rungable

so it's sunday. i guess. it's almost nice outside, but not really. i've been getting over last week all weekend.. eating garbage and watching garbage.. and i'm probably not making the most of my time not working.. but sometimes it doesn't matter. i think if i had it to do over (the weekend) i'd do much the same thing, except i'd probably spend a little more time cleaning the kitchen and eating better food. then again, maybe not. i went to the grocery store yesterday and it was really cold and raining. i wore shorts because the bottom half of my pants is still in my car from friday. it was so hot in the car and my drive home was so long that i took them off because it was hot and shorts are somewhat better in my non-air-conditioned car. anyway.. i generally wear the same pants all weekend.. oh yeah, i should do laundry.. i won't want to do it next week. ploips.

self-indulgent tripe revisited

This survey i posted to publicly expose my music-snobbery for the waste of self-satisfaction that it really was. someone searched for it on ask jeeves the other day so i read it and realized there were many changes. so it seems like a good way to wind down and listen to things while i think about something other than the very long week i'm shaping up to have.


1. The first CD you ever bought.
It was louis armstrong. some complilation that contained my favorite thing he sung 'World on a string'. followed shortly by Holzt's 'The Planets' No change obviously

2. Musical styles that you listen to.
ok the old answer was 200% pretentious. though i'm little less pretentious now, if at all, i'll make an attempt to answer the question: i like anything that sticks in my ear. unless it's just garbage... i like some classical, though i can't say i've ever cared for mozart or hayden. i like the romantic era composers and the nationalists, brahms is great, and cesar franck, as well as various other people. i have enjoyed what was called "techno" before it diverged into things like 'house' and 'trance' and 'jungle' and 'goa' (though i really like jungle.. and sometimes goa.. but it gets a little scary sometimes). and then i like what i call geek-rock. things like they might be giants. and anything else that falls into that category.

3. Your 1-5 favourite artists/bands.
Starting with number one: Brahms (i've been listening to one cd for 3 months. it's only fair), Franck, Aphex Twin, Dave Brubeck, TMBG

4. What's in your CD player right now.
So, in the car it's all the new stuff on mp3 that i bought on i-tunes over the last few months. it has the brahms string sextets, royksopp (the new one)a bunch of awesome tuvan throat music (holy crap awesome) miscelaneous jazz and other crap.

5. The most recent CD that you bought.
I bought an album on itunes that was a euphonium player playing a couple of bach cello suites. one piece is the one i had picked out for our wedding to be played on euphonium that was memorably changed to the tuba.. but now i have what i intended for that on mp3 and played it for cat and she though i was cute.

6. You're stuck on a deserted island with a solar powered CD player. You can only that sounds like hell. why would you want me to hate the thing i currently like the most? what's wrong with you? why would you curse me that way? why not get me a job as a musician and then make me deaf.. huh? (this answer holds)

7. Song you think has the most beautiful lyrics.
i like the lyrics to across the universe by john lennon. i had to think, but songs where the words make sense generally seem trite to me. this one.. not so much.

8. Your favourite music video.
ok, i remember really digging the tom petty video that was all alice in wonderland when i was little for two reasons: one-the girl was cake, and two-dave stewart from the eurythmics was something.. i can't remember what, but i thought that was cool when i was 6 or whatever i was when that came out. i haven't really had MTV since.. or they haven't had videos on MTV. you take your pick.

9. A song that reminds you of summer.
ironically perhaps, Appalachian spring, by Aaron Copland- one summer i read a trilogy of books, and listened to that music on repeat and scramble for hours and hours and days and days.. i will never fail to associate the two. (still true)

10. Your favourite song with the name of a city in the title or lyrics.
the Great Gate of Kiev ... mussorgsky (still all that comes to mind)

11. A song you've listened to repeatedly when you were depressed at some point in your life.
depressed.. hmm.. milkman song, aphex twin. strangely, it still makes me happy. i never associate it with bad times. (still true, and i still love this song)

12. Ever bought an entire album just for one song and winded up disliking everything but that song?
the planets i referred to earlier, i wanted mars because the band was playing it, but i decided i liked all the rest of the planets better. not really neptune because it's too quiet.. but saturn became my favorite overall. (still true)

13. A song whose lyrics you thought you knew in the past, but about which you later learned you were incorrect.
that would be heart and soul from huey lewis and the news.. i think i was 5 years old. i thought it was 'hot and cold' ... which at one point in the song it actually was. or so i am told.

