Way back in 1994

Things have been pretty quiet around here lately, and there's not a lot to write about, so I went out and found a music meme that I hadn't seen before. Maybe you have. What you do is you go to Music Outfitters and type the year you graduated high school into the search box. Then choose the result that gives you the top 100 singles from the year you graduated and copy the list. On your blog, go through and pick out the ones you liked or didn't like. I'm doing the ones I liked in blue, the ones I hated in red, and the ones I was indifferent to or don't remember in black. To make it more fun, you have to designate according to how you felt about the song back then, not how you feel about it now. Kind of fun, this one caused a lot of groans, mostly because I remember driving around blasting some of the lamer songs. But really what this meme did for me is make me wonder, Where was I in 1994? Because there's a LOT on this list that I don't remember at all. Maybe it's better that way...

1. The Sign, Ace Of Base
2. I Swear, All-4-One
3. I'll Make Love To You, Boyz II Men
4. The Power Of Love, Celine Dion
5. Hero, Mariah Carey
6. Stay (I Missed You), Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories
7. Breathe Again, Toni Braxton
8. All For Love, Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting
9. All That She Wants, Ace Of Base
10. Don't Turn Around, Ace Of Base
11. Bump N' Grind, R. Kelly
12. Again, Janet Jackson
13. I'll Remember, Madonna
14. Whatta Man, Salt-N-Pepa
15. Wild Night, John Mellencamp and Me'shell Ndegeocello
16. Without You / Never Forget You, Mariah Carey
17. You Mean The World To Me, Toni Braxton
18. Can You Feel The Love Tonight, Elton John
19. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, Prince Symbol (The Artist Formerly Known as Prince)
20. Fantastic Voyage, Coolio
21. Baby I Love Your Way, Big Mountain
22. Regulate, Warren G and Nate Dogg
23. If You Go, Jon Secada
24. Back and Forth, Aaliyah
25. Now And Forever, Richard Marx
26. When Can I See You, Babyface
27. Please Forgive Me, Bryan Adams
28. So Much In Love, All-4-One
29. Shoop, Salt-N-Pepa
30. Any Time, Any Place / And On And On, Janet Jackson
31. Shine, Collective Soul
32. Said I Loved You...But I Lied, Michael Bolton
33. Return To Innocence, Enigma
34. All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow
35. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm, Crash Test Dummies
36. Can We Talk, Tevin Campbell
37. Funkdafied, Da Brat
38. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That), Meat Loaf
39. Gangsta Lean, Drs
40. Because The Night, 10,000 Maniacs
41. Cantaloop, US3
42. Whoomp! (There It Is), Tag Team
43. Come To My Window, Melissa Etheridge
44. Stroke You Up, Changing Faces
45. I'm Ready, Tevin Campbell
46. 100% Pure Love, Crystal Waters
47. Anytime You Need A Friend, Mariah Carey
48. Because Of Love, Janet Jackson
49. Linger, Cranberries
50. Loser, Beck
51. Found Out About You, Gin Blossoms
52. Gin And Juice, Snoop Doggy Dogg
53. Never Lie, Immature
54. Streets Of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen
55. Getto Jam, Domino
56. Endless Love, Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey
57. I Miss You w/ Aaron Hall
58. Understanding, Xscape
59. This D.J., Warren G
60. Cry For You, Jodeci
61. Keep Ya Head Up, 2Pac
62. Who Am I (What's My Name?), Snoop Doggy Dogg
63. Another Night, Real McCoy
64. Your Body's Callin', R. Kelly
65. Tootsee Roll, 69 Boyz
66. I Can See Clearly Now, Jimmy Cliff
67. Never Keeping Secrets, Babyface
68. Crazy, Aerosmith
70. At Your Best (You Are Love), Aaliyah
71. Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through, Meat Loaf
72 Amazing, Aerosmith
73. Always, Erasure
74. Groove Thang, Zhane
75. Dreams, Gabrielle
76. Mr. Vain, Culture Beat
77. Mary Jane's Last Dance, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
78. Anything, SWV
79. Beautiful In My Eyes, Joshua Kadison
80. Stay, Eternal
81. Flava In Ya Ear, Craig Mack
82. U.N.I.T.Y., Queen Latifah
83. Prayer For The Dying, Seal
84. Secret, Madonna
85. Here Comes The Hotstepper, Ini Kamoze
86. Everyday, Phil Collins
87. Don't Take The Girl, Tim McGraw
88. Got Me Waiting, Heavy D and The Boyz
89. December 1963 (Oh, What A Night), Four Seasons
90. Indian Outlaw, Tim McGraw
91. Always, Bon Jovi
92. I'm The Only One, Melissa Etheridge
93. Back In The Day, Ahmad
94. Love Sneakin' Up On You, Bonnie Raitt
95. I'll Take You There, General Public
96. Always In My Heart, Tevin Campbell
97. What Is Love, Haddaway
98. And Our Feelings, Babyface
99. Bop Gun (One Nation), Ice Cube
100. I Wanna Be Down, Brandy

Red paper moon

For my birthday my parents gave me a string of these lights. The paper lanterns around the lights are all different colors, and now when we sit on our patio at night it feels like our own private bistro. Very fun.

