Monday, February 8, 2010

The Winner and Other Tales

I have several items of importance:

1.) I had Katie do the drawing for the Mr. T bookmark (drawn out of my Dodger ice cream batting helmet cup) and the winner is the beautiful and talented COLLEEN!!!!! Fun Fact: Colleen had a Nightmare Before Christmas topper on her wedding cake. And that is just one of the many things to love about her.
2.) Have any of you ever heard the Irish folk song Molly Malone? Yeah, me neither. But it came up as one of the randomly selected songs on a karaoke game we were playing at Katie's Karaoke Birthday Spectacular on Saturday. None of us knew it but it ended up winning the prize for Funniest Moment of the Night because it's about a fishmonger named Molly Malone who sells cockles and mussels along the narrow streets and then dies and her ghost takes up the job. We were already in a pretty jovial mood but when the word fishmonger showed up in the lyrics we lost it. I haven't laughed that hard for that long in ages and my abs are suffering from it today. But here's the funny twist to the story (mostly for those who were there) we were telling my parents about the song, and how I laughed so hard I went into the grandpa wheeze, and my dad started singing it. He knew the whole thing! He learned it in elementary school, where he also learned the Pinata Song, which is a huge family favorite. Clearly Ernie Pyle Elementary in Bellflower, CA knows where it's at, music-wise.
3.) I was having trouble connect my computer to the wireless internet and after spending 27 years on the phone with tech support in India the problem wasn't solved so I took it to the Geek Squad. The guy helping turned on my computer and saw this picture as my wallpaper:
He gasped. Those are the Blessed Nephews meeting Tigger for the first time. It was absolutely the cutest thing ever. But he wasn't gasping over the cuteness. He was gasping over Tigger. Disney Freak Alert!!!!!!! He spent the next 15 minutes talking about Disneyland. I was in heaven. You know how much I love people like this. People who are freakishly passionate about things. My strategy when I meet these good folks is to just smile and nod and occasionally give an encouraging word to get them to talk as much as possible because I know that I'll strike gold. This guy did not disappoint. He first guessed (correctly, I might add) exactly where in the park the picture was taken. Then he told me all about the remodeling they're doing at California Adventure. Then I heard all about his best friend's recent trip to Disney World. Then, and this is when I knew it was a miracle that my computer was on the fritz, he told me about the Chewbacca backpack he wears when he goes. And the Yoda and Han Solo backpacks he made for his friends! Jackpot! If the counter hadn't been in the way I would have given him a hug and possibly proposed marriage. I went in fearing the worst (I always fear the worst when technology is involved. I blame robots.) and left with a fixed computer and a great story.

9 comments:

Lish said...

Rachel I love your stories! You make me laugh so hard! And is it bad that I would want a Yoda or Han Solo backpack?

Tammy said...

Wow, I wish I could of been there when your dad started singing the words to molly malone, because that really was the funniest moment of the night, and there was a lot of them! I too cannot remember when my abs had that great of a workout.

rachelsaysso said...

Tammy, are you coming on Friday? Because perhaps we could convince him to sing it.

Rach said...

Your dad really is a fountain of knowledge, and I can't say I'm all that surprised that he knew some obscure Irish song. And fishmonger makes me giggle, too.

I'm going to win a drawing one of these days. I just know it.

I want to see what his chewbacca backpack looks like. I hope it's furry.

Stephanie said...

Yea to Colleen!

I only know Molly Malone because of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - but I've only ever read the lyrics. I can imagine your Dad singing them, though.

I love your Geek Squad guy. I love geeks, though. They're my favorite.

Liz the Poet said...

Prepare your Dad to be asked to sing!! (I'm really curious as to how close we came to the actual melody.)

And, by the way, I have found myself singing "cockles and mussels, Alive, Alive-O" over and over again since that night.

It's starting to drive me crazy...

And, I've also been thinking about the passion Molly must have had about being a fishmonger to be willing to push her wheelbarrel of fish in the afterlife.

For me, I don't plan on working in any profession except the hanging-out-with-cool-dead-people job.

Heather said...

1- Yay Colleen! Congrats!
2- I laughed out loud at my desk, that's how funny it was. And then I read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Malone My favorite part: "...which has become the unofficial anthem of Dublin City." ...And the borderline pornographic statue.
3- Geek squad. I think I need to go pay them a visit--maybe we can go to Disneyland together, and he'll make me a backpack.

The Katzbox said...

Congrats to Colleen.

Your geek squad guys fixes computers AND sews? Is he married? Does he have brothers?

What possessed (pardon the pun) someone to write a song about a ghost that sells fish?

Great post...as always...

:)

colleeeen said...

gasp... sputter... I won something? ohmygosh. It will totally NOT be sold in the Humongous Garage Sale.

Rachel, can you believe that people exist who thought my cake topper was distasteful?