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Everyone knows the Wii is hard to get.  The game Rock Band was just released for the Wii this weekend.  It was a very difficult game to find before Christmas for the XBox 360 (i know, b/c my whole family was on the hunt on behalf of my aunt & uncle as a gift for my cousins).  They managed to find it, and we all had a fun time with it.  So i knew we’d want to get Rock Band for Wii if we could.

On eBay, the Rock Band package (game + guitar + drums + microphone) was selling for $10-50 above retail.  So, not an extreme premium.  But they still seemed in high demand.

So i was extremely surprised to walk by the electronics area at Target to see a half dozen Rock Band boxes on the shelves.  I don’t know if i just got lucky, or if it simply isn’t in as much demand as it was for XBox 360.  

But yay.  We’re having fun with it. 

He fucked with my commute.

We got a bulletin at work that the Bush motorcade would probably be coming past Harrison Ave around 4:30. I left at 5. Of course, it was too much to ask that it was already over. No, i turned onto Harrison just as the cops blocked cars from getting onto I40.

No problem, i know non-interstate roads home. Back into SAS, out the back entrance and over to Edwards Mill Rd. Crossing Glenwood, however, was near impossible, as the dumbass drivers in this town parked themselves in the middle of the intersection. And since the cops were blocking access to the beltline, there was nowhere for them to go.

But, after cursing Bush soundly, i finally made it home.

Half an hour later, we are leaving to go to the Bulls game. As we approach the beltline, we see the cops have once again blocked access! It has just happened, as we are near the front. And lo and behold, THERE IS BUSH. His motorcade was right there, driving towards us on Six Forks, and getting onto the beltline. Presumably going back to the airport. Fucker. Traffic was once again impossible, and it took us an hour to get to Durham.

6.4 more months.

And while i hope it is Obama who is sworn into the White House at that time, i have to say, i have some respect for McCain for appearing on Saturday Night Live last week.

Last night i dreamed that me, lance & a chic whose blog i read (whom i don’t know personally and who has nothing to do with the people involved in the dream) were all hanging out one night. In the morning, we decided to go to breakfast with my family without wearing any clothes. My family was not pleased, and we had to go change before we could join them.

I have experienced the naked dream before in other situations about which i had anxiety. This one is obviously about my anxiety about my relationship with my parents. The tension between us on the religion issue has become even more heightened in the last week since an unfortunate accident and hospitalization of one of my cousins. Now every phone call has a lot of references to the lord and how it is a miracle she is alive. And by the way, your cousin belonged to the lord so if she had died she would have gone to heaven whereas if it had been you, and you died, you would go to hell .

I think the part of the dream where we decided to go naked is symbolic of my recent decision that i should get some talk therapy to help me figure out how to assert myself in this relationship. Every other time i’ve had this dream it’s because i’ve just forgotten my clothes.

Friday, June 6, Durham Bulls vs Richmond Braves

The Bulls games are always fun, and we go to several each year. This game was hot hot hot. The temperature meter in the outfield still said 100 degrees at 7 pm. We were in the shade, but it was steamy and humid.

The games are so fun, though. I think it’s a great opportunity to kick back and goof off. I love to eat the cinnamon & sugar covered pecans you can buy. I LOVE the siren that goes off whenever the Bulls hit a homerun. Also, each player has their music that gets played before they come to bat. I really like Joel Guzman’s music, TTT Tego. The rest of the music is pretty good too. For example:

When their first pitcher was doing so badly and was replaced in the 2nd inning, they played Hit the Road, Jack by Ray Charles and the Raelettes.

When one of the Braves’ players got ejected from the game for arguing, they played Bye Bye Bye by ‘N Sync. And when the coach argued that and *he* got ejected, they played Na Na Hey Hey by the Supremes.

Whenever the Bulls players walked, they played songs such as Walk This Way by Aerosmith and I’m Walking, I’m Talking by Fats Domino.

At an earlier game, there was a rain delay and they played all sorts of rainy songs, like Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head by BJ Thomas and Purple Rain by Prince. Of course, when the game’s about to start, they play I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone by Johnny Nash.

When the Bulls hit a homerun to get to a 10-1 lead in the 8th inning, they played This is How We Do It by Montell Jordan. Gotta love it.

Another fun thing about Friday’s game - the Wave broke out during the 7th inning and made five successful revolutions before fizzling out. I’ve never experienced that before. I’ve been part of an attempt to get the wave to start, but i’ve never seen it make a full revolution and keep going! It was so fun!

And the fireworks are always great too.

Yes, the ballpark is lots of fun. I can’t believe i missed out on this as a kid.

Our dog, Nugent, is not a smart puppy.

In our house, we have a circular area. But if you close one of the doors, Nugent cannot figure out that he just has to go around the other way. If a door is slightly ajar and he can see through it, he hasn’t figured out that he can just nose it open. He’s afraid of the ceiling. He can’t even fetch.

However, that dog always knows when he’s getting a bath.

Where he usually follows us around the house, especially when both of us are in one place, he runs and hides when it’s bathtime. We’ll call him, he comes, he takes one look, gives us the “i don’t think so!” look, turns around, and goes back downstairs.

