Let’s paint the town, we’ll shut it down
Let’s burn the roof, and then we’ll do it again
Black Eyed Peas
This is my Hump Day post and it’s not just because Fergie is looking rack-tastic , nor is it because she is booty-licious. My first though was to put the iCarly theme song in the middle of the week, but then I started thinking about how she’s under 18 and it probably wouldn’t be cool to associate a 17-year-old with Hump Day so I decided to flip the two. You have to wait one more day to see how I can make iCarly ultra-freakin cool!!!
When I’ve had a long day and I just need to unwind I know I can grab my iPod and headphones, crank this song and almost instantly it’s better. I say “almost” because as parents we know what will inevitably happen when we do this, right?
Drama Queen will be upstairs and will not have come down for 30 minutes or more, but before Fergie hits her first notes, she comes up behind me, taps me on the shoulder and wonders why I get freaked out. I pause the iPod, take off the headphones and she proceeds to ask some completely random and nonsensical question. Something along the lines of, “Is it going to rain a week from Tuesday in the afternoon?” What?
When I respond that I don’t know and tell her I just want to chill for a few minutes, she says “OK” and disappears upstairs. Until the chorus starts for the first time. Then she taps me on the shoulder and asks, “Saturday morning can you make me pancakes for breakfast before you go to work?”
It’s Tuesday,” I reply. “Can we talk about this again Friday night? Oh, and that means you have to be up early because I need to leave at 8.”
“That’s OK,” she answers. (SIGH). “I can have cereal or something.” “Cool,” I respond. “Now seriously, can you let daddy chill a bit? I just worked 12 hours.”
That game goes back and forth and I swear on all things holy that I have no clue why I even put the damn headphones on. I know I’m not going to get to relax, but I hold out hope that one day I might get some peace and quiet.
Take last night for example. Drama Queen is in California visiting my mom and brother and even saw her mom for the first time in 19 months. I came home from work, took Lucy (our dog) out, threw on some shorts and went into the kitchen to make meatballs and pasta sauce. Yes, the sauce is from scratch. I’m a badass in the kitchen.
I donned the iPod and headphones and cranked up this song. Not 30 seconds in, I turned around to see if she was sneaking up on me. I guess I’m so used to that behavior when I put them on, that I’m just accustomed to it. She wasn’t there and I was able to make my food without being disturbed and I was totally rocking out in the kitchen. I even took a picture of it and posted it on Twitter. If you missed it, I would like to refer you to the ever-popular phrase, “You snooze. You lose.”
Cooking with my iPod is seriously one of the things I enjoy most. I may even enjoy it more than I enjoy looking at Giada’s nice rack on Food Network. I would say that my ultimate night of cooking at home (assuming The Blogger Hottie isn’t in town) would be cooking with my iPod while drinking a nice alcoholic beverage and having Giada on a big screen over the counter and the stove. My point? No point. Giada is just hot.
When she returns home in mid-August, Drama Queen (D.Q.) will have been away for five weeks. I love her dearly, but the truth is that I needed a break, both mentally and physically. I have her full time, so there’s no every other weekend or Wednesday night visits. It’s me and me alone. Its cool, but it can be draining.
I work way too many hours right now, but am open to a better situation. I can’t remember the last time I worked strictly Mon-Fri and we both need a schedule like that.
This break has allowed me to do a lot of thinking as well as a lot of writing. Writing is very therapeutic for me and I totally dig writing. If I could work full time on air in radio while doing this blog and working on my book I would be a completely happy camper.
The reality of radio today is that stations aren’t hiring on air talent, but rather letting them go and replacing them with some generic nationally syndicated bullshit. I know I’m not the most talented guy in radio, but I think I do a pretty decent job and I know that almost any station would be damn lucky to have me spewing my views on air for three hours a day!
I’ve done music, but mainly sports talk and humorous/pop culture talk. I’m telling you this in case you know a Program Director. *Hint Hint!!!* I’ve also been a regular guest on Duck Calls, the post-game radio show of the Anaheim Ducks.
I’m very excited to be invited as a guest on a podcast with Band of SAHD Sunday night. I get to go on and rap about sports and talk about my relationship with fellow blogger, The Blogger Hottie.
