Death of an icon, and a new icon reborn...

At 12:24 PST, there was a little rumbler, just before I started this entry.

In a world where Avril Lavigne is considered punk, the rock world grows a little colder with the death of Joe Strummer.

I wasn't the biggest Clash fan in the world, but I do remember that when I was twelve the song "London Calling" made my heart race with the thought of Anarchy...And that is sadly something that is in very short supply for the twelve year olds of this day. There is a great big world beyond what is spoon-fed you on MTV, kids. Don't be satisfied until you can grab yourself a big piece of it.

In Other News: One of my favorite bloggers, Tangerine Girl, has returned from a long hiatus. This is someone who inspired me when I was first learning about computers and the Internet. One of those people that I looked at and said, "Damn, I wish I could do that!"

Happy Days Are Here Again…

This just in: I have gotten a job at Whole Foods Market, where I will be making a much higher hourly wage than I have ever made. The employment gods have smiled upon me! I even have a week or two to relax before I actually start working there. If that doesn't rock, I don't know what does!

My Eighth Time

[music|The music in my head(sigh.)]

Monday, Dec. 16
The Place: The Warfield Theater, San Francisco
The Event: Counting Crows & Toad the Wet Sprocket

“Such a rainy night,” I thought, “This is a night for pilgrims only.” Down by where I live, there were power outages due to the stormy weather. I grabbed an umbrella, put on my heavy Eddie Bauer jacket, donned a wide brimmed hat, and headed out. I needn’t have worried, when I came up the stairs from the BART station on Fifth I was pleased to note that while the ground was wet, the sky was clear.

As I walked up to the venue, I heard the strains of Toad the Wet Sprocket music coming out of the building (I was ten minutes late.) I saw a large group of people standing outside, but the doors were open and no one seemed to be going in. I approached the guy at the door. “You can just go in if you got a ticket.”

I fall back into the group of people to fish the ticket out of the pocket of the Eddie Bauer, and who do I see walking past but Matt Malley, Counting Crows bass player extraordinaire!

Knowing him to be “the Spiritual One” of the group, I had a greeting all planned for just such an occasion. Placing palms together, feet firmly planted in a yogic mountain pose, I bowed towards him and intoned “Namaste!” I think I may have jumped out at him a little.

First he asked me if I was spiritual, and if I meditated, to which I answered yes, and a little bit. Then he was going to offer me a ticket—no need, I already had one. I happily shook his hand and wished him a good show. That makes two times now I have had a 30 second meeting with a member of the Crows. I know some people are lucky enough to talk to them for a long time, but I’m so scared I’m going to act like a dork all I can manage is 30 seconds.

So I go in, very stoked, Toad the Wet Sprocket rippin’ it up by this time. Got my seat up in the lodges, which was actually a very nice place. There is a beautiful fresco on the ceiling and lovely architecture. The people next to me complained about their seats and left and two girls jumped on them, and we bonded over what good seats they really were, they seemed like fun people. In a shameless ploy to expand my readership I gave one of them the URL for this journal. Hey, if you’re reading this, drop a line my way, send a message and tell me what you think.

So, Toad (I feel like a person that was into them would shorten the name to Toad.) rounds off their set nicely by playing their two hits which I don’t know the name of but I will call them, “Walk on the Ocean” and “All I Want” Those are the songs that get played on the radio.

So the lights went out and Counting Crows take the stage. Lights slowly come up and they start with a very Byrdsy-sounding rendition of the old Scott Mackensie tune, “If You’re Going to San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)”

Then: Hard Candy
Mr. Jones
Goodnight Elizabeth—a VERY good version with lots of audience sing along parts and a smokin’ guitar jam with Dan, Immy, and Dave all riffing up a storm. Adam added some parts (“I know you think its alright, It is not alright with me, etc”)
Richard Manuel is Dead—Adam sang up close with Dan in his face and then he shoved him away. I love those little comedic parts.

Adam was not talking very much. He came to the front of the stage and started mumbling incoherently at the people in front, then shouted, “Just be quiet!” at them. Then they did Omaha with more audience singing. Then he talked about the people at Project Open Hand and how cool they were. Then Immy said something about one of them being his friends mom, but he said it in a mocking, falsetto voice, so Adam said, “You’re such a dick!” Then he said something else that I can’t remember, and ended by saying, “We’ve established what a dick you are, this is a song about what a dick I am.”

