Random Thoughts

Gah. I'm having issues with my rotating schedule. After seven years of working a regular 9 - 5, this whole weekend thing is messing with my head. While this weird ass weekend schedule has its advantages, I'm still trying to adjust.

For the second week in a row, building services decided that Sunday would be an opportune day to wax the floors where my desk is located, which resulted in me getting very little work done today. Our newly formed registrar team is incredibly backlogged, and one of my co-workers is about to go in for arthroscopic surgery. (We have a full time temp filling in for her, but she has been trained on nothing... but seeing as how I'm still struggling to catch on to two other people's jobs, she's not that far out of the learning curve.)

On a good note, I got to meet the two toed sloth that will be residing in the Discovery Forest (the exhibit in the Education Center) today. I never thought I would say this about a sloth, but she's adorable.

Despite what I'd decided earlier today, I subjected myself to the 9/11 hoopla and watched the updated version of the documentary shot by the French brothers that originally had planned to shoot a documentary about a rookie firefighter. (This was the only footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center.) Much weeping ensued. I didn't know anyone that died in the events of 9/11, but it's one of those moments in time that (like much of the nation, I'm sure) I've been trying to deal with since that day. I've been to Ground Zero and made my peace (and came very close to lashing out at the vendors making money on the tragedy by selling commemorative snow globes and T shirts), but the way the current administraion uses it as a "patriotic" rallying cry sickens me. I do not appreciate the fact that my questioning of their subsequent actions has made them invoke Godwin's Law. Last time I checked, this country was founded on the questioning of The Powers That Be. You can blather on all you like on a public forum all you like, Mr. Cheney. I call shenanigans, as does John Kerry and Keith Olberman and numerous others sources. Please stop using the tragedy of five years ago to prop up your administration's lies.

And yes, I chose to watch the documentary of the actual events, as opposed to the fabricated crap on ABC. (Numerous editorial links can be found here.)

(I didn't mean to go off on a political tangent, but I'm still upset. I'm stepping off my soapbox... right after I throw this out.)

I'm trying to stay positive, focusing on next month's vacation and Midpoint. Homework assignment for myself: slog through the 200+ bands and work out a decent schedule for the weekend. Oh, and stop watching CSI:, since it's making me think I'm gonna end up on a slab in Vegas. Thanks, but I can think up much better ways to interact with Grissom. Heh. Back off, Sidle.

There is an advantage to my screwed up schedule: I'll be home on Friday to listen to the WOXY signoff, and then I can drown my sorrows at the Halfway to Saint Patrick's Day celebration at Molly Malones. (And I'll have the next day to sleep it off. Whoo!)

It's nearing 2:00, and I'm not sleepy yet. Perhaps a little more Stoli....

Planning Ahead

Yeah, I've been MIA for a while. Time passed, things happened. It's probably better for everyone involved if I don't explain it further than that. On to present matters at hand...

Over the weekend, Zappagirl gave me the heads up that Blogathon 2006 has been scheduled for the weekend of July 29th. This gives me a little time to plan ahead. On my to do list:

- Pick a charity. I'm currently considering Planned Parenthood (my charity of choice in Blogathon 2002), World Wildlife Fund, Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Inc., Sierra Club Foundation, and Amnesty International USA, Inc.. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated to help me choose.

- Open a Flickr account (or another online photo management site) and become more familiar with my digital camera. After the Skeleton Fashion Show in 2002 and the Impromptu Pirate Party in 2003 (in which I was able to participate due to being doped up on Percocet), the insanity must be recorded for posterity and shared. Besides, I've been meaning to do this for some time, and now I have a reason to do so.

- Talk friends and family (and complete strangers) into sponsoring me. I have to get a minimum of $20 in pledges to participate, which shouldn't be that difficult. Just in case, though, I'll probably find a way to shamelessly bribe... I mean reward folks who choose to help out. I'm thinking possibly a MyoMix CD, but that's something I'll need to think about as well.

