Quodlibets

S and I had a

S and I had a lot of fun with this feature on the Esquire mag home page. Go check it out.

Any guesses as to who S and I picked (independently, not jointly) as the best band in the world?

So, I didn't watch the

So, I didn't watch the State of the Union speech. I have this bizarre form of Tourette's Sydrome; any time GWB is on TV and attempting to give a speech, I yell mean things at said TV. Horrible, filthy, mean things. Also, rational things, which to GWB are horrible filthy things, so there you go. But I've read a bit about it, both on news sites, and then of course, on blogs. Most everybody is talking about Social Security and how Bush is going to fix but wait, it's not broken. That seems to be the topic at hand. However, apparently Bush also talked about using DNA evidence more (?!?) and this blog entry, over at Alternative Hippo, was just too f-ing brilliant. Honestly, the thought of GWB screwing up his face and saying, "Mars, Bitches!" or "DNA, Bitches" is just too much.

And as for the 6 Democratic Senators who voted to confirm Alberto Gonzales, shame on you. Shame on you for making a man who has his fingers in the torture that this government is apparently (and sadly, pathetically and un-AMERICAN-LY) condoning the Attorney General of the US. However much they protest it, I think that when this presidency is happily and wonderfully over, we'll find out that not only was torture condoned, and by smaller level thugs, the president knew about it. And did nothing to stop it. This is, after all, a man who probably would make executions public if he could. (Tangent: man, can't you just see GWB presiding over a public hanging the 1800's? He'd be doing the monkey smirk and that laugh, and then express overwhelming sadness that he had to sanction the killing of a human being. Just saying.) I don't know, I've been making a concerted effort not to talk about politics, not because I'm not paying attention anymore, but because I simply don't know what to say. It seems like there are a lot of voices out there, talking about how bad this might turn out to be, but that they're all very separate, and that there's A LOT of disagreement on how best to turn this ship around.

The problem, as I see, is apathy. A very deep-seated, scary apathy. People don't care. I think that was the problem with screaming "DRAFT!" and hoping a whole bunch of 18 year-olds would run to the polls. No 18 year-0ld really thinks that the draft is coming for him. And keep in mind, we still don't know if it will. But it's like AIDS and cancer and car crashes and death in general. Teenagers think that those kinds of things happen to OTHER PEOPLE and not to them. And even if there was a draft, no matter how you framed it, there would still be kids with the means to get out of it, and still kids without. Rich kids would find a way to get out of it. GWB's daughters wouldn't be going. Paris Hilton isn't going to war, folks. No, the poor kids are going to be dying, and the poor kid's parents, well, if they can take the time out of their four jobs to actually do something other than sleep and find a way to provide the most for the money for their other kid(s), you can bet they don't even know where to start. And does that even matter? If all of Dennis Hastert's constituents told him to vote against any more money for military actions when two are left unfinished, would he? I think not.

I have to cling to the hope that he's not stupid enough to institute a draft. I have to. And I have to hope, that at some point in the future, sane Americans will remember this time, these eight years, and call it a dark period. I hope that someday, this is exposed as the most corrupt modern presidency. I have very little doubt of that, actually.

I always think when I

I always think when I hear the phrase damn it, it sounds like one word, spelled exactly like above.
It's been a heinous day. S and I can't get the drill to go into our wall as far as we need it to go (it's like there's rock behind it), so we can't hang the gorgeous curtains my mom made for us. She's offered a solution, but I fear that there may be more setbacks, and right now, I'm in no state to deal with setbacks. I burst into tears last night when I realized S and I were not going to be able to put up the curtains then--I'm fragile, okay?
And then I woke up intending to go work out and go to the library and the store and do lots of laundry and homework. But no. I woke up with the mother of all headaches (Thank you, menstruation) and cramps that would fell an ox. So instead, I spent all morning trying to chase my headache away, first on the couch, and then in bed. Then, I actually decided to go do the things I had to do, which was fine. I found some books I've wanted to read for a long time at the library, and I found the packet of dip mix I needed for board game night. Unfortunately, I also found the Krispy Kreme donuts. I bought one, (though I haven't eaten it yet), intending to eat a nice, healthy dinner so I could eat my donut. No. It's not meant to be. I can't stop thinking about McDonald's and Culver's and Wendy's (oh my), and I really want nothing more than to stuff every greasy food in the world into my mouth. Thank you again, menstruation.

