busy monday!
Mood:  rushed
Just wanted to make a quick post..... busy today...... had a good weekend...... went to Brenda's TS party on Saturday which Tiffer came with me to..... watched football........ yesterday did laundry and was generally lazy..... Kurt bought Alton Brown's book "I'm just here for the food" and we're hoping that we can actually make some stuff from it and start planning menus. We've been saying we're going to do that for the past year or so, maybe more... but have never gotten around to it.

Redskins beat the crap out of the Dolphins.... Jets beat the Colts (?!?!?!?!!!) and the Eagles beat the Ravens. Eagles looked okay but I think the injuries are going to take a toll. I'd still draft T.O. for my fantasy teams, though. I'm in 2 leagues this year... a work league and an American Idol league. Having trouble signing up for the work league. Oh well.

Back to work...... we may be going to Whole Foods in Naptown after work to get some ingredients for our meals this week.

Bear Passes Out After Only 36 Beers
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: Sarah McLachlan
Topic: Weird shit

Thu Aug 19, 2004 08:23 AM ET


SEATTLE (Reuters) - A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a campground worker said on Wednesday.
"We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around," said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles northeast of Seattle.

The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers' coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.

It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.

Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the next day, said Broxson.

They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and two cans of Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was captured for relocation.

I made the front page!
Mood:  special
Now Playing: Sports Junkies
Topic: Artistic endeavors

Here is a link to the article...

Area residents take their shot at 'Idol' fame
By VANESSA FRANKO, Staff Writer

This time, Lauren Grande left the stuffed frog at home.

During her "American Idol" audition in Atlanta last year, the 24-year-old from Pasadena sang Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" while holding a plush green amphibian - named Jeremiah, of course.

She didn't make it past the first round.

At the Washington Convention Center yesterday, she tried a different approach: "This time I'm going to be more serious - as serious as I can be with purple hair."

Ms. Grande was one of more than 9,000 hopefuls, including a gaggle of local residents, auditioning for the next season of the TV talent show.

After three years of watching naive no-talents get a verbal pummelling, many of these faithful viewers had become more savvy auditioners.

They openly admitted they had no more than a fighting chance at stardom, but they also knew the unspoken rules for not becoming the next William Hung, who mangled Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" last year.

Don't have a gimmick.

Don't confuse spandex with style.

And by all means, don't sing the overdone theme from "Aladdin."

That's what David Merrill from Annapolis did last year in New York. When he told the audition judge for the second round that he'd be singing "A Whole New World," the judge gave a bored shrug.

He later found out why: So many other wannabe superstars used the same song that the Fox network aired a snarky compilation of the various renditions.

But the 21-year-old music education major, who drove more than five hours from Methodist College in Fayetteville, N.C., stuck with a Disney song this time around: "You'll Be in My Heart," Phil Collins' theme from "Tarzan."

Mr. Merrill dismissed gimmicks, but he did have a strategy to gain "American Idol" fame. He said he shook the hands of about 300 people who set up makeshift beds out of sleeping bags and blankets on the concrete floor.

He figured that if he made it to the actual series, the people he had met might remember him and vote for him.

But he didn't make it to the second round of competition.

None of the dozen or so locals interviewed for this story did.

It's showtime

In the first round, all the contestants perform an a cappella clip of a song of their choosing in front of two or three producers of the show.

The best and worst - meaning the ones who make for the most entertaining TV viewing - are asked to sing before producers again in a second round.

Only up to 100 a day go on to sing for the mighty and powerful wizards of "Idol": judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.

The three are expected to see contestants in Washington starting tomorrow, and from there they'll decide which ones get a trip to Hollywood.

For the honor of being insulted by the acerbic Mr. Cowell, singers started hovering - or pre-lining up - at the convention center on Saturday.

By Tuesday, many were inside with their camping chairs and radios, while others played guitar and board games.

People broke into song more often than in a Broadway musical.

Impromptu gospel choirs formed throughout the exhibit hall while other contestants tried their hand at a karaoke machine in a corner, singing everything from LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" to Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."

To commemorate the experience, official "American Idol" audition T-shirts and tank tops were on sale for $15 or $20 each.

For his audition costume, Steve Hill, 18, of Severna Park bought a pair of stylish tan pants but debated about what shirt to wear with them.

