Z is for Zig Zag

When most people think of Zig Zag, they think of the famous brand of rolling papers.  Rolling papers are used primarily for hand rolling cigarettes, or, for some, other substances.  Interestingly, though, for me, Zig Zags have always served a different purpose.

Strange as it might seem, I've never rolled a cigarette or anything else with Zig Zags.  So why do I know about them?  Well, I first encountered Zig Zags when I was around 10 or 11 years old as an aspiring clarinet and saxophone player.  It is sometimes the case that when playing clarinet or saxophone that a pad will get saturated or will sometimes get a spit bubble underneath it, resulting in a warble sound when playing notes with that pad open.  This type of problem can easily be cured with the use of a Zig Zag rolling paper!  All you have to do is place the rolling paper between the hole and the pad, close the pad gently, and pull the paper out from between the hole and pad, thereby eliminating any spit bubble or excess moisture.

Of course, not everyone know of this usage of Zig Zag rolling papers.  As a result, I got a lot of good-natured ribbing as a teenager from folks who saw the pack of rolling papers in my clarinet and saxophone cases, especially from adults in our local community band.  If I was being sarcastic, I'd say most of the uninformed were brass players lol j/k.

I did encounter Zig Zags one time outside of playing clarinet and saxophone.  After attending a Black Crowes concert at UC Davis as an undergrad, I was chagrined to discover I had forgotten to hit the ATM for some cash for a souvenir shirt.  Fortunately I had $3 in my pocket and that was enough to buy a pack of Black Crowes branded Zig Zags (fitting, right?)  Let the good times roll...

Y is for Yuengling

A couple of years ago I found myself in Philadelphia, PA, while touring the east coast with California Repercussions, one of the bands I play with regularly.  We had a couple of hours to kill sight seeing after our gig at Independence Hall.  On the advice of some locals we consulted, we wandered our way down to Jim's for authentic Philly cheesesteak sandwiches.

Summer had just started, and as you can probably imagine, it was quite warm.  By the time we finished walking to Jim's, I was very much dying of thirst.  My fellow Reapers advised me that some Yuengling would be great to quench my thirst and wash down my sandwich.  The line was pretty long, so based on that recommendation I got two Yuenglings.  Best decision ever :-D

I later found out Yuengling is the oldest brewery in America, with its headquarters in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, about 97 miles from where we were in Philadelphia.  So, it was only fitting to seek out some Yuengling for liquid refreshment while in Philly.  It certainly did the trick that hot summer day.  I think we ended up having some Yuengling later on in the week as the tour made its way to Washington D.C.  Certainly Yuengling is a great east coast choice with historical significance to boot.  Cheers!

X is for X Marks the Spot

I decided for this blog that instead of talking about the usual X words (X-ray, xylophone, etc.), that I'd instead go with a phrase instead of a word and approach the topic from an off-kilter retro angle.  I know that X marks the spot is usually a phrase about treasure and pirates and such.  In this case, though, I'm going to write about something from old school Sesame Street.

In the days of Sesame Street prior to Elmo, back when Mr. Hooper was still alive and Mr. Snuffleupagus was still invisible, almost all of the skits or animations in a given episode were tied to a specific letter or number.  In the case of X, there was this mysterious, kind of creepy sounding (to a little kid) song called X Marks The Spot.  This song went over all of the common uses of the letter X (marking the spot, standing for danger, railroad crossing signs, poison warnings), described the letter (2 straight lines crossing over in the middle), all via a song by a muppet on a set showing all of these things.  

Reflecting back, it was actually a decent educational song about the letter X.  It did mention the word xylophone as an afterthought at the end of the song, but it was less kitchy than, say, a song entirely about xylophones or x-rays or what have you.  Frankly, this song kind of cemented my opinion as a kid that the letter X was really cool, and to this day I still like the letter X.

And now that I've written this blog entry, hopefully the earworm of the aforementioned song will eXit (pun intended) my head and leave my thoughts clear for the next couple of days/letters.

W is for Wrestling

This blog post is not about Olympic or Greco-Roman Wrestling.  Rather, it's about that physical soap opera, the stories of larger than life heroes and villains brought to life, ultimately to settle their differences once and for all in the squared circle.  Yes, this blog post is about professional wrestling.

My initial exposure to professional wrestling as a kid was actually via Saturday morning cartoons.  Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling debuted in the Saturday morning lineup, and (to a kid) was pretty good.  I wanted to know what this was all about and where these characters came from.

The Rock and Wrestling cartoon led me to what was then WWF's one hour program late Saturday morning.  Here I saw all the professional wrestlers upon whom the cartoon was based, such as Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper, among others.  From there, I discovered other professional wrestling leagues with TV shows, namely AWA and the lesser known UWF.  I eventually discovered NWA, where I witnessed Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen for the first time.

My mom used to watch the shows with me.  I later found out that her grandma used to watch professional wrestling too, so apparently it's in the blood.  For the record, my mom's grandma's favorite wrestler was a guy by the name of Wild Red Raspberry.  Go figure.  Anyways, we had a good time watching the shows, especially WWF Primetime (which eventually became Monday Night Raw), and it was always interesting to see where story lines were going to go or what would happen next.  It was also a rare time for me to occasionally stay up late to watch WWF's Saturday Night Main Event, which routinely showed bigger matches than what was on during the day, especially title bouts, steel cage matches, etc.

