Humpty Dance.

I have been in an eighties and early nineties rap and hip hop kind of mood lately. Lil M' is a fan of the Digital Underground. They were kind of awesome. With my latest music obsession I rediscovered the West Coast All Stars. Their hit was "We are All in the Same Gang," and it had a message, not only the song, but the video as well. If you don't remember them it was a super group who put out one record in 1990. Some of the players were MC Hammer, Tone-Loc, Young MC, Digital Underground, Dre, and Eazy-E. For some reason I was totally into the song when it came out. I remember watching them perform it on Arsenio Hall.
His guest that night was Bill Cosby and they were getting deep talking about gang violence and Cosby told Arsenio that there was so much violence because they were going after each others turf. Arsenio was very polite and tried to convince him that drugs contributed to the violence and it got kind of awkward.
Another part of the show I remembered was the West Coast All-Stars performing their hit. Everyone did their part and if you are not familiar with the song Eazy-E is the last performer to rap. Each performer came out from behind the curtain when it was their turn to rap, Eazy-E comes out does his part the song comes to a close and the lights go dark. At that moment Eazy-E says, "Compton." I always felt like it was a nice touch, I mean we are in the same "gang," but not really.
Today there are a lot less rivals and beefs and it seems, though I do not claim to have my pulse on the hip hop culture, and there are more collaborations for collaboration sake.
I think that is great, though I miss the super star songs. I am a great fan of the USA for Africa, Band Aid, Hear n' Aid, and my favorite United Artists Against Apartheid.
Before I go on about United Artists Against Apartheid let me say that Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas," was re-recorded in 1989 and 2004. The versions are lame, but not nearly as dreadful as the "We Are the World," remake from a couple of years ago. Now that is pile of garbage.
"You got to say I!"
"I!"
"I!"
"I!"
"I, ain't gonna play Sun City!"
Maybe I long for the song with a message.
Little Steven got together with Danny Schechter and producer Arthur Baker (who produced Afrika Bambaataa and New Order) and put together a super group to record a record.
I cannot remember everyone, but there was Little Steven (of course), Bruce Springsteen, Joey Ramone, Miles Davis, Mellie Mel, Lou Reed, Pat Benatar, Run DMC, and Bono.
I think that Bono would have done USA for Africa had they let him. I realize it would had to been called USA for Africa and Bono.
Ok. So the song is kind of bad ass and kind of cheesy, just like the West Coast All Stars.
I heard the Maroon 5 guy and whats-her-face singing the "Moves Like Jagger," and I got a little angry. The song is not terrible, but I just wish that collaborations had something to say, even if they are kind of I have only read the headline and don't really know what I am talking about...
Y'know?

APA

So I thought of this the other day...
Charter College uses APA writing and citation style on their academic writing assignments.
See NOW I can use this as a citation as to how to cite a blog for my reference list for the handout I am providing the staff (if they choose to use it) for their ILAs.

Put on your red shoes and dance the blues...

Happy 2012!
What a year! Half of the year I was pregnant and the other half I was staring at the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. Gawd, I love her. She is the best ever! After 4 months of maternity leave I finally hauled my ass back into work. I was kind of hoping they would "let me go," but they didn't and I got a promotion. I am now the library coordinator, which is a hop, skip, and five classes away from being a bona fide librarian. Music has been taking a back seat with the baby and school, but some of my new year's thingy ma-bob-ers are to finish the record that I have been working on for the last three years, write more of my autobiographical Chuck Klostermany vignettes and get better on the guitar.

The little lady has kind of decided that she does not care that much about breast feeding, so very soon I will be back to my normal physical fitness activity. I find that when I work out too much, she does not care for the taste of my breast milk. TMI? I had a baby and a lot of strangers looked at my lady parts, my prudeness has been cut down a couple of notches. Get over it, it is 2012.

The holidays were a blur and I think that my parents (all 4 of them) are into having a grandchild to spoil. In a few days we set off to see the husband's parents (first plane ride!) and she can continue to be spoiled. His mom invited the entire eastern seaboard to her baby naming, so I imagine she will get some attention.

In writing this post I have decided that another resolution is to take more photographs. Good luck to me.

You know Dasher and Dancer...

