in the East Bay.  Mitch lived in Pacifica at the time and passed by my place in San Francisco's Mission District so I often caught a ride with him on the way home from wherever we were.  Mitch was playing Me and Bobbie McGee which I had never heard before.  He said it was a classic and turned it up.  It starts off folksy and quiet and builds into this crazy frenzy of la da das and you cannot help but sing along with it, at the top of your lungs.  And that is just what we did, cruising along Highway 80/101 through San Francisco, la da daing away.  It was about at this point that we decided we were not ready for the evening to end so we headed into the city for a Mitch adventure. 

One of the stops we made was at the Westin St Francis on Union Square.  We walked through the main lobby and over to the elevators.  They are glass elevators that give you an amazing view of the city as you ride up, up, up into the sky.  There is a nightclub at the top, but that is not what Mitch wanted to show me.  The fun part is riding the elevator down.  You are supposed to lean your head against the glass (a la Ferris Bueller in the Sears Tower) and as you approach the ground floor, there is this fence with kind of spiky things on top.  It feels like those spiky things are going to drive right into your skull!  It is awesome!  I loved this so much I started incorporating it on my own tours of San Francisco with visitors to the city.  Oddly, most people did not find this as exciting as Mitch and I did.  Well la da da da da da da!  Hey Hey Hey!

Fruitcake by The Superions

When it is time to decorate the house for holidays is about the time I load up my Christmas playlist.  Last year I was decking away with lights and bells and garlands galore when this bizarre song started playing.  My favorite lyrics:

Artificial color, artificial flavor,
If your family don’t want it,
Give it to a neighbor!
It’s fruitcake!

The whole song is just weird, but it's the kind of weird I like and I have a bunch of Bob Rivers Christmas parodies on my list so this was right up my alley... but I had never heard it and I didn't remember purchasing it.  Then I remembered....

Earlier in the year, while sitting at the pool, Heather L. so kindly offered me her username and password to Amazon so I could share her music.  I had never used the Amazon mp3 downloader so I just selected Download All and this gem of a song was one of my lucky downloads.  Thanks Heather!  So I think of her when I hear it, but not because she is a fruitcake.  We met Heather and her husband in a Labor and Delivery class when we were both pregnant.  We hit it off right away based on our common uncomfortable feeling with the calming breathing techniques and utter grossed out feeling after seeing the birthing video.  Plus there was that whole new parent thing.  They lived in Livermore, too, and I was excited to have my first local Mommy friend.  Scarlett and Dexter spent the first year of their lives playing together whether in swim lessons, out to lunch, trick or treating, shopping, or playdates.  Sadly, the L. family moved to San Jose and later, we moved even further away to Fresno....and now they are moving all the way to Florida! We will have to keep in touch through Facebook and plan to meet up in the future at Disneyworld someday!

Romeo by Dino

It was a Friday night in October and a bunch of excited tweens (although that word didn't exist in 1990.  We were just 8th graders).  It was Emily H's birthday party!  It was going to be quite the evening.  The party started out in the garage, continued in the neighborhood with a scavenger hunt, and concluded at the high school football game.  I was so excited because my crush had been invited and he RSVP'd YES!  I think just about everyone's crush was coming, including Mikhaela D's and Katie S's. 

A few days before the party, we were at Emily's house planning everything (we might have been filming a movie for English class.  I definitely remember doing that, but I don't remember if that coincided with today's song).  Katie S. was also very excited about the party and she had come over to help as she lived right down the street.  She was putting together the music selection and the first song was Romeo by Dino.  Trust me, you want to click on the link and watch the video.  It is so quintessentially 1990...and so horrible, but in 1990 I am sure we thought the dancing was amazing and the high waisted shorts just the epitome of fashion.  It starts out with a little rap and then the music kicks in.  Katie was super excited about this song and she was really into it.  I loved that because Katie was normally very quiet and laid back and to see her really get into something made me smile.  I hadn't heard this Dino song and I agreed, it was so cool, I was sold, this music selection was going to make the party extra awesome. 

I am sure I put on my best t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up and made sure my bangs were as flat as a curly haired girl could get them.  I had to look my best for my crush and the high school football game.  We got paired up for the scavenger hunt and I was paired with my crush.  He was really competitive and we actually won the hunt.  We talked and talked throughout the entire football game as well.  He never became my "boyfriend", but I never stopped trying to impress him because he seemed encouraging.  A crush was all a 13 year old really needed anyway. 

Anywhere Is by Enya

Zoom in on a dorm room in September, 1995.  I was having a storybook dorm experience.  I had purposely requested Freeborn Hall, in its inaugural year as the substance free dorm.  My theory was that it would be cleaner and quieter there because the drinking and partying would be done elsewhere.  It had also been recently renovated and it was actually on the clean, quiet side, as dorms go.  I requested a triple, which after now looking at the floor and if I am doing the math right, it was 170 sq ft.  I must've been insane.  I was obviously much more open minded and tolerant back then and I also wanted to save my dad some money.  Luckily, it turned out to be a wonderful experience, one of my best roommate experiences by far.  I was living with 2 girls from So-Cal and even though I was the last to arrive, they selected the bunkbed, giving me the loft bed to myself.  We had a corner room on the 7th floor with a view of the Bay and San Francisco.  I was the only blonde on the entire floor and I wasn't even highlighting my hair back then.  It was light brown and still the blondest on the floor.  It was an all-girls floor which I hadn't requested, but was thrilled about after seeing the co-ed bathrooms about a week into the semester.  (Boys are yucky). 

The dorms were all about making new friends.  There were conversations going on all the time in the hallways, in rooms, in the lounge.  Doors were often propped open, music was usually playing.  There were all night study sessions with a lot of jumping on sofas and talking mixed in.  Group excursions to the dining commons (DC) the second dinner was served.  Plentiful discussions and advice on hair, clothing, makeup, and the latest party.  It was the perfect introduction to college and everything I had been conditioned to expect from books, TV, and movies.  One of my roommates, Kat D, had a great music collection, but my favorite CD was a compilation of stuff I'd heard of and others I had not.  One of the songs was by Enya. This particular song is so upbeat and positively joyful.  It sounds very plinky, like raindrops or drops of joy.  Plink Plink Plink!  Ashwin A, who lived on the 8th floor, overheard it one day and he got this goofy grin on his face and said that he just loved the song.  He started this goofy, joyful little dance to go along with the Plinky Plinky and we were immediately all smiling and choreographing little moves to it.  It was such a funny thing, to hear a boy say that some song by Enya is something he loves.  Enya.  Ashwin was in the US by way of London (if I recall correctly) and maybe even somewhere in Asia before that, so maybe it was from being so wordly that he had an appreciation for all kinds of music.  Even Enya. 

