A few footnotes from the trip:

1) I am a freak. No, really. If you haven't figured it out already from all the entries filed under this category this will do it for you. Read on.

2) I bought a bootleg CD of unreleased material and I cried....yes, CRIED...over the stereo version of "I Should've Known Better" the first time I listened to it. In my defense, it really sounds so much better than the mono version, which is the only version I'd heard up till now. John's voice is so vibrant on this version I almost feel like I could reach out and touch it. And I can hear his little intake of breath before he sings each line which, for some reason, rips my heart out. With it being in stereo the vocal track is dead center when I listen to it on the headphones and it's like his voice is inside my head instead of just going in my ears from the sides. (I know that sounds weird but anyone who has listened to a really good stereo mix of a song on headphones will know what I'm talking about.)

3) 50 bands/artists performed at Abbey Road on the River this year. I did not see all of them but I saw/heard a good many of them. And, after all of that, my absolute favorite is STILL 1964: the Tribute -- whom I had seen three times already before seeing them at AROTR. They are just superior to anyone else I've seen so far. I look forward to seeing them again when they come back to OU (as they do every year).

4) On the subject of 1964: I am fascinated by the "John" in the group. It's not so much that he looks like John as he acts like John. He has John's mannerisms and speech patterns down pat. The other guys in the other tribute bands that I've seen come across as trying too hard. It's them doing a John Lennon impression. The 1964 guy seems natural when he's doing it. I usually end up spending 3/4 of the concert just staring at him because he seems like he's channeling John.

5) When one is traveling and is tempted into buying two new (enormous and hard-bound) atlases from Borders' markdown shelves, one should also take into consideration the considerable weight of said atlases and whether or not this will put one's luggage over the checked-baggage weight limit when returning home. Because, you know, it would totally nullify any savings one had secured if one had to pay an extra $25 to get the frigging bag on the plane. I'm just saying.

6) Ooh, just checked 1964's website and they'll be playing in Tulsa at the end of July and Ft. Worth at the beginning of August. Also they already have their dates for Norman scheduled for January '06 -- three nights in a row! Robert had better be prepared to come up with quite a bit of ticket money.

When the wheels of the plane touched down in Tulsa this evening, it wasn't just my physical body that was returning to earth. At that same moment my mind -- my entire consciousness -- fell out of the Land of Beatles and back into the real world with an audible thud.

Goodbye and God bless, people. I'm out of here. I'll be back Monday.

Dang....I seem to have run everybody off with my little non-posting spell, there. That sucks.

My apologies to those of you who keep checking in for new entries. I have been nigh onto brain-dead for the past week or so. Much staring blankly at the computer screen has taken place and I imagine there is more in store. I'm hoping my trip next week (here, in case you missed it) will recharge my batteries -- at least enough to hold me over until California next month!

Until I snap out of my posting funk, please enjoy this pictorial history of Michael Jackson and his transformation from a normal-looking black guy into a really unattractive white woman (though he's not quite as unattractive as this). Just don't view these pages right before bedtime. Or directly following a meal.

It's Monday, that most hallowed of days when both children are dispatched to preschool for a glorious six full hours. My house is clean (thank you, cleaning lady), my errands have been completed, I just finished a lovely lunch of tomato soup and a grilled cheese, I have two toothsome candy bars awaiting me and a whole crop of shows on TiVo with which to pass the afternoon. So you can imagine my surprise when, as I was innocently putting things away in the refrigerator, I was accosted by a thought so outrageous, so downright blasphemous, that I scarcely dare to give voice to it.

What is the deal with people on Ebay?

I have been watching some DVDs that I want for the kids to take on the plane to California next month. They are all currently in print and readily available at stores all across the country. The reason I was watching them was because I was hoping to get them for a few dollars off what I'd pay in the store. However, in the past day or so, at least two of the DVDs have sold for more than what they would cost at Walmart -- once you figure in shipping, that is.

So what are these people thinking? Do they think shipping somehow "doesn't count" when you are figuring how much you paid for something? Because, correct me if I'm wrong, but if the money is coming out of your pocket then it is, most assuredly, part of the total expense entertained when securing that purchase. One fool paid a total of $14.50 for an Elmo video that I'm finding on Amazon for $9.74. Add shipping and it's still less than the Ebay cost. I also found it, used but in excellent condition, on Amazon's Marketplace for under $7.50 ($10 total). Not to mention that if you went to a store in person you could've also gotten it for around ten bucks, all told.

I try not to expect people to be like me too much. I know everyone is different. I notice everything. I'm all about the details. I remember what I have seen kids' DVDs selling for at the store. And I know that not everyone has a memory for minutiae like I do. But I don't think it's too much to ask that people not automatically assume something is a bargain because they got it on Ebay. I have seen my fair share of sellers trying to soak people there. What they are counting on is for some schmo to come along, all, "Hey, it must be a good deal. It's on Ebay!" And the herd mentality I witness there just astounds me. People see a bunch of other people bidding on something and, lemming-like, they rush to be a part of the contest before stopping to consider whether the item is even worth all the fuss.

