Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow I work 7:45 am-10:45 pm so I am writing what I am thankful for on the eve before Thanksgiving.

I am making mashed potatoes for work tomorrow. The potatoes are boiling in water and Gilmore Girls is on in the background.

My heart goes out to everyone who, like me, will be working tomorrow. Especially those with families nearby.

And here it is, my list of what I am thankful for:

My Family-

I have been lucky enough to show my family off to my friends down here. I have bonded with my grandmother, my sister, uncle, cousin, and my mother on their visits, learning more about them, and cherishing my time spent with them. My father is visiting at the end of December and I cannot wait! I miss them all very much, but they know that I love it down here and could not imagine myself anywhere else.

My Friends-

The ones down here in Florida have become more like family. We do spend the holidays together after all! Some friendships have slipped away this year but I have bonded with many more people. The people I am cast with are amazing and I am lucky to be able to work with them. I love spending time with them. "You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd, we ain't too pretty we ain't too proud, we might be laughing a bit too loud but that never hurt no one" Thank you for being there.

Music-

Makes the people come together. This year I have seen The White Tie Affair, Lady Gaga, MC Hammer, Journey, Pat Benetar, and, the best of them all, Billy Joel (with Elton John).  I already have concerts planned for next year and plan on going to as many as the Mardi Gras nights at Universal as my schedule will allow. Thank you for soothing my soul when I needed it.

Dinosaurs-

I love dinosaurs. I am thankful for their existence.

Have a good Thanksgiving everyone! Eat a ton and be safe!

Music and Lyrics

I'm going to start off this post with  a story and then go onto two sperate ideas. All of these tie into the theme "music" and not the crappy movie with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. ("But Alyssa, that was a good movie!" Hello, do you know who you are talking to? I have a heart of stone romantic comedies don't interest me)

Anyway, so I am at my local dueling piano bar (doesn't every town have one? We have three), and people keep requesting country. As all of you know, I do not like country. I just listen and nod and occasionally groan whenever a new song is played. I write on a napkin "country sucks" and hold it up to my friends whenever they start singing more Garth Brooks. Anything for a laugh.

So this friend of a friend leaned over and said "Except for Taylor Swift". Instead of nodding, I say "Oh, I really don't like Taylor Swift" because well, I don't. He responds with "But what Kayne did was wrong!"

Excuse me? Did I just validate what Kayne did during her acceptance speech? No. I just stated that I am not a fan of her music. That doesn't mean I was cheering when  I found out what he did. Nobody deserves that. Even if her video consisted of her just staring at a wall and the song was about a pile of dirt, she won, she deserves to say her acceptance speech without interruptions.

And on the flip-side, just because that happened to her, does not make her an amazing artist. Yeah, it was a crappy move on Kanye's part and good for her for not decking him, but that does not make her music any better than it was before the incident.

1) I don't like country
2) Her songs are really juvenile. I'm past the days of crying over a guy because he does not have feelings for me. If he does not like me, I move on. I've never been the type of girl that believes I deserve a guy more than the person he is currently with. Songs like "Jesse's Girl", "Saving All My Love for You" and "Don't Cha" have much better lyrics that are not as, dare I say it, pathetic.
And if I am going to make literary analogies, I am going to make sure they are correct. Romeo and Juliet were not meant to be together. "Star-crossed lovers" essentially boils down to the relationship being doomed from the start. Hence their deaths at the end of the play. I would never want that. And their deaths aren't even romantic. He kills himself because he believes she is dead? REALLY? Man up. Get over it, you are young. That is not a romantic way to die in the name of love. Now if some madman were throwing ninjastars at Juliet and Romeo jumped in the way so he would get the struck, that is romantic. That is dying for your love. I'm not saying anything bad about the play itself, its just not something to model your relationships after. And someone should tell Taylor Swift that a scarlet letter is not a good thing. Calling yourself a scarlet letter is also not a good thing.

I have some respect for her since she writes her own stuff, but I am not a fan.

So the point of this story was: Just because I am not a fan of Taylor Swift does not mean I validate what happened to her at the VMA's and if you think that, you are childlike.

Ok, onto the next part.

I was going to write about the songs I Gotta Feelin and Party in the U.S.A  and how the lyrics are ridiculous but I've lost interest on that topic while writing about Taylor Swift.

I went to see Journey on Wednesday and it was AMAZING.Filipeno Steve Perry is incredible! Which brings me to my next topic: musicians.

I have concluded that I cannot be left alone with a talented musician. If all you can do is play the triangle, bagpipes, or accordion you are safe. Watching F.S.P (Filipino Steve Perry) perform, had I gained the ability to teleport to him onstage, there could have been trouble. His voice was incredible and the way he jumped around onstage was very entertaining. F.S.P is an amazing performer with great presence onstage.  I'm really surprised that I did not gain the ability to float to Bon Jovi when I saw him perform. His hotness radiated from the screens. *drool*

Its a good thing I was not in my early twenties during the hair band phase. I think Sebastian Bach is gorgeous. Joel Hoekstra, who is currently the lead guitarist for Night Ranger, has that long hair band hair. I text my dad and asked him if it was ok if I married him. He did not respond which is probably the safest thing to do in that situation.

