Smack My Bitch Up by Prodigy

A bus full of less than sober Cal Bandsmen are heading down I5 in the fall of 1998.  We were on our way to the Cal - U$C game in Los Angeles and it was a memory making kind of trip.  The Cal Band Basses, for this was the Basses bus, had outdone themselves.  As we boarded the bus early in the morning, dressed in our finest Hawaiian shirts, we all got lei'd.  I think there were even boarding passes. The bus was decorated and our spirits were high.  I had a 2 liter bottle of Calimotxo, the decidedly disgusting (but easy to guzzle, which was likely the reason for its popularity) combination of red wine and Coca Cola that I had grown to love during my year in Spain.  Everyone had their preferred libation or snack food and needless to say, we were all sound asleep by Bakersfield.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.  The trip was a moving party, everyone up and dancing in the aisles, talking, laughing.  Of course my very best friends from the band were also on this bus (there were 4 buses that traveled to LA: the Study Bus, 2 "normal" busses, and the Basses bus). At one point, Jon P. props up the boombox and out comes the sound of something I had never heard before.  I had missed out on a year of American pop culture, but during that time, Prodigy's Fat of the Land had seemingly become somewhat of an anthem in the Band, at least among the Basses (Diesel Power!).  In fact, it turned out I was familiar with some of the songs, ahead of the curve even, as some of them were popular in Europe over a year prior to this trip and I had heard them there. However, Smack My Bitch Up was not one of those songs.  As soon as the opening beat kicked in, I was already hooked.  Then Kat R started singing along,  I saw Jon P bobbing his head to the beat.  What a ride. There were jokes, stories, traditions, legends, most of which I no longer remember.  What I do remember is having a blast, relishing my last LA trip as a Cal Bandsman.

Killing in the Name of by Rage Against the Machine

14 teenagers, no chaperones, a week in France on a ski vacation.  What could go wrong? 

Val Thorens, nestled in the breathtaking French Alps

Such a thing would have been unthinkable in the US, but in Germany (some) teenagers seem to be given a bit more freedom.  I was super excited about this opportunity, even though my boyfriend didn't have the kind of parents who allowed such a thing.  It was a long, overnight bus ride through Switzerland and France, into the Alps, to the ski village of Val Thorens.  We passed through Albertville where the Winter Olympics had recently been held.  It was so beautiful and looked much different than Lake Tahoe as it is located above the tree line, in fact it is the highest ski resort in Europe.  We stayed in a large hotel, rather than a cozy cabin.  I was in a room with Manuela B and Sabine D and I was so excited about the bonding experience I was sure to have with them.  The skiing was tough for me because most of my classmates had been skiing for their entire lives, whereas I had really only started skiing during my freshman year in high school (2 years experience).  Furthermore, my experience thusfar was at Badger Pass and Pinecrest so I was literally going from the bunny slope to an expert slope - yikes!  Luckily, Thilo B. skiied at about my level so we spent a lot of time together, skiing and improving greatly that week.

After a long day of skiing, the evenings got a little nutty.  Lots of drinking, lots of obnoxious behavior.  The song of the moment was Killing in the Name of and it is a very angry song, but even if you are not angry, there was something really fun about being 16, standing on the balcony of the room with a bunch of German guys, and screaming, literally screaming along with the music... Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!  This is an actual song lyric that gets repeated like 15 times in a row.  Fun stuff!  Not at all obnoxious!  I remember feeling the slightest bit embarrassed, but also that we were teenagers being teenagers - isn't that what it's all about?

(Theme from ) the Monkees by The Monkees

It was just after 5pm and Catherine and I were anxiously waiting for our Dad to pick us up from school.  There was an after school daycare in the cafeteria at Twain Harte Elementary and I generally had a great time there.  There were friends to play with, books to read, stuff to do, but as 5pm rolled around, I was anxious to get out of there so we could get home in time to watch Double Dare.  Thinking about it now, this means my Dad had to leave work before 5pm to pick us up in time.  Or maybe he used to pick us up closer to 5:30pm, but he still would have to leave just at or before 5pm to make it in time.  There were no byways or even traffic lights back then so I am sure it took some time to get to us.  In any case, once he arrived, he had to sign us out and for some reason, he encouraged me to copy his signature and would let me sign his name (while he was standing there).  I was only in 4th grade, but the level of trust he had in me never changed, all throughout high school.  I admit, I was a bit of a goody-goody.

Back to the show.  If we were early, we could catch the end of You Can't Do That on Television.  I didn't really like this show.  It was kind of gross and the jokes were often over my head, but we'd watch it all the same.  Double Dare was this trivia/obstacle course show.  It was a big deal amongst everyone my age.  We all hoped to someday be on the show and we were sure we could handle the physical challenges and obstacle courses.  It was totally the highlight of our evening.  Immediately after Double Dare was The Monkees.  The theme song would start up.... "here we come....walking down the street...." and then these 4 goofy looking guys with accents were on doing who knows what, but I mainly thought it was about the worst, boring show you can imagine.  Kind of clever, that, as it was a surefire way to get us to turn off the TV for the night!  At least until The Cosby Show came on...

