Walking On Sunshine Song

  At work there was an IPO celebration, we saw the CEO ring the bell on TV at the New York Stock Exchange. We were given a gray shirt with a collar, and during this time they were playing the song 'Walking on sunshine' by Katrina and The Waves. I found out from the Wikipedia article it is also the name of the album it is from, and a movie. I know it from being in the movie 'Look who's talking' and in an episode of 'Cold case'.
    I kept saying there was too much activity today, as I didn't like being rushed along in the morning and I said I needed to get stamped in. I saw an underwriting supervisor on the way in and I spoke of how I just wanted to come back later for the giveaways, but pretty much wasn't allowed to. I said 'That didn't go according to plan', and she laughed. Usually I am allowed to, especially if it is just food and drink. I care a lot about stamping in on time. I was also rushing a little to get back from my lunch hour for two group photos. One was outside our building in downtown St. Paul, the other was inside it in the lobby. It did lead to some excitement as I got on an elevator that must have been too full. We dropped a little and weren't going anywhere, at least not very fast. We called security, and then the doors opened on second floor and all got out. Half of us decided to get back in, I was in the half that didn't. We waited for another elevator to get back to our floor. I could tell I was not alone on looking a little dour, as I said this to a colleague I may have  written about before who wears an extra-small winter coat. Besides the shirt we also got a drawstring bag with a tall 'Go-cup' in it,  as well as a mouse pad that smelled so fresh it reminded me of a tire store. We got what looked like a deck of playing cards, but looking inside they were meant to be interlocking puzzle pieces.            
     We did get catered food from a Greek place, the pita bread and chicken and salad all tasted good. There was little cupcakes as well. During lunchtime I went out to a celebration at Park Square theater nearby, about their new season. I got a little cupcake there with purple frosting as one of their plays this year is 'Color Purple'. I also bought another item at the card shop liquidation sale, it was some wall art. When I was getting it home on the bus an older man asked me what the picture was. I quickly showed it and said 'Snoopy', and 'I like Snoopy'. He was wearing a camouflage jacket and a Vikings hat. I knew it wouldn't be a chore getting it home as it is much smaller than the framed 'Rain Man' movie poster I got at another liquidation sale.
    This evening I went to the St. Paul Saints game as it was German night. The Saints lost to the Wichita Wing-nuts, 9-3. Wichita got 6 runs in the 2nd, and 1 in the 3rd. The Saints got on the board with one in the 5th. Both teams scored 2 in the 8th, for the 9-3 final. The scoreboard and light towers went out in the bottom of the 1st and were out for 2 innings. This of course made it harder to follow the game. I was next to a woman who said she was an ESL teacher at Anoka/Hennepin Middle School. She spotted somebody she knew there and they talked for a while near the end of the game, into the fireworks show as well. Her friend said her two sons were batboys tonight. This was game number 6 for me this year, and I hope to make it to 4 more in August.
   When I got home from the Saints baseball game I dealt with some more online dating aggravation. I saw two messages waiting in my email account, from the same match. One of them said the match wanted to skip to email, the other was how my first five questions were answered. I was a little excited about the request to skip to email, but this faded quickly. The message said 'Met someone else, best of luck to you'. Not the first time I heard it but it still stings a lot, and might still sting for a little while. I know well enough to bounce back quickly from these things, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it one bit having to do so. I closed the match, figured there was nothing else to do. Also odd that the match said 'Was going to ask about their date, we could be siblings'. This is meaningless for me to hear. It does make me think of a song, 'Goodbye says it all' by Blackhawk. Just about every human emotion has been captured in song. Where do I go from here? Well I think the advice from the big dog is still helpful, he asked me: 'What else are you going to do, quit?' This is still not a viable option for me.

