5 Random Things

I was tagged by Oggi for this meme. I hardly ever get chosen for these (for good reason, I'm sure, ha ha) but here goes:

5 Random Facts (from my Boring Ass Life)

1) I was actually in a garage band in high school. Of course, I was the most unmusical, untalented member, the"Ringo" if you will. But it was an excuse to get out of the house and hang out in our friend's garage. The leader was the drummer (he was also in our band's percussion ensemble and Assistant Drum Major) and a big time Rush fan, especially Neil Peart (drummer extraordinaire). I didn't last too long. Maybe a year or so and it was on and off. What did I play? The Roland synthesizer (I forgot the series number, Superman, do you remember?). Even though I could play piano, I couldn't seem to get it right with what our leader (the drummer) wanted. In fact, Thane of the Universe was much better than me and pretty much took over after my talent show debacle.

Lead singer? Our very own Superman. Guitarist? A guy whose name I longer remember. Bassist? Mr. Arsonist and later on, Mr. Agua Dulce, who is now in a Latin influenced band of his own in San Diego. We played a few talent shows in high school. I still recall with shame and horror when I found out that the "preset" buttons on the Roland synthesizer I was playing were the wrong sounds! I had fkd up royally and in front of an audience. It's one thing to mess around in a garage. No biggie there. Another thing to do it in front of a paying audience. To this day, I cannot bear to listen to Bon Jovi's "Living Without a Prayer" (that'll give you a clue as to what year that was!) without cringing and violently changing the radio station. Yes, that memory is the suckiest of all sucktivity.

Other songs we practiced..."Perfect Way" by Scritti Politti (my choice, actually) and "What You Need" by INXS. Those were the songs I could play without screwing up too much. Other songs the band played (but I didn't) were "Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran, "Things Can Only Get Better" by Howard Johnson, "Dress You Up" by Madonna. Yes it was THE 80's.

I learned that I was not a disciplined musician and that playing for fun was different than playing for "real". I felt as though I had let people down and in my high school aged mind, thought everyone would remember and taunt me for my mistake. In reality, I'm sure it was forgotten by the next morning and nobody gave a shit enough to point at me and say, "Hey, there's the chick that screwed up the Bon Jovi song!" Thank goodness! Okay, that was painful dredging up that long buried memory. I still think Bon Jovi sucks saggy veiny donkey balls.

2) I once had custom made Vans in junior high. Back in the early 80's, Vans could only be found in specialty surf/skate shops. The shoes cost about $15 for the ties and a tiny bit more for the slip on style (the checkerboard pattern was made famous by one of my favorite movie characters, stoner Jeff Spicoli from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"). That was a lot of bones back then. Especially when you had tight Filipino parents. My siblings and I had no allowances growing up. Anyhow, I somehow convinced my parents to shell out the unheard of sum of $30 for a pair of "CUSTOM MADE" Vans from the now defunct RC Surflines surf shop in Imperial Beach (IB, dudes). They didn't have stores just for Vans shoes like they do now. I think$30 is the going rate for one pair now.

Why does this fact even make the list? Well, for one thing they don't make custom mades like THAT anymore. Not a lot of people remember that this was an option. Back then, you bought the shoes as delivered to the store in the premade styles in predetermined colors. That was fine if you liked the classic black and white checkerboard slip on or the lace up red and navy or the solid red's, blues, whites, or grays. Then, in 1982, the custom made option became available. Mind you, this was the early 80's (1983 to be precise) and the color combinations as well as print styles were awesome!

Picture a Vans lace up skate shoe. Each shoe has the front and back panel, as well as the left and right panel. You could custom order the colors you wanted for EACH panel. It gets better...Picture the rubber sides of the shoe, the part that wraps around the bottom portion? You could also custom order printed rubber panels AND it could be different on each side. Keeping in mind the time frame (80's), many choices were pretty wacky.

What did I do? For one panel, I chose a Wonderbread wrapper inspired polka dots pattern, but instead of primary colors, the dots were pastels. Another panel was checkerboard - but not black and white. No, that simply would not do. It was purple and hot pink. Another panel was tiger striped. And another panel was some outlandish and totally unmatching pattern (wish I could remember). For the panels, I chose one side to have hearts and rainbows or some other girly pattern on the other side. This was just the LEFT shoe. The right shoe's panels were the complete opposite of the left. I also had entirely different panels for the right shoe. To top it all off, I had different patterned shoelaces on each shoe. These were pretty "clashy"and I got a lot of stares because of it, but Ithought my shoes were Effin Cool Maaaan.

Where are the shoes now? Long gone, I'm afraid. Wish I'd saved them because they'd be total collector items! I can't believe my parents shelled out $30 of their hard earned money so I could get a pair of shoes that looked like the 80's exploded and deposited its colorful remains on my feet.

