Over there, on the right

If you haven't listened to the playlist for this month, you should. I really, especially love the bluegrassed-out version of Mumford & Sons' "Roll Away Your Stone," a song that snuck up on me and became my favorite while I was focusing on other tracks on the (great) album.


Reading:  Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman

Playing:  Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons (of course)

The music meme

I desperately wanted to go to bed early tonight, so I asked for meme ideas on Twitter today, hoping to avoid the pattern of staying up too late wracking my brain for something to say. Alas, technology problems caused me to stay up too late anyway, but I appreciate Meg's tag for the music meme.

As usual with this one, most of the answers make no sense whatsoever, but there are a few funny song / question pairings:

1. If someone asks "Are you okay?" you say?
"Better" by Regina Spektor

2. How would you describe yourself?
"Cats on Mars" by the Seatbelts

3. What do you like in a guy/girl?
"One Piece at a Time" by Johnny Cash

4. How do you feel today?
"Restless Sinner" by the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

5. What is your life's purpose?
"Silent Sea" by KT Tunstall

6. What is your motto?
"My World" by Olive Lucy

7. What do your friends think of you?
"Pentagram" by Cake

8. What do you think about very often?
"Say it to You" by Caroline's Spine

9. What is 2+2?
"Babylon" by Don McLean

10. What do you think of your best friend?
"Carbon Monoxide" by Cake

11. What is your life story?
"On Call" by Kings of Leon

12. What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Modern Romance" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

13. What do you think when you see the person you like?
"White Trash Wedding" by the Dixie Chicks (HAAAAAA!)

14. What will you dance to at your wedding?
"Strawberry Wine" by Deanna Carter

15. How do you want to die?
"Mountain" by Tonic

16. What is your hobby/interest?
"Ozone Baby" by Led Zeppelin

17. What's your biggest fear?
"Zombie Jamboree" by Rockapella

18. What do you want right now?
"Rehab" by Amy Winehouse

19. What do you think of your (boy/girl)friend?
"Sin Wagon" by the Dixie Chicks (OMFG. Hilarious That's right, I said 'mattress dancing.' )

20. What is your favorite song?
"Swagger" by Flogging Molly

You will know that I am gone

On my first post of the month, Little Miss Sunshine State asked what lullabies I'd be singing to the brachiopod when he arrives. When I was little, my mother sang a mix of lullabies ("Hush, Little Baby"), traditional songs ("Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore"), and Peter Paul & Mary. One of my favorites was the ant song, though she didn't sing the "to get out of the rain / Boom boom" part.

I suspect our own child will be serenaded with the songs I grew up with, and maybe a few others. Though I have to admit, the only song I'm sure I know all the lyrics to by heart is "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia." No, I take that back. I'm sure I'll sing Camp songs to him, too.

While I was thinking about lullabies over the past day or so, I was also thinking about music other than lullabies that we can play for him. I have a suspicion that while he's very small, we'll pretty much play whatever we're in the mood for, and of course as he grows and becomes more parrot-y, we'll have to watch for language and content.

So far, he's only been given one CD of his own, and it's a really good one (Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants). I've also listened to the Barenaked Ladies' kids' album Snacktime and figure he'll have that one at some point, too, and I'm not opposed to a little bit of Raffi here and there. Other than that, though, not sure (and we're open to suggestions)!

Golden

During my junior and senior years in high school, I spent nearly every Friday and Saturday night going out to see local bands play. There were three or four that we'd see just about anywhere they played, even a three-stoplight town in BFE called Bridgeport, Illinois that was more than an hour away from home. This was long before MySpace, so shows were advertised by word of mouth and with fliers. Even though I took piano lessons from age 7 on, I think my bone-deep love of music really got started at those shows.

By the time my freshman year in college was underway, all of the main bands had split up. We went to a few shows here and there, but it never was the same. That perfect confluence of music, company, and atmosphere was gone, and we knew even then that we'd never really find it again. I have mourned it at times, even though I've never been one to moon over the good old days or to live life as if high school was the apex of my social existence.