Yesterday, The Beatles

     At the comedy club tonight I spoke with the university accountant before the show. Much of it was about music, and eventually the question was what happens to be the most covered song. After the show I looked it up online and Ask.com said it was 'Yesterday' by The Beatles. It has been covered more than 3,000 times. My favorite song of theirs, 'Eleanor Rigby', has been covered a lot as well, 131 times. I had to listen to 'Eleanor Rigby' on Youtube since I was thinking of it. The version I chose was an  animated one.
     Plenty of comics I recognized on the lineup. Pizza philosopher was MC. He did one about microwaving not recommended, and a variation on swear words. Ding dong ditch did ones about a cheese-ball tub, and underwear in the dryer. Self checkout did one about is mustache, and Freddie Mercury. Others were about watered-down tattoos, motorcycles, and metaphor of marriage. Bus fare
did one about being uncomfortable with his hands. Others were about a state fair horse show, being from an orphanage, and 'be proud, not a walk of shame'. The university accountant did one about high-5's. Others were about a pedal pub, and fitting a and in a Pringles can. The godmother did one about coffee stunting growth. Others were about BBQ tongs for reaching, a silent retreat at a church, her husband the cop arresting at a salon, and a 'for sale by owner' house. The Kentucky native did one about being on a diet, and losing 30 pounds. He spoke about eating Taco Bell at the doctor's office, having a law degree, and advancement at McDonald's. The bartender did one about living in North Minneapolis and rural Wisconsin. Others were about a coupon book and 'taco-cat'. The show closer I had seen many times before, he does the one about a guy who looks like a Pez dispenser after a botched suicide attempt.
   It is official, I have ordered a 4-show pass for the Fringe Festival which starts soon. A festival button was also ordered. Now it means going to an art gallery near the Lagoon theater to pick up the pass. I can do this before the first show I plan on attending, on Saturday afternoon.
   The treat cart made its rounds in the afternoon at work, before this the political science guy joked about how they should give us cyanide to put us out of our misery.  

Real Estate Infomercial

    I got home from the comedy club tonight and fell asleep, woke up to the sound of a real estate infomercial on TV. I performed tonight, was wearing the patriotic shirt so it was my first joke. I spoke with one comic I hadn't seen in a while and was asked about the blog. This was somebody who had been reading it to see if he was written about, I said what my schedule was and we hadn't been at the same shows much.
    The big dog also performed, and did the 'Die for you' song joke. Others were a voice impression of his dad, Christian Mingle ads, a peeping Tom which led to a smoke bomb, suicide by cop, and a piano technique to porn. Happy Meal was MC, and did one about a dental visit. Others were about insanity, a yoga mat, and the crowd is hostages. Self-checkout did one about his mustache. Others were about a tattoo story, and motorcycles. The bronze comic did one about giving away a bike helmet. Locks of love did one about a self-driving car. Others were about growing out hair for self-esteem, Ancestry dot-com, the 'Capital One' method, keep the coat, and an expensive baby. I saw the Oklahoma native near the end of the show, sounds like he was doing an interview.   