14. Your least favourite song on one of your favourite albums.
ok.. so on songs from liquid days by philip glass that i like, there is a track called open the kingdom i think.. and it's just too much. so i usually skip it. but the rest of the songs i like.

15. A song you like by someone you find physically attractive.
annie lennox.. back in that video for sweet dreams. yeah.. still true

16. A song you like by someone you find physically unattractive or otherwise repellent.
you know.. i just thought of someone i find completely grotesque. richard d james. that's aphex twin. holy crap. that guy works to be uglier than he may actually be.

17. Your favourite song that has expletives in it.
hmm.. still can't think of anything. i wish i knew more songs that said "dirty sons of bitches"... i think i should be listening to more country music if i want to hear language like that.

18. A song you like that sounds as if it's by someone British but isn't.
sounds british but isn't.. everything by greenday? steeel true

19. A song you like that took you forever to finally locate a copy of.
all of that four tet stuff i have.. for some reason. still true

20. A song that sounds to you like what being happy feels.
hmm... too complicated... if you are looking for some single theme song it would be easy to put some stereotypical techno song.. but i don't think that has anything to do with real happines.. happiness is dynamic. it is the resolution after tension. without the tension there will be no resolution. so it is the saddest music, the most dissonant music that makes me the happiest.. rachmaninoff's first suite for two pianos. this one is still a very emotional song for me.. so are the string sextets i like lately.

21. Your favourite song that is not and has never been a radio single.
anything by philip glass with words.. not gonna happen until a station changes their format so dramatically that they are trying to repel all their listeners. .indeed

22. Your favourite song from a soundtrack compilation album.
"Rue St. Vincent" from Rushmore's soundtrack.. same as Cat still going

23. A song that reminds you of high school.
Dream Theatre's change of seasons album. tony.. i'm looking in your direction

24. A song from the past that would be considered politically incorrect now (and possibly was then).
no sense to me... i don't really get it. how about tie my kangaroo down. it's a little messed up.

25. A song you like sung by an overweight person.
hahah.. wouldn't it be sad if i said something by an olson twin? no. it would just be uncharacteristicly mean. so i will. i do'nt have a better answer for this now..

26. A song you actually like by an artist you otherwise hate.
Le Blanche Traversee by jocelyn pook. i don't generally care for her work. true still

27. One of the earliest songs to which you can remember listening to.
sabicas and escudero (i think that was the second name)it was an album of brilliant flamenco guitar that i will always know every note of. i've been listening to it since before i was born.

28. A song you've been mocked by friends for liking.
most notably all the classical stuff.. and the TMBG.. and the minimalist stuff. and all the rest of it.. or maybe not as jerky as i am about the music i like i think most people are pretty non-judgemental about it. they just acknowledge that i can like it without them having to listen to it.

29. A cover song that you like.
i thought that cover from that new coldplay album was nice. more or less. but across the universe done by fiona apple has been my favorite cover for about 6 years now.. yep, still.

30. A song that has helped cheer you up (or empowered you somehow) after a breakup or otherwise difficult situation.
hmm.. nothing really comes to mind.. all music i find empowering... i mean, it's music.. that's what it is... but i don't care for the wordy music..

another quote

tonight on the simpsons of course i heard another oldie but goodie: Bart and Lisa were sitting at a kosher deli, and they're not ordering when the waitress comes and asks if they're ready to order. Bart says "No, we're not going to order anything, but bring us another bowl of these complimentary pickles." to which she responds "See how fast i go...." in a very non-plussed way. it's perfect.

i love those pickles. and knishes.. but i can't eat those. anyway. if i could, i would eat knish after knish, and pickles, and matzoh ball soup. love that layer of chicken fat on the surface. i can't get that up here.. well, nowhere that i know of.

slopslop

so yeah.. it's sunday. you know what that means. the weekend is over. i have a workshop next week. i'm mostly nervous about this one. but i think it'll go ok, when it's all over. i looked at refinancing our home loan this morning, just looking to see if we could save some money.. no.. our interest rate is much lower than the rates of today.. at least everywhere i checked. then again, if we could talk to someone about it, they might have some discounts that would make it worthwhile.. but i don't see it being a big difference. so yeah. and i assume you all know that Cat got notice of notice.. which means we still don't know how long she'll work, but that she definitely won't have that job much longer. so probably this summer she'll not have that job. plozop. i don't feel as stressed about it as i thought i would.. but maybe i should be. i'm gonna get back to those simpsons.

awesome quote

So we turned on the simpsons.. and of course Lisa said something perfect. Lisa complained at dinner that their menu was too unchanging, they have pork chops every friday for instance. the family agrees to go out to eat, and the idea of sushi comes up... they argue about it for a second with homer making inane points when Lisa finally says "this argument humiliates us both."