His mother took digital pictures of him wearing the pants with various shirts and they did their own version of soliciting America's votes, asking opinions of relatives at a family gathering.

Wearing the winner, a sky-blue polo that matched his eyes, he said he'd figured his two-day campout would force him to forsake good hygiene.

"I was just expecting my mom to bring a thermos of warm water to pour out on my head and I could do my hair," Mr. Hill said.

Luckily, relatives of friends who were also auditioning got a hotel room nearby, making a shower possible.

Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but it and a rendition of "Rockin' Robin" weren't enough to push him into the next round.

Roughing it

Neither was a place at the head of the line, "heartfelt" versions of pop classics or vocal training.

A lot of deflated, defeated students, waitresses and young parents resumed their ordinary lives today after the judges sent them packing.

Brian Cook of Dorsey was a finalist in a local takeoff, "Baltimore Idol," a few years ago and was anxious to audition with "You Are So Beautiful."

"You should pick any good song to sing with your heart and with genuine feeling without overdoing it," said Mr. Dorsey, 26.

While he auditioned in the first round, his wife LaWanda lugged their camping gear into the designated waiting area for families and friends.

"I had so many butterflies in my stomach, you'd have thought I was auditioning," she said.

Afterward, Mr. Cook was smiling despite being rejected.

Johnelka Stafford, 25, of Annapolis came out to audition for her favorite show and left with a different view of it.

"If you don't look like Britney Spears or sing like Justin Timberlake, sorry, you're not what they're looking for," she said.

She doesn't plan to watch next season.

Others who didn't make it past the first round remained faithful and just hoped to avoid an appearance on the "worst auditions" show.

"I think I'm good enough that I won't be on TV," Mr. Hill said.

I botched it!
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Joss Stone
Topic: Artistic endeavors
I'm cut & pasting from an email I sent out this morning.

I just wanted you all to know the outcome and the details... I didn't make it, and I'm also very tired, sore, and cranky. Of course if I'd made it, I'd be more than happy to discuss my experience over and over again, even if I was still tired and sore. I guess that I'll start from the beginning and give a summary of everything that happened.

Over the past few months, I've made two friends on the American Idol message board; Sue (from Massachusetts) and Nicole (from New York). The three of us had planned on meeting at 4 a.m. on Tuesday (17th), which was 2 hours before the official start time of the line-up. Nicole got into town early Monday night and reported that people were already lining up for wristbands - the line had started early (your wristband was what identified you as an auditioner). So I ended up going down to DC Monday night around 9 p.m., got my wristband after only 20 or 30 minutes of waiting, and met up with Nicole. I waited for a few hours and Sue came as well... shortly thereafter (around 11:30 or 12), I left and went back home. They had a huge hall set up with barriers that were about 13 or 14 feet apart, people were supposed to camp out between them and that is their audition order. Sue and Nicole saved my spot for me, and I came back at 4:30 on Tuesday to camp out. During the day Tuesday, I was interviewed by the Capitol newspaper and also walked around Chinatown in DC, spend some time at Asylum Wake Skate Snow - WHFS (99.1) has a new studio there in the front of the store and were broadcasting live for Oscar & Duke's show. Sue sang on the radio while we were there, but I didn't feel like it. After spending an hour at Asylum, we went back to the convention center. I tried unsuccessfully to sleep Tuesday night... I tossed and turned and just couldn't get comfortable. Since I got there later than some of the other people, there wasn't much space for my sleeping bag, so the whole time I was attempting to sleep, I was getting kicked and pushed into by the people around me. This was not the only thing that disrupted my snoozing endeavor; the bright lights and people singing, laughing, clapping, yelling, and talking also made it impossible to sleep. At 3:30 a.m., I got up with my new friends and got ready for the audition. I was exhausted, but I just dealt with it. We got back to the convention center shortly after 5 a.m. In the hours following, they got a group of people to go outside and film the opening scenes that they'll use for next season of American Idol... Ryan Seacrest was even there! Auditions didn't start until nearly 10 a.m. and during the downtime I'd tried to take a nap, but didn't have any better luck then. We heard from someone behind us who had a friend in the first row of auditioners that no one in that first row had gotten through the first round. That was a bit disheartening. Anyway, the line moved quickly (maybe too quickly!) as soon as auditions started. I was having a bit of trouble with my song while I was in line; there was one line that just didn't sound right to me. Maybe I should have changed it, but I stuck with it, and maybe went over it too much quietly. We got into a large room, and it was pretty much the same set-up as last year in Atlanta, only there were 4 people in each group that would go up and sing to the judge. I'm guessing that was to audition more people at once. The judge for my group I am pretty certain was Simon Lythgoe, who is the son of executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. I originally thought that Nigel was my judge, but then I realized that the guy was way too young to be Nigel. Anyway, I stepped up and smiled, said some stupid thing and he laughed... and then I started singing. I sang "I'm the only one" by Melissa Etheridge. Or shall I say that I tried to sing? As soon as I started, I knew that I was in trouble... my voice just was not cooperating at all. My nerves became worse than my audition in 6th grade for Silent Night! At one of the first higher notes, my voice cracked, badly. It was the worst audition I've ever given in my life... as soon as it cracked, I lost my focus and felt like I just wanted to crawl under a rock and die. I tried to redeem myself on the next line, but it happened again, and I went out of tune. When my voice DIDN'T crack, I went sharp. I went sharp at the end of pretty much every line, it was horrible. I've been told that good singers go sharp when they're nervous and bad singers go flat. I'm hoping there's some truth to that. I was desperately clinging to some hope that maybe if I just sang another song I could redeem myself... so I asked if I could do another and thankfully (or maybe not), he told me that I could. SO I started into "the first time ever I saw your face"... I started out strong, but by the end of the first line it was obvious that my vocal chords had given up on me. Getting cut wouldn't have bothered me so much had I done my best. I guess that I never fully recovered from whatever funk I had in my throat for the past several weeks and then staying up for 24 hours on a cold slab of concrete made things a lot worse.