American Girls—again, not my favorite song, but I got over myself and got into it.
Rain King—Oh Susanna part in the middle and lots of audience singing.
A Long December
Big Yellow Taxi
New Frontier
Good Time—I could swear Adam was looking at me here.
Miami—During the middle, Adam went back and lay down under the piano with a towel over his head. I pointed this out to my new buddies, and I swear when he got up he jumped up like he was gonna jump at me.
Round Here—another song in the middle of a song here—something about “That was the river, this is the sea.” If anyone knows what song that is, clue me in if you would.
Then they left.

Encore #1

Time and Time Again
Hanging Around
Then they left again.

Encore #2
This time only Adam and Immy came back and Adam said, “We’ve lost our band! Dave, Dan, and Charlie went off to Vegas, and Matt and Ben think they’re the rhythm section for the Dixie Chicks!” Then they did Blues Run the Game.Then it was almost over. Adam was trying to talk, but losing his voice. The rest of the band returned for Holiday in Spain, and it was over.

The lights came up, and they filed out as silently as they had filed in, Charlie and Ben wistfully trailing behind, then only Ben. I was screaming and gesticulating wildly, and I actually managed to get Ben’s attention from as far away as I was. He acknowledged me by making the same hand gestures (rock-n-roll horns salute). Then I turned it into a Princess Di wave, and plaintively said, “Bye, Ben!” He smiled and nodded. This is Ben’s last week with the band, he will be moving back to Athens, Georgia, where he is from.

My thoughts overall: It would have been SO cool if I could have gotten up front—this was one of their BETTER shows. Although I would not have been able to chill out and take notes for this review—I’ve tried it that way, it doesn’t work for me. And apparently, Adam, my sweetie and the love of my life, was a little under the weather—and they still played an almost two hour show, and at no time did he hit a bum note. That’s professionalism.

Whatever...

So, the night before last was the Counting Crows on Jay Leno. My thoughts: Once again a fine performance of BYT. I notice Charlie is chewing a lot of gum these days--I think somebody quit smoking. Adam got to go to THE COUCH and was quite humorous. I felt like a teenager waiting for the Beatles to come on the Ed Sullivan Show.

In Other News: Yesterday I had a very enjoyable job interview, where I think I killed. If I get this, I feel like this could be the job where I finally make the transition from being a retail prole to something where I can actually use the skills I've been training for. I don't wanna say any more about it till I find out next week.

The Osbournes

Ok, so the season opener has been watched. First impressions? Jack and Kelly have issues they need to work out. Ozzy is still simply the man. It was weird how Sharon seemed to have a precognition about her upcoming troubles. She may be the only lucid one in the family. So crazy, all of them, but you gotta love them.

I was reading Adam Duritz' Blog (yes, he has one too!) while I was watching, and oddly enough Jack Osbourne had a great idea.

He called his house and said "Tell them to turn on the sprinklers, there's a bunch of people in front of the house."

That might solve Adam's "people waiting to pounce on you in a hotel lobby without any regard for your feelings or what kind of day you've had, etc" problem. Of course, how many hotel lobbies have sprinklers, I don't know, but you could get people with super-soakers to help you out. Seems like that would be practical.

Watching: My new family, The Osbournes!

WooHoo YourSELF! And Who is YO Daddy?!

[music|TV: AbFab, and Carrie Fisher interviewing Jude Law on Oxygen]

Love Calculator results:

Hermgirl + David Immergluck: 96 %

Dr. Love thinks that a relationship between Hermgirl and David Immergluck has a very good chance of being successful, but this doesn't mean that you don't have to work on the relationship. Remember that every relationship needs spending time together, talking with each other etc.

Love Calculator Info

The Crows on the View

So, this past week Counting Crows were on the View, let me ReView for your edification.

Overall, it was a well turned out segment. The set design was attractive. They began by chatting with Adam, and for once, Meredith was not irritating. I had worried about this, as heretofore I considered her an odious bitch, and had been thinking that she had better mind her ps & qs or I would send her a nasty email or something. I need not have worried, however, and have even decided to rescind my former attitude and officially Cut the Woman Some Slack.

