Chamillitary Man

To the chagrin of many of you, I've been on a bit of a hip-hop kick recently, but I may have been cured of that tonight. I went to my first true hip-hop show, and I can honestly say it's one of the worst shows I've been to.

In the name of exploring other music genres and expanding my horizons, I've been delving into hip-hop lately. I've always sort of had an interest, but hadn't pursued it much beyond the really popular radio songs or music videos. But, the last few months I've been trying in earnest to see what's going on in the world of hip-hop, and I've been fairly impressed. I wouldn't say that I'm a whole-hearted fan, because I probably don't like 75% of what's out there, but I can say there are some really cool things going on in the genre that I can get behind, and shake my booty to. I'd downloaded a few Chamillionaire songs and liked what I heard, so when I saw he was going to be coming to town I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to round out my exploration and go to a hip-hop show. And so I did something I almost never do, I went out and bought Chamillionaire's album, The Sound of Revenge, in preparation.

To say I was impressed is an understatement. Granted, I wasn't expecting a lot, but the album is solid. The guy is great when it comes to lyrics, and the beats and hooks are tight as well. There are the obligatory songs about chicks, weed, slabs, etc., but there are also some pretty great songs about religion and life and death. Interesting topics to explore on a hip hop album, but he does so successfully. In fact, after I put the CD into heavy rotation I found myself skipping over the popular radio songs in favor of the rest of the album. While the radio songs (Turn it Up, Ridin') are catchy as hell, I wouldn't say they're the strongest on the album. It's pretty obvious after a few listens that Cham isn't your average rapper; he's smart, he's funny, his lyrics are clever and his flow is tight- perfect for my first hip-hop show.

I was happy to see Cham would be performing at one of my favorite concert venues, but I wasn't too thrilled with the ticket price- $25! That's pretty steep for this venue, tickets usually run 15-20 bucks, but I ponied up, all in the name of experience. Chamillionaire was the headliner, to be accompanied by Lil' Flip and Pokafase. I had no idea who Pokafase was, and didn't care much about Lil' Flip, so when the person I was going with wasn't going to be able to make it until 9:00, I wasn't worried. Usually shows start around 7:30/8:00, with the headliner coming onstage around 9:30/10:00. But apparently things work differently in the world of hip-hop. By the time we made it into the show at 9:30, Cham was onstage. We arrived in the middle of a song, and then heard Ridin'. And then he left. What!??! I was totally fucking puzzled. Apparently we missed the whole damn performance. But not to fret, Lil' Flip was still to come. What kind of shit is that?! An opener comes on after a headliner? A headliner is finished with his performance at 9:45? I was a teeny-tiny bit pissed. But okay, I was there, I may as well enjoy. Pysch.

We stood around waiting for Lil' Flip's ass to show up for over an hour. In the meantime some other rapper came on and performed a couple songs, but we weren't feeling this guy at all. His flow was weak and his beats were even weaker. I've never been so bored at a concert in all my life. Finally at 10:45 Lil' Flip decided to come on stage to a pretty excited audience. And here's where I came to a very definite conclusion about hip-hop shows- they aren't for women. Granted, we were fairly close to the stage, and thus in the thick of the action, but the vibe is totally masculine. Testosterone seemed to be oozing out of every crevice and every pore of that venue. Dancing was next to impossible with all the dudes bouncing. I felt like I was in a mosh pit. Luckily I had a bit of protection in the form of a male companion, but even still, I was totally uncomfortable. On the positive side, I was pretty impressed with the production of the songs. The beats and vocals sounded great, something I was a bit wary about coming in.

The night ended with Chamillionaire coming onstage to perform Turn it Up with Lil' Flip, a song they also collaborated on in the album version. Again, the sound was great but the vibe wasn't. For me, anyhow. The guy I was with enjoyed himself immensely, and the other dudes around us seemed to be having a great time as well. The group of girls to my right who kept getting shoved and stepped on by drunk dudes didn't seem to be having as good of time though. So consider yourself warned: don't show up late, and don't even bother to go if you're a chick unless you're prepared to get stomped.

to do #201: go to a hip-hop show.

Note, though this was a disappointing experience, I'd still recommend Cham's album The Sound of Revenge. It's pretty fantastic!

Happy Birthday To Me

Yours truly just celebrated a certain milestone birthday over the weekend. Due to the thoughtfulness of my many family and friends, it was a great day! Thanks so much for all of your calls and well-wishes. Since a lady would never directly reveal her age, I thought I'd give you a fun little math problem to work out if you're so inclined...

((2x6+3)(9/3)(7-12)) +255 = ???

Did you figure it out?! If not, you can always short-cut it and check my blogger profile. Hahah.

to do #319: celebrate my birthday

These Boots Were Made For, ah you know...

It's funny how sometimes happiness can come in the most random or simple form. For me, this week, happiness is a new pair of cowboy boots.