I love Christmas. The gift exchange is okay, but I like the traditions that me and the husband are going to create for our daughter. We are going to make Christmas/Hanukkah rad for our little baby. I have decided to collect little trees and so the little lady decorate them anyway she wants. Our buddy S gave us her first decoration so maybe I can have a tree with ornaments that were given to her.
Christmas music has been playing non-stop too! I love the corny ones, religious ones, soulful ones, straight up crappy ones (Christmas Shoes), and even Billy Idol's holiday record.
Last week I started my new job as a library coordinator. One step closer to being a librarian. I only have five classes left! Jeeez! If I start talking about PhD programs, please stop me!

Dancing Queen

I bought these shoes about a week ago. It had been YEARS since I bought me some fancy shoes, they are from Remix Shoes in Los Angeles. They have a website www.remixvintageshoes.com, and let me tell you these handmade babies from Spain are pretty darn comfortable. I consider them my new dancing shoes. Speaking of dancing…

Picking out a playlist for your baby is not something to be taken lightly. Being a music enthusiast only makes it harder. The past two weeks I have been testing out some material during our dance time. Yes, me and little M dance every day.

So far M likes…

Public Enemy Can’t Truss It

Crowded House Weather with You

The Knitters Poor Little Critter on the Road

Stevie Wonder Superstition

Vampire Weekend A-Punk

Eddie Rabbit I Love a Rainy Night

And the best of Squeeze.

Some duds…

Best of Style Council

Bad Company Bad Company

ELO I’m Alive

Maria Muldaur Midnight at the Oasis

The husband thinks she is too young to be listening to the adult contemporary tunes of Crowded House, but when it is time to wind down the dancing they are a good band. I swear!

Rabbit Fur Coat

My lil' daughter has great taste in music so far...I dance with her when she starts her fuss-fuss and so far she likes Squeeze, Crowded House, Jenny Lewis, The Knitters, John Doe, and The Old 97s. Also, Catpower seems to sooth her. Maybe she is getting depressed. I better skip over Nick Drake.
Anywho!
I am still not a fan of breastfeeding, it is getting better and I am sure I will have fond memories of it twenty years from now.
Last week lil' M forgot how to latch. I mean she had been doing it for a month and all of a sudden it was like Memento or something. Four weeks after I got my driver's license I didn't try to start the car from the backseat or put gasoline in the trunk. Yes, she is only four weeks old, but c'mon!
We have also introduced the bottle. She does not mind it and the thought that I don't have to wear her like a necklace is also a lot less stress for me.
When I called around to some lactation consultants to ask a few questions about pumping, bottle introduction, good formulas, etc I was surprised that of the 4 calls I made only one called me back. Since I don't use names I will refer to the one who called back as "Whore."
Whore made me feel so bad about myself right out the gate. And when I asked about having formula around in case I did not have any pumped milk, or for whatever reason (damn, it ain't none of her concern anyway) she made me feel like a HORRIBLE mother and person in general.
Fighting back tears I thanked her (I think she might have caught on that I was upset) and then stayed in bed for the rest of the day. Me and lil' M had actually a great time lounging on the bed and watching programs I had seen a million times (hello, American President). We also watched another Annette Bening joint The Kids Are Alright. I thought it was a pile of garbage, but other people like it.
I don't mean to speak ill of the profession of lactation consultants, but of the handful I have come in contact with really don't do a whole lot of consulting. There is a lot of judging and criticizing but not much else.
I start an internship tomorrow and I am super excited, but I will miss the lil' one. It will be the longest I have been away from her- four hours.

A Year in the Wilderness

I find comfort in John Doe songs. I love X, The Knitters, Auntie Christ, Exene solo and all the other side projects. But something about his solo stuff is a melancholic and a sincere reflection of a mood in which I feel very at home.
I relate to him ( I know, I know) because of his subtle California pride, which comes out in some of his light homage to the Golden State.
This was not what I was going to write about however...
Things that were not told to me about postpartum. I guess I thought you had a baby and that was it. Your body went back to normal and there you go. Uh, no.
I ended up having a C-section, but the pad and underwear you have to wear is necessary and it lasts for more than a day or two.
Contractions can last for awhile because your uterus has to go back and they can also hurt.
Stretch marks hurt and itch like a mutha.
There is apparently a rash that women can get called PUPPS that I have the pleasure of having on my legs, thighs, ass, and arms. It itches something fierce and I cannot take benedryl because I am breastfeeding. PUPPS can take up to 5 months to go away (thanks, Internet) and I am really trying to not go to the doctor. Epsom salts help and so does the magic stuff from Whole Foods.
On that note, the good nipple cream from Whole Foods stains your clothes. It works really well, though.

I love my daughter she is perfect and I would do it all over again for her.

But one and done!