Bon Jovi had great 80's hair and who could forget my love of Hanson? I probably would have been a groupie in the 80's which is why its a good thing that I was born in '86.

I've finally caught up with Glee and I am IN LOVE with the teacher, Will Schuester. He has a great voice, he speaks spanish, and he's a decent guy. Plus he's hot. Its a good thing he is a fictional character. And the actor is only six years older than I am so at least I am getting closer to my age.

Bad things could happen if left alone with a talented musician.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I reached a new low.

My father and I were talking on the phone and he says "I thought about you today" and I asked him what made him think of me.

He replies with: "I was listening to the John Tesh Radio Show," never a good sign, by the way, "and he was talking about singles and where to meet people."

This is not going to be pleasant to hear.

"He said that you should go to different grocery stores and clubs and other places that you don't normally go, that way you can meet new people."

Thank you Captain Obvious a.k.a John Tesh.

Obviously, if you go to the same places, chances are you will be running into the same people. People are creatures of habit. People are going to go to the clubs that they are used to going to and they are going to go to the grocery stores that are near their homes.

So clearly, if you want to meet new people, go to new places!

So after I gave my reasons why I would not be listening to Mr. Tesh's advice (which I will go into in a moment), I quickly changed the subject.

I'm glad my father sees me as a single, desperate, spinster woman who needs love. He must be so proud.

Yes, I have been single for while. Yes, sometimes it sucks. But you know what? I really don't care. I am so tired of creepy guys and all I hear from my friends who have active dating lives are stories of getting screwed over. And honestly, I don't want to get screwed over or stalked anytime soon. I'm perfectly happy being single. I am busy enough without trying to juggle a man. Ask Christina and Brittney what kind of men approach us and you will agree it is much safer to stay single.

Granted, if Harrison Ford walked in right now and wanted to take me to dinner and movie, after figuring out how he got into my apartment, I would go with him and tell the roommate not to wait up for me. I would also be calling into work tomorrow.

Here are a few reasons I don't go to random clubs and new grocery stores every week:

1) I hate driving in downtown Orlando, which is where most of the clubs are located
2) I am not going to a grocery store in East Jesus just to meet a man that I will have to drive back out to East Jesus to see.
3) I have a beacon that attracts creepers and douchebags. If I venture to a club in Downtown Orlando, I am really scared of who I will meet. Do I need to remind you of Colonel Sanders? How about Crater Face twenty years later with his Australian friend? At both Cheers and Jellyrolls (the bars I frequent the most), I have people who are there to watch my back. Both who are with me and who work there. I am safe. And at Jellyrolls more often than not the people there are tourists so the chances of running into them again are slim to none.
4) I refuse to dress up to go to the grocery store.
5) Downtown Orlando is kind of far from my place. I am not going to waste money on gas to go down there.
6) I get into Cheers and Jellyrolls for free. I'm not paying a cover charge!

But I have been to new places. I recently went to Gators and CityWalk for the first time. I would go to both again.

As for new grocery stores, no thank you. I will stick to the Wal-Mart and the Target 5 minutes from my apartment.

Thank you and goodnight.

I do not like Father Guido Sarducci.

I think this stems from the Casper movie when his head turns around. It freaked me out as a kid and I have not liked him ever since.

That's all.

These Are my Confessions...

I have something to confess. I have been in denial for quite sometime and am now ready to tell this to the world. Let me give a little background info first.

I have loved Saturday Night Live since I can remember. I honestly think I was born six weeks early on a Saturday so that I could see that night's episode.  I was quoting Hanz and Franz in the first grade. While everyone else was watching Saved By the Bell, I was watching Chris Farley and Adam Sandler start their careers.

That being said, the original Not Ready for Prime-Time Players, have always held a special place in my heart. They started it all. I include Bill Murray in this equation only because he joined in the second season while the show was still developing. I appreciate every one of them for their job on their show and while other seasons may have had weaker cast members on the show (Jimmy Fallon, Casey Wilson, Melanie Hutsell), I believed the first batch was perfection.

I am ready to admit that I really do not feel this way. There is one original that I do not care for. And that one is...

Chevy Chase

While I appreciate that him being on the show helped launch its success. I feel, however, that he is not that funny, came off as too arrogant (which is made clear by him leaving the show during the second season), and I do not like how he won't stop blinking while saying "Live from New York, its Saturday Night!".

The first season elevated him above the rest and it wasn't until he left, I feel the others finally got a chance to shine.

I have been watching my SNL on DVD recently and have seen the progression. WHile the first season has funny moments, SNL really did not start reaching its true potential with that cast until the second season. Until Chevy left the show.

The Vacation movies were decent. The only movie of his I really enjoy is Three Amigos. I love Steve Martin and Martin Short (Ed Grimley, anyone?). The only other thing I enjoy with him in it is the You Can Call me Al music video. That is love.

I'm sure since he really doesn't have a career anymore, he has humbled quite a bit and maybe I could enjoy him.