3 Things I Did This Week

1. Had a 10 minute long conversation about earthquakes with a stranger
Our friends Kevin and Annemarie decided to up and move to Shanghai. I'm not sure I'd ever want to live in a wildly polluted city, in a communist country, where they only recently outlawed public urination. But, hey, whatever floats your boat. I was worried that they wouldn't be able to watch TV there, but Annemarie assures me there are like 60 English speaking channels.

At their going away party at Cat & Fiddle, I met one of Kevin's friends and we ended up sitting across from one another at the table. Everyone else was engrossed in conversation, in little groups of 3 or 4, but I'd just come back from a trip to the bathroom to find myself the odd man out. So I started talking with this guy and we ended up on the topic of earthquakes, which turned into discussing the best strategy to not die, which turned into the discussion of how to survive while trapped. And at one point it was so morbid, terrifying and awkward, we just silenced ourselves and when he looked down to check his iPhone, I took the opportunity to escape and stand somewhere else in the bar.

2. Watched no less than 4 episodes of Operation Repo.
Have you seen this show yet? It's on TruTV like every single night. Basically the same thing happens 3 times per episode. We start with the scary repo crew on their way to tow a car because its deadbeat owner failed to make payments. And then they spot the car parked on the street, hook up the tow truck, and just as they're about to pull away, a crazy person starts running at them screaming, "What are you doing to my car!? I paid my bills! I paid my bills!" And then a really wussy fight ensues and the repo crew busts out the pepper spray. It's fantastic.

3. Actively sought out Radio Disney
The other day I was driving to the gym, pressing madly at all of my radio pre-set stations, and finding nothing I could stand listening to. In recent months, Los Angeles seems to be purging any decent radio station from its airwaves. First, 98.7, which I used to get my fix of Top 40 pop, switched formats to poser alternative, boasting the slogan, "Are you a rockaholic?" Sure I am, just as much as the next gal. But I'm not jonesing for another hit of Collective Soul or Everclear.

The next station to kick the bucket was Indie 103, which played a mix of hipster rock and bizarre, not-so-melodic music I had never heard of and didn't like, though I could appreciate what the artists were going for. One day I tried to listen to Indie 103 and instead of being greeted with the Tings Tings, I was confronted with ranchero music. Certain that there must be some weird programming mistake, I tried Indie 103 again the following day. Again, ranchero. Now, while I strongly dislike ranchero music, I understand that some people like it. And in this culturally diverse city, I should expect some radio stations to cater to the ranchero audience. However, there must be at least a dozen ranchero stations and ZERO other indie rock stations so I don't see why they couldn't just keep Indie 103 around.

As if all of this format flopping wasn't bad enough, even 97.1 switched from talk radio to top 40. This means NO MORE ADAM COROLLA AND OH MY GOD I COULD JUST DIE!

So anyway, back to the other day...I'm driving around and can't find good music. And my mind wanders and I think, "Hey, lots of kids like The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana..." And then I think, maybe I should find Radio Disney on AM radio. Why not? Nothing else to listen to. And then in a moment of astounding serendipity, I pass a billboard for Radio Disney telling me the frequency is 1110 AM. Ha!

I immediately switch over, but instead of hearing the Jonas Brothers, I hear Alvin and The Chipmunks singing a cover of Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music." But in their version, they've replaced "white boy" with "chipmunks."

Play that funky music, chipmunks. Play that funky music, right.

And I listened to the whole thing.