There had been some fitness expert doctor on before their set, and Adam joked, "Doctor Lamb looked kind of fat to me!" This made me wonder if the doctor had bugged any of the slightly portly members of the group. Those of us who are advocates of the Fat Band really couldn't give a rip what some fitness guy says.

They played their cover of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi", a fine performance. I really dug the way Immy leaned up against Adam the way he did. Immy is such a "Right-hand-man" type of guy, or in his case, Immy is Adam's Left-Hand-Man.

This reminds me of how I totally dorked out when buying my Warfield show ticket. I did not get up early enough to get a ticket to the front of the stage area, where I could chill out "Immerside", as us CC fans like to call it. I love that word; I stole it from someone on a message board, whoever invented that word, you rock! David Immergluck, wearer of bindies & eye makeup, lover of Uriah Heep, guy I actually got to meet for thirty seconds, you are the Man.

I am also reminded that about two weeks ago the Crows were on Howard Stern.

I don't much care for Howard, but I feel about him the way I feel about Conan O'Brian: Not very entertaining on his own, but he tends to get good guests, and it is sometimes worth it to tune in just to see the guest. Howard can sometimes even rise to the level of a really good guest, which makes me wonder why he insists on doing stupid stuff like talk incessantly about himself and the toilet humor stuff that he does. If he got rid of those two things and just focused on interviewing notable people in a Larry King sort of a way, he might really achieve even more than he already has achieved.

What really colors my perception of Howard is that I remember when he first started becoming popular in the early eighties. He used to go on TV shows and MTV, etc, and for some reason, people feared him! He would walk around TV show sets, insulting people until someone stopped him. He created huge mayhem on the David Brenner show, until his announcer shut him down by saying, "What did you have for lunch, Howard, salami & garlic?" He seemed to be trying to work out his anger about being the tall ugly kid in school.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, the Crows on Howard.

Well, Adam & Howard seem to be friends, which seems odd to me, but they had a good interview segment with him. He did some rock trivia with a caller, and kicked major booty, because he is simply The Man when it comes to rock music knowledge. I would love to see an episode of Rock & Roll Celebrity Jeopardy with Adam Duritz up against Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray, which might be quite a contest. Of course, Mark McGrath is a huge dork in all other areas of his life, but the man knows his way around a Rock & Roll Jeopardy board.

Right now I am watching Jarred's Room on SNL--Jimmy did his Adam impression--WooHoo!!!!Gotta go. Bye Buddies!!!I Love Goby!!!!

A retraction, and yet more insane cleaning

[music|Cream--Greatest Hits, Rory Gallagher--The Best of Taste]

I got my ticket for the Crows on Dec. 16. And I would like to print a retraction on my remarks about Adam Duritz on Sep. 25. I think I was just feeling pissy that day because of the message board issue, and I should never have said he sounded like he was on drugs... I just sometimes have feelings that change even though they are not indicative of my REAL feelings, sometimes I am such a Gemini. That doesn't mean I am two-faced, that means that sometimes I look at sides of an issue that I don't always look at, whether it's real or not, but it may be real in a way, or whatever... I can't really say what I mean about this.

On the cleaning front: I am reaching the point where I don't have to clean more than once a week maintenance. I was gonna write more, but my mom is sitting behind me, waiting to use the comp.

INSANELY CLEANING!!! JUST INSANELY!

[music|Jimi Hendrix--Electric Ladyland, Jethro Tull--This Was]

Ok, so I don't think I have been online since Sunday--which for me is a long time. I have been working on my room practically nonstop since Monday and I think FINALLY I am on my way to having a permanently uncluttered room. I mean, to where you can actually SEE THE FLOOR!!!

I had my second cup of coffee today, I always drink too much coffee when I am doing intense room-cleaning.

Other news items: An upcoming Tarot for Beginners class at Angel Light Bookstore (will take copious notes & post a review here.) Two, I said two, CC shows at the Warfield (seen them there twice before, an excellent place for a CC show! Will also review here.) And of course, these things happening all at fricking once which means, of course, I need to get a job, like, yesterday (have 3 opportunities I am entertaining the thought of: a bank teller position, cashiering at Trader Joe's [the smart money's on this one], and a part time church secretary [don't laugh, it'll help me get a foot in the door of admin/clerical work].)

