A Casual 4th of July

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July.  I didn’t have any real plans for two reasons: 1) I had a call-in shift at work and 2) I didn’t make any plans.  The extent of my planning for the 4th included me thinking “well, if I don’t work I can do whatever I want…maybe I’ll have some barbeque…”  Ended up they used my call-in at work but then it was so slow they sent me home an hour early.  Déjà vu from last year when they sent me home early on the 4th because it was, shocker, slow!  Actually, slow isn’t the correct word here, dead is more accurate.  But I didn’t mind either way since I didn’t have any plans to get messed up and I was getting paid overtime since it was a holiday.  Woo-hoo!!

Once they sent me on my way I figured that I might as well have some barbeque or at least something with barbeque sauce.  Gotta stick with my semi-plan from earlier and it’s only appropriate on the 4th to have barbeque.  So I went to Wingstop.  Their boneless chicken wings are so yummy and their fries are always perfectly salted/seasoned.

After dinner I had a mini-marathon of Cheers while waiting for the sun to go down and the fireworks to begin.  I’ve always enjoyed Cheers but I recently discovered that Hallmark channel airs about 6 episodes a night and they’re running through the entire series in order.  So I’ve been Tivo’ing it and watching it when I have lunch or before bed.  Though sometimes I feel guilty when I’m watching late at night because I laugh really hard.  Especially to the intro from this episode:

Seriously hilarious.  I was crying from laughing so hard.  And then once I mostly recovered, I rewound it and watched it again.  And again.  And again.  Then when mom came to visit me I made her watch it.  And then I rewound it and we watched it again and again.  Still funny.

Ok, so I’ll pause on my love of Cheers and get back to the 4th.  Fireworks are legal here (um, hello emergency personnel who’ll never get the 4th off) so I was thinking I’d just walk out to the street to enjoy the show that my neighbors would be putting on with their purchased exploding devices.  It was pretty cool and they’d loaded up the street so there was no shortage of sparklers, screamers, whizzers, sparkers, wing-dingers, and whateverers.  Shortly after I headed out the big fireworks show that the near by country club hosts started.  That’s the show that last year Jaslynn and I watched from a nearby neighborhood.  Turns out, I can see it from my mailbox!

Someone even had AC/DC playing and it was a much better soundtrack to fireworks than the normal patriotic fare.  Not that I have anything against being patriotic, but a slow version of “God Bless America” doesn’t have the same punch as “T.N.T.” or “Thunderstruck” when paired with fireworks.

At the end of the night, it was a nice, causal 4th of July.

Loves.

It’s So Close I Can Taste It

Finals are next week, summer break right after that.  I know it’s so close, and I’m more than ready for it, but at the same time I almost want just a smidge more time before my finals.  I have one paper to do and one six-ish page take home final to do and it’s always good to have too many than too few hours to write.  Though I must admit, sometimes the caffeine fueled late night writing juices are pretty good.  But the late night writing juices mean that I don’t get as much dream time in.  And I love my dream time.  Especially since daydreaming in my class has more distractions that good old fashion sleep dreaming.

Here’s the one part of this quarter that I am ready to be long, long over: sitting through Health Psychology “lectures”.  Basically our instructor stands behind the computer reading the slides of the powerpoint word for word in a voice that’d be perfect if she were a preschool teacher.  Three minutes in, I check out.  But don’t worry, I’ve found a few solutions to my boredom: 1) write letters 2) draw 3) ditch.  Option three has been my favored solution, especially since she posts the slide shows on-line so I can review them on my own and still kick butt on the tests.  Seriously, I won’t go for weeks and still manage an A on the tests.

You can’t tell, but I was totally doodling all over my paper.  Right below where I wrote the date and all of one sentence of notes.  I just was hoping she’d give us a five minute break so I could leave and read.  Not that she’d notice if I had read in class…at least one person was reading and probably five people on my side of the room were texting.  Yeah, it’s that engaging.

So until Thursday here’s hoping for good writing juices so that I can enjoy summer break sooner.

Loves.

Serena Ryder, Mary Ellen, and Me

As promised, here’s the photo from the meet and greet at the end of the Kelly Lounge Friday night.

When we were standing there for the photo they had the slowest count down from 3 that I’ve ever heard.  Someone could have counted to ten in normal countdown speed.  I’m surprised everyone isn’t blinking.

And man, do I need a tan!

Loves.

Serena Ryder at Kelly Lounge

As I posted the other day I’d “won” tickets to the Kelly Lounge to see Serena Ryder perform.  I went over to the Fox Theater right after work and got there about five minutes before Serena hit the stage.  My friend from work, Mary Ellen, met me there and we sat pretty close to the stage.  Not that getting a good, nay, great seat would be too difficult, they only gave out 150ish tickets and not everyone that “won” even showed up.  Idiots.  It’s a FREE show!

