OakMonster’s Den

I know I am late on this bandwagon, but I am in love with Once. 

Much like how I’d recommend Ratatouille to anyone who loves food or loves to cook, anyone who loves music DEFINITELY have to see this movie.

As for the rest of you, you’ll have to see it.  It’s a magical film.  So simple and yet so beautiful.

And yes, I am going to learn to play Falling Slowly. 

*

Not much going on here over the Southern California “storm watch”.  Yeah, the 3 systems of storm that came our way?  Not all that impressive really.  But hey, we had the rain we need.  And I got the perfect excuse to coop up in the house all weekend.  Hehe.

I have come out of the funk somewhat unscathed.  Thank you all for your kind words and support.  It’s just strange how things creep up on you like that.

I think it’s started with me wearing mom’s favorite hat during these cold days.  Then the planning of Honolulu trip with dad is a bittersweet journey.  A family trip to Hawaii has been talked about our whole life to see Ray and his family.  And now here we are, just me and dad accomplishing what the family has wanted to do for 30+ years.

And finally, it was something else that stirred the emotions together.  Perhaps a delayed mourning.  A grief that has been pushed away too long.

Just like this California storm, it was slow to arrive, linger a while with light rain and days of gloom.

And as slowly as it comes, it’s making its way out.

From my #1 Christmas movie of all time (so far) Love Actually.

And for you geeks out there, Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime!

I played the piano and sang. A few friends joined me. Even some guy I don’t know joined me!

Folks, this is what happens at a holiday party for our investors with a grand piano in the entrance foyer, separated from the rest of the party where in you can barely hear yourself talk.

So us in the foyer had a blast doing half-ass sing-alongs from The Sound of Music, some other Christmas carols we had no idea what the words are. Well, I play by ears and mostly to the key of C. And I have not practiced my Christmas songbooks this year yet. (I’m late! I know!). So I churned out whatever I remembered. And people tried to sing along to whatever they knew.

Hail to the Chief (when the CEO walked in but he didn’t get that joke). God save the Queen (some Brits in the house requested that). USC Fight Song, of course. Desperado (one of my repertoires). Moon River. La Vie En Rose. Piano Man. Jingle Bell. Santa Baby. Sound of Music. Do a Deer…a female deer. Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate’s life for me. Etc.

The best moment? You see, I have a softer, lyrical adaptation of Meatloaf’s “I’d do anything for love (but I won’t do that)” to play as one of my “muzak” when folks walk into meetings. That and Metallica’s “Nothing else matters”, for untrained ears were pretty good piano music. Anyways, at the end of the party, as everyone had enough alcohol in the system, including yours truly, and not many people left hanging around, I bust out the full rock version. I was totally rocking out at the baby grand all by myself when one of the investors walked up to me.

“That’s a great song,” he said.

“Meatloaf,” I uttered.

“I know,” he replied. And then he started to sing along to the chorus. I chimed in with the girl’s part toward the ending. And he finished the song.

He applauded. I got up to shake his hand. He gave me a hug and left. I don’t even know who that guy was.

Good times for all!

You are trapped in your house on your day off because you have no pants.

That’s right, kids.  Welcome to my Vacation Day 6.

Yesterday, I went out and about and got me a mocha.  As I was getting out of the car at James & Aurora’s house, with just a little more left of tall hazelnut mocha slipped from my hand and “exploded” all over the car.  I had chocolate/coffee on my jeans, my car seats, my emergency brakes, and, inevitably, on the innocent bystander in the passenger seat, my new-ish Nike white sweatshirt.

I KNEW the whiteness isn’t going to last the moment I bought that stupid mocha!

So I ran into James’ house, drenched in chocolate/coffee/water (tried to wash some off in the car).  Thank gods they just started a load of laundry so I tossed my jeans and sweatshirt in with their stuff.  Aurora loaned me her soccer shorts.

