Thursday, January 31, 2008

unintended consequences

tonight, instead of going to bed, i have been doing who knows what. in the meantime, i have used my computer as both a light and, unintentionally, a blanket-heater. it makes a decent heater. it's not great as a light. seeing by the light of the computer when it's up on the loft is tricky.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

who am i kidding?

thought it would be good to write
reasons i exist despite
a lack of something significant
or persistence of woeful extravagance

i seem to find myself unengaged,
free of cares and sadly overaged
no kids to break my newest toys
or ask me to assemble theirs

i wonder why my meals are spent
distracted only by entertainment
some purpose to this type of existence?
just a cog and a lonely one

mere days separate me from other days
past photographs now seem a better reality
this isn't the life for which i'd planned
where's my wife and where's my minivan?

Monday, January 28, 2008

things i like about life

not sure why, but...i had to go outside to make a call, and i was really enjoying the fact that i would be wearing the sweatshirt i'd just used to wipe up the water i spilled...so delightfully ridiculous. so yeah, it didn't bother me once i was out there.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

songs of the week, wk 12

-'distractions'

-'out of town'

-'my body is a cage'


on 'simple things,' zero 7 do a fantastic job of staying on the right side of the line between fluff and musical bliss. any group that uses jose gonzalez as a collaborator clearly knows their music. 'out of town' is so precariously close to something awful that it's a treat to enjoy its subtleties. the arcade fire get a spot this week thanks not to any romantic frustration of mine but to 'the diving bell and the butterfly,' which provides an entirely new context in which to appreciate the closing track of 'neon bible.'

Friday, January 25, 2008

so what if he has a wand

manager-to-manager question of the day:

"i don't think the wizard has that trender. do you think he does?"


yes, they were talking about work. when i'm in charge, everything we say all day long is going to sound like that.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

out of something

monday i was out of town half the day, tuesday i found out i'd be headed out thurs for a day trip to puerto rico, and today i worked late. with all this coming and going, there is this interesting vibe going this week, where i feel like i'm living a rather different life than i usually do. maybe it was renting that quirky convertible, maybe it's reading hawthorne, but certainly it's been fun.

Monday, January 21, 2008

a little less glimmer

dear all mobile phone manufacturers,

blue-lit keys are just done. completely done. i'm sure there's a few people who still buy for that feature alone; try having one option for them at least. or three.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

dug up for the day

i think a while ago i was almost going to see the high dials live. i'm thinking it's got something to do with the fact that they once opened for neko case. i'm guessing they'd be impressive live; from my recollection i didn't make it for the opener. that was much more ok than the time i didn't realize it was the elected who were the openers for the magic numbers. i missed half the elected's set and hated the magic numbers. i was interviewed and photographed for this piece, and i'm pretty sure my photo came out most awful. i'm guessing they spotted me in the crowd because i was wearing mj's old blue ski hat with double pom poms and the ear flaps that tie at the bottom. it sits way high on my head since it's so small; the effect is pretty comical.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

that was so so easy

since my last post, i have applied for a job at a university registrar's office. i am going to keep doing this until i get an offer. perhaps i should consider other departments as well.

underheard

had a hilarious time at the store. ran into a friend who made fun of me for talking quietly about church by pretending i was talking really loudly. he shouted 'and i pay my tithing too' to illustrate how 'loud' i was being. his girlfriend heard from halfway across the store...when we walked over, she asked when we were going to stop embarrassing her. later, there was some joke about the $29.99 can of foie gras being such a good deal because the other one was $10 more. i said, pretty loudly, 'where's the vegan foie gras?' at some later point i got to saying all sorts of nonsense as if i really meant it, which really amused an old couple in the elevator. i'm not sure if they thought i was joking or not.

