Elvis with a BEARD!!! I am going to guess this was taken right around the time he acted in the film Charro!… which is the only time he ever sported a beard… at least as far as I know.
The guy with him? Wayne Cochran. And that was his look. A big, greasy, white pompadour. He’s responsible for the song Last Kiss. It went like this, Where oh where can my Baby be? The Lord took her away from me! She’s gone to heaven so I got to be good, so I can see my baby when I leave this world.
Pearl Jam covered it. And J. Frank Wilson actually had the hit with it after Wayne Cochran. It’s said that Last Kiss was the culmination of the death rock songs of the 50’s. It started in 1958 with Jody Reynolds’ “Endless Sleep.” My favorite of the genre is “Tell Laura I Love Her.”
Here’s a video of Wayne doing his THANG!
How did I find the picture? You know how some guys search for boobies? I search for pompadour.
I need to get my life organized. And I need to get over these weird fears I have over invoicing and money and crap. I’ve been sitting here for over an hour trying to get myself to invoice and I am freaking blocked! I can’t just do it. Why am I procrastinating? THIS NEEDS TO GET DONE!!!!
It just feels like it’s going to be a great day. The sun is shining, the sky is clear!
I have a ton of stuff to do here in my office but it won’t take much to draw me away.
As I was making coffee, I remembered I had a bag of blueberry muffin mix that I could whip up. And I was just about to do it until I noticed it was over a year expired. In the past, the date of 08/2009 wouldn’t have stopped me but I read a Dear Abby column that said flour-based products are a haven for mold! She said that they should be tossed after expiration because they could cause DEATH from the toxic mold brewing within the mix! Even though that sounds like total BS to me, I don’t want to risk it.
Last night I watched two episodes of Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel. Can I tell you how much I love this show? I LOVE THIS SHOW! My favorite part is how they use a cheap digital Dictaphone to catch “EVPs.” It’s the same Dictaphone Pookie Bear bought at Staples a couple years ago. The EVPs they catch rarely sound like anything other than static. The first episode of last night found them in Louisville’s Waverly Hills Sanatorium. They brought out a new tool which was a motion detector. They set it up and moved around it… and surprise… the thing kept going off. They said it was evidence that a spirit was in the room with them. After they left the room, they noted the motion detector STOPPED GOING OFF thus proving that the spirit left the room.
And why does Zak style his hair in such a ridiculous manner? I want to wash the gel out of his hair and take him to a barber who will cut his hair in a more age appropriate style. He could look so much better with just a tiny bit of effort.
A man showed up to my weekly networking group with the most god-awful facial hair I have ever seen. And I love facial hair! This particular strain looked like something an Amish man might do after dropping acid. Imagine C. Everett Koop’s beard, bleached blond and moussed. It was horrendous. When I saw him I swear my jaw dropped open and I blushed. I avoided him because I knew I would spend the entire time counting the curlycues and wondering of his sanity.
Does this man go to sleep at night wondering why people avoid him? Why no one makes eye contact? Why it seems people talk behind his back? Why no one takes him seriously? Why he can’t find a woman who loves him?
During a conversation a few weeks ago, someone I know to be an intelligent person said, “Because I couldn’t get into the school I wanted, I wasn’t able to get a good job.” I remember blinking my eyes a couple times and wondering if my hearing suddenly went bad. I wanted to say, “Do you really believe that? Do you really think I believe that?”
Another conversation had me looking at a totally different person in disbelief because the situation she described was so beyond what human nature dictates that she had to be lying. No normal person would react in that type of manner. EVER. And I wondered how she believed it and why she thought I would believe it.
The other night, Pookie Bear came to visit me and he remarked at the state of filthiness my desk was in. I knew my desk was messy but I didn’t realize how bad it had become. I cleared it off and started putting stuff away. Once the desktop was visible, I suddenly became aware of how bad it had been. Why I didn’t notice it before Pookie said anything amazes me.