Hot Child in the City by Nick Gilder

I was in my car with Christine W. and we had just taken the Joaquin Miller Rd exit off of Highway 13.  Hot Child in the City started playing on my mix CD.  She was delighted with this song, as was I.  I can't speak for her, but the first time I had ever heard this song was on an episode of Sex and the City. It was an excellent episode in Season 3, all about acting like a teenager, hanging out on a hot summer day, and smoking pot.  The song practically demands that you chill out, kick back, and relax.  It is excellent. In fact, when we met, Nick said that this song actually reminded him of ME.  This might have been a line, but I was incredibly flattered and also validated because that was kind of what I was going for back then.  Being hot.  And living (near) the city. 

Back to the car ride, we were heading to a party at Scott B's house.  It might have been the first of his annual oyster parties, although I can't say for sure.  This guy is a real character and I met him in Spanish class during my sophomore year at Cal.  He was renting a downstairs unit of a women's house in the Oakland hills.  He had access to the yard and hot tub and amazing view.  He had had a number of interesting jobs, most notably, chef on a private yacht that belonged to the Hiltons.  He was such a relaxing, interesting, welcoming person, with fun, colorful friends, and an afternoon at his house was an afternoon well spent.  I had never eaten oysters, but was game to try them.  He had prepared amazing dipping sauces and I learned how to shuck them.  I tried them both raw and BBQ'd.  We also BBQ'd chocolate chip cookies, which I was surprised to find out is totally possible and also delicious.  There were amazing dips, like roasted eggplant with chopped parsley.  Strawberries with mint and balsamic. Tri Tips and crusty bread.  It was an endless feast, perfect weather, and great conversations.  I went to several oyster parties thereafter and always had a memorable time. 

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing by Jack Johnson

Nick and I were sitting in a movie theater in Walnut Creek, waiting for the previews to start.  I cannot remember which movie we were going to see.  In fact, it was odd that we were in the movie theater because Nick wasn't a huge fan of going to the movies.   When we started dating, he was the quintessential, 20-something, single guy.  He lived in an apartment with his brother.  He decorated rather well for a 20-something guy, but his decor definitely included the expected beer bottle and alcohol themed art, in addition to a lot of framed artwork (a plus in my book as I equate framed art to being a grown-up) and some interesting pieces.  He folded all of his towels precisely and the bathroom was always clean.  He was a catch! 

I hadn't really dated anyone long term in a long time before meeting Nick.  In fact, I hadn't had any long term boyfriends who were not in college or living with their parents so seeing how guys really lived was novel to me.  They eat a lot of fast or frozen food and spend a lot of time on the couch, unshowered, watching sports.  Of course they have all the channels.  In fact, Nick seemed to have oodles of spending cash to spend on anything he wanted.  Unlike me, he wasn't paying off a car or student loans.  Instead of renting movies at Blockbuster, he would just buy them.  We went out to eat or for drinks constantly.  And I will never forget the first time we ordered pizza and ate it in bed, watching a movie.  I could count on one hand the number of times I had ever ordered a pizza!  He was even a regular at a Chinese delivery place.  One time we even went to Macy's to buy him new underwear (I thought that was a big deal for our relationship, for the record). Those early days of dating were so much fun and there was never a bad moment.  I wanted the weekends to stretch out forever and we usually packed an insane amount of stuff in between Friday night and Monday morning.  It was supposed to be a summer romance (that ended up turning into forever) and it was the stuff of stories. 

So back to the movies.  Before the previews started, there was a music video promoting a new song by Jack Johnson.  The whole thing is filmed in reverse and both the video and the song are EXCELLENT.  We both watched it enraptured, not wanting it to end, but when it did, we turned to each other and both gushed over how cool it was!  I bought the CD not long after that and it always reminds me of those early days dating Nick. 

Wild Thing by Tone Loc

I was waiting impatiently for Kevin G. and his mom to arrive to pick me up for swim practice.  The sounds of Wild Thing could surely be heard several houses away.  It was the song of the moment and I had the single - the record single.  My dad had a pretty sweet setup back then with an amplifier, multiple large speakers, record player, dual cassette player.  You could set it up any way you wanted to like rock, classical, ballroom; or adjust the treble and the bass just right.  Most importantly for my dad, it was super loud.  He loves it loud, as I think I have mentioned in a previous post.  I was pretty proud of my super cool taste in music and the sound system and I wanted it to be playing, loudly, when Kevin arrived so that I could impress him.  Did I mention I had an unrequited crush on him? 

