16 July 2006

Despair

I received the following recipe in my inbox the other day:

Quickie Pizza Rice Cakes
Place 4 rice cakes on a baking sheet. Spread pizza sauce evenly on each cake, then add sliced ripe olives, diced green peppers and sliced mushrooms and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 10 minutes.

I forwarded it to my friends with a "Hmmm, I don't know about this".

The best response from my friend K was: I do. I'll bet it tastes like Despair.

AMEN

Just Say Hi

Radio gods are considered the moments that songs play during significant moments. The song that inspires you just as you’re ready to quit, the song that plays that alleviates your sadness at just the right time. You get the idea.

Something I’ve tried is to say "hello" to the person that the song reminds me of.
If it is a song that reminds me of a former love, I try to smile and just say "Hi." It seems to take the sting out of it and makes me smile about it instead of sighing wistfully. It is a momentary connection with that person.

It seemed to take some of the power away from the songs, making those moments just a bit more bearable.

A long-time friend lost his eldest son in a freak household accident a few years ago. They played a song that reminded me of a lost love at the time. Now that I know it was Casey’s favorite song, I say hi to him when I hear it now, it’s still kind of sad but it reminds me of Casey and I tell him Hi when I hear it.

Although I admit, there is still one song that makes me want to run screaming from the room. I think that song will forever be tainted, no matter how I try. So, it is not a blanket cure.

I remember a friend telling me long ago that she hates Rod Stewart… hates him to the point of leaving the grocery store with a filled cart in the aisle in order to avoid him. I am afraid saying "hi" isn’t going to help her. (:-D I wonder what Rod did to her? But, again, I digress.

Everyone has a song that makes them pause and think; it is normal. I’ve just tried to make it into something meaningful instead of swooning or becoming teary or changing the channel.
Try it, maybe it will work. Maybe not. What do you have to lose?

Games to do during Commercials...

Continuing my previous post on commercials...

Who is doing Burger King's marketing? It is as if they have hired the Dream Team. Remember that movie? Where they put crazy people as advertisers? Although, in the movie, they did a great job. The marketers for Burger King seem to be people that were fired from Jackass.
Their most recent ads feature little people who are "building" hamburgers, complete with a "Tattoo" clone. It is just wrong. I would think the little people would be picketing Burger King at this point.

Along with the constant barrage of cars & mattresses come razors.
There is always something new, what are we up to now? Six blades? These poor guys are using combines now, not razors. Also, it seems that you can’t have a "good" - and I use that term loosely - razor commercial unless there are lasers, or hot girls in lab coats. I want to see a Sweeney Todd razor commercial!

There is also a lot of symbolism in commercials now. The most obvious is the Budweiser, with their logo imprinted many different ways. There is also a cell-phone commercial, showing bars everywhere. It’s like a 30 second "Where’s Waldo."

I’m loving the 1970’s kaleidoscope commercials I’ve seen too. Lots of candy commercials are in that style.
AND the Target ads! Wow, talk about hip and cool!

I can’t BELIEVE that I saw M-n-M’s and Hershey’s chocolate bars have sex! It showed a romantic, fireside setting and in the blink of an eye, the new Amazing bar is created. (or whatever it’s called.) So, they didn’t exactly have sex, it is just implied but still.

With my newfound free time, I’ve begun noticing the clauses and legalese that is listed along the bottom of many commercials. Most of them say "Results not typical" or "Please Drink Responsibly" (which is funny in and of itself, like a drunken person can read the size 6 font at the bottom of the screen)

One actually read "The use of helicopter is not an energy saving technique"

The chewing gum commercial with Snoop Dogg…I keep missing the clause but I believe it says something about how the gum won’t get you into heaven.

Another trick I’ve noticed is the rave "reviews" that movies put into their trailers. Look closely at whom those "reviews" are attributed to. It’s often not the New York Times or Variety or People. It’s like the Podunk Times or the Cheeseburger Monthly.

So, I’ve provided you a few fun games for you to do during commercials…a benefit from all the free time I have on my hands.

This is how I spent my summer vacation:


Yep, that's me. No, not sitting watching but down under all those sparks.

Fun huh?

Allo!

Hello dear ones. It's me, I've returned once again.

I've just finished my busiest week of the year. If you've met me, you know I've just finished a week of blowing sh*t up. If you've not, then well, you've got to keep reading.

All is well, everyone still has all of their fingers and heads. No injuries, as per usual.

I've realized however, that we've gotten entirely too comfortable doing this dangerous job. In fact, we discussed it while getting ready before a show. A person becomes numb to the fact that we're not only handling high explosives, we're LIGHTING them. On purpose. And enjoying it.

There are three reasons that I can immediately state that we're entirely too comfortable lighting explosives:
#1. Someone sneezed during the show and we all said "Bless You."
#2. We are singing and/or dancing to the music that is set to the fireworks.
#3. There is inappropriate conversation...nee' flirting...that is occuring. "Excuse me while I touch your ass, but you're on fire" was actually said during the last show.

While I do miss actually watching a fireworks show, I remind myself that I get to watch from the best seat in the house. There is nothing better than looking straight up and watching shots burst right above my head. AND knowing that it is me, my family, and friends that are making it happen.

The fact that there are 10,000 people cheering isn't a bad gig either. (:-D

So, next time you watch fireworks, think of me. There are people that literally risk life & limb to do this job. Give them an extra cheer.