Random questions...

I've seen these questions making the rounds on people's blogs lately, and since I've been at a decided loss for meaningful words the past couple weeks, I thought I'd give them a go:

In baseball each player gets a “walk up song” that plays on his way up to the plate. What song would you pick?

Hmmm... this is tough, because I like so many different kinds of music. In fact, I'd probably be really weird and pick a different song for every at bat. Because how could I possibly settle on one??

And speaking of music and baseball, I was browsing a site called What Pros Wear, which mainly talks about, obviously, what pro baseball players are wearing, and where you can buy similar items. But one blog entry about the music used at Yankee Stadium caught my eye, because the author wrote that one "gripe about Yankee Stadium’s musical tastes is their insistence that Kate Smith’s rendition of 'God Bless America' be the one played for every 7th inning stretch since 2001 (unless we were lucky enough to have Ronan Tynan crush it).  I’m sure the woman had a great voice but she sounds like a foghorn in the version they use." I found this interesting because this is EXACTLY what I've been saying for years! I've heard that Kate Smith had a great voice, but the recording used by Yankee Stadium does her no justice -- it's like one part Ethel Merman, one part old-timey phonograph:

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Kate Smith singing God Bless America at Yankee Stadium

Every time I hear it, I half expect her to finish the song and immediately segue into a static-y sounding, belted rendition of "Everything's Coming Up Roses." Why couldn't Yankee Stadium just use a recording of Ronan Tynan? He has such a great voice... bring Ronan Tynan back, Yankees!!

Okay, I kinda got off track... back to the questions:

What's the best thing that happened to you last weekend?

I did pretty much nothing interesting at all over the weekend, so that's hard to say. Oh, we did go to Peet's Coffee to pick up some coffee beans, and I tried their new Mayan chocolate mocha, which was awesome. Reminiscent of the spicy mocha that used to be available at Caribou Coffee... but it was then discontinued, and my mom has been searching in vain for it ever since. Also, Peapod delivered my groceries so I'm all stocked up to cook dinners this week. (Yeah, you know your life is exciting when the highlights of your weekend are coffee and groceries... :))

If you could have a starring role in any film already made, which movie would you pick?

The first thing that comes to mind is the Matrix... because I think it would be fun to play the part of a gravity-defying, acrobatic-karate-fighting, kick-all-the-bad-guy's-butts kinda role. (And for some reason, the second thing that comes to mind is Titanic... because it would also be fun to play the part of the damsel in distress who is rescued by Leonardo DiCaprio and gets to escape the sinking ship... go figure. :) Also, the historical aspect would've been really interesting.) 

What actor/actress would you have play you in a movie of your life?

Well, now I'm stuck on Titanic, so I'll go with Kate Winslet. I've always liked her anyway, because she comes across as more "real" than a lot of the actresses out there -- she doesn't starve herself or work out ten hours a day to achieve some unattainable "ideal," which seems to be rare in the acting world. She could even keep the British accent... I mean, everyone would wonder why the girl who was born in Buffalo, New York ended up with a British accent, but that would just make my story more intriguing, right?

What internet website do you visit the most?

Probably Facebook, sadly enough... although not nearly as much as I used to when I first joined the site.

Which of Snow White's 7 dwarfs describes you the best and why?

Well, duh -- anyone who knows me knows that it's obviously Bashful. (Although depending on the season, Sneezy sometimes fits, too.)

If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?

I always find this question really strange. I mean, if I was on death row -- if I literally knew that I had one more day on earth -- I would not be the least bit hungry. Why would I want to eat? What would be the point?? Do people seriously request lavish final meals on death row? How are they able to choke anything down with their own mortality staring them directly in the face?? I get the basic IDEA behind this question, I just think it needs to be reworded into another question entirely... like, "if you were moving to a remote arctic location with limited access to a variety of food, what would you eat the day before you left?" See, in THAT case, I would probably want some pizza, some Indian food, and a whole lotta cupcakes. And then I'd pack as many cupcakes as possible into my luggage and haul them up to the arctic with me... frozen cupcakes are still cupcakes...

What is the background of your computer? 

This picture of Piva, which I took a couple years ago when she was enthralled by a candle:

  
Cats are fun... :)

April randomness...

I would just like everyone to pause for a moment and take in the fact that an entire quarter of 2013 is already over...

How did it go by so quickly??

I'm really not a fan of April Fool's Day... as I was perusing Facebook yesterday morning, I saw a story in my newsfeed that caught my attention. It was an official-looking "statement" that said Derek Jeter was announcing his retirement from the Yankees, he would not be playing this year, and he would be having a press conference before yesterday's opening day game. For a split second, my jaw dropped and my heart began fluttering in abject terror... and then my brain kicked in and said, "quit with the histrionics, idiot -- it's April 1st." Oh yeah... April 1st... the day when people think it's hilarious to play "jokes" on other unsuspecting people. Soooooo funny. Actually, I do enjoy seeing whatever Google comes up with every April 1st -- they always have some kind of silly link on their page...

So Chicago is in the news again for not-nice reasons... Eric texted me Saturday night to ask if we were safe and sound in our condo. This is not a question you want your police-officer brother to ask you, because it probably means something bad is happening out in the city... Last year, we had an issue with apparently really bored packs of teenagers from other areas of the city hopping on the train, coming downtown, and terrorizing random innocent strangers. And since the weather was warmer than usual this past weekend, all those bored (and might I say, extremely uncreative) teenagers connected with each other on Twitter -- they actually organized a mob -- and headed to Michigan Avenue downtown to cause trouble. Fortunately, we stayed in on Saturday, but it's not uncommon for us to be in that area, so it's really disconcerting when I hear about this sort of thing happening. What's even more annoying is that these kids don't even live around here -- they deliberately get on the train and come to neighborhoods that are generally considered "safe" and even "touristy." I really do love Chicago, but sometimes I wonder how long we'll stay before we move on to somewhere else...

Speaking of Chicago -- Return to Me is on on one of my movie channels right now. A lot of the movie takes place in a restaurant, and the restaurant they filmed it in is a place called Twin Anchors here in Chicago. If you're ever in Chicago, you HAVE to go to Twin Anchors -- some of the best barbecue sauce I've ever had... and I used to live in Texas. :) (And then watch Return to Me, so you can say, "hey, I've been to that restaurant!" Which is what I do every time I see this movie...)

Baseball has started again! And nevermind the fact that the Yankees lost their first game to the Red Sox... no matter... it was one game. Obviously the Yanks are trying to lull their opponents into a false sense of security. And, honestly, the Yankees ALWAYS seem to be slow to get started. I was somehow also sucked into another season of fantasy baseball, so we'll see how THAT goes... :)

Okay, I need to go figure out what I'm making for dinner -- happy April, everyone!