Quodlibets

A meme that could go anywhere

I'm going to take a page out of my sister's book and do the same meme she did.  First one or two sentences from every month:

January:  Last night, S, my sister and I went to see The Life Aquatic. It was an okay movie.

February: 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.  (I think this was a letter to someone in one of my library classes.)

March:  When I was in high school, I'm pretty sure I thought I was going to be a writer. In fact, even then, I was aware that I loved words maybe more than most people, and to that end, I took every English elective my high school offered.

April:  Okay, don't tell S, but lately, I've been craving the rock music that I normally hate. Secretly, I've been listening to things I normally make him turn off when we're in the car, or cleaning to iPod shuffle mode.

May:  I've been having some nightmares lately.  Not the immediate terror-filled "a man with a gun" or "someone's chasing me" kind of nightmares, but weird, off-beat, super-scary ones.

June:  One down, one to go.  Except that I'm not very anxious for my class tonight to be over, since I loved it so much.  (Oh, thank the lord that ended.)

July:  War of the Worlds, despite the antics of its leading man, was really very good.  (Apparently, I go to the movies on the last day of the month.)

August:  So, in a comment on an older post, M asks me if I would really turn down my dream job if they wanted me to remove my nose piercing, considering that jobs are harder to come by in the library field. (The answer was:  "Um, yep.")

September:  There's nothing I can say about Katrina that hasn't been said.  It's a disgrace that we can't organize a relief effort that actually provides relief; it's a tragedy that no one is saying a word about race and class, and how those things affect this disaster.

October:  S took me to see the sneak preview of "In Her Shoes" tonight--as if the title of this post didn't clue you in.  Anyway, this movie definitely meets the Bechdel rule--I would say that there were three (maybe four if you count Mrs. Lefkowitz) main female characters, and there were times they conversed about things other than men.  (It seems like we see movies in a window of the end of one month and the beginning of another.  Nothing in the middle.)

November:  Tomorrow, S and I are leaving for Disney, for the second time this year.  This time, though, we're going with my fam.

December:  Don't worry, it's not sappy. Kate and I seem unable to break plans with one another. (Ha ha, we have plans tomorrow but neither one of us, so far as I know, actually wants to cancel tomorrow.  Unless she is just fooling me again.)

Boy, if you take me at my first sentence of every month, I'm a boring person.  This meme would probably be more interesting if I said more interesting things.

The Sound of Sirens

S and I went out to do some shopping today (not Xmas shopping, which I am done with; no, we needed things for us.  Okay, S needed things.  I really needed nothing.) and when we went through a major intersection, I heard a siren.  I couldn't find whatever vehicle it belonged to, so I asked S to look.  He said that it was probably turning onto the street we were now on, so I moved over.  Following closely behind the ambulance was a powder blue Taurus station wagon, and when I say closely, I mean, right on the ambulance's ass.  I kind of assumed that it was someone with whoever was in the back of the speeding ambulance.  I mean, no one is that much of an asshole, right?

And now you know the answer.  Yes, the man in the Taurus was an asshole.  When the ambulance made a quick left, the station wagon didn't follow.  I said to S, "Man, that guy was essentially an ambulance chaser.  That's shitty."  My immediate thought after that was something about whether or not the EMTs in the ambulance are sitting in the ambulance cursing the asshole following them so closely.  Or do they shout insults at the drivers who are not so quick to get over?  You know, how much road rage do ambulance people have?  Because I would be pissed off if I was trying to get to someone's home (or business) and I knew someone could die if that idiot in front of me didn't move. 

I don't know.  The longer I drive, the more assholes there seem to be.  It seems like the driving population is suddenly out of control in two ways--they're both ridiculously rude and somehow also ridiculously slow.  Is it normal for people to go ten over the speed limit in some places (when the speed limit is 35) and be on your ass when you're only going five over, and then go ten under the speed limit (when it's raised to 55 a few miles down the road) and give you a dirty look when you pass them?  I'm not sure, because in my town, everyone goes 10 under.  It's so damn annoying.  There's nothing more annoying.  (That's maybe an exaggeration.)  Still, even I draw the line at chasing ambulances.  I mean, is that illegal?