So there I was, waiting, starting the record over and over so that it would be playing when he arrived.  This totally backfired of course.  The look on his face when I answered the door was priceless.  It was a combination of annoyance (why wasn't she watching out the window so she could run outside when we got here?!) and embarrassment (why did my mom make me go get her?!).  To make it even more awkward, I had to apologize for having to run back and turn off the stereo when we were probably already borderline late. Meanwhile, Kevin was already halfway back to the car in the middle of me saying anything.  The next time they picked me up, I am sure I was running out the door as soon as I saw the car pull up.   

What's Up? by 4 Non Blondes

Dorthe S. and I were in her room, primping to go to the Old Daddy Disco in Duisburg.  I had been in Germany for about a week, living with the S. family.  My orientation class was comprised of American high school students from all across the U.S., literally from Alaska to Maine. Alongside our daily classes in language and culture were several cultural excursions, but none more exciting to me than the disco.  So there we were, getting dressed up in our silk vests with jeans. Yes, vests!  They were the oh so cool look for 1993, just ask Season 2 of Beverly Hills, 90210!  The Old Daddy was kind of dingy and dark and Dorthe said it was the alternative disco.  Most discos at that time played a lot of techno and europop, but the Old Daddy was more about stuff like Morrissey and grunge music.

This pose totally qualifies for that
Awkward High School moments website!! 
What was I going for exactly??

We Americans immediately showed everyone how foreign and out of place we were by going out on the dance floor WHEN IT WAS EMPTY!  I also remember being shocked.  SHOCKED! To see some of the other Americans buying beer.  Yes, it was legal, but I was so terribly naive back then, not to mention pretty young.  I wouldn't turn 16 for another 2 weeks.  It was a fun evening getting to know my new friends in a social setting, outside of class, and I distinctly remember coming home disgusted by the smell of cigarette smoke in my hair and clothes.

Naturally, after experiencing my first taste of what no one my age back home in the U.S. would be allowed to experience for another 5 years, I decided to take this opportunity to change my image.  No one here knew anything about me!  Back home I was a band geek, but here I was a person who went places where there was drinking and smoking and dancing!  I could be anyone!  I remember writing in my diary that I might even buy a CD that was crazy out of character for me, like 4 Non Blondes!  So crazy!  The song What's Up? was a chart topper at the time and liking it hardly constituted someone doing something different or crazy or cool.  But for me, it symbolized breaking out of my shell, trying something new, being someone different.  In the end, that year in Germany was, in fact, transformational, even though I never did buy that CD. 

Zombie Nation by Kernkraft 400

Even though I was living in the East Bay and San Francisco for a number of years, it wasn't until 2002 that I really took advantage of how easy it was to go to Oakland A's games.  It was a quick BART ride after work and then on weekends there were tailgates!  2002 was a big year for me and Oakland A's baseball and I went to quite a few games.  It also happened to be a big year for the A's with an amazing, unstoppable pitching staff, including Zito, Hudson, Mulder, and Koch.  In spite of this, it was never difficult to get A's tickets and I almost always bought mine at the gate.  I went with friends, family, co-workers, anyone who wanted to go with me.  I always had a blast and I often "watched" the games I couldn't go to online if they weren't on TV and even listened to them on the radio.   Nick might've actually considered me a real fan that year.  I certainly am not much of a fan now.  Still call myself an A's fan, but I don't watch any games or follow them whatsoever. 

2002 was also the year of the 20 game winning streak.  I was very emotional watching the film Moneyball because it documented this entire year of baseball so well.  What a treat to have this great year that already stands out in my memory on film!  I went to 3 out of the 4 last games in the streak.  So typical of A's "fans", that 20th game, a Wednesday $1 hot dogs and tickets game, ended up completely selling out, including opening up some seats on Mt. Davis.  Luckily for me, my mom's friends had coincidentally bought tickets for this particular game ages ago, not knowing it would be such an historical event.  I had been offered a ticket.  It was such an amazing day.  It was an exciting game, coming down to the wire with a walk off home run to win the game and continue the streak, breaking a record.  There was this amazing energy, everyone on their feet cheering throughout the game.  I may have even cried when we won (there is no may have about.  I totally did).  We broke out in the Wave, which is really impressive with a packed house.  And of course, the strains of Oh-Oh-Oh softly coming in as Zombie Nation started playing, which served to energize the crowd even more.  I hear that song and think of a batter stepping up to the plate, the crack of the bat, the crowd cheering.  All the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings in baseball.  That is why I love it!

