Music

Do NOT Be These Guys (Except for One)

~ Shara ~ 8 Comments

Let me tell you about two people I encountered last night during the Filter concert. They are given knicknames to protect their identities, but let me implore you: do NOT be these guys. Ever.

First, I present to you Doublewide Redneck: dude wasn’t fat, but he was WIDE, the kind of guy who clearly is unconcerned if someone gets in their face and wants to start a fight. He’s a redneck because he literally had a red neck, and since I reside in the state of Tennessee, I’m allowed to bandy that term around, because I’ll use it properly rather than a catch-all term for Southerners I don’t like, thank you very much.

Doublewide Redneck wore a t-shirt that said “Drink Drank Drunk” (or something to that effect) and he had no problem shoving his way through the crowd to get where he was going. Namely, he had no problem shoving his way past me. He decided where he needed to go was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, and it took all my willpower to not shove him in the ass with my foot. I’m not kidding. I figured, if it started a fight, I’d be all right: the venue’s security would most certainly take my side (a girl’s) over a drinking dude wearing a “drink drank drunk” t-shirt, and aside from my hubby and his very BIG (not fat, TALL and not a guy you want to mess with) best friend, I was also surrounded by two other very well built guys whom I’m pretty sure would back me up, especially since the guy to my right also got shoved out of the way by Doublewide Redneck.

Doublewide Redneck stood there for a few songs, oblivious to the holes I was burning into his back with my eyes, and decided to leave. This time, he pushed through on my OTHER side, and I rather refused to step out of the way out of principle. If he’d said “Excuse me,” I would’ve happily done so, but this guy was shoving his way through the crowd like it was his god-given right that we all get out of his way. I didn’t see him for the rest of the night.

Don’t be Doublewide Redneck.

Second is far more harmless but still scary: Sweaty Shirtless Dude. Sweaty Shirtless Dude gets into the MUSIC man and starts writhing around in ecstasy shortly after the first song starts and takes off his t-shirt immediately. He’s SO INTO IT that you’re afraid his pants and other clothing will come off in short order. Anyone navigating their way around this guy, especially girls, do their very best to make sure not a single part of their body comes in contact with Sweaty Shirtless Dude. This guy dances like a wet noodle during mating season. And somehow, he managed to do so, in front of me, for the entire Filter set.

Until I sat down on a couch to rest my weary back and feet. But then suddenly he was in my line of vision AGAIN, but before I could bemoan this development to my hubby sitting next to me, Sweaty Shirtless Dude disappeared. Cool. My hubby got up during his favorite song to stand among the crowd (brave, brave man) and I continued to chill on the couch, enjoying the music but not feeling the NEED to watch it happen (I’m a “music should be heard and not seen” sort of gal). But then, towards the end of Filter’s set, here comes Sweaty Shirtless Dude, and he points to the empty seat beside me and without waiting for a yay or nay from me, SITS DOWN. NEXT TO ME. Still Sweaty. Still Shirtless.

Ew.

I nearly pop up to leave, but figured that’d be TOO obvious and rude, so I wait a minute, then grab my empty drink and toss it (clearly showing Sweaty Shirtless Dude I was leaving to throw away garbage, not to get away from him and what has become a seriously RANK body odor). I join my group, Filter wraps up, and that is the end of Shirtless Sweaty Dude.

Don’t be Sweaty Shirtless Dude. Who, incidentally, was there with a date. Brave, brave girl.

I do, however, want to give props to The Mullet Man, whose mullet was a thing of perfection if such a hairstyle is your cup of tea. I did not get a picture, but my friend did. If I can get him to send it to me, I’ll post it here. I don’t want you to think I’m making fun of Mullet Man either. I’m not. While I would never in a billion years let hubby rock that hairstyle, if you CAN rock it, more power to you. And this guy rocked it.

You can be that guy, but only if you commit to it. I mean REALLY commit to it. 🙂

For those of you blanking on who the band Filter is (the lead singer is Robert Patrick’s, of Terminator 2 fame, brother), here’s a video of the song they’re most known for, “Take a Picture.” You may need to deal with an advert before the video, but if you know this band, you’ll recognize the song:

Podcasts versus Music (On the Elliptical)

~ Shara ~ 15 Comments

When I started getting my sorry ass up at 6:00 am to work out on the elliptical, I filled my Nano with podcasts. I liked putting on something that woke up my brain while I was using the elliptical to wake up my body. Well, this morning, I’d run through my available podcasts and was too lazy to download a new one to the Nano, so I put on a music playlist and started working out.

And I’ll be honest: with the exception of the FIRST day I did it (by it I mean waking up at six am, getting on the elliptical for 20 minutes, and feeling my body go OMG-WTF-WHY?!?!?!?!), this is the hardest workout I’ve had. I mean that in a good way: I didn’t feel sick or tired after, but I definitely worked up more of a sweat than usual, and my pores still felt like sweating even after I showered and dried off. Definitely got my heart-rate up, which is the whole point of exercise, right?

