In my spare (ha!) time, one of my hobbies is genealogy.  I don't mean just keeping a small notebook with family names listed  – I'm talking full-blown research.

I was always interested in genealogy for as long as I can remember.  My mom & dad always had scraps of paper laying around with homemade "family trees" so my family history was always there for me.  My great aunt Bertha on my mom's side was the go-to gal for any and all family related information.  Bertha's now entering her 90s and I have taken over for both sides of my family.  Any info you need, I'm the person that gets the phone call to answer questions.

It seems like my life theme anyway is trying to always search for deeper meaning or look for bigger & better answers for anything and so family tree research sort of helps me quench that thirst so to speak.

I think I got really serious about it probably about 10 yrs ago. My father was diagnosed with cancer and only had months to live.  He was somewhat estranged from his side of the family and I figured that I needed to gather anything that I could before he was gone.  Just FYI – you can never ask enough questions or get enough answers. I knew who my grandfather was and where my last name somewhat came from but that was about it.  My dad couldn't even tell me the name of his paternal grandfather.  That was my first obstacle that I'm happy to say that I've uncovered.

I mean – it's kind of silly but when you finally get that death certificate in your hand and there's a name – it's like a whole other world opens up for you.  Ed.  That's it.  That was his name.  But he was finally identified.  He actually did exist.  I honestly don't know much more about him at this point, but I know his name and if not for him I wouldn't be here.  I know he was with my great-grandmother for a while and they had my grandfather and his sister, and then divorced and pretty much that's all anyone knows about him.

I guess it's sort of like putting a huge puzzle together and it's so satisfying when you've looked for that piece that doesn't fit anywhere only to find it right in front of you.

The countless hours I've spent walking graveyards in Texas, Oklahoma… keeping in touch with family members who might travel to Tennessee or Virginia (where both of my families come from) to get them to stop off at random cemeteries to get information.  In doing all of this, I seem to have inspired my younger sister & brother as well.  So it's nice when they can uncover something too.

If you're going to start on Family Tree research, I recommend "Family Tree Maker" software.  It's simple to use and all you have to do is enter the information into a database and it can print out your family history in several ways.  There's several versions out there now and different prices for them depending on your needs.

Some of the cooler things that I have discovered:

Bonnie Parker (of Bonnie & Clyde fame) was my cousin.  This is on my mom's side.  Aunt Bertha swore me to secrecy on that one, but I don't care.  I'm sure back in the day it was probably scandalous to admit being related to that clan, but it's more interesting to me now.  I just finished reading a new biography on Bonnie & Clyde  "Go Down Together" by Jeff Guinn.  It was amazing to read that book and know exactly where in the Dallas area these two hung out and where they killed a Police Officer on Hwy 114 in Grapevine. I lived a block away from there for almost 10 yrs and never knew.

 

Carl Hubbell was my cousin:

A left-handed Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Giants – he was called "King Carl" or "The Meal Ticket".  He struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Foxx to name a few. He married my great-aunt's daughter. Actually he's my First cousin twice removed in-law.  That's what the software tells me (!)

 

My mother's family – the Tucker family – came from England and settled in Bermuda. Anything in Bermuda named Tucker (and there is a lot of it) is my family.  I'd love to go there someday.  After Bermuda they moved on to Virginia.  Colonial Williamsburg to be exact. The St. George Tucker house is still there as well as many monuments to Judge Tucker. 

The Tuckers were also the first in Williamsburg to have a bathroom with running water so you're welcome, Virginia.  The Tuckers knew what was important.

I sort of neglected my research last year.  I'm hoping to get back to it this year in full force.  I should plan on trying to at least research one person a week.  Time to dust off the ol' form letters to different county clerks with the ability to pull birth & death certificates.  If you're lucky, sometimes you'll run across someone in the clerk offices who is really into the genealogy stuff as well and they'll pull a little more for you.  Thanks very much to the clerk in Wichita Falls, TX who not only provided certificates to me, but also some newspaper clippings and burial plot locations.  It sounds crazy, I know, but it's part of your history and for future members as well.

I'm off now to research these crazy, German bastards – the Bishop family – on my mom's side. 

Auf Wiedersehen!

I'm aware that there are some issues with people being unable to leave comments on this blog. Sorry about that. I'm not sure what the problem might be. I don't know much about this software so if you do want to comment, feel free to send me an e mail.  lisa@sweetparamania.com

I can't remember if we knew that TCV would be on Saturday Night Live before they scheduled another date at Roseland or the other way around.  I do know that when I found out about the SNL thing, I made up my mind that I would try to go. Emily wasn't really sure that she wanted to try to go to SNL as she had done that previously when Foo Fighters played a while back. Veronica, Krista & I really wanted to and thankfully, Veronica had a hook up and ended up getting us a hotel room for free for the entire 3 nights that we were in New York.  If not for her, we wouldn't have been able to do it.  I knew Emily would end up coming because she always stresses over the situation (that IS a Jersey Shore reference since she's a Jersey girl) and claims she's not going. We all know better by now.

It probably was a good thing that she came up to go anyway because southern New Jersey and Philadelphia (where both she & Krista live respectively) got slammed with snow and they probably wouldn't have made it up for the show on Monday.  The weird thing is that I live north of all of them in Boston and we didn't even get the slightest hint of snow.

So I worked on Friday and then caught a train to New York Penn Station.  Krista drove up from Philly & picked up Veronica in New Jersey just across the Hudson River from NYC.  They got to the hotel, checked in, and headed over to stand in line for SNL tickets and to hold a place for Emily & me. They were in line by 6 o'clock-ish.  Emily had to work but took a train up right after work.  There were 8 people in line ahead of Krista & Veronica.  Emily got to the line around 7:30 or 8:00pm (I believe that's correct). I got to Penn Station around 10pm and after throwing on 15 layers of clothes and grabbing a cab up to Rockefeller Center, I was in line by 11:15pm.  Officially, we were #s 8-11 in line.

There weren't too many people in line at this point. Less than what I figured. The line grew all night long up until ticket distribution at 7am.

So let me quickly describe the way that SNL works.

Every August, NBC hands out tickets to people who request them via e mail.  The shows are set but the hosts & musical guests are not necessarily decided at that point.  It sort of becomes a lottery and NBC sends out random tickets to random people. For example, if I request tickets, I have no say-so in what date I would get tickets for; I would only receive what they send me and then I would plan to be in NYC at that time.  Guests & Musical guests are announced a few weeks or even just a week ahead of time.

The people that had tickets to the live show and the dress rehearsal for this particular show had no idea back in August that this is who they would be able to see.

Now we stood in line for stand-by tickets because there's a good chance that some of the people that requested tickets in August would not be able to show up for whatever reason. Weather (especially in this case) or just other plans or situations came up.

