My thoughts on Halloween, Old School Top 40, and the letter r

Hey blog readers. Happy Halloween. As many of you know, I am not a fan of Halloween.  Here are some possible reasons why I dislike this day:

1. I get scared really easily so I rarely partake in any of the "spooky festivities" I even cried at the haunted house created by my church where Jesus walks thru with you. What can I say--I was a strange child and I'm a strange adult. I tried to go to the Zombie walk last week in Long Beach--the Zombies looked so real that I freaked out and went home.

2. I am not a big fan of candy, and it seems like a lot of work for a few pieces of free chocolate.

3. I grew up in Iowa so we could never wear really cool costumes simply because we had to wear heavy coats, scarves, hats, mittens, etc over them. SIGH

4. Going to Halloween parties where alcohol is served is CRAZY. Getting drunk and not being able to see peoples' faces is just asking for trouble.

5. SO many people think Halloween gives them a license to be racist, sexist, etc. I get frustrated when I see costumes that perpetuate stereotypes. I understand that it's the one day of the year where people get to go crazy and become whatever/whoever they want to. That's fine. I wish I could relax a little but it is very difficult for me to not see things thru an academic lens where culture is concerned. Some of my students think I'm pathetic and uptight; I like to think I am empathetic and aware. Next topic.

The other day I was scanning thru radio stations and came across an old school weekly top 40. This station was simply replaying a Casey Kasem weekly top 40 from 1986. I frickin loved it. Here I was 25 years after 1986, still driving a Mustang BTW,  being given the opportunity to relive such a great time. I only got to hear the top 10 but it was so surreal. He was talking about Cyndi Lauper as an up and comer, how Don Johnson had a smash hit (Heartbeat), and how Tina Turner was taking America by storm. My God--it was so cool. I got to hear Robert Palmer, Boston, Tina.......I so hope they do that every Saturday. Who can tell me how Casey used to end every show? Remember his quote. I'm feeling so nostalgic today.

The letter for today is R. Here are some things that I like/dislike that start with the letter R
I like:
Reese's peanut butter cups
Random acts of kindness
Recipes
Reggie Bush
Relaxing
Remixes
Rueben sandwiches
Reading
Roseanne (the show)
Rotton Tomatoes (the website)
Ron Howard

I dislike:
Reese's pieces
Reptiles
Rage Against the Machine
Ron Athey
Rotton Tomatoes (the fruit/vegetable)
Rotweilers (they scare me people)
Racism (big surprise, I know)
Rockets (not sure why)
Research (unless it's on MY terms)
Riding in the back seat
Richie Rich

Ok--that's it for today. Enjoy your day and thanks for reading.

IMPROV, SAN FRANCISCO, and WORLD RECORD

Sup blog readers. Well, it's been over a month--oh well--I guess that just means that I have a lot to tell you. All is well with me. The semester is 2/3 over which I cannot believe. This is my last semester at OCC:( I'll miss the students and the department faculty; it's just time for me to move on. I will be teaching JUST at Saddleback next semester, and it's will be my final semester. I'll be "retiring" if you will in spring of 2012. My new classroom will be the stage. We'll see how that goes I guess. I'm looking for people to help me with promotion, online stuff, etc so if anyone wants to be part of the new comic revolution--let me know. Come on, add some spice to your life.

Let's see--it's been a busy month. I performed a small show (100 awesome peeps) at DiPiazzas--it went well. I'm working on fine tuning things for the December show. Myriam and I are writing a chapbook of stories, poems, one-liners, etc that will be available at the December 14th performance. I also performed to a huge audience at the world famous Improv. Yes I did. It was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to do it again. They want me back of course--perhaps I'll perform there again in November. I might wear the "tool shed" outfit. Only those who were at my show will get that reference. Oh well.

I have kidney stones and they suck. I'm like a walking rock collection.

Happy Birthday to my amazing brother in law AND sister in law. Yasmin and David Gurba are 31. Holla.

List of things one should never leave in a car on a hot day:

1. Half eaten chocolate bar

2. Wax from a babybel cheese snack

I'm sure there are a lot more but those are the ones that came to mind--especially since I left both of those items in my car last week.

Everyone should always carry around a sock puppet. I think it would be very healing. Just think about it and it'll make perfect sense.

I have recently discovered coconut M&Ms. They might just be one of the best sweet treats out there.

I am not a fan of Halloween--I'll be glad when it's over.

Is anyone else sick of the Conrad Murray trial? 

I need white trash ideas for Anne Geddes type photographs. If you have one, please send it my way.

Myriam and I went to San Francisco a few weeks back. We stayed with our dear friends Emily and Animal and it was a super awesome trip. We had so much fun. It had been awhile since we'd been back and it's summer in San francisco so......it was a near perfect trip. Here are some highlights: 

1. Spent $18 in one day for tolls. 

2 Had hell or high watermelon beer with Animal. It was delicious. 

3. Got to see Myriam read at The Lex--she was the Belle of the ball doing her Eazy E impression. I was honored to see her perform her latest stories. The place was so packed that people were turned away at the door. 

4. Had the BEST bacon I'd ever tasted. It was like magic. 

5. Bi-Rite ice cream. (I had salty caramel and cinnamon snickerdoodle) SIGH

6. Zachary's Pizza. 

7. Small dog beach walk with Lillie and Goldie.

8. Bookstores--

9. Took a picture in front of The White Horse Bar which is where we met 13 years ago.

10. San Quentin

11. Trying to find a kinkos in downtown SF

12. Ben Sherman shoes and pants on sale.

Long Beach is trying to break a World Record tonight. They are hoping to hold the largest Zombie walk ever. I think I'll head downtown so I can be a part of history. It would be awesome to be a part of breaking a World Record. That's it for tonight. I'll leave you with my student story of the week:

For my public speaking class everyone must inform the class on a food or beverage or the like. One student decided to do cannibalism which is odd but fine. I was actually looking forward to the speech. Last week he stayed after class to ask me if he could change his topic, I of course asked why. He said that it's because he couldn't find any recipes online and he really wanted to include recipes in his speech. WTF. Recipes.

Alright--I'm off to break a world record. Be back soon. Thanks for reading. I understand that comments are hard to post--many people have said that they have a difficult doing it so all I'll say is: thanks for reading and feel free to comment on FB. I'm learning to TWITTER too.