Which makes me realize that while I like stimulating my brain first thing in the morning, music may be the way to go. 2-3 minute songs also make the 30 minutes on the machine go by faster, especially since my pace is more determined by whatever beat I’m listening to.

For those of you wondering what I’m listening to, here’s the breakdown: Continue reading →

To Hunt an iPod Nano (6th Generation)

~ Shara ~ 12 Comments

On Monday, I returned from my daily walk and announced two things to my husband:

1) 30 Seconds to Mars’ new album would be releasing the next day, and he needed to get it for me.
2) I needed an iPod Nano.

Now, let’s talk about why I needed an iPod Nano. I currently use the iPod Classic. It was a hand-me-down from my hubby when he transitioned over to using his iPhone as his iPod (via the Cloud) and my old iPod (the rather awesome U2 Special Edition) used up all its memory and I had to pick and choose stuff to upload to it. The old iPod had a case with a clip, which was great for when I used to work out using the elliptical. My current iPod has a case but no clip, nor do I want a clip for it, because it spends most of its time in my car, and a clip would get in the way.

When I started making the effort to walk daily, I grabbed my U2 iPod and clipped it on my pants and started it up. Only the battery was dead. So I charged it and just put my current iPod in the pocket of my hoodie.

The next day, I took my fully-charged U2 iPod and started it up. It allowed me to scroll around a bit, and then the battery died. Again. Okay…

So what I’ve been doing is carrying my current iPod. The one with no clip. And because of the size and shape differences between the U2 iPod and my current iPod, I couldn’t just switch cases.

Carrying the iPod in my pocket is fine. When I have a pocket. Which happens when I wear my hoodie. Given the warming temperatures, that’s not always an option unless I want heat stroke. And workout clothing, for some reason, hates pockets. So I’d have to carry the thing, paranoid I’m going to drop it (it’s a rational fear, folks).

Hence, I need an iPod nano. It’s cute, it’s small, and it clips on to whatever I’m wearing. Only, when I started researching it, I realized the nano doesn’t look like this anymore. It looks like this, which is the 7th generation.

Which is cute and small, but does not clip onto whatever I’m wearing. In order to take it with me, I’d need pockets or one of those armband thingies, which, after reading reviews for, I wasn’t excited about.

However, iPod does offer the shuffle, which looks just like the 6th generation nano I wanted, but no touch screen and a smaller memory. But it’s cute, small, and has a clip.

So I did my research. I kept concluding all I NEEDED was the shuffle. But I wanted a touch screen so I could search my music. And the nano offered this really cool built-in fitness app sponsored by Nike. Which was tempting… really tempting, despite my having my own (bulky) pedometer that I’ve been wearing 24/7.

I couldn’t make up my mind. My hubby couldn’t help either, because he saw the pros and cons of both. Saturday, we went to Target, but beforehand, he went to a website that talked about the likelihood of the iPod getting an update soon (the keynote speech announcing new products and upgrades is in June). For the iPod shuffle? Upgrades are LONG overdue. But my husband is convinced they’re gonna phase out the Shuffle, which means no upgrade.

So picture me, sitting in Target, my eyes roaming back and forth between the Shuffle and the Nano. Neither is exactly what I want, but both have things I want. What I really needed, I knew, was the 6th generation iPod Nano, which had the size and clip of the current Shuffle, but the touch screen and fitness app of the current 7th generation Nano.

We decided to wait. I thought there might be places that sold used iPods and I might get lucky. We had to go to Hastings to return a book, so while I was handling the return, my hubby went back to the music section to see if there were any used 6th generation Nanos.

There were. But better still, Hastings still had unopened, brand-new, 6th generation iPod Nanos.

My husband finds me at the counter and asks, “What color do you want?” In which case I did a mini giddy-clap/happy dance, scaring the poor teenager trying to ring up the return.

I got it in green. I’ve had two walks in it, and it’s exactly what I wanted.

Thus concludes the great, epic hunt for the iPod Nano (6th generation). And yes, for those of you wondering, I got my 30 Seconds to Mars album. It rocks.

Beautiful Lie

~ Shara ~ 4 Comments

When I finally finished the very first draft of Telepathic Soulmates in 2007, I was in trouble and lots of it. The sucker needed WORK, and in order to graduate, it required an extensive rewrite. The good thing is, sometimes you don’t really understand how to write a book until you’re already finished with it, so I knew what I needed to do.

One of my biggest weaknesses was (and still is, generally speaking) setting. I had a vague, generic setting for the first draft, and I needed something to fix that. Honestly, I don’t remember if I was leaning towards what I settled on before I saw the below video, but I do know that once I saw this video, I knew my setting couldn’t be anything different.

Continue reading →