Angie’s Drama

Saturday evening, after work, we met up with Elwood and some friends at Kelleher’s. We stayed for about an hour and a half as the place was filling up and we felt bad taking up a big table. We decided to run into Sullivan’s. I never park in the church parking lot, but I did, knowing we weren’t going to be there long. We caught up with everyone we hadn’t seen since F.Scott’s closed-Rob even got his last paycheck which was a pleasant surprise since when we got to the car there was a fifteen dollar parking ticket for parking in a private lot, courtesy of the City of Peoria. My only issue is that the city issued me a parking ticket for parking in a private lot. When someone parks illegally at my office, it’s our responsibility to handle the situation. How does the church get the city to issue tickets? I’ll pay the ticket tomorrow and probably won’t think about it ever again but OMG I was fuming Saturday night. The thirteen year streak of not having a parking ticket has been broke. Good thing Rob got that paycheck, right?

So this guy is counting to a million. He’s a friend of a friend and he’s raising money for a charity as well as trying to get in the record books. He’s been on CNN and radio stations across the country. No thankyou. I’m not a big fan of counting sheep and 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall bores me to tears.

**For anyone that’s interested in going on the annual Peoria Jaycees camping and canoing trip this year, there’s an ‘informational meeting’ which happens to be right around happy hour this Friday at Mulligans-on the deck. Gordo’s in charge, so just ask for him.

**The Boys are Back! Elwood is playing this Saturday night at Kelleher’s from 9pm-1am. Rob and I have a previous committment until 8pm but, we should be there right around 9pm.

As we all know, I’m not an interstate driving kind of girl. I’m all about driving in town and taking all the shortcuts. I really think when certain people hit the interstate, they loose all sense of rational judgement and sanity. I’d rather react to crazies a) in the city where there are usually witnesses and b) when the average vehicle isn’t going 75 mph. So, that being said, here’s what happened yesterday: (FYI-Rob was on the phone with me most of the time so he can verify the fact that I hung up on him three different times. Nice way to freak out the hubby-but-no one can say I’m a distracted driver thankyouverymuch.)

We were leaving one gas station at University and Pioneer Pkwy and heading to another gas station in East Peoria at Main and Camp. Had to be set up in an hour. We decided to take 474-to 74 to the Main St exit. I was following Joey and right at Allen, a couple semi’s pulled in front of me-just enough to block the exit signs for me-but okay-I’ll deal with that. We turned onto 474 and almost immediately cars were swerving as one of the trucks that had snuck in front of me lost a load of giant rubber thingies that were lying exactly horizontal in my lane. So-my stomach jumped into my throat as I was thinking about what might have been when we got to the Galesburg exit and people started swerving and slamming on their brakes. A duck was leading her little duck-a-dees or whatever across 474. The a-hole that was tailgating the car next to me was the one that took them out. I really did have tears welling up. Rat bastard. So, somehow, after that we got onto 74 where it starts to rain-right after Rob had just told me that the radar was crystal clear. Yeah…Finally, we’re crossing the bridge and of course, there’s the lane closed arrow. And it’s moving. The truck in that lane apparently didn’t want to believe it since he nearly side swiped Joey when the lane did end. So, somehow, someway, we made it to our destination with only the poor duck and duck-a-dees the only ones seriously damaged by the crazies and the rat bastard.

* The Big Jamaican Weddin’ Reception went very smoothly and I’m sure Jim and Colleen were pleased. Michael and I really had no business trying to sing/rap ‘Baby Got Back’ but hey, isn’t that what a reception’s all about?
* I’ll be happy when all the gravel from the re-surfacing is embedded and not flying up onto my car-even though I’m going less than 15 mph. Oh-and I’d especially like to thank the genius that decided to peel out in front of our house. There’s a nice big chunk of street that’s been sprayed away. Bet your parents are proud of YOU!
* So, it goes to show that I usually avoid University between Forrest Hill and War at all cost. I take all the Sheridan or Forrest Hill short cuts to get anywhere. Monday I was driving and couldn’t believe that a) there’s a Burger King where Wendy’s was… b) I’d heard nothing about it and c) there were like a hundred people in the parking lot/drive-thru. Thank goodness I had Kriss on the phone to give me the scoop. That girl knows ALL.
* It’s Kriss’s birthday Wednesday! Happy Birthday!

So, I’m thinking that the final Sopranos episode leaves room for a movie? The repeated shots of the truck driver, the random Member’s Only jacket dude and the single shot Meadow running into Halston’s and the shot of the two black guys obvioulsy leaves it open. When the screen went black, Rob and I were both looking at remotes and wondering wtf? “Did a dog hit a button on the remote?” “The cable bill is paid right?” OMG that’s the ending? Since the hbo message board servers were over-loaded, we went to the ar15.com board. If you saw last week’s episode you saw Tony with the DPMS PANTHER LRT-SASS rifle in the last scene as he was going to sleep. Obviously I’m linking because it’s a customer of Rob’s BUT a friend of Team Walker. This week, the episode opened with him waking up and grabbing the gun. What a great placement for our friend and their gun?
As for my opinion-this series was ground-breaking and was able to show the acting chops of James Gandolfini and Edie Falco as well as the entire cast. The last few episodes of Tony Sirico playing Paulie was genius! Who would think that a former felon like Sirico could play a role so influenced with conflict and anxiety. And Uncle Jun being rattled with Alzheimer’s made Rob and I sooooo thankful that none of our grandparent’s had to endure the dreaded disease. It’s with great sorrow that we put to bed The Soprano’s, but it’s also with great hope that the story may one day be revealed.

Really and seriously, I love Bon Jovi. I own everything they’ve ever put out. The eighth question on the “How Well Do You Know Angie” quiz at my 30th birthday was, “Which singer is Angie in love with?” According to half the people there it was Jimmy Buffett which is just wrong because although I love his music and writing-let’s face it-Jimmy’s climbing on up there in age and have you ever seen his pictures from the 70’s? Nope.
The other half answered Jon Bon Jovi. Loved him on American Idol and I have to say Blake did a great job on a song that die-hards don’t want changed.
So…imagine my complete giddiness when I learned that Bon Jovi Unplugged airs on Tuesday!! And, there new album comes out on June 19th-the same day they’re playing on The Today Show. Oh…and about Richie going into rehab, good luck dude!

I read this on Sunday and completely forgot to tell Rob. For awhile, we were going to Hammer’s every Sunday for the Bloody Mary Competition and each week, we’d make another comment about the barricades being up. Rob’s final to all our questioning was, “IDOT had to get some barricades out of storage to make room for =>insert random piece of machinery name and some dude decided right here would be a perfect place for them!

Recently, there’s been some constuction in my neigborhood. I think IL American Water is doing something since I’ve seen their plenty of their trucks around. I was driving down Linn yesterday and noticed an orange cone covering a sizeable hole that I needed to maneuver around. Further down the road at an intersection, I noticed another cone covering a sizeable hole. Nearing my house I counted a few more cones. I turned onto my street and THUD!!!! Ummm… sizeable hole and no cone. Are you kidding me?

Saturday is Jim and Colleen’s reception for the big Jamaican weddin’. Sounds like Troy is making a margarita fountain which could prove highly dangerous for those that enjoy ‘ritas. We’re going over to help out with some last minute details tonight. We’re picking out some of the pre-karoke music. Holy shit. I completely forgot that I have to give a speech. Wow. No pressure. But, since this is a relaxed reception, I may try to get some people to head down to see the Boat Drunks on the Riverfront. Of course, it’s completely up to Colleen since it’s her big day, but the Boat Drunks would be a perfect end to the reception.