Children by Robert Miles

It was the summer after my freshman year in college, 1996, and I was back in Germany for a 2 month visit.  I had landed a 3 week summer internship at Hewlett Packard, thanks to Bastian's dad, which would end up paying for my fall semester tuition and also afford me plenty of time to enjoy the summer and my time in Germany.  Did I mention I was living at my boyfriend's house for the summer?  It was heaven.  There are so many memorable events and amazing stories from that summer, but today we are going back to the very beginning of the summer.  A group of friends were all meeting at the Kroko Kellar, a disco in Karlsruhe.  I had been there once before at the beginning of my exchange year in 1993.  Discos and drinking and techno and the whole scene was all very new to me back then and my first experience left me feeling mostly out of place.  Fast forward 2 years.  I was 15-20 lbs lighter, thanks to being finally diagnosed (and treated for) hypothyroidism.  I felt cute, stylish, and I was there with my boyfriend.   I also had an entire year of college behind me and felt completely comfortable with the drinking, dancing, party/club scene.  It was going to be a great night.

Tons of our friends were there and it was a big reunion for me.  I was enjoying myself thoroughly.  But the best part was yet to come.  One of the songs of the summer was by Robert Miles (Roberto Milano in Italian).  His music was very different than the cheesy Euro techno that had been popular up until then.  It was actually more trance than techno.  I learned that he created it because there were an extraordinary amount of car accidents caused by young people in Italy and his theory was that the music they listened to was too aggressive, causing them to drive aggressively.  His music had a driving beat, but it was more soothing, rhythmic, and calming.  It is really good stuff and immediately caught my ear that night in the Kroko Kellar.  But what caught my eye was this German guy doing the absolute, most perfect white man's overbite and air drums as he enjoyed the song.  Most American guys back home wouldn't be caught dead listening to techno, let alone visibily enjoying it.  It made my night. 

Have You Ever Seen the Rain by CCR

In a class of about 550, 6 of us were accepted to UC Berkeley and 3 of us attended.  Maggie C, Mikhaela D, and I were in a lot of the same classes in high school, but weren't close friends.  Mikhaela and I were close early in high school, but by the end we were in 3 different circles.  Maggie was in sports, Mikhaela was in Drama, and I was in the Band.  We weren't in any of the same classes at Cal as we again, went in 3 completely directions.  Mikhaela is now a doctor, Maggie's a lawyer, and I ended up in Marketing/Sales/Consulting.  What we DO have in common is that we all have naturally curly hair.  And one weekend my sophomore year at Cal, Mikhaela offered us a ride home to Turlock for the weekend. 

Mikhaela had a pickup truck and I seem to remember the three of us sitting side by side in the cab, cruising down I-5 (my preferred route and I was pleased that Mikhaela also chose this route).  We talked and talked all the way home.  At one point either on the radio or on a CD, I can't remember, John Fogerty starts singing Have You Ever Seen the Rain and all three of us chime in spontaneously with the chorus, singing happily with the windows down, hair blowing, in the middle of nowhere, California.  It was a great moment.  Maggie decided to drive her car back to Berkeley on Sunday and I rode with her, possibly because we both lived on the north side of campus so it was convenient this way.  We never carpooled back home again, but I am glad we did so at least once.  Maybe I will see both of them at our 20th reunion next year (if any of us go!) and we can reminisce!

Cattleprod by Lo Fidelity Allstars

Remember when I moved from the Mission District in San Francisco to Daly City and I had to buy a car?  My apartment was just far enough from the BART station to necessitate driving, mostly because the walk home was almost entirely uphill.  That was almost the extent of my driving - to and from BART, as well as trips to the grocery store or some other errand.  I took full advantage of my short little drives to play music at top volume in my car.  My rocking Hyundai with the CD player hooked into the cigarette lighter.  It was a little "me" time, alone in my car. 

Cattleprod was one of those songs that I listened to as I drove up, up, up to the top floor of the BART station to find a parking space or after work when I was winding down on my way home.  It has this killer beat and bass line that I couldn't get enough of.  My mornings could be really stressful because I started work at 8am, just like practically everyone else in San Francisco, which meant the parking lot filled up all at once and I could miss getting a space by a minute or two!  Eventually BART started charging for parking, with the option to purchase a reserved spot on the 1st or 2nd level.  I purchased the spot, not because it afforded me the flexibility to arrive at work whenever I wanted, but because I didn't need that kind of stress in the morning.  Yet there was something about the dark, concrete parking structure that I really liked because I felt like I could just blast the music almost in private and really listen to it, as opposed to being focused on driving.  My driving "skills" have been talked about before, so there is no need to point out that a parking lot/structure is probably one of the most distracting, accident prone places to be.  On the other hand, all of the commuters were on autopilot, just like me, so there was rarely a case of someone waiting on a space or driving slowly while looking for a spot.  Everyone knew to just keep going up, up, up to find the last remaining spaces.  Sometimes I really miss commuting and that "me" time. 