I ran into the guitarist from one of those bands tonight at Starbucks, where he took my order and then squinted at my face and said, "Do I know you from somewhere?" I told him the name of his old band, and that I used to go to all the shows. We chatted about people from the old days. His drummer moved to Nashville three years ago. The bass player toured with a nationally-known band as a merchandiser. The manager now runs his own marketing firm. The singer married the lead singer of another local band, had a baby, and moved to one of the Carolinas. We talked about how we just can't go to shows anymore. We're too old, the kids are too young, and the music just isn't that good.

Driving home, it hit me how horrified the girl I was would be if she saw the grown-ass woman I am now. My uniform is jeans and long-sleeved T-shirts instead of skater pants, tank tops, and little bitty tees. I work 40 hours a week on salary, spend a lot of time behind a desk, and claim chai lattes and chocolate as vices instead of clove cigarettes and late, late nights. I'm a walking cliché with my SUV, big house, marriage, and aspirations of having two happy, well-adjusted kids. What would she see, if she met me now? A sellout, maybe. A conformist. But I see her, and I know she's a part of me, and she always will be. I can still listen to music through her ears, feel the love of it in the marrow of my bones. Those days of shows and knowing all the bands and being part of a scene were golden, but so is this, here, today.

It rakes at my heart

It's no secret that I love music. Occasionally, a song will hit me just right--musically and especially lyrically--and get its hooks into me, to the point where I can listen to it over and over and not get tired of it. I finally tracked down a share-able version of one of my very favorite songs of all time, and found a serviceable clip of my newest over-and-over song. I think both of them are beautiful, soulful songs, and they share a certain haunting quality that I think helped them stick in my bones.


"Rake," Townes Van Zandt

I used to wake and run with the moon
I lived like a rake and a young man
I covered my lovers with flowers and wounds
my laughter the devil would frighten
The sun she would come and beat me back down
but every cruel day had its nightfall
I'd welcome the stars with wine and guitars
full of fire and forgetful

My body was sharp, the dark air clean
and outrage my joyful companion
whispering women how sweet did they seem
kneeling for me to command them
And time was like water but I was the sea
I'd never have noticed it passing
except for the turning of night into day
and the turning of day into cursing

You look at me now, and don't think I don't know
what all your eyes are a-saying
Does he want us to believe these ravings and lies?
They're just tricks that his brains been a-playing
A lover of women? He can't hardly stand
he trembles, he's bent, and he's broken
I've fallen, it's true, but I say unto you
hold your tongues until after I've spoken

I was taking my pride in the pleasures I'd known
I laughed and thought I'd be forgiven
but my laughter turned 'round, eyes blazing and
said my friend, we're holding a wedding
I buried my face but it spoke once again
the night to the day we're a binding
and now the dark air is like fire on my skin
and even the moonlight is blinding




"Crane Wife 1 & 2," the Decemberists

It was a cold night and the snow lay 'round
I pulled my coat tight against the falling down
And the sun was all
The sun was all down

I am a poor man, I haven't wealth nor fame
I have my two hands and a house to my name
And the winter's so
The winter's so long

But all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I'd found

It was a white crane, it was a helpless thing
On a red stain with an arrow in its wing
And it called and cried
It called and cried so

But all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I'd found
My crane wife, my crane wife

And how I helped her and how I dressed her wounds
And how I held her beneath the rising moon
'Til she stood to fly
She stood to fly away

My crane wife, my crane wife

But all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I'd found
My crane wife, my crane wife

[2]

My crane wife
Arrived at my door in the moonlight
All star-bright and tongue-tied
I took her in

We were married
And bells rang sweet for our wedding
And our bedding was ready
When we fell in

Sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as fontanel
The feathers in the thread
When all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife

We were poorly
Our fortunes fading hourly
And how she vowed me
She could bring it back

But I was greedy
I was vain and I forced her to weaving
On a cold loom in a closed room
With down wove

Sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as fontanel
The feathers in the thread
When all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife

There's a bend in the wind and it rakes at my heart
There is blood in the thread and it rakes at my heart
Rakes at my heart

Lend me some sugar; I am your neighbor!