- Select songs and burn MyoMix CD. Also select music to blog by.

- Buy coffee. Lots of it. Also plan snack food.

- Find comfortable yet presentable clothes to wear. I'm going to spend 24 hours hunched over a computer in a small room with at least two other people. Granted, this is isn't all that differnet from how I spend many weekends, but we don't usually have photo documentation.

- Try not to show up hungover on the morning of Blogathon. Yeah, the fact that the annual employee party was the night before back in 2002 probably didn't help. The fact that a group of us decided to continue the party at Daniel's Pub definitely didn't help. Lesson learned.

- Find something to actually write about. Of course, this is one of those things that seems to work itself out. I'd made a list of things to write about in 2002, most of which I never touched because we got sidetracked on dressing up Ignatius the skeleton. That's the fun of the event - going off on strange tangents and just following along wherever the day takes you.

The official signups begin on July 1st. The shameless begging for pledges will begin shortly thereafter. You have been warned.

Random Music Mix: The Silver Screen Edition

In honor of the upcoming Academy Awards, a music mix of songs from films.

Disclaimer: to my knowledge, none of these songs (and the vast majority of the movies) were deemed Oscar-worthy. (But given the way the awards go sometimes, that's probably a good thing.) I simply looked at my DVD collection and selected songs that I immediately associate with the films. The list is in alphabetical order by film title.

"Hip to Be Square" - Huey Lewis and the News (American Psycho) - This song was cleared to be on the acutal soundtrack until Huey saw the movie and pulled his approval. Guess he didn't take too kindly to having his song used as background music for a brutal murder.

"Money (That's What I Want)" (Backbeat) - Actually, any song from this soundtrack would have sufficed. An all-star garage band (Greg Dulli, Mike Mills, Dave Grohl, Thurston Moore, Don Fleming, Dave Pirner) produced by Don Was recreating the Beatles in their Berlin days? Hell yeah.

"Ketjak (Ramayana Monkey Chant)" (Baraka) - Wow. Just thinking about this song has set loose 200 men in my head chanting the word "tjak" very fast. I want to go home and watch this movie again.

"Can't Even Tell" - Soul Asylum (Clerks) - "Hey, you're closed!" The perfect song to end the day from hell at the Quick Stop.

"Mustang Sally" - The Commitments (The Commitments) - Just remember, when you're singing Dublin soul, you don't sing with your own accent.

"Down with the Sickness" - Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine (Dawn of the Dead) - When I saw this movie, I had no idea this song was included. Upon reaching this scene, I sent zappagirl a very drunken email. Between the song and the fact that one of the protagonists was a Best Buy associate, I couldn't stop giggling. Well, in between the frightened meeping and chanting "shoot 'em in the head" at my television....

"Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" - Beck (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) - The combination of this song and the context in which it appears in the film makes me weep profusely. Actually, a lot about this movie makes me weep profusely.

"Guerrillas in the Midst" - N.W.H. (Fear of a Black Hat) - I had no idea that an actual soundtrack existed for this movie until I started to compile this list. This just made my day.

"New Slang" - The Shins (Garden State) - An obvious choice, perhaps. This song didn't change my life as promised, but it did make me go out and buy a copy of Oh, Inverted World.

"Heaven Scent" - Bedrock (Groove) - The shit ain't over 'til the last record spins. Perfect song to convey the absolute joy of the scene.

"Old Joe's Place" - The Folksmen (A Mighty Wind) - I heard this song performed on Letterman a few weeks after seeing the Kingston Trio and couldn't stop giggling. They could very easily have done this song right after "The M.T.A." and no one would have blinked an eye.

"A Little Less Conversation" - Elvis Presley (Ocean's 11) - Dude, it's Elvis. I like this song so much that I find myself watching the opening credits to Las Vegas. (And then I turn the channel.)