When you stand in line for stand by tickets, you have the option of choosing which show you want to see: Dress Rehearsal or Live show.

So at 7am when they promptly start handing out tickets, everyone in line gets a ticket, but it's still not a guarantee that you'll get into the show.  Also, the tickets are numbered on the back and when you come back that evening for the show, you have to stand in line according to the number on your ticket. I like that because if you were there hours before others in the line, you're still in the same order so if you were there for 24 hrs before some guy that showed up at 6:59am you're still ahead of him.  I hope that makes sense.

We chose the dress rehearsal for several reasons. Don't think we didn't talk in depth about this before and did the math and polled the people in front of us (what show are you choosing?) etc. etc.  We weren't born yesterday.  We know what's up.  This requires a lot of chance, mathematical deductions, Dunkin Donuts coffee & luck.

Not to mention at dress rehearsal we would be able to see things that might not necessarily make the live show (which we would also be able to see on television).

I think we always sort of had a good feeling that we would get in. Only one person in front of us chose the Live show, but not sure if anyone that chose live got in.  I know that for dress rehearsal, about 34 of us made it in.  

As I said on the website, I know that we were called 'crazy' or 'nuts' or whatever for standing in line all night.  I have to laugh at that.  It was a small inconvenience for a few hours and the end result was very cool. Where's your sense of adventure?  I grew up watching this TV show from Studio 8H. In the late 70s I watched it with my dad. I was a kid, but I laughed when he laughed and we were spending time together, so I loved it.  I always watched it in the 80s and once when Mike Myers joined the cast I wrote my first fan letter (give me a break, I was still a teenager) and the dude wrote me back almost instantly with one of the funniest letters I ever read.  Sure, he's a diva now and a little on the weird side, but he still took the time to do that.  I know people knock SNL all the time – how it sucks – how they hate it. Whatever.  I don't claim to watch it every Saturday now, but it's still very much a part of American television tradition and it's not something that I ever thought I would have the opportunity to attend.  I'm glad I waited and got in to the show.

So back to our little in-line adventure. We had a lot of people stop to ask us what we were waiting in line for..? Most people were visiting from other countries and when we told them, they had no idea what we were talking about.  I met 2 lovely women though from Ireland and had a nice conversation with them and they wished us luck.

I think I slept for a couple of hours and so did Emily & Veronica. Krista didn't sleep at all.  There were a few trips to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and food and a few trips to McDonald's for bathroom breaks.  There was a trip or two back to the hotel a few blocks up to drop off my bag and to grab a few things, but other than that, looking back, it seems like time went by really fast.

There was a couple in front of us that had bought a tent and brought it and set it up only to be told immediately that they had to take it down.  The guy behind us was from Switzerland and had lived here for 4 months and had a light jacket on and no blanket or anything else.  Dude, you were from Switzerland – why weren't you prepared better?  He actually found a cardboard box and slept in it. I ended up giving him a blanket but jeez…I gotta wonder what you were thinking. We had sleeping bags, blankets, chairs, cots, wool coats, ski coats, LL Bean hand-warmers, snow boots – you name it and we had it.  This is why it wasn't so bad – we were prepared.

The funny thing was that we seemed to be the only FF fans there. Everyone else was QOTSA fans or Led Zeppelin fans.  Someone told me that some girl on twitter or some social networking site said she would probably be the only girl out there. HYSTERICAL.  

As 6am approached, we had to start loading everything up and making more of a proper line to stand in.  Photos, videos etc. were taken and then promptly at 7am, the tickets were handed out.  Again, we had the choice of dress rehearsal and Live show.  I told the girl handing the tickets out that I wanted dress rehearsal and she said "Dress Rehearsal?" as if to say 'that's a dumb choice' which made me somewhat question my decision for a split second. I grabbed up #8 as 1 person ahead of us went for Live and that was that. We were #s 8-11 for dress rehearsal.

We gathered our things and headed back to the hotel room.  We crashed in no time and were up that afternoon to get ready for more standing in line.

We had to be back at NBC by 7:15pm.  The people with confirmed tickets were in line and were sent upstairs to the studio as we stood in another line (in # order).  We were told that the first 100 people would be moved into the other line where the confirmed ticket holders had been.  This meant nothing. We were not guaranteed a seat until we were in the studio sitting in it.  As we were standing there in line, we could see the metal detector that we would have to go through.  I looked to my right and Josh walked in right past me.  Of course this sort of surprised me and I was even more feeling the sense of 'oh man, if we don't get in this is going to really suck.'  A few minutes later they took the first 30 of us up to the metal detector and into the elevator area.  That's when Alain walked in.  Yeah, you know exactly what went through my head at that point. Dave was going to walk in probably and then they would tell us the studio was full and to turn around and leave.  For the record, I never saw Dave walk in. I don't know if he was there already or if he came in after we got upstairs. I sort of think he was there already.  

Poor Emily.  At the TCV show in Washington D.C. back in October, she had just got over a cold and still wasn't 100% and fainted in the front row; now here we are standing in the elevator area at 30 Rock and she starts feeling like she was going to faint.  I don't know what it is with her and TCV shows – she just gets light headed and goes down.  Luckily she held it together and was able to take the elevator up.  We stood there for a while and with every passing minute you start thinking that the studio is probably more full than you thought and they won't need you.  Finally they took the first 30 of us up and we got our wrist bands and walked down the hallway to the studio.  Veronica and I were in front and right as we got past the check stand, they stopped Krista & Emily.  Veronica & I had to go on, but once I got to the doorway I could see that there were plenty of seats. They were just trying to give the others a chance to get seated.

We were on the opposite side of stage where the band plays which sucks, but we were still there.  There's TV monitors everywhere so you do get to see it all.

Studio 8H is really small and it's very interesting how they move sets all around the room and tape the skits all the way around the audience that is sitting in the seats that are on the floor.  I always sort of thought that maybe they film everything where the host usually does the monologue. Not true. In fact, the house band sits there through the whole show.

For dress rehearsal everything runs exactly the same as it would during the live show. They count down for commercials and act as if they're live.  Before the show Jason Sudeikis did a little stand-up and told us how things work and waved to us in the 'shitty seats'. Again, at least we were there.  He told us that we would get about 30 more minutes than the Live show and we did.  After watching the live show I know of one skit and one SNL commercial that was not aired at the live show.

Veronica & I sat next to one another and Emily & Krista were right behind us.

The first few skits were done & the Vultures came out to get ready for "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" and while it was good, I think there were sound issues maybe (not their fault…). As soon as the song was over they left the stage area and we didn't see them again until "New Fang". I gotta say it was a little surreal sitting there and oh there's Dave.. just walking by.  Maybe at some point you would think that I would get used to it, but I don't.  I still get really excited or happy to see him.  I just adore the guy. What else can I say?  I felt like when they played "New Fang" that they really sounded great.  I think after listening to both songs at rehearsal and then again watching them on the live show on television that "New Fang" at rehearsal was the best.

