Fresh Prince of Bel Air re-runs. I forgot how much I liked this show! I know they've been re-running it for years, but it's never struck my fancy until now...and now I'm watching the crap out of them. I still love Jazz, hehe.

Sugar Hill Gang - Jump on It Specifically this rendition of it...

Watched Training Day a couple of nights ago. I love that movie. I saw it in theaters, actually - with my parents, haha! My parents are so rad. I don't know how they decided which movies to let me see...usually they weren't big on letting me watch R-rated movies, but I guess somehow they weren't expecting this one to be that intense. Whatever, works for me; I still think it's great. And forget Russell Crowe and all that stuff about the Oscar being a make-up for Denzel Washington not getting one for Malcolm X - I would've picked Denzel over him a thousand more times if given the opportunity. The thing I think makes his performance really unique is the fact that so much of the movie takes place in his car. There's no interesting scenery to back him up - it's just Denzel, the camera, and the dialogue, and I'll be danged if those aren't some of the most hypnotizing scenes in the movie...just him and Ethan Hawke sitting in that Monte Carlo playing mind games. Love it.

Well, they're from Newfoundland, so they have kind of a Celtic twist, but they draw more from traditional Newfie music than straight-out Irish music like the Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly do. Also, they're not a punk band, so it's not quite as RAWR! as DKM, either. Their older albums have more traditional songs, and their newer ones have more original ones and are a little poppier. ...Yeah, I'd definitely say they've done a lot better than a cover of "End of the World." Also, sorry for posting this in the Last Concert You Attended thread...I kind of forgot about the Next Concert one.

Red Wings represent, wut wut! I've got Hotel California stuck. God, what IS it with that song? You hear it once on the radio and it stays with you for the rest of the WEEK!

I haven't been to a concert in quite a while, so I'm a bit fuzzy on what the last one I went to was, but the next show I really want to go to is Great Big Sea at HoB!

I saw Red last night...I thought it was good! My newspaper didn't like it because there was too much humor in it...say whaaat? I guess the graphic novel must be more serious, but I enjoyed the humor; frankly, the plot wasn't all that intricate, so the characters and their shenanigans were what made it interesting to me.

Marvin Gaye - Live in Montreux 1980 (too lazy for pictures, and it's a really lame album cover anyway...the CD's great, though! I've been watching video of it on YouTube...really want the DVD now.)

I finally got my "new" computer! My dad got a laptop, so I took his old desktop computer. It's so weird, I can like burn CDs and surf the Net at the same time, and it only takes like 4 minutes instead of half an hour to burn said CD! Yahoo!

I don't know WTF to wear to my best friend's bridal shower. I was going to go for a dress for a change, but I have this problem where nothing fits because (don't laugh) I have big boobs, so in that respect I would need a plus size dress, but even though I'm somewhat flabby, I'm not THAT huge, so the rest of it will be hanging off me if I got one that fit my bust. Any girls out there thinking of getting breast implants, don't do it - you'll never find anything that fits again. Not to mention all the cute, vintage stuff I'm looking at is online. I'm not a fan of ordering clothes online...even if I was a normally-proportioned person, there's no guarantee it'll fit, and seeing as I'm not, I'm pretty darn leery of it. On the other hand, I don't where I'm supposed to find stuff like that in this wasteland of a town. I went to a plus-size vintage shop in LA one time that was awesome, but I just drove to LA last weekend, and it took me 4 1/2 hours, so if you think I'm doing that again any time soon, you're outta your gourd. So, uh, yeah, problems. Maybe I'll just go for a skirt. I hate skirts, but I'll deal.

Had an awesome Ukrainian beer called Obolon the other day...gah, it was so good! I can't describe it...it was actually a couple weeks ago, not just "the other day," so I kinda forgot what it tasted like, other than really, really good. Apparently the brand Obolon makes different kinds of beer, and now I can't even remember which one it was...gotta go back to the restaurant I got it from for more!