Tips on Getting Started with the Tarot

Some years ago I was browsing the New Age section of a bookstore. I bumped into someone I had gone to school with but did not know quite well. We started pointing out books on the shelves that we had read, briefly reviewing & recommending. I gestured at a couple of Tarot books. "These are pretty good. Are you into Tarot?"

My acquaintance blanched, "You should be careful," she warned, "You can be attacked by demons if you mess with the Tarot." This pretty much stopped me short. She had seemed more sophisticated and knowledgeable about other metaphysical topics. Not wishing to challenge her personal beliefs, I merely raised my eyebrows and stammered something like, "Oh, demons, yeah."

I have been reading the cards off and on for almost ten years now--to be honest, more "off" than on, it depends on what is going on in my life and how I'm feeling, time constraints and so forth, but for me, the Tarot is more of a friendly tool than an "ooga booga" scary thing.

This little article is partially my attempt to kickstart myself into getting involved in the cards again, and partially an offering to the Tarot newbies I meet on message boards and online communities. My approach is simple: If it feels good, do it. If it doesn't feel right for you, skip it.

CHOOSING A DECK: One of the best ways is to go to a metaphysical bookstore, because they will usually have several "demo" decks that are open that you can look at. Choose one that feels good to you, you should feel comfortable with the pictures. A word about the pictures: the pictures are what determine the usefulness of a deck. It is important, at least when you are just starting out, to make sure your deck has full pictures on every card. Some decks omit pictures on the pip cards--cards one to ten of the minor arcana suits (wands, cups, swords, coins, or however they are labeled.) Save these decks for later when you are starting a Tarot art deck collection.

Choose a book to go with it--those little booklets that come with the deck are ok but they don't have enough information. The book should be fairly simple and be keyed to your deck--if you have a Rider-Waite deck, a book designed to go with the Crowley deck will not work! Check the pictures in the book, or if there aren't any, check the book's introduction and it will either tell you this is ok to use with all decks or whatever. You can also go with a deck/book set if you have the dough.

BONDING WITH YOUR DECK: This is very important to being able to key into your deck and have it absorb your energy--it sounds weird, but you have to "bond" with your deck like it was a person. The way I personally do this is by putting it under my pillow at night. Also, handling them as much as possible & playing with them is a good thing. A special meditation you can do with your cards is to sit in a comfortable spot where you won't be disturbed for a few minutes. Sit with your legs uncrossed & your cards in your hand, resting on your lap or out in front of you. Close your eyes, and visualize a golden ball of brilliant light starting at your feet. Move it slowly up, and imagine that as it passes, it leaves relaxation, health, & vitality throughout your entire body. When it reaches your shoulders, imagine the energy from the golden ball spilling down your arms, into your hands, and directly into your Tarot deck. Then allow it to move up to your shoulders, neck & head. As it reaches your head, imagine your brain being illuminated with intuition and wisdom. End by taking 3 deep breaths & coming out of it. This can be done in a couple of minutes, and it would be a good practice to do every time you sit down to do readings.

Another way to meditate with your deck is to just pull cards, maybe one a day, and just look at it for about five minutes. How do the pictures make you feel? What do the symbols mean to you? This will be valuable later when you are interpreting cards in readings.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR CARDS: Wrap your cards in a piece of cloth to protect them. Some say that the best cloth is a piece of black silk, but I say the best thing to do is go to a fabric store and choose whatever kind of fabric feels right to you. Purchase enough yardage to make a square, and you can also use this wrap cloth as a layout cloth, also a good thing to have. Another good thing is either a bag or a box to keep your cards in.

It is a good idea to keep your deck away from prying eyes when not in use. As far as allowing others to handle it goes, use your judgment on this. I generally wouldn't let anyone with really hostile energy touch my deck, or read for them. Ditto people that tend to have disdain for the Tarot like it was some kind of superstition. Ultimately, anyone you read for will be touching the cards, so go with your intuition on this issue.

Other accessories for readings include crystals, either raw, unpolished ones or the kind that are polished that you find in nature stores. Good ones to choose are rose quartz, amethyst, and sodalite. Do the same "energy" meditation that you do with your cards, then set them out on your layout cloth during a reading, where it will help balance the energy in the room.

Music, incense, and special jewelry or clothing can also help set the mood here, once again, go with what you feel is best.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just to clarify my position on the whole fat bands issue, I had kind of an outburst this weekend when I saw these two fat chicks, I think they called themselves "Floetic" or something like that, on the MTV.

