"Try one, try two...try all!"

I have finally learned that it is not a good idea to make bets with squirrelly little men named Plato.

The first instance involved guesstimating Dustin Hoffman's age. I stalked that man at MoMA! He doesn't look a day over 65!! But of course I was wrong, and ended up shelling out for ice cream.

Then last weekend, Plato and I were talking before I went to see Quantum of Solace. My Pop and brothers are obsessed with James Bond; because of them I know all sorts of lame trivia about Astin Martin DB5s and Walther PPKs. But I had to be all cocky and think that Goldfinger came before Dr. No! Of course not. So a few days later, Plato and I were off on the hour and forty minute walk to China Buffet("it's a beautiful day!", "we'll burn the calories that we're going to consume!"), and I was the one picking up the tab. Meh.

Now I'm sitting at home, nursing my throbbing foot-blister and helping Wiki make duct tape Moravian stars as thank-you gifts for the professors who wrote her reference letters for grad school.

My Two Favorite Things = Music + Shame

So I just found out that my name in Elvish is "Bellethiel". I just had to tell the world. Thanks for posting that link, Ms. Angry Chicken :)
...

To address the ever-stylish Ambika's question from the last post: No, sadly my power outage was not the result of any wind storm. I say "sadly", because I would very much like to blame nature for my problems rather than my own stupidity. Apparently, after we moved into our apartment there was some, err, confusion as to who needed to pay the electric bill - "Landlady? Roommate? Me? How about....no one!" The bill did not get paid for two and a half months and the power was conveniently shut off on a Thursday night, when I would not be able to get to the electric...place(?) to pay the bill until Monday afternoon. But everything is fine now and I have learned some valuable lessons about communication and shady old landladies.

Moving on....

I spent my powerless Sunday with Wiki and family. We went to the house of her awesome grandma, LaVon(distinguished former Nebraska legislator, hey hey), who offerred Wiki any furniture she needed for her fancy new apartment. Let me tell you - her place was a treasure trove! I think it was Tommy who suggested starting an ebay store called "Grandma's Basement" and auctioning off her amazing stuff. Wiki picked out an ottoman, trundle bed(can you say "slumber party"?) and a hilariously opulent crystal and gold candy dish-thing. But we really hit the jackpot when we found this:

( ^ not exactly like mine, but close enough)

A legit melodica! And Grandma LaVon was nice enough to let me have it! Now Wiki and I are forming a ukelele/melodica ensemble and we plan to perform at open-mic night sometime in the near future. The potential playlist includes "YMCA", "Decatur" by Sufjan Stevens, a cover of a cover of "When You Were Mine" by Prince/Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, "My Humps" by Black-Eyed Peas(oh if only you knew how scandalized I was when that song came out and look at me now!), and last but not least, Daawuud is offering us four dollars to perform Meat Loaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love". This will be great since a) I want four dollars, and b) I have no shame!

I know you people out there have excellent taste in music - give us your suggestions for songs that would make for awesome covers!