I’m not sure how he knows. I’m sure there are plenty of cues, such as the towel, and both humans in the bathroom at the same time, and maybe he even knows the word ‘bath’. It just strikes me as funny every time.

eat pray love was our book club choice this month, and we met last night to discuss it. i really liked this book. 4.1 out of 5. (i need more than one significant digit)

at the beginning, the author, liz, decides to travel the world for a year. she is at the end of an unamicable divorce. she’s had a roller coaster relationship with another man. she feels like she’s done what she’s supposed to do in her life, but isn’t fulfilled. and so she travels, looking for fulfillment in three ways: pleasure, prayer and balance.

for pleasure, she spends four months in italy. she wants to learn italian and eat marvelous food. and she does.

for prayer, she spends four months in an ashram in india, under the tutelage of a guru. here, she learns to meditate and accept the parts of herself that she has been struggling with.

for balance, she spends her last four months in bali. she studies with a 9th generation medicine man, an also-divorced (rare in bali) medicine woman, and also finds love again.

the book is broken into 108 fairly short chapters, which made for easy reading. each chapter was a story in itself, and i loved these little stories. they made me want to retrace her steps and go on a similar journey.

i find it difficult to describe why i liked the book so much. i identified with liz on a number of different levels. the self-awareness she gained from meditation appealed to me. maybe i’ll try it sometime.

Tuesday night at North Hills.  Met Tonia for dinner & drinks beforehand.  Lots of classy-looking ladies around, and we figured many of them would be joining us for the movie.

We finished our drinks and entered the theater in the nick of time, just as the previews were starting.  We walked down the hallway, turned the corner, and found ourselves faced with a full theater.  There were not two seats together anywhere in the stadium-seating area.  So, we turned our attention the section way down front, and found that the only space available was on the very front row.  We snagged two seats in the exact middle.

The fun thing about being on the front row was looking behind us at everyone in the theater, and counting the men.  There were exactly FIVE men in the whole theater.  And remember, the theater was FULL.  250+ capacity.  That’s a lotta ladies!  And many of them were dressed up in fancy labels.  We saw a few girls at the bar pre-movie drinking Cosmopolitans.  I loved the aura of the whole experience..  I was surprised, though, that it was a sell-out movie on a Tuesday. 

The front row where we’ve been forced to sit is too close to the screen.  We spent the entire movie pushing backward to try to see more, and having to move our heads from side to side to see what was happening on the entire screen.

The movie itself was entertaining.  All the familiar faces are back, albeit a bit older.  The movie was good.  Fairly predictable, but fun.  The series was better.  Still, it was nice to revisit them.  I hate that Stanford isn’t with Marcus anymore, and hate even more who he ended up with.  I don’t like the part where Carrie blames Miranda’s comment for Big’s behavior — it was a pretty thin excuse for their longest ever fight.  But, the rest was fun and entertaining - i liked seeing how their lives ended up.  

I’m going to see it again next week with another friend, and i hope to get better seats this time!

notable events from the 3-day weekend at lake keowee in south carolina with my family:

* my 5-year old cousin, who refused to ride a jet-ski with anyone other than Her Dad (who was not there), consented to ride with me.  i felt honored and trusted.  after her first ride, she wanted another ride.  and then, even after i flipped the thing while she was riding behind me, she still trusted me and wanted to ride with me again.  and she still would not ride with anyone else.  i’m not sure how i earned this sacred trust, but i’ll take it.

* the dog puked in my car on the way to the lake.  poor baby, i felt so sorry for him.  on the way home, he puked three times.  i began to feel a little less sorry for him. 
(thank you, lance, for cleaning up that mess.)

* i learned that i will never understand stereo equipment.  i cannot hook up a dvd player and/or receiver to a tv with any good results.

* i attained a severe sunburn on the tops of my feet.  and on my legs above the knees, but that is tolerable.  the burn on the feet superbly sucks, because all shoes rub them in a discomfortable manner.

* my grandmother asked me point-blank if i believed that Jesus was my savior.  this was pretty traumatic - my entire family is of the fanatical fundamentalist sect (as in, the world really is only 4000 years old), and it is simply not acceptable to believe differently.  i have spent 10 years of my life just trying to avoid talking about it.  because there is no middle ground.  there is no agree to disagree.  there is only “you must believe this or else you will burn in hell forever and won’t be in heaven with us”.  since my parents have already heard the disappointing news, i saw no need to lie to the family matriarch.  in return for my honesty, i received a sermon, with the requisite “you will be cast away to burn in hell” and finally was able to extract myself and run away.  i avoided her the rest of the weekend.

* my mother cried when it was time for me & my two brothers to leave sunday afternoon.  no matter how much time we spend, it’s never enough.  all she can see is the time we don’t choose to spend with her.  i wish she could rejoice that she has three independent children with happy lives and good relationships, who all 3 love their parents and bother to take time off work to come home and spend time with her.  but i think the part about 2/3 of us burning in hell forever always overwhelms her during goodbyes.

despite the depressing nature of the final two points, it really was a fun weekend with lots of downtime and quality time with family and love and laughter and lots of water sports and splashing and stories and bonding.