I had a Googleage report going, and then my browser crashed and ate it, and I can't be arsed to start over.

Here's a cute picture of my cat instead:



Also, a song that with one line almost makes me willing to forgive pop music for a multitude of sins:



And finally, please go wish the bibliophile a happy birthday!

It's just a flesh wound!

Things are somewhat improved in the casa de velocibadger today. Kitters is still on strict probation and stays in the spare room with his accoutrements whenever anyone other than MB or me is here. So far he has not had another meltdown. *frantically knocks on wood*

I went to the doctor this morning and got a shot in the bum and a prescription for antibiotic pills the size of my eyeball, so that's loads of fun. The doctor also measured the injury, so I can now inform you without a doubt that it is 4 centimeters long. Four centimeters! That's 40 millimeters!

Since I would totally want to see it if it was someone else's flesh wound, I took a picture of my gory leg for you guys, but I'll post it as a click-through so that you don't have to see it if you don't want to:  Click here for blood. It's not all that bad, it's just kind of oozy. The picture was taken yesterday, so that's 12 hours at least after the initial mauling. It didn't properly scab over until late today, which is sort of creepy.

Here's another creepy thing:  feline saliva is so full of The Nasty that getting a good solid cat bite is basically like getting a bacterial injection. One article I found said that most birds who die after being bitten by a cat die from an infection, not from their physical injuries. No wonder my leg still hurts. Bacterial Lollapalooza going on in there. (All joking aside, cat bites can be really bad news, so if you get one like mine, please go see your doctor.)


In other, non-bloody news:

I went to see Tool in concert last night with the apathetic one, and it was pretty kickass. There were times when, like Mickey from In the Night Kitchen, I was in the music and the music was in me.




I also signed up for bloglines feeds for all the blogs I read (I totally copycatted Alyndabear) and you guys, it is the shiznit. Instead of clicking through my entire blogroll, refreshing and hoping for new posts, I can just sign into my bloglines page and it'll tell me exactly when one of my favorite blogs is updated. Now I can blog-stalk everyone in near-real-time! Woo! Also, for all of my lazy blog friends, you won't be able to reap hits off of me anymore as I refresh your page five times a day, mournfully hoping for a new entry, so you'll actually have to post now to get my clicks in your stats! Muahahaha! ;)


This was actually a really good day for me in the blogworld, because not only did I win a prize over at Radioactive Jam, I apparently made the super-cool-blogger Ice Cream Mama nearly pee herself with my entry in Mrs. Squirrel's weekly What the J? contest. Winning a radioactive monkey prize and nearly making a really cool blogger laugh her butt off in one day? My work here is done.

Seventh song of a seventh song

I've been tagged by Urban Cowgirl for a music meme in which I have to list seven albums or tracks which have featured in my life recently.

I did a similar one back in March, but my musical habits change from week to week, so there's no reason for me to decline the tag. Plus, it makes me feel special to be tagged. So:


1. Begin to Hope by Regina Spektor

I can't express how much this album rules. I love her voice, and she's got the kind of lyrics I would've scribbled all over my notebooks in high school.







2. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse

I guess it's not cool to like Modest Mouse now that they're mainstream-ish, but I love them anyway. I actually heard them back in early college when my cousin loaned me a tape of one of their early LPs, and then I rediscovered them when Good News for People Who Love Bad News came out. They're definitely not for everyone, but I dig them a lot.

from the old EP, Interstate 8 (and re-released on Building Nothing Out of Something):


from The Moon & Antarctica:


from Good News for People Who Love Bad News:


from We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank:




3. Back to Black by Amy Winehouse

I haven't listened to this as much, since Regina Spektor has been in rotation every day for nearly a month, but I'm starting to get into it. She's been getting raves from bloggers all over the place, and I'm completely fascinated by a voice as huge as hers coming from someone who looks like she's pretty tiny.









