book club?

So I joined a book club. Am I old or what? Holy cow. Actually, its worst than joining book club. I helped to create the book club. I am old. Myself and few old friends of mine are big readers and we usually end up reading the same books because we just borrow them off of each other when we are done. We usually end up talking about the books we have all ready anyway. It was decided a month ago that we would do this. The book? Persuasion by Jane Austen. We all love her so we decided to go with one of the books none of us have ever read. Dude, I'm old. Are book clubs passe? I mean Oprah has one and book clubs were mentioned in the last episode of Deperate Housewives. Are we riding on the fringes of an older peoples' fad? Is this the Ugg Boot of my generation? I feel like I'm pretending to be old. Seriously...the plan on Sunday when we meet is to meet at a posh tea place in the South Bay, sit around with our tea, scones and clotted cream and discuss the greater nuances of Jane Austen's last writing endeavor. Somehow, I can't picture myself doing it with a straight face. Kind of ridiculii. But at the same time...I'm kind of excited by it. I think it would be fun. We even have discussion questions all prepared. I don't know. I think I've crossed the line to old already. Its late and I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Turkey Day Haiku

Gobblely Gobble.
Stuffing, gravy,pumpkin pie
I'm all turkey'd out.

Dance 360 is like crack.

I've heard about it and now I've seen it. This is probably as close to this decade's dance fever as we are ever going to get. Danny Terrio is now replaced by Kel from Kenan and Kel, some dude that looks like Pharell and an asian dj lady by the name of K-Sly which I thought was K-Slice until I saw the credits. Basic premise is 6 randoms are picked out of the crowd and then battle. Yup battle of the dance. All the randoms are surrounding the battle circle thus the "360". The Hip Hop Danny Terrios' then pick the dancers from the pot of people are are supposedly from all around the country. I'm sure they actually are but are now residents of Los Angeles that are seeking their dreams of Hollywood stardom as waiters and waitresses. I was lucky enough to see this particular episode which was "battle of the blonde people". No Joke. I watched. I observed. But I did so in that weird way where you are embarassed for the people you are watching. I had both hands over my face with a little crack between the fingers where I could actually watch in disgust. I'm no dancer but even soI can tell when someone shouldn't publicly humiliate themselves. It was so bad but it was oh so good. You can bet your Chingy Album that I'll end up watching this again.

Freakin' Screws!

So I've been thinking about getting a bicycle for ages. This would be my winter attempt at getting in shape before packing on the xmas pounds for the year 2004. I wanted something that I could take on trails with friends, use on the beach and even use to get to work. So after months of procrastination, I finally went to a suggested bike shop in Santa Monica and made the purchase of a Trek 3700 Mountain Bike, a helmet, switched out to a womens' seat and bought a bike light. This was all within my price range and I was super happy. I rode it a bit yesterday but had decided that today would be the grand christening. I would ride my green trek MTB to work. From my home to the Disney entrance in Burbank is exactly 7.4 miles. Completely doable. Since this would be my first run, I woke up extra early and prepped the bike, got the tunes on my ipod ready and packed a bunch of clothes for my arrival to work.

Only one mile into the ride...the worst thing happened. I ran over a screw!! I didn't know it at the time, but seconds later I no longer felt the smooth ride of the Trek 3700 but the thump thump thump of a flat tire. A FLAT TIRE!!!!! Wtf?! Seriously...I've only had the bike less than 48 hours and I get a flat tire. I was livid. Fortunately, I knew my dad would be home, so I called him to pick me and my stupid bike up. So now, a few hundred dollars down and unusable bike later....I'm thinking biking might not be for me.

I'm so young, your so old.

Its taken me a couple of days to actually get my head around the weekend I had. But now I have the mindset to share it. I went to Vegas with my mom and her 3 friends. Why do you ask did I go to Vegas with a bunch of ladies in their late 50s and 60s? I was roped into it. They needed a driver and I ultimately said yes. For years I have known these women as purely my mom's co-workers that she had hung out with time to time. Let me give you names....nora is my mom, sol is the brash ring leader of the bunch, trini is the older and more demure of the 4 and lee and the cynical sarcastic one. Even though I understand tagalog, I was lucky that English was spoken throughout the weekend. Lee is Korean so that forced the older pinays to resort to their second language which allowed me to fully understand the depths of all their conversations that I was privvy too.