Now one of the topics as we were sitting outside in line the night before was 'why don't they put Dave into a skit??'  Everybody thinks it – everyone knows he'd be great at it.. why don't they?  I almost hoped Lorne Michaels would have been around so we could have asked (ha)  and let me just say that before the Facebook group "Let's get Betty White to host Saturday Night Live" started, that we considered starting some sort of petition for Dave.  (Not really but now it would just look like we're stealing Betty White's thunder).

After "New Fang" was over and they cleared for commercial, Dave immediately jumped up and ran out of the studio.  I looked at Veronica and said, "That's a man on a mission…" and Emily & Krista leaned over and said they thought him running out so fast like that meant that he was getting dressed / changed to be in a skit. Why else would he be so quick to get out of there as the other Vultures took their time?  We sat through what would be a commercial break and the next skit – a wedding skit – began.

In a few moments, the "band" was introduced and Dave walked out in the best wig ever.  We didn't even see his face, but knew it was him and I'm sure the four of us laughed louder than anyone else in the studio.  The thing is that the skit that aired live was much shorter than what we saw.  The intro was different as well as Fred Armisen talked much longer and gave a little more information on the band.  I'm sad that some of it got cut – I hope someday they'll put the dress rehearsal version online.  Dave seemed to giggle a little more with his 'unlike my prostate' line and even smashed a tray of champange glasses with his foot at one point.  I know that there were issues with his microphone at the live show, but there were issues with it at the dress rehearsal too.  Still, the 4 of us couldn't believe that first we actually all 4 got into the show and that we happened to be there when he finally was in a skit.  It was great.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  A great experience.

After the show was over we headed out to grab some dinner really quick so that we could get back to the hotel to see the live show on TV.

The weird thing is that the order of the skits were completely different and they didn't air a SNL commercial "Tooter" that featured TCV.  Also a skit got cut (thank GOD) of some bar scene / country hick music – honestly I can't even remember what the deal was with it only that it was awful and should have been cut.  I was afraid that they weren't going to show the wedding reception skit but of course it was the last thing to air on the show.

We decided not to hang out and try to see them leaving NBC or anything like that.  Honestly – I don't want to do that a lot because I don't want to bother Dave etc. too much.  I got a nice wave at the show Monday night from him and that's cool enough for me. I just don't want to become a nuisance and be standing there every time that he turns around.  I doubt he had any idea that we were at SNL. He never saw us that I know of – never looked in our direction which again is fine by me. Just trying to be respectful is all.

I'm sure there are a million other little details that I have overlooked but in a nutshell, that was our SNL experience.

Just going through my hard drive and wanted to post some of my favorite photos from 2009.

At SXSW / Austin, Texas with Jon Gonnelli

 

SXSW / Austin, Texas with Herb Wiley ( I was blonde for 5 minutes)

 

 

 

SXSW  Austin, TX with my best friends Claudia and Joey.

 

 

 

Me with Claudia's daughter Jacqui at SXSW in Austin, TX. I don't know what was happening.

 

 

 

@ Spider House in Austin / SXSW to see The Black Hollies play. (Joey & me with the worst sunburn ever).

 

 

 

 

Herbie has some Texas BBQ

 

 

In New York City / July 4, 2009:

 

 

Ft. Worth, Texas – hanging out with the Black Hollies. Jon, my friends Joey & Hollie and Herb. July 2009

 

 

Me & my sister at a Boston Red Sox game / September 2009

 

 

 

With Nate (Sunny Day Real Estate, Foo Fighters) October 2009 House of Blues Boston

 

William Goldsmith of Sunny Day Real Estate / House of Blues Oct 2009 Boston

 

 

Dave G. / Them Crooked Vultures Boston House of Blues Oct 2009

 

 

Times Square NYC Nov. 2009 *kisses*

 

 

Patrick & Casey NYC November 2009

 

Times Sq with Zombies

 

 

Mom @ Central Park

 

Hard Rock Cafe NYC

 

Patrick & Dave

 

 

Times Sq. with mom

 

@ Magnolia Bakery NYC in line for the best Red Velvet cupcakes EVER

 

Thanksgiving at a friend's house:

 

With my sister on Thanksgiving:

First of all.. Christmas turned out really well. Delayed in Dallas on my flight out to my mom's, but other than that it was good to be home.  Between the three of us kids, we hooked mom up with a nice down payment for a new car which she desperately needed.  She's so happy about it now we can't peel her off of the ceiling.

Obligatory Christmas photo of the Anderson kids at the airport….

 

So it's a new year, and my self-improvement phase continues. ;-p  For the 2nd time in my life, I sat my butt down in the orthodontist's chair and got braces. This one's on me because as a teenager, I had my first round of braces removed and basically laughed in the face of my retainer.  It was the 80s – I looked at it and yelled, "AS IF!"  20+ yrs later I wonder why my smile is not what it used to be.  Why that one 'snaggle tooth' as my dad called it continues to haunt me.  No matter.  On Monday I headed over to Dr. Riz's office and he hooked me up..literally.  It's a 12 month deal.  Pretty teeth in a year?  Sign me up!  My sister just finished her treatment and my brother is at the end of his, so far be it for me to not get in on the dental upgrades.  It's really just an excuse to keep appointments up at my regular dentist Dr. Cook who is beautiful and cool and loves music.  I love going to the dentist!!

On the downside..well.. I look stupid.  I had three "compliments" yesterday:  "you look miserable!!"  THANKS!  Also: thank God for yogurt, bananas & soup… and applesauce.  I have a feeling that you will be the only cuisine I eat for a year.  No joke.  I'm in pain.  My teeth have drastically shifted in the past 4 days.  I can't imagine that I'll ever eat correctly again… or for a year.  Maybe they'll feel better in a week… just in time to have one of them pulled to make space.  Which means it will be a week or so before I'm over that…just in time for another adjustment.

One thing's for sure…. I'm going to smile my ass off in a year.

Normally I wouldn't draw so much attention to it, but I've had issues with my teeth for as long as I can remember.

I had what "they" call "Cleidocranial Dysplasia with multiple supernumerary teeth".  This means I had three sets of teeth rather than two.  My baby teeth, the full set I have now plus another full set of 32 teeth. FREAK.  I know.  I blame my dad who was stationed on nuclear submarines in the 60s and literally slept underneath a nuclear warhead.  Thanks, dad for the radiation!  Oh it's funny now, but when I was in 3rd grade and had to check into a hospital for surgery to remove 32 teeth…not so cool.  30 yrs later I'm still dealing with this shit! 

There will be no Leecy photos for 1 yr. I'm goofy looking enough as it is without posting my nerdy braces online.

