Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout

This week The Current (our local public radio music station) did a countdown of the Top 893 Essential Artists. The list was compiled based on Top 10 lists sent in by listeners. I didn't participate, but can't stop thinking about and talking about their list. Who would be on my Top 10? I'm thinking purely in terms of who was essential to Amy becoming Amy, and not worrying about who was essential to all of music, and I'm stymied. Essential when and for what?  So since it's our anniversary weekend, I decided to make the question a little easier and limit it to artists who have been essential to Chamy over our 28 years (22 married) together. I'm not claiming Chad would agree with all my choices, but hey, it's my blog. Top 10 Essential to Chamy Artists (in no particular order) The Hold Steady Bruce Springsteen  John Hiatt Jason Isbell The Indigo Girls Counting Crows Willy Porter The Sudden Lovelys  Ben Glaros The Muppets Hmmm, are we singin...

Facebook congratulated me today for having 650 friends. Not sure why 650 is a notable number (and I actually have 657 at the moment) but I'll follow Facebook's lead and take a moment to think, and blog, about what it means—and doesn't mean— to have 650 plus "friends" on Facebook. In some ways it is a little mind boggling, especially when I think about how there were only about 250 people in my entire high school. Of course, not all these 650 friends are real people...some are duplicate accounts and a few belong to pets and some are entirely made up. I certainly don't think all of these "friends" are friends in the sense of people I could reach out to in an emergency, or even go spontaneously grab a drink with if I was feeling lonely. In fact, most of my actual friends who do fit this description aren't even on Facebook or (unlike me) barely use it. The reserve is also true...while I would feel bad if one of my Facebook friends posted about bei...

As the weekend draws to a close, I'm feeling a little sad that I didn't go to Art-A-Whirl. In case you aren't a Twin Citian, that's a free local NE Minneapolis art and music festival. I didn't have any plans to go or any art or music that I particularly wanted to see, but I think I am highly susceptible to "Fear of Missing Out" (FoMO) syndrome. If you haven't heard of FoMO before, simply do a quick search of the interwebs and you will find all types of information on it. It's basically just what it sounds like, the worry that you are passing up on a chance to do something cool. Social media seems to get most of the blame for FoMO, as it constantly shows us all the amazing things other people are doing and highlighting how they are having more fun then we are. While I can certainly see how social media could exacerbate FoMO, I don't think it's the cause of it for me. I think I had it as a youngster out on the tundra – long before social...

In my mind's eye, "#costumefail" blazed before me in neon. (I may spend a bit too much time on social media.) Recently I weathered a costume fail during one of our performance of our current Duck Soup Players production, "Murder on the Nile, or Where's My Mummy?"  NOT a "wardrobe malfunction," so nothing scandalous or exciting, but just a failure. Spoiler Alert: I'm about to reveal a major plot point of our current Duck Soup Players production, "Murder on the Nile, or Where's My Mummy?" So stop reading now if you don't want to have a surprise ruined... Where's the Mummy? Here's your mummy. I'm the mummy. Which you would probably guess if you did come to one of our shows as soon as you saw me in my mummy costume. Sad mummy headshot And to be perfectly honest, my costume didn't fail, I did. My costume was successfully doing what it was supposed to do, but I failed to actually bring all of it to the show. ...

Friday was "Finisher Shirt Friday." That's a rather confusing name without context. There are a lot of things that can get finished. Is this a day to celebrate dining companions who ask "Are you going to finish those?" as they are reaching for your sweet potato fries (no that does NOT sound like anyone I know). Running pride in my cube While I would be all for a day to honor food—and drink—finishing friends (hey, some of us are helpers) "Finisher Shirt Friday" actually means "Wear a Shirt That You Got for Finishing a Race" day. Now I can REALLY get behind that, and having a reason/excuse to wear one of my race shirts. My collection of race t-shirts has built up surprisingly fast, and I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love getting them and always feels pretty proud that I've earned one, but it's pretty hard to wear them on a regular basis. They are usually ill-fitting and not that flattering, and don't work wel...