Straight Up by Paula Abdul

It is the spring of 1989 and all 4 sixth grade classes are up in the foothills, just outside of Sonora at Foothill Horizons 6th grade camp.  I remember not being very excited about going after having a less than good time at 4-H camp the summer before.  There were all kinds of rules and they made this big deal out of the shower situation - it was one big room and you had like, 3 minutes to shower.  Everyone was in varying stages of puberty, it was all very humiliating.  My mom had to take me shopping for jeans (not Guess jeans, of course, they were unnecessarily expensive and I was also overweight at the time) and bras and clean, new underwear, to minimize the humiliation of getting dressed in front of my peers.  I made it to camp and it was surprisingly more fun than I expected. 

I was in a room with a bunch of girls, but I specifically remember my bunkmate Jamie J and 2 popular girls.  Jamie and one of the popular girls thought that our counselor was just the coolest.  She was in high school and I don't remember much about her, but I remember that Jamie and Bethanni T. just idolized her.  That left me and Linda H. without a buddy.  I absolutely idolized Linda.  She was very popular and very pretty.  She was also very smart and I competed with her grades-wise whether she realized it or not.  We had never really spoken before, but for that week of camp, we were mostly thick as thieves.  During any activity with our cabin, Linda and I hung out together, but during meals or other all-camp activities, it was back to our circles of friends, hers much larger than mine.  We had so much in common from our taste in music, to our hobbies, to our parents' rules and opinions.  After camp, we never really talked again.  I was not popular whatsoever and we certainly did not have the same circle of friends.  I was also pretty shy, due to feeling extremely insecure.  We had a German class together the next year with a random group of kids, but we never really reconnected and she signed my yearbook to the effect of, I'm a nice girl who doesn't talk much.  I know, shocker. 

Getting back to camp, our cabin had to come up with a skit to present to the rest of the camp.  Our first idea was a song and we started creating lyrics to the tune of Straight Up.  I was ecstatic.  This was my absolute favorite song.  I had the single.  I listened to it constantly and I knew all the words and the tune.  I was beyond thrilled to sing it.  I remember the lyrics started off with: Lost in the woods.  Don't know which way to go.  Something something, straight up now tell me are we going to Foothill Horizons.  We later ended up changing up the lyrics to another song about Rise and Shine and Sing out your Glory Glory.  It was still a huge hit. 

Shiny Disco Balls by Who Da Funk

Drugs.  Rock N Roll. Bad Ass Vegas Halls.  Late Night Booty Calls.  Shiny Disco Balls.

Those are the only lyrics in the entire song.

In late 2000, I was so excited to be getting out of a bad roommate situation and into a good one - with my SISTER!  She was transferring to SF State so she could live with me.  I didn't even care that we were in Daly City because San Francisco was prohibitively expensive at the time.  We had our own apartment and our own rooms.  We had a view.  We decorated it together.  I was excited to shoulder 2/3 of the rent because it was my sister, a college student, and she wanted to live with me.  It was going to be awesome. 

It mostly was, but I think she was mad at me a lot of the time.  I was going through a hard time in those couple years, but I always felt like she was there for me.  I honestly didn't realize until later that she was mad at me.  I mostly noticed the good stuff.  We had a show we watched together (Gilmore Girls).  I had a blast cooking dinner together, but I especially loved it when we would pick up Chinese to go at Ranch 99 market, always way too much greasy and oh so delicious food, and eat it at the coffee table.  I could always find something to wear in Cato's closet and since she had the full length mirror on the back of her door, it totally made sense for me to go in her room.  We went to parties together, hosted friends at our apartment, had mani-pedi dates followed by daytime cocktails.  It really was a fun couple years, something we'll never get back and something I am so grateful to have experienced.

Unlike me, Cato had a bunch of jobs in retail (Papa Murphy's, the Wherehouse, Peninsula Beauty).  She would get bored of one place and literally walk next door and get a job there instead.  She got her first "real" job by sending a fax to a job posting in the NEWSPAPER.  Seriously!  She either has the best luck or the best instincts, but that kind of approach never worked for me.  Also she is very brave!  I think she actually heard Shiny Disco Balls playing while working at the beauty place, not the Wherehouse.  They would play a lot of trendy music and she would come home singing.  I thought the lyrics were ridiculous, but then I heard the song, liked the beat, memorized those ridiculous lyrics, and it became our thing.  We'd play it in the car on the way to the store or just around the house.  One last thing that bears mentioning because I thought it was so cute - Catherine would get ready in the morning by blaring music on her stereo in her room.  I loved that.  She didn't do that when we were in high school so it seemed out of character, but I found it so endearing! 

You Can't Count on Me by Counting Crows

Williams-Hamilton dinners date back to 2005.  It was something you could count on every month.  You never left a dinner before scheduling the next dinner.  Each one was a much anticipated event.  There was a food theme for each dinner (Argentinian, Indian, Japanese, and Moroccan, to name a few).  The hosts usually provided the main course and some drinks...the visitors usually provided appetizers, sometimes desserts, and more drinks.  It was an all night affair, full of talking over each other (all 4 of us doing this at the same time), board games, laughter, and friendship.  It rolled over into the morning with breakfast and more story telling and more laughter.  And of course, there was music.  I put a lot of thought into the music I would play at each dinner and if you look at my iTunes, you will see playlists titled Hamilton Fun and More Hamilton Fun.

I had never been a big Counting Crows fan, I know, sacrilege. I am supposed to feel a strange loyalty to them.  But I didn't.  A friend of mine had an extra ticket to the concert back in the Spring of 1996 so I went with him and I was unimpressed and also concerned because Adam Duritz was so stoned I worried he would fall off the stage at any moment!  And also, they played Mr. Jones, the one song I enjoyed, in slow motion, like a remix, but not in a good way.  Scott H. really liked Counting Crows though and even suggested going to a concert.  I said no, I was not a fan, etc, but I wish I had said yes in retrospect.  Live performances are FUN and now we have kids and when will we ever be going to a concert together now??  It was probably at their house when I heard some Counting Crows that I wasn't familiar with and started to hear them in a different light.  I downloaded a couple songs and later burned the CDs that Scott had.  My favorite song is You Can't Count on Me.  It's kind of cheerful sounding, but the lyrics are anything but cheerful.  Regardless.  I think it's become clear so far in my life soundtrack that I don't listen too closely to the lyrics.   I started incorporating some Counting Crows into my Hamilton mixes.