So that's what's going on with me now…other than trying to put together this birthday book for the website which is sometimes a full time job.  Not complaining about it one bit though. It's nice to see all of the entries from all over the world and to read all of them and give people an opportunity to let Dave know how much he is loved & appreciated for his music.

Also, as I sit here freezing to death, I'm considering another move.  Boston is cool and all, but it's not where I want to be for the rest of my life.  The last time around when I considered leaving Dallas I had two options…. California or Boston.  I really wanted to go to California, but then a health scare sort of set me back and my sister lived in Boston so I opted to move to Boston to go to work at Children's Hospital.  I got some sweet benefits and had a surgery that kept me in the Brigham hospital for well over a week. (Best hospital EVER).  That was two years ago and I'll never regret moving here if nothing else than to sort of basically save my life.   Boston – I had my choice of some of the best doctors in the country / world.  Two years later I'm extremely healthy and doing well and am sort of ready to move on.  It will take me a while and I find myself still thinking about California, but at the same time I've spent a lot of time out in Seattle with my friend Linda and I am really starting to love Seattle.

Cold and rainy though… I'm tired of that and snow.  So I have to decide.  I put together a plan that will have me out of here in another year or so.  Weighing my options.

Excited about going home for Christmas… happy that my sister decided to join us and will be flying out with me.  Can't wait to see my "little" brother and mom and just spend some time with my family.  I can't think of any other present I'd rather have.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

~Leecy

The Friday after Thanksgiving my friends Herb, Jon, Justin & Nick rolled into town to play in Cambridge, MA at TT The Bear.  These guys are otherwise known as The Black Hollies.

Herbie, Jon & Justin are formally of Rye Coalition and I love them dearly.  They (along with my friend Dave of R.C.) are my brothers and I mean that in the most adoring way and from the bottom of my heart.  I love them.  Dearly.  I met them because of this website and I can't say enough good things about them.

It started in 2004.  I had just started my website and received an e mail from someone telling me that I should add the group "Rye Coalition" to the 'bands' section of the site.  I had never heard of this group of guys from New Jersey.  The e mail stated that they had just had their album produced by Dave Grohl and so I did a little research and was then told in the same e mail that they would contact the drummer (Dave L.) from Rye to ask about using the photos of them in the studio with Dave G. on my website.  Dave L. immediately agreed that I could use the photos on my site. I thought it was kind of a nice thing to do.

I was living in Dallas, TX at the time and a few weeks after receiving the e mail, I was looking through the live music guide for Dallas and saw that Rye Coalition would be coming through town that weekend.  I thought that I should probably go down to the show and thank Dave personally.  My best friend Joey decided she would go with me.  I had seen pictures of the guys, but they were never labeled, so I had no clue who was who.  I had an idea of who Dave might be, but wasn't really sure.

At the club that night it was quite packed and I stood around looking to see if I could find him before the show (a few local bands were on first).  After a while, I saw a guy with a hat on and a computer bag draped over his shoulder.  I decided for whatever reason that this was Dave.  I went back and forth until my best friend got sick of it and said, "Just go over and TALK to him, jeez!"  Not the easiest thing for me to do. I'm a shy person to begin with and so walking up to strange boys is just not one of my strengths. I walked across the room, somewhat following him and he sat down on a couch.  "Are you Dave?" I pointed at him.  He looked at me like I had 2 heads and probably was wondering how some girl from Texas knew his name. 

What happened in the next 5 minutes was disastrous. In my nervous introduction, I failed to tell Dave that I was the one that used the images off of his band's website on my website.  So I'm sitting there calling myself a friend of someone who had e mailed him when really I just was acquainted online with said person. It was more than awkward and I wanted to crawl away.  He apologized and said they had just arrived from Phoenix, AZ and that he was really tired.  I figured that was my exit strategy and suddenly it hit me.  "So, I just wanted to stop by and thank you for letting me use the pictures of you guys in the studio with Dave Grohl on my website."  It was like a lightbulb went off over Dave's head. "OHHH.  I know who you are now!!  I didn't realize that was YOU."

"Yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you… who.. I was…"

Dave told me to hang out and watch their show and we would talk after the show.  I was blown away by that show.  Amazing guys.  Afterwards, I introduced Dave to my friend and by the end of the night we were helping sell Rye Coalition T shirts and CDs. 

I occasionally talked to Dave through e mail like a 'hey what's up' or 'when the hell is that album coming out that Dave G. produced?' (which in itself is a long, drawn out story of record companies selling and merging and everything that can go wrong for a band. Google it. Rye Coalition "Curses").

At the beginning of 2006, I read that Foo Fighters would be doing some dates in Europe and that Rye Coalition would be supporting them.  Very cool.  I was happy for Dave L.  At this point, I had only met him and none of the other guys in the band.

 

D.Lee & the Foo setlist

In March of that year, Taylor Hawkins went on tour in support of his Coattail Riders album and Rye Coaltion went on the road with him. I flew from Dallas to Lubbock, TX where one of the shows would be.  I had lived in Lubbock years earlier and my friend Patrick and his wife lived there so I would get to visit them and Patrick would go to the show with me.  For whatever reason, I somewhat forgot that Rye would be opening until we got to the venue and I saw equipment being unloaded.  I remembered that I needed to talk to Dave to see if he even remembered me.

Once inside the venue I met up with a few people who came in for the show as well. People that had started reading my website etc.  I watched the boys play their set and then said hello to Dave after.  He immediately remembered me.  We probably talked for an hour and got caught up.  I told them that when they came through Dallas that Tuesday, I would be at that show too.  He asked me if I wanted to meet Taylor and he said he would introduce me, but as D.Lee tends to do sometimes, he vanished and I didn't see him the rest of the night.  I asked Ralph, their singer if he had seen Dave.  'Who are you??" he teased, "I saw you talking to him earlier. Identify yourself."  I stared at him like 'as if' and he laughed.  I introduced myself and he said he hadn't seen Dave.

As we were leaving that night, Patrick saw Taylor outside and he said 'let's go say hi' so we did. The following photo was snapped:

 

My hair.  I know.  Sheesh.

If we're going to make fun of me though, we have to laugh at that hat on Taylor's head too.  I mean, I know we were in Texas, but come on.

That Tuesday night back in Dallas, my 2 best friends Joey & Claudia went with me to the show.  Let's just say a lot of alcohol, a lot of photos, and some good music.  Good times. 

I still had not met all of the guys in Rye Coalition yet.  When we got to the venue, we walked from the parking lot up to the club and I saw Dave walking down the sidewalk. When he saw me, he stopped.  I introduced him to Joey & Claudia and he actually remembered Joey from the first time we met him.  As we were standing there talking to Dave, two guys walk up and one of them slaps a $20 bill on to Dave's arm and says 'D. Lee'.  I looked at him and my mouth sort of dropped.  I admit I thought he was nice to look at.  He walked off and I think my eyes followed him half way down the block.