I stopped watching wrestling for a long time after I graduated high school.  So, I missed the whole "Attitude Era", the Monday Night wars between WWF and WCW, and all that.  But, I did catch the tail end of ECW, and have been watching WWE and Impact Wrestling (formerly TNA).  

One of my favorite things about the advent of social media has been the connection into professional wrestling.  Via twitter, you can see more of the person behind the character, and sometimes can interact with them.  To me it makes me respect more what these wrestlers do as a profession, and just how hard they work in striving for the goal to put on shows and entertain fans.

My fiancee and I went to our first house show last year (Impact Wrestling in San Francisco), which was fabulous, with tons of interaction with the wrestlers, and we would totally go again if they come back to the bay area.  A WWE house show or PPV would be a nice bucket list item, but we already know that the seats would probably suck and the chances of interaction are a lot less (or at least a lot more pricey).

Yes, I know the action is scripted, but that's not the point.  As was painfully obvious watching the Tough Enough reality show, professional wrestling takes a LOT of physical and mental skill and agility to be able to do  the needful.  It's something I'm not able to do, and as such, I respect all practitioners of the craft.

Oh yeah, my favorite wrestlers as of today?  For WWE I like CM Punk, Sheamus and Beth Phoenix.  For Impact Wrestling I like Jeff Hardy, Velvet Sky, Angelina Love and Winter.  I also wish I had found Impact Wrestling earlier, because I didn't see much of Daffney before her time was cut short with injuries.

V is for Volcanoes

I've been fascinated by volcanoes pretty much my entire life.  At their core, volcanoes are a reminder of just how active and violent our planet can be.  Their eruptions are both beautiful and terrifying at the same time.  They can form new islands in the ocean and can also destroy everything in their nearby radius.

My interest in volcanoes started when I discovered the portion of the non-fiction section of the school library with books on various kinds of natural disasters and events.  I read everything the library had on tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and storms.  My favorites, and the ones that I ended up checking out again and again were the ones on volcanoes.  I also watched PBS specials on volcanoes on TV when I could, and was fascinated by footage of volcano eruptions.

As a young man, one of my favorite camping destinations with my family was Lassen Volcanic National Park.  I very much enjoyed hiking to the top of the Cinder Cone and Mt. Lassen, both dormant volcanoes.  Other hikes, such as the Bumpass Hell trail, offered views of bubbling mud pits, steam vents, and similar, allowing one to see (on smaller scale) related geological action.

I have been to Hawaii a couple of times as an adult, but have not yet managed to go tour the active lava flows; I would like to go back to do that someday.  I have enjoyed visits to other areas of volcanic in the northernmost part of California and Oregon.  Crater Lake in Oregon, for example, is actually contained within what was once a massive volcano that collapsed a long, long time ago.  I'm always interested to visit sites of volcanic activity and marvel at the awesome potential of our earth.  What can I say; I'm a fan!

U is for Up

Up in the most commonly used sense is a direction.  It's the direction I'd prefer my bank account balance to be going at all times (don't I wish).  My most memorable use of the word up is for the movie.

Up was a date night movie that I saw with the woman who would become my fiancee.  This was very soon after meeting in person, and we were just getting to know each other.  It seems fitting to me now that this movie, which has a recurring theme of forever love, was something that my fiancee and I got to experience and witness so early on.

I don't particularly want to describe the plot and information about the movie in great detail; if you would really like the details you can check it out on imdb.com.  It suffices to mention that it's one of a series of truly excellent Pixar animated films.  The story as a whole has as much substance and is as engaging as the prowess of the computer animation techniques used as its medium.  And at least for me, I'll always remember it as one of the first dates I had with the woman with whom I plan to spend the rest of my life.

That made a better U post than my initial Umbrella idea, eh?

T is for Thin Mints

Thin Mints, also known as cookies laced with the equivalent of crack cocaine, are my favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie.  To be sure, I do like some of the other Girl Scout cookies, such as the coconut/caramel Samoas and the peanut butter and chocolatey Tagalongs.  If I was only allowed to get one box, though, it would be Thin Mints.

There's something to be said about a simple cookie, part dark chocolate, part mint that is a can't miss combination.  In the candy market, York Peppermint Patties and Junior Mints utilize the same combination with great success.  Thin Mints go one step further, though by being highly dunkable in milk, which allows for a nice balance to the bite and sweetness of the mint against the dark chocolate.

I've also heard (though I haven't done this myself yet) that Thin Mints freeze well, so you can get your Girl Scout cookie fix later on in the year, long after the swarms of elementary school aged girls grace the entrances to grocery stores and supermarkets.  To my way of thinking, that just seems like you're not eating your Thin Mints fast enough. :-D  Though I suppose to someone who likes Girl Scout cookies as much as I like Cadbury Creme Eggs (and mourns their loss after their season passes just as much), perhaps stocking up and freezing a supply isn't that bad of an idea.

All I know is, when it starts getting to fall/winter time, it's time to be on the lookout for Girl Scout cookie pushers.  The Thin Mints are delicious, are pretty inexpensive still, and support a great organization.  Box of Thin Mints, please.