Over the years we added two rambunctious dogs to our dinners, which only served to raise the volume considerably, as there were now 6 voices talking over each other.  The years went by and we added 3 kids to the mix.  Dinners turned into lunches and most recently a day trip.  Still fun, still much anticipated, but no more themes, no more overnights, and much less drinking.  I still create a music playlist when it's the Williams turn to host.  Speaking of which, I need to email Karen H. to plan our next get together!

Warming Up the Brain Farm by Lo Fidelity Allstars

It was the fall of 1999.  It was my first Cal football season as an alum, but I didn't have season tickets.  Kat R. had received some tickets from someone or maybe we bought them, but she and I decided to go to the game.  I took BART from San Francisco to Rockridge and walked up to her apartment on Broadway.  It wasn't until years later that I realized what an awesome neighborhood she lived in during those first few years after college.  I had fallen victim to San Francisco snobbery shortly after moving into a flat in the Mission District.  I didn't notice that she was within walking distance of Zachary's or that years later, I would spend many an afternoon window shopping, brunching, and hanging out in her neighborhood.  Of course, she no longer lived there by then, making it slightly less fun. 

Kat was living with her boyfriend and I was, quite honestly, pretty envious.  She got to decorate the apartment however she wished (I had a horrible roommate at the time) and she had this really cool boyfriend.  I know that this particular morning it was just the two of us.  I think her boyfriend was still in college, still in the Cal Band.  Kat is really a blast, full of fun ideas, adventure, trying new things, going new places.  We were just hanging out, taking our time, we no longer needed to be at the field, instruments in hand, just after dawn, hours and hours before the football game.  She showed me around the apartment and played some new music for me.  The song was Warming Up the Brain Farm and it was totally weird, but I loved it.  I didn't know at the time that I actually knew another song by Lo Fi (Battle Flag), but once I bought the CD, I realized it, making the purchase all that more satisfying.  Kat is like that - always showing you something new and cool.

We were really late to the game, we might've even stopped for a beer or some other refreshment along the way.  We took the 51 bus up College Ave, all the way to campus.  We enjoyed the game, we cheered for the Bears, we visited our friends who were still in the band.  It was the perfect way to return to Cal Football and helped me feel less nostalgic and sad about being a graduate and no longer a living piece of Cal history.  I was now merely history, but making new memories that would become a part of history.  

Porcelain by Moby

It was shaping up to be one of the very best summers of my life.  I have had some excellent summers, but this one was really becoming a contender for the best of the best.  So far.  I was only 22 that year in the summer of 2000.  It was the halcyon days of tech which meant I was finally meeting my sales quota with some regularity.  I scored a corner seat in the new office and a computer which meant I could download songs at work.  I loved my sales team and my clients.  We were young, making money, and living in San Francisco.  We regularly went out for drinks after work that often turned into dinners.  I was also back to my fighting weight, I had lots of suits and heels, a new hairdresser and blond highlights.  I had met a very cute boy at the beginning of summer and was looking forward to a trip to Hawaii with him at the end of August.

But in the meantime.....there were summer BBQs to host and attend.  My Spanish roommate Jordi C. had emailed me to ask if I could pick him up from the airport....in Los Angeles.  That was 300 miles away from me and I did not have a car, but I flew down to LA to spend an awesome couple days with Alex F. and Pam S.  That is a story for another song.  I went to family BBQs and pool parties.  There was a trip to Santa Cruz where I attempted surfing.  I even crammed in a camping trip to Silver Lake.  It was fun times after fun times. 

My sister introduced me to the Moby Play album that summer.  I had heard some earlier Moby stuff that was more doz-doz techno kind of stuff.  It was ok.  But this album was amazing.  I fell in love with it and listened to it over and over.  The thing is, the music made me feel incredibly sad.  Or maybe melancholy is a better word.  I just looked it up and it is definitely the right word:
melancholy: a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.

This is probably what he was going for as the lyrics are incredibly sad.  In my dreams I'm dying all the time.  I never meant to hurt you.  So this is goodbye.  Another song on the album is called Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad.  SAD!  Super sad stuff!  It's funny that in the middle of all the awesome that was that summer, I would obsessively listen to an album that made me feel melancholy. There's probably some juicy stuff in there for a psychologist to figure out.  

Like I Love You by Justin Timberlake

When Justin Timberlake first came out with his solo album it didn't make much of an impression on me.  N'Sync was next-generation boy band and I didn't listen to them much at all.  I would see pictures of Justin and Britney and think that the curly hair and matching denim outfits were totally dorky.  I didn't even care for his solo music much.

Flash forward a year to Monterey, CA.  I think it was the very first week of school and a bunch of my classmates decided to go to Doc Rickett's for $1 beers and dancing.  I know I have referenced the crazy Danes before, and this night was no exception.  I remember walking in to the place and finding my friends.  There were Kent H., Nis H., Morten J., Peter D., who I am missing?  They each had ordered $20 worth of beers (that's 20 beers at $1 each and I cannot believe that they were allowed to buy so many at one time!) and the table was just covered with beers.  It was hilarious and I happily accepted their offer of a beer or 3 and later contributed to the table.  There were many, many others there that night... I remember Holly S, Mark F, Stacy H, Nina L, it seemed just about everyone was there.  Doc Rickett's had this reputation for being pretty divey, a total meat market, and full of jar/jug/whatever you call em heads.  Monterey is home to both the Naval Postgraduate School and the Army's Defense Language Institute.  I suppose that if I was at Doc Rickett's as a single gal, going out dancing with my girlfriends, it might've had a yucky vibe, but I was with 30 of my newest, most favorite people and we were having a blast.

There was a big projection screen on the wall playing music videos and Like I Love You by Justin Timberlake came on.  I recognized the song, but as I said, I'd never really been a fan.  I was dancing, totally getting into the 3-4 beers in-I love this song!-mode.  I was watching the video and .... Justin Timberlake is HOT.  H-O-T-T Hot!  The video was seductive and risque and, it bears mentioning again, hot!  The music was clever.  Catchy.  I became an insta-fan!  I remember telling Holly that I had no idea that Justin Timberlake was so hot!  I was really really excited about this realization!  When I got home I downloaded both the video and the mp3.  10 years later, I tried to get tickets to his 20/20 tour...and it was sold out.  Apparently I am not the only one to realize all the awesome that is JT. 

