Who misses "Who's Line"?

Late night TV.  It's a beautiful thing.  I found myself awake around 11pm, surfing the channels, and I also found on the Family channel (51 in the suburbs of Chicago) a show I haven't seen in years:  "Who's Line is it Anyways?"


Do you remember that show?  Wayne Brady and his lyrical genius, Drew Carey steering the direction of the show from behind his desk, and Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie forming the foundations for years of laughter.  Last night's episode included a weatherman's trip to Hell, Songs of the Teacher, an Ode to Howard (an audience member) in the style of the Village People, subtitles to a Vietnamese movie called "The Rice Paddy", and one-liners of "Things you can say about food that you can't say to your girlfriend".  Priceless.


I remember watching that show with my family growing up and laughing for the entire hour. I don't know how Wayne and Ryan and Colin can keep a straight face.  I took 2 improv classes at Second City and, aside from good comedic Improv being extremely hard, it is VERY hard to keep a straight face when the one liners that come back at you are really good.  I just wish the show was still on tv!  I would watch it over some of the reality shows on nowadays.  I think the world could use a lot more comedy!


So get your friends together, test out your own improv skills, and never tell your girlfriend "mm, the other one was better."  Happy laughing!!

¡¡FALLAS!!

Okay, so this is about 2 weeks late, but here's to one of the coolest and excitingly pointless (as my students managed to point out) festivals in Valencia, Spain.  It's called "Fallas" (Fai-yas) and it's a valencian word for "Fire".


A long time ago, carpenters and farmers used to get together to burn their rubbish, and the carpenters would create crazy statues out of the rubbish as a form of entertainment prior to burning the trash.  Well, the tradition became so popular that in conjunction with celebrating St. Joseph (patron saint of carpentry apparently) the tradition stuck and Valencia has been having these festivals for quite a long time.  Today they are just more elaborate and celebrated.


But, you guessed it, the two major themes of the festival:  Building stuff and then burning it down!  It's a pyromaniac's dream!


So what are these things they burn down?  The statues, easily enough, are called Fallas, and they are made out of wood, plaster, and paper maché.  They can be anywhere from 3 feet tall to 5 stories tall and can cost up to $75,000 to build.  They are often satirical, playing off themes of art, music, corruption, politics, and everyday life.  (Notice Michael Jackson in one, Humpty Dumpty and Pac-Man in the other. . . also note how big they are compared to the people around them!)

The festival goes a total of 5 days, and is truly a 24 hour party!  Every plaza in Valencia has it's own Falla, so there is never a shortage of new, comical, crazy things to see!  On the 4th day is the "Nit de Foc"  (pronounced: Neat-day-Folk), or the night of fire where they have a firework show startng at 10pm!  There is also the daily "Mascletà" (pronounced: Mah-sclay-tah) which is a show at 2pm of literally firecrackers for 10 minutes.  Very cool.  Very loud.  Think:  LOTS of smoke and the decibel level of a drag race if you're up close!   And then Day 5 - The Cremà, or the burning of the Fallas, beginning at 10pm and lasting until 2 in the morning.  3 story bonfires!!!!  SO much fun!  Best March 15-19 ever!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Maybe this time it'll be "Differin"

I thought getting older meant there were certain things you didn't have to worry about anymore - you know, like curfew, having to listen to your parents, getting your own tax rebate! . . . . 




. . . . acne.  


BOOOO.  Acne is embarrassing enough when you're young and trying to deal with middle or high school and just life in general.  I thought all that was supposed to stop by the time you hit. . . i don't know . . .post puberty . . . and I would like to think 24 / 25 is definitely post-puberty!  So frustrating!!  And for the longest time I thought it was just me doing something wrong with my whole "washing of the face" regimen.  I can't even begin to tell you how many different products and creams and gels and washes and masks and this and that and yada yada yada I've been through in the last 3 years!  Walgreens and make-up counters alike should make me their spokeswoman!!  (free face stuff for me!!)  Seriously!


But, alas, no.  Happy to announce I'm not actually doing anything wrong.  Instead, my body just hates me.  Apparently my hormones haven't quite caught up to 2010.  They're still partying circa 1999.  That . . . or they just hate me, but I like the way the former sounds.  Either way, though, they are messing with my face!  It's called a "party in your pants" not "party all over your face" people!  Come on, hormones, get with the program.


Luckily, (*insert superhero music here*), my shiny-new dermatologist came to the rescue. Prescription antibiotics and Differin gel should apparently, in 1-3 months, do for my hormones what boot-camp does to new recruits.  *yay!*  I just needed to fill the prescription!