And now I keep thinking of this personal blindness. Things that are obvious to others… and yet are oblivious to ourselves. What else in my life am I totally missing? What is apparent to most everyone but not to me? I am trying very hard to be as self-aware and socially-aware as possible. I do not want to be that person who corners someone at a business card exchange and talks and talks and talks and doesn’t recognize the frustration in the other person’s eyes. Or the guy with the huge booger on his nostril that vibrates with every exhale.
I keep coming back to self-preservation. Perhaps it really is a blessing that we are so blind. Being so painfully aware might be cause for insanity.
I want to order a new pair of glasses from Warby Parker. The glasses are sweet as all heck and they only cost $95! Just gotta get my prescription from my eye doctor!
The last couple weeks have seen me living a pretty charmed life. Last week I walked into a bar and sitting there was one of the local new anchors. Our eyes met and… he recognized me! He jumped off his barstool and ran over to me, “Donna? Is that you!?” It’s not like he knows me through this blog or any of my 3 other ones, but I did meet him the day before at a seminar we both attended. And no, it was NOT John “Storm of the Century” Bolaris. Regardless, it was really neat… for me.
I also got tossed two insanely awesome speaking engagements that should prove to be fruitful. They’ve already taken place so right now I am sorta waiting to see what happens. We shall see.
Here’s a weird one… are there any rules around how to hyperlink a sentence? For the last 11 years, I have always wondered if I should treat the hyperlink like a parenthesis. What I mean is, do I include the period in the hyperlink or should I place it outside of the hyperlink? I have no clue.
I am patiently waiting for that Serge Gainsborg bioflick to come out here. When the heck are they going to slap some damn subtitles on that baby and distribute it? I am growing impatient!
I’ve stopped watching Nikita. The third episode arrived and I just couldn’t get myself to watch it. Instead I’ve been watching Outsourced. I mentioned my love for it on Facebook after last episode and I got my hand slapped for admitting that I liked a show whose premise was the outsourcing of American jobs overseas. I felt bad but I think I may continue to watch it. I’ve always felt a kinship with Indians… probably because my second best friend was Indian. She moved away in 1986 and forgot to tell me. I remember passing by her house and seeing the For Rent sign and being so confused. Damn you, Usha.
Speaking of bestfriends, I had a dream last night of my third best friend, Vickie S. In my dream, I was sitting around doing nothing much when the phone rang and Vickie was on the other end. She told me that she ran into a man at the mall who had something important to tell me. She handed him the phone and I could hear him reciting some sales script for window replacement. I slammed down the phone and cursed under my breath.
What was I talking about? Indians. It’s been so cold and rainy here and all I want to eat is Chicken Tikka Masala. But I haven’t. Mainly because I have NO FOOD in my house. No eggs. No bread. Well, I never have bread. I only buy Tortillas. I have no Tortillas. I have no Grapefruit Juice. I have no cream for my coffee.
I was talking to someone about this little service that I provide for $99. And I said, if I do one, it covers my grocery bill. And the guy acted like it was really strange that my grocery bill is only 99 a month. Triscuits, pickles and cottage cheese don’t cost that much.
Today for lunch I went to the little grocery store by my house and bought an Italian hoagie. As I ate it, I kept wondering how the ingredients could be the same as what the White House in Atlantic City has in their hoagie and yet not taste as good. And as luck would have it, Mr Pookie Bear invited me to Atlantic City. I have a couple conflicts so I need to figure out if I want to go bad enough to reschedule the meetings.
Right now on my shuffled playlist, The Girl from Ipanema just came up and is playing. It reminds me of the evening I sat in the John Hancock building in Chicago in The Signature Room at the 95th floor, listening to some João Gilberto impersonator.. or maybe it was João Gilberto, I don’t know. At any rate, he asked for requests and I asked him to play One Ton Tomato and he and everyone else laughed at me. Bastards. Guantanamera. Whatever.