A Quick Question

Can I just ask why it is so damn hard to find fun, hip cross stitch kits and books?  All I wanna do is cross stitch things other than kittens and landscapes, insipid platitudes and cartoony things.  I'm not into those sorts of things. 

Why isn't there a cross-stitch revolution like the knitting revolution?  I mean, there are bajillions of fun knitting patterns all over the internets.  Where's mine?  I hate knitting.  I mean, I suck at it, and I dislike it.  But I'm still crafty, damn it.  I'm going to have to start making my own patterns at some point if I don't find something soon.  That's really not easy, in case you thought it was.  Damn it.

Linky Linkerton

Oh dear god, have I found something cool.  I found it at another blog, and I'm both sad and glad.  It's addictive.  It's very addictive.  Be prepared to listen; don't go to this site while watching a movie, for instance.

(My first attempt at it was unsuccessful; my second has been nothing but delightful.  So far.  The first did, however, turn up a quirky cover of a Dave Matthews Band song.  Unfortunately, it was a DMB song that I've never really liked very much, Stay (Wasting Time).  The cover wasn't so delightful, and then the rest of the music was equally not delightful.  So now I'm going in a completely different direction.)

Have fun!

Holiday Hustle and Bustle

I think I'm done with my shopping.  It felt like there was less of it this year, though in reality, there's probably more, since we've initiated ornament exchanges with three of my cousins.  (By we, I mean my sister and I, not S and I.)  Unfortunately, because I've been concentrating on that, the laundry, my cross-stitch, a stupid video game, and some reading, the apartment was in a state this morning.  A bad state.  So I spent the morning cleaning, and now I'm wrapping the aforementioned presents.  I feel like I've been wrapping for hours--though it's probably only been a half hour.

I stink at wrapping presents.  Stink.  I suck at tape.  Tape never does what I want it to do, and trying to hold onto paper and make tape do what I want it to do is nearly impossible for me.  And I am just not good at figuring how much paper to use, or how to fold the paper so that it works and looks nice.  S is much better than I am, but he can't wrap all of the presents (because there are some that are for him) and anyway, I like wrapping, even if I stink.  So yeah, all my presents look like they were wrapped by a five year-old.  Not kidding.  You can always tell which presents are from me by the raggedy look about them.  Oh well.

I know this is very uninteresting, and I've been thinking a lot about why I have nothing (absolutely nothing) to say about anything, and I think it's the holidays.  I'm still frustrated by how crappy the government is, and I still feel angry almost every day, reading something or other.  But I just can't formulate anything intelligent to say about said anger.  I feel like I'm in some sort of hibernation (but don't worry, family, it's not the same depression as last year) that makes me hate reading and makes me want to just ignore the bad things.  (I guess the hating-reading thing is something I haven't really talked about, but needless to say, the reading isn't going well.)  Anyhow, I hope to return to intelligent conversation and less fluff after the new year, as well as do an analysis of my 25 in 2005 list.  (A sort of pseudo-resolution sheet from last year.  I'm sure it's in the archives somewhere.)  Also, maybe I'll have good job news.  Or maybe not.  Maybe my luck will turn next year.  Or maybe not.  But I'll talk about that stuff later, when I can make sense.

Off to do some more wrapping.....

Friday Random Ten

1. Singin' in the Rain -- Jamie Cullum
2. Dancing Nancies (Live at Red Rocks) -- Dave Matthews Band
3. Desperation Eyes -- Patrick Park
4. Imitation of Life -- R.E.M.
5. All These Things That I've Done -- The Killers
6. I Can't Take It -- Tegan and Sara
7. Again I Go Unnoticed -- Dashboard Confessional
8. Friday I'm In Love -- The Cure
9. Blister in the Sun -- Violent Femmes
10. Rapunzel (Live in Chicago) -- Dave Matthews Band

I was at the Chicago show where that last one was performed, but the thing I remember most about the show was "Christmas Song", since I'd never seen it performed before.  Otherwise, it's a less than spectacular ten, though two artists from my Lollapalooza Debacle of '05 are in the mix.

