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A Couple of Things…

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1. I’m happy to report I survived my birthday again this year. From swimming in the ocean and hanging at the beach with some fabulous women, lunch and dinner with friends and family, music and the band (Crooked Eye Tommy) singing to me, I’m feeling blessed. I’m overwhelmed by all the Facebook posts, cards, emails, phone calls, and texts, including one husband/wife team sending me a recording of them singing Happy Birthday just before midnight (they wanted to be the last people to wish me a Happy Birthday).  I truly felt the love.  Thank you!!

Thanks for the photo Maggie!  I’m going to work on overcoming my shyness 😉

2. Meanwhile in Portland…
My daughter hosted a High Tea with her roommates on the rooftop of their building.  How freakin’ cute is that?
BTW, look closely at the writing on one of those tea pots (hehehe).

3. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the balance of friendships.  There are all types of personalities, some you gravitate towards and others that repel you; then, there are those that confuse you, and I find that it’s those that confuse you, are the ones that mess you up the most.  Trust your instincts.  After talking with someone you should feel better, maybe even stronger, but definitely not weaker.
Surround yourself with people who share your ideals, and don’t suck the energy out of you. If I do this to you, then you should RUN!!!

4. I worked at Claude Hall’s International Radio Report Magazine in the late 70’s as Circulation Manager.  This is where I had the epiphany that my radio heroes (from KMET) were just regular folks and as a result I decided to chase my childhood dream of being on the radio playing great music.  I returned to college, got a degree and worked fifteen years on air, and just recently returned to producing a weekly show here in Ventura on KPPQ-LP.
Claude Hall passed away this past month.  He had fallen down an escalator and never fully recovered.  I will always have fond memories of working in the offices on Sunset Blvd with Linda Stein, Victor Bornia, Jeff Salgo and the crew, and especially working with Claude and his wife Barbara and their kids. He never ever lost his love for radio and continued to write a blog: http://www.voxjox.org/

R.I.P. Claude.
Bugs5. Growing up, Saturday mornings were the best.  My parents slept in while I had several bowls of cereal (Cocoa Krispies, Froot Loops, Cap’n Crunch) then watching at least 2-3 hours of cartoons.  Among my favorites:  Bugs Bunny (#1), Pink Panther, The Flintstones, Popeye, Gumby & Pokey,  Casper, well, actually all Looney Tune cartoons.
Sydney’s cartoons never compared in the 90s but I did come to enjoy The Rugrats, Wild Thornberrys and loved Powerpuff Girls (so empowering).   But I could never give a thumbs up to  Hey Arnold or Sponge Bob, too inane.

WW Shooting Bow6. Up until about seven years, I never ever took physical fitness seriously.  In fact, I use to “pretend” to exercise during gym class in high school. I don’t think I ever broke a sweat until I started jogging around 2015.  So when it came to taking a P.E. class in college in the 80s, my choices were limited.  I had to take one to get a degree, but of course I knew I couldn’t fake it in college, so I decided to take archery.  I actually enjoyed it and became sort of skilled at it, but I’m pretty sure my heart rate never got over 100. This was basically me being “lazy” and of a sloth-like demeanor…that is until Hunger Games came out and then Wonder Woman.  Now I say, “Yeah, I’m badass; I can shoot a bow and arrow, I took archery in college!”

It’s all about how you position it.

7. Last year during the drought when conditions were extremely dire, I was in Lowe’s checking out bathtubs when a salesman encouraged me to look at getting a jacuzzi tub.  The water capacity was much higher than a normal tub and I told him water rates would make it too expensive to which he replied, “Boil water and dump it in.”
I just cocked my head to the side and looked at him waiting for him to figure out what was wrong in his strategy, but he never figured it out.

8. I read a story online about body language tricks and one of them was “Mirror the person you’re speaking to. It shows admiration and agreement.”

Wouldn’t that be a great Saturday Night Live skit, where both people are attempting to do the same thing?
9. From my favorite quotes file, “Live your life and forget your age.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Of course, only people over 50 ever say that 😉

Thanks for listening!