Wait! What was I talking about? Indians. As a young girl with a bestfriend who was Indian, it never seemed fair to me that there weren’t any sitcoms or movies or commercials featuring Indians. And maybe that’s why I like Outsourced now. Of course, I remember for Usha’s 10th birthday I gave her the present of an INDIAN Barbie! I was so happy to have found it! And I gave it to her so proudly. Oddly enough, she didn’t seem as happy as I thought she would be. I remember the next week, I asked her why she wasn’t playing with it and she told me she exchanged it for Malibu Barbie.
Tomorrow I scheduled an appointment with Aprille. Yes, I am going to get my hair cut. It’s gotten insanely long. How long? It’s not that far off from Brooke Shields’ hair in Blue Lagoon. I’ll probably only have Aprille cut off an inch or two. I kinda like it this long.
I’d love to watch Blue Lagoon again. I remember it being delightfully silly. The next movie I watch will probably be Social Network or is it Social Media? I can’t freaking remember. It’s the one about the founder of Facebook. I swear, that dude has achieved so much in his 26 years. What prepares a person for that type of success? Or is it merely luck? Maybe if I didn’t spend a large chunk of my life watching Three’s Company episodes I could have amounted to something? Nah. 😉
Is this what Virginia Wolf meant when she wrote about Steam of Consciousness? Nah. 🙂
Okay, I doubt anyone got down this far. Heck, I am barely here myself. It’s time to sign off. Go to sleep. Dream of weird sh*t. Yeah. Whatever.
Look, I am still here. I am alive and well. The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
Things have been hectic. I am writing and presenting in real life that it leaves me feeling rather empty when it comes to this here blog. I know, I should be more disciplined. I suck. What can I say?
If you crave more Donna, follow me on Facebook. And then you’ll be totally tired of me in no time. Heck, I’m tired of me.
I am super happy it’s October. October is my favorite month! And I think dear friend Audra gave birth today. Unless the kid refuses to come out and then in that case she’ll pop out tomorrow.
I’ve had some pretty awesome epiphanies that I want to talk to you guys about. All in due time.
Tomorrow I am headed to a local college. There’s a two day seminar taking place on one of my favorite topics. And on the second day I am going to present. It seems like that’s all I’ve been doing of late. And I love it. It’s kinda like the same thrill I got back when I used to act. Of course, I am talking about technical subjects now and not portraying Lysistrata:
I will live at home unbulled…
Beautifully dressed and wearing a saffron-coloured gown
To the end I may inspire my husband with the most ardent longings.
Never will I give myself voluntarily…
And if he has me by force…
I will be cold as ice, and never stir a limb…
I will neither extend my Persian slippers toward the ceiling…
Nor will I crouch like the carven lions on a knife-handle.
We’ve gotten a lot of rain the last two days and this evening I found two ants crawling on my desk. Has the reprieve ended? Is it time to get out the poison… again?
We were in the car searching for the next garage sale when my mom decided to raise the white flag of defeat. She flagged down a passing mail truck and asked:
“Excuse me, but where is Burgundy Road? I know it’s around here somewhere!”
“Yeah, you are close. Make a right and just follow it straight about 10 minutes, Burgundy will be on your right.”
“Oh, thank you so very much!”
“No problem! Have a good day!”
“See girls, all you have to do is ask! No need for one of those fancy GPS things.”
“Yeah, and it helps that he was one hot postman, huh Ma?” said Lisa.
“Stop it! I had no idea!”
“Mom always find hot men, Donna! She can pull a hot man outta anything! Heck, she could pull a hot man out of a…… out of a….. BOWL OF SOUP! But of course, that isn’t really saying anything because if there was a guy in a bowl of soup, of course he’d be hot. Unless it was Gazpacho. Then he’d be cool! But then he’d be right up mom’s alley anyway!”
“You are insane and now I think I am going to pee myself…”
“Don’t pee yourself, Donna… I don’t have time, I need to get home ASPCA!”