So that's my story! I'm writing another article for our company's newsletter, the Harmonizer, so I'll let you know when it's finished.


I forgot to mention that I also did a follow-up interview with the reporter from the Capitol newspaper... when it comes out, I'll put up a link. As I was talking to the reporter, there was also a Fox news person right next to her as she was interviewing me... after she was done, she asked me if she could ask me a few questions as well... so I did, and she did an on-camera interview with me. I'm not sure when it was broadcasted -- I'm guessing sometime yesterday, probably on the noon news.

I'm not upset that I didn't make it; I'm upset that I screwed up so horribly. It'd be one thing if I gave it my best shot and didn't make it through; there were plenty of fantastic singers who were passed over. Two of them of course were my friends Sue and Nicole. It seemed that they weren't letting nearly as many people through this year as they did last. It was really incredible to see how many fabulous singers were cut.

That's it for now... I have a lot of work to catch up on.

got my wristband
Topic: Artistic endeavors
Long story........... I'll tell it later when I'm not half asleep. Just got home from the convention center a few minutes ago. AM going back tomorrow afternoon, but Nicole and Sue are saving our spot. So far I'm the only one with purple hair. ;)

Very organized, btw... it's much better than Atlanta... got my wristband after waiting less than half an hour. It was great! I even found decent parking, in a hotel a block from the convention center. Go me! Time for bed. nightnight!

p.s.
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Losing the blubber
I got on the scale this morning and it says that I've lost 12 pounds!!! woo-hoo!!

Of course it hasn't been working like it should be, but it has to be pretty close to right, right? Of course, this sudden loss of 2 lbs is probably just water weight, since I didn't drink as much water as usual yesterday and got more than my usual amount of exercise.

lots going on
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Miscellaneous goings-on
I haven't posted for the last few days, because the internet has been down at work... and now the network is down, too... Kurtis has been at work pretty much all weekend working on it... poor thing! :( HOpefully he'll have everything up and running today... he's really been busting his butt. He found out that our network got a virus... eek! It was a DOS attack though, and he doesn't think that it hurt anything too badly... all the data is fine and all that. I guess that's one good thing about the monitoring software that we're getting... people will be more accountable for what kind of crap they're opening... and doing on the 'net...