Ah, okay, thank you so much, guys! I can sleep at night now, hehe! Oh man, what I'd give to see Stevie make Eminem eat some shaved ice... Hey, they both live around Detroit - maybe someday their beer league teams will play each other...I hope Darren McCarty's on Steve's team, muahaha. Don't know if he still lives in Detroit, though. On a completely different subject, man I wish we had a Tim Hortons around here. I ordered that Center Ice thing on TV where you get out-of-market hockey games, and the local TV feeds always have Tim Hortons ads on. Looks good. Is it actually good? Their coffee can't be any worse than Starbucks, that's for sure. And I want to try one of those Timbits things, hehe.

I have the dumbest question ever. Today I learned what a toque is, and that in America we would call it a beanie. Here's where it gets confusing for me, because I differentiate between a "ski cap" and a "beanie." A ski cap has that little puffball of yarn on top, whereas a beanie does not. Also, a beanie can have a brim (whose sole purpose is to make you look like a dumbass, from what I can gather), whereas a ski cap cannot. After looking up "ski cap" and "beanie" on Google Images, though, it seems like they're kind of interchangeable, so I guess I'm the only weirdo who came up with that difference. But just to make sure, can a toque come either way, with or without puffball? Examples: This is what I would consider a ski cap. This is a beanie. Now, you can tell why the difference is so important to me. There's Steve Yzerman, looking way rad in his Olympics "ski cap," and then there's Eminem, looking like his usual jackass self in a "beanie" and serving as a model for jackasses everywhere (my apologies if you wear beanies - maybe it's just because nobody really needs to wear them in So Cal, and so only jackasses who would wear a hat in 90 degree weather are attracted to them around here). Does this difference exist in Canada when talking about toques, or am I just completely crazy, as usual?

I've got all kinds of Disney tapes floating around here somewhere. I drove my parents crazy playing The Little Mermaid in the car. I also really liked this one that had a collection of songs from Disneyland rides (A Pirate's Life for Me, The Tiki Room, It's a Small World, the Electrical Parade song, etc.). Although I think I used to skip over It's a Small World, even when I was like 5, hehe.

HONDA CENTER, YAYYYY!!! I love the Suck Pond! No really, I do - it's a super-nice facility - I just don't like the Ducks, who play there. Well, that ought to be WAY better than when I saw Roger in '07. Roger himself was great, but the venue was not...that place was a fire-trap, seriously (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine - don't go there). OMG, that's three days after my birthday, too! Sweeeet, I know how I'm going to be celebrating! If you haven't seen him, definitely go! It's an out-of-this-world experience, and I was dead sober, hehe! Even my mom had a blast, and she's not really into Floyd (I mean, she likes them okay when I play them, but she's not like a big fan).

"The Week of Living Dangerously" by Steve Earle. I love the line that goes, "I threw the car seat in the dumpster and headed out into the night."

Thanks! Lol, surf's up! Glad nothing broke at your house...I think we got pretty lucky on this one. Well, except for Mexicali/Calexico...I've definitely been keeping them in my thoughts. I had a short day at school today; the person I usually tutor had class earlier than usual (I don't quite get how that works, but whatever) and didn't stick around, so I went home. As much as I like to help everybody, I'm kinda thankful for the break.

I'm happy I put my guitars flat on the floor before I left on vacation last weekend! Usually I have them standing up on end, which is kind of dumb, but they take up too much space. However, I do try to remember to lay them down when I'm out of town in case of an earthquake, and hey hey, it paid off! Some CDs fell off a shelf, but other than that, everything's okay. Glad to know my 1920s-era house didn't do the mambo down the street during the thing - I was in a restaurant Palm Springs when it happened today. That was the biggest one I've ever felt, I think. It was kind of weird, though, it was more of a rolling one than a jostling one, but sheez, it lasted forever! I probably should've gotten under the table, considering how long it went on, but everybody just kind of got out from under the chandeliers (perfect timing to have one of those over your head) and beams and were like, "Um, stop now please?" Well, except for the guy who ran out the door, right into a bunch of trees and possibly power lines...not sure where he thought he was headed.