3) I like to collect those wooden Filipino fork and spoons. I haven't bought any recently, but I have about 8 or 9 pairs. Most of them were obtained from thrift stores. I guess a lot of Filipino families were getting rid of their "traditional" decorations. I notice the ones from the late 60's and early 70's were better made than the more recent one's you see being sold on various Philippine decor internet sites. Doesn't seem like the carvings are that intricate anymore.

Why the wooden fork and spoons? I thought it would be fun to collect a kitschy Filipino item and, save for the Barrelman, thought that the wooden utensils would be different to collect. I have one pair in my office which sometimes invite comments from my Filipino American students who recognize it as an iconic Filipino decoration, "Hey, we have that too!" or "What are those for?" from my non Filipino students. I gave one set away to a fellow Latina colleague; she has it hanging in her office and she enjoys the comments she gets from her Pinoy students. They think it's cool that she has what they have hanging in their kitchen at home! Now, she just needs the Weapons of Moroland shield, the Barrelman, the Santo Nino shrine and the Last Supper velvet painting.

Speaking of which, the biggest fork and spoon that I do have is in my kitchen...above my rice dispenser (which was a damn useful wedding gift by the way). Here is a photo...of the fork and spoon not the rice dispenser!

It was painted by our good friend and talented artist, Superman. He did it several years ago; he sanded it down, painted it and varnished it for me. It's so wild. I totally dig it and it's looks great in our kitchen.

Spottings of the wooden fork and spoon in pop culture:

1. "Edwards Scissorhands" - the scene where the family is eating at a restaurant. Look at the walls. There's a wooden fork and spoon there.



2. "The Debut" - it's in there. Trust me.



3. The TV show, "Everybody Loves Raymond" - Marie and Frank have a set in their house.

4) I once spotted Rob Halford, yes, the METAL GOD, THE former lead singer of Judas Priest...in Hillcrest (yes, he does happen to be gay). My husband and I were were out several years ago looking at bookstores on 5th and I saw this bald guy with a familiar head tattoo. Soon after he passed by, I realized who it was..."Oh my God! Rob Halford!" I screamed in my mind. I didn't want to make a slobbering fool of myself, so I refrained from calling out his name, approaching him, making fawning obsequious remarks about how "British Steel" was one of the best albums ever and how "Breaking the Law" was a kick ass song, pestering him for an autograph and saving him (and myself) from embarassment.

My image of Rob Halford the rock star was changed that day. He was wearing a black t-shirt and get this, black jean shorts. No, they were not studded with spikes nor were they tooled of fierce black leather. He had no leather wrist or arm cuffs on and he was not riding his chopper. He looked like a normal, balding middle aged dude. Plus he was walking with some guy, perhaps his boyfriend? Dude looked kinda young. Although Rob is the Metal God, he's entitled to living a normal life and walking around without getting bothered by female metal heads! For those of you who are unaware, Rob Halford, at the time, lived in San Diego near Balboa Park. He even recorded some of his solo band's album at the Park Manor Hotel.

Sigh, lost opportunity to get the Voice's autograph.

5) Ooh, the last random fact. Surprised you made it this far.

The first contest I ever won was from the now defunct Pulse! Magazine, from Tower Records. Don't ask me what issue, but I was still in college so it had to have been before December 1991. Every month, there was a trivia question. That month's trivia question was "Which famous guitarist of a classic rock band suffers from hearing loss? Who is he, what band , and what is the condition called?" The answer which every fan of rock and roll should know, unless you live in a cave and listen to Yanni, was of course, Pete Townshend of the Who and tinnitus. The magazine would choose five winners and give them a prize.

Not sure if it was picked randomly or first five correct answers... After I sent in my answer on a post card, I promptly forgot about it until one month later.

Guess what my grand prize was?

Ear plugs. Get it? Ear plugs!

Here's an obituary for Tower Records and another article from another blog. Here's the article from San Diego.

We paid our tribute to Tower Records in November 2006. Since the El Cajon Tower Records was torn down in the mid 90's, all that remained was the Sports Arena Blvd location along with the La Jolla Villa Square. Everything was on sale. I belive that's where Superman bought me (as a joke gift, I would hope) the William Hung CD. I bought several magazines and a few CD's. Bert bought Thane a Moon Knight (aka Marc Spectre) doll, oops, I mean Action Figure, not knowing that Superman bought him the same thing for Christmas that year! Great minds think alike!

Although Tower Records is no longer physically with us, you can still get your stuff online at Tower's website.

I tag my husband Bert, Superman, C, Lotus, and Hot Fudge for this meme where it will either elicit a response or remain in cyber limbo.