Ride Wit Me by Nelly

We are on a motorized cable car, cruising down Pine St in San Francisco on St.Patrick's Day in 2001.  One of my co-workers had invited me to join her and 30 of her college friends on a cable car pub crawl.  I invited another 10 of my friends and it was the best St. Paddy's Day ever.  The cable cars were stocked full of drinks (Guinness, of course, 7&7s, which I did not drink but I didn't know what the other 7 was, and the very "in" drink of the time, Rock Star & Vodka).  The cable car stopped at 3 different places: a bar in China Basin that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me, the Bubble Lounge, and finally the Velvet Lounge.  The cable car itself was a blast and a half. Dancing, drinking, high-fiving people in their cars as we worked our way through Friday-night, St. Paddy's Day traffic.  I was having the best time, surrounded by friends and strangers, many of which were very cute boys indeed.

The song of the moment was Ride Wit Me by Nelly.  I had heard the song before, but never really liked it.  I obviously needed the right moment and this was it.  We were all in this together, singing loudly and exuberantly: Must be the Money!!  I didn't want the evening to end, but after closing down the Velvet Lounge, it did.  I remember Pam kissing a boy, saying goodbye, as I waited in the cab.  I had lost track of the boy I had been kissing somewhere in the Velvet Lounge.  It was around this point that we discovered Pam's wallet was missing, but this story had a happy ending.  Some kids found it on the Embarcadero (must have fallen out of the cable car during the dancing) and we spent a fun morning shopping in Marin where we met them and the wallet. 

No St. Paddy's Day has compared to that one and I doubt one ever will.  There is simply no corned beef in the world that can compete with cable cars and Nelly. 

I Want a New Drug by Huey Lewis and the News

We were supposed to be coming home from Pinecrest today, but because of the 7th largest forest fire in California's history happening a mere 20 miles away from Pinecrest, we elected to stay home.  Why don't travel back in time to get to Pinecrest, back in the summer of 1983 or 1984.  Probably 1984 after a quick internet search reveals that Sports hit Number 1 on the Billboard chart in the summer of '84.

My mom and I were walking near the lake, probably not around it as I was pretty young, but just near it.  Maybe we were going back to the car, maybe we were just on a walk, not sure.  I seem to remember she was already upset about something, so she was listening to Huey Lewis on her Walkman to get a moment of peace and I was being just an extraordinary pest.  I wanted to listen to it, too.  I wanted to listen to it RIGHT NOW.  Please Mom.  PLEASE MOM.  She would shoo me, say no, but I was relentless.  I remember even feeling like I was being a brat, but I couldn't stop.  I am pretty sure she finally gave in and I remember it not feeling like that much of a victory because she was upset.

Mom, I apologize many years too late, but I am really really sorry!  First of all, I now know that you were most likely upset because you been (once again) left alone at the campsite with 2 kids, while everyone else was off fishing.  You probably really needed that quick decompression.  I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND NOW.  Be assured, Dexter is making sure that payback is a ... well it's not great.  I should've been less of a brat.  Nothing of mine is sacred.  No privacy, that's a given.  I can barely finish a phone call because he wants the phone, he wants to HOLD the phone, he wants to walk all over the house with the phone, pressing mute, making any phone call impossible.  If I am reading, he wants to read, too, and turn the pages before I am ready.  He wants Up, Up, Up Mommy, even if I am tired, even if my back or arms ache.  Mommy is eating a peach?  He wants the rest of that peach.  Sometimes I say no, but I am finding myself saying yes too often.  He is just so darn persistent...I wonder where he gets that from?

Comfort Eagle by Cake

After 18 years, Tammy Q. still says and does things that surprise me.  You would think that at some point I would realize that and stop saying, "that is so surprising to me that Tammy would do/say such a thing" and instead start thinking, "oh that is SO Tammy, such a Tammy thing".  I like being surprised by Tammy and I think that is just one of the many fun things about her!  Comfort Eagle is Tammy's song. 

Vince J., Tammy, and I all really love the band Cake.  (CAKE?).   They are a somewhat local band from Sacramento that is very down to earth.  They get real and sing about politics, the environment, and pop culture.  They are also very entertaining in concert and I have seen them twice.  Once was at the Oakland Art & Soul Festival and it doesn't get more legit than Oakland!  Comfort Eagle has this great driving beat, pun intended, but I was still surprised when Tammy said she got her one and only speeding ticket driving down the road, listening to Comfort Eagle.  (So Tammy!)  I love this so much.  It's not great that she got a speeding ticket, those things are crazy expensive, but I love that she was A. Speeding and B. to CAKE.  She was probably late to something because she was stuck in Silivon Valley traffic or maybe she had just been freed of it and was driving fast from the relief and joy to be out of it.  I like to imagine when she got pulled over, she said to the officer: "DUDE!  You need to widen the corridors and add more lanes!"

I recorded a bit of this song at the concert so I could send it to Tammy.  I think of her every time I hear it in the car and I instinctively allow the speedometer to tick upwards....but not too much.  That would be just so Tammy and I remember the tale of the ticket. 

Box of Rain by the Grateful Dead

When we subscribed to Netflix, it changed the entire face of TV viewing for me.  I was never much of a TV watcher until I moved into my first apartment.  Granted I didn't have a TV until then, but even as a kid, I was never a big TV watcher.  I was more interested in books.  When we got Netflix, I realized I could rent entire series from the past!  One of these series was Freaks and Geeks, an amazing series produced by Judd Apatow.  I love especially how the actors reappear time and time again in Judd Apatow movies and there are little inside jokes referencing other movies and shows.  The series only lasted 1 season, but it is a good one!  It takes place in 1980 and there is just a ton of great music from the 70's, mostly classic rock.  There was one episode when Lindsay was introduced to the Grateful Dead and it was my introduction to the Dead as well.  I had never been interested in listening to them and I never got the whole Deadhead thing.  But the music is great!  You do not have to be high to appreciate it - it is just mellow, easy listening, catchy, good stuff! 

I was very excited about my new musical find, which is silly as I was decades behind the time.  I remember telling my next door neighbors Paul and Glen about it and they agreed - good stuff!  We were living on the second floor of a 4-unit building on the Piedmont/Oakland border.  We met Paul and Glen while we were viewing the apartment and luckily, there were 2 units available because we were competing with them.  It was a tiny apartment (700 sq ft), but full of charm and within walking distance of 30+ restaurants, bars, nail salons, bookstores, a library, and so much more!  It was a wonderful 2 years. 