And we played a good 3 hours of Rock Band while waiting for my pants to dry.  Oh my god, I had sooooooooo much fun!  James had me try the drum set which I sort of kind of get, but not very efficient.  I switched over to the guitar which I did a lot better on.  And finally to singing which I rocked our socks off even on the song I didn’t know.  LOL.  I LOVE that game!  I am now on stand by for any impromptu “band practice” that might come up at James’.

Then we discovered that the stain didn’t want to come out of my white sweatshirt so we soaked that some more with Shout while the jeans went back for another round of tumbling in the dryer.  By the time I had to leave, my jeans were still wet so I schlepped home in Aurora’s shorts with 2 damp garments in my back seat.

When I got home to further inspect my clothes, to my surprise, my jeans still have light stains on them!!  WTF!?!

I sprayed bleach on the white sweatshirt and took them down to laundry, then I dropped Oxyclean on the jeans, getting them ready for the second load.

As luck would have it, a few minutes before the first load is finished, we had a power outage.  For a good hour.  We did bring up the finished load and hung them to dry around the apartment.  LOL.  It was kind of sad.   By the time the power came back, if I was to continue with laundry, I’d be up till midnight.

So, this morning I finally plopped the jeans into the washing machine along with another pile of dark laundry…which happened to have my other pair of jeans in it.

So, here I am.  Pantless.  I mean, sure I have slacks and a pair of khakis I could wear.

But it’s my goddamn vacation and I fucking want to wear my jeans, dammit!

*sigh*

The moment those jeans come out, I’m outta here to have lunch with Brandon.  Been home so much these 5 days, I’m getting a little antsy.

How was your weekend?

Finally.

A two-day ordeal of my birthday celebration has come to a close. And boy has it been FUN!!

Friday was my company’s Thanksgiving potluck and birthday party for November people. We are getting better at not bringing too much food, but still have a whole bunch of leftover in the end. Needless to say, after the turkey and fixings, ham, 4 different salads, massive amount of dessert and ice cream later, that afternoon was pretty much in a blissful food coma haze.

That evening right after work, Brandon came up to town and we headed over to the Library Bar. Everyone has her own favorite place and this one is mine. I have been bringing my friends and coworkers here since they opened. The owner knows me by name and so does the bartender. We had the private room reserved for our little group so we didn’t have to fight to find some space. That mad us look all VIP like and we were getting nasty stares from haters all over the crowded bar. LOL.

Good times was had by all…especially me with a free pass to “shots that will get this birthday girl drunk on the house” by the order of the owner. Fortunately for him, it only took one shot for me to get drunk. LOL.

Saturday came a day of errands, house cleaning and party preparation. I went to town with Giada’s recipes with Bollito Misto with gorgonzola sauce and salsa verde and a tray of balsamic barbecue baked chicken breasts. And seriously, the Bollito Misto is PERFECT as a no fuss meal for a big group of people. You brown the meat, then let it cook in liquid for 2 hours meanwhile you finish the really really easy sauces in minutes. When your guests show up, you carve and enjoy the company. Soooo painless! But I foodie-digress.

A dozen people showed up to wish me a happy birthday. Beer and wine were flowing every which directions. And then Karaoke Revolution for all…well most…to enjoy. The whole apartment was filled with music and laughter. That there is THE perfect party.

Brandon and James went to fetch me another USB microphone so we could do duets. In the meantime, one person was singing for scores and the rest of us were singing along with her/him. When Brandon came back, he said he could hear us all the way down in the alley.

“Oh well, it’s about time someone else calls the cops on us instead,” I told him.

“The thing is, if that somebody calls the cops, we might just get K-9 Steve over here,” Brandon said of our friend.

“Oh, good! All the foods I made tonight is gluten-free. He can have a bite when he comes up.”

No, we didn’t get quite THAT out of control. Hahah. And Brandon took care of the clean up for me. I love this man!

This party marked the first time we met Irena’s fiance Danny and Katie’s Justin. Irena got engaged about a month ago, and Katie last weekend. Actually, if Brenda and Jon could have come, they’d be the third newly engaged couple at my party.

