Bowled Over

Hola! Computer problems and crazy test week (which is now over!) have led me to postpone my update until today. Some of this entry may seem a bit dated, but I guarantee you'll still be amused.

First. . I need to discuss the Super Bowl, or as some may have called it "The Super Boob." I just need to say that the entire Halftime Show was incredibly dated. First, my old pal Kid Rock comes out, singing "Bawitdaba" and "Cowboy," songs that were popular in . . .1999, I believe. Then we get P. Diddy, who in generally is just dated, singing "Bad Boys for Life," from 2001. Nelly did a couple songs, I don't remember which ones, but they were old. Janet sings. . ."All For You" (2001), and "Rhythm Nation" (I'm thinking 1989?), when she has a new album coming out in a month. The newest song performed in this tour de farce was my man Mr. Timberlake's "Rock Your Body." Yes, I love this song, but it's from last spring. Please, if we're trying for edgy, can we at least use some NEW music? Even the whole boob incident was a little too similar to Li'l Kim's pasty outfit at the MTV Video Awards a few years ago. If Janet wants to be provocative, let's start with the music. I heard her new song on the radio the other day and it sounded like something from Rhythm Nation. My mom put it best: "Janet Jackson never does anything new."

In JJC news. . .there was a blood drive the other day, and I was pretty disturbed to see that it wasn't in a separate room, but in one of the main thoroughfares of the school. Seeing people on stretchers while walking to class was kind of disturbing, and I can imagine the people giving blood would have also felt uncomfortable. In high school the blood drive was held in alumni hall, where at least you could give blood and get your cookie (and sticker of a big drop of blood!) in privacy. Note: I never gave blood in high school simply because I didn't weigh enough. One year, a particularly abrasive classmate asked me why I wasn't giving blood. I told her I didn't meet the weight requirements. Her response? "You weigh plenty."

And in social events. . .Thursday night was Samy's as usual for a fun night. No blue drinks, but lots of dancing (again, no JLH, I've given up on her) and, after discussions with the Canadian golfer, plans may be underway for some kind of giant dodgeball/floor hockey/gym class party. I am currently seeking out location ideas, let me know if you have a feasible suggestion.

Friday night I headed to Chicago for a joint birthday party for my college roommate Julie and our friend Paulette, which was a lot of fun, despite my attempt at drinking a Miller Lite from a case that had been left out on the porch to cool for a bit too long and ended up being a Miller Lite slush. This was not tasty and quickly abandoned. Interesting note: They were filming ER in Paulette's neighborhood the next day! We saw the trucks, and I was hoping to see some stars, but apparently, "this is no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life(r)." Another interesting Chicago story: the next day we went out for lunch at a local diner. At a nearby table sat two cheesy-looking musclebound guys and a blond girl. It looked like Elimidate, but no cameras. However, one of the musclebound guys was very excited by the various songs playing over the loudspeakers and kept singing loudly, especially to the theme song from The OC. He tried to get a busboy to join in, but as my old calc teacher used to say, "it was a no-go."

Saturday night was another night at Samy's. This time a band was playing, Cover Gurl. The last time we went to see a band play at Samy's, was The Night We Don't Like to Talk About, so we were a little bit leery of the situation. However, this band was awesome, they did different stuff than most cover bands, and we had a lot of fun. There were some celebrity similarities in Cover Gurl; the lead guitarist looked like Dave Grohl and the singer sounded like Melissa Etheridge. Sad note: they didn't play Journey. I think more cover bands need keyboardists. The band did have some very scary fans that were standing at the edge of the stage who seemed a little TOO obsessed, including one guy who had caught one of the t-shirts the band was throwing and was hitting me and other bargoers with it, but Bouncer on a Box calmed the situation down (Bouncer on a Box flashback: on a recent visit to Samy's, the B on a B was not present, but another bouncer took his place on the box. Bouncer II had some new poses, including, "The Lean," but it wasn't the same. I am still waiting to see the "Tornado Position" pose). After the band there was DJ'ed music, and Saturday's DJ seemed a little evil to me; though members of our group collectively requested "Toxic" at least 5 times, he held out until the last song. Other entertaining bargoers included a yellow vested man we nicknamed Bumblebee due to both the hue of his fleece and the fact that he kept "buzzing" around us. Perhaps he was looking to pollinate. Mr. Bumble (not to be confused with area band Mr. Blotto) also imitated Nancy rubbing her nose for unknown reasons, but after Nancy looked "stung" by this mockery, he shook her hand. She did not tell him to buzz off. I also encountered a dancing partner who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts in the dead of winter. This confused me, but I felt it was better not to ask.

Herald News. . .not too much lately, though I was somewhat confused/amused by today's Blotter entry about a man with "an apparent aversion to white people" who caused a brouhaha in the Silver Cross emergency room, spitting in a security guard's face and then laying down and pretending to be unconscious. Dude, I'm thinking that if you're causing this much of a scene in a hospital, asking that all white people leave the room, spitting on a security guard, etc., someone is going to notice if you suddenly slip away, lie down and feign unconsciousness. Anyway, much excitement should be coming this weekend, and if anything interesting happens before that, I'll do another update on Friday. Adios!