This sucks. I feel like shit still, I want to eat shitty food, and I can't see. I took my contacts out, because they were bothering my eyes, and my glasses are from two prescriptions ago, so I can't see. God, I'm cranky.

Whenever Pearl Jam comes on

Whenever Pearl Jam comes on the radio, I listen happily, sing out loud, and mentally determine if I need to tell S that I heard a certain song. Whenever S wants to listen to PJ in the car, I groan so loud it hurts and berate him for subjecting me to his AWFUL music. Huh. More on music: (and I did not write this, it's a meme)

1. Song that sounds like happy feels:

Oooh, anything by Deeeee-Lite. A friend made me his own personal version of Deeee-Lite's greatest hits, and it never fails to make me dance like a crazy woman.

2. Earliest memory:

I guess it would have to be my sister and my Fisher-Price record player. And playing some album that had a picture of the dogs from Lady and the Tramp on it, and the Siamese cat song from Lady in the Tramp on it.

3. Last CD you bought:

Well, I bought the Scissor Sisters album and the Arcade Fire album on the same day. I've listened to the SS album once, and the AF album too many times to count. But after that, S bought me the new Ani DiFranco album, which I would like if someone could come pry the AF album out of my cold, dead hands. Because I'll have to be dead before I let you take that from me.

4. Reminds you of school:

Elementary School
If I had to say anything, I guess I would say Thriller. But I can't really remember any song being tied to elementary school.

High School

Okay, this is like, a meme in and of itself, songs from high school. Here's a partial list of songs that make me think of high school every time I hear them:
"Mystery" --Indigo Girls
"Beginnings" --Chicago
"Wonderwall" --Oasis
Dulcinea (the entire album)--Toad the Wet Sprocket
"Just a Girl" --No Doubt
"Vogue" --Madonna
Man, I could go on forever.

College

"As if" by Ani DiFranco. In a horrible, very bad way. Of course, because the song is lovely. Also, most DMB (who I still love) at one time or another makes me think of my college years.

5. Total music files on your PC:

Well, here's the thing. S and I don't store any music on our laptops. It's all on an independent hard drive that we then hook to our laptops. That hard drive has 73.35 Gb of music on it. Just think, if you combined S and my iPods, you'd still only have 60 Gb of space on them. To be fair, most of that 73 gigs is S's live PJ collection, which if you saw, you'd cry. You'd cry because then you would realize just how much money S has spent on Pearl Jam in the last ten years. He has single-handedly tried to make Eddie Vedder rich. I hope Eddie is happy.

6. Song for listening to repeatedly when depressed:

For a long time, it was "Mess" by the Ben Folds Five, but lately it's been "Lightness" by Death Cab for Cutie.

7. Song that sounds British, but isn't:

Are the Killers British? No, I think they're Mormon, aren't they? Well, they sound slightly English.

8. Song you love, band you hate:

Ooooh, another really good one that could go on forever. Recently, however, it's been "Fall to Pieces" by Velvet Revolver. But I might just like that because I've recently become obsessed with Scott Weiland. Either way, I have no use for Velvet Revolver except that song is really quite good.

9. A favorite song from the past that took ages to track down:

Man, I can't remember this. Do you know how many times I've tried to track down a song? Too many to remember one instance.

10. Bought the album for one good song:

I haven't done this in ages either, simply because of the availability of iTunes. Let me think.....nothing's coming. If I think of anything, I'll try to update the blog.

11. Worst Song to Get Stuck in your Head:

Um. There are so many bad ones it's hard to pick just one. Right now I've got the Killers in my head, which is tolerable. I suppose the most untolerable songs are the ones from musicals. Sometimes, I just want to kick myself for being in two musicals in high school.

