By Request! (Amended Version)

Ahhhh, you thought I'd forgotten all about you, didn't you, my dear blogees. Well, I hadn't, I just haven't had a lot of time. But we're back tonight with another request blog.

Tonight, I'm honoring Stennie's request of "lists are always good." This one's been on my agenda for some time, but I couldn't come up with any good lists. So I went to Facebook. Lord knows there are lists galore there, so I picked some out and we'll give it a go.

If I Could Only Have Five Channels, They'd Be These -
1. BBC America. Couldn't do without it.
2. MSNBC. A life without Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and late-night reruns of "Dateline: To Catch a Predator?" I don't think so. (Please let it be a rooster clock episdode!)
3. CBS. Have to have my "Amazing Race." And I'd miss my new love Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory."
4. TCM. An interesting choice, since I don't have it now. It's really the only channel I long for.
5. Sundance. I could probably live without this one, but they do show some interesting indie and foreign stuff, and they have "Spectacle with Elvis Costello."

Five Songs That Remind Me of Something -
1. "Forever and Ever, Amen," Randy Travis. Reminds me of the enduring marriage of my parents.
2. "The Wreck of the Old 97," Traditional. Reminds me of the mid-late 80s when my cousin Jacob and I would go see our favorite cover band, Nervous Romance, at 117 South Main in B'burg. We'd go up to the loft to watch and they'd do this song, and people would stomp so hard we were sure they'd break the loft and we'd all die tumbling to the first floor.
3. "Stand," REM. Reminds me of my friend from England, Tina, coming to visit. We took a trip - a trip? several trips - to see REM, and at a stop at a rest area, she made us teach her the Stand Dance, that dance people did in the video. Other travelers must have thought we were nuts.
4. "Big Balls," AC/DC. Reminds me of a party at my house in the early 80s. I was still living at home, but the folks were gone, and after a high school football game some of my friends and some of my sister and her husband's friends all gathered at our house. One of the few times in my life I've smoked the herbal refreshment. We were passing around a gallon of strawberry cheesecake ice cream and a spoon. At one point, someone mentioned this song, and got a tape of it, and we all piled into my bedroom to listen to it on my stereo. There were about 12 of us on my bed. It broke.
5. "Gospel Plow," the Hackensaw Boys. Just reminds me of the first time I saw them. At Rocktoberfest, where the Sauerkraut Band was also playing. They started up and I'd never heard anything like it in my life. I was hooked from the first song. This is the only song I remember them playing.

Random Things Starting With the Same Letter as My Name -
1. Bibles
2. Beans
3. Bills
4. Birkenstocks
5. Bi-valves

Movies I've Seen So Many Times I Can Recite the Dialogue -
1. "The In-Laws"
2. "That Thing You Do!"
3. "Clueless"
4. "Blazing Saddles"
5. "Stripes"

Alcoholic Drinks That Got Me So Drunk -
1. Beer. First drunk ever. I went out with three other people, two of them my future brother-in-law and his buddy, then both world class beer drinkers. I stayed with them beer for beer. Oh, God. The worst part of it, it was on a trip, so the next day I had to ride home in a car for about six hours while my parents ridiculed me.
2. Vodka and Orange Crush. Hey, I was young. It was there.
3. Beer, Jagermeister, Jagermeister, Jagermeister, Beer, Beer, and Jaegermeister. My first ever gathering with the Sauerkraut Band, a pre-Oktoberfest practice way out in the wilds of Floyd County. I'd never seen so many shots hoisted in my life. And every time my mug got half empty, Jude the Corrupter would fill it full from his larger mug. I should have known what I was getting into, but...
4. Beer, Jagermeister, Jagermeister, Jagermeister, Beer, Beer, and Jaegermeister. And a Glass of Champagne. New Year's Eve, 2003. The Sauerkraut Band New Year's Eve Party, at the home of no less a person than Mr M. Again, the shots were flying fast, the beer was passing around furiously. By the time the champagne came along, well - that was the first year I'd heard that it was good luck if the first words you say after the clock strikes are "rabbit rabbit." I was determined to go outside and shout it, as 2003 had been such a crummy year and I was ready for 2004. I had to have a spotter on each side to get me outside. Weeks later I was at Mr M's and noticed an unsightly sticky spot on his floor, and asked what it was. "It's where someone spilled champagne on my floor, and I couldn't clean it up with a paper towel." I had a moment of clarity. "Me, right?"
5. Martinis. OK, I did realize I only had four on this list, I thought no one would notice. Har de har. Martinis! I'm generally a 2-martini gal. One's not enough, three's too many, two's just right. I know this because one night I got really pissed off about something and drank a third. I fell asleep face first on my keyboard. I got up to drag myself to bed, and when I went to wash my face I had key imprints on it. So there.

There you go, Stenns.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Speaking of Stennie, please remember we need your pledges for the podcastathon, which we'll be doing this Saturday. We're raising money for the American Cancer Society, because we want to kick cancer's ass. You can go to the Hucklebug site to read how to sponsor us. It's easy and will only take a minute!