"Down for Whatever" - Ice Cube (Office Space) - I used to work in an office that used the exact same printer as the ill-fated one in the movie. There was more than one occasion when I wanted to take that printer into a secluded field and beat it senseless with a baseball bat. ("PC Load Letter? What the fuck does that mean?")

"Needle in the Hay" - Elliott Smith (The Royal Tenenbaums) Another perfect song for the moment, except it's completely harrowing. I had to pause the DVD for a few minutes after this scene.

"Edge of Seventeen" - Stevie Nicks (School of Rock) - Joan Cusack, drunk, singing Stevie Nicks. Hee. (Interesting side note here... this soundtrack also includes the Wylde Rattz version of "T.V. Eye." Wylde Rattz was the fictional band in Velvet Goldmine fronted by Ewan McGregor. It's the song from the "honey and gold glitter" performance.)

"White Lines" - Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel (Shaun of the Dead) - Call and response on classic rap is always funnier with the Zed word.

"Pick Up the Pieces" - Average White Band (Swingers) - While it would have been easy to pick any of the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy songs from this movie, the scene with the guys caravanning throughout the Hollywood hills to this song (and locking their Clubs) never fails to crack me up.

"To Be By Your Side" - Nick Cave (Winged Migration) - Best WTF moment ever. I went to see this movie with a bunch of coworkers, and was very confused to hear Nick's gravelly voice playing over the lovely shots of the migrating flocks. I had to stay through the end credits to make sure I wasn't audibly hallucinating.

"From Her to Eternity" - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Wings of Desire) - See, now Nick belonged here. One of the eighty billion reasons why this movie is better than that crappy remake with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan.

"Relax" - Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Zoolander) - So far, I've not wanted to kill the prime minister of Malaysia while listening to this song. Maybe it's because I'm not really really ridiculously good looking enough. Or maybe it's because I'm an ambi-turner.

Heh. After making this list, I'm not even bothered at how weak a category Best Song is this year....

Weekly Music Mix: The Anti-Schmoopy Edition

We're rotten fruit
We're damaged goods
What the hell, we've got nothing more to lose
One gust and we will probably crumble...

- Radiohead, "Backdrifts (Honeymoon is Over)"

This has not been the best day for me. Valentine's Day seldom is. I guess I just get sick of society and the media telling me that I must be defective since I'm still single at this age. I've been a little too introspective today, and realized most of the relationships I've had that lasted longer than a few days have not been of the happy kind. At the best, I end up as a doormat or used by the other person. At the worst, it turns into full blown verbal abuse. And as I have been the only constant in these interactions, I have to come to the conclusion that I'm the problem in the equation. I figured, rather than perpetuating the same bad experience, it would be best to just take myself out the equation.

So, yeah. Not all that into the hearts and flowers and nonstop advertisements for dating services and diamonds. The chocolate, however, is OK.

In lieu of an actual post of substance, here's a playlist to balance out all of the teeth-rotting sweetness and light of the day:

I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine - Beth Orton
All That Was Said - Hamell on Trial (featuring Ani DiFranco)
Waltz #1 - Elliott Smith
Drown in My Own Tears - The Smithereens
Backdrifts (Honeymoon is Over) - Radiohead
Parting Gift - Fiona Apple
Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
Do We Even Belong Together? - Freekbass
Where Am I Gonna Run To - Ryan Downe
Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely - Husker Du
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me - The Smiths
Song For the Dumped - Ben Folds Five
Valentine's Day Song - Lovely Crash

Now, if you'll excuse me, there's some things that need killin' in The Barrens.

Confessions of an Undead Priestess

My apologies for being MIA. Part of it was due to being under the weather for a few days and trying to do too much in not enough time, but some of it was due to... um... er...

I'm playing World of Warcraft. There. I said it. The first step is admitting it, right?

And despite the fact that I'm not very good at it, I'm enjoying myself immensely. Seriously - I am the wussiest troll warrior chick ever. And my undead priestess spent a week defending herself with a sharpened letter opener, which amused me to no end.

