i should have been a rock star

my dad groomed me from the time i was small by teaching me how to play air guitar to pink floyd songs. (he is the master) i honed my skills at college with robin to "more than a feeling." (it has a riff that sounds awesome on air guitar) i also tried learning the actual guitar, but that didn't take. (a real guitar makes it MUCH more difficult to lie on the floor and spin in a circle while playing.) and i've always had this secret fantasy of being an amazing singer and wowing everybody with my hidden talent. the family christmas party last year was where i discovered the one thing i had been missing: guitar hero. GUITAR HERO!?!? THAT'S ME! i played all night with my brothers and cousins, completely monopolizing the game and using all my signature air guitar moves, this time with a guitar that had buttons. best christmas party ever. so THEN about a month later a group of people from work got together to play rock band, which i learned was guitar hero plus drums PLUS A MICROPHONE!!! here was my chance to wow everyone with my hidden talent! i rocked to bon jovi "dead or alive" and the guess who "american woman". there was a little voice in the back of my head telling me that i was making a fool of myself, but i didn't care. i was a rock star. it may have been in somebody's basement on a video game, but that was inconsequential. i was a rock star.

end of part 1.

you will never meet a bigger beatles fan than i. my high school best friend, lyndsey, and i were obsessed. we read countless books about them. she even had a beatles encyclopedia. our walls were covered in posters. we made music videos. (see? rock star.) we fantasized about meeting them, wondering if we'd be the screamers, the criers or the fainters. (lyns=screamer. me=crier.) our low point was when we bought beatles trading cards. we astounded (aka annoyed) people with our knowledge of useless beatles trivia (paul mccartney's first name? james.) we even paid real money to see a beatles tribute band. and george harrison's real sister was there and we followed her around because she was GEORGE HARRISON'S SISTER!!! we made plans to visit central park on the anniversary of john lennon's death (and still secretly hope to do that). my aunt took me to a ringo starr concert once (it was 100% cheesy, but do you think the 50-year-old women and i cared about that? we did not.) one of the top 10 most memorable travel experiences (yes, i have a list for that) was crossing the actual abbey road in london with my friend, sara, and spending an HOUR trying to get the perfect shot. anyway, high school ended and we packed away our books and posters and memorabilia (except for the sgt. pepper salt & pepper shakers, i still use those), but kept out the cds (it is about the music after all, isn't it?)and t-shirts (the beatles are still the most represented band in my t-shirt drawer.) we didn't stop loving them, but we did stop being so pathetic about it. and though their music doesn't make a regular appearance in my itunes, i still consider them my favorite band of all time.

end of part 2.

put rock band and the beatles together and what do you get? you get me. this saturday. in best buy. playing the demo version of beatles rock band (not yet released) ripping it up on those plastic guitars and singing my guts out to "i feel fine," (the microphone wasn't even hooked up) much to the embarrassment of my mother, whom i forced to play drums, and matty, whom i forced to play bass. when that 3 minutes of bliss was over and they tried to leave, i screeched, "ONE MORE!!" and bless their hearts, they resigned themselves to more humiliation while i belted out "can't buy me love" with all the feeling i had.

laugh all you want, best buy employees, you've just met a rock star.