i scream, you scream, we should all scream...

...for the 80s.

Big hair, big bands, big music...I mean, really - what wasn't awesome about the 80s? We can mock the mullet and scorn the shoulder pads, but don't forget to give that decade some love. Miley Cyrus and her alter ego, Hannah Montana, may have taken over the world with achy-breaky Billy Ray sitting in the corner yee-hawing; but, I live and breathe for the 80s (and the Boss).

Volume One of Mare's Essential 80s:


Heart, "Alone"


Madonna, "Borderline"


Joan Jett, "Bad Reputation"


scene from The Goonies


scene from The Breakfast Club

something we learned the hard way

Despite your best efforts and a bottle of SPF 45, severe sunburn can and will still happen. Oi vey.

the man who propositioned me today en route to the library (scooter included)

abeba the african violet

bruce > billy #1

The Piano Man is in no way better than the Boss - and anyone operating under this delusion needs a lifestyle modification immediately, or just a better taste in music*. If you're making judgments on Bruce because the only song you've heard is 'Born in the USA', then you're seriously misinformed on his style (although 'Born in the USA' is catchy, just not after it comes on the B101 rotation approximately 10 times a day). Start educating yourself:

'Darkness on the Edge of Town' (live, Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ Sept. 1978)



*the fact that I listen to and enjoy his music is irrelevant to this blog post.

chiggers

Who knew that chigger was an actual word, and that it's the name of a bug? Yeah, me neither - until I was warned against them on the way to Kentucky. Apparently they thrive in areas with alot of wood, which includes the wood house we were staying in, and the wooden bunk beds we were sleeping in, and the wood we were working with all week. Go figure.


According to Wikipedia, a chigger

"is also called scrub mite, red mite and several other names, and they are found throughout temperate and tropical zones; the name chigger originated as a corruption of chigoe, but the harvest mite is what is most commonly called a chigger in North America. Chiggers do not burrow into the skin and do not suck blood. They attach to the host, inject digestive enzymes into the bite wound, and then suck up the digested tissue. Warm, rainy days make these parasitic and predatory mites reproduce into large populations. Once the ground temperature is regularly above 60°F, the harvest mite lays eggs, and “chigger season” is underway. This season typically begins in April and ends in the early autumn/first “frost.” Chiggers do not like sunlight or humidity. During the wet season, chiggers are usually found in tall grass and other vegetation. During dry seasons, chiggers are most found underneath brush and shady areas."

Now I'm home and covered in bug bites on every conceivable part of my body and I really have no idea if it's from 'skeeters, spiders, or from an attack in the night by a chigger. Can you imagine explaining that to someone? "Oh, yeah - you see that massive raised area on my leg right there? It's chiggers." Really? Really?

quotables.

Said the father to the daughter on her constant presence on the interweb:

"I don't understand how you can just sit there doing that. It's like a foreign culture to me."

to the woman in line at kohl's this afternoon:

Next time, please read the fine print on your Kohl's Charge Scratch Off Event coupon. I know this may be difficult for you to understand, but the Kohl's Charge coupons are in fact only to be used on a Kohl's Charge purchase. Freaky, right? Handing me a coupon that I total in to your purchase - almost 400 dollars worth of clothing that you and your son probably didn't need - and then telling me that you don't have your charge on you, and then the system pretty much telling me that your account does not exist, indicates that you do not in fact HAVE a Kohl's Charge account. This in turn led you to tell me - somewhat abashedly, although not nearly enough to satisfy me - that you were planning on paying with a different card WHICH YOU ARE UNABLE TO RECIEVE THE AFOREMENTIONED KOHL'S CHARGE DISCOUNT ON. Yes, I did have to void out your entire 400 dollar purchase and re-enter every item on your receipt. And no matter how many times you stand there and say under your breath that 15 percent isn't a big deal, it's my job and paycheck that you are asking me to put on the line because you didn't use your common sense. So the old couple behind you that you kept apologizing to (who, you may want to know, actually had both a coupon and a Kohl's card) got an extra 10 percent coupon because you decided to make my life difficult today.

road trips are fantastic.

After spending a week in Appalachia, my only important insights now involve the prolonged car rides both to and from the great state of Kentucky. Two large vans holding a total of 20 people, filled to capacity with luggage, college students, a plethora of onion bagels, and coffee. It wasn't so bad at first. Sure, we woke up before the crack of dawn, but I slept for the first few hours and we made a few rest stops. The more coffee I drank, the harder it was to sleep. And let's be serious. Folding yourself up as though you're some sort of freakish acrobat who can fit themselves into a box in order to sleep comfortably in the inadequate space of the car seat that you have is really not all that comfortable - especially for 11 hours, not counting the numerous potty breaks and emergency pullovers due to disappearing contacts, nausea, and missed turns. All this is happening while I am curled up in the furthest seat from the doors in the very last row next to the window. Instead of air conditioning, the rear air blasted heat through the vents; I had to sit and wait for the occasional Arctic gust from the front seat. I tried to read for about an hour on the ride there, before the twisting and turning throughout the Appalachians made me decide that I didn't want the contents of my stomach decorating the upholstery of the car. After dropping people off at Hagerstown on the way home, a massive bag of dirty laundry belonging to a kid who didn't shower all week sat on the top of all the luggage right behind my head. We drove into Philadelphia in the midst of a 100 degree heat wave during the first week of June.

To make a long story short....three cheers for road trips!

extremely useful information:

for anyone looking to make their fingernails look like a laser show, walgreens has just picked up a new collection of fluorescent nail polish.

the greyhound ticketing station in willow grove is located on fitzwatertown road pretty much right across the street from thunderbird lanes. youll probably still miss it because its about the size of four port-a-pottys put together. there are in fact signs stuck at either "entrance", but theyre actually only those posters people stick in front of their lawns during election time.

theres a meth lab on lindbergh drive in palmyra, pa...its the old pottery shop or basket weaving factory...something like that.

iced coffee is 99 cents at yum yum all summer. also, if you come in around 9 o clock on a friday night youll get to meet a real nice guy who will buy four cup cakes. hes a leo..."a pussy cat towards the ladies and a tiger towards the men."

lets begin by saying that james taylor is celestial. from his receding hair line all the way down his khacki pants to his shiny brown dockers, he rocked the mann center tonight. he may be 60 years old, but lets face it, he is smoking hot...definately got a scream out of me singin and feelin steamroller up there. and really now, theres nothing that puts a smile in your soul like one of james taylor softer songs. falling asleep at night, i used to grab my walkman and play sweet baby james on repeat. and how many of us can say they havn't gone away to carolina at least one time with mr taylor? bottom line james has got something for everyone and it shows, ive never been part of a more diverse crowd in my life. there were the middle aged moms swooning, old couples, families, college buddies, hippie wannabes, stoners, drunks, infants, the hunch back of notre dame, jazz catz, whatever we love you james....deep greens and blues are the colors we choose, too.