That sounds like me and my SATs in high school. I did darn near perfectly on the English section, but I was absolutely horrible at the math section for the simple reason that I'd never seen any of the stuff on the test before in my life. I always paid attention in class, got A's in math all 4 years, so what gives? I guess it was because I was in the lower math track, but it wasn't THAT far behind the regular classes - I mean, I went to Catholic school, so you had to place at a minimum competency level just to get into the school - so I can't explain what happened there. Plus, when I took the math placement test at community college, they had different levels of the test you could take, and I took the hardest one and did really well, so the stuff on the SAT will forever be a mystery to me (I didn't take the SAT again because I didn't even bother to apply to a 4-year school...I graduated with a 2.9 GPA, lol). Like you said, I imagine it'll be a lot easier the next time around, now that you'll actually have heard of the material that's on it before you get there. Teachers kill me sometimes, I swear...I've had classes like that - maybe if you'd TAUGHT us this in class, we could have answered the questions about it on the test! And in those cases, they make their own tests! Honestly. Anyway, good luck next time! I'm sure you'll do great, now that you'll be fully informed.

...And the Red Wings beat the Blackhawks 5-4! Datsyuk is the man. In other news, I had really good pizza for lunch, and I don't have very much homework.

Awesome! So beautiful! And I was just sorta dreaming about going to Quebec this summer and wondering what there is to see there, so this gave me a couple of ideas! Anything you guys think I really shouldn't miss, if I do happen to go there?

Yeah, I think we agree IPA's definitely have nothing in common with beers like Bud and Miller...that stuff doesn't taste like anything! It's just that whereas you exact beer in general to have a certain amount of bitterness, whether it's a little or a lot, Gulden Draak has none. I just never expected beer to be sweet, that's all. For instance, I like Ayinger's doppelbock, which is majorly malty, but it's more "bready" tasting than sweet. It's like a piece of whole grain bread vs. a cinnamon roll. Ok, maybe GD's not that sweet, but ya know, it's way past malty. I can't say I'm a huge fan of IPA. I like the crisp flavors, but it's just a little too bitter for me. I do prefer the malty side of the spectrum on the whole... I'm definitely no fan of the big American "beers" (aka water), though. The only time I'd drink Bud is if it was a choice between it and Pabst...hehe, at least your friends have sense enough to drink "average" beers as opposed to the horror that is PBR. My friends are hipster wannabes and started drinking that stuff to be ironic or some weird thing. I didn't get the joke at first and wondered why they liked it so much, so I had a sip once. Good lord, it was all I could do to swallow it. Never again! Oh, thought of another one I like... Köstritzer Schwarzbier (black lager)! You definitely get the chocolate/coffee notes in there, and surprisingly, it's not too heavy. Good stuff!

I mean IPA is "normal" in that, like most beers, it has a certain degree of bitterness (and is at the bitterer end of the scale, obviously). Therefore, Gulden Draak is "not normal" because it is not bitter at all in the least, and is more like drinking dessert. Most beers do not taste like you're drinking dessert, so in this particular case, IPA has more in common with most beers than this stuff does. (Sorry I didn't see this before, by the way.)

I love Duvel's Gulden Draak. If you're used to normal beer, especially something like the more bitter IPA, this would probably taste pretty weird to you because it's actually almost kind of sweet. It's kind of expensive, but I got a small bottle of it to drink while I was watching the Daytona 500 today (no Bud here, sorry), but then I forgot and left it at home, darn it. And I was going to be consoled by the fact that it started a little early for drinking here on the West Coast anyway, but with all the delays, it definitely went over into beer drinking time. I did have some Newcastle as a backup, though, so all was not lost.

Right on! Ya know, I've been thinking about it lately, and if someone asked me who I thought the best band of the 2000s was, DKM would at least have to be in my top 3. They rock, pure and simple! I went ice skating today! I'm supposed to go with my friend when she moves back next week (which also makes me happy), but I couldn't wait. I was already at the mall that has the ice rink, and it was calling my name, so I threw self respect to the wind and went for it. I actually did better than I thought I would, considering I haven't been in like 10 years. I skated around the rink 3 times without holding on to the side or losing my balance there at the end, and I only fell down twice. Weirdly, that was at the end, too - must've gotten a little too brave, hehe. Anyway, I was grinning ear to ear walking out of there, even though it was raining and my knees hurt, lol. Happy anniversary, Virginia! Hope you can get out pretty soon and celebrate!