4. "The Ocean" - Led Zeppelin

I heard this track on the radio today, and it reminded me how much I truly, truly love Led Zeppelin. Since I can't find it on the widget site, here's one of my favorite Zeppelin tracks of all time:





5. This one's sort of odd. I heard this song on the radio today:



And it reminded me how much I love Plans by Death Cab for Cutie. Whiny? Emo? Probably. But when I heard it last winter at the record store where I sort of still work part-time (if one shift every few months counts), it was one of the first albums I'd heard in a long time that absolutely transfixed me.

This is cheesy as hell and I probably shouldn't admit it, but I had this album in our bedroom stereo for at least a month last year, and whenever this song came on, I'd realize that I really would follow MB into the dark. It's a beautiful song, if you listen to it and think about what it would really mean to go into a void just to be with the person you love.





6. August and Everything After by Counting Crows

I haven't listened to this in a few weeks, but if I could only listen to five CDs for the rest of my life, it would be one of them.







7. Lay it Down by the Cowboy Junkies

I recently renewed correspondence with the person who was indirectly responsible for me discovering the Cowboy Junkies in late high school (he made a tape for someone who later gave me his tape collection). The album is in one of my five albums that I'd pick if I had to pick five to listen to for the rest of my life, and the songs take me back to the way I felt at that point in my life, and the tape-maker was pretty instrumental in shaping the end of my high school education...so all in all, this one pretty much had to be the album to round out the list. Unfortunately, the widget site only has two Cowboy Junkies songs, so you're getting one from Lay it Down and then one from The Trinity Session (which is the album that Neil Gaiman had his characters listen to in one of the stories in Fragile Things):





There are also a few more tracks on their MySpace page.

SPEAKING CONFIDENTIALLY
(Michael Timmins / Lay it Down)

Speaking confidentially
the fire that burned inside of me
has turned to ash the tortured tree
that grows beside the anguished sea
Speaking confidentially

Speaking metaphorically
the earth I trust beneath my feet
is moving now ever so slightly
I shift my feet but feel no relief
Speaking metaphorically

Speaking hypothetically
if the air you breathed was so unique
would you use it up to idly speak
or hoard it for a rainy week
Speaking hypothetically

Speaking kind of cryptically
the sea that raged beside the tree
burning bright for all to see
it just might mean the most to me
Speaking kind of cryptically



Now, I have to tag some people:

the bibliophile

J-Dog at Insert Snappy Title Here

Heather at Pale is the New Tan

Megs

Alyndabear

Angela at on second thought

the cheesefairy at the Cheeseblog


Freebird, ya'll! Freebird!

Friggatriskaidekaphobia? Never.

I try not to take it too personally when people warn me not to have bad luck on Friday the 13th. You see, I was born on a Friday the 13th, many years ago, and for most of my life, I've always had really excellent days anytime the 13th has fallen on a Friday. There was a weird span in college, after I started dating MB, when my 13ths sucked each month. One 13th, for example, MB wrecked his car. I felt betrayed by my lucky date, let me tell you. Suspiciously, my 26ths were really great that year. We justified it by figuring that since I was born on the 13th and MB was born on the 13th, we were getting great 26ths, but not-so-hot 13ths. I'm sure we were reading too much into it, and it seems to have evened out again. Today has been a pretty great day, other than when I spilled MB's floss picks all over the bathroom floor (No, I didn't rinse them off and put them back in the box. He's lucky I'm such a good wife.) and when my tea boiled over (Whoopsie. Still tastes good.) And just now, when the cat farted...that wasn't so lucky.

But! Other than that, a pretty good day, and a day off. Yay!

I was an errand-running, task-completing machine this morning. Highlights:

>> Catching up with my blogroll reading, putting away the dishes, and finishing the laundry before 10 AM

>> Cleaning all the clutter out of my car, after months of promising myself I'd do it. Best items found:  plastic train whistle, one monkey-print flip-flop that may not fit me, baseball, naughahyde phone book cover (made by my mother, long ago), two of the same unexciting kids' meal toy

>> Shipping the nut warmer to the Untamed Shrew, at a cost of $6.66. Heh.