A Couple of Things…

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1. Adding insult to injury after five months of pretty intense pain due to knee replacement surgery is the fun you get to go through coming off the pain meds when you no longer need them.  But I’m happy to announce that I made it through the withdrawals this week.  I’ll be honest, I was whining and complaining and dragging my ass while my body adapted to working without them, until I saw a movie where a guy was going through morphine addiction withdrawal.  All I’ve had to endure is low energy, flu-like symptoms and crabbiness…and the kicker is, I was down to only taking two a day (at the beginning it was two every four hours!!) and I still had to endure adverse physical effects.  But I’m feeling much better and looking forward to gaining my strength back.

2. I’ve never understood the concept of what a training bra is suppose to train breasts to do.

3Basketball court. Not to be a smart ass or anything, but I saw a LeBron James quote just days after winning the championship which read, “No Plans to go nowhere at this point.”
So that would be he has plans to go somewhere?
Here’s the quote:  https://www.yahoo.com/sports

4. Another Grammar Nerd Observation:

It’s funny enough when someone talks about themselves in third person; but even stranger when they start talking to you in third person. Example, “Maybe I’ll go see Pam about this” instead of “Maybe I’ll go see you about this.”

Happy Memorial Day5. Memorial Day recently passed and it occurred to me that we should stop saying, “Happy Memorial Day! What’s so happy about people dying while serving their country?  I saw a ton of those memes and advertisements saying such that weekend.  How about “Honoring Memorial Day” or “Remember and Honor” instead?  Now we just need a catch phrase when you want to convey it orally to each other.  Thoughts?

Honor Memorial Day

6. I don’t know why I feel more compelled to buy a lottery ticket once it’s reached 250 million dollars. Like 200 million dollars wouldn’t be enough? Or for that matter, one million.

7. Father of son convicted of rape said 6 months in county jail steep “A steep price for 20 minute of action“. He could have faced 14 years in prison.  Prosecutors asked for six.

I wonder if he’d think the same way if it were his daughter assaulted by someone else’s son.

Vote 20168. I would like to thank Bernie Sanders for engaging people. Just under 10,000 came out to see him speak in Ventura alone!  I love that the younger generation found a voice which spoke to them and they supported someone who did not look like them.  No matter what party one is affiliated with, you have to admit, this rocks.

9. One more political-type observation that’s as funny as shit.
President Barack Obama on Jimmy Fallon writing thank you notes (wait for Obama’s third one):

10. I’m a little over a month away from my next birthday.  Here’s a little bit of trivia about my youth…more to the point, about my parents.  They once confessed to me that they had celebrated my birthday on the wrong day for years!  IT’S THE 30th, not the 31st!!!

From my favorite quotes file:

“Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.” ~Oscar Wilde

Thanks for listening!

A Couple of Things…

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birthday-dinner-2015b

Photo by Maggie McKinney

1.  Every year, another year older and I’m told, another year wiser.  As I attempt to age gracefully I find throwing caution to the wind and embracing what makes me feel alive is the best medicine.  Live music, loud music, good friends, great conversations, an intimate connection, my family especially my daughter Sydney Rose making me proud, my pup Sammy hanging in there at 15 years of age, shooting hoops, giving to my community and feeling like I’m helping in some small degree. These are the things that for me, make an extraordinary life.

2.   I would much prefer to live in a world where trophy hunting does not occur.

That being said, Oxford University is reporting that Cecil’s brother is protecting Cecil’s cubs after a hunter illegally killed him in Africa. Usually the pride will slaughter the dominate male’s offspring after he has died.  So, this is a small victory and a definite miracle of nature.

Elenor Roosevelt3.  I understand Eleanor Roosevelt is very close to being the next person on the twenty dollar bill.  I wholeheartedly support this choice. What an amazing woman.

4.  From time to time I’ll see a Facebook post about when someone’s mom “left them”.  Something like, “It’s was 10 years ago today since Mom passed away…”   Well, it’s been 40 years since my mother died and honestly, I couldn’t tell you the day.  I remember it was winter. Her funeral was about the darkest day of my life. I could research it and find her death certificate, but I would rather remember her birthday which was July 24. She would have been 81 this year, and I fear one of those crazy cat ladies.  I would have loved it!

clown-head5.  I ADORED Emmett Kelly.  I took this doll everywhere with me when I was a toddler. Who couldn’t love this face?  Especially since it’s all I have left of him. I even went out as Emmett Kelly for Halloween one year and my mother put some sort of face cream and then coffee grounds on my face for the beard. That lasted about 10 minutes.

