Too HOT!! Ok, it's only in the 80s, but it's the high 80s, and all last week it was only in the low 70s, so the sudden change makes it feel a lot hotter than it is. God, I said to my dad today, let's go to the desert this weekend! Uh, never mind, I guess, since the Palm Springs area is having record highs that are supposed to get up around 115 degrees...

Thinking about orange Dodge Challengers and red Chevy Camaros.

I found Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Second Helping" and "Nuthin' Fancy" on vinyl, yay! Nuthin' Fancy almost looks like it's never been played, so that's pretty cool. Now I have my 3 favorite LS albums (along with Pronounced) on vinyl, woohoo!

Well, that gives me a little hope...maybe someday I'll be able to run a whole mile, hehe! Go band people!

Me too (about the running) - I'm in total awe of marathon runners because that is one thing that I know I will never be able to do. I am just an absolute turtle when it comes to running (and not the tortoise-y "slow and steady" type, either...just slow), so you've definitely got my respect, Virginia!

I just saw the most hi-larious thing on TV - train racing! It's not trains racing each other (although apparently that exists, too), it's three cars chained together, and the front car has the gas and steering, and the back car has the brakes. Not only that, but they do it on a figure 8 track. Total mayhem, and funnier than hell. I love how some of them have the front car painted with NASCAR schemes, hehe.

No wonder all those idiots on COPS who try to evade arrest get caught - you can't run with a tent around your knees! And the thing that gets me is, when the EFF is this going to go out of style? I mean, this isn't the first stupid fad that's coming along, but the difference is they all went out of style within a couple years! This has hung around for almost 20 years now! PLEASE let's try something new! If you REALLY want to be gangsta that bad, find a new way to show it!

Awesome! Yeah, good luck with the Internet...darn machinery!

Hey, cool! Sounds like a big deal to me. High five! I took a nap today...that made me happy, hehe!

All right, will do!

Lol! You'll be the envy of all the 10-year-olds in your neighborhood. I think I might go see Murder by Death next month...the main band is The Gaslight Anthem, but I have no clue who that is. MBD is definitely good stuff, though. Ooh! Flogging Molly's going to be here, too. They always put on an awesome show. OH HELL YEAH! Robert Earl Keen's going to be here in October, woo woo! All right, I wouldn't have looked all this up if it weren't for this thread - thanks! And, of course, I am going to go see the one and only Jamey Johnson again in LA (because NOW he has tour dates posted for the West Coast...where were these in June?!).

Cloooose uuup the honky tooonks, loooock all the doooors - Buck Owens

Jeez, it seems like a ton of people from my high school class have gotten married already! We're only 24, what's the hurry? I mean, if you're in love, yeah sure, go for it, but jeez, it seems like an awfully high percentage. Maybe I'm just being juvenile again, I don't know. I guess this didn't exactly make me unhappy, per se, but now on top of me wishing I was in a meaningful relationship for its own merits, somehow knowing this makes me feel even more aggravated that I'm not because I guess I feel like I should be competing, if I'm perfectly honest with myself. I know that's messed up, but I can't say it's not affecting me. Argh, no wonder I don't have a boyfriend - I am NUTS!!

Well, if it makes you feel any better, they don't want to come to San Diego, either. I'd be seeing Willie Nelson on Wednesday if the show wasn't a 3-hour drive away.

You bet your ass that made me happy today! Stewart wins for the third time this season (4th if you count the All-Star Race) - woot woot!!! I like the road course races. I guess some people complain about them, but I think they're fun...kinda mixes it up a little with those crazy right turns and all.

All right, you've probably heard me blathering about this guy before, but I've never given him a good old-fashioned plug, so here goes: if you like country music at all, in the least, you need to hear Jamey Johnson. This guy writes songs like Waylon Jennings, has a voice that sounds like Hank Williams Jr. but with the intensity of Hank Sr., writes lyrics like Johnny Cash (High Cost of Living reminds me of Folsom Prison Blues and Man in Black, anyway), and looks like Willie Nelson (hehe). And really, he's just a cool bastard in his own right. When Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban have faded away in 30 years, you'll still be hearing his name (if there's any justice in the world), mark my words. Songs to check out: - In Color (this is the big hit single, so it's a little more commercial-sounding than the rest of his album, but it's a great song nonetheless) - High Cost of Living (story of a man's descent into drugs and prison sung by a guy who sounds like he knows what he's talking about for a change...no gangsta posing here) - That Lonesome Song (great homage to Waylon) - Between Jennings and Jones (gotta have a bar room singalong) - Mowin' Down the Roses (I think everybody here will like this one...it's kind of an old-school blues jam) - Give It Away (Ok, you GOTTA hear this one...Jamey wrote it, George Strait recorded it. This is Jamey and Lee Ann Womack doing it as a duet live at the George Strait Artist of the Decade Tribute concert. This is the meaning of solid country gold, as far as I'm concerned. Only George Jones and Tammy Wynette do it better.)