W-O-A-H.  Hold the breaks.  Can I tell you how much that prescription cost!!  I nearly passed out right there in Walgreens.  There were 5 numbers blinking back at me from the register (yes, decimal point included), but still!  I'm sorry, you want me to pay how much?!  I'd prefer to see those kinds of numbers added to my paycheck, not a 1-month's prescription bill!!  But wait!  Apparently I can go on their website and get a $5 coupon!  


All I can say is this "boot-camp" better be amazing.  My face better look "differin" in the next few months! 

A Blue-Leaf Clover

Imagine for a moment, St. Patrick's Day without the green.  No Green beer, no green eggs, no green bread, no green beads or hats or t-shirts or facepaint.  No green.


Imagine, instead, blue!  That's right, The official St. Patrick's Day color was blue for centuries.  St. Patrick is originally from Ireland, where he was told to have been enslaved by the British, taken there as a child, and escaped year later.  He then grew to spend his life devoted to God, preaching and telling people about His wonders.  However, all this occurred during the 400s AD, which means that Blue was a LONG standing color of St. Patrick's Day . . . until about the 1700s.


Unofficially, history credits the changing from blue to green because the people started carrying around 3-leaf clovers on March 17th (the day of his death), and in the 1798 rebellion the soldiers all wore green to make a statement.  Guess it kinda just . . . well . . . stuck!  Yay for government intervention.  :-)  However, as mentioned, the green initially came from the wearing of the 3-leaf clover, which legend suggests St. Patrick used to use to preach about the Trinity of God.  


Fun stuff, although green definitely won the color battle then and continues to sparkle on nights like the last.  So raise your glass high, do a little jig, listen to a great Irish band, and wear all the green you own!  Just be sure to brush your teeth before bed.  Green is a great staple of the day, but I don't think many people want to see your green-stained teeth the following morning!  

Il Divo - Il bello

Channel 11 often has great programs during their fundraiser period.  Last night's program was Il Divo.  Il Divo is a group of 4 men who sing a wide range of songs and create harmonies that wow.  Plus they're beautiful.  It's an amazing combination.  I'm sending a thank you note to the Gods.  


You've probably seen their CDs even if you didn't realize it.  For a while their CD was available at Starbucks.  If you haven't heard them, I highly recommend youtube-ing them or finding a friend who has their CD and stealing a quick listen.  Or to go this website and listen to their featured songs or interviews:


http://ildivo.com/exclusives/


Some of their songs last night included "Amazing Grace", "I did it my way", and my personal favorite, "Hallelujah" (although it's not their particular version, but the song has a momentary cameo in Shrek!).  Some of the songs are in English, other in Italian, and some, like the televised show from Barcelona, Spain, are in Spanish.  The men and truly beautiful (so you can watch them forever!), their voices make your heart flutter, and you feel completely transported - like you just snuck into a million dollar classic show for free or only a few dollars.  There's nothing quite like warming the heart with the enveloping voices of truly talented male vocalists.  Enjoy!!

Driving (In)visibility

The premise of my blog is "life created daily" - or the things that make life the amazing roller-coaster journey that it is:  the fun, the bumpy-roads, and the parts that make you laugh or shake your head.


Today I drove home from work, and I found myself singing and dancing in the car like always.  I am totally one of those people you drive by and go "what the ???" because I am totally jamming out to the latest hits on KISSFM or B96.  I have a great time, and quite frankly, I could care less if someone sees me.  They probably do, but too bad.  :-)


However, today, the person driving next to me must have thought he was either invisible or, like me, didn't care.  He looked at the car ahead of me on my right, I noticed a man holding something in his mouth.  At first I thought he was just smoking, but then the object in his hand (a) didn't move and (b) was too big to be a cigarette.  Then I thought cigar or joint or something, but he never moved it and no puff of smoke billowed from his mouth.  I suddenly became incredibly intrigued.  My insatiable curiosity insisted I needed to try to understand what on earth he was doing.  


He slowed as the car ahead of him turned, so I found myself about to pass him.  Just as I thought I would be left without answers, he pulled the "thing" out of his mouth.  It tapered to what looked like a point, and then I watched him glance at it and shake it.  He was taking his temperature!  I have officially driven by someone who was taking his temperature while driving.  I laughed as I realized that is something I never would have thought I'd see.  I mean, really, how often do you see that?!  You hear about people doing some crazy shit while driving, either because they're in a hurry or because they don't think people are watching, but this is a new one to me!  Makes me wonder what other crazy shit people have seen other people doing while driving . . . or even better, what crazy shit people have done while driving that they hope no one sees!  You just may be more (in)visible than you think!

When the ball rolls . . . in the right direction!