6. So I got bumped off Facebook and I was notified that my computer had a virus.  I tried to log back on and they would not let me without installing their virus program.  I did research and saw that a number of folks believe it’s a ploy for Facebook to download data or collect data from your computer.  I did not download their software; two weeks later I logged in, no problem.  Conspiracy theory?  This one I just might believe.

7.  Successful men are sexy.  Cheap ass successful men, not so much.

8.  Lives matter – PERIOD.  I’m behind the Black Lives Matter campaign, don’t get me wrong, but I recently saw a post putting down an old man of 70 saying he was probably going to die soon anyways. I’m sure the senior citizen was a jerk for eliciting such a response, but please.  I’m a little tired of people putting down race, sex, and yes age.  Babies, kids, teens, adults and seniors all deserve to be treated with dignity…until each individual proves otherwise.  Actually, let’s try to stop lumping people into groups. That’s called stereotyping. Stereotyping police, public sector workers, big business, lawyers, priests, feminists, nerds, toddlers, surfer dudes, musicians, alcoholics, the homeless, well, you get my point. Each individual has their story, all those groups have amazing people who want to make a difference, and a very small minority who are commie-rat bastards.

In the immortal words of The Osmonds, “One Bad Apple Don’t Spoil the Whole Bunch, Girl.”

9. I saw a “human interest” segment on a morning news show where the guest was suggesting women should shave their face daily.  Are you kidding me???  That being said, I know a woman who went into labor, but would not go to the hospital without waxing her upper lip first.  True story.

10.  Give a hand up, not a hand out is the message the City of Ventura is spreading. Local resources help those who want help.  This is true. So when I recently stopped at a signal where a woman was standing with a young boy sitting beside her with her sign asking for a handout, I politely asked her if she knew that there were resources.  She spoke back in a foreign language (not spanish), and I smiled kindly and remarked that she should remove the diamond earring in her son’s ear before asking for a hand out.  She promptly told him to remove it.  Yeah, she understood every word I said.

11.  I have to say that Dave Grohl has to be one of my favorite rock stars of all time.  Nirvana?  Are you kidding me?  And then the Foo Fighters?  Dave is such a great songwriter and artist and all around great person. He broke his leg during a concert, came back and finished it not wanting to let the fans down.  The man has serious integrity.  The latest incident to support this opinion is when this guy in Romagna, Italy, wanted the Foo Fighters to play in their small town, so he gather 1000 musicians to play Learn to Fly .  They did and Dave responded IN ITALIAN that he would in fact get the band there to play a concert. This YouTube Video has had over 20 million views since posted. IT IS AMAZING. I fuckin’ cry every time I watch it:

Here is Dave’s response – I LOVE HIM:

12. From my favorite quotes file: “In this day and age, when you can use a machine or computer to simulate or emulate what people can do together, it still can’t replace the magic of four people in a room playing.” – Dave Grohl

Thanks for your time!

A Couple of Things…

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time1.  One of my co-workers, Sergio, shared with the crew an idea that his friend came up with, instead of Daylight Savings Time, we should all get off of work one hour early on Friday, then on Sunday, we put the hour back for the extra sleep needed to recuperate after the weekend.

I like it!

2.  So Sydney placed an ad for Portland, Oregon, on Craig’s List to sell my wrecked up car.  It’s a 2007 Nissan Altima and the estimate to repair it was $8,000.  I think she went online to do it on Saturday.  She called to see if any leads came in by Sunday afternoon but not one person had contact me.  I was bummed.  But then at 9:00 Sunday, calls and texts starting coming in.  She had gone back on Craig’s List and discovered it was still in DRAFT mode.  She forgot to PUBLISH it!

The car sold by 8:00 AM the next morning for my asking price of $3,000.  It was perfect until I told the next inquirer that I sold it for 3 and he came back immediately with, “I can bring $3500 cash right now!!!”

Live and learn.  I kept my agreement with the first guy, I don’t need any bad Karma.