Monday, January 14, 2008

rooms

i just realized that for most of the past two years, i've been lucky to share a room with someone who happens to be on a fairly different sleep schedule that me. i sleep heavy, so it doesn't matter that the guys working late come home after i'm in bed; on most nights i won't even wake up. when i do, i fall asleep again immediately. sharing a room is a great way to save money; it's not easy all the time of course. funny thing is, i had a single room for a significant amount of time in college and my parents were concerned that i was going to miss out on the important life lessons to be had from living with a roommate. well, years later, i'm still living with roommates and sharing a bedroom even...and there seem to be plenty of lessons i have yet to master.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

songs of the week, wk 11

-'the minaret'

-'century estates'

-'phantom limb'

-'father william'


i discovered some rather decent music in a lost corner of yesterday. fresh doesn't have to be new in the sense of newly acquired. this week, fresh was new in the sense of rediscovered. there was also a great song by the places that is motivating me to check out some more amy annelle once the budget allows. i was getting the places and the pieces mixed up, so the song totally blew me away in its subtlety and depth. don't get me wrong, the pieces deserve some song of the week some week, but their corner of yesterday is even more remote than the one that 'phantom limb' had inhabited.

Friday, January 11, 2008

advantage: mediocrity

let's say you have a wide range of interests but are not particularly skilled at anything. this may seem frustrating at times. it is, surprisingly, a real advantage in making the right friends. people who take interest in what you are trying to accomplish, and people who make sincere efforts to help are the ones you should befriend.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

not so clever

one time i had this girl's email address from a message she'd sent to a large list of people. at the time, i wanted her phone number and was planning to ask her out. i wrote her and said:

"i find myself in rather desperate need of your phone number"

she gave it to me. i called her. when we went out, she asked:

"how did you get my email address?"

i'm not sure why i thought it made a difference whether i got her number by emailing her or some other way.

chaos

recently, my loft bed was equipped with a real mattress. i would tell interesting stories, but those take more time. as mattresses go, this one is fairly excellent. a couple things have resulted. one, thanks to my goal of reading more in the evenings, i have a comfortable place to lie down with a good book. two, increased comfort has affected my desire to get up in the mornings. three, less clearance between my bed and the ceiling makes sitting up an occasionally precarious action. four, retrieving objects from the far end of the bed has become much more difficult. five, at least one roommate can no longer see me when i'm up here; the angle is too steep now. needless to say, the bed has brought more change thus far than the vanderslice tracks. those are excellent; the bed scores lower on the scale of beds but higher on the scale of life impact.

Friday, January 04, 2008

email tips

don't close with:

"sincerest warmth"

part of my lunch

the cupcakes have had a short yet interesting life:

did you know you can't buy unlimited cupcakes in one go? co-worker learned the hard way:

"There was a 2 dozen limit, so first come, first served. Sorry, I asked to speak to the manager for an exception to the 2 dozen rule, and the cupcake-serving-woman said 'You’re speaking to her.'"

thus it was first-come, first-served cupcakes in the office this afternoon. we stood around eyeing them, waiting for someone to make a move. everyone was told they were just two flavors - chocolate and vanilla. it was a matter of appearance. i had my eye on the least colorful cupcake in the box, no one took it, but the words didn't quite come out the way i'd intended:

'i want this lonely cupcake that's the only one of its type'


i am banning myself from camera obscura for the rest of the day.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

the best time of the half decade

i will say, presidential campaigns are sweet because, if nothing else, they provide a great way to buy union-made clothing. sure, maybe it costs a little more than usual, but some of the shirts are pretty clever. thank you, ron paul.

oh, btw, dennis kucinich: there's no point having a plain hoodie if you aren't putting a zip hoodie on as well.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

hotel you

i heard a fantastic idea this weekend. for houseguests, possibly excluding family, charge $25 a night. it gives people something to think about - do they really want to spend the money - and potentially reduces your rent for the month. it's also a fairly reasonable fee. i think it works just as a way to make it more their decision whether they can commit to staying at your place. that might not make sense.

in other news, heard some antlers today and liked it. it was just one song. more to follow perhaps.