"Who was THAT?" I asked Dave.  "Duh, that's our guitarist, Jon."

eek.  So there you go – I always kind of thought Jon was on the hot side. This is no secret I'm sure.  I saw him last week and I'm finally able to put a sentence together around him.  (I really apologize, Jon if you somehow read this.)

During their set that night, about half way through, Jon put his guitar down and walked out into the audience and told me to come with him. I had no clue what was going on so he took my hands and pulled me out near the stage in front of everyone and made me dance with him. I'm still baffled by it:

Jon; me

 

It was a great night – here are a few more photos:

D. Lee in his FF hoodie

 

Rye Coalition

Party time / Excellent: Jon, me, Dave, Herb, Joey, Ralph

 

Ralph found this pink Cowgirl hat upstairs in the dressing room.  I think he took it because I've seen photos of him in Austin, TX with it on.

 

After the show, D.Lee talked to Taylor for me and Taylor let me & my friends come into his tour van so that he could sign some things for me.  I got a few shirts for some friends who had helped me with my website and Taylor was nice enough to sign them for me.  It was a good gift for the girls.  He posed for a photo :

Taylor

 

By the end of the night I had an invite by the Rye guys to come out to Los Angeles in about 10 days and see them open for Taylor at the Viper Room.  Oh, and they mentioned some guy named Dave Grohl would be there too.  I didn't think that I would be able to swing it.  I hadn't been to California in a while – it's hard to explain – I just didn't think I'd make it out there.  I called my little brother because he traveled all the time with his job.  For whatever reason, he offered up all his extra frequent flyer miles and hotel points and said I could take them only if he could come along too and hang out.  I e mailed D.Lee and he said no problem – he would put us both on the list.  We were on our way to California.

I remember standing out on Sunset Blvd after Rye played and I saw Ralph talking to someone on the sidewalk- I could only see his back.  Then he turned around and it was Dave G. – my brother and I looked at each other and I think my brother gasped.  I was standing right next to him and had no idea.. and I heard Ralph talking but couldn't tell you a thing he said.  About the time I worked up some nerve to say something, Dave turned and went into the club.  I never saw him again.  D. Lee felt so bad for not stepping in to introduce me – I was totally fine with the situation.  I got to go to California and hang out with my new friends and spend time with my brother – who am I to complain?  Moments later I saw Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers and I grabbed my brother  – he was a RHCP fan for as long as I can remember.  He was a little boy and loved them.  So I snapped this photo of them:

Chad & Steve

I think the trip was worth it right there for him.  Here are a few more photos from that trip:

Justin & Dave

 

Jon & me

Dave saving space for the van on Sunset.

I don't know why, but for whatever reason I have become really great friends with these guys.  I see them a lot and go to their shows and they drive me home after their Boston shows and when I'm in New York I see Dave or will pop over to Jersey to hang with him for a bit.  I can't believe how lucky I am that I get to know these guys – call them my friends etc. 

Palestinian Bluetooth is the name of Jon's blog and also the name given to the Black Hollies touring van. The blog is genius. I really mean that.  If you want to know how the name came about, I suggest starting here.  My favorite entry though is THIS. I sat down for dinner in Cambridge, MA one night with the Black Hollies after their show and some really great 80s songs were playing through the restaurant.  I commented to Justin and Herb how I hadn't heard whatever particular song was playing since I was in high school, but somehow I still remembered every single word, every note – and how all this crap was in my brain.  That's when they pointed me to the blog to read that particular entry.

Herb is dubbed 'Food Man' basically because he eats.. and eats.. and eats.  I don't understand how someone so thin can eat the way that he does and stay so thin.  Metabolism? Sure, maybe.. but the amount of food consumed is amazing.  These pics were taken in Austin, TX at South by Southwest. 

(I got the worst sunburn EVER there.  You would never think I was born and raised in Texas – I move away for a while and forget about the sun and its effect on me.)

You can read all about Herbie's food adventures HERE.

 So that's my update on those guys. I get asked quite a bit how I ended up meeting these boys so now I can just point to this blog. 

 

Please watch this video my friend Patrick made of our recent trip to New York.  He's really great at putting this sort of thing together.  Patrick says:

Every November I go to New York City for a few days.  I usually go around my birthday, but this year we went a week early.  It was the first time my mom had ever gone too and it turned out to be a good trip.  She seemed a little overwhelmed at first, but by the end of the trip she was really enjoying herself and has made plans to attend next year's 'Scorpio Holiday' for my 40th birthday.  She flew in to Boston on Thursday night and then on Friday we took Amtrak down into NYC.  My really good friend Patrick (my 20th High School reunion date) and his wife Cheryl also came up and we hung out.  The five of us went to see 'Wicked' on Broadway on Saturday night and I think my mom fell in love with the theater.  She wanted us to try and get tickets to see Jersey Boys Sunday afternoon, but they were sold out.  I also got to meet up with my friend Dave for a little while on his birthday.  He brought his son, Casey along too.  Always so good to see Dave and hang out with him.

As for my birthday present, I got a plane ticket to Seattle.  I get to visit some friends out there and oh yeah, I also get to go to the Nov. 21 'Them Crooked Vultures' show.  Happy Birthday to me!

Here are a few photos from the trip.

Me with mom

 

 

Some shopping:

 

My sister Liz, mom, & me at the NBC store

 

 

My friend Patrick and his Muppet "Geraldine" that he made at FAO Schwartz:

 

 

Patrick, me & Patrick's wife, Cheryl:

 

Mom & me at the Empire State Building:

 

 

Mom, Liz, & me:

 

Near Central Park:

 

Dave with Casey Bonham:

 

A couple of Scorpios (Happy Birthday, Dave!)

 

Patrick, me, Dave & Casey Bonham:

 

I smell a new comedy movie with a better cast than Chris Tucker & Jackie Chan:

Various thoughts before I blog about Cinemark Theaters & the Invisible Butter Technique:

Headed to New York this weekend.  I'm going with my sister & my mom is flying in from Texas. This is her first trip ever to New York City so I'm sure that there will be great stories of the cute, country bumpkin in the big city.  I hit NYC every November for what I call "Scorpio Holiday" – meaning it's my birthday month (16th) and that's where I like to spend it.  A little early this year, but that's when everyone could go.  Meeting up with my high school reunion date Patrick & his wife Cheryl as well and will celebrate with Dave Leto as the 8th is his bday.  Patrick & Dave have become great friends over Facebook. I introduced them several years back at a Rye Coalition show, but crazy shit went down at the show and all that happened was a 'nice to meet you'.  These two – I swear – a match made in bro-heaven.