(Actually, it's the little things like that that have been the most fun. The goofy dancing often accompanied by Eminem's "Shake That", the fact that I tend to play my priestess with two other undead chicks aptly nicknamed the Living Dead Girls, the silly things I can make my character say... yeah, I'm a big ol' geek.)

Zappagirl and Memnoch are the ones who got me hooked, but somewhere in the great scheme of things I blame JohnnyB and the countless nights of watching him play Diablo. (And when he finds out about this, he's going to laugh sooooo hard....)

And despite the fact that it's turning me into a Tourette's victim (I tend to talk a lot of smack to the NPCs when I'm attacking), it's been a good way to vent frustration. I'm trying to limit my playing to a reasonable level so I don't completely abandon all semblances of a social life, but I can see how it consumes people's lives. I know I have a few quests that I need to turn in on each character, and then I'll just play for an hour or so and... oh my, is that the time? I have to be at work when? (Actually, I've been very good about playing on school nights so far. The weekends are another story, though.)

But on the positive side of things, I bought extra memory for my laptop to make the game run better. And I've been meaning to do that for a long time. (Memnoch was actually shocked that my computer would even support the game. I keep forgetting that even though my laptop is three years young, it's considered mentally challenged in this technological day and age.)

No intervention is necessary yet, but if you happen to see me in the real world mumbling about casting Power Word: Pain while stabbing someone with a sharpened letter opener... yeah, that might be a bad thing.

Weekly Music Mix, The Concert Edition

OK, forget that whole Monday thing. It's obvious I'm never going to make that deadline. Let's just say I'll post the mix sometime during the week....

I didn't go to many actual concerts last year, but the few I went to combined with the local festivals and shows makes a very eclectic mix. Here's a summary of 2005 in shows:

"Planet Earth" - Duran Duran (at Music Hall): Went with Paisley while she was in town. Sydney (my sister) was sitting a few sections over. The show brought out the 16-year-old Durannie in me. I danced like it was 1984 all over again.

"Anything Can Happen" - The Finn Brothers (at 20th Century Theatre): Was supposed to go with Stephanie, but she got stuck at work and had to forfeit her ticket. Too bad for her; the show was fabulous.

"Cherries in the Snow" - Lovely Crash (at York Street Cafe): Dragged Zappagirl along with me. Wasn't aware that Jen W. had left the band (at that time) and was quite perplexed to see her sitting behind us during the set. (She was back in the lineup by Midpoint. Hooray!)

"To Kill a King" - Hungry Lucy (at Southgate House during Electrofest): Stephanie made it to this one. JohnnyB was right about this band....

"Johnny's New Religion" - For Algernon (at RBC during Jammin' On...): I'd seen my friend Jason play solo (a few years ago at Southgate House) and with other bands (MPMF 2004, when our paths kept crossing and I discovered he was playing with at least four bands that I can think of), but had never had the opportunity to see him play with his band. When Jammin' on Main got cancelled and the local bars took matters into their own hands with Jamiin' On..., I finally got the opportunity to see them. (Heard they were one of the most talked about bands at this past year's Midpoint. I was only able to catch the end of the set, but the place was packed and they sounded great.)

"Mothership Connection" - George Clinton (at Madison Theater): Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch. I'd kind of seen George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars at Lollapalooza a few years back, but due to the weirdness of the day ended up missing most of the set. The band played for 3 hours. Much booty shaking ensued. The staff pretty much had to kick us out at the end because they wanted to go the hell home.

"Chrome" - VNV Nation (at Madison Theater): Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch, ran into a bajillion club kids, and spent most of the night talking to Mike Dangers. One of those bands that I wasn't familiar with, then would recognize the songs from the club. Fun show, but the onstage clown for Ronan's birthday was kind of scary.

