The First Time Trivia: Although I don’t mention the song the cafeteria string quartet is playing in my story The Trouble With Firsts, I spent a lot of time listening to Vitamin String Quartet trying to find the perfect one.

Didn’t know there was such a thing as a cafeteria string quartet? Well, the answer to the why and how is somewhere in The Trouble With Firsts.

Around the web this week, in case you missed it:

Great blog post by literary agent Nathan Bransford on the television show Lost and the High Narrative Price of WTF. And if that title doesn’t tempt you, I don’t know what will. Good message for writers–good message for all of us.

In Nerd News: Remember Windows 3.1? Or maybe you’ve never even seen Windows 3.1 (!). Why not take a stroll down virtual memory lane with the Windows 3.1 online emulator. Prepare yourself for a visual shock, and while you’re there, you can even play Mine Sweeper. (Go on, click through. You know you want to.)

And what post would be complete without a YouTube video. From the fine, fine people who brought us Do You Wanna Date My Avator comes this new music video:

Geek Girl Darcy’s niece and nephews have been visiting her. Besides being all around groovy – they’re gamer kids. Just about every day they fire up the X Box and play Call of Duty, Halo3, or one of the sports games.

The realism in today’s video games is amazing but it makes me long for a simpler time …

With apologies to George Gershwin

Summertime, and the writing is easy,
Verbs are jumping, and the word count is high
Your agent is quick, and editor forgiving
So, hush, little writer, don’t you cry.

Yes, Darcy and I have been busy writing. Will anything come of that? You’ll have to stay tuned … it’s kind of like a cliffhanger, isn’t it?

Oh, and here’s the real version of that song:

I love this:

It’s baseball season! Before you yell, “Kill the ump!” for the first time this year, listen to this:

I wonder if you have to be a certain age to enjoy this. I thought my Classic Rock Kid might. He does like Metallica and has Enter Sandman on his iPod. His response when this was done:

“It’s weird.”

I, on the other hand, love it. Love. It.

Not only does the band in question, Rock Sugar, have this mash up, it’s apparently what they do. All mash-ups, all the time. Dude. Even better, they’ve taken Madonna’s Like a Prayer and combined it with AC/DC’s Shook Me All Night Long. Definitive proof Like a Prayer should’ve been a heavy metal song all along.

I tell you, these guys are genius.

So, if you’re of a certain age, enjoy:

This, this, is 100 kinds of cute.

Enjoy!

First, let me tell you about the best thirteen dollars I’ve ever spent.

For Christmas, I bought my son a stand for his electric guitar. I don’t know what it is about having it out and perched on its stand, but he plays it all the time now. Maybe pulling the guitar from its case is simply too arduous, or it’s merely a case of out of sight, out of mind.

Guitar stand = best impulse gift idea ever.

Plus, guitar on stand looks really cool in our living room (yes, the living room; we’re informal, at best). I keep expecting Mick Jagger, Ric Ocasek, or Billie Joe Armstrong (pick your era—or in my case, it’s all three) to stroll in at any moment because the guitar looks so awesomely cool just sitting there.

I can hardly stand it.

Anyway, my son is a real classic rock kind of kid. He knows the opening to Smoke on the Water, and Sunshine of Your Love. Naturally, once he learns Stairway to Heaven, the trifecta will be complete.

So given this, it wasn’t all that strange when, on the way back from guitar lessons, the conversation turned to Van Halen.

Son: Mom, do you know this Van Halen song? It goes Na na na na Na Na.
Me: Is it Jump? Na, Na na na na na Na Na na na na.
Son: No, that isn’t it.
Me: Panama? Na na na Na na na na na na
Son (sighing): It doesn’t sound like that at all. It’s Na na na na Na Na.

I ran through my (admittedly) limited repertoire of Van Halen songs (and is it really a Van Halen song when they were fronted by Sammy Hagar? Or was David Lee Roth the worst thing to happen to Van Halen. Discuss on your own.).

Me (trying again): Well, can you remember any words?
Son: Actually, I’ve never heard a Van Halen song.
Me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were in the driveway at this point, and OMG, y’all, I nearly drove into the garbage can.

Me (after a deep breath): Why are we having this conversation?
Son (after a giggle): Long, convoluted explanation involving a rerun episode of My Name is Earl.
Me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Son: And Mom, you really don’t know how to Na na na a song.
Me: I’m revoking your TV privileges.

If you’ve been playing along at home, you know I love a good mash up, and this one is pretty darn good. Give it a listen and give Pop Music 2009 a fond farewell.