fungus face!

I have this weird thing on my face, right by my ear. It started as a bump that itched, so I assumed it was a bite of some sort. I put anti-itch creme on it and thought that was that.

But it kept growing! It turned into this welp that is about as big as a nickle and is flat in the middle, raised on the edges. It itches every now and then, but it is very unsightly. In fact, I no longer can pull my hair back because I am trying to hide it all the time.

Joe was joking with me about and said,"It's probably a ringworm." Well, initially I was like, "yeah whatever!" But it turns out...I have a ringworm...on my face! I am a fungus face. :(

Apparently, ringworm is the same fungus as athlete's foot or jock itch, just located in a different place. It's treated with the same lotions, creams, etc. So now I am having to scrub my face in warm soapy water twice a day and add this stinging solution to it afterward. It's supposed to kill the fungus in 2-4 WEEKS! How long must I be so deformed??? :)

But seriously, where did I contract this? We don't have pets, I don't rub my face on Joe's nasty fungus feet. The only thing I can figure is I hugged a kid who has ringworm on his scalp. (You know how you lean your cheek on their heads when you hug them?) I have no idea...but there it is. And here's my fugus face (covered with make-up somewhat):

Please pity me. It's no fun feeling sorry for yourself all alone. ;)

sad and happy

On Friday we got shocking news at school. My principal is leaving us. She put in her resignation in February so she can stay home with her 4 year old. Totally a legitimate reason, but still sad for us. It was a big surprise to us all, and needless to say, good principals come around once in a blue moon, so we are preparing for a fall now. Marci has been a wonderful leader and I became the teacher I wanted to be under her administration. She'll be greatly missed. The first year she was at our school (4 years ago...) we gave her a standing ovation at her doorway on the last day of school. That's how we feel about her. So sad....

But 2 so happies make up for it (at least for now.)

Happy #1:

Our backyard is becoming a haven instead of a disaster! Last year we had a big mudslide that landed in our backyard (since we were one of 2 inhabited lots at the time.) This brought in a collection of weeds you would not believe! With the rain and start of spring arriving faster than we could prepare for it, we were looking at 4 foot weeds last week. (I did not take pictures for sheer embarrassment at the state of my lawn.) On Saturday, we had 3 teens come help us and we pulled for 2 straight hours. We hung potted plants, potted some marigolds for our rock wall, and planted rose bushes. Joe and I even went and bought steel gazebo to construct next weekend. Soon we'll have patio furniture under a gorgeous gazebo and be surrounded by nature's beauty. Hooray for teamwork (and surplus of $ due to overtime!)

Happy #2:

I started guitar lessons! Don't tell my brother, but I am taking up the strummin instrument and let me tell you, it is no easy task! The music teacher at my school is graciously teaching me and a few other teachers for free on Mondays after school. It is going to be a lot of fun, but hard work on the ol' fingers!

lift him up

My first year teaching, my portable building was shared with a teacher new to our school...Sue Anderson. She's about my Mom's age and had a few years experience teaching in a private school. We both were teaching 1st grade and she really is what helped me become a good teacher those first couple of years. She was the one person I spoke to EVERY day and as we stayed late day after day, planning and working together, we became friends.

Sue found out last year that her husband has bone cancer. He is constantly in pain and undergoing tests, surgeries and treatments. In the fall, he took a bad turn and Sue was forced to leave school for 7 weeks to take care of him. This semester has not been much better. Weekly trips to the hospital and constant pain keeps him in ongoing need from Sue, while she is still trying to maintain full time teaching.

Today, Sue left mid-day to take him to the emergency room again. She knows there is really nothing to be done for him and the constant giving of her self completely to his care is wearing her down. I was so happy at lunch today to be a part of the staff at my school. There were probably 12 or so of us eating together when we got the news that Eric was on the way to the ER again. We all stopped and prayed together for Eric and Sue. How amazing to have people of faith surrounding me at work!

I say all this just to simply ask prayers for Sue, Eric and their family. We are going through this with her and want to be all the things she needs from us.

wedding fun

PREFACE...I tried to post on Thursday with another YouTube hillarious moment, but the new blogger won't accept it. So if you are interested...look up "30 Rock harmonizing" on YouTube for a funny moment involving a very geeky white guy singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" with Tracy Morgan. SO FUNNY!

Now, onto the main blog event!