Here are the highlights of the weekend.
1) We got tickets to the Paul Anka concert at MGM. I actually thought that this was pretty cool. (I was a little disappointed because there was a slight chance that we would be getting Tom Jones tickets instead.) I do know a few Paul Anka songs so I knew I could get into it. BUT apparently not as into it as my mom and her friends. Some how these women of retireable age became the teenagers of yesteryear. As soon as they saw Paul, the bootie shakin and screaming began. Every time he pointed out into the crowd they all thought they were pointing at him. At first I didn't know what to make of it. They all freaked out when he walked by our booth, but nothing can top my mom Nora. I wasn't ready for what I saw. Paul took her hand for a second as he strolled by and when he let go my mom thrust her hand to her face and kissed it!! She looked at me a shook with giddy excitement. I looked at her with eyes wide and pictured her as one of the teens that cried and cried when the Beatles came to town. I'm sad I laughed at her a little because she was clearly embarassed by what she had done. She soon got over it though and started her bootie shake all over again.
2) Sol said she would sleep with the guy that gave us the comped tickets. When I heard this I was aghast. It made me laugh so hard. They all said they had that much of a good time that they would do such a thing. I think my mom held back because I was there.
3)Have you ever heard retirees talk about Bikini waxes? they discussed all types. They basically had a conversation that is typical of what my friend talk about. It was pretty refreshing to witness.
4) I was the first one home and in bed.

Lee told me once during the trip..."when I was younger I thought older people were not human beings, but now I know that even though I look old on the outside, I always feel 25 on the inside." I ended up learning alot this weekend from these women. They truly embody what it means to be young at heart and I hope I can be the same someday.

My Halloween with Rilo Kiley

dang. dang dang. Rilo Kiley at the Mayan!!! The show was amazing to me. It was a little cold and I think I am now sick but that is my only complaint. My friend Jen and her sisters Mary and little 13 year old Laura came with. Jen and I sat first row in the mezzanine. Mary and her friends I don't know where and Laura found a friend of hers. She was front row down at the floor. Blake Sennett and Jenny Lewis were dressed as Power Rangers. Him red her pink. Pierre as Einstein and Jason as a frenchmen? Their set list this time was way better than their trial run at "the Echo" 6 weeks ago. This was an incredibly festive concert. A lot more upbeat. For an encore, they played a duet on a rattygrand piano on the side of the Mayan. So very cool.

(thanks to Ambitious-Outsiders.com)

Because of all Hallow's Eve, many of the concert goers wore costumes and of course I wore mine. I was stopped by a couple of Rilo Kiley's worker peeps. They gave me a signed poster of them(which I will get framed). And I got a pass to the after party where I would be able to meet them. Whoo Hoo! I got jen a pass but because Little Laura is little she couldn't go. Too bad. I got my gusto up and rolled solo to the party. I first talked to Jenny. It so happened I was a being a wallflower just watching from afar. She bumped into me while attempting to walk to the otherside of the party. She was amazed at my costume and the effort to put it together. She had no words and initially I had no words. I was a blathering idiot. Amazingly, she loved my costume. I was stoked that she loved it. We made a little chit chat..vacation plans, the kimmel appearance, the show and that was it. I had an acquaintance at the party (my co-winners from a pumpkin carving contest I was at, weird) and he came up to me and Jenny Lewis while we were bonding over my costume. He's like ,"Pam Ididn't know you were friends with Jenny!" and I was like "huh?" I got a little flustered and then I blubbered back, "Oh no! we're not friends I'm just a huge huge FAN!" Gosh I'm a lame idiot. Anyway..Shortly after that awesome encounter I spoke to Blake. I love Blake. He had no clue what the bachelor was but was strangely intrigued at the obscurity of my costume. At that point I was fully satisfied and that ended my night! And I loved every minute of it.

Happy Halloween.

So here it is. The final outcome of the $60 I've dropped at Micheal's. I think it was a good $60 to drop.