It brought to mind this band (long before my nieces' day, back in the grunge era) called Screaming Trees. They were formed by the portly brother duo, Van & Clive Conner. Two unkempt looking fat guys in lumberjack shirts, playing rip roarin' grunge metal, good times. Mr. Adam Duritz also carries some extra poundage.

All I'm sayin' is, fat people need to get out there in the music world, and represent. Fat people are not seen on MTV enough, and the few times they are, they are the fricken' coolest thing going!

I also like a man with a little meat on his bones. But that's another issue.

Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town!

My brother is pulling up stakes and moving to Chicago. I had joked with him that he needed to grow one of those soul patch goatees and start wearing a hat & dark glasses. This was a Chicago blues man reference, which I don't think he got. He is so not one of those kind of people, which is why it was funny (to me at least.)

Then by chance I happened upon this when I was looking at a message board devoted to books.

Nine floors of books. Can I make it any plainer? Nine. I have been putting my books into storage because I have too many for my little bedroom. Maybe I will talk more about that later.

And in other news:I have decided to quit the Counting Crows message board. Most of those people (not all, there is a small handful of intelligent, artistic types) are spoiled, ignorant ghetto children. I just could not bond with those people. Also, this could be part of my beginning to become bored with the Crows. While their latest album is definitely a keeper, I am not very happy with that "American Girls" single, or the video, which did nothing for me. And I think Adam is becoming whiny. Which for him is like, embarrassingly whiny. Last year there was that audio clip of him talking about people griping about the length of the shows, etc, and he sounded so out of it from drugs it was embarrassing (which makes you wonder why they stopped doing that little feature on the CC web site.) This year he's complaining because someone is griping that they didn't get an autograph or a picture or something.

It just makes me want to say, "Hey Adam, there's a thing called a fourth wall, and one of the reasons that it's there is because it keeps you from having to care too much what we all think." He is so generous in trying to communicate with fans as much as possible, but his level of involvement could be dangerous. It makes me think of Roger Waters, how at one point before he wrote the Wall, he had grown to hate the way people acted at concerts, to even hate his own fans, and wanted to spit on them (not even in a punk rock sort of way, Pink Floyd being so unpunk it's not even funny. Successful 70s rock band with nothing to rebel against.) I wonder if and when this will happen to you Adam? When it does, rest assured, Hermgirl will have already left the building. Until then, I am content. You are a true rock prima donna. You and the rest of the band are still the best thing going.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: It is not an easy job being a Counting Crows fan.

The Lowly Toaster Oven...

[music|Counting Crows--Hard Candy]

"Dear Mr. Ralph Fletcher:
Hi. My name is Andy Schlaack, and I like toaster ovens (really I do!), but that's not why I'm writing..."

Ralph Fletcher--Live Writing

Just the word toaster oven sparked this memory for me about my high school days. I went to a "special" high school. There were only about 20 people at the most attending at any given time, and it was run by the local hospital as an outpatient clinic/rehab school thingy. It was like one rung down from Juvenile Hall. Basically these were kids whom no one knew what to do with, so they warehoused them here in hopes they would make the decision to straighten up or whatever. My one infraction (attempting to run away from home twice when I was 12) landed me a shrink of mid level competence and six years of attendance at this lovely institution (it's amazing how much mileage you can get just by being a smart aleck.)

Anyway, in the facilities of this place was a little kitchen area, a fridge and a table with foodstuffs and a toaster oven. About every eight months or so, the toaster oven would either catch fire or just explode. We would receive these toaster ovens from god knows where, it often looked like the electrician general would not recommend the use of them. There were kids in this place that would periodically have to be sent to "the quiet room" to calm down, and they trusted us with these combustible monstrosities. It was quite humorous, to go in the back and smoke a joint, go to the kitchen area and start an English muffin, and then sit down and watch the thing explode.

We would remain in a state of toaster ovenlessness for about two months. Then one of the head guys would make an announcement, "Ok guys, they're sending us another toaster oven," they would look around the room and pause for gravity, "So let's take good care of it and maybe we'll show them we deserve the privileges we get." And the whole toaster oven drama would start all over again.

Who would have thought that the lowly toaster oven could provide such a trenchant object lesson for having faith in human nature?

