Well, now that you’ve been sufficiently entertained by The Weirz greeting you here on the front page for the past several days (haha), a new post awaits you! I have lost 4 pounds! Yes! :)
I’ve resolved to lose this weight, to lose all my fat. I just have to. I can’t screw around with this or postpone it any longer. It just HAS to be. Just as I felt with my smoking, back 8 years ago. I had decided one day I just can’t smoke anymore and that I hate everything about it, and I quit. Just like that. I know I have it in me to do the same with the weight.
For one thing, I’m short (5′1) and have a petite frame. I can’t carry all this. It hurts my knees, and my ankles. I have problems with my Achilles tendon and I know losing the weight will help alleviate that as well.
Also I have a high school reunion coming up in October. I want to look great!
I also need to take better care of my health because let’s face it.. I’m not in my 20s anymore. I may feel like I am, but my body tells a slightly different version of that tale. ;p
I also want to fit into my cute clothes again! And, damn it, I want to look good naked! ;)
And I want to feel better, move around better, not feel like I’m carrying around a ball and chain.
Tons of reasons. It just has to come off.
I’ve lost 4 pounds so far, since this resolve. :)
I am “The Incredible Shrinking Woman”. ;-D
And I’m not being anal about it at all. Basically all I’m doing is ending the bad habits I had. Like having a carton of ice cream in one sitting, several days a week. Too many fries and burgers and fried foods. No exercise. Not enough fruits and veggies. Too much sugar in my coffee and tea. Stuff like that. I’m still enjoying myself but in moderation. Rich foods are now a treat and not the norm. I still allow myself some fun, but just being sensible about it. I’m also trying to shrink my stomach, so I’ve been eating less- translates into eating NORMAL. Because I always over-ate.
I’m also taking a multi-vitamin. Something else I had neglected before. The one I am taking has green tea extract in it, and I think it’s really helping!
And I am eating a banana a day. They (whoever “they” are) say it’s the “miracle” food. Well, we’ll see. I do feel better. :) Also have been eating alot more salads and fruit and raw veggies. I prefer my veggies raw.
And I’ve started exercising! Since I had injured my Achilles tendon 2 months ago (while walking to get those “Spring Breakdown” passes), I’ve been rather inactive. So I’ve had to start out easy in my exercising. Not doing much in the way of long walks just yet but I’m doing aerobics on a trampoline! Low impact, and alot of fun!
So there you have it. 4 pounds lighter so far, and I’m quite happy. :)
Anyone want to join me? We’ll work together!
ETA: I need to lose about 50-60 pounds. Depends. I’ll see how I look and feel once I hit 130. That will probably be my end goal, which means I have 50 pounds to lose. I remember being 130lbs and looking quite good! I may decide to aim for 120 but we’ll see. OH and nooo I don’t expect to reach that by High School Reunion time in October, but any amount lost will help me look and feel so much better.
Go back in time with me, if you will. Just for a bit.. to 1982. One of my favorite years. I was 22, at Valley College, and it was a very fun time in my life.
The 1st time I saw them play was at Madame Wongs East, in Chinatown. February 1982. Charlie and I were HUGE fans of the TV show “Facts of Life”, went to all the tapings, and we had heard the cast goes to see them play sometimes. We were curious to check this out, so we did. Neither of us drove yet (late bloomer on the driving thing), so we asked our buddy Lee Clarke to take us. Lee drove us, in his VW Bug.
Wasn’t the best area in L.A, as you will soon learn. But we figured a paid parking space should be ok.
I’d never been out at a rock club before, and so this was a new experience for me. It was dark, crowded, chaotic, and very noisy. Well, as it should be. ;p I think it was the middle of the week, but the place was always hopping.
We found some seats, ordered drinks, and I was talking with this very pretty, really cool and very friendly girl sitting next to me. She asked us who we were there to see and we said “The Weirz”. She told us she heard they were great! Then she went on to talk about the band that was about to play 1st, in which her husband was fronting. His name was Freddy Moore. So we watched him and his band, (not for certain but THIS may be the show!!) - and then “friendly girl” gave me her number and told us to keep in touch so that we can go to more shows. She really seemed to like us! She talked with us all through the night, until she got up to go join her hubby.
I never called her. That girl, I found out years later, was Demi Moore! ;p I kid you not. It didn’t dawn on me for years!
So then the Weirz played. I loved Theresa and her sax. Love at first sight! ;) She was amazing! They were more pop and jazz than anything else. But very unique sound. We were definitely not disappointed, even though there was no “Blair” to be seen. ha!
