Grocery Store Adventures

Hello, my name’s Megan, and I am a grocery-store singer.

Let me clarify. I don’t schedule performances at grocery stores. I don’t set up a small stage in produce to belt my show tunes. But… I do tend to sing along when there’s a particularly catchy tune (and not always at the half-voice level you sing at sometimes so no one really hears you). The other day, I was cruising the aisles, and the Turtle’s “Happy Together” came on. What a great song! And I hadn’t heard it in a while, so I was really excited! I launched into grocery-store singer mode, not really self-consciously singing, per se, but just aware that people may notice my singing. I was walking and this tall guy who was probably a few years younger than me was coming towards me. When we got closer, I thought, “He’s going to hear me singing now.” As our carts began to cross paths, I realized that he was singing, too!!! That was so awesome. I’m not alone! A minute later, while the same song was on, during the “ba ba-ba-ba ba’s,” a young father with his daughter was singing, too! Aside from the Tiki Room, this is as close as my life has gotten to being a musical, where everyone spontaneously sings the same song and knows all the choreography.

On a completely unrelated note, I tried the whole wheat linguini at Olive Garden and I liked it! I would have to say I still probably prefer the normal pasta, but I was a little afraid I wouldn’t even like the whole wheat option. This is a good thing, I think. I’ve been holding out on switching over to whole wheat options (the Japanese eat white rice and have one of the lowest national levels of obesity!), but… I’m considering it more and more. I’ve been having oatmeal for breakfast every day for the past couple of weeks and I have noticed that I feel fuller when lunch comes around. It sticks with me more than my normal breakfast of garlic sourdough toast, that’s for sure!

Well I think I’ll wrap up there for today… and happy reading! (my blog or whatever else it is you’re reading)

Let's give this a shot

I've been thinking... I kind of want to start a real blog. What am I going to write about? I'm not really sure yet. For now, I'm going to leave this connected to a blog I started back in high school... approximately 2003. This blog is almost as old as my little sister. I'm hoping I'll be able to revitalize it with current events in my life, as well as humorous (in my opinion!) reminiscences.

Today's topic: Wisconsin translation of California-ese.
As of next week, I will have lived in Wisconsin for two-and-a-half years. Prior to that, I lived in California for 23 years and a couple months. Needless to say, my natural dialect is Californian. I list below the main words/phrases that have a different meaning in Wisconsin that I was not expecting:

1. Pop. In California, this is what happens when you blow a balloon bigger than it should be, or when a normal-sized balloon touches something hot/sharp. In Wisconsin, this means "soda." One local restaurant even advertises that their special includes "two cans of pop." This never ceases to make me smile, mostly to myself, because yes, I realize that I am the odd woman out in this situation!

2. Garden. In California, this refers to the flowers in your yard. In Wisconsin, when they say "garden," they mean "vegetable garden" (which is what we'd call it in California). Why not just say vegetable garden? I like to think that Californians are more specific.

3. Barbecue. In California, a barbecue is either the grilling instrument itself (e.g. "We just got a barbecue!") or the event that revolves around said instrument (e.g. "We're going to have a barbecue this weekend"). In Wisconsin, "barbecue" is talking about barbecued food of some type or other (pork or beef is what I have encountered most often). Hence, when you are in Wisconsin, you would say "We are having barbecue for dinner." Also, the actual instrument is just called a "grill." Instead of saying "I'm going to have a barbecue this weekend," in Wisconsin, you would say "I'm going to grill out this weekend."

4. Ski. In California, you go skiing at Mammoth. In Wisconsin, the same activity is referred to as "downhill skiing." This is to differentiate it from another type of skiing that Wisconsin offers, which is "cross-country skiing." In many conversations I've had with WI residents, I would say "my husband is going to go skiing," after which my conversation partner would invariably ask "Downhill?"

5. Drinking Fountain/Water Fountain. In California, when you come to a park or large building/business, and you're thirsty, you would ask someone if there is a drinking fountain. When I had been working at my first Wisconsin job for a few months, a customer came in and asked me if we had a bubbler. I thought to myself, what the heck is a bubbler! I stammered for a minute, trying to figure out how I could tell this crazy customer that no, we do not have one of those imaginary things you are asking about, when thankfully, another employee chimed in and said "It's right around the corner." She then explained to me that in Wisconsin, specifically in the greater-Madison area, they call this a bubbler. It's actually a cultural term they have embraced to the point of printing t-shirts that say "It's called a bubbler!" on it.

I have accepted these words into my new vocabulary, so that I understand them, but I typically refrain from using them myself. People still know what I'm talking about if I say I'd like a soda... right?

I am kind of oblivious. I miss the most obvious things... a lot. Why is that? I think I get too focused on myself and my immediate world to always notice changes in the world around me. I don't do it on purpose... but that just may be the explanation.

I have been married for almost one year. That is so amazingly cool :-) It's nice having a husband, especially one with whom you are very much in love.

I don't have anything very insightful to say. If I think of anything, though, I'll let you know.

WOW it has been quite a long time since I've posted. No one even reads this, so it doesn't really matter. I thought I forgot my password but google automatically logged me in. Not sure if that's weird or cool... I'll go with cool.

Jasper is the best dog EVER! Not to mention the cutest. Adam and I love him, but not as much as we love each other :-)

QUOTE of the day: "I think I have stationary jet lag. I haven't gone anywhere, yet my clock's all messed up." -- Me.

QUOTE of the day: "I have officially stopped caring. I signed the papers and everything." --me. haha. oh that makes me laugh.

Funny things I have heard:

"useful, attractive: same thing" --my cousin Paul

"Dry as a fiddle"--my brother Sean

funny stuff. and btw, the first "quote" was talking about a prom dress... hehehe...

QUOTE of the day: "Alice, let's not reinvent a dead horse." --Dilbert comic

hahahaha

so let me tell you about Pert Plus. Pert Plus is the best thing that happened to my hair. I never expected such great things to come of such a small bottle. The first time I washed my hair I couldn't stand how clean it was. I got out and it felt like it took no time to blow-dry my hair because my hair was so goodness golly clean and smooth already! Man! You gotta get Pert Plus!!!!!!

Ok, now that that's out of my system...

I want to date. I do. But, alas, I have no one to date. Oh tragic day. But enough lamenting. I have homework.

PRODUCT of the day: Pert Plus (obviously) (see above)