I Love Toys!

So, VH1 finished up their countdown of the 100 greatest toys ever and I have to disagree with many of their choices.
First off, there is no way the slinky should have made top 10, it is the suckiest toy. Really, big deal it walks down stairs. What about the kids who lived in ranch style homes an didn't have stairs? The slinky was boring.
Now, the hula hoop was the number one toy of all time??? Pu-lease, maybe it was the number one toy of 1950 but it isn't even in the same league as Atari or even the freaking skate board. Why the Hell weren't they ranked in the top ten?
Plus, I cannot believe that the Snoopy Snow Cone maker beat crayola crayons. Okay, so here is my list of top 10 toys. It is based on the amount of play I got out of the toy and if my kids also enjoy the toy after 20 years.
1. Crayola Crayons is numero uno.
2. Legos
3. Atari (obviously Playstation and Nintendo are superior but Atari came first)
4. Bicycle (ranks 4 and not higher because you can only play with it half the year)
5. Barbie (I loved decorating her house and picking out pretty clothes for her)
6. Candy Land (I played it when I was little and my kids play it now ~ a great game for toddlers)
7. Baby Alive (I loved my baby and loved feeding her and changing her diapers. My daughter doesn't have a Baby Alive doll but has similar baby dolls she plays with)
8. Fashion Plates (I realize this is one of those toys only a certain type of child would like, but I loved it and my daughter has an updated version with the Winx characters)
9. Star Wars figures (I didn't actually have these figures but my brother did and I loved the movies. I did have Wicket the Ewok and still have him today.)
10. Record Player with microphone (can't remember if it had an actual name but I loved this toy up until my brother used the mic cord to tie me up and force me to break it in order to escape. I really hated him for that. Fortunately, these days I can play with the Karaoke Revolution.)

twenty one jump street

Just a story about 21 Jump Street.
Do any of you remember when Fox was the coolest channel on tv? Sunday nights were the shit, The Simpsons, Married With Children, and of course 21 Jump Street. I was living with Kristen and Magda at Tropical Gardens in Fort Lauderdale. We didn't have a TV but Kristen borrowed one of those tiny little black and white things and we would gather around on Sunday and watch the Fox lineup.

We knew very early on that Johnny Depp was awesome but seriously who could have guessed about the career he would have?

At some point, in the Fall or Winter (must have been cold in Canada because the premise of the show was that everyone but Johnny's and Peter DeLouise's characters were freezing but those two got to go on an assignment in Miami and the others were jealous), anyway....the show put up flyers requesting extras to show up at Woody's on the Beach in Miami and a bunch of us decided to skip classes and go.

My friend Cindy and I drove together and worried that we wouldn't be able to find our friends once we got there because there were sooooo many people (keep in mind, this was pre-cell phone days). So we arrive and walk out to the beach to start the search. Well, the entire beach was full of beautiful bodies dressed in pastel and colorful bikinis and swim trunks and then there was one lone table with a group of obviously "art" students wearing mostly black. Black hair, black pants and shorts, long sleeve shirts and not one swimsuit in the lot was there standing out like a sore thumb. "Uh...I think I see them." "Gee, you think?"

So, we gather at the "art" table and wait for our moment of fame. I don't think the producers were really looking for that type of extra because we didn't exactly get front row seats when the cameras were rolling. We were however standing toward the back of the crowd and as luck would have it is where Johnny Depp was making his entrance from. So, for several takes he had to keep brushing past me to get to the front of the crowd where the female jello wrestlers were (high class). I was next to my friend Frank who kept standing on his tip toes to try and see.

We spent the whole day there and during breaks we were able to get autographs and bug the stars (such groupies!). Cindy took these shots and got a cute one of Peter winking at her playfully, she was so happy. One of our other friends, Dawn (Frank's girlfriend) was standing right next to me and she is petit and had jet black bluntly cut hair and was wearing very goth clothes and as Johnny walked by he totally checked her out. I was so jealous. She looked at me like "did he just do what I think he did or was that my imagination?" He was engaged to Winona Ryder at that time and Dawn had that whole look going on.

The day ended and we anxiously waited to see the episode which didn't air for several weeks. When it did air we taped it of course. We watched and when the scenes came on that we knew we were in, we looked closely for any sign of us. Not one glimpse. We rewound the tape and watched in slow motion and there it was....Frank's nose peeking out over the crowd. It was hilarious and Frank's nose had it's 1 second of fame and I knew I was standing right next to him so I lived vicariously through Frank and his nose.

Question for a Catholic

So, since St. Patrick's Day is on Friday this year and Catholics don't eat meat on Fridays and since a LOT of Irish are also Catholics and they shouldn't eat corned beef this year but how can they make up new rules for an occassion such as this?
In our local paper a family of prominate Irish Catholics are hosting a St. Patty's party on Friday the 17th and they noted on the invitation/ad that all Catholics would be forgiven or absolved or whatever gives them permission to eat corned beef this year during lent. It seems very hypocritical (hmmmm like most religions I suppose).
I liken it to Quantum Physics which I also think is total bullshit. Quantum Physics says that any possibility is happening at anytime on any level across the Universe. It makes a great theory for a SciFi show (or two: Quantum Leap and Sliders). Just make up the rules as you go and change them when it's inconvenient (Calvinball anyone?)