Living next door to Paul and Glen was exactly like living next door to Kramer.  You might be coming up the back stairs and Paul says hello because he can hear you coming up the stairs.  You realize he is calling out to you from the bathroom where he is likely sitting on the toilet with the window cracked. He would often knock while already opening the door to come inside.  They frequently left their door open when they were running an errand, but it was Piedmont, so no big deal.  The walls were pretty thin so they could hear us and vice versa.  We found this out after we had been gone for a couple days and came home to find out the automatic kitty box had malfunctioned.  It just kept going back and forth across the box, scooping litter, but never resetting.  It was loud and annoying.  It went on for days and poor Glen had to sleep on the couch because the sound was keeping him up at night.  We felt so badly for him!  Our bathtub clogged up...and theirs overflowed soon after.  You could say it was close quarters.  One time we were out of a certain condiment.  We looked outside and the door was open.  We called out and no one was home.  We went over and looked in the fridge, but they didn't have what we needed.  I don't think we ever told them we went over there.  They were nice guys with interesting life stories and we often had dinner together or BBQ'd or just hung out on the back stoop talking.  It was a great first apartment, full of fond memories. 

Do the Bartman by the Simpsons

We are still hanging out in Junior High, a little later in the day than Mr. Thomas' class.  I was the second chair clarinet player in Advanced Band.  Between moving up to become one of the best musicians and the fact that I was generally very friendly and outgoing, somehow I had become a very popular person....at least in the band circle.   I had tons and tons of friends that year.  I always had a fun group to eat lunch with, I received lots of Valentine Candygrams, I was constantly passing notes to both boys and girls.  I still didn't have a boyfriend, but I was very well known and well liked.  Truth be told, all of these things served to give my ego a well-needed boost, but it also gave me a pretty big head. 

Mr. Short, our beloved band teacher, may have contributed to some of it.  For example, he offered me the Drum Major role for the Christmas Parade.  It was a coveted role and remains one of the things I regret today, for I turned him down.  I was enjoying goofing off in the last row of the parade and flirting with my crush.  All of my friends were shocked that I turned it down so I rushed back in to take it back...but it was too late.  So that was my first clue that I was well liked and talented.  Mr. Short also supported and encouraged healthy rivalry and competition amongst the band members.  We were allowed the opportunity to challenge the person ahead of us to a playing duel, if you will.  The loser had to wait 2 weeks to challenge again.  There were challenges here and there throughout the band, but none more rigorous than between me and Art (the more frequent #1 chair).  We literally were challenging every 2 weeks.  I will never forget the day.  Mr. Short ended class a few minutes early.  He normally listened to challenges either before or after class, but perhaps he was feeling the drama.  Everyone, literally EVERYONE, gathered around our 2 chairs.  Art chose the 4 bars of music and when he got to bar 3, I knew I had it in the bag.  He had the rhythm wrong.  He finished, quite proud of himself, and I began playing with a grin on my face.  When Mr. Short declared me the winner, it was like I was a rock star.  I had taken down Art.  It only lasted 2 weeks, but victory was sweet.

Then I got mean, I am sorry to say.  People picked on Art, not to an extreme degree, but there was teasing.  For starters, he played very athletically, moving his elbows up and down with the music.  That is no excuse for what i did.  I created verses to the tune of Do the Bartman... but I called it Do the Artman.   I likely honestly thought I was teasing, more than being mean, but when no one really laughed, I should have realized it wasn't really in good taste.  Luckily, that is about as far as I went...besides painting our shared band folder purple.  Totally girly.    When he asked me to dance at the 8th grade dance and later invited me and all of my girlfriends to his pool party later that summer, I knew there were no hard feelings.  He had the last laugh in the end:  when we got to high school, he was in the first row and I was way back in the third.  Do the Artman: everybody flap your arms and fly away!

Pray by MC Hammer

If you were to ask me who my favorite teacher of all time is was, off of the top of my head I might tell you Mr. West or Profesora Losada.  Most challenging would definitely be Mr. Ohman or Mr. Hinds and certainly Mr. Julien.  The most memorable teacher is Mr. Thomas, although I would have never said so at the time.  Today, without a doubt, he wins most memorable and I even would even say he is one of the most creative, out-of-the-box teachers I had. 

Mr. Thomas taught 8th grade Advanced Language Arts.  It was my first class of the morning and I was never late because I was in Jazz Band during the 7am slot.  We all gave Mr. Thomas a really hard time for some reason.  I am still not sure why.  Maybe it was because he challenged us.  Maybe because we got the sense that he tried too hard and trying too hard is something that 13 year olds can sense and immediately distrust.  The thing is, the trying too hard is what made him so awesome!   Once a quarter, if you ever decided you didn't care for an essay topic, you could write a "Sad Story" that was entirely fictional (although I suppose it could have been true) about why you couldn't write your essay.  I wrote this hilarious piece about my cat stealing my paper titled "And There was my Cat, Smashed Flat".  I know it was hilarious because Mr. Thomas spilled coffee on it, laughing so hard.  He had us journal every day, which I loved.  If we ever felt the need to write something private, we just had to tell him and he would not read that entry.  He was a published poet and he also acted and he would often incorporate these types of things into lessons.   He shared this film with us that was a one-man comedy act and it was hilarious.  I wish I could remember what it was called because I would love to watch it again.  Towards the end of the school year, we had to decide if we would take either Speech, Journalism, or "regular" Advanced English in High School.  He brought high school students in to share their experiences in each class.  What a nice thing to do for us, to help us make the right decision! 

Once in while, he would play music and sometimes we could bring our own music.  I remember very specifically the day I brought in a cassette with Pray by MC Hammer.  I remember watching everyone to see if they would be impressed by my taste in music (they were).  The cassette had been eaten and there was a part in the middle of the song that was all muddled.  To me, it had become part of the song and how it was supposed to sound.  I got a kick out of watching people's faces during the quick muddled bit of song.  At the end of the school year, a couple of the boys wrote in my yearbook and they all mentioned that we "survived" the year with Mr. Thomas.  I always went along with the crowd, even though I didn't always agree (peer pressure in action!).  But looking back, I can't stress enough that it wasn't a year to survive, it was a year to enjoy.  I think I should pay Mr. Thomas a visit someday soon to say thank you.  I hope he hasn't retired yet!

Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall

I was sitting in my parked car on Townsend St.  I was pumping myself up for a job interview, taking a last look at my makeup, gathering my thoughts and my things.  I had been laid off shortly after getting married and while it was fun being the little woman, cooking and cleaning and creating a little home for my new husband, the time had come to get serious about going back to work.  I had landed an interview with the San Francisco Giants!  Talk about perfect - it was sponsorship management with a professional baseball team.  I would have to go to work at the ballpark every day!  I would have to go to all of the home games!  Heaven!  My last job title was Sponsor Services Representative so I was certainly qualified.  I was wearing a new suit and I was listening to Suddenly I See.  I was pysched!