"The Internet is for Porn" - Avenue Q (at Golden Theater in NYC): Not necessarily a concert per se, but I decided seeing a Tony-award-winning musical on Broadway merited a mention. Best puppet musical ever. I can't remember the last time I'd laughed so hard. Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch during our eating and drinking (but mostly drinking) tour of the Big Apple. (And thanks to this video clip, I will never be able to hear this song without having images of dancing World of Warcraft characters in my head.)

"Gin and Juice" - Richard Cheese (at Bowery Ballroom in NYC). The main reason for the New York trip. Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch. Fun stuff. (And yes, I was harboring a slight crush on Gordon Brie during the entire show. *sigh*)

"Go Daddy-O" - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (at House of Blues in Cleveland): Best kidnapping ever. Went with Zappagirl and Memnoch (the masterminds behind this little weekend). I don't care if the new swing revolution has come and gone; hearing this band still makes me want to go out and take dance lessons.

"Walking on Water" - Schooley Station (at The Exchange during MPMF): By this point during Midpoint, I think I'd already taken in five bands (and this was the second time slot of the night). Good band, swanky bar (definitely not my kind of place), and ran into Rob J. working security. Good start to the weekend.

"Gorecki Revisited" - Aether (at Japps during MPMF): I liked these guys a lot. They remind me a bit of Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai. Plus their albums were reasonably priced, so I was able to pick up both of them. Score!

"Bleed" - Moonshot Radio (at Jekyll and Hyde's during Midpoint). Nice group of boys from Texas, describing their sound as " the jangly grit of early 80's R.E.M., underscore it with Foo Fighters-esque hooks, then flavor it with a little U2 and early era Radiohead." Played on one of my least favorite stages, and was one of my favorite discoveries of the festival.

"Irish American Girls" - Dulahan (at The Dubliner): With Yzavela, Delordra, Nasturtium, Gojro, and whoever else showed up to drink and sing along. Keeping my fingers crossed that some other Irish pub springs up and gives this band a place to play again.

"Don't Kill" - Hamell on Trial (at Southgate House): With Zappagirl and Memnoch. I cannot believe I almost forgot Hamell, especially since his new album drops on Tuesday. After hearing many of the new songs at this past show (and giggling my head off during the one about Anne Coulter), I'm going to head off to pre-order this now....

Confessions of a Would-be English Major

I received this meme from my friend Shadow the other day...

Here are the current top 50 books from What Should I Read Next?.
Bold the books you have read. Italicise the books you might read. Cross out the books you probably won't read, and pass it on.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6) - J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (book 3) - J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Ender's Game (The Ender Saga) - Orson Scott Card
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement - Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

*sigh* I wish I'd received this meme about a week ago, because now I'm looking at all of these books I'd like to read knowing that it will be a while before I get to them. I splurged the other night at Joseph-Beth and bought The Well of Lost Plots and Something Rotten (both by Jasper Fforde) and Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. (I've also had Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris on audiobook on my iPod for months, but I haven't had the opportunity to listen to them.)
I'll admit it - a lot of the books that I marked as "might read" are books that I probably should have read by this point in my life (how is it that I've never read any Jane Austen or any of the Brontë sisters?) or are books that my friends have recommended to me. For instance, I have no idea if Cryptonomicon is my kind of book, but fatoudust and nasturtium both read it and enjoyed it. It's book peer pressure!

I made a conscious effort to not cross anything out. I looked up the books that I was not familiar with on Amazon. There was nothing on the list that sounded particularly horrid; anything that elicited a "meh" just got left alone.

And just because I actually marked a book as "have read" is no indication of whether I liked it or not. I'm looking at you, Mr. Hemingway. You too, Mr. Fitzgerald. I hated you both and neither of you would be in bold print if it wasn't for high school literature assignments. (Actually, there are several books on this list that I was forced to read. 4 out of 7 books from my senior British literature class are listed... but I enjoyed all of those.)

