The soundtrack to my life: Billy, is that you?

Last night my friend Tarra and I went and saw Billy Joel in concert at the Pepsi Center. As you can see we opted for the cheap seats but we were on the first row of the upper bowl. Even though I still feel pretty crappy, it was fun and Billy put on a great show. It was my 4th Billy Joel concert.

If I had to pick an artist who is the soundtrack of my life, I would pick Billy Joel. I have been listening to his music since I was a kid. In fact, I probably knew his songs before I knew most Primary songs. My mom used to keep several of his 8-track tapes (*gasp* can you believe we used to listen to 8 track tapes?) in the car. When my uncles were on their missions, she also inherited several record albums (*gasp* can you believe we used to listen to records?) that we played all the time on the record player in our living room. I remember being so excited when we actually bought "An Innocent Man" on cassette tape (*gasp* can you believe we used to listen to cassette tapes?) because we could actually REWIND the songs.

So for me, Billy is kind of part of the family. In fact, Billy Joel was one of the first American artists to play in the Soviet Union before the Iron Curtain came down. He was there right before I was in the summer of 1988. People were still talking about his concerts. They would ask, "Do you know Billy Joel?" I wanted to say, "Yes, I do know him. He's like family." It was very exciting for me. Here is a list of some other great Billy Joel song moments in my life:

--When we were young we used to go to Yellowstone every summer with our cousins for like a week. Once we were packing up the car to head back home and my uncle had Billy Joel playing while we cleaned and packed. I was always sad to leave Yellowstone but this time was particularly sad because I heard "Piano Man" playing and it finally dawned on me what a melancholy song that is and it made me tear up. I think I was 11 or 12 and when I hear that song I still think of Yellowstone.
--Whenever I hear the song "The Stranger" I think of my uncle Rex and uncle Joel. Not because the song pertains to them but that album must have belonged to one of them and my mom may have mentioned their names every time we played it.
--There is a song called "Christie Lee" which is a rather obscure song off the "Innocent Man" album. I made up a dance to it in junior high, though it was only performed for the fake crowds in our living room. I think I could still do it.
--Back in 1993 I spent another summer in Russia during college. My friend Nathan had some BJ songs on tape and we listened to it over and over. I lost touch with Nathan but when I hear "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" I still think of him and miss him.
--I quoted a BJ song over the pulpit at my missionary farewell..."Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes" from "Say Goodbye to Hollywood." Now my mom and I say that to each other all the time but continue the song..."I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again."
--My first BJ concert was in college with a guy I liked at the time (who shall remain nameless). We bought tickets far in advance and didn't like each other much when the concert came around. We went anyway and it was awkward. I remember that his favorite song was "And So it Goes" and I told him mine was "I Go to Extremes." I must have been mad.
--"We Didn't Start the Fire" makes me think of Stephanie because she loves to scream that song at the top of her lungs (and she knows all the words) on road trips and at concerts.

I could go on and on but I will stop there. Billy sang some great ones last night: "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", "Only the Good Die Young", "Allentown", "You May Be Right", "Still Rock and Roll", "Zanzibar" (a nice treat!), "She's Always a Woman" and several others. In the middle of "The River of Dreams" they launched into a cover a Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountani Way." All you have to do here is mention the Rocky Mountains and people go nuts. The crowd was worked up into a frenzy before they even got to the chorus. I used to find it annoying but now it's kind of an endearing thing about Colorado.

Unfortunately I had to endure hearing my 3 least favorite songs "Captain Jack" (utterly depressing), "The Entertainer" and "The Ballad of Billy the Kid." Fortunately Billy redeemed himself with many other great songs including the obligatory "Piano Man" sing along for his final number.

I hate going to the doctor!

So why is it when you go in for a sinus infection that they have to weigh you? The nurse also took my pulse and my temperature but the only one she announced was my weight. Next time I'm going to say, "Didn't you notice that I closed my eyes when I stepped on the scale? That means I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!" Or maybe I could say, "Please don't tell me my weight but I'd really like to know what my pulse is."

I found out that I do have a sinus infection and since I had some swelling in my neck the infection had apparently gone into my lymph nodes. I don't even know what a lymph node is but my neck and throat are really sore. I have to be on some nasty antibiotics for two weeks which cause me to be really nauseated. Maybe the nausea will help with the aforementioned weight issues. :)

Oh capitol! My capitol!

I was in Utah over President's Day weekend and I got to see the Utah State Capitol. It just reopened at the first of the year after being closed for 4 years. I worked in this building for several years and I loved going to work here every day. It's a shame my old office is now a conference room, but the capitol building looks fantastic. It's great to see it open again and to see the hustle and bustle of the Legislative session.

Some of my favorite memories in this building...
--Conducting the 2000 Electoral College live on CSPAN. (We had to rehearse so we didn't look unorganized on national t.v.)
--Sliding across the rotunda in my stocking feet and pajamas on election night. (If I could only get those security camera tapes...)
--Rozan's special capitol tours for Boy Scout troops. "If there's an earthquake your gonna die in here! Those columns are not anchored." (They are now!)
--Elections office birthday parties were the best!
--The day they announced Gov. Leavitt was accepting the appointment to the EPA and they told the staff. Then we were whisked down the secret back stair case to avoid the press congregating outside the Governor's Office.
--Hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing at several inaugurations.
--Echoes of "When I say 'go' you say 'fight'" through the vent. (Those of you around for the 2004 candidate filing know what I mean.)
--Hearing "Light the Dream!" nine million times during the Olympics.

First Place!

I got first place in a Valentine box decorating contest. Okay, there really wasn't a contest but my staff gave me a ribbon. Look what I got in my box!

If you make a Valentine Box...

People will put stuff in it! I made it known at work that I was going to bring a Valentine box. No one believed me. My creative juices were flowing and the box turned into a Valentine Monster (not what I set out to do). On Monday everyone thought I was crazy. By Tuesday people were putting valentines in the box and by Wednesday, three people set Valentine boxes on their desks! See what fun a quirky boss can start in an office? Happy Valentines Day everyone. I can't wait to open my box.

Is my life really boring?

Welcome back to the blogging world for me! And yes, my life is really boring because I started this blog while I was in Albania last year working on an election. That was much more exiting than my daily routine of work and life. Oh well. Really I started this blog because everyone I know seems to have one but me. I gave in to peer pressure!

So yesterday I volunteered at the All About Kids Expo here in Denver. I'm just on the list of volunteers for any event here and I just do whatever they ask me to do. This event was sponsored by Radio Disney so I got a t-shirt that says "Disney VoluntEARs." I was greeting at the door when a mother came up to me with a question. Here is how the exchange went.

Random mother: Excuse me but there is a rumor going around that Hannah Montana is going to be here. Do you know anything about that?

Me: No. Hannah Montana is not going to be here today.

Random mother(suspiciously): Really? Then why is everyone talking about it?

Me: I don't know but I don't believe Hannah Montana just shows up at places.

Random mother: Well, I have gone outside and circled the convention center looking for her tour bus but I didn't see it.

Me: Ma'am, she's not here.

All the volunteers heard this question a bunch of times. I think people thought we were hiding something and that if they kept probing us we'd spill some kind of secret about Hannah Montana. Not surprisingly, Hannah Montana didn't come. However, some group called the Jonas Brothers (I'm assuming a Disney group) was around somewhere. When their tour bus pulled up across the street from the convention center I watched 50 screaming 10 year olds run across traffic to catch a glimpse. It was very amusing. I guess I shouldn't talk. I nearly hyperventilated when I saw the keyboard player and drummer for Bon Jovi back stage at the 2002 Olympics when I was volunteering there.