Last night's celebrity cameos

I've had a lot of celebrities parading through my dreams lately. George Clooney was off-camera at one point. Robert Pattinson appeared in another dream and I sat there reciting Russell Brand's comedy into his face.

Last night was quite a cavalcade of stars. It started out with Henry Cavill, the English actor known for "The Tudors" and "Man of Steel." An unidentifiable friend of mine was interviewing him from the comfort of our sleazy motel room as we all crowded onto the same twin bed. Henry didn't know what exactly the "UK" was, and I began to berate his parents for spending so much money on his education. Cut to a later scene where I'm at Henry's wedding reception...to himself. I do not think wedding means what you think it means, Henry. Anyway, the wedding vittles were delicious.

The scene changed and I was suddenly at some sort of conference, like Comic-Con without all the costumes. I got very excited when I spotted UK chat show host Graham Norton making his way through the crowd. Alas, I didn't get to speak to him; he was moving too fast.

And finally, what I consider to be the big kahuna of celebrity cameos: Russell Brand. I was sitting quietly, watching him try to get a blonde woman drunk. She'd already had three shots of Jameson, but I encouraged her to go up to ten as I liked to do. Another blonde came and sat down and I watched Russell interacting with the women, remaining as a silent observer the entire time. Who knows where the rest of the dream would lead?

RIP Phil Everly

The world lost another musical legend when Phil Everly died at age 74 on Friday, January 3, 2014. The moment I heard the news, two thoughts occurred to me. First, my dad played The Everly Brothers’ albums when I was growing up, even telling me that “Bye, Bye Love” was the very first song he learned on the guitar. Second, I used “All I Have To Do Is Dream” to catapult the love story in the novel I’m writing.

I spent an hour that night listening to my favorite songs by the duo and shedding a few tears. I continued to listen to their albums the next day while I cooked breakfast. As I listened, I was flooded with memories: listening to my dad’s albums like Herman and the Hermits Greatest Hits or Buck Owens’ album with special guest Susan Raye The Great White Horse. From a young age, I loved singing the harmonies. The songs of The Everly Brothers instilled this love in me.

Throughout the 80s, radio stations played many Everly covers, most notably Linda Ronstadt’s 1975 pop cover of “When Will I Be Loved,” Reba McEntire’s country cover of “Cathy’s Clown, and Nazareth’s 1976 rock cover of “Love Hurts.”

I’ve spent the past 18 months reading rock memoirs, doing research for my aforementioned novel. I was surprised at how far the Everly influence reached the souls of the rockers I admired. For instance, Steven Tyler described their bluegrass-influenced harmonies as “heartrending.” Keith Richards sang Everly harmonies with his Aunt Joanna. In 1963, the Stones had the incredible opportunity to share the bills with the duo.

Where would any of us be without the sibling melodies that permeated the music industry in the 1950s and 1960s?

I was hungry last night...

...and I had some chicken that I could cook. The way I've been cooking chicken lately has been uninspired. Don't get me wrong, it was tasty, but it didn't pop. I need my food to pop.

I checked out this recipe from good ol' Martha:

http://www.marthastewart.com/333983/chicken-in-tomatoes

and then I improvised from there. I started off sauteeing garlic in olive oil. After a few minutes, I added onion and a TON of butter. (Paula Deen would be proud.) Then I added some chopped tomatoes and finally, the chicken. I cooked the chicken at a medium temperature so long, I was able to cut it with a fork. I made some rice and I spooned the onion/tomato mixture on top of it. Delicious!

"A girl wants to be swept off her feet..."

I just heard Madonna say that in an interview. I immediately thought to myself, "If a man expects to sweep me off my feet, he better be able to bench 250!"

Oh snap!

I know what I want, I know what I need

I know what I want, I know what I need
But I also know I’m never gonna get it.

I want a man who’s intelligent and well-read, but not obnoxious or condescending about it. Instead, he uses his learned wisdom to help others.

I need someone who’s open-minded to other people’s ideas, a man who realizes we need to respect the ideals of our fellow humans, rather than change them.

My dream man wants to see the world just as badly as I do. He possesses the same restless, nomadic spirit that has driven me throughout my life and we go out into the world, conquering it together.

I want a man who isn’t afraid of my extreme independence, but appreciates why I became this way and works with me rather than against me.

Most of all, I want a man who not only makes me laugh but, more importantly, thinks I’m the funniest person he’s ever met. Not the funniest woman, the funniest person. He waits with baited breath for the next thing to come out of my mouth, knowing that it’s outrageous and hilarious.

I know what I want, I know what I need
But I also know I’m never gonna get it.

He doesn’t exist.

Another wacky day in my life

I nearly gave myself cement shoes when I was about to cross Assembly and felt myself sinking into the wet cement (that had nary a warning sign posted.) I jumped back and shot a horrified look to the lone construction worker standing about 25 feet behind me.

I mouthed "I'm sorry" to which he smiled and mouthed back "it's okay." But what he REALLY meant was "get your fat ass out of my concrete; you're making a giant indentation!" I totally saw it in his eyes!