I marked The Lord of the Rings as a "might read" since I've only read The Fellowship of the Ring. Yeah, that's right. I never completed the series. And I didn't buy the extended editions of the movies, either.

And then there's The Life of Pi. At one point, I was interested in reading this. One of my coworkers raved about it. Since that point, I've heard from other people that it was the most excruciating read they'd attempted in a long time. (One person suggested reading every other sentence to lessen the pain but still manage to finish the book.) I'll put it on my "to read" list... somewhere after White Oleander. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

I'm not sure why I want to read The Da Vinci Code. Just to see what all the fuss is about, I suppose. (And of course, if I read it and think it stinks, I'll probably be much less likely to read Angels and Demons.)

I'm not sure what this list says about me. I guess it does make me feel a little better about my reading habits. Sometimes I have a tendency to think of myself as not that well-read because I'm reading fluff and watching crappy TV while my friends are reading and discussing Finnegan's Wake at great length. But I'ver read almost half of the books on this list, and have several of them on my "will read sooner or later" list. That's gotta count for something, right?

Monday Mix, Somewhat Delayed

Wow. It took me less than a week to meet my self-imposed deadline. That's gotta be some kind of record.

I had every intention of posting a mix when I got home last night, but a much-long-than-planned shopping excursion in search of necessities made me realize how exhausted the day (and the preceding weekend) had made me. I ate dinner, knit a few rows of I-cord, and fell asleep on the couch. Go me!

These were the first ten songs that Antoinette decided to play this morning...

"He's My Best Friend" - Jellyfish, Spilt Milk I'd always thought this would be a great song to use in a movie montage. Unfortunately, the makers of that crappy movie Threesome had the same idea and used it in that capacity. Oh well.

"Don't Worry About the Government" - Talking Heads, Sand in the Vaseline Um, yeah. What color is the sky in your world, Antoinette?

"Emojoe" - Infinite Number of Sounds, Time Wants a Skeleton This is going to be one of those incredibly random mixes, isn't it? I didn't make it to their show the other weekend. Thankfully, they come back frequently enough that I can possibly catch them the next time around. (This also makes me giggle because the quiz that I had to delete on Friday pegged me as an emo kid. Heh.)

"Guerilla Radio" - Richard Cheese, Lounge Against the Machine Because there's no better way to start the day than with a lounge cover of Rage Against the Machine.

"Enbracing the Sunshine" - BT, Ima And apparently there's no better way to follow up a lounge cover of Rage Against the Machine than with 11 minutes of trance. Are there iPsychiatrists on staff at AppleCare?

"Kill Your Television" - Ned's Atomic Dustbin, God Fodder One of my friends used to set his alarm clock to play this some when it was time for him to get up in the morning. Guess that two bass assault was just the right kick to the head he needed to get moving.

"Hardcore" - See Colin Slash This song still makes me giggle, because I personally know: one person who has to dye his hair black before he makes his occasional foray out to a club, one person who had pink hair when I met her, several people who would get dressed up to go out to a dance club and not dance, and more than one vegetarian who consistently wore leather. Plus it's got a good beat and I can dance to it.

"Pendulum" - Broadcast, Haha Sound I found this album in the used CD bin at Everybody's Records and, recalling that Roger Mexico had mentioned the band on more than one occasion, decided to take a chance on it. Good move on my part. Not for everyone's tastes, of course, but I like the lo-fi retro pop feel to the songs wedged between the more experimental dissonance.

"Bottle Up and Explode!" - Elliott Smith, XO The Poster Boy for the Sad Boys with Guitars genre. Yes, I'm still kicking myself after all these years that I didn't buy my tickets in advance to the Southgate show that sold out. "Oh well, I'll just see him the next time he comes through town." Yeah, as long as the artist doesn't stab himself in the chest twice. Dammit.