I bet Mr. (or Ms.) DVD-seller is laughing all the way to his Paypal account right now.

Okay, so it was only preschool graduation, but, still!

Are you a people-watcher? Do you look at people and wonder what's their story?

I am not a huge people-watcher. Like I know people who like to go to places like fairs and other public events just to watch people. I am not that interested. I don't mean to sound self-centered; it's not that. I think it's a personality thing. The people who have told me they like to do that are "people persons." I am SO not a people person. One of my favorite quotes, which I'm thinking of having stitched on a sampler, is from Albert Einstein and goes, "Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not too sure about the former." A people person looks at any random member of the public and sees the potential of a new friend, or at least an interesting story. I look at the same person and also see potential -- the potential that they will do something really, truly, mind-numbingly stupid or offensive. (Yes, I'm a cynic, but give me a break. I spent 2.5 years working with tourists.)

That said, though, I will admit that, every so often, I get intrigued by someone I see and I would love to know what is his/her story. Or sometimes it's a group of people, or, even more broadly, an entire situation. Take tonight, for example. I tried to go to bed when Robert did but I couldn't sleep. I could tell I was really dehydrated. My tummy felt yucky so I couldn't stomach drinking tap water and my water cooler bottle was empty. So I decided to go to Love's to get some Dasani. There I was, at 12:30 a.m., driving downtown. I passed probably 10 other cars and I couldn't help but wonder what the drivers' stories were. Why were they out at almost 1 in the morning on a weeknight? Some of them were easy to surmise. The guy in the yellow Mustang -- probably a college student. You expect them to be out late. But what about the mini-van I saw? Where were they going or coming from? Was it good or bad that had them out on the streets at this hour? And did the people I saw in Love's make any assumptions about MY story? Did they think I was a person who worked a late shift somewhere? Did they think I was drugged up, or coming from a bar? I don't especially care what they thought, mind you; but I am curious. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks of this stuff.

Eh, forgive me, it's 1:20 a.m. and I'm rambling (of course, I ramble any time of the day so I don't see what difference the exact hour makes). Back to the original question: are you a people-watcher?

Scene: My bedroom. Time: 9:30 a.m.

If Amalah wasn't so damned funny and made me smile every time I read her blog? I would totally take her off my blogroll and never visit again, and all because of this photo: Wah.

Y'all, that is what I'd look like in a bikini RIGHT NOW....and I have not been involved in the gestation process in nearly two full years. Actually, scratch that. I would look way worse than that in a two-piece. Because, the way the stomach area looks? Yeah, my legs and arms and butt match that; perhaps even surpass it. So while Amy is hanging out (no pun intended), firmly entrenched on the Cute side of the bikini issue, I, myself, went screaming across the border into Horrifying a while back. Like, twenty years ago.

She's the Queen of Everything AND she always looks good in a bikini? Life just isn't fair, sometimes.

According to the super-cool countdown clock on Zoot's blog there are just 73 days left until the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

I suppose I could go the boring route, like my mom, and pre-order it online. It would show up in my mailbox the day of release. But, no, I have a hankering to go to a midnight release party. To really do it up properly I would have to go spend the night in Oklahoma City, where they have Borders. I actually have an appointment up there on the 14th but I think I will call tomorrow and find out if there's any way of bumping it to the 15th. Then I could have my appointment, stay over and go to the release party that night.

This would be my first time at such an event, though I've been hearing about them since Book 3 was released. I did go out at midnight to get the last book -- hugely pregnant, I might add, as it was just two days before John-Zachary was born -- but that was only to the local Walmart, which is open 24 hours. There were a lot of other people there buying it but no parties.

Last time it took me I-don't-know-how-many months to finish the book. As I said, it was purchased two days before my workload increased from one child to two, and then number two turned out to be excessively needy so I didn't have a whole lot of free time on my hands at the very start. (Still don't, come to think of it, but I can at least grab a few pages here and there. I'm not saying I'm not in the can when I do it. You do what you've gotta do.)

Anyway, I'm betting, this time, I will put it away in a week or less. Or...maybe not. It is with trepidation that I look forward to the release of this book. I am, naturally, dying to find out what happens next. And yet when this book comes out that means there will only be one more left. I am way too emotionally attached to these people to be ready to let them go. Which is kind of pathetic....but it's me. That's how I am about books that I really, really love. I still mourn for the unwritten sequels of favorites that were published 70 years ago. So it's a big thing for me that, when I finish The Half-Blood Prince, it will mean I'm just that much closer to reading what will allegedly be the final Harry Potter story. And that? I am just not ready to face.