A Peek Inside My Bag

Some people can leave their apartment with everything they need in one pocket... usually keys, money, ID. That's great, but I'm not one of them. I'm what you'd call a "Pack Rat," but in my defense, everything has a purpose. When I head out, it's pretty much for the day so I need to pack accordingly. We'll start with the bag itself which is a tote bag. I like roomy ones with long enough handles that can go over the shoulder. Obviously, I got it at Urban. The heaviest thing in my bag is my laptop. This is probably the one thing I never leave home without. It goes everywhere with me since I'm always using my spare time to check my email, post something on my blog, work on my columns, spend time on Craigslist and Yelp, look up airfare to various places, etc... The next thing in there is my Kate Spade daily planner which I've had now for about 4 years. I'd be lost without it, and if that makes me completely anal, then I'm fine with that. As long as I have my planner. My cell phone, keys, and little scraps of paper hang out in the side pockets. I carry a notebook that's stuffed with pages ripped out of magazines of things like cool websites to check out, DIY projects for my apartment, tips on buying a used car, how to throw a wine-tasting party, that sort of thing. My wallet which actually has money in it because I went to the bank yesterday. Bikini bottoms... don't ask. Several Le Pen pens... the only kind I use. Lip balm which is one of my obsessions. A Netflix envelope that needs to be mailed. Bottled water. The cord to plug in my computer when the battery dies on me which happens all the time. Hand cream because my hands are really dry. A sunglass case but not the sunglasses because they're propped on my head right now. Gum. Spare change in the bottom of the bag. And that's it.

Any Takers?

So the offical lineup for Bonnaroo 2007 was announced last Wednesday, and I'm not kidding when I say that it's every single band you've ever loved in the past year and wanted to see live. Bands like... The Hold Steady, Hot Chip, Cold War Kids, The White Stripes, Wilco (okay one sucky band has to be included... Ha! Ha! Brian), Flaming Lips, Franz Ferdinand, The Decemberists, Kings of Leon, Wolfmother, The Black Keys... I could go on. Bonnaroo used to be a hippy-dippy kind of festival where people with dreads and tie-dye grooved to jam bands, but it's not like that anymore. I think an argument could be made for it being the coolest festival in the U.S. now. It's 3 days in the middle of this farm in no-where Tennessee. Doesn't that sound like the best time ever?

New Music

This is what I'm listening to now...

1. "Wincing the Night Away" by the Shins
2. "Alright, Still" by Lily Allen
3. "New Magnetic Wonder" by Apples in Stereo
4. "Weekend in the City" by Bloc Party

My Yelp Reviews

Look Out Jimmy Page

I am the proud owner of a brand new used acoustic guitar! I'm going to practice every day so that when Robert Plant needs me to step in for Jimmy Page, I'll be ready.

It's a Southern Thing

What is it with Southerners and money? Having lived below the Mason-Dixon line for about a year now, I've had time to study a perculiar quirk of the Southern species. They count out exact change. Every time. Now, if a purchase of mine comes to $1.02, well then I'm going to dig through my bag for the two pennies. But, a Southerner doesn't just root around for pennies. Oh no. If the change is .84 they'll still search for it and spend 10 minutes doing so. Doesn't matter if five people are in line behind them. They'll look. Maybe it's the smaller town that allows more elbow room for finding exact change. I come from a place where if you tried to dig out that .84, you'd definitely hear angry rumblings behind you. In a big city, you slap down a Lincoln and be grateful for the change. Southerns are also all about the Benjamins. I've never seen so many $50's and $100's in circulation. And it's a deliberate thing too. If you go to the bank to cash a check or withdraw money, they'll give you $20's so people are specifically asking for the bigger bills. I will admit to a certain thrill of knowing that there's a crisp $100 bill in my wallet (not that this has happened in a really long time), but when it comes to money, I'm modest. You won't see me tossing a Ullyses S. Grant on the counter to pay for a newspaper. That's just ridiculous.

