Author: Andy Labis

By:

The Dude on the Right
I hate to sound like Andy Rooney, but did you ever get to the end of the night,
tired and ready for bed, but then decide that you should send an e-mail? 
And did you ever type that e-mail, attempting to be creative, sure, maybe
addressing something on your mind, but missing a larger point?  And then,
did you click on the "Send" button, groggily think to yourself "Did I just write
that?", so you check your "Sent" folder, re-read the e-mail transporting through
cyberspace, and say "Oh, that probably just comes off so wrong."?  Yup, I
did that last night, and now you are probably wondering "Dude, what the hell
does this have to do with Hannah Montana, and you do know that she’s a fictional
character played by Miley Cyrus, don’t you?"  My answer is that "Yes, I do
know Hannah Montana is a fictional character," but be patient, because how "she"
equates to a late night e-mail will be fully explained.

So, yea, last night I
sent off an e-mail that, after re-reading it, after I had already sent it, I
pretty much figured there was only one way to interpret a portion of it, and
really wished someone would invent, you know what, never mind the invention
thing, I think I’ll keep that to myself, but my options were to attempt, still
being tired, sending off an e-mail saying "Please don’t read my previous
e-mail," that, of course, the person will, faster than the speed of light, open
the other e-mail and read it, or try to send an "Okay, let me explain the
comment in my previous e-mail better," but being tired, needing sleep, and with
the e-mail already on its way, my last option was to just head to bed, going to
sleep saying "You know better than to send an e-mail, and try to be creative
with it, when you are tired."  And eventually I fell asleep.

Then, of
course, morning had broken, or rather my alarm went off, I woke up, instantly
remembering the e-mail from the night before, and then kept kicking myself in the
ass for sending said e-mail, much as I was kicking myself in the ass before I
went to bed the night before (I so over-analyze things a lot).  But it was
time for exercising, hoping that maybe it would take my mind off the e-mail for
a bit before I might get a reply, so I’m into my shorts and t-shirt, the
heart-rate monitor is fired up, the earphones are plugged into my iPhone, I
select my "exercise" mix, and then, because I think Apple has put a cyber-brain
into their products at times, giving them a life of their own, my iPhone
"exercise" mix started to hit me with every song on it that screams "What the
hell did you do?"  An Offspring "Why Don’t You Get a Job," 
Evenescence’s "Going Under," "3 AM" from matchbox 20, "Folsom Prison Blues" from
Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond’s "I Am… I Said," and "My Last Yeehaw" from Cowboy
Troy kept infiltrating my music mix, which on any other morning would just keep
my exercise-bicycling fired up, but this morning, just kept me thinking about
the e-mail I sent the night before.

So I was about 20 minutes into my planned
45 minute exercise biking when I was close to bailing on the exercising,
especially since my iPhone seemed to just want to torture me, and just getting
on with my day seemed just a challenge enough.  But then, low and behold,
came bouncy girl-pop music, "Don’t let no small frustration, ever bring you
down," and yes, as I am comfortable enough to say I liked the "Sex and the City"
movie, yes, I have Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus on my iPhone.  There it was,
singing through my earphones, the song "Life’s What You Make It," and as I
turned my focus to the lyrics, I started to realize that fine, my e-mail might
not have been exactly how I wanted to word things, but I couldn’t let it ruin my
day, because life is hard or it’s a party, the choice is up to me!

My
exercising done, and Hannah Montana (yes, I know it’s Miley Cyrus) singing in my
head, there it was, an e-mail for me, pretty much stating exactly how I figured
she would have interpreted the e-mail from the night before.  I still have
to reply, but I suppose I won’t try to get make it all "creative" and stuff, and
not send the e-mail when I’m tired and groggy.

My day had a lot of potential
to be crabby, at least in my head, but a fictional star snapped me back to
reality.

"Life’s what you make it, so let’s make it rock!"  Hannah
Montana.  Who knew?

That’s it for this one! 
I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

By:

The Dude on the Right
Tomorrow night is the season finale of "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica" is slowly
fading away, but it was tonight that I realized my TV viewing season is over, at
least for now, especially since I don’t have "American Idol" to blog about
anymore, and other than, well, "The Bachelorette," which I now find myself
fascinated watching because as much as I love seeing dudettes get uber-emotional
about a dude they have only met for a couple of days, seeing dudes be uber-dorks
in trying to get the hot girl is almost as fun.

But with the TV season done I
realized this summer just might be a time for getting stuff done, just like when
the "Writer’s Strike," well, struck, and suddenly I found myself productive. 
I have DVD’s to review, I am doing my best to get back into the concert
reviewing scene, and damn it, I will finally finish our "Stu & The Dude Reviewin’
the Movies for You!" episode of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of umm, a
street, somewhere, in London, with a meat pie shop, whatever the hell that is,"
even if that movie did come out, like, last year.  Maybe Stu and I will
even do another animated review, and I just had a brain infusion of what it
might be, and oh my God, it might actually have to be about a, well, something
both of us are familiar with, and if he doesn’t remember, for some messed up
reason I remember him and Mama Gotz eating sushi from Dominicks (a grocery chain
here in Chicago), which would bring up another topic about sushi but I’m not
going there, yet, this summer, although I might actually try sushi, this summer.

Oh man, this summer is looking to be confusing, this summer is looking to be
fun, and if luck has it, I’ll get to see Neil Diamond again!

Screw TV, except
for, of course, "The Bachelorette," but I’m looking forward to the summer!

That’s it for this one! 
I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!