I had read somewhere that you should have a song to listen to on the way to an interview so you can get out of your head in those last minutes.  More importantly, you get into a positive mindset.  I had recently binge watched the first half of the first season of Ugly Betty.  At the very end of the first episode when she landed her first job, she was walking down the streets of New York City in slow mo to the tune of Suddenly I See.  The lyrics continue:  This is what I want to be!  Suddenly I See, why it is it means so much to me.  It fit perfectly and I totally pulled this song from Ugly Betty. It really was a great show that first season.

The job interview wasn't great.  I remember saying a few things that made me cringe in the moment and many times later on.  The kicker though was when he dropped the salary bomb on me.  $32K.  Some general benefits, but no parking.  In San Francisco.  No perks to speak of.  It was apparently supposed to be enticing enough to be granted the privilege of working for MLB.  I did not have an inflated view of myself, but I did have an MBA and experience in the field.  $32K.  I think he saw it in my face, but for whatever reason, I didn't get a call back.  It wasn't what I was meant to be!

I Love It by Iconapop

This past Memorial Day, we took a little road trip down to Camarillo to see our good friends Ed V., Christine V., and Mattea B. We hadn't seen them in ages.  The trip always seemed so long, but by moving to Fresno, we shaved 3 hours off of the trip.  It was a wonderful weekend spent catching up, talking, laughing, exploring, eating, swimming, and relaxing.  Christine even worked out with me so i wouldn't miss a single day of my 30 day challenge. One of the wonderful things about these dear friends is that they welcome not only us into their home, but also Jack.  And I mean they honestly welcome him, not just tolerate him.  It really helped me relax so thank you to them for that!

They humored me by taking me to LA to see the stars (I am just slightly starstruck crazy).  We actually saw a couple, but I didn't recognize any of them.  I always have fun in LA and then I forget how much fun I have there.  I do not think I would fit in there or enjoy living there, but I really love visiting.  It is truly a different world, different lifestyle, different attitude.  It's something else!  Mostly though, I am glad we are closer to LA so that we can hopefully see these friends more often.  Ed is the person that introduced me and Nick and without him, there would be no Dexter.  Ed is also the first person I told about this blog!  I told him my idea, he encouraged me, and just a few days later, I began writing. 

Mattea is about to head off to college in just a few weeks and it was so interesting for me to get a peek into the teenage world today.  At the risk of sounding old, and I know I do, things are so different today!  It's nothing like when I was a teenager!  What I find particularly fascinating is how they communicate.  There is this whole electronic world of communication out there and frankly, it is exhausting to me.  I have to constantly check email, texts, Facebook messages, Meetup comments, LinkedIn requests, Twitter, Instagram.....I am missing about 100 different mediums, I am sure.  Mattea is super talented in so many ways and of course, she is also tech savvy.  Like, it blows me away.  She gets amazing grades and on the side, she also composes music, performs, posts her videos on YouTube, and creates her own music videos.  And the communicating with the friends, that too.  She shared her latest creation with us which was a video for I Love It.  It's a song I didn't particularly like, but I will now listen to it with a smile, remembering Mattea's video.  She performed in it and it was creative, funny, energetic, in step with the music.  It was great.  What was also great was her pure joy and enthusiasm in sharing it with us and pointing out her favorite parts.  Thank you for sharing this with me.  And in fact, I DO care AND I love it!

P.I.M.P. by 50 Cent

It was one of those epic, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas kind of trips.  Nicole F. and I were both Retention Managers for good old Allegiance Telecom.  She was in So-Cal and I was in Nor-Cal, so we spent a lot of time talking on the phone about "work" while at work.  She is so much fun and when we finally met in person on a business trip to Dallas, we totally hit it off.  In fact, we had so much fun together, that we just knew a trip to Vegas was the perfect way to hang out in person again.  We obviously spent a lot of time at work and on the phone together planning out every last detail.  Hotel?  (Tropicana.  Not super trendy or even super nice, but the price and location were right).  What to do?  (We discussed a variety of nightclubs, bars, hotels, and restaurants we might check out).  Flights? (I was flying and Nicole and her friend Eryn G. were driving and meeting me there).  The day before the trip, our boss told me that we could go out to a $150 dinner, on him, a little bonus for being such great employees.  We were beyond excited.
I got to our hotel room first and anxiously awaited the girls.  We talked until the wee hours and in the morning we kicked off our Vegas adventure.  There was the pool, drinks, cute boys, the spa, restaurants, walking the strip.  Poor Eryn got food poisoning that very first night and Nicole and I were on our own.  Except that we weren't on our own at all.
The weekend prior to our trip, I had met a guy at a party in San Francisco.  We got to talking and it turned out that not only were we both headed to Vegas that weekend....we were staying in the same hotel.  He was off to a bachelor party, so Nicole and I spent the evening hanging out with a very cool group of guys.  There was lots of drinking and lots of dancing.  We danced on top of the bar at the Coyote Ugly, singing Bon Jovi at the top of our lungs.  We closed down the club and continued our search for music, drinking, and dancing.  The next club was playing P.I.M.P., a song that I'd never heard.  The boys sure had and they were singing along with great enthusiasm.  After I got home, I wanted to put together a Vegas mix of songs that we'd heard that night.  I found P.I.M.P., but the lyrics weren't quite the same as the boys had sung.  I must've spent weeks looking for the remix version of the song, only to find out later they'd made up their own verse. 
We finally made it back to our hotel around 6am and headed straight for breakfast.  Eryn joined us, fresh from a good night's sleep, and mostly amused at our antics and behavior after an entire night out.  I randomly and spontaneously busted out the entire second verse of Parents Just Don't Understand by DJ Jazzy Jeff.  I will never forget that one of the guys had ordered a greasy breakfast...and a glass of milk.  We girls all found that simultaneously weird and hilarious.  The following night, we tried to recapture the magic of the first night and while it was still a lot of fun, it just wasn't the same.  What happens in Vegas....

The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang

I have known Ryan C. for just about his entire life.  His mom's sister is married to my mom's brother.  so we share an aunt and uncle, but I actually didn't realize that for a long time because he was never at our family events and vice versa. I guess that makes us kind of related.  By marriage.  Removed or something.  At some point I started calling him my cousin Ryan.