We left after they played…. went back to the public paid parking where Lee left his bug.. and it was nowhere to be found. It was stolen, along with his guitar that he had in the trunk. :(
Charlie and I felt so guilty because we’re the ones that asked him to go with us.
My dad came to pick us up, and rescue us from the depths of Hell. We dropped Lee off first. I don’t remember what happened. I think they eventually recovered the bug, but not the guitar. :(
Fast forward a few months to May 11, 1982-
The Weirz came to play at our campus (Valley College, in Van Nuys). That officially marks the day Charlie and I became “groupies”. Haha! They were a local band, for the most part, except when they would travel to Canada with Micheal Damien (their brother, and “Young and Restless” star, and recording artist).
We remained devotees for several years. 1982, to maybe 85′ or 86′! Met many characters along the way. Enough for a book/comedy movie! Shout out to a few I still remember: Kathy Dunn, Loretta Coronado, Judy, Peggy, Lisa Ensley, the guy that the Weirz song “Man Overboard” was written about- but I can’t remember his name. I should! I even went ice skating one time with he and Theresa.
As for the ORIGINAL reason we had ventured out to see the Weirz in the 1st place.. well, we never saw Lisa Whelchel at any of the shows ever, even though I was assured she would show at some point. She never did. But among the teen celebs of the time that I *did* see: Nancy McKeon (Jo on “Facts of Life”) and her brother Phil (of “Alice”), and Dana Hill (several TV movies, and “Shoot the Moon” and “European Vacation”), Danielle Brisbois (Archie Bunker’s Place”), Justine Bateman (”Family Ties”), and Micheal J Fox (”Family Ties”). Also some soap stars. This was all during the early period of our seeing the band, and when they used to play Madame Wongs West all the time. They played about twice a month, every month, for a couple of years! At Wongs east and west, and elsewhere, like The Palomino. Some good times. :) Lots of them.
I remember a party I went to once, at the Weirz house, when they used to live in Beverly Hills. That was so much fun. The moment that stands out for me the most was when the Missing Person’s song “Words” came on the stereo, Theresa turned it up LOUD, and EVERYONE of us gathered in a circle and danced and sang! I also remember we sang along to Moon Unit Zappa’s “Valley Girl”! These just had to be my own personal “80’s movie moments”. ;)
When the Weirz stopped playing regularly and Joani Weir pursued other musical outlets, I stayed on top of her pretty much as well. Her bands were “Push Push”, and then a bit later she formed “Siren”. But by the time the 1990’s began, it was all pretty much over for me as far as following. Joani didn’t play that much, we all drifted, and I was into other stuff as well.
And now, years later, someone posted a GEM of a video on the YouTubes. I was so thrilled to find it! This was shot a few years before I knew of them. I am thinking vintage 1977 or 78′. In those days, the Weirz were still more jazz and included Kathy and Pixie Weir. They remind me alot of the groups Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears. (2 bands I love).
THERESA: vocals and sax KATHY: vocals and trumpet PIXIE: vocals, flute and trombone MARIA: bass LARRY: vocals and guitar ESTELLE: keyboards TOM: drums MICHAEL: vibes JOANI: congas, percussion
Here is their music video, for their 1983 hit “Imagination”..
Also VERY recently (like a few days ago) found out Theresa Weir is now “Tracy Barns”. I googled her and found she has a cd out on itunes, so go check her out! It’s called “Good Days Are Comin“. I left a review at the iTunes store for her. If you have iTunes, click HERE. I’m not a big country music fan but I must admit this is some of the best I have heard in this genre. I really liked quite a few of the songs! And I don’t live too terribly far from where she is now, so I might take a drive sometime (about an hour and 45 min) and check out a show. That would be awesome. :)
Lastly, here is a photo I found of myself, Joani Weir, and my mom! Circa 86′ or 87′, at FM Station.
Lots more photos coming up soon, so stay tuned. I have to dig for them and scan them.
YouTube can be your own personal time portal! Especially when hunting down old friends like “The Weirz“. More on them later. I came across this ditty, while on my time travels. This is from 1982 (my favorite year yet), and it’s called “We Are Animals”, from a band called The Europeans. I’m hoping I can find this on iTunes. Havent looked yet.
Anyway, enjoy! This will either be highly entertaining or highly annoying. Let me know in comments. Hehe!
