No 2010 Stingaree Festival

This article makes me sad. There will be no Stingaree Festival at Crystal Beach for 2010. My niece Katie and her friend Chloe and I vowed to attend every year even when I'm too old to comfortably jump on the stage and dance with the Band of Heathens.

On another note, I am looking forward to the release of Hayes Carll's new album, but I'm sure going to miss our fun festival weekend. I guess I'll just have to make a roadtrip to visit Miss Katie at college.

I've heard they have pretty good music in Austin. ;)

It's time to become a NUN again

Five years ago I met a blogging friend named Aisha and read that a friend of hers was going to give up shopping for Lent. Sounded like a good idea to me.

Together we came up with a name for our group: NUNS (No Unnecessary and Needless Shopping). During Lent the last five years I have not bought books, clothes, shoes, CDs, DVDs...nothing fun. It's harder than it sounds.

This year will be particularly difficult, because after two months of unemployment my new job will start soon. Lent starts Wednesday. So, my long Amazon.com list will have to wait another 40 days until Lent is over.

No congratulations-to-me-on-finding-a-new-job-before-going-completely-broke shopping for me. Not until Easter anyway.

We Are the World 25

Very true that I couldn't name most of them, Miss Cellania, but I can name all of these. I want my MTV...

WE ARE THE WORLD @ Yahoo! Video

If you can't name them all click here for the details.

East Dragon Asian Buffet

We've been carefully watching the construction of a new Asian restaurant in the neighborhood and today mom and I finally went there for lunch. The buffet is huge with lots of seafood and free Blue Bell ice cream for dessert.

Below, you will find a copy of their menu. Give this place a try. It's well worth the money and the atmosphere is lovely. It's located next door to the Hallmark store in the same strip mall as the new Exygon fitness center.











East Dragon Asian Buffet
6434 Phelan Boulevard
Beaumont, Texas 77706
(409) 866-3388
(409) 866-5568 - fax

Lunch Buffet $6.95 (11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.)
Dinner Buffet $8.99 (4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.) (Friday and Saturday 4:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.)

Kia Sorento Commercial Song - How Do You Like Me Now?

The Who at the Superbowl

I'm thinking this whole "Who" thing at the Superbowl was a bad idea. There are things I could do in the '60s that I can't do anymore and I certainly wouldn't try to do them in front of millions of people.

The Beatles approve of my new job and a note to human resources

As some of you know, I have a weird cosmic connection to the Beatles. (Click on the keyword "Beatles" at the bottom of this post to read more.)

When I started my car last week as I was leaving home to go fill out paperwork for my new job, "Silly Love Songs" was playing on the radio. Granted that's only one Beatle and it's Wings, but I still thought it was a good sign. When I pulled into the company parking lot twenty minutes later, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" started playing. That's Beatles with a capital "B."

For the curious among you, I haven't actually started my new job, because there are training courses and screenings and such that need to be completed. I should be back to being a productive member of society soon.

Note to Human Resources folks:
For all of you folks working in human resources departments out there, I know you're aware that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Please remember to also not judge a book by its page count.

Speaking for the over-50 year old work force and the unfortunately unemployed, we are experienced, we are reliable and we are eternally grateful for every opportunity we are given.

Although we have a few more gray hairs and wrinkles than we had thirty years ago, inside we're the same person we were back in the '70s except that we have a little more wisdom, a tougher shell and no longer sweat the small stuff.

Thanks for reading the whole book.

Support Local Music

From the CtheDs website:

SxSETX March 5-7 Art/Music/Comedy/Party
on Crockett Street @ Hole in the Wall/TEN/Star Bar

Tickets:
$15 for the whole schebang..$7 each night
short on cash??
Bring a flyer and get $3 off Tix or $1 at the door

We are preparing to send 6 SETX bands to SXSW. Think of this show as their going out party. We have national and international touring acts playing with our hometown boys. As for SxSETX we also have several out of town touring bands passing through so stay tuned for the full line up!!!

Baletaci

Thanks, Cammie.

Who Dat Dog

Thanks, Elizabeth!

I got a job!

I got a job! Thank you for all of your support and prayers. Your faith in me and my faith in God's plan carried me through a very long cold January.

Now, I just have to go through orientation, take a safety course and pass a drug test. I have no reason in the world to think I won't pass the drug test, yet the Elaine and the poppy seed muffin Seinfeld episode keeps going through my head.


Peterman: I'm afraid I have some bad news, Elaine. It appears you will not be accompanying me to Africa.

Elaine: What? Why not?

Peterman: I'm afraid it's your urine, Elaine. You tested positive for opium.

Elaine: Opium?

Peterman: That's right, Elaine. White lotus. Yam-yam. Shanghai Sally.


My drug of choice for the last month has been large quantities of Blue Bell ice cream. That doesn't show up in a urine test does it?

I feel like I'm forgetting something...

Oh, yeah. I forgot to blog.

I wish I could tell you I have a fabulously interesting reason for not blogging. I would love to tell you that my world travels and charity work have interfered or that I've been putting the finishing touches on my secret novel, but the reason is much more mundane than that. The reason is that I have no reason.

Since I've been out of work the past month, my life has been very relaxed. I spend a lot of time puttering around the house and visiting the grand-fabulous Ava. Perhaps being so relaxed has also doused the flame of inspiration to write about every silly thing that pops into Laurie's Brain. Lately, when I think about blogging something, my follow-up thought is, "Nah. Nobody cares about that." Yet, when I look back at previous posts, there are plenty of posts about things that nobody cares about. Never stopped me before.

Along with lack of interest in my own thoughts, I tend to agree with my blogging friend Lorna and must place some of the blame on Facebook. In the past when thoughts popped into my head, I would do a blog post to clear out the cobwebs clinging to the corners of my brain. Now, I do a Facebook post and discuss the topic in real time with my friends and family. For example, last night I had a sudden urge to poll my friends on the riveting topic of: "2010: twenty-ten or two thousand ten?" Fascinating stuff. Thirty or forty comments later, the subject was exhausted and I no longer had the urge to blog about it.

I received an e-mail from a friend this morning who was concerned about my lack of blog posts over the last week and a half. Since most of you use my little blog as a barometer of Laurie's Brain health and Laurie's Mood status, I promise to pop in here more often.

Thanks for checking on me.

Shut up Jane, I'm With Coco

I was just watching Headline News (known as "HLN" now for some unknown ridiculous marketing reason) and there was a woman on there (Jane something?) complaining about the rallies and ruckus and enthusiasm of the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien/Jimmy Fallon fans.

Her problem with the whole business is that, in her opinion, people should be rallying and ruckusing and enthusing about more important things. Their energy, she whined, should be directed to women's rights! and Haiti! and healthcare!

I have two words for her: (1) shut, (2) up.

Wait. I have three more words for her: (1) leave, (2) people, (3) alone.

We're all aware of women's rights and Haiti and healthcare. That's why we're enjoying the hell out of the late night drama. It's harmless, it takes our minds off of the important stuff for a while, these guys are millionaires so they aren't going to starve and it's just plain fun...and funny. The monologues on these shows the last two weeks have been hilarious as they both skewer "The Man" in the form of the evil NBC.

So lady, Jane whatever-your-name-is, shut up and leave people alone.

Edited to add:
I looked it up. The bitchy woman's name is Jane Velez-Mitchell. Don't watch her show. She's cranky.

Rock for Haiti (Beaumont, Texas)