I should verify with my parents, but I vaguely remember having a pair of cowboy boots as a little girl. I wouldn't bet money on it, but I think they were of the knee-high light brown leather variety. But, I may just have that image in my head because a great majority of the pictures of kids who grew up in the late 70's and early 80's, like me, feature them wearing brown leather cowboy boots. Ah, I digress...

That I stumbled on these boots seemed like fate, or at least it's how I justified the purchase. I had been thinking lately I would like to own a pair of cowboy boots. Not because I'm a western gal, or because I'm in an upcoming rodeo or anything, I just thought they were cute & fashionable. Around the same time I also read an article in a fashion magazine about how cowboy boots were making a fashion comeback. The article was complete with pictures of various celebs sporting their boots. I'm sure we all remember how much I cared about the celebs I shared my pink Razr with, so when I saw celebs were wearing cowboy boots, that sealed the deal for me- I needed them.

A few days later I was in TJ Maxx looking for some shower gel when I decided to quickly browse the shoe section before leaving. Y'see, I'm a gal on a budget and I'm trying really hard NOT to spend money- I should be saving every penny for my impending move across country. But, sometimes shoes talk louder than my budget. I was in luck when I perused my size and nothing caught my eye. Then, I thought, I better check clearance, just in case! And there they were- my gorgeous new Guess brown leather cowboy boots. I tried them on, and they fit like a glove, and for the price I didn't even have to debate whether or not to buy them. I am proud to tell you that this gal on a budget found these particular boots for a whopping $14!!!! That's right! They retail at over $200, so I got them at what, a zillion percent off the retail price?! Though it was a minor blip in my budget, I'd say they were worth it, wouldn't you?

to do #284: own a pair of cowboy boots

#3121

It's my last night in my apartment and while I should be packing a few final things before the movers arrive in a couple hours, instead I find myself compelled to sit at my desk one last time and blog. I've begun to feel quite nostalgic about my apartment in the last few weeks as I started the process of dismantling it and packing it up. In leaving, I realized just how much this place has meant to me over the past two years. And so, I thought, what better way to spend my last night here than taking a little trip down memory lane and paying proper tribute to my beloved 3121. I am going to miss you dear friend...

I've lived in 3121 a few months shy of two years, and while I remember the day I moved in like it was yesterday, I feel like I lived an entire lifetime here. The person who walked through the door the first day is a very different person than the one who will be locking up tomorrow. I came into this apartment absolutely terrified. I was newly separated from my (now ex) husband, I was living on a new side of town where I didn't know anyone, and for the first time in my 28 years, I was living alone. I feigned excitement at the prospect of having my own place and getting a little space from my husband. I reasoned that once we did this he would quickly see what a mistake the separation was, and we'd go back to living happily ever after. Happily, this never happened. I can say that now, but it didn't come easy. The first seven or so months here found me vacillating between despair and hope. As I tried to untangle myself from our marriage I began to realize how far I had strayed from the person I once was. It wasn't until I separated myself from the man I'd spent almost every day of the previous 8 years with, that I started to figure out who I was. And so began my transformation.

I brought little with me into the apartment, which proved to be a wise decision. Although my family and friends thought I was crazy for selling our house and most of the things we had in it, I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do. I suppose maybe I knew even then that things would never work out and I would need a new beginning. I brought the bare minimum from my old life, and thus didn't have many constant reminders of that old life. Instead, I had the opportunity to begin a new life, and one that was mine alone. I took months to find the perfect couch, I sanded and repainted all the furniture I brought with me, and as I found them I bought new things to fill in the spaces. The things felt like me. The more I surrounded myself with the things I loved, and the things that I felt better represented who I was, the more at home I felt.

I also began to make new friends. New friendships can be hard, but mine flourished. I was eager to fill my life with people who didn't know me as part of a couple, but as my own person. I began to realize close friendships were a huge part of my life I had previously sacrificed, but one that I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice any more. My friends are some of the most important people in my life, and I value their companionship a great deal. This would be one of the cornerstones of my new life.

The times I spent here in 3121 with my friends were some of the greatest of my life. We went through good times and bad here. When I was down, my friends brought me back up. When I struggled, they supported me and reminded me of how far I'd come. But mostly, we just had a great time! Proudly, 3121 became the official hang-out spot. Instead of going out, we'd come here. Instead of going to someone else's place, we'd come here. We drank, we ate, we talked, we laughed, we solved all the world's problems, and we created a few new ones. In the company of my friends I felt like I was finally becoming the person who I'd always needed to be.

The memories I have of the times I spent with people here in 3121 are priceless. Whether they were ecstatic or good or mediocre or devastating, they all moved me to where I am now, which is a woman who knows who she is and what she wants and is about to embark on her next great adventure!