My ipod Touch is an iphone wannabe. ;) But there’s still plenty I can do with her, while still on Sprint and while still using my increasingly jealous MotoRazr for reaching out and touching people.
On my ipod, you can find the following apps I have installed and tried so far:
MySpace*
Pandora*** (this is my #1 fave app!)
Shozu
CB Jobs
myLite* (makes a great flashlight AND party light!)
AOL Radio*
Lifecast
Twitterrific (probably going in the wastebin. It’s ok but I much prefer Hahlo).
iPint
WeatherBug Remote
BoxOffice (I can see this being very useful if I go to movies more than once a decade. ;p )
Google
AquaForest* (be careful. Highly addictive!!)
MonkeyBall*
iChing*
I also had Facebook and Ebay. Both uninstalled because either they crashed my ipod (ebay) or didnt work all that well and were missing features (Facebook). When the Facebook app is fixed up a bit more, I’d like to try it again. For now, I recommend just using the regular mobile website version. Works great!
I’m probably also going to uninstall Remote, Twitterrific, and Weatherbug. Remote because I don’t use iTunes to play my music all that much. And, when I do, I’m sitting right there. So I don’t need a remote. Ha! When I play music, it’s usually off my external ipod player.
Still on the fence on Weatherbug. I decided to try it again, and it’s interesting but I don’t see myself using it all that much.
I have starred the ones I really love. I definitely recommend them!
I’m sure there’ll be more apps to try out. But, for now, these are the ones I’m enjoying and that have been useful or just plain fun. :)
Steve Jobs made alot of money yesterday! I guess I should have married him when I had the chance. :-/
Back then though, in high school, he was such a geek. Not a geek as we know geeks today (geeks today are cool!), but a geeeeeeeeek. He’d stare at me in science class, and drool whenever I spoke of amoebas. And he’d talk about things that made no sense! “Apples from oranges”. What!?
He purposely made it so that his locker was right under mine.
And he’d leave little love notes in my locker. He told me one day I’d be sorry for not dating and marrying him. That he’d be a super rich son-of-a-bitch. And that he would name a personal computer after me.
Been having way too much fun with the new iphone/ipod Touch apps! My favorites so far are the I-Ching, Facebook, Super Monkey Ball, and Pandora!
Oh how I love Pandora! I never even knew this site existed! I created my profile, and am generating my tailor-made stations. Have a listen!
This can’t and won’t take the place of songs you purchase off itunes simply because the quality isn’t as good as what you get when you download it. But it’s a great way to discover new music and it enhances your itunes music-buying experience. I don’t see Apple removing it from their apps. If anything, Pandora is a great selling point! While you’re listening to a song, you have the option to purchase it right off itunes! Nice!
I’ve used the IChing for years, and am thrilled that there’s such a nice version of it for the iphone and ipod. Works great on it’s own, but I prefer to use it alongside one of my books.
The Facebook app is like getting to know Facebook all over again! It’s laid out really nicely and very easy to use.
“Super Monkey Balls”.. (hehe kat!)- really really fun game!! :) Highly recommend! If you don’t buy any other game for your iphone or Touch, purchase this one! You won’t be sorry. Chris Pirillo gave it a favorable review and his stamp of approval. :)
For the apps I am NOT as crazy about:
I dont like Twitterific so far. But then again I’m not crazy about the web version of it neither. I guess I’m partial to the more “vanilla” Twitter layout. It’s simple and works well for me. Why fix what isnt broken?
And “weatherbug” isnt a fave. I might remove it, but we’ll see. It’s kind of laggy. The weather app that already comes as part of the iphone/ipod works fine and looks great. There again.. why fix what isnt broken? But we’ll see. I’ve only been playing with this stuff a few hours, my eyes are buggy and I’m tired. In fact, this entire blog post may not make too much sense.
Haven’t tried the Google app yet, but I hear that one is awesome. And “Lifecast” looks enticing. They’re waiting on my ipod, so stay tuned.
Doing the math here, it might make sense to me NOT to get an iphone. I was looking at Sprint’s version, called “Instinct“, and it’s a really nice phone! Has all the features of iphone plus some! The GPS seems to work better, and there’s voice recognition, which I would rely on alot- in the car especially. The viewing area isnt quite as large - but almost, and definitely ample.