Last night we went to another in a long list of Woodland West weddings. Folks, in the little over 2 years that I have been at this church, this is the 10th wedding. Yeah! TENTH! Isn't that crazy? So this particular wedding was the merging of 2 fairly wealthy families, so we expected a grand affair...and it was a beautiful evening. They were married at the Maddox Muse building (part of Bass Hall) in a large square room. The seating was around a huge alter (think Meet the Parents) where Hayley and Aaron stood, right in the middle. Great idea, right? It really WAS a unique way to hold the ceremony, but there were a few snafoos here and there. Like...special friends were to be seated with the family...but they didn't tell the special friends so we ended up in "restricted viewing." (Disappointing since the Varneys were "special friends" of the groom.) The bride and her father couldn't fit through the aisle together. Too tight a fit. It ended up being a little disorganized since we couldn't actually rehearse in THAT bldg. (Another wedding was taking place the night of the rehearsal.) But all in all...really beautiful.

The reception was fun for several reasons. #1. I have befriended my best bud (Amy's) best friend from college and we got to laugh and chat a while. #2. I ran into my friend Becky (who I backpacked with that summer) and her now FIANCE...yep. They got engaged on Friday night. She works with Hayley, so they were there as well. #3. They had a DJ and dancing. Let me tell you, it's impossible to NOT have fun with the Varney boys dancing.

We stayed till after 10 laughing and celebrating. Here are some pics from the night.

Laughin out loud

I have a new favorite picture! It's as if he is saying, "Why are these white people hugging me?" Good stuff. :)

This weekend Jeremy, Brent and Jamie came to see me. It was SO fantastic to all be together again. As I'm sure you all have experienced, there are those few friends who bring out the real you. And the combination of all of all of you together makes the YOU even better. That's how it is with us four. Never best pals in college, but now....it's like no group I've ever been a part of. We literally did NOTHING this whole weekend. But I laughed til my face hurt from smiling. The sad part is that Brent is moving to Florida next week. It's so far away for a friend who has always been a stop on my way home to Lubbock. But I guess a friend is always just a phone call away.

Jamie and I made a basket of stuff to give Brent. All inside jokes from ACU and a few since. But the best thing we gave him was a frame with 2 pictures in it of the 4 of us, and a quote "Wherever you are, it's your friends who make your world."

TEAR.

I need your help!

I am throwing a lingerie shower here on Thursday night and we need some games to play. This girl is someone I don't know extremely well, but we are intent on embarrassing her. Give me some help!

The JUROR

Yeah, so it turns out that Jury Duty sucks. Who knew? Oh yeah, everyone!

I got summoned to jury duty for today and had high hopes of a quick dismissal. (After all, Joe was home by 11 when this happened to him in the fall AND no one wants someone on their jury with a public lawyer in their fam, like my bro in law Jerry is.) So after they called 17 groups to go to courts for questioning ahead of me, I was beginning to lose heart. At 11 they told us to go on break and at 11:30 the last court would let us know if we were needed. If not, we would be dismissed. SWEET! 11:30 came and went with no call from the court. Finally, at about 12:05 they called and said...send them to lunch, we'll call back at 1:30. What??? So all alone, I went to lunch, rescheduled my appointment at the bodyshop for my crushed car AND my rental car agreement stuff. Went back. 1:30 came and went. Then at almost 2:00 we found out they needed a jury. So they layed out all the questionaires and started calling us. Number 26...Bethany Varney. NOOOOOOO!!! Yeah, gets worse. Your court is blah blah blah. Your judge wants you to report at 8:45 TOMORROW. Yeah, have to go back TOMORROW! Can you believe that? I did nothing but sit and listen to other names get called and then get told, "Oh yeah, come back tomorrow and do this again." At least tomorrow I get paid $40 as opposed to today's $6. It's aggrevating. Especially when I have to find a sub and prepare stuff for one. So I went to school from there for an hour and now am finally home.

So to make this blog a little lighter than it has been thus far, I will post a little survey per Wendy K. Enjoy!

