WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Nothing. Isn’t that HORRIBLE? I’m gonna pick up a book tomorrow.

WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO: Matt Hoffer. http://www.matthoffer.com Emily (etscore) from Matt Nathanson’s board recommended him. His music is great. He’s pretty easy on the eyes, too, and I can’t lie and say that’s not a plus.

WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON: OK, this is a random collection of things…I make no promises of cohesiveness. But, like the subject line says, revel in the randomness.

1) I took the okcupid.com slut test and it determined that I am 75% slut. My roomate took it and only scored 49%. WHOOPS!

2) I saw Ernie Halter http://www.erniehalter.com at Highland Grounds the other night, and it was so good! It was a little odd, i must admit, after having listened to mp3s of his songs for about a year, to see that familiar voice coming out of a live human. Strange.

3) Evie and I saw a screening of Wimbledon at the Arclight the other night. I thought it was Meh. The tennis scenes were somewhat engaging, but the love story was completely chemistry-less, IMO.

4) I made a blurty for my concert schedule. It’s http://www.blurty.com/users/melanieconcerts

5) I’m flying out to Chicago at the beginning of October to see Matty Nay Nay in concert and hang with Michelle (ShellyJanuary) and XXXtine. Woo Hoo!

6) My crappy old phone died, and I got the coolest phone/camera/pda/internet EVER!!! The Treo 600

http://www.handspring.co.uk/products/treo600/index.asp

7) All this music talk and seeing live music lately has inspired me to tell one of my classic music stories. Probably my best concert story ever. Here goes:

The one concert that I went to at Pepperdine that was HILARIOUS
(albeit unintentionally) was Tait, a solo project of one of the guys
from DC Talk.

Picture this: audience full of uptight, repressed Pepperdine Church
of Christ kids who express enthusiasm by politely tapping their
fingertips against their palms. These kids think drums are
controversial. Michael Tait runs out on stage, grabs the mic in the
mic stand, bends it all the way to the floor, Aerosmith-style, and
screams into it, “MALIBU!!!!!!! ARE YOU READY TO
ROCK?????”

To which he was answered with silence. Utter. Stunned. Silence.
My friend Ryan leaned over to me and whispered, “Umm…I think
possibly they’re *not* ready to rock.”

The lesson there? Anytime you begin the question, “Are you ready to rock?” with the word “Malibu”…the answer is going to be “No.”

What I’m Reading: City of Bones by Michael Connelly, The Murder Book by Jonathan Kellerman and Sudden Prey by John Sanford. I’m such a multi-tasker!

What’s Going On: Well, I have been inspired by my college roomate Evie to begin keeping an online journal. I know that, most likely, the only reason she will be reading it is to see if she is mentioned, so I’ll just start off there. Hi Evie!

I’ll start out by telling about myself…a little crash course in Melanie for the uninitiated.

I am a fourth grade teacher in Northern California. Click below to view my professional portfolio:

http://fcpages.auntiemel.com/portfolio

I have a niece Mya and a nephew Joey, thus my handle, auntiemel. That’s what my nephew calls me, and it stuck as a nickname. My niece calls me Mimi.

I went to Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. Life is rough! My favorite band is Barenaked Ladies, followed closely by Ben Folds Five (They broke up! ARRGGGHHH!). My favorite author is Caryl Rivers, followed closely by Elizabeth Berg. My favorite TV show is Trading Spaces. Largely because my favorite celebrity hottie is their carpenter, Ty Pennington. Check out my personal website, www.auntiemel.com, if you’re panting to know more.

I spent a semester studying abroad in Florence, Italy. I also visited Egypt and Greece. I really want to go back to Europe. I plan on doing so as soon as I can pay off my student debt and get a little money together…considering the massive nature of my student debt, that could be YEARS from now, but hope springs eternal.

As far as current events, I am “off track” right now, which means I’m on vacation from school. I teach at a year-round school, which means that rather than a traditional summer vacation, I get the months of November, March and July off. I do go back to work on Friday, though, so my idyllic month will be over.

I’m driving a new car…a Cranberry Saturn Coupe. I love it! I drove a used Infiniti during college that was a nice little car, but it had a LOT of miles on it. It was pretty nerve-wracking, wondering if it was going to work from day to day. I don’t have to wonder any more. Woo Hoo!

I think this is enough for my initial entry. More will be forthcoming.

Thanks for reading.