And today (Nov.4) is 8 damn years since my father passed away.  8 yrs is an eternity.  I would give everything I own, every future earning, every dime I have to have 5 more minutes with him.  My dad was AWESOME.  I miss him every day of my life.  Cancer can go fuck itself.

Me & my dad James (Jim) 

Moving on…

My first job was at a movie theatre chain called Cinemark Theaters.  I started there in 1989 after high school and somehow ended up spending close to 9 yrs working there.  I moved up from selling popcorn and movie tickets to management etc. I didn't plan on it – I was going to college but that's the way things work out sometimes.

Working for that company did a number on me.  To this day, I still have dreams – nightmares I should say – about how suddenly I have lost my current job and I end up having to go back to work at a movie theater and I can't remember how to thread a movie projector or pop popcorn.  Trust me – I'd starve in the streets before hitting that joint up for a job again, but somehow my brain refuses to block this horrific time in my life.

Don't get me wrong.  It was somewhat cool to work there too with free movies and popcorn.  I started off in my home town of course and then moved on to Lubbock, TX and Corpus Christi and eventually Dallas.  When you're in college and working you always have friends that need a job and so you all end up working together and having a blast.

This was the very early 90s and everyone left home to move to Lubbock to go to Texas Tech (the other half of our friends hit Austin for UT).  I found myself sitting in our district manager's office one day and him offering me a job as an assistant.  I took it because it was more money – not because I had aspirations of being a movie theater manager.  Then when you actually have the power to hire people, you end up hiring all of your friends as well.  As soon as I was in management, my friend Patrick had moved to Lubbock and hit me up for a job.  I told him to come in that afternoon and he was an employee 5 min. later.

Cinemark is the type of company that will send management into the building and take a kernal of popcorn and hide it behind a piece of equipment and then come back a week later and say 'you're not keeping this place spotless.  I put that kernal of popcorn there a week ago and it's still there.'  Watch them come back and sue me for saying this crap but it's true.  Or my favorite "That bulb that's out on the marquee..?  It had better be warm.." meaning the second a bulb goes out it should be replaced.

I get that presentation is a good thing, but when you're trying to usher in 1000 people and sell popcorn, cokes & other high-priced bullshit concession items – the last thing on your mind is are all the 50,000 bulbs in the marquee lit?

It's tough for me to go see movies at a theater now too.  I nit-pick every single thing. In addition to noticing burnt-out lightbulbs, movies out of frame or focus send me into hysterics.  I'm almost offended if a movie is the slightest bit off-center and I hate myself for this behavior.  It's just a stinkin' movie that I know I'll see again on HBO in a month.  I don't lose my shit when my TV has a bit of dust on the screen at home, but God forbid someone in the audience throws a gummy bear at the massive screen.  I WANT MY MONEY BACK!!  ;-p

There are a million stories about theater work that I could tell you.  Anything that could ever happen in a movie theater has happened while I was on duty.  A lady had a baby in one of our theaters.  A man passed away in his seat watching 'A League of Their Own' (but really, who could blame him?).  Countless couples having sex and two air traffic controllers decided to sneak in some alcohol and got so drunk in a crowded theater and stood up and talked to Tom Cruise while he was on the big screen.  An off-duty police officer arrested them and I got summoned to court as a witness over it.  We had two customers fist fight over seats once and ended up punching and kicking one of my assistants.  He ended up in the emergency room.  My favorite had to be one Sunday afternoon after a huge 'rush' of customers came through we started our recovery period (restocking concession etc.)  and one of my employees ran down the hall towards me to tell me that a car in the parking lot suddenly burst into flames.  I got to the lobby and we're talking Hiroshima.  Black clouds billowing everywhere.  I can safely say it's the only time in my life I hurdled a line of ropes and yelled out "CALL 9-1-1!!!"  The aftermath on that was that a lot of cars parked next to the one that burst into flames had damage obviously.  Lucky me  – I was manager on duty and was told by a lady with paint damage that I should have come in to tell her so that she could have moved her car. (As if I even had a clue as to where to locate her in the theater).    I replied with 'so yeah, I think there's a law about going into a crowded movie theater and yelling fire…' to which she told me she was going to sue me.  I'm still waiting.  The girl that owned the car walked up to the scene, looked at her car – shrugged and said "Oh well".  I'm not even kidding.  Like she knew it would happen at some point or something.

One of my favorite stories, however, was a small article that my friend Patrick wrote years ago.  I'd like to share that article here.  It doesn't get much better than this.  We call it "The Invisible Butter Technique".

 

The Invisible Butter Technique by:Patrick Collins

Ahhh, Cinemark memories. Still residing in Lubbock allows the opportunity to visit the ol' Cinemark building and relive past  memories and learning experiences. Sometimes I find myself laughing so  uncontrollably while driving past Tinseltown or the "12" that I must  pull over and collect myself before I harm myself and/or others. Real quick, here's just one of those memories:

One evening, the concession assignment was mine. It was midweek during either the fall or spring semester—the time and date has no  recollection as the fires of Hell burn the same regardless of time and date. Normally this would be a slow shift where I'd hand out a couple medium bags of popcorn and upsell a few drinks before scrubbing the popcorn machine, thus calling it another day, another dollar in the theater business. Simple stuff. This particular night, however, was out of the norm.  Complimenting my "Front Row Joe" apron and cap combo was my concession partner for the night, Scott Mobley. With years of experience and training under our belts, working the popcorn and fishing for pickles while the booth and box office functioned under other well-seasoned employees was another unusual twist in the air 
that evening. No problem because working with Scott was a privilege and pleasure, plus I knew we'd drop it like it was hot and be outta the joint before eleven. Cleaning counters, restocking candy, washing dishes, popper cleaning, washing mats, mopping the floor…..no challenge for professionals.

That night's rush began with a whimper, as we managed to tackle a handful of customers' needs with one register while, most importantly, limiting ourselves to the amount of popcorn poppers in order to begin the "popper cool down" early. We worked like true Cinemark employees— backing up one another, smiling, and leaving our customers with a sense of warmth. One person worked box office that night; that bastard was the first to know that night would be no regular Wednesday night. 
I don't recall when the night turned, when something wicked this way came, but vaguely I remember the box office guy opened the door— which indicated a true emergency since that door, by company guidelines was to remain closed at all times unless tapped with the secret knock by a manager. The door opened and a voice screamed, "POP SOME CORN, YOU BITCHES!" That night, for some reason, was ultimate date night for EVERYONE in the Hub City. Not only was it date night, 
but it was also "we need a LARGE ASS popcorn, 2 large drinks, and do you want any candy baby? yeah she wants some sour patch kids" night.  Oh, "and could you put some extra butter on that popcorn, thanks" night. Suddenly one cash register could not contain the damage. Scott and I stood defending our concession stand alone while the management sat upstairs unbeknownst of the moviegoer stampede disturbing the routine slumber of this normal Wednesday night.