1. I’ve come to realize that my ex-(boyfriend) --- may be certifiably insane.
2. I am listening to --- Dreamgirls on Joe's ZUNE
3. I talk --- too fast to understand
4. I love --- surprises involving chocolate
5. My best friends --- never see me anymore...but still put forth good effort!
6. I lost --- my mind when I found out I have jury duty AGAIN tomorrow
7. I hate it when people --- laugh at something serious
8. Love is --- sacrifice
9. Marriage is --- bliss....most of the time :)
10. Somewhere, someone is thinking --- about Abraham Lincoln
11. I’ll always be --- goofy and giggley
12. I have a crush on --- Taye Diggs
13. The last time I cried was because --- I heard Effie sing "I'm telling You" in DreamGirls
14. My cell phone --- is getting replaced by a sweet KATANA tomorrow!
15. When I wake up in the morning --- I hit snooze at least twice
16. Before I go to sleep at night --- I kiss my husband
17. Right now I am thinking about --- not thinking about jury duty.
18. Babies are --- soon to be in the Varney picture....I hope!
19. I get on MySpace --- hardly ever...blogging is much better
20. Today I --- you already know this one!
21. Tonight I will --- work up at church on the Bible Hour closet
22. Tomorrow I will --- go to JURY DUTY!!!

Random

Random things here, folks...
I know you wonder all the time about what I do at school all day. Now you can see! A day in the life of Rachel...

This week we are doing weaving in 2nd grade, elephants in first grade, and mosaics in Kindergarten. (The elephants are white for now, but will be painted NEXT week. I'll show you those when they're done.) And the big winner is...THE MURAL! My little first graders drew AND painted this on their own. It's so cute! Can you guess the children's story it depicts?

this was supposed to be a funny blog

So I had good intent to tell you about how I was dragged up on stage at our church talent show and had to improv like on Who's Line is it Anyway? You know I'm not funny, but apparently, I WAS this time! World's worst preacher? ME. Questions Only? Yeah, I won that too. Even Party Quirks, only MY skit was guessed correctly. So here is a pic from the night I became funny.

That's me bent over laughing. Sorry there's not a better one.





Now the real news. I was in a wreck today. With an illegal immigrant...who has no insurance OR a liscence....who is a parent at my school...who begged me to not call the police. Yeah. Not a good day. Not a bad wreck, but had to call the cops none the less. And poor little RAV. Well, here she is:



I feel so bad for this poor family who can't afford anything anyways, and now she is left with a handful of citations for not following the law. That made this really hard. And that her son leaned out the window while we were talking to yell, "Hey Mrs. Varney!!!"

Poo

Another classic moment on SCRUBS. I particularly like the ending. :)

Scrubs Music Video -- Guy Love

Here's the GUY LOVE video from You TUBE. If you didn't see the musical SCRUBS on Thursday, or even if you did...watch this!

Snow Day

As I sit here in my pj's, finishing my crepes and sipping hot cocoa, I thought it might be time to finally add a new entry to my blog...so here it is!

Just to fill you in on the past month, here is the run-down:
1. Christmas was great. We were in Lubbock again this year with my family and it's becoming more and more fun to watch Joe interact with my family. It's like he is finally comfortable with them and is beginning to act like himself. It was really fun to watch him open all the stuff my parents got for him. His family always takes a trip for Xmas, so it's been a while since he's had a pile of gifts to open. We did nothing exciting, just gifts, dinner and movies like always. I love being home.

2. Speaking of movies...DREAMGIRLS has taken over my life. I saw it during Xmas break with the fam and then again with my Mother-in-law and friends when I got back here. It is so fantastic. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that musical films have made a comeback! If you haven't seen this film yet, you MUST! I can't remember the last movie that made me cry, but if you know me well, you know I cry in just about EVERY musical, live or on the screen. THis one was no different. When Effie sings "I'm Not Going"...WOW. Both times I saw it, the audience started applauding BEFORE THE SONG WAS OVER! It's just incredible. And although I don't consider myself a Beyonce fan (partly due to my husbands infatuation, I'm sure), she was pretty incredible in it. And that song she co-wrote, "LISTEN"? It's growing on me the more I listen to it.

3. New Year's Eve. We spent it with our new gang.
I was telling Joe that I was really worried for a while that we wouldn't find couple friends. But a mere 2 years after our beginning as one, we now have a whole handful! These 3 other couples are the ones we spend the most time with though. We spent the hours leading up to midnight playing cards, watching Rockin Eve, and shooting fireworks.Really fun! So here they are girls, the new gal pals. It seems like just yesterday it was the 3 M's...Me, Mel and Mandy. And not that long before that, COF...Me, Jamie, Liz, Rachel H. and Alexis. Where does the time go? And how do your circles change so quickly? I'm sad to have entered a new group (AGAIN), but these are my new sweet friends and I love them to pieces!