Want a little taste of Sunday night? OK. I will tell you why I think Albert Haynesworth is nothing more than a lazy, arrogant douche and why I hope Shaq does sign in Boston (so that Kobe can kick his ass in the NBA Finals and gloat while picking up another ring).
When I knew that D.Q. was going away for a few weeks I immediately began fantasizing about how I would spend my time. I would watch whatever I wanted to on TV, go out occasionally after work and have a couple of drinks, hit the drive in a few times and just generally have a good time.
Yeah. Right. She’s been gone about three weeks now and with the exception of the way-too-brief visit from Hottie, I’ve been working even more hours, not taking my one day off a week, staying home doing stuff on the computer, letting the DVR fill up, rarely drinking and not sleeping as much as I should. Sometimes reality blows. And not in a good way!!!
Doing this Music Week theme is turning out to be totally fun and I want to say that I really appreciate the support and nice comments you’re all making about the first two posts. I’ve shared some thing that I haven’t shared much before–not that I’m embarrassed or anything. I just never felt the need. Until now.
It was really tough narrowing my list down to seven songs and I could easily have done a Music Month. If you like this, I promise to do another one in a few months.
It’s kind of funny because I have the musical talent of a doorknob, but I love music and the way it can make me feel. Like I said in the last paragraph, it was tough narrowing my list to seven songs and to be totally honest, I had four songs (the first four posts) that I knew I was going to do and the last three sort of came together. Here is a list of some songs that I was considering but didn’t make the final roster. This time…
These Are Days (10,000 Maniacs), All Summer Long (Kid Rock), Murder in the Big House (Chagall Guevara), Rock Lobster (B-5s’s), Pretty Fly For A White Guy (The Offspring), New Sensation (INXS), The World Is New (Save Ferris), Bigmouth Strikes Again (The Smiths), Situation (Yaz), Getting Away With Murder (Papa Roach), Broken (Seether with Amy Lee), My Own Worst Enemy (Lit), What’s My Age Again (Blink 182), American Idiot (Green Day), Check Yes Juliet (We The Kings), Sunny Hours (Long Beach Dub All Stars), What I Got (Sublime), The Pretender (Foo Fighters), Ants Marching (Dave Matthews Band), A Girl Like You (The Smithereens), Goodbye, You Suck (Shiloh), Feels Like Tonight (Daughtry), Smile (Uncle Kracker), Jesus of Suburbia (Green Day), Thanks For The Memories (Fall Out Boy), Bless The Broken Road (Rascal Flatts), Can’t Help Falling In Love (UB40), Everything (Michael Buble), Crying Like A Bitch (Godsmack), Different People (No Duobt), Hella Good (No Doubt), Kiss me, I’m Shitfaced (Dropkick Murphy’s), Bad Girlfriend (Theory of a Deadman), Cross My Heart (Mariana’s Trench, Misery Business (Paramore), Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol), Sell Out (Reel Big Fish) and The Boys of Summer (The Ataris).
That was a damn exhausting list and I think you can now appreciate the effort it took to narrow this list down. Check back tomorrow to see how I make iCarly a total freakin rockstar!!!
I hope this helped you get through your Hump Day. As I used to say every Friday night at the end of our show on KLBC in Long Beach, CA (with the music of Word Up by Korn in the background)–“To our peeps, our homies, our groupies, our posse and to everyone else listening on the air and via the internet across the U.S. and Canada…Word up. Wes and I will be back with more of the top-rated sports show in the history of KLBC. Don’t forget to catch the podcasts at WesandJR.com Peace…
J.R.
T – I’ll be there again next week. He’ll get some “downtime” if you know what I mean.
Thanks T. her mom is slowly becoming a little more involved in her life now, but Drama Queen has lived with me for the past eight years.
I would watch Giada change the oil in a Chevy pickup if she was on TV! I’m just saying,,,,
Nice!
I had no idea you were a full time single parent. Props to you JR.
And even more props to you in the kitchen. Love me some Giada too! My ex-father-in-law, a wonderful cook himself, used to say, “That woman could boil a boot and I’d still watch her.”
True!
Enjoy your downtime. Oh and by the way, find some DOWNTIME!