Not a word was spoken between us two Cinemark friends during the fevered and frenzied blitz of theater patrons. Occasionally, we'd bump into one another while loading a popcorn tub, or heterosexually touch hands while filling a drink order. Drink cup sleeves were flung in the air and the sound of oil splashing into a hot popper buzzed in the background. Stock was running low. We upsold to large simply because our stock of medium cups slowly disappeared. The lines seemed endless. 
Apparently the dinner portion of the "dinner and movie date" was skipped, as everyone who entered required food. Branded in my head is the burning request from EVERY couple of extra butter topping. With each request, I'd press down the butter topping pump then quickly pass the popcorn to the customer. Sometimes, an investigation would ensue followed by a wish for additional topping, which I'd gladly grant with my back to the customer. Scott did the same—ironically in the same 
fashion. Once the rush was over, Scott and I stood stunned. The popper was no longer cool; the spotless mats were pegged with scattered popcorn and littered with discarded small, medium, and large cups; the stainless steel counter dispensers were depleted and soiled with fingerprints; the coke machines were sticky; and the butter topping machine was empty—and it had been for nearly 30 minutes, mid-rush.

As we collected ourselves, I finally spoke, asking Scott if he realized the butter had run out. He nodded. Here's how great minds think alike: Customers in need of extra butter got "extra" back and a blocked view due to the fact that both Scott and I were "extra pretending" to add topping. What each customer thought was extra butter was really extra air. Little did I know both Scott and myself shared in this masquerade of concession falsehood. Amazingly our technique worked for nearly half an hour. Obviously, no one caught our slight of hand trick and left with a smile.

Today, I look back on that night and smile. I am also proud. That night, not only did we handle the rush like true professionals, but we single-handedly eliminated an unhealthy aspect of our wonderful product, thus prolonging lives. Perhaps somewhere in America a father plays catch with his son in the backyard while his former college sweetheart, now wife, assists their daughter in cheerleader leaps—all possible because two great men used the—as we called afterwards—"Invisible Butter" Technique, keeping them healthy without their knowledge. Yes, we were pitiful, underpaid employees in the theater business, but we were so much more.

God bless America and God bless Cinemark.
 

This blog is more of a personal nature, so if you don't know me personally, you might find it a bit boring.  This is about my recent 20 yr high school reunion and even I know that the topic is somewhat boring especially if you're not part of the graduating class.  Anyway, here goes nothing:

I recently traveled back home to Texas for my 20th high school reunion.  I know what you're thinking.  "How can someone so completely YOUNG looking be attending her 20th high school reunion?  My God – that would make Leecy…. 38 yrs old!"  I hate to tell you, but in November, I will be embarking on my last year in my 30s.  39 in Nov. (16th to be exact and I love flowers, cards, & will accept any and all gift certificates).

A lot of people would ask 'why bother' about returning to a high school reunion.  I get that most people graduate or just leave school never to look back and are glad they're out and away from those people they went to school with.  That's not exactly the way that I feel.  Most of the people that I graduated with are people that I started Kindergarten and 1st grade with and those were really small classes.  These people really are brothers & sisters to me.  Oh sure we didn't all get along, but for the most part we did.

The town that I grew up in is a small town out in west Texas called "Big Spring."  See?  Now the title of my blog is funny.  A play on words – not only does B.S. stand for Big Spring.. it stands for.. well…

When asked to describe my home town, I like to tell people to think of the TV show "Twin Peaks" – and then know that Twin Peaks had NOTHING on my home town.  Weird shit happens in Big Spring.  Weird. The log lady?  an amateur.  The one armed man?  Pffft.  I laugh at his simplicity.  Killer Bob / Leland Palmer?  Hello?  Much scarier characters in Big Spring.  Let's put it this way:  I could write a series of books based on my home town and it would kick that vampire Twilight shit off of the map.  I'd have mega motion picture deals and would sell T shirts and people would start fanfiction based alone on my series.  The cool thing about it is that my class could all play the characters of themselves because hardly any of us looked like we aged at all from our 10 yr reunion to our 20.  In fact, we got better looking!  And we totally already have the Texas accents down and don't sound like the fake Hollywood Texas accent. 

You know the old saying about "something's in the water?"  I could write a whole book about Big Spring water. Actual studies have been done.

My class graduated in 1989.  There were no cell phones, no Internet. Nothing.  We had no mall.  We had Wal-Mart.  Not even a Super Wal-Mart at that time, it was one of the very basics.  There wasn't a grocery store there.  If you wanted to shop for clothes, you had to drive to the next town over about 40 miles away called Midland.  Some of you might recall over 20 yrs ago a little girl fell down a well in Midland, TX and her name was dubbed baby Jessica… yeah, that's where she was from and that's where we went to shop.  I previously talked about my home town in another blog about meeting my two best friends.  We had nothing in that town, I tell you.  This means we had to make our on fun.  Sometimes this consisted of driving down Gregg St. which was the main "drag" in town (and it WAS a drag, I might add.  ha ha) and looping around the Sonic fast food restaurant and then back down the street to an old, abandoned grocery store called "The Boxx" where you were left to box your own groceries.  Occasionally someone would have a party and it would be the talk of the town for weeks.  If we were really bored, we would hit the Kentwood section of Big Spring and shake the utility poles and kick out all of the power to the Kentwood area.

I lived in the Kentwood section of Big Spring.

 

This is my first grade class photo.  Can you find me?  Yes, that's me in the middle row, 4th from the left.  Christ almighty my hair.  I swear my mother did that to me.  I look like something out of the 1940s.  The guy standing next to me was named David and he was a JERK!  I wonder what happened to that guy.  He never made it to our high school.. thank God for that.  There are 26 people in this photo and I ended up graduating with 16 of them.  That's huge.  The girl in the front row smiling really big in the red and white was my best friend Deana.  We're still friends.  The guy sitting next to her grinning is Alan. They were boyfriend/girlfriend then and they made a pact to do that goofy smile when the photo was snapped.  Judging by the goofy look on my face, I probably knew it was coming.  11 of us in this photo were at the 20 yr reunion.

 

Kentwood kids 20 yrs later:

I'm in the black & white dress on the right. (Alan – the grinning kid in the 1st grade photo is 2nd from left in this picture)

 

The reunion basically started over a year ago because we all ended up signing up at Facebook.  This was just a chance to see one another in person really.  One of my dearest friends in the whole world, Mr. Patrick Collins, was my date for the weekend.  He graduated in '88, but is somewhat the Ferris Bueller of our school and so you know he wanted to come anyway.  Probably THE coolest guy to ever walk the earth.  His wife Cheryl was nice enough to loan him out to me for the weekend (probably glad to!) and we had a great time.