She came out, chatted a bit, and then opened the show with her current single All For Love.

I took videos of parts of the show.  This video is the first verse and chorus of All For Love.  She sounds so good live, definitely not an artist that needs any assistance in the recording studio.

(Sorry if the photos may be a bit blurry, I didn’t use flash so I had to use a longer exposure time.)

I liked the fact that she would stop between songs and chat about her songs or her boots.  A kid in the audience said that she liked her boots and that she was wearing boots too.  It was pretty funny.  She seems like a really cool person and I hope that she is very successful.

Serena played about 5 songs (the Kelly Lounge is short but intimate) before the meet and greet.  While standing in line to meet her I bought one of her cds for $10 so I could get her to sign it.  Plus after hearing her live I would totally buy her album anyways.

Afterwards Mary Ellen and I went to dinner at this little joint called Happy Jack’s.  It’s been in Bakersfield for 30 years and the food is scrumptious.  You walk in the front door and there is only counter seating and about 16 seats.  They are known for their burger and pies and let me tell you, they deserve it.  The burger was yummy and yummy with a bunch of delish thrown in for good measure.  Then we had pie.  I died.  Sooooo good!  Pineapple coconut cream pie, dead.  Apple crisp a la mode?  Killer.  I wasn’t sure if I would recover, but I came back to life just so that I could die again at a later date.

Loves.

A Little Luck and Some Major Skill

There are two radio stations that I listen to regularly here in B-field.  The first is KLLY (Kelly) 95.3, a top hits station and the second is KRAB 106.1, a rock station.  Kelly is home of the “world famous Kelly lounge”, a intimate concert held at the Fox theater which has featured over 90 artists and bands since it began over 8 years ago.  Previous artists that have appeared include Michelle Branch, Ben Folds, Phantom Planet, Jason Mraz, Collective Soul, Gavin DeGraw, Josh Kelley, Ok Go, Augustana, Gavin Rossdale, and Adele.  Some artists play a show before they are very popular and others (Adele) appear after their song is regularly making radio play.

Over the weekend Kelly kept playing a teaser that the next artist to visit the Kelly Lounge would be announced Tuesday at 2:25 in afternoon on Facebook.  They also were saying that the first 100 people to RSVP would receive free tickets to the show.  I don’t have class on Tuesdays until 3:10 so I was able to have my laptop out to try to “win” some tickets.  The concert date and artist appearing were posted and I was number 88 to RSVP, earning myself free tickets to the show.

Tomorrow I’ll be stopping by the studio to pick up my tickets for Friday night’s Kelly lounge featuring Serena Ryder.  Her current single is All For Love, it’s pretty good and her voice kind of reminds me of Melissa Etheridge.

I’ll post any photos from the show this weekend.

Loves.

Reasons I Smile

Today on my way home from work I was thinking about the little things in life that I love.  I thought that I’d share some of that here.

• When Dixie stands behind me on the couch purring and kneading my shoulders.

• Driving with the windows down and radio up.

 

• Celebrity Jeopardy! because I can play along and do really well.

• Customers who chat with me while I ring them up rather than talk on their cell phone.

 

• Snail mail.  (As long as it’s not a bill!)

• My favorite song coming on just as I’m getting in my car to drive somewhere.

 

• Farmer’s markets and all the great produce I come home with.

• Cooking something for the first time and it tasting amazing.  (French toast last night)

 

• Free samples.

 

• Getting lost into a good book.

•   Movie previews.  I saw one today for You Again that looks promising.

Here’s hoping you found a little something to smile about today.

Loves.

Reaping the Rewards

I have some exciting news!  This morning I received a response to a request that I made which included a turning in of an application.  Got you interested?  Good.

I applied for and was accepted into Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology!  I will be inducted (as well as my friend Dina) on Friday, May 21st at a dinner and after that will be a lifetime member.

 

 

That’s wonderful, but what all does this mean?

• A record of my membership is maintained at the Psi Chi Central Office and can be used for reference purposes
• I receive a certificate and membership card
• I can graduate wearing the Psi Chi honor cord
• Copies of Eye on Psi Chi, Psi Chi’s magazine
• Eligibility to present research papers/posters at annual and regional conventions
• Opportunity to participate in Psi Chi’s undergraduate and graduate research award and grant programs
• Opportunity to submit my research for publication in the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research
• My name published on the Psi Chi website as record of my membership

So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go do a happy dance now.  And when I’m done dancing, work on my homework to keep my grades high.

Loves.