I know that many of you read my blog and never leave comments, but I'd love to ask you to make an exception to that lurking rule and leave me a comment if you've been to 3121 with a memory or a tribute of your own!

to do #122: pay tribute to my beloved apartment.

ps, I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, three very special people who made my last two nights here so memorable and so special. You know who you are, but please know that it meant the world to me. :)

How To: Change Your Own Car Battery

I considered naming this post 'How to: save yourself a few bucks while at the same time taking your car out of commission for three days and causing yourself a multitude of headaches', but I figured it was a little too long for the title field, and so I settled on the above title instead. Not as dramatic, but to the point.

Early last week I was heading out to an appointment when I put my car key in the ignition and was greeted by a lovely clicking sound. The engine didn't even try to crank, all it could muster was a series of clicks. Fortunately the appointment wasn't urgent, so I canceled it and decided I wasn't going to deal with the car issue just then. I had enough on my plate for the day, and working from home meant I wouldn't need the car right away. That night I talked a friend into coming over the next day to give me a jump. It had been a while since I'd had a dead battery, but if memory served the local Costco had been much cheaper than taking it in to a shop for a new battery. So before my friend arrived I called to see if I needed an appointment, or if I could just come right over. But, apparently the Costco on this side of town didn't install batteries, they just sold them. A quick google search rendered instructions on installing a car battery, and it looked very easy! Why hadn't I ever considered installing my own battery in the past, I wondered? I'd soon find out why...

My friend arrived and we proceeded to try the jump to make sure it was a dead battery and not some other more costly problem. We attached the jumper cables and I gave my car a crank. It clicked. Damn! I tried again. It didn't even click. Double damn! Then I remembered the last time I helped a friend jump his car there seemed to be an order by which you were supposed to attach the cables; lo and behold there were directions right on the side of the jumper cable bag. Now just in case you find yourself in a dead battery situation without jumper cable directions, let me refresh your memory: it's 1- positive cable to bad battery, 2- positive cable to good battery, 3- negative cable to good battery, 4- negative cable to bad battery. With the cables properly attached I crossed my fingers and gave it a crank. My car did its best to turn, but it was having some trouble. I stopped, said a little prayer, and tried it again- it started!! Knowing I only had a dead battery was a huge relief. Now, to replace it.

My friend kindly offered to drive me to Costco to pick up a new battery. The damn thing weighed a ton, but was only $40, so I wasn't complaining too much. I cleared my afternoon schedule, copied down the basic directions from the website, grabbed some tools and donned an outfit worthy of working on a car: jeans, sneakers and a tube top. Hey, it's Arizona and I didn't want to get any of my nice tops dirty! This would prove to be a very questionable choice later...

And so the process of changing my car battery began. I was optimistic. It was a beautiful day, I was saving myself a ton of dough, and I got to get a little grease under my nails. This all changed in the first few minutes when I wasn't able to get the nuts loose on either of the screws holding the connectors to the battery. Damn! See, in theory, changing a car battery is as simple as: 1- clean the connectors of any corrosion, 2- loosen the screw holding the negative connector to the negative battery terminal, 3- loosen the screw holding the positive connector to the positive battery terminal, 4- loosen the screw to the hold-down bracket, 5- remove dead battery and replace with new battery, 6- attach screws in reverse order. And voila! The only problem was, I didn't have the right tools. I had your garden variety adjustable torque wrench, but what I really needed was a socket wrench. I just couldn't get a good grip on the nuts with the torque wrench, and even if I could I didn't have the strength to loosen the severely corroded screws. Damn! The little afternoon project was turning into a little afternoon headache. I spotted a male neighbor and asked if he had a socket wrench set. I then proceeded to explain to him what a socket wrench was. This wasn't looking good. I continued to persevere under the hood and managed to loosen the nut on the negative connector, but the positive connector wasn't budging.

Now I have to take a moment to mention that during this time several men crossed my path. These were young healthy men that, if not car savvy, were at least fit enough to be capable of loosening the nuts which were giving me trouble with relative ease. But do you think any of them offered to help? No! They were too busy staring at a woman in jeans and a tube top working under the hood of a car. That's right, not one offered their help! I can't fault men for oogling, I'm sure I've oogled a man from time to time, and I'm a modern woman who doesn't necessarily need a man to rescue her, but who are these men that don't know what a socket wrench is and don't offer to help a woman with car trouble?! Their mothers would be ashamed!

But back to the nut that wouldn't budge...I sprayed it with WD-40, I brushed off the corrosion as best I could (resulting in little bits of battery acid flying onto my bare arms) but that nut wasn't going anywhere. I finally went in search of one of the maintenance crew at my apartment complex to see if they had a socket wrench set. Of course they didn't. One of the guys happened to have a socket wrench in his car and gave it to me, but the only socket he had with him was too big. He offered to come back the next day with the rest of the socket set and help me. My one and only offer of help, and what do you know, he never showed up!