Barbie Girl by Aqua

The majority of the songs that I listened to during my time in Germany and Spain never made it to the US.  I think that when it comes to music, Americans take themselves (a little too) seriously and a lot of the Eurotrash dance hits simply weren't sophisticated enough or "real music".  Then again, Who Let the Dogs Out was an enormous hit in 1999 and that was one of the dumbest songs I ever exuberantly danced to, so maybe my reasoning is completely false.  In any case, competing for THE dumbest song I exuberantly danced to is Barbie Girl.  It was an enormous hit in Spain in 1997 and you would often hear it in the discos.  It always makes me think of Albert B. because he liked it (and me) so much, he created an alternative verse, just for me:

I'm a Yankigirl, in a Yankiworld

Life in dollars, it's fantastic

You can dance with me and go to Sabadell!

Albert was the first friend I made in Barcelona and of course I immediately fell head over unrequited heels for him.  He was cute and hilarious and completely unpredictable.  He would often show up at my door at any time, sometimes even at 10pm and suggest going out somewhere and I almost always did.  He was completely ADD and talked faster than I do using all the latest slang and idioms.  It was a challenge for me when I was just learning the language and often resulted in me unknowingly using the most inappropriate expressions to his great amusement.  

Yanki is what Spaniards call ALL Americans, no matter how many times I told them that we only use that for the Americans in the Northeast.  I found the expression so endearing however, that it became my email address for the longest time.  Sabadell was a town just outside of Barcelona and Albert drove me and a couple friends up there to go to some disco that wasn't any better than any you could find in Barcelona.  I can't remember what he thought was so great, but I do vaguely remember his car breaking down and it being some big, stressful, dramatic ordeal to get back to the city.  I found the whole experience to be oh so typical Albert and a good story to boot. 

U Got 2 Let the Music by Cappella

Once I settled into my fourth and final host family in Germany, I found myself in a pretty nice situation.  I had my own room with a queen sized bed in the basement.  The laundry room was also downstairs with me.  My host mom and host brother were on the 3rd floor.  On top of me was the main floor with the kitchen and living room, then the second floor was a guest room and my host mom's workshop (she was a seamstress) and then my host mom's room was on the 3rd floor and my host brother had this little nook off of her room.  My bedroom's location afforded me a ton of privacy. My host mom also afforded me boundless amounts of freedom, but that is a story for another song.  I had TV in my room and one of my host sisters was in the US working as an au pair for the years.  She had left behind a bunch of really great CDs with a lot of the latest German hits so I was in heaven. 

I remember a lot of my free time being consumed with correspondence.  This was back before email and the internet and I had a lot of penpals.  There were all of my regular penpals like Monica and Sergio W in Canada, Gretchen R in Washington, Lauren Y and Ryan C in California, all of my Turlock classmates and family members, some friends I had just met at a Dude Ranch that summer, and even some new friends also doing the exchange year that I had met in Duisburg.  I was receiving mail almost daily and it was great.  There was a real art to letter writing and I lament this basically extinct form of communication.  People would include quotes, pictures, songs, artwork. Sometimes letters would be written over the course of a few days.  They were personal, funny, intimate.  I loved it.  I felt pressure to respond as soon as possible and I found myself responding to one or more letters almost daily.  When I wasn't writing letters, I was writing in my diary.  I wrote all the time.  I almost always listened to music either on MTV or CDs while I wrote and U Got 2 Let the Music, a very typical example of Euro dance music, is one of those songs I listened to over and over in my room that year. 

You might wonder when I had time to study when I was writing so much?  I didn't.  I have no idea why I got away with this, but my German teachers expected absolutely nothing out of me.  I didn't have to do homework, take tests, or even participate or attend classes if I didn't want to.  This was inexcusable on my part, not to mention monumentally boring, but I took advantage of the situation.  The most important thing, in my opinion, was that I learned to speak German so well that I was often confused as a native or at the very least, a foreigner, but NOT an American.  Major feat.  The other issue with school was that in some cases, the kids were so far ahead of the typical, even honors American student in classes like Math, Biology, and Chemistry, that I couldn't have caught up if I wanted to.  So I had an easy year, academically, all the courses transferred over as "P", and I had a rough Senior year catching up on the requirements I missed my junior year.  I survived. 

U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer

Once Science became its own class, it stopped being of interest to me.  I didn't like it in 6th grade.  I actually titled my science project "My Science Project".  That is how over the whole thing I was.  I didn't care for it in Junior High.  In High School, Biology and Chemistry were the 2 classes I could never pull off an A and our Chemistry tests were all open book!  I just didn't get it.  My brain doesn't work that way, I guess.  I am not into tons of research and experimentation, especially when experiments and hypotheses and whatnot do not work the first time out of the gate.  It is not my thing.  At all.