>> Taking a full load of recycling to my parents' house, and remembering to drop off the huge trash bag full of packing peanuts at the box shop that takes them for re-use.

>> Going to Target and finding two bras that actually fit the ginormo-boobs, a pair of work pants for $5.47, AND two pairs of jeans on clearance for $12.48 each. The jeans are especially fantastic since most of the pants I saw on the racks had tags proudly proclaiming, "Cut slim through the hips and thighs!" while the tag on my hips and thighs, had they one, would proclaim, "Lots of space for chub storage and childbearing!"

>> Bringing home cat treats from the happy hippie pet store that the beast actually chowed down on. He usually turns his nose up at the organic treats we try to give him and holds out for preservative-laden stuff from the grocery store. Not that I blame him--given the choice between a huge tasty ice cream cone and a plain organic yogurt, I'd totally go for the ice cream.



In addition, I finished Welcome to Temptation last night, and I'm still giggling over some of the better lines. I think I'm going to have to buy a copy so I can re-read often.

And I got my basically-free Hiroshige print from art.com. They sent me a $10 email gift certificate for my birthday just for having a free login account with them (I've never even ordered anything before! Go sign up!), so I got this pretty thing and only had to pay $3 for shipping:




Then, then, I found out that my sister got accepted into the archaeology field program she very much wanted to attend this summer! She'll be here for most of the summer, working on excavations and research at a Late Prehistoric-era Native American village site. They only accepted 10 students! My sister, she's awesome. So very awesome. Congrats, sis!!



Reading: Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson


Playing: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse, Back to Black by Amy Winehouse (sound warning on both!)






"Mmmm...plant."

Putting the O back in OCD

Apparently there's a new meme going around, so I semi-stole it from my long-lost sister from another mister, Megs. The subject is five things I'm currently obsessing over.

1. Begin to Hope by Regina Spektor

I checked this CD out from the library a week or so ago, and I figured I'd be sick of it by now, but au contraire...I just love it more every time I listen to it.

"On The Radio"

This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again





2. What Would Tyler Durden Do?

I'm a sucker for celebrity gossip anyway, so I'm loving this.



3. Lily Watch 2007

As some of you know, the fabulous Miss M is going to have a baby any day now, perhaps even any hour now. I am waiting with bated breath for news of Lily's arrival. Edited to add: she's on her way...maybe even here by now! Squee!



4. America's Next Top Model

I know, I know...but it's really good this season, other than Renee continuing to be a rancid bitch all the time. I love the recaps on FourFour and Television Without Pity almost as much as I love the show.



5. San Francisco

I was going to save this for a big cheesy announcement, but this seems like an appropriate entry in which to discuss it. I'm going to San Francisco for a four-day work-related conference in May, and I CANNOT FREAKIN' WAIT. I have never been to California, and the conference itself is going to kick complete ass. Once it's over, I get to spend five whole days with my darling friend KWJ, the Untamed Shrew, in Santa Clara. It's really hard to focus on work projects while daydreaming about all the cool touristy stuff the Untamed Shrew and I are going to rock while I'm out there.




The boys watching TV.
I can guarantee that MB is presently obsessing over his just-ordered brand-new laptop, which should arrive anytime between next Thursday and the 23rd. Kitters, as always, is obsessing over his plan for world domination.

Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'

I haven't talked about it too much, but I've been taking a Master Naturalist class since the end of January, along with Danger and her husband / my cousin, MacGyver. We attended a three-hour class on Monday nights, and once we've completed 30 hours of volunteer service, we'll get certified as Master Naturalists by the state. Pretty awesome. Our class ended this week, and even though I'm sad that it's over, I'm also really happy that I learned so many kickass things to share with kids.

