Author: Average Jane

I don’t know about you, but I’d say it’s gotten ridiculously hot when the tar starts melting off utility poles and pooling on the sidewalk.

Thanks to Jeremy for the photo.

Last night I spent a couple of hours looking up song lyrics online for the cover band. Each band member came up with a list of suggested songs for us to learn and I wanted to be ready for tonight’s practice. My song selections were mainly ones I’ve done before because I still
remember the lyrics to many of the songs I sang with cover bands
in the ’80s and ’90s.

I remember having to figure out song lyrics on my own back then. You kids don’t know how good you have it with your Internet and your Google! Why, in my day we had to sit next to the turntable with a notepad and keep picking up and dropping the needle over and over until we figured out what the guy was singing. (And as it turns out, we were wrong much of the time.)

The thing is, the old method was a great way to ingrain the lyrics into your memory. By the time you’d puzzled out a phonetically plausible set of lyrics, there was really no way you were going to forget them – particularly if you printed them by hand rather than typing them up. The Google, Copy and Correct method is really not very helpful in the memorization process.

My fear is that I’ll be tethered to my notebook o’ lyrics on stage when the band performs. I’m doing my best to cram all the information into my brain, but somehow it doesn’t retain new stuff as well as it did when I was 17. Go figure.

I keep telling myself that the printed lyrics are just a crutch and that I should learn the basics of the songs and just wing it from there. I guess we’ll see what happens when the time comes. I’d feel a lot more optimistic about it if it weren’t for the fact that I can’t remember the lyrics I’ve written for my other band’s original songs. That’s not a good sign, is it?

Just for the hell of it, I’m heading downtown this morning for the taping of the CBS Early Show at the Liberty Memorial. Supposedly, Big & Rich are performing. I’m not a country music fan, but I always enjoy a live show – especially a free one. Sure, it’ll be at 6 a.m., but who’s complaining?

Thank you to A Beer Sort of Girl for telling me about it!

Update: Okay, that was kind of boring. I mostly just stood around on the hard, hard concrete for several hours. However, the people-watching alone made it worthwhile. I think I may have discovered a few  hitherto unknown mullet varieties. Then there was the pregnant woman wearing a purple, crushed-velvet top hat with "Big" printed across her belly in silver. And the old guy wearing an American flag vest (no shirt) and matching shorts. Ah, middle America!

As for Big & Rich – it turns out they’re a rock band by any reasonable definition. Apparently they just market themselves as a country band. I didn’t hear them play very much because of the whole "live TV" thing – they’d start in the middle of a song, play for a while and then stop.

I finally took off around 7:15 in plenty of time to get to my usual Friday morning coffee meet-up. Thus, it turned out to be a minor adventure, but an adventure just the same.

The downside to traveling around the country and living it up is that your creditors still expect their money on time. This morning I had to fish through the shopping bag into which I’d placed all our mail the last time I tidied up the kitchen, retrieve the outstanding household bills, and pay them.

I figured it would be nice to continue to have electricity, seeing as it’s supposed to be about 100 degrees every day for the rest of the summer, according to the weather forecasts.

The hideous weather isn’t making me use any more water than usual because I grew up in a semi-rural area and I still believe that if the grass in the yard can’t make it through the summer on its own, that’s just too bad. I’ve occasionally watered the lawn in the past at the behest of the guy who mows it, but this year even he seems to understand that it’s pointless.

As I went through my bills, I encountered a ridiculous number of gift cards and gift certificates that I’ve been hoarding for no particular reason. One of my goals is to go ahead and spend them. I have $100 in spa treatments, $100 worth of plants, and $25 worth of clothes just sitting around just daring me to lose and forget them forever. I will not!

Wow, was that trivial and rambling enough for you? I guess that’s a sign I need to get ready and get to work. Have a lovely Thursday!

(If you recognize the title reference, well, you’re old like me.)

I brought back the little sample-sized toiletries from the Hotel Roosevelt in L.A. and I am absolutely enamored of the Fresh Pomegranate Conditioner. So much so that I ordered a big bottle online, even though it cost a whopping $30 with shipping.

I don’t know how much it smells like pomegranate, but it smells good, and I can’t help noticing it all day long.

Certain expensive hotels have a way of making me want to upgrade portions of my everyday life. After I stayed at a Ritz Carlton a few years ago, I went home and bought high thread count sheets. Until then, I hadn’t realized what the big deal was.

Then there’s the W Hotel chain with its single-minded emphasis on creating a "lifestyle." Read what Suebob had to say about it – it’s hilarious.

Have you ever changed something about your life thanks to a hotel stay?