12. Best song to dump a beer on someone's head to, then storm out of the bar?

I don't know. It's not quite my style, is it?

13. Who should do this next?

Well, it'd be super-nice if my sister did it. But I doubt she will. And I think this would also be a great meme for my friends T and SS to do, but they don't have blogs so where would they do it???? Actually, it would be super-super great for my dad to do, since he's such a music head. Dad? Post this meme to your blog!

I've been struggling with how

I've been struggling with how to say this for a day now, so I'm just going to put it out there. I'm sure you're a perfectly nice person, when one gets to know you, but being that I don't, I just can't tell if you know the rules.

You see, it is customary to bathe daily, here in the US. Some people can easily stretch that to once every two days, but I myself don't condone that behavior, and I think it can turn into something far more disgusting than we even dare imagine, so please do not think I am saying you can leave it like that. Unfortunately, you might be the type of person who absolutely cannot leave it like that, and I'm only saying this because of the prodigious amount of dandruff in your hair and on your sweatshirt. Also, sometimes, when we don't bathe, we smell. You may not realize that the stench dirty hair can create is noxious, because perhaps your nose doesn't function correctly. But I assure you, my nose does work, and so I am asking as a fellow human being--please wash your hair.

Also, while we are talking about noses, I'd like to mention that bag of Doritos you so happily started eating. At 9:20 in the morning. It's a well-known fact that the smell of Doritos is absolutely unbearable at 9:20 in the morning. I saw inside the bag you left open next to your desk, and saw Cheetos, cookies, and Fruit Loops, among other assorted food items. I'm sure that it would have been just as nice to eat Cheetos that early, and you could have saved the entire back of the classroom some nausea. But also, let's talk about nutrition. You're a young person, only 18, and so maybe you don't realize that in five years, if you eat Doritos every morning for breakfast, you won't be achieving your maximum health quotient. The Fruit Loops gaily sitting in your bag might have been a better choice, when it comes to nutrition, (though Rice Chex or Kix would be even better) and also, again, you would have spared the back of the classroom from any undue nausea.

In addition, I'd like to mention that while you are a young 18, you are also an adult now, and as adult women, we do have a responsibility to wax or bleach our unsightly mustaches. Or not, I suppose, if you're transitioning, or protesting the influence of the patriarchy on our bodies, but as you don't seem to be either one of those, it might behoove you to take care of that problem. I don't mean to be rude, but most people (and not just men--women as well) can be very unkind about body hair in the wrong place. Observe this letter, for instance. I, for one, will have a mustache, as all adult Italian women eventually develop one, but I plan on taking care of it in some way. I don't shave my armpits to protest the patriarchy, but I don't need a mustache hindering my ability to have a life. I'm sure that your friends would reassure you that they like your mustache, but in reality, they probably hope you will get rid of it. Or maybe not. Maybe they're protesting the patriarchy or transitioning. To which I say: be your bad self. Only perhaps not you.

And finally, one smaller thing to think about. You might want to invest in a lint roller. They're very cheap (and in fact, I own two of them. Would you like one?) and very handy. They can easily remove all that unsightly animal hair from the back of your sweatshirt (and probably pick up the dandruff too, if it comes to that) with just a few flicks of the wrist. I'm sure whoever you live with would be happy to run one over your back just once before you leave the house. If you combine the bathing, waxing (or bleaching), nutrition and a lint roller, you might even start to look older, which is always a benefit. I myself am 25 years old, but people always think I look younger; I'm sure if I left the house more unkempt than I do now, I would appear even younger still. At the very least, do try the bathing solution, because it would be really very good for you, and the person behind you in class. Also, please cut the Doritos out of your early morning diet. If not for yourself, then please, for all of us.

Thank you very much,
Manogirl

PS--Your leather jacket smells putrid as well. You might want to invest in something to take care of that.
PPS--Scrunchies went out of style in the mid-nineties. Also, they can make you appear younger than you are, and we have already covered that, so I think you know what I mean.