4. Finally....Snow Day! I woke up at 6:15 to my phone ringing. School phone tree, saying NO SCHOOL today! What? I ran to my window and...yep...SNOW! In my backyard!?!? So poor Joey drove his 23 mile commute (in just under 1.5 hrs)and I am sitting here at home, all nice and cozy. Ain't life grand?

MORE TO COME SOON ON BIBLE HOUR AND CURRICULUM WRITING. THANKS FOR PRESSING ON THRU THIS EPIC BLOG!

no news is good news?

So...it's been a while. I promise I will post New Year's pics and info as soon as I get my pics from my pal Amy. :)

Real quick wanted to update you...
1. school is back and is GREAT! I start my curriculum writing on January 22nd.
2. joe is meeting with a contact my dad has tomorrow (also Joe's birthday) about getting some interviews set up for HR jobs in city government up here. (keep that in your prayers. it's going to be a big change for us...a good one!)
3. i have lost 4 pounds since January 1 on South Beach. So consider the Rachel you knew as the "Before" because this is only the beginning. I have until the end of May to meet my goal (which is to lose between 30 and 40 lbs). It's a lofty goal, but I am working hard already and have every intention to keep it up. Those Wilsons are going down in this Biggest Loser competition!

It boggles the mind...

What can happen on any given day in a Primary School....
Today for example:
1. Purple vomit
2. Teacher taken the emergency room from fainting spell
3. Kindergartener with gluey elbow, despite having had on his coat the whole time
4. Music teacher attending art clas
5. Art teacher attending music class
*6. Hearing a speaker discuss the every changing technology and globalization and how it affects education in this country.

Ah, that's the one I want to talk about! This guy we heard was VERY interesting. He was talking about technology and how it changes faster than anyone can catch it. For example, he was showing the original keyboards from early 1900s where the vowels are all on the home row. Why did they change it? Ever think about how those keys are all in the wrong places? Why did they do that? Answer: to slow down typers. With type writers, typing too fast makes the keys jam, so they found the worst layout of keys that will statistically make people type the slowest. Slowed down the typing by 28% when we switched in 1917. Interesting, huh? Why not change back? I mean, aren't we in a GO GO GO world now? Yes, we are! How does an educator keep children thinking to a level that the world is progressing when we are still using things that slow us down from almost 100 years ago? How is it that the world keeps turning, but education has stayed relatively still?

This man also discussed globalization and brought up a scary thought...No nation since the Roman Empire has maintained an economic stronghold on the world for more than a century. 1600s-Spainish. 1700s-Dutch. 1800s-British. 1900s-USA. Now who? Did you know several high profile American companies have uprooted and moved to INDIA? Including MICROSOFT? Labor is like 85% cheaper there and major businesses are moving their headquarters to save money. It is said that there will be more income tax filings from India this year (from Americans) than from those living in the states. And China....largest population, once thought as shotty workmanship, now the largest manufacturers of computers in the world. And by 2010, the largest manufacturer of cars. Wild stuff. Are we about to tip off the edge in America? Who knows?

So back to the education issue...how to we maintain a competetive edge and be able to work in this global economy when we are still one of the only countries educating all. (No Child LEft Behind). Most countries still only educate the strongest and smartest and so it is easy to excel the top minds far past our trudging posse, moving at the weakest link's pace.

Yipes.....something to think about.

On a lighter note...I got the curriculum writing job! I start January 22nd in my training and will begin writing shortly thereafter. :)

I love YouTube

Ever spend a few hours looking at this site? Videos from Perfect Strangers, to last night's Conan are to be found if you have the time to look. Here's a couple you HAVE to see...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GF6rSGfUdyg
(Thanks, Jamie) This one has JD and Turk singing about their "guy love" on Scrubs. It's AWESOME!


http://youtube.com/watch?v=aUj8GXL-FIs
Love The Office, like me? Watch Ed Helms sing "Rainbow Connection" and play the banjo. It cracks me up!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yMo_boi1Yw0
Ted's band complilation from Scrubs...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IOhnyHvifLM
If you missed Ed Helms on Conan on Friday, watch him here. It's long, but worth it to hear him sing words to Yanni songs about unicorns. :)

In other news...Don't you think we look good with children? I've got the baby fever, but Joe is grounding us and making sure that we wait until our 2 year anniversary to start trying. I really want one!!!