Card Shop Liquidation

     I was walking through the St. Paul skyway and noticed a card shop is having a liquidation sale. I stopped to see of they had anything of interest to me. I bought 5 postcards at 60 percent off, and a cloth coaster with a baseball theme. All told it was just over two dollars. The shop owner said to another patron how it will likely run until mid-August, so just over two more weeks. Much like at many other liquidation sales I have been to, I will be making multiple visits. It is best to give myself more time to look at everything, though I made some nice choices. I tend to get low-risk, low-cost items at these sales, since all sales are final. There may be some greeting cards that interest me, plenty of them available. It looks like some of the fixtures have already been sold. It also explains why the postcards were not a rack that spun around, these were on the walls next to the greeting cards. I write this off as 'Economic Darwinism' whenever I see it happen, a term that is already listed on Urban Dictionary. I said to a colleague that it may be a tough business to make a profit in, when greeting cards and postcards can be found at many other stores like Walgreen. Most of the skyway businesses are closed on the weekends, since the customer traffic is mainly on weekdays when offices are open. So this limits the times when somebody can operate a business.   
    I did perform at the comedy club tonight, starting off with mention of being at a podcast last week. Many of the regulars performed. The tetris comic did one about naked vs. nude. Another was about 'Dr. Quit'. The 'Extra Murder' comic did one about a new apartment. Others were about visiting Texas, ghosts, and phone books. The Maryland native did ones about Urkel, the morning after pill, hockey, and condos. The school bouncer did one about football and fur. Others were about his uncle's religion, and crossing the street in his neighborhood. The tortoise and hare comic did one about going to '9 by himself'. The resistable comic did ones about Target, a hipster roommate, and fewer choices. The laundry comic did one about being at the airport. Others were about the movies 'IT' and 'Deliverance'. Pizza philosopher did ones about internet dating and the humane society. The opera singer did ones about the Wet Seal, and pizza. He was wearing a Mt. Rushmore shirt. The Worthington native did ones about a tough dad speech, being a cyber bully to his dad, girls basketball, and country music. Fantasia did ones about a guy on the bus, pickup basketball, a scool suspension, and 'McDonalds and meth'. The Perkins employee did ones about Bilbo, Danny DeVito, and a South Dakota park wedding. The fever comic did ones about airport sandwiches, deer suicide, and a plane's emergency landing. The founding father did ones about women and makeup, and the 5-second rule, as show closer.  

Joe Movie, Nicolas Cage

     I went to McDonald's in the afternoon and got a Redbox movie, 'Joe', starring Nicolas Cage. There were some things about the movie that reminded me of others, like 'Mud' and 'Winter's Bone'. All of these had a backwoods setting. So it made some sense when the previews included those two movies. I really liked 'Winter's Bone'. I don't know how many movies I have seen that Cage was in, I know I liked 'Con Air'. It was a movie I wanted to see at theaters, but didn't get around to it. I had a large postcard I had picked up from the theater to remind me. The main part of the storyline was a teenager who starts working for Joe, played by Cage. The boy is a hard worker and very mature for his age. Joe takes him under his wing, and acts more like a dad than his real dad, who is a drunk. The closing credits said it was filmed in four different cities in Texas, one of those was Austin and the others were towns I hadn't heard of. I liked seeing some of the special features, like how it was based on a novel by Larry Brown. I liked the interview with the book writer, he said the main complaint about his writing is that it is brutal. I liked his response, where he said his writing is also honest.
    I got caught up on some things today, like cleaning out one of my refrigerator drawers. I keep things like empty potato chip bags in there and eventually throw them out after writing down what I have eaten, periodically. I hadn't done it in a while, I counted 170 oatmeal packs so it likely had been four months. No surprise how it proved my eating habits had changed, as there were some Quaker Oats granola bar wrappers in there. I stopped buying them after seeing the food documentary 'Fed Up' in May. The changes have worked, as I have lost some of the weight I wanted to lose.
   Before I picked up the Redbox movie, I went to the Family Dollar store. I got some Lance 'Nekot'
cookies with peanut butter, as well as a CD, 'Music that inspired Fahrenheit 9/11', a documentary movie by Michael Moore. There is a Pearl Jam song on it. I know these aren't necessarily the same songs that were in the movie, since I recall the closing song being 'Rocking in the free world' by Neil Young and Young's son is not on this CD. I heard an employee say she was stupid not crazy, then she corrected herself and reversed it. In one aisle I was a little surprised by hearing a voice saying 'Excuse me', I said to the employee it must be the doll on the top shelf.
   In the evening I watched two 'Simpsons' episodes and then took a walk around the neighborhood. One I had seen before, where Homer looked forward to a 4th of July fireworks show and Bart is a coward during a race as he doesn't help Milhouse. I wrote about it before, as one line was 'Wrong holiday, Charlie Brown'. The second I hadn't seen before, it was when Homer helped deliver a baby in an elevator and then acts like a dad to the baby since it is named for him. The mom is a neighbor to a poker-playing friend of his. Lisa is picked as a junior cheerleader for the local football team and helps them with organizing as a labor union. In the closing credits they have a home pregnancy test as one of the things the cheerleaders endorse.