He is only 2 years younger than I am so we always got along really well.  There are countless memories and stories with Ryan because our families used to vacation together.  Once Ryan went away to college, I didn't see him for a couple years, but I was really excited when he returned to the Bay Area afterwards.  He was still working out what he wanted to do and which path he wanted to take and during this time, I got to see him a lot!  He was often in the city and since I was living in Daly City with my sister, he often stayed with us.  We spent many evenings hanging out playing board games in our apartment or driving into the city and dancing until the wee hours at some club.  Ryan introduced us to some of his new friends and we would hang out with them as well.  I really enjoyed spending this time with him and getting to know him as an adult.  It was a lot different hanging out as adults because we could stay out as late as we wanted.  On family vacations, I remember it being a really big deal when we would stay up late talking and playing cards into the wee hours.  It upset my dad each time, unreasonably so, in my opinion.   One thing hadn't changed hanging out with cousin Ryan was fun!

I don't remember where we were we had been, but I remember we were in the car, heading back to the apartment in Daly City.  Ryan and I were in the backseat and Catherine was driving.  She was really into the Bloodhound Gang.  It was a band she started listening to in Kansas.  It took a while to grow on me, partly because most of the lyrics are disgusting, and also because it was a lot different than the kind of music I generally liked.  But grow on me it did and even though the lyrics are mostly gross, they are also pretty clever.  Well it turned out Ryan knew the lyrics to the Bad Touch and I remember him singing along with a big smile.  Catherine and I joined in and there we were, cruising along, singing that song, headed back to Daly City for another fun sleepover.  You and me baby!
 

Wild Wild West by Kool Moe Dee

Lucky for my dad, our Turlock next door neighbors had a teenage girl, aka, a babysitter!  Traci N.was a lot of fun and we always behaved very well for her.  Honestly, we behaved pretty well for all of our babysitters.  We were nice kids.  Traci chaperoned my first slumber party, as well as babysat on the weekends as needed.  Since she had a younger brother my age and they were right next door, I was over at their place from time to time.  One of those times, she was listening to music in her room and it was an ominous, scary sounding song.  There were a couple of them that year - Wild Wild West by Kool Moe Dee and Nightmare on My Street by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.  The context of DJ Jazzy Jeff's song was pretty scary, all about Freddy Kruger coming to life, but Will Smith's voice was too cheerful and upbeat to really scare me.  Wild Wild West on the other hand... starting with the dark bass line and ghostly sound effects....it gave me the chills.

It was the perfect song to set the scene for when my crush of the week, Sean H. came over to hang out.  I had a Ouija Board in 6th grade (who bought me that I wonder?) and it was a hot game of the time.  No one else had one, but everyone loved playing.  We would ask it all kinds of questions and I will burst everyone's bubble today by confessing the most of the time, I was moving the pointer.  Sorry!  I truly tried to concentrate and let the spirits do their thing, but just like "Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board", Hypnotism, and Magic Eye Posters, the Ouija Board did not work for me.  The song really set the mood though and I got to sit really close to my crush, knees touching, board on our laps.  There was the spooky aspect, we were in my room alone, it was downright romantic.

Seconds after Sean's mom came and picked him up, I heard a knock at the door.  I 100% thought (hoped) he had returned because he forgot something... he forgot to kiss me.  That is what happens in the movies and on TV, and there was all the romance!  The mood setting!  The knees touching!  Sadly, my life was not like the movies.  He had forgotten his hat or something.  The most embarrassing part was that he ASKED me if I thought he had come back to kiss me!  Was he teasing me or had the thought crossed his mind?  Alas he never did kiss me and I eventually moved on to a new crush. 

Ka Huila Wai by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

The scene:  beautiful Monterey, CA.  The situation:  involving roommates.  It was not a good one.

I never had any luck with roommates who were unrelated to me.  I spent my first year at MIIS living in a fun apartment near downtown with another grad student.  The problem was that he was a student at NPS (Naval Postgraduate School) and there seemed to be a culture clash.  Things started off really well - he was very friendly, extremely clean and tidy, and he liked hanging out with me and Nick.  He accompanied us to a party or two and he eagerly co-hosted a party of our own.  He was quirky, but then, aren't we all.  I guess it comes down to whether he is the kind of weird you like.  It turns out he wasn't.  The guy was honestly pretty lonely.  He had an out-of-state girlfriend, he wasn't very close to his family, and he didn't seem to have made very many friends in Monterey.  Truth be told, perhaps I am not the best roommate either.  I never really figured out the boundaries, as in, do you share every meal?  Do you share food?  How much time do you need to spend together?  Etc.  During the weekends I was either out and about with Nick in Monterey or out of town altogether.  During the holidays, I spent an entire month out of town.  It is possible I came across as someone who didn't want to spend very much time with her roommate.

Whatever the cause, as spring semester wore on, things felt more and more strained.  He told me that his girlfriend was moving out to Monterey in the summer and he hoped that I would be ok with that.  I said that would be fine.  I then noticed that certain items from the front room were no longer there, such as his fancy globe, his projector.... these were pricey items which I know because he told me numerous times.  I then noticed he had begun locking his bedroom door.  All very weird as Monterey is hardly a hotbed of crime and this guy was a trained expert who kept a sword in his room for goodness sake.  One weekend Nick and I decided to garden and generally spruce up the yard.  Apparently this was the last straw for the guy.  On Monday, he told me that he no longer wanted me to live there and I had until the end of the semester.  I gardened without permission and his name was on the lease.  Furthermore, he considered me a safety risk.  Apparently, he would listen when Nick would leave at the crack of dawn and then get out of bed to lock the door behind him. I also then began to notice the guy locking the patio door while grilling.  Unlock door.  Put steak on grill.  Come inside and lock door.  Unlock door.  Go flip the steak.  Come inside and lock door.  More than a little weird and definitely not the kind I liked.  Also, couldn't he have just told me his girlfriend didn't want another woman in the house when she moved there?

I already had a Luau party in the works for that weekend which he said of course would not be cancelled.  I spent a lot of time in my car that week, just driving around, not interested in being home.  I would leave for class and just stay out all day.  I ate dinner out or in my car.  It was pretty being out and about and it really wasn't so bad as it gave me time to process and figure out what to do about the following year.  In preparation for the Luau, I was test driving my Luau mix.  One of the songs was Ka Huila Wai by Brudda Iz and I listened to it over and over.  I have no idea what he is saying, but I loved the melodies, his crooning voice, the Hawaii feeling just washing over me.  The Luau was a huge hit, by the way, and I found a new apartment all to myself.  Win-win. 

Step by Step by New Kids on the Block

Throughout my childhood and into adulthood, I rarely missed a summer camping trip to Silver Lake.  We would typically spend an entire week camping in tents with no showers and pit toilets.  I should also point out that it was typically all girls...and Matt M.  It should come as no surprise that most of the time, the girls were all hanging out together at the campsite or the lake or the potholes, whereas Matt had disappeared before the sun came up and there was nary a sight of him until dinner.  There were also days where we assumed he was off hiking and exploring, but he was actually asleep in his tent. 