 

Patrick & me at the Homecoming Football game (we won!! 49-7!)

 

Homecoming consists of a pep rally at the gym Friday afternoon, followed by a parade followed by the football game.  Our class had a float in the parade which was basically a group of us sitting on a bunch of bails of hay on a flatbed truck.  Everyone in town comes out to the parade because there's nothing else to do there.  Plus all the graduates grew up and left town and became somewhat successful so we throw really good candy out to the kids from the float.  Housewives of NYC it ain't, but it's fun for about 30 min.

And wouldn't you know it, yours truly ended up on the front page of the Big Spring Herald newspaper doing her best Miss America wave:

                                   Me on the top left waving in the back row:

 

 

My good friend Sherman & me at the pep rally:

Sherman is all hands.  God love him.  I think he broke one of my ribs hugging me.

 

A couple of photos from the game that night:

This is me with Brad.  We have known each other since 1st grade.  He's a great friend. (I just realized he's not in the 1st grade photo – must have been out sick that day.)  I have changed so much in appearance that one of our classmates thought that I was his wife and did not recognize me.  The rest of the reunion he called me his wife which is funny in an ironic sort of way.

 

 

My BFF Joey and I get photobombed by my date Patrick. 

 

The next day – Saturday – we meet at the park for a picnic and an official class photo.  Half of the class doesn't show up because they are nursing a serious hangover from the party at Diana's house after the game. 

 

Here we are looking a little older, but not much wiser:

I'm on the top row 2nd from left standing next to my 'husband' Brad on the end. 

 

A few more pictures from the picnic:

 

Sherman, Alan, & Joel.  We were all band geeks together and they teased me relentlessly over the years for being a Duran Duran fan.  BRUTAL.  Had the actual nerve to say to me at the reunion "You know we were just teasing and we really sort of dug DD's music.. it just wouldn't have been cool to admit it.  They're a good band."  to which I replied "Boy please.. tell me something I don't already know.  Now smile."

 

 

 Me & Joel.  I had the biggest crush on him in Jr High.  What a geek.  ;-p

 

 

 

My friend Shawna (1st grade photo – top row, 5th from left) and her husband adopted this beautiful child Serena from China.  I fell in love with her and wanted to take her home with me. 

 

 

me with Kim – easily one of the funniest people to ever walk the planet. I have been through everything in the world with Kim.  Oh the stories.

 

 

 

This is Girl Scout troop 36.  West Texas chapter.  Remember that book I said I could write about Big Spring?  Well I could write an encyclopedia-sized tell all on Troup 36.  That's me on the far left.

 

 

Saturday night is the last function of the reunion.  We get together and have a banquet with dinner and a dance.  One of the ghetto memories of attending BSHS is that when Homecoming rolled around, mums and garters are a must for your homecoming date.  Mums are pinned to your shirt and have a gold mum (some are double or triple mums) with black and gold streamers running down the length of your body.  Black & Gold were our school colors.  In some cases, mums also have teddy bears on them.  The bigger and more gaudy they are, the better.  Garters are for the boys and have streamers as well and you wear them around your arm.

Before the reunion, Patrick jokingly asked the color of my dress so that he could color-coordinate his suit.  I told him forget that and I'd better have a mum with black and gold streamers along with my name spelled out in gold glitter on one of the black streamers and instead of a mum, I wanted a teddy bear.

This was all said jokingly because NO ONE gets a mum or garter if you've graduated.  This is purely high school kids that do this.  I knew I should have kept my mouth shut because Patrick shows up with a mum for me.  Garter actually which was easier to wear.  Here we are – Mr. & Ms. BSHS 2009:

Patrick presents me with said garter

 

 

 

My evening is complete!

 

As any group in Texas would do, we chowed down on some fantastic BBQ from Al's BBQ (awesome!) and handed out awards. 

 

So here's the deal.  Basically – I was a fatass during high school.  There's really no nice way to say it other than I was just really, really fat.  I'm not anymore (not thin by any means either, but I look much better these days).  So I won the write in vote for "Most Changed Female" award.

 

Here I am with Sherman again – who was voted Most Eligible Bachelor.

 

Here's the group of all winners:

Notice I'm the only one with a garter/mum.

 

A few more photos from the evening to share:

 

That's right – Machine Gun Kitty rockin' the house as usual.  Me with my BFFs Joey & Claudia!

 

This is my friend Irma.  Irma and I along with 3 other babies were born the same night – Nov. 16, 1970 in the same hospital in Big Spring.  Irma is one hour older than me.  We graduated together along with 2 of the other babies from the group of 5 born that night.  I was the last one born of the 5.  She was #4.  We always send "scorpio" notes to one another.  I love her.  She's my sister.  The closest thing I could probably ever have to a twin.  She's a beautiful and kind soul.

 

Patrick & me after I won my award.. showing off the teddy bear.

 

This is Daniel – the rockstar of our class.  I have known him since 1st grade.. can shred a guitar.  (1st grade photo – he's 2nd row, 2nd from left.)  Daniel always showed up to school at 8am drunk or hungover.  haha.  I love him.  He was in quite a few bands during high school. Amazing musician.  The ironic thing is that his mom and my mom went to high school together years before we ever met in another very small town in Texas about 250 miles away.

 

 

Hey – did I tell you I got a garter?  With a really big cow bell on it?  (Mascot: Big Spring Steers so cowbells everywhere).

 

My friend Bink.  Bink is a nick name.  Real name: Theron.  I have been in so much trouble with this guy I couldn't even begin to tell you all of the things we did to terrorize our teachers.  We took a class our Senior year called "Child Development" which was a total blow off class because we had all of our credits.  The teacher was a moron and didn't seem to like my humor much.  She called me out one day and accused me of something another student had done.  When she realized her mistake she said "Oh, I should probably apologize to you.. I guess"  and didn't.  I guess she thought I would shrug it off, but I found my big mouth yelling "SAY IT THEN!!" across the room.  Bink needed CPR because he couldn't breathe from laughing so hard.

 

 

Brad (my fake husband) and me again.  Friends forever.

 

The reunion was a great time and I really am glad that I went.  We're talking about having another one in 4 years and combining with the class of 88 for their 25th.  It's sort of a shame on one hand how we went 10 yrs and then another 10 yrs before getting together, but that's life I guess.  It's gets away from you really quick.  I know that I get caught up in my crazy, hectic life but it was sort of nice to go back home and slow things down to a snail's pace.  Time sort of stands still out there in west Texas.  The whole 'you're living in BOSTON??' thing was almost too much for some to even fathom.  And let's not forget how I am dubbed a 'yankee' now.  It's all in good fun though.  Long live BSHS Class of '89!

 

And yeah, thanks to all you suckers back home who infected us all with the Swine flu.  Not cool, you bastards.