3. How embarrassing is it to mistake high school homecoming pictures for Halloween hooker costumes?  Never should homecoming be the same weekend as Halloween parties.   Just saying.

dolphins

4. The site of dolphins swimming by still takes my breath away.  So freakin’ cool!!!  I love living at the beach!
Of course I didn’t realize there was a dolphin passing by until I looked at my photos later.  I was actually focusing on the couple.  But, at that point they took my breath away!

5.  Bacon cupcakes?!!!  Yeah, I think I’m gonna pass on this one.

6. Headline seen: “Touching Pregnant Tummy Banned”
It’s now illegal to touch a pregnant women’s belly in Pennsylvania.  This was pursuant to a harassment case against a man who kept tummy-touching a pregnant lady against her will. (k, go ahead and snicker, I did).

I never minded people rubbing my belly when I was pregnant.  Come to think of it, I still don’t!

malware-warning7a. My email not only got hacked but apparently the mutherfuckers installed a virus on my computer which hacked several of my websites which resulted in Google Chrome blocking access to them and saying “THE WEBSITE AHEAD HAS MALWARE!”  So yeah, it’s been quite a nightmare.

7b. I JUST discovered typing this, that my spell check points out that “mutherfuckers” is misspelled and they suggest I meant to write “muckrakers.”  But when I type “motherfuckers”, nothing.  They accept that but not the ghetto spelling?  I call racism.

8. I’m a big fan of the LBD (Little Black Dress).  I use to wear them for the slimming effect.  But now, as an older woman, I like them for the Audrey Hepburn effect.

9. As you can probably tell, I love lists.  I enjoyed item #9 on the list called, “16 Awesome Hidden Gems You Must Experience at Disneyland.”  I’ve been to Disneyland probably a hundred times and I was aware of most of these.  But this one caught me off guard regarding Big Thunder Mountain:  “Once you get to the second hill (the one with the snakes), start looking for the Billy Goat, who should be raised up on your right. Stare the goat down and don’t take your eyes off of him. You’ll experience a dizzy, disorienting feeling that will make the ride even more exciting.”

How gullible do they think we are?  Yeah, I’m gonna try it.

George
10. George passed away last week, one month shy of his 8th birthday. George made the Guinness World Record in 2010 as the world’s tallest dog at 5 feet. .  RIP Giant George.

dad-double-duty-130911. Speaking of birthdays, My dad’s 79th birthday is today, October 29.  He still loves going out to hear live music, especially jazz, he still has a wicked sense of humor, and he still drives me crazy. . . which I hope he continues to do for many many more years to come. Happy Birthday Dad!

12. “Women are angels. And when someone breaks our wings, we simply continue to fly…on a broomstick.  We’re flexible like that.”  Anonymous

Thanks for listening!

A Couple of Things…

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Highlight: Scuba Diving

Highlight: Scuba Diving

1. I finally got back on the basketball court again after being ill and thought I’d ease back into it.  But between Rage Against the Machine, NIN & Linkin Park on the headphones, it’s pretty hard not to go full throttle!  They’re the best medicine; felt great to be back!

2. Call me goofy, but I get super excited when someone I like, likes me back.  You know, you make a connection.  And I’m not talking about men, I’m talking about people in general, including kids.  Connecting with good people is about my most favorite thing in the whole wide world…right behind being able to help those who are worthy of help.

3.  And just so you know, I know many people who don’t like me.  You can’t please everyone.  And seriously, I do my best to not let it affect me.  But there are a few that I’m determined to win over!

4.  And please don’t accuse me of seeking praise because I do love it when someone likes me and I made a special connection.  You would be mistaking praise for camaraderie!  Sociability is like an elixir for me! It cures all ails!  I really do love social-personality people!!!

5. It’s my birth week and I’ve decided to start dancing again!  It’s been way too long since I’ve gone out to dance.  It may not be pretty, but I’m having a blast!!

6. Kat Merrick and I had a short discussion last night about the exchanging or the no exchanging policy of birthday gifts between friends.  I like that a lot, because if the truth be known, I never remember what I got for my birthday, but I always remember where I was and who I spent it with.   A good time is the best gift!