It wasn't always all girls.  There was the (hard)core group of the two families, but each year usually included various guests such as friends, family members, boyfriends, or girlfriends.  No matter the company, it was always a lot of fun.  Today were are going back to the early 90's and I seem to remember it being a very quiet group.  Or perhaps it was just the beginning of a trip and we were waiting on other campers to arrive.  For whatever reason, I remember it being just me, my Mom, Phyllis M. and her son Matt.  I definitely remember playing New Kids on the Block cassettes all the way to the lake.  My mom was very understanding and patient, gotta love her.  I was obsessed with the New Kids, to put it mildly.  No really. Obsessed is the mildest way to say it.  I would play the tapes straight through and I never fast forwarded a song because I felt like it would be disloyal.  I was absolutely required to listen to and appreciate every last song.  I also never left a tape unplayed or stopped in the middle of it if I could help it - I always played them all the way through.  Ridiculous! 

I had this ginormous button of Joe and I wore it on my jean jacket.  Matt made fun of me because, of course.  He also made fun of the New Kids and that was clearly more offensive.  He redeemed himself though because the first night as we were all going to sleep, I called out:  Good night Matthew-a-poo-poo (a nickname invented by my sister).  And Matt responded:  Don't You Know I Hate You (a revision on a line from Step by Step).  So of course I responded:  Don't You Know You're Stupid!  This went on for some time, but the point is that Matt obviously knew the song, he knew the tune of the song.  He had obviously heard or even listened to it at some point.  The Kids were ubiquitous at the time, BUT STILL.  I remember thinking that this was the nicest thing Matt had ever said to me.  I was younger than Matt and I usually annoyed him and he teased me or generally avoided me, but this time, he was "talking to me" and it was about THE NEW KIDS!!!  By the next summer, I was onto something new and there were no more New Kids Nighttime Serenades. 

Losing My Religion by REM

Losing My Religion will forever be linked to Brenda and Dylan's breakup.  If you were a teenager in the early 90's, you will know exactly what I am talking about.  I was in 8th grade when I watched my first episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.  It was the episode "Isn't It Romantic" when Brenda and Dylan went on their first date.  The date ended in disaster, with Dylan smashing a planter on the ground and crying.  Smashing a planter was the ultimate in bad boy behavior!  I actually felt like I just might be getting away with something by watching it, like it was borderline too grown-up for me.   And of course, I did think it was totally romantic.  My friend Erica T. had watched it too and we both decided that it was going to be our very favorite show.  Season 2 started at the beginning of summer and we were both so excited about this.  The first episode of the season dealt with more Very. Important. Issues.  Pregnancy tests!  OB GYN visits!  And of course, the impossibly sad breakup of Brenda and Dylan.  The song playing during the breakup was Losing My Religion and the song even factored into a future episode when Brenda was so sad that she wanted to throw away any reminder of Dylan, including the CD with the song playing while they were breaking up.  Sniff! 

Beverly Hills, 90210 was the first TV show I was ever addicted to.  I wasn't much of a TV watcher as a kid, but this show really hooked me.  It wasn't just me - pretty much everyone my age was hooked on the show and it gave us all something to talk about and dissect, week-in and week-out.  It eventually became a bonding thing with my mom.  I don't think she loved the show or found it particularly riveting or addicting.  It was more about her knowing what we were watching so she could make sure it was appropriate.  It also was the launching point for a lot of conversations about the various topics covered on the show.  It covered everything....teen pregnancy, suicide, addiction, drinking, gun control, first love, the first time, friendship, divorce....you name it.  I will never forget watching the episode when Scott Scanlon accidentally shot himself.  I was BLOWN AWAY (!) by the entire episode, sitting on the edge of the couch, wondering who was going to die, how it would happen.  And David's speech in the DJ booth.  Powerful stuff for a very naive high school freshman!! 

I lost interest in the show once Brenda left which coincided with me going away to college.  I didn't have a TV and with the exception of a couple TV nights at Jenn K's house, I didn't have the opportunity to watch it much.  I also didn't think it was nearly as good as it used to be.  I watched the final episode, of course and in 2008 when the show relaunched with the new class of Beverly Hills, my sister and I were all over that!  It became the focus of our sister nights and we watched it together, just like before.  

Kiss of Life by Sade

They say that Christmas is the turning point when you are doing a year-long study abroad program.  After 4 months (around Christmas), you have finally started to get the hang of speaking in another language.  You might be dreaming in it at that point.  You know your way around, you have a nice routine, and you have developed some nice friendships.   A lot of people get homesick at this time and it is tempting to go home for the holidays, but you need to resist the temptation!  Get through it and when Christmas is over, you are on the path to truly settling in and enjoying the rest of your year.  Unfortunately for me, one of my roommates left early in the New Year and was replaced by a new one.  The new one was a nice person, but I just didn't click with her.  On top of that, my landlady was a crazy person.  I had to deliver my rent check in person and it was a super lengthy, super annoying and patronizing experience.

At this point I had started making those friends I mentioned above.  I was a dedicated gym-goer and I was starting to make a little group of friends there.  One of them was Esther and when she heard about my apartment woes, she invited me to come live with her.  She happened to have a recently vacated room and it was only a 5 minute walk from my current apartment!  Since I was in Spain with literally the clothes on my back, moving was a cinch.  Esther's apartment was pristine.  She and I cleaned together on a regular basis - from top to bottom, walls included.  It was decorated in a fun, modern style (she is an artist).  We really got along well and she was the best part of the rest of my exchange year.  We had our daily routine.  After school, we'd head to the gym.  We'd spend about 2 hours working out and then shower and head home.  At that point it was about 9pm.  We'd eat dinner (iceberg lettuce salad with corn and an oil and vinegar dressing.  2 slices of toast with cheese or ham or a hotdog.) and more often than not, get dressed, swapping clothes, to head out for a drink.  So fun and as an added bonus, it was the skinniest I have ever been!!   

Sometimes I would come home from school or wherever and Esther would have the stereo blaring as she read, painted, relaxed, took a bath.  She was usually blaring Sade, specifically Kiss of Life.  It made me feel sophisticated.   I was living in this modern, European city, sitting in my light-filled apartment, just minutes away from the Mediterranean.  The music made me feel contemplative and I would sit and write in my journal for hours, thinking about who I was....who i wanted to be...what was next on my life journey.  It was a transitional year and that music was my backdrop for making choices and learning how to live a grown-up kind of life.