Next year there will be three weddings and 5 babies (3 local, 2 East Coast). We’d better save up our money now. Haha.

And you think I would get to sleep in after a few shots of Limoncello and a few glasses of wine later. But nope. This morning, we dragged my still drunk butt out of bed to get help Shane’s dad move all the stuff out of his store. Pops finally retires from the beauty supply business after twenty some years.

Thank goodness for my typical late onset hangover, I was able to function most of the morning and finally dropped out as we drove around looking for a metal salvaging place all the way up in Compton. And oh yes, a big lesson of the day. Recycling centers like that are closed on Sunday. Doh!

Oh, and the boys also had some fun while working…

So, I am now recovering from all the activities with long naps and hanging out on the couch watching Brandon breaks into Assassin’s Creed. This game looks awesome.

Two more days until my Week of Bliss, kids. Two. More. Days!!!!!

Oh, and we’re not doing Thanksgiving here this year. At least I don’t think we are. Justin and Olaina will not be available and as Brandon and I learned in the past, even a 8-lb. turkey is way too much for 2 people to handle. We’ll see how this pans out.

If you leave.

Take my breath away.

Living on a prayer.

Take on me.

The last four songs my Zen randomly picked before I got to my building this morning.  At this rate, I started to feel awkward not having my leg warmers on and sort of expected to see the VERY young Tom Cruise in his tighty whitey, socks and shirt sliding past the door when my elevator opens.

And yes. I really do have those songs in my MP3 collection.

This morning at the Los Angeles Convention Center, in the South Hall, the gigantic banner announces, “Erotica LA”. Yes. The p*rn convention is back.

But people were coming OUT of the building, not going in. Odd. But then I saw more people crossing the streets, heading for the West Hall.

A big crowd had gathered in the courtyard outside the West Hall. The electronic sign in the corner blinked:

“Welcome New Citizens. US Naturalization Ceremony. West Hall.”

God bless America.

*

On the other hand, yesterday on Kevin & Bean morning show on KROQ, my beloved Psycho Mike spoofed “Hey there Delilah” as “Hey there Vagina”. Much hilarity.

Here’s the lyric:

Hey there Vagina,
You’re a fragrant little kitty
With your landing strip and camel toe
To me you look so pretty,
Yes you do
You know what I just want to do
It’s PUNISH you

Hey there Vagina,
You’re a fancy little beaver
Let my penis play the quarterback
And you can be receiver
Yes its true
I’ll throw a touchdown inside you
Yes its true

Ooooh It’s what (twat’s) you do to me
Ooooh It’s what you do to me
Ooooh It’s what you do to me
Oh you little penis sleeve

I love you little heart-shaped box
A pair of lips that never talks
It’s everything a man could ever want
The only problem in the world
Is you’re connected to a girl
And That makes you annoying in the end
In the end

Hey there Vagina,
You’re a man’s reason for living
You can make the most frugal gentleman
Become quite giving
Yes its true
You sausage wallet
I love you.

But then, their lawyers pulled the plug on the song. TMZ quickly reported the travesty and inviting us all to judge for ourselves.

ETA: Here’s the link to both versions of “Hey There Vagina,” the original flavor and the updated version as a response to the ban titled “Hey There How are ya?”

Those who love music will appreciate this.

ETA: Thanks Lilian for the comment.  This reminds me that my poor readers in Thailand cannot access YouTube.  (Long story.)  So, alternately, if you can hit Google video, try this one out.

Sing. It’s good for your health.

To lift my mood, I turn to those crazy Brits.

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the light side of life.
[whistle]

If life seems jolly rotten,
There’s something you’ve forgotten,
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps,
Don’t be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle.
That’s the thing.
And…

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the right side of life.

Everybody now!

I’ve ALWAYS loved Alanis.  This video though makes her a fuckload nearer and dearer to my heart.

Now, if they can only get Sheryl Crow to do Hollaback Girl….