Postcard Show In Eagan

    I went to a postcard show in Eagan in the afternoon. I got 11 postcards, 7 were from the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. One was a duplicate, I will be giving it to the political science guy as it was about the Russian leaders from World War One. Two of the world's fair postcards were of General Motors, one was of the research rainbow and the other the Chevrolet assembly line. I also got ones of the Sears building, Seminole Village, a second Firestone card, and the British leaders from Pantheon De La Guerre, the same series as the duplicate Russian card. With the other four cards, two were of Minnesota. One was from the State Fairgrounds and the other from Como Park. The other two were from Chicago, of one of the forts known as Fort Dearborn, and New Orleans, of Tulane stadium AKA the Sugar Bowl. I had to laugh after leaving the postcard show as I looked around a little at the community center where the event was held. In one room I heard an instrumental version of the 'Muppet Show' theme song. Before the show I went to the Saints baseball stadium and got a ticket for a game at the end of the month. It was hard to compete with the PA announcer when I tried to
communicate with the ticket office employee. I was informed a corporate event for Super-America was in progress.
   I went to McDonald's in the morning for an Egg McMuffin, and now I have enough stickers for a free drink. I needed five, and two were on abandoned cups. It was their trash, my treasure. In the evening I listened some to the sub teacher's radio show. Topics included comic book movies and the war in the Gaza Strip. I also got more baseball cards, and got them in binders tonight. There were 236 cards, just 18 were duplicates. The dups will be destroyed, much like before. When I was at Target to get sheet protectors, and some of the cards, I heard the song 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri coming from a car radio. It was a girl who passed by me when I was heading inside the store, as I had already parked my car.

Take Your Memory With You, Vince Gill

    For some reason I had a line from a song stuck in my head at work today. It was from 'Take your memory with you' by Vince Gill. Another was 'You'll think of me' by Keith Urban. Eventually it was
'A better man' by Clint Black. All are about relationships ending. I must have been thinking about how mine ended nearly a year ago.
   The political science guy spoke of a Rainbow Foods, now a Cub, in Uptown Minneapolis being where he would do drunk grocery shopping. This was spurred by seeing a full-page ad in the Minneapolis paper today, about the number of Twin City locations that Cub has, 'over 77 stores'.
   In the evening I made it to the Chicago hot dog place, known as Chris and Rob's, and the employee I know there did ask what my plans were after eating. I said I would be headed to a comedy show, and after I had placed my order one of his colleagues spoke of 'Last Comic Standing' and I said 5 of my friends were on that TV program. I had the typical order, tater tots and a chili cheese dog with some onions.
    At the comedy show, Fantasia had just finished his set before I sat down. IED/IUD did one about Fight Club laundry, somebody setting their house on fire, along with her dad being disappointed with her sports abilities. Bus fare did one about state fair horse shows and being from an orphanage. Rut-roh did one about the band Smash Mouth, and their Twitter response, 'you're a ham', and doing laundry. The Louisiana native did one about eating pretzels, and I got a shout-out for the QB joke. The nurses aide did one about dance lessons, suggesting she should be a stripper. Another was about a server vs. hooker comparison. She has an hourglass shape, due to a pitcher of beer. The former Perkins employee did one about Where's Waldo, and a family cruise. The Maryland native did one about attending a hockey game, being bad at pick-up lines, and Urkel. Tortoise and hare did one about a DUI. Others were about a tax rebate at White Castle, a Cobain impression, and a plastic rifle. A brilliant one was about Burger King, Dairy Queen, Carl's Jr., and Taco Bell. Mr. Pibb did one about rap sound effects. Another was about no walls at a bakery. The former restaurant host did one about Comcast customer service. Another was about jobs for rappers. Netflix did one about part of a skit from the previous show, which I didn't see. The fever comic did one about being frugal by stealing, and deer suicide fundamentalists. Grocery delivery did this joke, and how a colleague said e could lose a lot of weight from it but he is already thin.