Also the price isnt as bad as I thought. It appears (not totally sure but looks like it) that I would qualify for an upgrade price of $229.00, which is only slightly more than the iphone. Not only that, I wouldnt have to pay the $200 cancellation fee for jumping ship. If I got an iphone, I’d be paying $200 for it, plus the cancellation, for a grand total of $400. And the ATT service would probably end up being at least a little more a month than what I am paying now. I’d have to look into it more, but I don’t *think* I have to pay extra for “Instincts” services. Except maybe GPS?
Besides that, Sprint has never once let me down on service. Never a dropped call, hardly ever a weak signal anywhere I go.
What do you readers think? Please leave me feedback! :) Remember, I have my ipod Touch for all my music and movies, and I wouldn’t want to wear a phone battery down on that kind of stuff anyway.
So, unless I *don’t* get an upgrade price and I end up having to pay almost 500 dollars for the thing (in which case I will jump ship), I think I might stay put and buy Instinct.
So, who’s going to buy themselves a new iphone on Friday?! I wish I could join you! Alas I’m still with Sprint and, apparently, Apple will never cave and go with other carriers besides ATT. I’ve waited over a year, ever since the 1st iphones were released, hoping that it would come to others like Sprint. It’s never happened and I don’t think it ever will. I believe Apple is in TIGHT with ATT and that’s all there is to it.
So- what to do? I’ve been very happy with Sprint’s service but they don’t have alot of selection for phones, and the really nice ones they do have are very $$$. More than what I would pay for an iphone now that the price has been lowered. My present phone, a Razr, has been great but it’s getting old and I worry about when I will have to replace her. Sprint doesnt seem too generous in that dept. Some of the prices are really crazy!
So, it may be time to say goodbye to Sprint, and pay a huge cancellation fee.. which sucks. But with how much I love and adore my ipod Touch and use it ALL the time, I can only imagine how much I will love having the iphone and being able to use the internet function ANYwhere- not just where there’s wireless. I would still use the Touch at wireless places, to save my phone’s battery. But will be nice to not have to rely on whether or not someplace is wifi. I don’t come across that too often, actually. Most places I still need my phone. And, using a regular cell phone to do all that the iphone can do with ease? Not possible.
So when is my “cave-in” date? Well, not July 11th, but soon. Maybe end of month or sometime in August. Sometime. Sometime soon..
Meanwhile, iJustine will be getting her new buddy on July 11th, and who knows what the old one will do or where she will go .. but I hope Justine has some cool retirement plans for her, as she has been a very trusty phone! I’d cry if she ends up in the recycle bin to be trashed/melted. :’( Like in that movie “AI“.
*I am assuming ijustine’s iphone is a “she”? haha!
… I geekafied Rachel Dratch! :D Meaning that I have her (well, her site) on several social networks, so that I can more easily publicize events and projects she is involved with.
The power of the internet!
Personally, I feel she doesn’t get as much in the way of publicity as she deserves! I may not be an actual “publicist”, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do my part to get her and her work more “out there”. What better way than to take full advantage of all this medium has to offer, and to get her “networked” in with others who have a huge following!
So, if you’re a fan of hers and would like to follow her, the “geeky” way, here is her Friendfeed:
It will contain all twitters and blog posts from her website. So, even if you don’t stop by there much, you’ll still get the scoop, if you follow her on FF.
I was actually considering shutting this blog down because I was not sure I was getting much if any readers. According to an article someone submitted over at chris.pirillo.com (sorry, can’t seem to find it now), if you don’t get comments on some posts, that’s okay. But if you hardly ever get comments, that may mean people aren’t interested and aren’t reading your blog. That, to me, would mean it’s time to shut down operations.
I do have a live journal and a readership there, and I know I would get readers on a blog over at MySpace. But here, at my own site, is no man’s land. ;) Well actually maybe not. I twittered the question “does anyone read my blog”, and got a few replies. Thanks guys. :) So okay. I will go ahead and keep my site as is. Because, the trouble with blogging at Live Journal or MySpace is that only Live Journal and MySpace users can properly comment. On a regular personal site such as mine, anyone can.
I just never really know what to blog about. I don’t have any set subject matter. I just post whatever is on my mind, stuff I find on the internets, my website work, outings, etc.. Just a potpourri of all that is me! After all, this site IS meant to be my own space on the web. :) If even a few of you are interested and come back, then that is cool. :)
I’ll still be blogging on Live Journal also, as I have been since 2001! So, if you too have an LJ account, feel free to add me!
… I geekafied Rachel Dratch! :D Meaning that I have her (well, her site) on several social networks, so that I can more easily publicize events and projects she is involved with. 