OH! Joe talked buisness with my dad this weekend and Dad is going to help him try to get in with a city up here in HR. (He has lots of connections) Pray this works out for us. Joe is really excited about the opportunity and we are trying to make a career change before the afore mentioned babies. :)

OH again! We were in Lubbock cuz my dad became an elder yesterday. Yay Dad!

Random Thoughts...

On the 19th, Joe and I celebrated our 1st anniversary. Can you believe that? A whole year has gone by! It's amazing how long a year sounds and how short it actually feels. We went to Santa Fe for a few days to celebrate and had a great time. We were greeted at the hotel with news we'd been upgraded to a suite, I had red calla lillies waiting by the bed from my hubbie (just like my wedding bouquet) and we spent 4 days eating awesome food, wandering thru art galleries, and relaxing. The most fun was going to a day spa for the morning to get massages and pedicures. I LOVE that stuff! We also got to see a pouring at the bronze foundry where they cast the ginormous bronze scupltures and watched a demonstration at a glass blowing gallery.
We even made it over to Albuquerque for the day and saw my brother and his new place. (He's been in ABQ for about 2 months now at a new youth ministry job.)

Random thought 2...can you believe it's christmas time already? I put up our tree on Friday (by myself) and had a ball looking at all my ornaments. My mom had the forsight, when we were little, to give us ornaments each year and we had our own box-full. So now as an adult, I have a ton of ornaments for my own tree. We also have a tradition in my family of collecting an ornament from every trip we go on. It's an easy souvenier that you won't lose or forget about, because it resurfaces, along with the memories of that trip, each year. I bought one for each town I saw in Europe, so I had fun looking thru those, and I already have 6 with my sweet husband, that have found a home right smack front and center on the tree.


Random thought 3...Joe and I are having a Biggest Loser contest with another married couple at church. We were due to have our first kick-off weigh-in tonight, but our pals had to cancel. So...a few more days before the crack-down on eating I guess. Joe and I both have a lot more to lose than our friends, but we're doing body weight percentage, so I guess it all evens out?? Altho I'm not looking forward to the months of hard work, I AM looking forward to losing the pounds and feeling better about my body. AND...I think competing adds enough pressure to give me the drive for it....let's hope. :)

Random thought 4...I told you about the curriculum writing job? Still no word. They keep delaying the hiring date. So I'll let you know IF I ever hear anything. :) In the meantime, I'm going to be trained in grant writing in March. I'm to be the grant writer for my school come '07-'08 school year. I'm excited about this because grant writing could be benefitial as a stay at home job, should I wish to do that later on when kids are in the picture. If I'm good at it, that is. We'll see!

No sleep for the weary

On Friday Joe called to tell me we were asked to chaperone a youth lock-in (of sorts). Apparently, every year our high school kids have a "camp" during the school year. It's a Wednesday-Saturday, they sleep at the building, do campish activities, etc. and still do homework and go to school. They just come back and forth from the church instead of home. (Odd, right?)Well, that's what we were asked to help with...to stay one night, overnight.

I initially said no, I mean, how much would work suck the next day? Yeah...REAL bad! After a 3rd call asking us to come, I reconsidered. I've missed NO days of school in 12 weeks. I can take one personal day if they need us that badly. Could be fun. I'm always up for revisiting my youth group days. So at 6:00 we showed up at the church last night. We ate dinner with the kids, got the schedule run-down and the "Talk" from the youth minister on our duties. No prob. Oh wait...there are teens involved...of course there's a problem!