7. I don’t worry about dying.  I worry a tad bit about how it will end, but not that this lifetime will end.

8. I’ve had more than one’s lifetime worth of experiences – here are just a few highlights (PG 13 Version):

  • Body surfing and building sand castles on hot summer days
  • Nailing water skiing on one ski, FINALLY
  • Going to my first rock concert: The Rolling Stones 1971
  • Having my high school crush call me out of the blue!
  • FINALLY graduating high school, and with honors
  • Continuing, by choice my education
  • Nailing algebra in college
  • Surviving my teens
  • Turning 21, FINALLY
  • Flying down the ski slope, completely out of control
  • Broadcasting trip to England
  • College trip to New York City
  • New Year’s Eve in Time Square
  • Seeing David Bowie in the Elephant Man on Broadway
  • Seeing Tim Curry & Ian McKellan in Amadeus on Broadway
  • Getting that very first full-time radio job offer
  • Falling in love
  • Being proposed to…a few times
  • Accepting a proposal
  • Getting married
  • Honeymoon in Kuaui
  • Buying a home
  • Finding out I was pregnant
  • Holding Sydney for the first time
  • Earning my program director stripes in radio
  • Live radio broadcast at Sea World, Disneyland and Catalina
  • Learning to scuba dive
  • Driving a speed boat full throttle, catching air, along Pierpont Beach
  • Behind the controls flying a twin engine airplane over Lake Casitas
  • Being flown in a aerobatic plane doing stunts over Camarillo
  • Mardi Gras in New Orleans
  • SXSW and meeting Trent Reznor
  • Receiving a Platinum Record from 311
  • Meeting Gavin Rossdale
  • Taking Sydney when she was a tot to Disneyland
  • Taking Syd & carload of pre-teen friends to Magic Mountain…riding rollercoasters
  • Launching a national music & entertainment magazine as editor-in-chief
  • Dinner party with Danny, Richard & Jenna Elfman
  • Shooting Pearl Jam, Collective Soul, Bush, Everclear, Better than Ezra, Sugar Ray, INXS, Third Eye Blind…
  • Getting my braces off, FINALLY
  • Vacation with Sydney Rose to New York City; getting lost in Central Park
  • Cougars winning basketball CIF championships 2011
  • Hitting my very first three-pointer!
  • Sydney Rose coming back home
  • Being served dinner by firemen in uniform.
  • Band Practice!

9. So when I think of the few low points in my life such as losing loved ones or my divorce, all I need to do is look at all the highlights and reflect what an awesome time I’ve had!

10. I’m ready to take on yet another year of living it up!

11. From my “Favorite Facebook Posts” file:  “To me – old age is always ten years older than I am.” – John Burroughs

Thanks for listening!

A Couple of Things…

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Me and Staci Brown

Me and Staci Brown

1. On my last “A Couple of Things” post I mentioned I hadn’t met Mr. Right, but that I had met Mr. Married.  Cute story really.  Mr. Married is not a Friend on my Facebook page, but I see him from time to time in the community because he is a musician.  He sat down one evening at my table and said, “I’d like to take you out to dinner,” then he added, “Once I get a divorce.”  I was speechless.  He doesn’t even know me, he’s still married and he’s lining up dates?  Ok, maybe not such a cute story.

2. Happy Birthday Staci Brown!  (See picture above)

3. You know, I thought surviving Valentine’s Day was a big deal.  That was nothing.  Try surviving Staci Brown’s birthday!!

4. Yeah Baby!  Clippers swept the Lakers 4 out of 4. That’s four burritos from my man Sergio at work.  Clipper Nation Baby!!

5. I have outlived my mother by almost 15 years.  That just blows my mind.

6. Being a civil servant in this climate is quite the challenge.  Isn’t it weird that people who choose to serve their community become targets of all things wrong with government?   A simple thank you would be nice every now and then.

7. I thought hash marks only applied to Twitter #DumbAsses

8. I can’t roll my R’s.  I really suck at being mexican.

From my Favorite Facebook Posts file:

“The biggest coward is a man who awakens a woman’s love with no intention of loving her.”  I was surprised and grateful it was a man who said this, and a very cool one:  Bob Marley.