In other music news, I've decided to make an "End of the Year" mix.  Every year for the past four or so, some former co-workers and I have been making these mixes as a way to showcase music that we think is really good.  For the first few, working in a music store made it really easy to find 15-18 songs from the past year.  But for the past two years, it's been hard for me.  A lot of the music I'm discovering and listening to isn't necessarily from 2005 (or 2004, as in last year, when I didn't make a mix).  But S and Tim have urged me to consider making a mix, even if it includes music that isn't new, and I think I can do it.  It might be a very interesting mix of eras, but that's okay.  It'll be my year in music, and I guess that's the best thing about it.

And I'm going to extend this offer:  If you think you might like a copy of the mix (whoever you are), leave a comment with an email address and I'll email you to get your address and we can go from there.  I can't promise this will happen before Christmas--in fact, I can almost guarantee that the original mix will not even be made until after that.  The only disclaimer I add, otherwise, is that if too many people want these, I might have to charge a nominal shipping fee; or, we can try to set up a reciprocal trade.  Either way, if you really want this mix (it won't be that exciting, I promise you that), I'll get it to you.

December 8, 1980

It's hard to imagine it any differently.  I wish we didn't have to.  It's hard to not sound cheesy and lame when remembering him, so I'm just going to post one of his songs that is as appropriate today as it was when it was written.

Merry Xmas (War is Over)

(Happy Xmas Kyoko
Happy Xmas Julian)

So this is Xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Xmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Keith Olbermann

Will you marry me?  Okay, not really, but I am expressing my love for him right here, right now.  Any man that can throw down politcally and athletically can come spend time with me. 

S and I have been watching Countdown most nights (if only 15 to 30 minutes of it), and I love Olbermann's humor, and his irreverence.  I appreciate the job he does, and I even like the hard stuff tempered by the not-hard stuff. 

And I, for the past week or so, I've been listening to sports radio (why why why, you ask).  Mostly because right now, I'm just not into the music.  (I'm not sure what it is, but lately, I'm "off" reading and music, preferring talk radio and sewing/video games.)  I switched on talk radio last week, and everything was boring except for sports radio, where people seem very passionate and like to disagree.  And they like to disagree about stuff that I have no real opinion on except for that the Bears are fun to watch now, and the Cubs really sucked but we can hope. 

This interest in sports isn't so out of character for me, whatever people think.  In high school (and middle school), I read Sports Illustrated every week (as we had a subscription) and watched SportsCenter every few days, because I found it all very interesting.  (Perhaps my Olbermann love started then?  The original cool SC anchor; him and Dan Patrick made a great team.  Still do, on the radio.)  I think college kind of took that interest away, both because of my busy schedule and my disinterested friends (not that my friends in high school were interested).  I'm not sure, but the interest dropped away.  It's strange, but I've suddenly become re-interested.  Can't explain it.  (It's certainly not to share something with S.  He doesn't give a shit about any sport.)  It's compelling right now, that's all I know.

If the Bears tank at the end of the season, or if the Cubs bite the big one (what do I mean, if?  I mean, when.), my interest may drop away by the spring.

Pasta with tuna, artichoke hearts, and hearts of palm (in a salad style)

Tonight, I actually improvised a dinner that I'm not embarrassed to say that I ate.  I can rarely ever cobble together dinner, because I never have ingredients around that cobble right.  But when I was standing in the kitchen trying to decide what to eat for dinner, I kept thinking that I wanted a salad.  I'm out of lettuce, however, so that pretty much made that option a non-starter.  Except that S was going to make pasta, and there is such a thing as pasta....salad.  I was also fixated on tuna (but more the idea of tuna in macaroni and cheese--which is really not good for you), so I thought that I could throw the single-serving pouch of tuna in with the noodles.  And then, I also had grape tomatoes, hearts of palm and artichoke hearts (the latter two items canned), so I threw those in too. 

