29 and Neil Diamond

I love Neil Diamond. There. I said it. Jazz Singer was the tape most played on family road trips. My sister, my cousin and I had an air guitar band that played Neil Diamond—of course, we also played Twisted Sister, Billy Joel, the Beastie Boys and Paula Abdul. Neil Diamond though…there was something about him. He was always the best. So here we are. It is the summer of my 29th birthday and I find myself feeling nostalgic and longing for the glory days—sorry for the obvious Springsteen reference. And so I am going to spend my birthday with Neil (well, okay, the day after my birthday).

I think the thing that I am most excited about is the flashback to my past. It is heading back to a time when things made sense. Life was about ice cream and slip n’ slides on a hot summer’s day and catching fireflies when the sun went down. It was a love of Star Wars and Space Camp. It was spending Friday nights popping popcorn with my Mom and watching Dallas. It was Cabbage Patch Kids and Pac Man and roller-skating and riding bikes. It was a time when you knew that your Dad was the most important man you would ever meet. It was a time when you believed that life would never get better; "I Love You" was something you said to the people in your life without even thinking; faith and trust was something that you had in everyone.

I know that Neil can’t bring that all back, but I look forward to rewinding time – if only for a few hours – and remembering all that is good and wonderful about life. And I am going to sing Cherry Cherry, Sweet Caroline, September Morn’, Hello Again and America at the top of my lungs with the people that remind me the most about all that is good – my mom and my friend Jen.

I want to stick it to the Cardinals

This has been one of those up and down Cubs seasons -- as per usual -- and the best thing has been Derek Lee. As a fan of baseball, I love him taunting me with his high 380's batting average. I wonder if it will go higher. Can he touch Ted Williams? I want him to get the Triple Crown. I think that would be fan-freaking-tabulous. I also want him to be an All-Star. I know. I know. It is a popularity contest. It is stupid. It is overrated. I have heard it all. I have probably said some of it too. I still want him to take the ballot. Pujols is good, but Lee is better this year. On a side note, he would be the first infielder to be voted to the All-Star Game from the Cubs since Ryne Sandberg. While Ryne was my "dress-up husband" as a kid, I stopped being "Julie Sandberg" long ago. (The story behind the name is fun for another day). I think it would be damn great to Lee get there. I know it would make me actually watch the game.

Now to the unnamed cynics (or truth-tellers) who have already told me I am crazy, I know I am. I know that he will lose the "popular" vote. The whole thing is silly. I mean, Nomar “ouch my groin” Garciaparra was leading the vote for a long time and he hasn’t played the better part of the season. But, I have been a Cubs fan my whole life -- we don't believe in reality. We believe that one year (usually next year) we will prove everyone wrong.

To quote the cute kid in Angels in the Outfield -- "It could happen!"


http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050626&content_id=1104506&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Close Talker

The other day there was a guy on the L talking on his cell phone. Unfortunately, this is not really a rare event. However, most conscientious daily L riders try to hide the fact that they are using their phone. It is like they know that they are being the annoying L rider that they love to hate. Then there are the novices--those that are finding public transportation for the first time. He was one of them. He was on the L talking as loud as can be about how unbelievably crowded it was in the L. (It was the kind of crowded where you hope everyone is Sure!) He talked about how strange it was to be on this packed L while on his phone.

His friend must have asked him if he was getting dirty looks from people – he dumbly replied no. Apparently he didn’t see everyone staring at him in disbelief and rolling our eyes. He just kept right on talking. He thought it was funny that everyone could hear his conversation – yes, he actually said that. It was almost a surreal phenomenon to know that others were listening. He talked about his weekend plans. He apologized for missing a phone call. He talked about how he needed voice mail. How it drove everyone crazy that he didn’t have it. (He must be a popular guy). His sister is mad, because he doesn’t have voice mail. He wasn’t sure why he never set it up. I mean, “…it is as simple as going to the Cingular store.” On and on he went.

Thankfully, the announcement came up that we were at Belmont and I jumped off the L. Didn’t care that the early train switch would slow me down a bit. Just wanted to get away from the incessant chatter.

Was that the "friends" speech?

So, I admit it, I have read the He’s Just Not That Into You book. (It was funny, but nothing new. I am not an expert when it comes to guys. I have tons of guy friends. Guy friends, I get or at least, I don’t feel the need to overanalyze them. Anything else is a bit of a mystery.

There was a guy – he shall remain nameless, because he is a nice guy and this is not meant to be hurtful in any way. I thought he was fun to hang around--he fits into a group of my friends, so I had seen him a few times. There was something there, but no definition applied, which is perfectly okay for the summer. It was a random Sunday afternoon / evening where drinks flow and people dance just for the fun of it. On my way home (he walked me), he held my hand on occasion (I let him dictate that) and it was fine. Until he asked me if I had any feelings I had to discuss. What? Feelings? I have known you for a few weeks…what feelings? Not to be mean or anything, but it is a bit early to be having a feelings conversation….all of this I related to him. He seemed taken aback that as a female, I didn’t have feelings to discuss.

When we got to the door, I got this strange self-deprecating speech on intelligence (his) when it came to women and how he liked me and liked that we were friends. Emphasis on the friends word. I can’t really detail the speech here -- because I don’t think that is fair – and because I’m not sure I understood it. I had a confused look upon my face and finally asked him if this was the “friends” speech – I am still not sure of his answer, but am interpreting it to be that. So many things were weird about the whole encounter. I think that I told him that I had once been dumped in email by a guy I didn’t know I was dating (probably not a good example, but I was really tired at the time) and that was clearer than this entire conversation. Pretty harsh, but it was not intended to be. I let him off the hook by saying it was okay (whatever it is) and hugging him goodnight.

I went upstairs texting my friend, Jen, and vowing to write off men for the summer – which of course is not the truth, but merely a statement made for dramatic effect in my short text message. It was probably the shell shock of an entirely bizarre conversation that made me type it. I told my work friend (the one who encouraged the blog, so if it stinks, blame her) about this incident and asked her how as we get older, guys still mess up the “friends” speech.

Seriously. It is a 3-parter….”I think you are a really (INSERT COMPLIMENT HERE – nice, great, sweet, adorable, cute, friendly, amazing, hot…) girl / woman, BUT (INSERT EXCUSE HERE – I am not ready for a relationship, the timing is not right, I am bad at relationships, I’m moving to Yemen…) and I think we would be better off as friends.” Simple. To the point. Men have been giving this speech since the dawn of time; you would think they would have a genetic predisposition to it by now. Well, I guess I will see what the next encounter brings. Maybe it will make sense then. (I should mention now that I am a Cubs Fan, which means that I am eternally optimistic throughout everything).

Newbie

I actually never planned on blogging. I heard about people's blogs and the various degrees of addiction to them. I religiously read friends' web logs. I just never thought that it would be something for me. I have a friend (from my office) who is regaled by my life stories. (I’m not sure what that says about her). She is the one who gets to hear all about my crazy life as a “singleton” and the ridiculous things that I do or have happen to me. She is the one who told me it was time to write a book or at least put them on paper. So here we are.