I'm in the desert right now - man, is it dry! I can hear you all saying, "duh," but MAN is it dry! My poor dog keeps shocking her nose when she goes to sniff something, and I keep shocking myself with the sink water when I go to wash my hands. Oh well, it's a welcome change from the nasty humidity in San Diego and earlier this summer in Tennessee, so I'll take the shocks for the weekend. My hair looks a lot better, too -- not so frizzy! Hotplant - I'm glad your house is okay! My thoughts are with your neighbors. We've had several small fires in North and East County ourselves...usually it doesn't start until around October. I'm afraid we're going to have a pretty bad fire season again. The earthquakes aren't the thing that bothers me about around here; it's the fires that really suck.

I feel your pain. I was watering plants today in 90 degree, still-as-death heat today. Not as hard as unloading granite counter tops, but hauling around full water buckets gets really old really fast when it's that hot. This wouldn't have pissed me off if I'd been outside...there's nothing you can do about that. However, I was INSIDE, where the air conditioning was turned off because the place is attempting to "go green." The ironic, maddening twist of fate is that the AC was, in fact, on in two places: the empty break room and the empty conference room. WHAT THE $#%*?!?! So you're making everybody suffer so you can advertise what big martyrs you are and look good to the general public, but really you're just big liars who are wasting even more energy than most places because you're not even using it for the benefit of the employees? I have a headache... All I can say is, it's your tax dollars at work, my friends, because this is a publicly funded place. Of course. Nobody can screw up quite like the government.

Ha, I definitely think we could fill up a thread with those moments...and possibly the opposite, too! No work today - I'm happy! Going to the desert tomorrow, that's a happy thought too! Jamey Johnson's coming out with a new album this fall - TOTAL happy thought...I didn't think there'd be one until next year. Good times! I like this year! edit: I just noticed theycallmethehunter's avatar, which made me laugh out loud. Love it!

Finally making some good progress on Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins. Had jury duty, lots of waiting around...I'm halfway through it, yay! I started reading it a few months ago and only got a couple of pages in; it definitely picks up speed once you get going.

Am listening to the crickets chirp as I wait for Jamey Johnson's next single to be released...but actually I'm listening to: Bad Company - Bad Company

Lol! That's a good idea...except then I'd have to get up at 7:30, hehe. I wish I could find a way to pipe my electric guitar noise directly into their house; I don't want to disturb the other neighbors by playing loud, but if it would just go into their house with volume set at 11, that would be sooo perfect. :dodgy:

Oooh, ice cream parlor!!! Man, that makes me happy just thinking about it. That's it, I'm going to have to go find a Ben & Jerry's tomorrow and get a Banana Fudge Royale with walnuts, hehe. Shoot, what was I going to say? That thought just took over my brain, lol!

I am going to KILL my neighbors!!!! No, seriously, one of these I'm going to do it unintentionally if they keep RIDING THEIR SKATEBOARDS DOWN THE HILL AND BEHIND MY CAR WHILE I'M PULLING OUT OF THE DRIVEWAY!!!! I don't even know why in the FRACK they're on my street at all because it's a frakking CUL-DE-SAC!!!! What if I hadn't been there and they hadn't had to have slowed down (wtf is going on with my verb tense, by the way...that doesn't look right)? Would they have crashed into my neighbor's PARKED car at the end of the street? And don't get me started on the parties (like last night...it's THURSDAY for chrissake! If you have that much energy, get a job) and the "band" practice (yes, they have a drumset...isn't that perfect?). Time for revenge. Just wait, assholes. Your time is up. This at the very least merits a TP-ing. Muahaha!!!!

An Italian walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan officer. He told the loan officer that he was going to Italy on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank. The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the Italian handed over the key to a new Ferrari. The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. The Italian produced the title and everything checked out. The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest; he said there were no early payment fees. Later, the bank's president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the Italian for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank's secure underground garage and parked it. Two weeks later, the Italian returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.07. The loan officer said, "Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?" The Italian replied: "Minga, where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?"