Balls.  (stay above ground with me here, people).  They are infamous.  They have many different jobs:  You can "Get the ball rolling", be "on the ball", have "too many balls up in the air at once", have "dropped the ball", or even have "the ball in your court".  Yes, there are lots of different kinds of balls.  All the above, however, suggest a direction.  That means, depending on the ball you possess at the moment, you can either be going in the right direction . . . or the wrong one . . . and, trust me, when those balls pick up momentum, you do not want to be in possession of the "wrong" ball.

Sometimes, though, you work and work and work and work, seemingly towards an end, even though you can't always clearly see where the end is.  It can get frustrating because instead of seeing results, you just see exhaustion.  I felt that way recently.  I tend to do 20 different things all at the same time (not literally, but I always have multiple things going on simultaneously).  I actually ran the candle at both ends for so long I got sick.  Now, although that's really not surprising, you can only go so long before your body makes you take a step back, it is still annoying.  Don't get me wrong, I loved everything I was doing, but I was overworking myself.  I overworked myself because I have a list of things I want to accomplish (that "list" I had brought up a few weeks back, with immediate and long-term goals).  I needed to "get the ball rolling" on some of those items, so I have been working attempting to try to do just that.  The cold, however, made me feel as though I regressed.  Yet, to my surprise, today I realized that all my hard work might be finally paying off.  The "right" ball might be finally gaining some momentum!  What an amazing feeling!  

Now, nothing holds definitive certainty, but still, sometimes you can just feel when things are starting to move in the right direction for you.  When finally, after constantly feel like you're about to "drop the ball" because you have been juggling things for so long, something starts to go right, it is a complete relief and sense of accomplishment.  You did it!  You got the right ball moving and it's actually starting to pick up momentum on its own.  Things might actually be falling into place.  Now, you just need to keep it moving.

A word of warning, though.  The right direction may pose as obstacles:  more work, time conflicts, a required change of an otherwise already scheduled routine.  Be careful.  Learn to sift through the obstacles and see the opportunities.  Opportunity often comes disguised as hard work, but recognize that it is, in fact, there.  It's left the "ball" in your court, if you will, giving you the chance to make the next move.  Don't go against fate when it has started the ball moving in the right direction for you.  Embrace it and run with it.  After all, you put in all the leg work prior to that point for a reason.  Keep the ball rolling!!

a city's truth from a city lover

Chicago may not be the best city in the world.  Or, to you, maybe it is.  Either way, it is a city, and it is the one that I have lived by and called "my city" for the majority of my life.  Granted, I live in the suburbs, but it's still "my" city.  I own it.  I'm okay with that fact.  :-)


Ok not really.  Actually, I don't often have a chance to get into the city with the way my schedule works, so I cherish moments when I do get to play "city-lite" . . . like last night.  Initially, though, I cursed the city.  They implemented these new Payboxes which means that you have to give half of your checking account in order to park for 20 minutes.  YAY Chicago.  However, I needed to be somewhere at 5, and that somewhere happened to be smack dab in the middle of the loop just south of the river.  Silly me, I actually tried finding a parking spot on Clark before 5pm.  Totally a horrid miscalculation on my part.  Oh, don't get me wrong, you can park there, there are payboxes (needless to say therefore I was initially excited because I thought I had cheated the system and found a paybox!).  However, it is a 100% tow zone before 6pm.  Damn!  1 hour short.  I actually tried putting my flashers on and running into the building trying to cheat "death by towing" part 2, and I got as far as the elevators before I realized that that was a horrifically bad idea.  Ever been towed in the city?  NOT FUN!!!  It's $150 of pure "you took my car to what neighborhood?" or "Ok . . . WHERE exactly on lower Wacker?".  I lived through that 4 years ago and have absolutely no intention of intentionally reliving that awesome-ness.  


Therefore, I moved my car.  Where exactly you wonder?  AAAAALLL the way down to Roosevelt and Wabash, by the Columbia College, where there is one tiny little strip of paybox parking that actually is useable prior to 6pm.  Still, $7.50 for three hours isn't bad, but it's not terribly cheap either, so I walked my way back up the 15-20 blocks to the building I was supposed to be in in the first place.  I got in a workout AND kept a little more cash in my back account!  Win-win!  


On the way back to my car, just a little past Roosevelt College, I slowed my pace and allowed myself the joy of taking in my surroundings.  People around me walked briskly with scarves and caps.  Buildings suddenly looked more welcoming in the late night sun of early March (and by late night I really mean 5:45pm . . . which is "late" given the past few months!).  Cars and cabs zipped by me, and I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of peace and enjoyment.  I am truly a city girl at heart, and my walk back to my car reminded my how much I love the chaotic peacefulness of the city.  If that makes perfect sense to you, then you are a city person too.  If that doesn't, I understand.  Either way, mishaps and all, last nights adventure was refreshing.  Now. . . if I could just refresh my bank account . . . .   :-)