Diet Coke wishes and pizza dreams

Nathan and I are big pizza eaters. We moved to our current apartment solely because it's right across the street from Papa John's. We like to order it with pepperoni and extra cheese, and then dip it in that yummy garlic sauce they give you. Usually we eat pizza when it's gotten really late and we realize that we haven't gotten around to eating dinner yet, so we end up eating around ten or later, and then we pretty much go straight to bed. And then when we wake up in the morning we have the horrible pizza thirst, and we've been dreaming pizza dreams all night. You know, the kind of dreams where you have to build a space shuttle with your fourth grade PE teacher. The other day I had pizza for lunch, so the pizza dreams weren't that bad. But I did dream that our pastor and his wife had their baby (she's due Saturday) and named her Edmonton Juliette. In my dream I said to someone, "So, I guess they're calling her Juliette?" and the person said, "Nope, their calling her Eddie." I think it's kinda cute, don't you?

PS: The only thing that can quench the pizza thirst is diet coke. Lots of it.

On being 30

At age 30:
Mark Twain published his first short story, "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog."

Danish novelist Hans Christian Andersen published his book of fairy tales.

Nat Turner led a slave rebellion.

U.S. mariner Moses Rogers made the first ocean steamboat voyage.

Donald Trump persuaded bankers to lend him $80 million so he could buy the Commodore Hotel.

Samuel Morse's assistant, Alfred Lewis Vail, devised Morse code.

Physicist Armand H. L. Fizeau measured the speed of light.

Dr. Narinder Kapany invented fiber optics and designed a glass gastroscope which can be snaked down the throat for a detailed view of the stomach.

Hank Williams overdosed on drugs and alcohol.

Bill Gates was the first person ever to become a billionaire by age 30.

Earl Vickers started the Dollar Project, in which dollar bills were rubber-stamped as being lost, with a reward offered for their safe return.

So, I guess you could say that I'm doing better than Hank Williams, but not as well as Bill Gates or Donald Trump.

Just wondering

According to JK Rowling's website, today (June 5th, since the date has already changed in England) is Draco Malfoy's birthday. Why would she make it just one day off from the ominous date of 6/6/06? Yes, I know that it's not 2006 in the books. But she would know that it would eventually fall on that date if she'd made it June 6th. Is this a clue, that he's just shy of being totally evil? Will June 6th be someone else's birthday? Do you think I have way too much time on my hands? I really don't, it's just that this is about as deep as I can think at the end of an especially long weekend, after dealing with a child who wants to live exclusively on yogurt and pink lemonade.

Tidbits

Okay, sorry about the total rant last time. It just has to happen every once in a while, when something gets to me. I think a lot of things had been getting to me and that was the last straw. So here are some less serious things that have been going on lately, since I haven't posted in a while.

Judah's getting really really good at walking and wants to walk everywhere now. He hardly ever falls at all. He still only has a few words, but he's beginning to imitate us more. He says Dada, Mama (on occasion, but usually insists on calling both Nathan and me Dada), kitty, and down. And if we sing "Ay yi yi yi" at him he'll sing it back to us. His latest trick is body slamming the cat.

My 30th is approaching way too fast for comfort. For my birthday, I had wanted this U2 cover band to play, but they're a little too expensive.

Ashlee. What are we going to do with her? Two weeks ago we're hanging out at Fashion Island in Newport and she stops outside Baby Style and says, "Wanna go in?" That was her way of telling me she's pregnant! Then today she goes for her first doctor's appointment and calls me soon after seeing the ultrasound. I didn't answer, so Nathan called me a few minutes later and broke the news Brian had just broken to him. Twins! No way. And just when they're moving to Phoenix and Brian's starting a new job. Talk about major life changes. I get the feeling that I'm going to become very familiar with the lovely city of Phoenix.

I was wandering around the internet the other day and found something that made me super happy. See, I loved loved loved Toad the Wet Sprocket in college but I never got a chance to see them and they broke up in 1998. But when I found their website I discovered that they're back together and touring this summer! I'm so excited. And it's all general admission seating...

I heard this guy for the first time yesterday and I have the feeling that if he'd been around when I was in college my life might've been really different. Check him out on Pandora by creating Owen radio. It's kinda weird who they play on his station, everyone from Morrissey to Jennifer Knapp, two people I never would have put together.

Today I went to the grocery store and then to Panda Express to pick up dinner. At the store a woman asked to go in front of the woman behind me since she only had two items. But she didn't ask nicely, like, "Hey, would you mind if I went before you? I'm in a super big hurry." She asked like she deserved it. Then at Panda the woman in front of me took every last cookie in the fortune cookie basket, then looked at me and said "Sorry" in a non-apologetic way. Yorba Linda! People are weird around here.