Luckily, I got to sit next to my friend Justine P. in 7th grade science class with Mr. Moon.  Mr. Moon was very nice and he was a good teacher and I did try my best, but it was still the beginning of the end of science for me.  We had to dissect a frog, first of all.  It wasn't 100% horrible.  We didn't have to put the frogs to sleep with a chloroform soaked cotton ball, like in E.T.  They arrived dead and we got to then dissect them.  I remember the smell being unbearable (although that may have been the fetal pig smell I am remembering from Biology.  So.  Gross.).  And it was a frog, after all.  I didn't have an sentimental attachments to frogs and they are pretty small.  Once you cut into them, it wasn't so bad and there were some interesting things inside.  Honestly, tt was the colors that I found so great.  There was one innard (maybe the intestines?) that was neon yellow.  I liked it so much that decorated a cake and called it Frog Dissection cake.  I was really into cake decorating that year and I died the frosting neon green and decorated with squiggly neon yellow lines and some other stuff.

Of course, the more important take away from that class was that Justine and I figured out the precise lyrics to U Can't Touch This.  We had a very serious discussion about this very important topic during class or some experiment and determined that it is:  It's Hammer, Go Hammer, MC Hammer, Yo Hammer (and the rest can go and play.  Can't touch this!).  Yes, an entire year of science and THAT is the ONE thing I took away from the class. 

PYT by Michael Jackson

As a very young child, I struggled mightily with weak lungs.  Allergies, hay fever, bronchitis, and pneumonia were frequent visitors to my kindergarten self  and I missed about half of the school year due to the disruptive coughing.  The doctor suggested that my mom get me enrolled in swimming posthaste as a way to a, get me away from pollen and b, strengthen my lungs.  It helped significantly, but what ultimately did the trick was moving to Twain Harte, located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, away from pollen and pollution.  I still have fond memories of those swim lessons and being a Pleasant Hill Dolphin. 

My husband tells me that swimming isn't really a team sport.  I can see his point in that there isn't a lot of communication while swimming and you aren't really relying on anyone else, except maybe during relay races.  Regardless, I remember cheering on my teammates during their races and we had team meetings and even a song about the PHD's.  I don't remember any of it, but we got to yell PHD and it was great.  I am fairly competitive and I loved winning ribbons and even a trophy once.  I also very distinctly remember cheating.  It was during the breaststroke which I disliked (so boring, so slow) and furthermore I wasn't very good at it, so in the middle of the race, I decided to go ahead and flutterkick and hope no one noticed.  They noticed and I was DQ'd, but I knew I totally deserved it.  I also remember my dad usually bringing me a donut with blue frosting and sprinkles.  I loved having my parents come to my meets which means I am going to have to sit on the soccer field for hours someday watching my kids, as much as I don't want to now!

We typically carpooled with one mom or another to swim practices.  On one of the days my mom picked us up and we were driving home, at least three 6-year olds crammed into the backseat, singing along to PYT at the top of our lungs.  My parents had the cassette which I have referenced it before.  My favorite part was yelling out "PYT" in response during the chorus and giggling with my friends.  I felt super proud of my mom for playing the total "it" song for us, which I guess makes my mom a cool mom, not like a regular mom. 

Joy to the World by Three Dog Night

Let's head over to St Joseph, MO for Shane and Shelley's wedding reception.  Nick, AJ M., Matt R., and I were on the dance floor.  We may have been the only people on the dance floor as it took folks a while to warm up to the idea of dancing.  AJ is a professional dancer and choreographer and Matt doesn't hold back so it really does take a lot of nerve to be on the dance floor with those two!  Luckily they do not make you feel incompetent on the dance floor.  They even had a couple choreographed dances that they shared with us.  One is the classic Dirty Dancing performance, complete with the swan dive/jump thing.  The other is set to Joy to the World that AJ may or may not have choreographed, I never found out.  I promise you, though, once you learn it, you can never listen to the song again without these moves.  Just like the Macarena or the Chicken Dance.  Here's how it goes:

Joy to the World:  Point to your smiling mouth.

All the Boys and Girls:  Spread your arms wide, then grab your crotch, followed by your boobs.

Joy to the Fishes in the Deep Blue Sea:  Again, point to your smiling mouth, then move your hands like swimming fish.  You might also point down and then make a C with your hand (can't remember if this is part of it).

Joy to You and Me:  Again with the smiling mouth, point to the audience, point to yourself.  

Obviously it is the second line that makes this so fun, but it can be a little off putting to some people.  I tried it out at another wedding and the grandpa on the dance floor was shocked.  Shocked!  I laughed it off, toned down the grabbing, and kept on with it with a big smile.  I am so happy that AJ taught this to me and it certainly brings me joy whenever I hear it. 