We had an optional field trip on Sunday, and I got to take the day off work and go. Even though I was expecting it to rain, I woke up that morning to the most perfect Spring day EVER. It was absolutely perfect outside--blue sky, sunny, warm but not hot, cool breezes all day. Heaven. I wore sunblock for the first time this year since I'm whiter than white and also don't tan, and I felt very outdoorsy. The trip started at this local wetland that's been reconstructed from decades of being used and abused as a dump and is now maintained as a park / nature area. I'd only been there once, to lead a hike for a group of first graders (on that hike, a little girl asked me if there were any anacondas in the water, and then we saw the remains of a rabbit and the kids shrieked, "Maybe a monster did it!" so I had to explain about how carnivores can't go to the grocery store or McDonald's, so they eat other animals instead), and it was super rad.

We stopped at one point on the trail and I was looking around when I saw something in the grass that looked like a skull. I spent a few minutes trying to decide if it actually was a skull, or just a skull-resembling piece of litter, then went over to investigate. Turns out it was bones, but not a skull. I thought it was a fish skull at the time, because this is what it looks like:

Danger came over that night, and when she saw it, she realized it was some kind of odd hipbone structure. A very brief Google search later, and we knew it was a bird's synsacrum.




After the wetland, we visited the nature preserve where I did a year of AmeriCorps service in 2005. It's an old-growth bottomland hardwood forest, so it's got a lot of standing water in the Spring. It was green and full of life, with wildflowers coming up and all the trees looking leafy and putting out their buds and flowers.

trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit



On Monday night, we had our final exam for the class. We only have to get 70% of the questions right to pass, and it was a really easy test. Danger, MacGyver, and I were finished after an hour, so Danger and I headed back to the wetland to hunt for more bones. We ended up finding about two dozen more pieces, mostly tiny ribs and vertebrae. While we were there, the sun went down and we could see Orion, Canis Major, Auriga, the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Saturn, and Venus. It was freaking sweet. Danger wanted to make an attempt at articulating the bones we'd found, so we went back to my apartment and spread all the pieces out on the table and spent a good hour bouncing around and frantically clicking through Google searches and stringing things together with thread and bread ties. Weird? Maybe. But weird works for us.

Going off of this diagram, Danger managed to articulate almost an entire wing. It's amazing how good she is at doing this, truly:

Velocibadgergirl: I like to think that the bird would be
happy that we're taking such an interest in his mortal remains.

Danger: He'd probably say, "You're doing what with my what?!"



After we'd stowed the bones in an box and put them out of the cat's reach, we went out for ice cream. It was like Christmas, only with bones and stars instead of presents. Or something.



Tonight was pretty great, too. I had a meeting on the campus of my sister's college (my old college), so I just waited around after it was over to meet up with her. A gnarly thunderstorm was moving through, so I spent about an hour sitting in my car reading and watching the clouds roll in. It was pretty badass, especially when it started hailing. Spring weather in the Midwest:  voted most likely to make you say "WTF?" Once Little Sis got out of class, we went to dinner and then we ended up hanging out in her apartment until almost 9:00, making a couple of mix CDs. Since I lived on campus in an identical apartment, it was sort of surreal and endearing all at once to be in what basically looked just like my old room, but surrounded by her stuff. (If you could send her some good writing vibes, by the way, that would be fantastic. She's getting ready to write an essay that may get her accepted to an archaeology field school that only takes 10 students each summer.)


Wednesday, you're on notice:  it's up to you to keep the run of kickassery going. Don't be the day that ruins the streak.




P.S. With the assistance of the ever-helpful basscomm, I think I finally figured out how to properly install a Bloglines button in the sidebar. Please let me know if it or my feeds get fubared again. xoxo!

I.O.U.

I owe you all a post about the really cool things I got to do on Sunday and tonight, but since I'm dozing off at the computer, I think it's time to call it a night, before I end up face-planting on the keyboard :P

First, though...anyone want to guess what this thing is (other than Danger, who knows the answer)? I'll reveal its identity tomorrow night:






And, for fun, here's a French commercial that my boss showed me at work the other day. Good times!