I have to try and use that at work tomorrow. except not at teh sponsor meeting.

crazy shit

so it's tuesday morning and i forgot to have cat get breakfasty food last night. i worked from 7 to 6 and it wasn't even an RPIW.. son of a bitch. i have some meetings this morning that i needed some numbers for.. did anyone ever think i would have meetings that required numbers? i mean really.. this is kind of a departure from where i expected my life to go. not that it bothers me.. because except for the numbers its a very creative job. even more perhaps than acupuncture.. depending on the difficulty of the case.. anyway.. i need to go help cat wake up. and then leave. i will attempt to address the 4 freakin comments i got between 10 and 2am last night.. you crazy blog-reading kids are up late.. crazy.

piggy piggy

i made a ham today. well, i cooked a ham. it was totally tasty.. but i think that the good people at hilshire farms were to thank for most of that. but i cooked it and it wasn't all dry. i guess. anyway. so i ate too much, and i'm tired now.. like a person who ate too much.. you know? anyway... i wonder if i had taken a nap after the eating, it would have been difficult with all the people here, but still, maybe i could have just nodded off and felt better now.. i could take my trusty bao he wan, but i think the time of stagnation of food has passed.. now it'sjust a spleen qi problem, be it the result of longstanding liver qi stagnation, or just the potatoes i shouldn't have eaten.. either way.. i did eat a carrot and that felt pretty good. more people should eat a carrot. but not so many as to jack up the price of carrots.. seriously... that would suck.

easter whatnot

it's easter today. first sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. i'm having dinnah here for the fam.. get to try out our big old table. you know. actually going to try to cram eleven people at it.. because you never just have the number a table holds. anyway, i expect a tight, but not uncomfortable fit. i'm gonna make some taters. which i can't eat, but i think they'll be most delicious. with shallots and garlic and some kind of sour cream to smooth them out.. and a ham... which is very not kosher.. neither is easter i suppose.. so i think i have to start cooking the ham at about 11, and then it'll be done in time to eat. hams aren't turkeys.

SPIRAL CUT!!

rumble rumble. mutter.

scapapork

um... my neck hurts. my head has been forward all the time, and it's becoming very uncomfortable. i want to tape a metal rod from my back to my head and hold it all up straight.. but that probably wouldn't make me feel less irritable. we watched a movie last night, the brothers grimm.. i dont' know what everyone was complaining about. it was just fine.. i think some people don't like terry gilliam just for the sake of it.. and when he has a movie that comes out they cry about it. twelve monkeys was good. the adventures of baron munchausen... also good (when you're a kid). i think critics just hate him. so f you critics.. you're no smarter than the sheep who listen to you. and be quiet sheep, who quote the critics.. we all know you don't have the ability to think for yourself.. this is why we believe the things politicians say... we need another popular government conspiracy show to sweep the nation and breed some healthy democratic mistrust in the government.. it's just not government by the people without that total lack of faith in anyone who would rule you. do you trust anyone who wants to tell you everything you can and can't do when you meet them on the street? probably not. so why would you trust anyone who was seeking public office? i mean the act of seeking the office itself is enough to exclude someone from high esteem in my book. but i ramble. everyone should forget everything they've ever been told to say about terry gilliam movies and watch some..

that's what i think.

something

i was listening to a car commercial minutes ago before the simpsons started. it was a song i remembered from junior high, called La virgen de la macarena, It's awesome... so i got it on itunes as performed by the immortal arturo sandoval. perhaps that's untrue.. the immortal part.

anyway.. the news. good stuff for Juan Pepe, for his call back today.

and good stuff for Dan who we went to see in a production of Fools by neil simon. crazy neil simon. It was good, of course, Dan being entirely present and with his characteristicly good timing, I also noticed the timing of a few other people in the thing.. they were good.

SO anyway. i'm tired. the weekend was pretty eventful. .. i even got some pants. it's about damn time i put some pants on.. the people at work were giving me funny looks for not wearing pants.