Dirty Pop by N*Sync

After an embarrassing and unfortunate incident in which I broke my ribs compounded by having been on anti-depressants for a period of time, I suddenly found myself with 20 lbs of unwanted weight.  Once my ribs were healed to the point that they were no longer painful, I became bound and determined to take that weight off, so I hit the gym.  At one point I was working out 6 days/week.  It was mostly about exercise and I wasn't hyper focused on diet, although I may have been doing some portion control and limiting carbs, that kind of thing.  My gym membership included all of the Crunch and Bally's locations and there were 2 within very close distance of work and another with decent parking for the weekends.  I did a variety of classes, such as Spinning, Sculpting, and Pilates.  If I missed the class or if there wasn't anything interesting going on, I hit the cardio and weight machines.  I would run/walk for 20 minutes, followed by another 20 minutes on either the elliptical machine or stationary bike.  One location had a 15 minute ab blast so I would often incorporate that as well.  After the cardio, I would typically do 3 set of 15-20 reps on all of the various machines, incorporating all the major muscle groups.  I vividly remember listening to Dirty Pop while lifting weights.  It has a great driving beat and I couldn't help but sing along.  It made the workout a lot of fun. During this time, there was a weight loss contest sponsored by the gym.  I decided to participate and duly took my before shots, but I never took any after shots or officially entered the contest.  I can't remember why I chose not to enter, but I can report that after about 6 months I was in excellent shape at a weight to be proud of and 3 months after that, I was thinner than I had been in a long time.  Whatever I was doing, it worked!

Oh Darling! by the Beatles (and the entire Abbey Road album)

Somehow in the middle of the 8th grade, I became really popular (in the band).  I developed a couple really great friendships with a few of the 7th grade girls, notably Erica T. and Missy G.  Since my sister and I had been living with our dad since I was in 3rd grade, we didn't have a lot of sleepovers or after school friends coming over.  My dad would only host a sleepover if there was a female babysitter present, which was smart thinking on his part.  It didn't mean I felt any less left out of things.  8th grade changed everything and I was suddenly invited to lots of sleepovers and going over to Erica or Missy's houses after school.

Missy had recently "discovered" the Beatles and was listening to them obsessively.  Oh Darling! was her favorite and I had to agree that it was an amazing song.  I love all the emotion and rasp in Paul McCartney's voice.  I told my dad about them and he showed me that he actually had several of the records from his college days.  I had one of those all-in-one cassette/record player combos so I promptly absconded into my room with the records where I listened to them obsessively.  Abbey Road was my favorite.  I liked Side A better than Side B, even though I thought (I Want You) She's So Heavy was really strange and I just didn't get the abrupt, noisy ending.  Then moving on to Side B, the first 2 tracks are great, but then it moves again into some strange songs that didn't resonate with me at all.  What on earth is does Polythene Pam mean??  Something is still my all time favorite Beatles song.  I have a piano version and I have spent a lot of time trying to get it just right.  It's musically complicated, beautiful lyrics, just lovely and brilliant.

I recently watched a retrospective commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Ed Sullivan performance.  The Beatles themselves have never evoked the kind of emotions in me that they did for teenage girls of the 60s.  Let's face it, they were old and the hairstyles and clothing on the Abbey Road album were hideous to me.  They couldn't come close to the awesome acid washed denim and ducktailed dos of the fainting-inducing New Kids.  However I do think it's funny that listening to them today reminds me of passing notes, slumber parties, Ouija Boards, boys-boys-boys, and everything else that goes along with being 13.  The Beatles truly resonate across the generations. 

Good Thing by Fine Young Cannibals

We're heading back to Silver Lake, a summer in, let's assume 1989.  Aside from the Saturday Night Live spoofs, our performances also included lip syncing and both scripted and impromptu skits.  For example, Catherine and I did a "Mary the Midget" skit a couple years running.  For those of you unfamiliar with this, a picture should help  There is one person under the blanket who is Mary's arms and another in front as the head and feet.

Hilarity ensues because the person standing behind the curtain can't see what their hands are doing when they attempt to curl Mary's hair (no idea who brought hair curlers on a camping trip!!!) or put on lipstick or brush her teeth or otherwise.  Another skit I remember vividly was performed in the early 80's by the cool, older kids (Julene, Matt, my Aunt Annie, and some friends).  It was really basic, but I remember laughing so much and being so impressed by them.  They lined up in a row and each one said:  If they weren't my friends, I'd be a .... (surfer, indian, farmer, pirate, director).  Matt stole the show whenever he would "milk" Betsy the cow.  I am not doing it justice, but it was hysterically funny.

In the late 80's, I was very envious of the girls at my school who were in Jazz Dance classes.  Deborah Morgan was THE studio, but I did not take dance classes.  They performed once at a school talent show and I was beyond impressed.  Cool song, cool moves, cool all around.  I decided to choreograph my own little number for Saturday Night Live to my current favorite song Good Thing, and recruited Lauren Y and my sister Catherine to perform with me.  We practiced all week to my "choreography" and the result was..... less than stellar.  First of all, the song went on way too long.  I incorporated what was basically the Hand Jive into it, not sure why I thought that would be such a hit, which we performed during the chorus, every time.  I was way more into this whole thing than Catherine or Lauren and none of the three of us were great dancers to begin with (no offense girls!).  Luckily the only people in the audience were parents and the M kids, not the entire school.  I learned then and there that choreography was not for me.