By this time I'd been working a while and was way too frustrated to continue, so I decided to call it a day and hit my friends up for socket wrench sets that night. I ended up with a set and a back up set just in case the other didn't come through. A male friend dropped off the set in the late morning and didn't even offer his help. Is this an epidemic?! Granted, he had other things to do that day, but a half-hearted offer would have sufficed. Are men intimidated by women who seem to know what they're doing under the hood (and let me remind you I had no clue what I was doing until I googled for instructions!), that they simply stay out of her way and stand back gawking instead? I realized if I wanted to make a small fortune I should gather a few of my girlfriends and open an all woman mechanic auto-garage. But, that's an idea for another day.

The socket wrenches turned out to be a dud. The set was too cheap to include a spacer and the screw was too long for the socket to reach the nut. I was beyond frustrated at this point and started to wonder why the hell I hadn't just called AAA as everyone I talked to about my battery trouble had suggested. I decided to give the nut one last go, and it gave! I had somehow mustered the strength to loosen it. After that, the removal and installation was easy. I tightened all the nuts and tried cranking the engine, and it turned!! In that moment I felt so much pride. Although it had taken three days and seemingly endless obstacles, I had managed to install my own car battery completely by myself. I'm not sure how much money I saved, or whether it was even worth it, but at least I can now say I've done it, which is apparently saying more than most of the men I know.

to do #274: change my car battery (without help!) (or proper tools!!)

Moving Chaos

It figures I would time my debut back to the blogging world in the midst of packing up my apartment and moving my things into storage. And did I mention I'm also starting a second job this week? Yes folks, I have a great sense of timing. While I have all manner of stories to relate and things to tell you guys, I am spending most of my waking hours carefully taping together the seams of boxes, meticulously wrapping glassware in unprinted newspaper and trying to fit all my possessions into boxes like a puzzle. Those of you who have moved recently know this is no small chore; those of you that haven't moved in a while, like me, don't realize how quickly we forget how awful packing is! It's only been two years since my last move and I'm just living in an apartment, so I didn't have too much time to really get settled in and comfortable here, but as I started my first night of packing I almost quit on the spot and vowed to stay here forever. Luckily I made it through that night and, relatively speaking, the packing has gone pretty well. The singular thought that is keeping me going is that I'm moving on to bigger and better things. More on that soon, I have packing to get back to!

to do #372: take a quick break from packing

Razr

I sit at my iBook tonight typing to you with my head hung low. As I contemplated returning to the blog world I wondered if anyone would even read my blog anymore. It'd been ages; I figured all the site traffic I had gained was lost. Surely my friends and family had long since abandoned me, they don't even mention my blog anymore. There had been all manner of distractions and excuses to keep me from blogging: men, family visits, men, the holidays, men, vacations, ennui, oh and did I mention men? But with many of the distractions cleared out of my life I was thinking about giving it another go. I missed blogging- both writing mine and keeping up with others. So after two months I sheepishly checked my site traffic to see how bad it had gotten. What I saw both amazed and shamed me. There was a bit of a drop-off, but my stats have remained steady. For some reason you guys are sticking with me. Wow, what optimists you are! Or maybe you're reading through the archives, reminiscing on the good 'ole days when I actually updated several times a week. Even the search engines have been kind to me with lots of referrals. After that little boost of confidence, how could I not give blogging another go? In the wise words of Juelz Santana '...I can't let my peeps down...they need me out there...I can't let the streets down...I'm back!...'

As I thought about my return to the world of technology I knew there would be no better post topic than my latest technology obsession- my new pink (!!) Razr. Yes friends, I have arrived. I am now amongst the likes of Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan and scores of techie girl geeks who are all sporting the pink razr. Kill me now. Actually please don't, if you did I wouldn't be able to use my favorite new phone anymore.

I hate to admit how much I love this phone. Or do I? I can't think of one person I've been in the company of lately that I haven't whipped out my phone in front of to show off all its cool features. I've spent hours, yes hours, on the phone, and not talking. First, learning all the features and setting it up, then reading the news and checking my email and IM while I sat on the couch no more than twenty feet from my computer where I could have easily done all those things. I updated my contacts list adding in multiple phone numbers and email addresses for everyone in my address book. And finally, I spent eons browsing ringtones. Now I'm not talking about monophonic or polyphonic ringtones, I'm talking about real song digital clip ringtones! How cool is this phone? I finally settled on my current song obsession, for now- Rodeo by Juvenile. I know, I know. But hey, it's my phone!

I never thought I'd be so enthused by a piece of technology, and a cell phone no less, but I am. What that says about me, I'm not sure. Perhaps that I've gained membership into trendy pop-culture by means of a cool new cell phone. Um, like, that's hot.

to do #19: get a pink razr