I am not exaggerating when I say we did nothing. NOTHING. We were supposed to have a devo talk, worship time, and study time in the word, PLUS a short devo this morning before the kiddos headed to school. NOPE. None of the above. There was homework overload, teenage girl drama/boy manipulation, tears...need I go on??? Jonathon (the minister) assured us this has NEVER happened before and they actually do have "Spiritual Stuff" at camp. It was craziness. Then...it was so cold in the room I was sleeping, I couldn't go to sleep! Those of you who have lived with me know...I fall asleep as soon as I lay down. Not the case this time. It was FREEZING! Joe said he woke up and his teeth were chattering. So I put on a sweater and tried to sleep. Didn't work out so well. A very choppy night's rest. So this morning I also got left with 3 boys and 1 girl while the youth minister delivered others to school (as his wife and my husband had already left for their jobs.)So I held down the church by my lonesome and locked up at 7:40. Now I'm home, wondering why I agreed to do this strange task, and excited to have an empty day ahead of me.

the serial killer

So I was deep in sleep last night and this was what happened in my dream....
Joe and I are sitting on the couch, laughing about something when the phone rings. It's my Mom. She starts talking about this serial killer that the police can't find. (Like I know what she's talking about???) I say, "Mom, what?" She says, "You haven't seen this on the news? There's a serial killer in Albuquerque and they don't know where to even start looking for him!" I reply, "Well, Matt better get outta there!" "Well, that's why we called. Matt's gone on to a better place." "WHAT?!?!?!"

Yeah, I had a dream that my brother got killed by a serial killer and my Mom calmly called to tell me. What in the world? The longer the dream went on, the more I was thinking about what may have happened to him. Why him? Was he alone? Was it quick? Was he tortured first? Finally I woke up, relieved to find reality a different circumstance. I called Matt to tell him, and he just laughed.

Isn't it wild what your mind can do to you?

marriage...

I am quickly approaching a year of marriage. Can you believe that? I mean, this time last year, I was packing up my stuff to leave sweet Melanie, storing tons of boxes of gifts in our tiny little office, finalizing details and getting ready to trek to Lubbock. It's gone by so fast.

Of course looking back brings back the nostalgia and makes me start to remember conversations, letters and such that came my way. So today I was reflecting on a couple of comments I had directed at or about me shortly after my engagement.

#1. "Well, of course she's excited. It's her first marriage."
#2. "I'm sure you're happy, but if I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't."

Wow. It's still amazing to me that that was someone's actual response to my engagement. I know the reality is that marriages end in divorce sometimes. That people end up hating eachother or got married when they shouldn't have in the first place. I know that I am naive about many things, but it never occurred to me that MY ENGAGEMENT would be looked down upon by some. The other incident I remember vividly was a conversation at a lunch with some teachers from my school. 2 of these teachers knew me very well and had followed my courtship with Joe closely all the way. The other 2 teachers know very little about me...as evidenced by the conversation. They were shocked to hear that Joe and I were waiting till our wedding night. It's not just in the movies, I actually had the question asked of me, "How do you know you love him if you don't know how he is in bed?" It was one of those moments when time freezes and your mind is racing for an answer that isn't there. I didn't know what to tell her other than that is what I believe. That you wait for your husband and he waits for you. That it's what God intended to happen. Thankfully, this was a respected answer and I earned a lot of credibility with these ladies. (both of whom have been through divorces, yes...plural.) Mostly tho, it earned respect for Joe, who is a king among men apparently, for waiting so long for that right gal to come his way. (They could not believe I found a 27 year old guy who had waited.)

So why am I saying all this now? Good question. I don't know. I just really was thinking about it on the way home today. It makes me sad that there are people so soured on the godly intent of marriage. It has been such a blessing for me and it's sad to know that it hasn't been for everyone. So chalk this up as a rant from Rachel, a stream of conscience typing.

And to sum up....I'm glad I'm naive. I want to believe the best. And I want the best for myself, especially for my family both present and future.

Stop...Hammer Time

I was just driving home from Office Depot, groovin to the new station "MOVIN' 107.5" when I found myself singing along to something oddly familiar. "I've been around the world. From London to the Bay. It's Hammer, go Hammer. MC Hammer! Yo Hammer! and the rest can go and play...can't touch this. Oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! Can't touch this. STOP... Hammer time!" Needless to say, this station plays the timeless classics. :) It's actually really fun to hear all these songs I used to ADORE! I felt so nostalgic I said "I MUST go home and blog this immediately!"

So what songs do you still love, but are ashamed to ever say you liked in the first place? I am not to big to admit that I own a Paula Abdul CD (with Opposites Attract and other musical gems), as well as a best of NKOTB (New Kids on the Block for those of you, like Mel, who shunned the greatest boy band EVER!) I found out yesterday that I can still rap the majority of "Men in Black" and "Ice Ice Baby." No matter how awful the music actually was, I loved it back in the day and therefor must love it always. Can't help what you feel with the 90s jams. :)