It's Not Kelly Slater, But...

After the flurry of comments left about yesterday's entry, I'm kind of inclinded to keep posting photos of half-naked surf gods. Hopefully I won't alienate anyone by writing about a book I just finished reading. It's by the lead singer of Franz Ferdinand and is a collection of columns he wrote for a U.K. newspaper about his food adventures while on tour with his band. Having worked in a variety of restaurants, he turns his culinary experience and a truly experimental attitude towards food into witty, insightful essays about life on the road and the food that he encouters along the way. Things like pufferfish in Japan which will kill you if not properly prepared and bull's balls in Spain which, I have to admit, made me a little squeamish when I was reading that particular entry. The book is kind of a back stage pass to what life is like when the band plays their final encore on stage and how they fill their time until the next show in the next town. A fast fun read.

Surfing 101

This is Kelly Slater. He's the greatest surfer of all time. Not, incidentally, a character on "Saved by the Bell." And (ahem) what he looks like has nothing to do with my admiration for his incredible talent. Okay, then. Class dismissed.

If I Ruled the World

If I ruled the world, there'd be no movie sequels.
If I ruled the world, abusing an animal would be punishable by death.
If I ruled the world, nobody would have to work during the Tour de France in July.
If I ruled the world, Bob Marley's song, "Get Up, Stand Up" would be the National Anthem.
If I ruled the world, short people would always be in the front row.
If I ruled the world, "The Simpsons" would be cancelled, and "Arrested Development" would be resurrected.
If I ruled the world, the World Series, the Stanley Cup and the NBA Finals would only be 1 game.
If I ruled the world, Global Warming would be an environmental catastrophe, not a political issue.
If I ruled the world, I'd be on the Bestseller List.
If I ruled the world, Kelly Slater would be my personal surfing instructor.

Going... Going... Gone

Last night I deleted someone from my life. It wasn't that hard. Press a button on a cell phone, and you can electronically erase someone from its memory. Same thing with an email address. Too bad it can't work that way with my head. It's true that friends come and go in a person's life, but when you've been friends with someone for years, you kind of expect the relationship to always be there. And when it just disappears without explanation, that hurts. There's an entire section in bookstores dedicated to helping people get through the pain of breaking up with a boyfriend or coping with divorce, but try to find a book that gets you through the loss of a friend. Sorry, but you're basically on your own for that. It wasn't easy, deleting this person. In fact, I put it off for a long time because I wanted to believe that our friendship was still there, but what I was clinging to was the memory of a once-strong friendship that had faded over the years. The truth is, people change. They grow apart. And keeping a cell phone number can't always disguise the fact that the friend you want to hang on to has slowly become a stranger.

The Envelope Please...

This past year, I've seen some pretty good movies/documentaries. My favorites include "Marie Antoinette" (the soundtrack is so kickin' by the way), "An Inconvenient Truth," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The US vs. John Lennon" (the subject of an earlier post). The Oscar nominations were recently announced, and I've thought long and hard about who I think will win (as opposed to who should win... there's a big difference). So here's how I think it'll go down on Oscar Night.

Best Picture- Babel
Best Director- Martin Scorsese
Best Actor- Peter O'Toole
Best Actress- Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actor- Eddie Murphy
Best Supporting Actress- Abagail Breslin
Best Foreign Film- Pan's Labyrinth

Um... I'm notoriously wrong about these kinds of things so don't expect any sort of money back guarantee.

Calgon Take Me Away

Rain today. It's falling out of the grey sky in sheets of wet. The palmetto trees sway in the wind, dead branches falling to the ground with a soggy "swoosh." My umbrella bends from a strong gust, and rain sneaks underneath to spit in my face. Stepping off the curb into an ankle deep puddle, I swear as the moisture seeps into my socks and make squelching noises on my cold walk home.

Footnote: This amazing photo was taken by me (yes, I know how talented I am) a year ago on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.