End o' week musings

My week has been as weird as the weather.

Saturday I went to Bluesapalooza and Thunderfest in downtown Covina. I had no excuse, it was a nice day, a short walk and my mother is a classic car fan. We had a nice time wandering around looking at all the cool vehicles. The most interesting part was explaining the dragsters to my mom, she had never seen one before!

In the evening I went to Hip Kitty Jazz and Fondue in Claremont to see Thelonious Dub. I had such a great night! I sat at the bar and shared cheese fondue with my friend Byron as we dug T-Dub's jazz/reggae/dub grooves. During one of the band's breaks, we went out on the patio and I ended up dancing with some drummers who were playing. I love this venue! I'm already making evil plans to take some of my friends there to celebrate special occasions. And why are my plans so evil? The decadent creme brulee and triple chocolate cheesecake and the marvelous dirty martinis paired with great music will keep you there all night and make you yearn to return.

Sunday I went with my podmate Linda to the LA Chocolate Salon in Pasadena. I was sooo looking forward to the event and was sooo disappointed. It was very unorganized. First if you had tickets at will-call (which was ANY advanced sale) you had to wait in line for more than 30 minutes to get a ticket to get in. If you paid at the door, you might have had to wait 5 minutes tops.

Inside you could not tell which vendor or display was which, as the signs (if they had one) were not posted high enough. There were a lot of people there and they tended to make one long line that swept across all of the booths so you had a hard time cutting in to see one thing in particular if you didn't want to go the whole route.

My last big beef was that the companies offered lots of samples, but really how much chocolate can you eat at one time? And what good does it do if you can't remember which one you liked best? They needed to give out bites wrapped with their company name and contact information so you could take them home and try them at your leisure. This way, you would know which ones you would like to purchase later.

What I did like about the show was the gorgeous sculptures made entirely out of chocolate. I also liked the chocolate martinis. Linda asked if I wanted to sample the wines, but I declined telling her that it was too early in the day. Yes, it was too early for wine, but it's always time for a martini!

My new Polynesian dance class was fun. I learned two choreographies- one a hula with a story and the other a Tahitian number with lots of fast hips. I'm enjoying the challenge of learning new moves and words-- it's good for my brain.

This week I interviewed Bob Stane, who runs the Coffee Gallery Backstage, local artist Kathleen Swaydan (she makes the most beautiful graphite still life drawings and the most perky fruit paintings) and the guitar/flute duo AlmaNova.

I will be dancing in Redlands at the MECDA Inland Empire Chapter Halloween party. My drummer, Ric Sarabia, will be playing. Here's the basic info:

Inland Empire Chapter of MECDA's
Annual Halloween Party
2-6 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 18
Clubhouse
140 W. Pioneer Ave.
Redlands
Admission is $5 or non-perishable food items to be donated to local food bank. Also, please bring a pot luck dish to share.
All ages invited, costumes welcome.
Call (909) 260-0974 or e-mail jewelsofmiehana@aol.com

Also, tonight Ric will be playing a cancer patient on "Medium" on CBS at 9 p.m. See the posting below this for more info and some of his other acting roles that are on your TV.

Next week's big thing for me will be going to the Hello Kitty exhibit VIP party at Three Apples in Culver City.

In rotation this week: Dethklok, Sextronauts, The Orange Mighty Trio, The Sorcerers, Something to Burn, the HorrorPops and The Resonant Heads.

Photos we got 'em: A cute pet photo from a friend's e-mail and photos by Byron Spears of Jyrki of The 69 Eyes and me at the concert.

Thought o' the Week: Get movin'! Yeah, you, you know you've been sitting on your tushie watching trash on TV and only getting up to get some snacks from the kitchen. Did you know that you can actually watch TV and exercise at the same time? It's true!

I used to go for my walk and then exercise during the commercials. That worked out pretty well, as I was comfy in my gym clothes and kept my weights and other tools in the cabinet under my television. As I have added on to my workout, I have found it easier to do all at one time, but I can do everything (except for my walk and stairs) in front of the TV and not miss a thing.

So there, you have no excuse now, as even I'm doing it. You don't need a fancy gym, a trainer or any other special thing, just motivation to get up and get moving. It's good for you and it's been proven that exercise boosts your immune system, which helps keep the cold and flu away. It also makes you feel good. Give it two weeks and let me know.... I'm sure you'll be feeling great! And if you have any good exercise tips, please post them here so we can all get healthier together.

Keep on rockin'

Mickie