MMM Bop by Hanson

There was no shortage of things to do in Barcelona.  It had everything - the beach, countless museums, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, street fairs, festivals, you name it.  There were options galore, yet for some reason, when Anhchi L, Christy R, and I found out that Hanson of MMM Bop fame was slated to perform at some indoor concert at the old Olympic Village.  We weren't Hanson fans and honestly, who could like that ridiculous song?  We thought it would be funny to say that we saw Hanson perform in concert.  So we traipsed all the way out there to see these blond teenagers sing their ridiculous song.  First mistake.

Second mistake - I already mentioned that the Olympic Village is quite the journey from our dorm.  It is on the edge of town and once you get to your bus or metro stop, it's a long walk through the Olympic Village to the performance hall.  There is nothing else around it and it wasn't a really cool venue with anything to see or do.  We basically stood around and tried to get into some of the other bands that were playing.  We started asking people when Hanson would be performing and no one knew what or who we were talking about and couldn't answer us.  We waited and waited, but Hanson never appeared and we never got anyone to confirm they were actually coming.  We ended up leaving before the concert ended, very disappointed.  We never did figure out what happened or where the breakdown in communication or loss in translation occurred.  By the time we got back to the metro, I think we were probably so disappointed and tired that we ended up going back to our dorm.  Needless to say, the song never improved with age or listening! 

See You Again by Miley Cyrus

It turns out there is still one Miley Cyrus song that doesn't make my stomach turn when I hear it.  I first became aware of her when I saw her perform on an awards show and I though I wasn't overly impressed, I was intrigued and the song was different than I expected.  It didn't make me a Miley fan, but I soon met someone who was.  A couple months later, when the neighbors showed up for trick or treating, I had to ask who the girls were as I was far from up to date on the latest Disney princesses and teen pop sensations.  To my surprise, they said they were Hannah Montana (Miley's alter ego) and I was just tickled to see how Hannah Montana literally crossed the race barrier.  It was awesome and they looked great. 

I promptly downloaded the Miley Cyrus song because I wanted to be able to relate to (and impress) these kids.  Yes, I fully admit wanting to impress a bunch of preteens with my music selection.  Nick and I were invited to Gianna's birthday party in the park that spring and we felt honored to be included.  We were basically the only non-family members and it was a great party!  Tons of food (everything you would expect at a BBQ), a big cake, balloons.  We socialized with everyone and I later played some of my music for the kids and as expected, Miley Cyrus was a big hit, along with Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield and Fallin' by Alicia Keys.  We returned the favor by inviting them over for a BBQ at our house for Jambalaya and what turned into a rousing game of dress-up.  To our great delight, they brought homemade collard greens, complete with a large hamhock.  It was delicious!  We enjoyed getting to know the neighbors, teaching them that not all dogs are mean (before they met us, we overheard them call Jack "the GD dog from Full House!"), repairing or replacing basketballs as needed.  They loaned us tools and warned us when the street cleaners were coming and we had forgotten to move our car.  It really made the experience of living in West Oakland a little better and certainly memorable.  I wonder what they are up to now?

We Used to Be Friends by the Dandy Warhols

It was Valentine's Weekend, 2009.  The snow was silently falling, the fire was blazing in the warm and cozy Tahoe cabin, stocked full of treats to eat and drink, and I was binge watching Veronica Mars.  I couldn't remember feeling more content!  I rarely get to be somewhere with snow while it is actually snowing and it was so lovely.  We had taken a 3 day weekend, at least, possibly 4 days, to enjoy ourselves.  It was Jack's first trip to the snow and watching him enjoy himself puts a smile on your face that lasts for weeks.  We were waiting for our friends the H's to arrive later in the weekend when we would make the traditional Valentine's Day Mac N Cheese along with Karen's famous cream wafer cookies, in a heart shape with pink frosting, of course. 

There is only so much time you can spend outside playing in the snow if you are not skiing or 7 years old without getting cold and wet so we did spend a lot of time inside.  There were books, magazines, puzzles, the original Nintendo, comfy chairs for napping.  There was also a TV and DVD player and, did I mention, Season 1 and 2 of Veronica Mars.  My sister had gotten me hooked on it.  She had tried to get me hooked on a bunch of different series, but this is the only one that stuck.  It is awesome!!  Everything about it, from the premise to the brilliant writing and acting, I couldn't get enough of it.  When I got to Tahoe, I was right at the turning point of the season long arc and it was so addicting.  Even Nick got into it and we watched all the way to the end and found out who the murderer was.  We Used to Be Friends is the theme song that plays during the opening credits which I never fast forwarded because I like the song.  I am currently re-binge-watching the show because the MOVIE is coming out soon.  I just wish I were in Tahoe watching it again, where I could also be watching the falling snow and feeling completely content and peaceful.