America's Funniest Job Interviews

[music|Elvis Costello--When I Was Cruel]

So I'm being interviewed for a receptionist position at a synagogue temple office, and the topic of the very nature of the place came up in the conversation.

I was trying to come up with an interesting sounding list of issues one might encounter in such a place. The end of which sounded something like "...personal stuff, faith, the spirit...world..." And inside my head I hear this Chandler Bing kind of voice, saying, "The spirit WORLD? What the heck is THAT? You sound like you're applying for a job with JOHN EDWARD!"

If the guy heard my clunker, he didn't bat an eye. Actually, the interview went quite well, I got very good vibes from it. But I wonder if he turned to the other guy after I left and had a giggle over my faux pas. I have to go work on my follow-up letter now, I need to think of an un-heavy-handed way of working the word "spiritual"into it so I sound like I know what I'm talking about.

I may be revealing a little too much here...

[music|Ryan Adams--Gold]

In case you hadn't noticed I am a flawed individual. I have issues. Tonight's offering points up just how twisted I am in my own little way.

I was perusing this website. In the section labeled "Occult Humor", specifically a delightful article entitled "The Rite of Ritual Defecation", I was struck by a thought. The times I talk to myself the most (or rather, the times I yell at people who aren't there in a pissed off way) are usually when I am in the bathroom, on the crapper, or showering. It is at these times when I am quite literally cleansing myself from the things that piss me off. You gotta hand it to me for being extremely vulnerable here. Only the Hermgirl could impart such life lessons: No problem so big that a good healthy crap can't take care of it...

Then I started thinking of a British comedy I saw years ago where the characters talked about "Gandhi's Laxative" and how Gandhi had recieved enlightenment while sitting on the crapper. What was really funny was how they pronounced Gandhi like "candy" instead of the pretentious American way of saying "Gone-di" with the long A sound...

Thanks to Amoris for bringing me into an insight in a way he (she?) probably didn't anticipate.

And now for the inevitable mindless rant...

[music|Too much of a headache to be listening to anything.]

Well, this week I was going to have a very nice entry for you, but what I want to say today is that I hate hate HATE my job! About the only advantage to it is that I get a decent discount on books, but I am getting so sick of working in retail. It has been a very hectic week of people not coming in cuz they didn't feel like it and the rest of us having to make up for it.

Retail is filled with the dregs of humanity. If they aren't sexually harassing you, they're doing as little work as humanly possible. I had originally thought that working at a bookstore would be cool, but it is no different from working at Carl's Jr. or someplace stupid like that.

My Own Private Idaho

Ok, so here's something I learned today: Don't ever do anything beyond the pale, because people will screw you for it if they can. Simply put, there is no honor among thieves. I went to work today, and I waited in the rain for over an hour for the zygote that is my boss to come in and open up, he's the only one with the key.

He then confronts me about my discussing him with our boss regarding the fact that he doesn't do his share of the work. But it wasn't like I initiated these conversations with our boss, it was more like she is not stupid and she has been observing that things are not as they should be.

The way he put it to me today was basically if I scratch his back, he'd scratch mine. Anyone that knows me knows that Hermie don't play that way.

When I got home I called my boss and fessed up to any possible thing I could have done wrong at all.

A consumer report...

[music|David Bowie--Hunky Dory & Hours]

I was cleaning up in the kitchen today, and I have made a decision: Don't buy Ziplock Double Guard bags, they are bullshit. They suck; the whole concept of having a bag inside of another bag is so anally retentive I can't stand it.

I have the house all to myself this weekend and I cleaned out the fridge. I am going to make the most of kick-ass salad you ever saw, and then I am going to have a naked pagan ritual in the living room. I did promise my aunt, though, that I would not burn the house down, so I kind of have to keep it low-key.

Last night I watched the new Ozzy Osbourne show--cuz you gotta love the Oz. At one point he was talking to his son, and he said "Oi lahve youwall, oi lahve you to pieces, but you're driving me mad!" After the show I went to my brother in the den and said, "Oi lahve youwall." He responded "Oi lahve you to pieces!"

This morning at 4:30 I went in my robe and jammies to my mom in the bathroom getting ready for work. Arms outstretched like Jesus I intoned, "Oi lahve youwall." She responded "Oi lahve you to pieces!"

You gotta love the Oz.