"Bloodshot Eyes" - Pat Benatar, True Love Yes, that Pat Benatar. The DJ at DV8 Swing nights used to play this song every night, and it was one of my favorite songs to dance to. One night I finally got around to asking the DJ who sang the song. Yeah, it took me a few minutes to wrap my head around the idea of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and a cover of "Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss" coming from the same source. And then I immediately went out and bought the album.

Wow, that was random. The shufflemonkeys seem to be in rare form today....

Friday Randomness, Part 1

From The Friday Fiver:

1. What do you normally eat for breakfast?
Since preparing breakfast takes up valuable sleep time, I tend to go for something simple. This week it's been multigrain bagels, accompanied by a Diet Coke and the morning handful o' pills.

2. Are you more likely to drink coffee or tea?
Um, coffee. (Note title of this page.) I do like tea, and at one point was single-handedly keeping Celestial Seasonings in business, but now I'm pretty much Juan Valdez's bitch.

3. Would you consider yourself a good cook?
Depends. I can follow a simple recipe, and I do pretty well when it comes to h'ors doeuvres. But I'm certainly not ready for my own show on the Food Network or anything. (And I'll always be a pie school dropout.)

4. What is your favorite meal?
See, I'm wondering if this question is referring to the type of food or the time of day, so I suppose I'll answer both to be on the safe side....
Favorite meal (food): Italian Meatloaf (either mine or Cristof's) or Chicken Alfredo Primavera.
Favorite meal (time of day): late night dinner

5. Green eggs and ham: would you eat it?
Hey, why not? I'll pretty much try anything once...


(There was a silly personality test after this point, but it was a table-breaker and made my page look like crap. Sorry for those of you who saw it. I'll try to find one that doesn't kill my layout for next week.)

Plans for the New Year

In lieu of making a bunch of New Year's resolutions that I have little to no chance of keeping, I've given some thought as to what I can do at this site. I've been increasingly lax in posting here, partly due to being busy with other things (mostly work, but I do from time to time have something bearing a slight resemblance to a social life - shocking!).

The main problem, though, has been a lack of something to say. There has been more than one occasion when I've wanted to post, known I was long overdue for a post, and couldn't think of a single interesting thing to say. I've noticed that in other places where I write, I spend an inordinate amount of time whining incessantly about my crappy job and what a humongous loser I am. Honestly, I don't need any more places to do that.

There were a lot of things that went on last year that, frankly, amounted to a big ball of suck that I'm still trying to cope with and process. Sudden and unexpected family illness, and a few complications of my own. More than one friend who inexplicably disappeared from my life without saying a word, and one who exited with a word or two to say that made me doubt pretty much everything I believed to be true. Massive amounts of self loathing. People who, through their actions, constantly reminded me how worthless I am. Dealing with my past. Coming to terms with my place in the world. Yeah, 2005 kinda blew, but I don't feel comfortable writing about the details in such a public forum. (Ah, the paradox of blogging: what I sometimes need to get out of my system is stuff that is for the most part nobody's business.)

Of course, there were some bright spots: the New York trip, a second completed (but not yet edited) novel, the Cleveland abduction weekend, friends that reappeared from my past, new and wonderful friends, drunken nights at the Dubliner (R.I.P.), overcaffeinated plots hatched at the IHOP, and weekends filled with knitting and silliness courtesy of Zappagirl and Memnoch.

So anyway... 2006. So far it's been, as my buddy Gojiro so aptly put it, kind of a little bitch. But that's a whole 'nother blog.

In an effort to post here more than once a month, I have come up with a plan to post certain things on specific days. On Mondays, I will post a music mix of some sort or another. It may be a Rhapsody mix, it may be themed, it may be the first ten songs that played when I released the shufflemonkeys on Antoinette (my iPod). Fridays will be reserved for a lame online quiz or meme. And between those two scheduled posts... well, who knows? It could be a laundry list of what's going on in my life, a political rant, or the end product of a word-prompt exercise.

I'm not guaranteeing anything. You all know by now that I'm great with the planning, but awful on the follow-through. But I'm going to at least make an effort....