Stolen Meme Time

Since I'm still fighting the pestilence, I decided to be lazy and steal a meme from the lovely Alyndabear:

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what they are. They must be songs you are presently enjoying."

Since I'm not listening to music right this second, I'll try to come up with seven newish songs that cause me to crank up the volume when they come on the radio.


1. Anna Molly - Incubus



2. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall



3. Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers



4. When You Were Young - The Killers



5. Dashboard - Modest Mouse (Love them!)



6. From Yesterday - 30 Seconds to Mars (I tried to resist, for they are very angsty-trendy, but resistance was futile.)



7. Fidelity - Regina Spektor

Who rocks the partay, rocks the partay?

Brown Eyed Girl rocks the partay, rocks the partay. Why? Because she sent me a package in the mail. And inside I found two packages of Dots. Best of all, stuck to the Dots was a note that said, "Now the next time you get a taste for them, MB won't have to run to 10 places." Brown-Eyed Girl, you kick ass. Not only did the note make me laugh and laugh, but I've had a fierce Dots craving for three days running. Word up, homie. WORD UP.


This made me laugh so hard I almost choked on my Fruity Cheerios, especially during the flailing (thanks to Tamsyn for the original link):

And now, for more clutter busting!

I'm slowly (so slowly) working my way through the piles of clutter we've accumulated over the last few years, working toward the goal of a more simplified, less stuff-clogged living space and life. Last week, I spent an evening going through old clothes and pulling out stuff that no longer fits or that I just don't wear / like. I gave my sister two huge shopping bags full of stuff, and I still have a carryon suitcase full of things that have to go. Inspired by Fussy, once again, I decided to take some photos to memorialize things that I have fond feelings toward, but that I probably won't ever wear again, so I'll be able to get rid of them without losing the memories.

First, my tie-dyed shirts:

From April - November 2004, I worked at a state historic site where my boss was somewhat lenient about the dress code. We had four weeks of day camp that summer, and each week we tie-dyed shirts with the kids. Each week, I made a few shirts, and they more or less became my uniform for the rest of the season. They're a bit too small for the boobage these days, and my dress code is a little more strict anyway, so I've pulled them out of the closet. Even after photographing them, I couldn't bear to part with them, so I bent the rules a little and put them into a box with a few other things that are too cool to get rid of, just in case I have a rad kid someday who wants to wear them. Besides, the two in the last set of pictures are probably the best tie-dyed shirts I've ever made, and the rainbow one hasn't even been washed yet! Click each picture to get a better look at the patterns. You'll note that I managed to totally dodge the too-oft-occurring tragedy of tie-dye circles in the tata region, which is always embarrassing for a girl. I was quite, quite careful with my rubberband placement. Huzzah!



Then, another pair of beloved but battered size 9 hiphugger jeans:


Since these are only torn a little at the knees and at the bottoms of the hip pockets, I'll probably toss them in the Goodwill box. My mom would be horrified, but my sister's boyfriend's brother just spent $200 on a pair of pre-ripped designer jeans, so I figure someone might get some use out of these. Lord knows my ass will never fit into them again.


Speaking of never fitting again:



I can't believe my boobs ever fit into this comparatively wee bra (comparative to now, anyway). And, the funniest boob / bra post EVER EVER EVER:  A Potted History of My Tits by Antonia of Whoopee. Not really safe for work, but so very funny.


I'm not particularly sentimental about these, but they are pretty:

They never quite fit properly, because the sleeves are sort of skinny, and I've never had small upper arms. Back in the day, they were somewhat muscular from all the Taekwondo badassery, and now they're just sort of thick. It's an all-too-common trend in girls' clothes in general, I think--the tendency to forget that some girls do actually have muscles. Too bad, because the shirts are cute.


Of all the shirts, I think I'm most wistful about this one:


Love the cut, love the color. It's a 3/4 sleeve shirt, which sort of makes it look--in this photo, anyway--like it's made for T-Rex arms. (I'm trying to pass the potatoes!) That just intensifies my affection. Alas, it's too short now.