I'm eating a late breakfast now... I've been cleaning the house... the appraiser is coming tomorrow, so it'd be nice to have it semi-presentable. So far I've cleaned the kitchen and done the dishes... I also have a load of laundry in the washing machine........ after I'm done this entry and my breakfast, I'm going to vacuum... then shower, and then run a bunch of errands. I've pretty much been running all weekend. I was up before 8 yesterday to take our neighbor Sara to the airport... after that I went for my walk, then showered and met my dad at 11... we had a nice time... he brought me the pop rock fake book that I suggested to him on one of our last visits... that worked out great, because I was thinking of buying one for myself yesterday... so now I'm going to look through that to get ideas. No, I still don't have a song picked out. Stop asking, dammit! You guys will find out after I audition. I definitely got my exercise in yesterday after taking my walk, then walking all over the mall and to the other places I went -- went to 2 thrift stores yesterday too as well as the drug store. Today I need to get my nails done, redye my hair, go to the mall to see if I can find shoes and an outfit for auditions... I still have no clue what to wear. I've really got to get the ball rolling... auditions are less than 3 days away?! I talked to Sue and Nicole last night (faithdos and melodies2000 from the AI board) for the first time... I can't wait to meet them, they both are so sweet! I'm picking up Nicole early Tuesday morning before we go down to meet everyone... since the metro doesn't run that early. Fortunately the friend that she is staying with lives in Silver Spring, so it isn't too much out of the way for me. I was hoping that she was going to be on this side and not NoVA... that would've been a real bitch.

Well, I have to get started on the vacuuming... the day is growing late! The time is flying by! I might not even have time to shower. :-/

more fun weather!
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Melissa Etheridge
Topic: Weird shit
Check it out!



At least we're getting all of this crap this week instead of next! There's also a big line of thunderstorms headed straight for us right now. It should be nice and nasty by the time I'm leaving today. It'll start just before I get off work, I'm sure of it.

Ahh... looks like no exercise for me tonight! I lifted weights at lunch, so at least I've done something. Guess I'll have to break down and bring my clothes to work out in tomorrow so that I can use the gym at work. Looks like the weather is going to be crappy for the next 4 days or so. Figures! Oh well, I'll get my workout walking around the mall, right? ;)

That's what I'll do, I'll just do a few laps through Mills. I'm willing to bet that it's close to a mile around the whole loop. I think the whole mall is something like 2.5 million square feet. That's pretty big!

Well, it sounds like it's finally about to rain, so I'd better post this before we lose power.

happy hump day
Mood:  spacey
Now Playing: George Michael
Topic: Miscellaneous goings-on
I just counted and figured out that in the past 17 days, I've only missed 3 day of exercise! Not too shabby.

I'm going to dig out the kyocera phone that I bought 2 years ago and see if I can find the charger for it. If I can and it holds a charge, I may use it instead of buying a new phone. I'm going to have less money this paycheck than I realized, there are a lot of bills due at this time of the month (sigh). Oh well, it's all part of growing up, right!? Now I have to figure out what to wear for auditions, and how I can make use of things I already own. I need to get a pair of cute shoes that are also comfortable... now THAT will probably be my biggest challenge... even bigger than picking a song! hehe

ahhhhhhhhhh.......... well, time to get back to work.

football, fat, AI4..........
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Junkies
Topic: Miscellaneous goings-on
Last night I stayed up to watch the Hall of Fame game... Broncos vs. Skins... the Skins won, 20-17... our 2nd string kicker came in and kicked a 39 yard field goal to win the game... I was pretty impressed... our new safety Sean Taylor had a great game -- 2 INT's, 1 resulting in a TD. Pretty awesome! The game was torture to watch, though... the Broncos must have had 20 penalties and the Skins had about 6 or 7.... there was a flag on pretty much every play. It got so bad that the crowd started booing every time a flag was thrown! If the teams got through just one play with no penalties, everyone would cheer, lol. I'm worried about Brunell and Ramsey... neither one really looked that great in that game... Hasselbeck on the other hand really looked good! Ramsey just looked really uncomfortable, which seemed so out of character for him... he couldn't complete a pass to save his life! :-P~

That's it on football.

Onto fat. I feel like I'm losing, but the measurements and scale aren't showing it that much. Walked a bit longer than usual last night... good thing, because we ate pizza for dinner! :(

I haven't decided what song I'm doing for AI auditions... I'm going to the music store at lunch to look at some sheet music. My throat is still a bit yucky... I've been taking vitamin C and echinacea, too. I hope it's better by then.

That's it for now... have work to do!