For the dressing, I made Greek dressing out of my Penzey's Greek Seasoning.  My only complaint about it was that the dressing was far too oily.  (I cut the recipe into fourths, because I don't need 3/4 of a cup of dressing for myself.)  Next time, I'll probably improvise my own mix of the dressing; I like vinegar so much that I hardly need any oil at all.  But I thought I'd give the actual recipe for the dressing a try, since all I'd done with the Seasoning up to this point is sprinkle it over my green salads.

All in all, it was successful, save for the under-ripe tomatoes and the general oilyness of the dressing.  It was edible, but I wouldn't serve it to someone else, how about that?  I may try it again, because I almost always have tuna and the canned salad veggies around.  We'll see.  Still, I consider it a culinary triumph that I didn't make a box of mac-and-cheese.

A list of things that I could write whole posts about but I'm unable to do well enough right now

-The continuing issues with pharmacists refuse to fill certain prescriptions; I like living in a state that's enforcing a law making religious intolerance illegal.  Yay for Illinois, and yay for Walgreens for making sure the law is obeyed. 

-This ridiculous rhetoric condemning stores and institutions that change their holiday greeting from "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays".  It's absolutely NOT some sort of sinister plot trying to discriminate against Christians; it's a mercenary tactic of consumerism.  Include more people=make more money.  It's nothing more than that.  Frankly, I'm sick of the bitching.  Most of America has Christmas Day off, which is shite, if you think about it, considering that many people don't celebrate it and would love to go to Borders on that day.  At least Thanksgiving is less tied to Christian beliefs.  Not that I don't love Christmas, but I don't love it because of the Christ part.  I don't care if you wish me "Happy Holidays", "Merry Christmas" or even "Happy Hanukkah", because all I care about is that you're being nice to me.  Grow up, crazy fundies.

-I'd like to somehow talk about my major issues with alcohol and drunkenness, but I'm afraid it could come off badly.  I've been known to get drunky-drunky a little (last night, for instance), so what I'm exposing is both a major rift within myself, a horrible past, and my own hypocrisy.  The truth is, there's five million things I could say about drinking and me, and all of them are mini-essays in their own right.  I'm very not normal when it comes to alcohol consumption and I know it; most of my peers consider drinking their primary extra-curricular activity, and I simply cannot ever feel that way.  I don't enjoy it enough.  And I'm sick of being pressured to like it!  Just because I don't like going out to bars, smoking lots of cigarettes (that's honesty, right there; last night I had one too many cigs and I don't like it/them anymore) and playing that game.  It's NOT fun for me.  Never will be again.  I'd rather be lonely than be pressured into alcohol-fueled good times.

-Last night, on my drive back home for a blow-out holiday party (given by my dad and M), I was behind a beat-up lookin' pick-up truck that had a bumper sticker on it that said, "No Fat Chicks".  Not kidding.  I could talk about how absolutely fucked up that was, and how it made me think about this ridiculous environment we live in, and I could bring in, as a corollary, the fact that my insurance premium is 25% higher because of my "body type".  Never mind that I've lost 30 lbs. in the last nine months, and that I'm probably healthier than I've been in years; insurance companies see height and weight, and judge.  It's absolutely amazingly blind.  I understand it, but I think that it's just another way our health industry is fucked up.  The system ain't working.  But that's even a different topic from the first point of this point.

-And lastly, wouldn't it be nice to hear good news about my job situation?  Well, I don't have any yet, so cross your fingers for me, eh?  I'm working on it.  It's pretty embarrassing to go to parties with lots of people who only barely know you and be asked continually what you've been up to and answer every single question like this:  "Nothing."  Because no one believes you, number one, and number two, it's a pretty fucking pathetic answer.  Nothing like a good mingle to make you feel like a loser.  Oh well, at least I got to eat McDonald's today.  Nothing like a big ol' greaseburger to calm your oogy hangover stomach.