Cue music...

Is it wrong to drool over a boy who weighs less than my right leg?

Ah, high school:








Is it legal to be this sexy whilst singing?




Some DMB love:

So I walk up on high / And I step to the edge / To see my world below. *

Since I only get one weekend off work each month, MB and I are somewhat restricted as far as when we can plan to do stuff together. Since my birthday is coming up, MB designated this weekend as my "birthday weekend," and told me that he wanted to take me somewhere cool, somewhere I wanted to go. I wanted to go here, but it's a pretty long drive and we didn't really feel like spending money to stay one night in a hotel. Besides, according to weather.com, it was going to rain all day on Saturday, so we changed our plans. I'm still a little annoyed with weather.com for lying to me, because it was absolutely beautiful outside yesterday and today, with nary a rain cloud in sight. All in all, though, it was a really fantastic weekend, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Yesterday, we went on a bit of a road trip and visited Squire Boone Caverns, since caves are perfect places to spend the kind of rainy day we were supposed to have. I wish I'd taken notes during the tour, because I can't remember anything about the age of the cave or of the formations inside. It was very cool, though--one of the fanciest caves we've seen together. There were lots and lots of cave formations, and the guide actually got everything right. Usually, cave guides ask at the beginning of a tour if there are any geologists present. I never raise my hand, but MB always rats me out. Then I'm too polite to correct them when they impart incorrect information, like saying that the speleothems are made of onyx (They're not. Onyx is quartz, SiO2. Cave formations are made of calcite, CaCO3. Please show me one piece of limestone that dissolves to make quartz.). Anyway, our guide was right on with all the science, and she was fun.

The cave was supposedly discovered by the famous Daniel Boone and his brother, Squire Boone, Jr. According the to story, they went in through the natural entrance, scaled a series of three waterfalls (two eight-footers and a twelve-footer), and did some exploring in the lower level of the cave. No one knows how far into the cave they actually went, but according to our guide, most people don't think they went very far into the passageways, since they had only torches to rely on for light. Some people doubt that they actually made it up the waterfalls in the first place. It's a cool story, however it actually played out. Here's the top waterfall, the twelve-footer:


I believe the guide said about a million gallons pours over it in an average day.

Caves are crazy-cool places, and I feel really lucky to live near one of the biggest karst belts in the United States.


I could go on for quite some time about how awesome caves are and about the unique ecosystems they support, but I think pictures would be more fun, so here are some we took during the tour:

white flowstone
MB dubbed this the "cave penis"
This is the Rock of Ages, the largest and oldest formation in the cave.
According to our guide, these are the largest active (still growing) rimstone dams in the world.


MB called this "upside-down New York City."
At the lowest point in the cave, we were 9 stories underground. You could stand on the hill over the top of the cave and have no clue what was beneath your feet. It's mindblowing and awesome to think of all the wonder that could be hiding just out of sight. For more pictures from the cave trip, check out Shutterfly.


Today, we slept very late, which was fabulous, and then went hiking at a state park not too far from where we live:






After hiking, we went out to run a few errands, and MB bought me a two-in-one novel of Eric Garcia's Anonymous Rex and Casual Rex. My sister also gave me Terry Pratchett's Night Watch and Sergei Lukyanenko's Day Watch, so it's been a satisfactorily bookish birthday.

Let's end with some minutiae:

Dear Bravo,

Top Design turned out crappy enough. Now you're trying to get us swallow your new filler show, Shear Genius, a hairstylists' competition? You've got to be kidding. Please just give it a rest until you're ready to start the next season of Project Runway.

Thank you,
velocibadgergirl



Dear CW,

I know my addiction to America's Next Top Model is shameful, but I'd still appreciate it if you'd show it when you say you're going to show it. Otherwise, how am I supposed to be able to tape it while I'm out on Wednesday nights?

xoxo,
velocibadgergirl



What I've been doing with my evenings lately:

And some music: