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- I had an epic post about baseball that was eaten when my laptop fried out a memory chip on Sunday night, but the gist was: no matter how far removed we get from that mid-90s version of it, when I think of the Braves' starting rotation, I still think Smoltz Glavine Maddux Millwood; filled out the last page in my scorebook a few weeks ago, am glad for cleanliness and sturdiness of new one, miss the history of seven years' baseball attendance from the old one (HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT SHORTSTOPS FROM CLEMSON ARE CAPABLE OF IF I CAN'T SEE THAT THEY WENT 2 FOR 14, REACHED ON TWO ERRORS, AND SCORED ON A BALK AGAINST CAROLINA THIS YEAR >:(); growing fonder by the day of Orioles' first round draft pick (and now Rookie League pitcher) Matt Hobgood (he signed so early because he just wants to play baseball, he didn't care about the extra million! he has braces! he's so young his mama had to co-sign his contract! *heart hands*). Also, loving Brad Bergesen's pitching for the O's these days but not wild about our total inability to hold a lead after a lights-out 8IP performance from a good young starter. My baseball team is bad and I suspect they feel very bad about it. They better. I feel bad about them.
- I also now have a job. I will be working in a field office of a much-maligned branch of the federal government starting on Monday, and I'll be there for at least two years (my probation period), and probably longer. After two years of grad school and two years of contract employment and working from home, I am absolutely excited to have a computer and a desk and an 8 to 5 cube. Sure, I'll miss the CSI re-runs, but I've seen most of them by this point. Some stability and normalcy in my life will not go amiss. Also the ability to pay bills and get federal holidays off and have health insurance, awesome. And that is the last time that I will discuss my new job in public. But know that I'm excited about it!
- My brain is basically devoted full-time these days to the following: baseball, mostly minor league; live music and our local scene; cooking; reading everything in the known universe; Texts from Last Night; reading blogs about photography and coveting Pentax K1000's and Holgas and the new Olympus EP-1's and the Nikon E-series 100mm/f2.8 lens. If any of you have any of those camera things hanging around your house, and you're not using them (and frankly, if you have gotten your hands on an EP-1 and you're not using it, what the fuck are you, a flaming moron?), please send them to me. I would take very good care of them.
- I'm vaguely irritated by the Cobra Starship tour dates, because Charlotte is a Sunday and the closest other date is Richmond on a Tuesday, and as we all know, these days I only drive through Richmond to spit on the place on the way to somewhere more awesome. There are bands I'd go to Richmond for, at the right venue, but Cobra is not one of them. (Said bands: Okkervil River if there wasn't a closer date; the Avett Brothers but only at the National and only if there wasn't a better option here; Mason Jennings headlining the National. That's about it. Maybe the Truckers with a really good supporting line-up and no Triangle dates.) Richmond is bad and should feel bad for always being mean to us. But, you know, I haven't been to a bandom-bands show since Cobra last fall, so it's not like I appear to be invested or anything. I'm excited about the Cobras' new album, though, and I wish they'd just realize that there's more to the NC than Charlotte; there's a day off between Charlotte and Richmond, they could play the fucking Lincoln once in a while. Jeez, Gabe.
- Other albums coming out in the second half of the year that I'm excited about: the new Wye Oak; the new Bombadil; the new Megafaun; the new Avett Brothers (holy crap I am excited about that one); the final New West album of the Truckers' contract, the b-sides and outtakes one; the new AA Bondy. I would be excited about the new-new Truckers and the new Josh Ritter but we're not getting those until next year. And there are some local bands who either need to put out their new albums or just fucking give me all the rough cuts of what they've recorded so far to tide me over before I go to their houses and punch them in the kidneys.
- I have finally seen enough movies in the theater this year that I contemplated starting a list in my journal, like I've kept other years, but then I remembered that seeing Star Trek three times and Up twice doesn't actually mean I've seen 7 movies in the theater. I've just seen four (those two, plus Watchmen and the Brothers Bloom) ... multiple times. And frankly the rest of the year will probably just be me seeing the Harry Potter movie over and over again, and maybe Star Trek one more time, so a list is still sort of unnecessary. I used to see a lot of movies, and now that money gets spent on concert tickets and PBR.
That's all I got. Time to go to the library and do laundry and enjoy the penultimate day of my unemployment. How are you guys?
in my head: All Pinned Down -- The Ginger Envelope -- Invitation Air
cataloguing: fannish:bandish:fear the cobra, numbered and lettered lists, personal:work sucks, sports:baseball
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Today I think we should play a game I have just made up, which is called "Share songs with funny or kick-ass titles, regardless of the quality of the actual song, though it would be nice if they weren't terrible".
I will start: [The Fake Fictions -- "Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions"] 5MB, .mp3.
Now you go.
I spent Saturday [here], watching about 50% of my favorite local bands rock it down on the campus of a biofuels plant in the middle of nowhere, Chatham County, NC. Such is life, occasionally. Nobody got sunburnt, nobody got embarrassingly drunk, and everyone had fun. Well, at least I had fun and I think everyone else had fun. That's what counts, right?
I have had an unreleased song by a beloved beloved local band stuck in my head for the last two days, and I find the whole thing vaguely irritating; it's become the worst part, the only really bad part, of seeing the same bands over and over again while they're between releases, knowing and loving these songs that I have no access to listen to outside of a live setting. Or, I suppose, even worse than that: knowing and loving these songs, and finally getting them on an album, and realizing that the album really sort of sucks. That happened this year, too.
In other news, the NC DMV also sucks.
in my head: but only for a little while
cataloguing: life or something like it, media:music spam
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I know I have North Carolinians -- both natives and long-term residents, and ex-natives and ex-long term residents -- reading this, so I've got a question for you: where are your favorite secret places in North Carolina? Where can I go take pictures that I might not already be aware of?
I'm particularly interested in small towns that have been around a while, have traditional "downtown" areas with older buildings/signs/what have you, or might have interesting decaying bits, and in places where we could do a little nature walking without having to be, you know, hardcore hikers. Extra extra bonus points for places within 25-30 miles of Chapel Hill/Carrboro -- I'm mostly looking for half-day trips -- but I'm willing to go further if someplace is totally awesome. (Anything neat on the coast or up in the mountains that could be made a weekend trip also welcome.)
I've already spent time in Pittsboro, Hillsborough, Bynum, Siler City, the state park area around the Haw River on 15-501 before Pittsboro, the back roads between the CH and those places, and of course Jordan Lake. I'm looking for new places; can you guys tell me any? Does, like, Mebane have an actualfax downtown? All I know of Mebane is that stretch right by I-40 where the Sonic and all the cheap gas stations are. (Mmmm. Sonic.) Are there any cool little festivals that you know about, ala Benson Mule Days? (I am weirdly obsessed with the idea of Mule Days. I find it totally hilarious.) Can anyone tell me exactly, in very small words and great detail, how to find the cement hippo in Bolin Creek Park? What about Durham County outside of the actual city of Durham? Oh, and has anybody been out to the Orange County Speedway? Is it awesome? Should shep. and I go?
in my heart:  curious
cataloguing: cities:sweet sunny south
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[Hayes Carll -- "As Soon As I Learn Your Name"] 2MB, .mp3. The Hayes Carll set that I saw back in December turned up on archive.org this week, which is awesome, because it's way more enjoyable listening to this set at home than it was listening to it at the 506, by myself, one of five women in a crowd of large, scary, drunk dudes, on a night when the guy who owns the 506 wasn't there and the bartender we usually relied on for protection from scary dudes was having screaming fights with his girlfriend, who kept trying to put her hands in the opening band's bass player's pants. It was, uh. I will not be going to see Hayes Carll alone again, let's just say that. Which is a shame, because he's awesome, but I have rarely been that terrified by myself in a crowd out in the Triangle.
Anyway, this song is awesome, and you should listen to it. If you didn't want me to be a Red Sox fan and move to Arkansas, Hayes, I would totes be your girlfriend. But those things are kind of deal breakers, especially the Red Sox part. And the Arkansas part, actually.
It's that time of year where basically we live and eat and breathe and sleep college baseball here in the CH, and last night's UNC/UVA game sucked balls, let us never speak of it again. Also, I don't want Alabama in our regional, the Flacker's not allowed to hit walk-off bombs to save our butts anymore. Nobody but shep. cares about my feelings on these things, though, which is why I haven't composed an epic post about how Matt Harvey was replaced by a pod person in Boston and also seems to have shaved his hair into a mohawk for no apparent reason, but it's all making me feel genuine affection towards the Harv, and I just don't know how to cope with that. My life only makes sense when I hate Matt Harvey.
After a couple of days over the last two weeks where I was violently depressed by the state of my unemployment and my life in general, I am feeling tentatively optimistic about things the last few days, despite yesterday's third inning. Basically I'm pretty awesome and things'll work out, or they won't for a while and then they will. Plus Alabama's not really my problem. I mean, I can't pitch for shit or hit bombs, so, you know, it's not like I could really help the team out. I throw about 6 miles an hour. Canonically, I do not have a heater, and that's not going to do our pitching staff any good.
in my head: Intro/I'm Thankful For Christmas This Year -- Hayes Carll -- 2008-12-02 @ Local
cataloguing: media:music spam, sports:college baseball:cardiac heels
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- ( real life shit )
- With re: Dreamwidth. Eventually I am going to import my journal and start cross-posting, but for the moment, I am just posting on LJ. For what it's worth/for your reading list maintenance/etc etc etc. I am reading my Dreamwidth list actively, though, if that matters to your maintenance.
- I also have
four three one Dreamwidth code left, so if you still want/need one, leave an email address I can send one to. First come first serve, anybody eligible!
- Flickr and/or Yahoo finally fixed the bug that wouldn't let me renew my paid account sometime in the last few weeks, and so I am all renewed up through June 2010. HOORAY. It is, without a doubt, the best thing I pay for on the internet every year. Except for maybe live StatTracker for my fantasy baseball team. But probably not.
- Classic bands of the 80s and 90s whose greatest hits/best album I should add to iTunes? shep. and I rocked out to the Bangles' Greatest Hits and Salt-n-Pepa's Very Necessary on Saturday, and I just re-imported The Immaculate Collection, but I need some ideas of other things to import/track down/etc etc etc. GOOD CHEESY AMAZING BAD AWESOME SUMMER MUSIC, PLS.
- Drinking coffee, applying to day jobs at Duke, catching up on podcasts. Blah blah blah blah blah. MY LIFE IS BORING, OKAY?
in my head: God In A Cup; Food And Technology; Cheap Eats; Bamboodles -- Podcast:Talk -- KCR
cataloguing: life or something like it, numbered and lettered lists
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Dear friends inside the internets machine:
Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? Here are some things that are going on with me right now:- I have a Dreamwidth account. I don't know what I'm going to use it for yet, because let's face it: I've been pretty crap at LiveJournal recently anyway, and I've been out of active fandom for almost a year at this point, but I have the account. Do with that information what you will, and as soon as I get my own shit together, perhaps I will do with that information something as well.
- None of you have asked me this question, but approximately fourteen other people have over the course of the last two weeks, including at least six just last night, so the answer is: no, I am not going to Shakori Hills (a kickass roots music festival 45 minutes from my apartment). Reasons for this are three: I'm broke like a joke and weekend passes there are fucking expensive; we have tickets to all three UNC/Miami baseball games this weekend anyway; I don't fucking camp, because I am too old to sleep on the goddamned ground anymore. The last of those three seems to be the reason that best gets people off my back about it. Musicians, oddly, don't seem to understand the commitment to baseball.
- Here is the answer to another question, though I'm not going to tell you what the question is; just know that this answer has been a fairly constant refrain here at the Alpha Site over, oh, the last couple of months: because we don't know any normal people.
- I've been doing a fair amount of shooting in studio while musicians record lately, and I am craving the opportunity to do more. Do you live in the Triangle? Do you have a band? Do you want me to come over and take pictures while you record and/or rehearse? :D? :D? I promise not to fall off chairs onto anyone, puts cats in anyone's hair, or have complex arguments about who's actually out of tune, the guitar or the banjo. I am quiet and unobtrusive and I won't drink all your beer! I swear! :D?
- I personally feel that the world would be a better place if more people played the banjo-ukelele. The banjolele, if you will.
- About, oh, two months ago, they started renovating the previously-empty bar next door to my office. This distresses me on multiple levels, the first being that I'd lusted after doing a promo shoot with some friends in a band in there, before the construction workers ripped out the gorgeous old vintage mahogany bar, but I didn't get to that stage in my friendship with those boys before they ripped it out. The second level of distress is that we were treated to two straight months of jackhammering and pounding and walls shaking as they ripped out of the old floor and then the concrete below it, and today we have a noise respite -- but the varnish they're using is seeping into our office and I'm high as a fucking kite and I have a headache, even though we have the doors open and a fan going, and I've only been here two hours.
- I have sucked at my job lately, which has caused me to avoid my boss, which has caused me to not have anything to do aside from the stuff I'm avoiding doing, and it's just this vicious circle of suck at my day job and all I want to do is run off and become a professional rock and roll photographer, which is not at all feasible for a variety of reasons. I have one thing to accomplish today, something I have been putting off for a week out of laziness and grumpiness, and I have to get it done. Or I'm going to put myself on notice.
- Also it seems to have started raining. Eff you, North Carolina, I just want some consistently nice weather for a while, Jesus Christ.
That's all I know, friends in the internets machine! I hope you are all doing well. You could tell me cheerful things, if you wanted, so that I do not lose my shit and punch someone in the face today.
Love and kisses,
Min
in my heart: grumpy
in my head: Press -- Superchunk -- No Pocky For Kitty
cataloguing: life or something like it, numbered and lettered lists
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idk, i heard that some handsome and talented tall dudes won some kind of national championship tonight. maybe i drank a lot of beer and watched it on the tv and then waded into a seething mass of humanity. idk. it's kind of a blur.
to sum up: holy motherfucking shit, tyler hansbrough is a national champion.
then i rear-ended someone in the wendy's drive-thru lane. because it's not one of my nights if i don't do something appalling.
p.s. congratulate ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kimberlyfdr, who ran away with my tournament pool, and darastar, who finished a close second!
in my heart: jubilant
cataloguing: sports:college basketball
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Unrelated to the rest of this post, I am pretty sure that nothing will make me laugh harder today than this post from MJD at the Dagger. On the upside, all that coffee out my nose really cleared my sinuses.
So it's April. We're a quarter of the way into my take-at-least-one-photo-every-day year of month-long projects, I've had Six, my beloved Nikon D60 for more than four months, all I think about these days is photography, baseball, and sleeping, so let's do a What The Hell I've Learned In The Last Three (But Really Four And Change) Months. Since I don't have anything else to talk about, apparently, given that I haven't posted anything substantial in a week and a half.
A little about my year of month-long projects: I've had fun doing them, in their own ways, and I've committed and I'm excited about a few of the upcoming months and I'm sticking to it, but I'm finding that it's not as challenging as I had wanted it to be. Partially that's the subject material I've picked -- letters were harder but less interesting than I had hoped, sometimes I take cheap easy shots of doors or windows instead of pushing myself -- and partially it's just because ... I don't know. I don't regret doing this, but I'm not finding it as satisfying as I'd hoped. There's other shooting I've done this year that's been more satisfying and interesting and difficult. I'll change how I do a year-long project or sets of projects next year.
I am not a great photographer; I am a reasonably decent photographer who's learning. There's a ton of technical stuff I still don't know. I'd love to know more about lighting techniques. I want a good mid-range high-end zoom lens (18-105 or 28-105 would be perfect). I hold my camera funny and lose a ton of shots to camera shake. But I've busted my ass in the last 18 months to get better, and I am getting better. And I want to talk about why, a little (or, actually, a lot), and what I've learned that has helped me.
This is advice that works for me; these are the things I've learned. They may not be for you. Some of them might help you; some of them might not. To each their own, yes? Yes.
( what i've learned (and what i'm still working on) )
Anything in my photography bookmarks on delicious is something I thought was useful, in some way -- although there's a lot of stuff in there that's just there because I want to buy it later -- but I really love Advice To Young Photographers: Wear Good Shoes. Pros telling you the most important things to know, in their opinions. It's good. If you don't want to read all of it -- and if you want to take photos, I think you should, but if you don't, the best advice in it is this:If you are bored or unhappy with your subject it will show up in the pictures. If in your heart of hearts you want to take pictures of kitties, take pictures of kitties. -- Alec Soth The stuff I've loved best of mine so far this year is in this set. Want to know why I think it's good, or why I love it even if it's not a great photo? Ask. I'll tell you.
Dude, that was epic. Sorry.
in my heart: thoughtful
in my head: I Will -- Langhorne Slim -- Slim Pickens
cataloguing: personal:photos, sports:college basketball
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FLIST. does anybody want to play in a fantasy baseball league with me and kickthebeat? leave an email address where we can send you details, but please, only if you're really, really serious about being interested. we need at least a couple of other people to make the league viable this year.
in my head: In Dreams, We Discover Ourselves, Broken And Yearning -- The Physics Of Meaning -- Snake Charmer & D
cataloguing: sports:baseball
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What I did on my 29th birthday yesterday:- took a conference call in my pajamas
- discussed proper seduction-by-playlist procedure (not on the conference call; on im, during the conference call)
- cleaned my room in my pajamas and a tiara
- took pictures of my cat in the dryer
- downloaded a leak of the new Booker T album
- went to see the Carolina baseball team play Princeton
- went to Target and bought a shitload of groceries and also two new lamps
- went to bed early like an old person, dreamed of nice things, woke up rested this morning
May the rest of 29 be so kick ass.
Now I have to go to an inexplicably boring meeting. SIGH.
P.S. YOU HAVE UNTIL NOON TODAY TO PUT AN ENTRY IN MY TOURNAMENT POOL: http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=77657. Group name is The Alpha Site, password is "bcsucks" without the quotation marks. No more than two entries per person!
in my head: West Coast -- The Roadside Graves -- No One Will Know Where You've Been
cataloguing: life or something like it
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RIGHT, SO, BASKETBALL POOL:
Group URL: http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=77657
Group Name: The Alpha Site
Password: bcsucks
The rules: a maximum of two entries per person; no trash talking in comments in my journal, and no whining when your bracket goes to crap (my bracket goes to crap every year, suck it up!); and you have to be ready to 'fess up, if your entry doesn't include your LJ username, if you win the whole thing.
ALL RIGHT GO.
in my head: I'll Be Damned -- Slobberbone -- Barrel Chested
cataloguing: sports:college basketball
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HOLY CRAP I AM TIRED.
And this is why:- [American Aquarium @ the Lincoln] 03.13.09. Raleigh, NC. Supported by Cary Ann Hearst and Bain Mattox. Still my favorites of favorites, still the band I love the best. A fantastic fantastic show, and now that they're on the road so much, it's always a particular joy when they come home and play here.
- [Holy Ghost Tent Revival @ JJ's Bohemia] 03.14.09. Chattanooga, Tennessee. ... look, sometimes you just have to drive to Tennessee to see a band.
- [the CH to the 'Noog] 20 hours in a car in the rain over the mountains -- but Chattanooga is actually a really adorable little city, and holy fuck are the mountains in Western NC and Eastern TN beautiful. Plus, Civil War battlefields! And angry anti-liberal bumper stickers! And road trips!
And so I am fucking exhausted, because we hardly slept this weekend and there was a lot of white-knuckle driving (all done by quicknow, who is one of my favorite people in the world ever and also the only person I would trust to drive me through the mountains in shitty weather) and two late shows over two days and SO TIRED.
SO SO SO TIRED.
*falls over*
OH HEY ALSO: raise your hand if you're interested in an NCAA basketball tournament pool this year; winner will get a print of one of my photos of their choosing, I think. I might actually get that done, unlike the last two years of prizes. I still owe herrgooch a music spam, I haven't forgotten. But I'm not going to run a pool unless I've got a bunch of people interested.
in my heart: tired
in my head: Baseball America Podcast: 03/11/09 -- J.J. Cooper & John Manuel -- Baseball America
cataloguing: personal:photos, sports:college basketball
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[The Star Room Boys -- "Why Do Lonely Men And Women Want To Break Each Other's Hearts?"] 5MB, .mp3
[The Star Room Boys -- "New York City Isn't Going Anywhere"] 5MB, .mp3
[The Star Room Boys -- "Both Our Towns"] 3MB, .mp3
[The Star Room Boys -- "Whiskey And You"] 5MB, .mp3
I think I've posted the occasional Star Room Boys track before, but an Ask Metafilter thread yesterday prompted me to listen to both albums again and I'm reminded of what gems they are. True Georgia country, underscored by Johnny Neff's superb pedal steel playing and laid over by Dave Marr's sad, scorching voice. The band's now defunct but god damn the two albums they left behind are fantastic.
If you snag these and enjoy them, drop me a comment, okay? Okay. (To my mind, the best pedal steel players working today:- Matt Stoessel (Don Chambers & GOAT, South San Gabriel, The Ginger Envelope, approximately seventeen other bands in Athens, GA)
- Todd Beene (Glossary, Lucero)
- Johnny Neff (the Drive-By Truckers, ex- of the Star Room Boys)
- the guy who plays/played pedal steel with Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys circa 2003
- Robert Randolph (Robert Randolph & the Family Band)
Honorable mentions, current and historical, go to the guy who plays with Thad Cockrell, my beloved poodle-headed steel player from American Aquarium (who's going to be spectacular when he's no longer 21 and a junior in college), Pete Drake (steel on Dylan's Nashville albums), Don Helms (Hank Williams). THE END.)
Yesterday shep. and I went to see the Carolina baseball team play App State, sat in the first row of an otherwise empty section, and were ogled at length by the App third baseman after he'd failed to chase down a foul ball that went out of play. Then we were squinted at suspiciously from the third base coaches' box by the Carolina coach, in a very I-know-you're-sitting-over-there-ogling-my-players way. I can't lie, Coach Fox: we totally were. We can't help it. Your starting catcher is smokin', and he kept running back and forth from the dugout to the bullpen. WE ARE NOT MADE OF STONE, OKAY. In our defense, we were also keeping score, and I was taking photos. But mostly ogling.
I accomplished a ton of work before 9 am today, and now I have to wait for other people to return my emails before I can do anything else. I wish this meant that I could go home early, but alas, no.
I know what we should do today: you should recommend some blogs to me. I am always looking for new things to put in my Google reader, so recommend away. I like food blogs and music blogs and photography blogs -- either talking about photography or posting photos -- and sports blogs (college and pro basketball, college and pro baseball, college football) and random lolzy blogs. Help me not die of boredom while I'm stuck in waiting-for-emails-at-work limbo!
As for my contribution, here are some of my favorites:[Tastespotting] A food blog syndicator.
[Every Day Should Be Saturday] My very favorite irreverent college football blog.
[Unphotographable] Photos not taken.
[Largehearted Boy] The best syndicator of music and book content out there -- daily posts about free and legal recordings, book reviews, a post full of interesting links to music and book related interviews and articles, weekly posts about new releases. He's awesome. OKAY NOW YOU GO.
in my heart: bored
in my head: Lady Barber -- The Ginger Envelope -- Edible Orchids
cataloguing: fannish:bandish, media:music spam, sports:college baseball:cardiac heels
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- [Baseball: Clemson @ Carolina] 03.06-08.09. Goddamn Clemson. (No offense, Clemson fans -- wait, no, actually: total offense, Clemson fans. Every single Clemson fan we encountered this weekend behaved like a total asshole, and a lot of them walked around looking like the CH smelled bad. Which, frankly, if your alma mater is in Clemson, South Carolina, you don't really have a leg to stand on, in my opinion. Also Chapel Hill doesn't smell bad. >:() Carolina took the series, and it was worth it just to send the Clemson fans home slightly less cocky than when they arrived.
This isn't the best shot I took all weekend, but I think it's my favorite.
- [Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell @ the Pourhouse] 03.06.09. Raleigh, NC. Supported by Ivan Howard (the Rosebuds). What a killer show. Caitlin and Thad did a bunch of songs from Begonias, their duet album, to open (right after Christmas, I spent about three weeks listening to nothing but that album), and then Thad played a solo set, and then Caitlin came back and they covered Buck Owens and Thad played "She Ain't No You" for Caitlin and it was really, really fantastic.
- shep. and I have bought ourselves a farm share this spring! I am super excited about it, because we're trying to eat better, and eating more vegetables is a big part of that. It starts in April and it will be amazing.
- ... basically we have reached the stage in the year where everything I own smells like sunscreen and sweat and fresh-cut outfield grass and will continue to for the next three months, and the things my brain is devoted to basically narrows down to: photography; sleeping; live music; the Carolina baseball team. I would apologize in advance but I love those short dudes who ball unreservedly, and thus I regret nothing!
- Speaking of sunscreen, internets, please recommend to me a sunscreen that would be good for super, super sensitive skin. Because we have baseball season tickets that are in direct sun, we really have a need for good sunscreen; Banana Boat Sport works fine for all skin but my face -- but my face is so sensitive that Saturday's sunscreening caused three fresh zits to erupt. So: sunscreen for skin that takes offense at being breathed on wrong. Anybody? I'm willing to pay good money for a SPF30+ that won't make me look like a teenager after I use it.
- My new camera strap arrived Saturday and it's super cute and the perfect length for me -- long, so that Six sits at my hip instead of my waist when I sling the strap across my body -- and I can totally recommend this Etsy seller. She just sells camera straps and they are all super fantastically cute and reasonably priced. *thumbs up*
This is such a Monday sort of Monday. I have a ton to do and I keep staring at it like it's all written in some language I don't understand instead of actually just doing it.
in my heart: restless
in my head: Already Dead -- The Rumble Strips -- Daytrotter Session
cataloguing: numbered and lettered lists, personal:photos
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if you need us, this is where shep. and i will be until the middle of june. try not to have emergencies on sundays, shep. has a really busy schedule of verbally abusing our sunday starter pencilled in for the foreseeable future.
p.s. the high here tomorrow is projected at 80. :D
in my head: last regular season gameday! GUYS. <3
cataloguing: personal:photos, sports:college baseball:cardiac heels
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- There was totally something I wanted to post about today, but I can't remember what it was. God damn it.
- From quicknow, a classic Bobby Knight quote: "Best of all, Knight recounted a conversation he had with Dean Smith ten years earlier, in which he told Coach Smith, 'You have to get that wins record, Dean, because Adolph Rupp was a son of a bitch, and you aren’t.'" Bobby, you are trufax my favorite dude on Game Day. You and your grumpiness and your old man sweaters and the way you're mean to Digger and Jay and Hubie and Rece, but in a loving way. A loving mean way.
- Speaking of Game Day, if you are capable of watching Digger Phelps dance with two Cal cheerleaders without cracking a smile, I am afraid that I have to tell you that you might have no soul. This is seriously one of the funniest, most embarrassing, most amazing things I have ever seen on the internet.
- This morning when I left the house it was 18 degrees. Those of you who live in places that are routinely colder than the NC are sneering at me, but seriously: I live here so I don't have to deal with that kind of weather. I live here because I like mild winters and early spring and long falls, and I am willing to suffer the sweltering summers for those things. I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS KIND OF WEATHER IN MARCH, YOU GUYS. >:(
- Speaking of March, two weeks from today I will be 29. I am, quite frankly, far more freaked out about 29 than I am about turning 30 next year. 30 seems like an adventure. 29 is just scary. That said, should you feel the desire to gift me with things in celebration of my getting older, I have a tag for things I want on delicious and an Amazon wishlist. Feel free to ignore the obscenely expensive camera lenses on the Amazon wishlist.
- OH! I remembered what I wanted to post about. You guys, we have the worst shower-related maintenance luck in the world. Here is a list of shower-related trauma we have suffered since living in this apartment: terrible water pressure, resulting in shower being nicknamed Greg Maddux (because he's known for peeing on teammates in the shower, and it was like being peed on when we used our shower, and ... you get it); handles for both hot and cold water and shower falling off in our hands, multiple times; thermostat on water heater burning out; water heater dying completely; tiles on shower wall buckling out inexplicably; tiles on shower wall buckling out again, five days after being fixed. Our shower is crap, you guys, and I am so fucking tired of dealing with all our shower related issues.
- I am trying to listen to everything I have unplayed in my iTunes today, music and podcasts both, which is good because there's some good stuff in there -- fitofpique, that Fanfarlo album is fucking kickass, thank you for that -- but all I really want to do is listen to Tim Barry's first album and the Truckers shows from DC where Cooley had to be frontman all by himself over and over. I hate having a lot of stuff backed up, though, and most of what I have listened to so far has been A++, so it's not a total wash. Just. I should manage my library better, sometimes.</ol>Back to writing marketing materials for one of my projects, I suppose. It's so boring I am thinking about taking a nap under my desk.
in my heart: bored
in my head: People Got A Lotta Nerve -- Neko Case -- Middle Cyclone
cataloguing: life or something like it, numbered and lettered lists
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- [Tim Barry @ the Local 506] 02.28.09. Supported by Josh Small and Austin Lucas. At first I thought I was having trouble with overexposing everything because a couple of weeks ago shooting outside, I had dumped my ISO down to 200 and promptly forgotten about it; and, while I can get away with that in the Lincoln and the National (all my Jason Isbell photos were shot at 200ISO), I can't in the 506, but then it turned out that even with the 50mm lens, there's not really a way to overcome the nights when the 506 goes with their lovely two-lights-and-both-of-them-are-gelled-red scheme. (This lighting scheme makes me want to punch people in the face.) Also, Tim Barry was flaily and twitched a lot. That said: the lighting sucked and I was frustrated with what I got shooting, but all three guys were fucking kick ass performers, Tim Barry especially was totally amazing, shep.'s company is always A+, and I did take one really killer shot. So there's that.
- This is what it looks like in Chapel Hill today. This is what I, consequently, look like: >:((((((((. The weather forecast for this coming Saturday here? Highs in the mid-70s. I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE, EXCEPT THAT I KNOW I AM DONE WITH WINTER. >:(
- On Friday we caught up on BSG and Bones. Saturday we went to the farmer's market (cold, rainy, oddly empty of vendors for this time of year, likely due to a) cold and b) rain) and did the grocery shopping and went to the library, and then we watched a lot of basketball before we went to see TIm Barry. Sunday I cleaned the bathroom and did a load of laundry and made soup in the crock pot and we had a fly-by visit from quicknow, on her way home up I-85, and then I watched most of all three LOTR movies on TNT and spent a fair numbers of hours fucking around on Flickr.
- I have a shitload of work to do this week and I don't want to do any of it. I want to go home and sleep for another six hours, and then I want to watch a bunch of CSI reruns on the TiVo and eat some soup, and then I want to go back to bed. It's too gloomy to do anything else.
Holy crap, my life is so boring.
in my head: The Breaks -- The Black Keys -- The Big Come Up
cataloguing: life or something like it, numbered and lettered lists, personal:photos
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next week i will try to get to some of the other lists of things you think of when you think about me that you guys gave me -- i may pick and choose! because i am a rebel like that! -- but kickthebeat is my roommate, and thus, she gets priority.
( queer ya literature, onegreekonehorse.com, the box-and-one defense, journaling through the ages, that handsome and talented middle reliever john matthew danford )
february wraps up my letter a day photo project (x and z to be posted later today); it turned out to be somewhat fun, and somewhat a pain in the ass, but i'm glad i did it. march is a month for windows and doors, which should be both more interesting and a lot less stressful, and in april we're going with green for the month's theme. i am, of course, still just shooting a lot in general and also taking pictures of my daily food, but i like having a monthly project; it makes me feel like i have some kind of structure to my random clicking. anybody who wants to join me in the daily windows & doors theme is more than welcome to. if you do, post your photos on flickr so i can see them! i also just discovered the group doors & windows so i'm doubly excited about my new project.
in other news, this week has been epically long, i hate being in the office on fridays, and i have slept really, really badly all week. SIGH.
in my head: Carolina's RV -- Tim Barry -- Laurel St. Demo 2005
cataloguing: meta:meme
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What I Did On My Wednesday Afternoon: a photo-essay by minervacat, aged 29-in-three-weeks.
( we? we have spring. )
The rest of the set is here. The new Bosh -- Carolina invested $17 million into renovating the incredibly out of date Boshamer Stadium last season -- is spectacularly gorgeous (the women's bathroom has five stalls and doesn't smell like a pit from hell!), our outfield is sort of a mess (we lost two starters to graduation and one to the draft), and at one point, a relief pitcher ran by us as the public address guy was talking about our upcoming series versus the Seton Hall Pirates and said relief pitcher made pirate noises.
It was sunny and warm -- we sat around in jeans and sweatshirts -- and Carolina won.
It was well worth skipping out of work for.
cataloguing: personal:photos, sports:college baseball:cardiac heels
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things that traveller thinks about when she thinks about me:
( five things )
i can't promise to give you topics but if you'd like me to talk about anything else that you associate with me, say the five things and i will try.
now i have to buckle down and get some work done, because i am hoping to skip out of the office early and watch the first couple of innings of the carolina baseball game before i go home.
in my head: Ep. 393: Not Your Everyday Buzzerbeater -- No Dunks Inc. -- The Basketball Jones
cataloguing: cities:sweet sunny south, fannish:bandish, meta:meme, personal:photos, sports:college basketball
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- [Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit @ the Lincoln] 02.20.09. Raleigh, NC. This was a fucking kick ass night.
- [Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit @ the National] 02.21.09. The National has such great light, Jason never puts on a bad show, and that's really, really all I have to say about that.
- In other Richmond related news, your traffic is bad, Richmond, and your rivers are dangerous, and your best venue has a shit photography policy, expects me to pay four bucks for a PBR, and only uses Ticketmaster for tickets. THAT IS THREE STRIKES, I AM D-O-N-E DONE. Richmond, Virginia, I am finished with you, you rotten third rate piece of crap, and you can stuff that anywhere uncomfortable that you want to. (On record: the staff at the emergency room at the VCU hospital are fantastic professionals. They are the best part of Richmond, though I generally recommend just staying out of the emergency room in general. I know quicknow agrees.)
- Last week I ordered a card reader for the SD cards that live in all the cameras in our house, and it is seriously the best five bucks (19 cents plus 4.50 in shipping) I have spent all year.
- The song I've got stuck in my head this morning: [OutKast -- "Spottieottiedopaliscious"] 7MB, .mp3. Hip hop is rarely my default go-to genre -- that would be Americana-esque stuff, usually -- but I've been on a big old OutKast kick for the last 24 hours. This is such a great song.
- The song that's most appropriate to my mood this morning: [John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives -- "Rock N Roll Will Break Your Heart"] 6MB, .mp3.
- The Poodle has reached the stage in my growing out of my short haircut that, on Saturday, under the weight of itself, it suddenly stopped wanting to stand up all over my head and started hanging nicely (albeit a little like a very curly mop) on my head instead. I am well pleased by this, except that I'm not sure what I want to do with it or how long I want to grow it. I'm also not sure why I felt you guys needed to know this, but apparently I did.
- Today is one of those deceptive days in February in the NC where it looks sunny and gorgeous outside, and then the wind starts up and slices right through any coat you put on, and it's no Chicago but god damn it, I am really, really ready for spring.
- For those of you following along at home with last week's poll, I have decided to go with the reversible strap. Stripes are too awesome to pass up.
I like lists because then I don't have to think up segues between the stuff I want to talk about.
in my head: The Blue -- Jason Isbell -- 2009-02-20 @ the Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh, NC
cataloguing: media:music spam, numbered and lettered lists, personal:photos
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the strap that came with six, the D60, is too short for me -- when i sling it across my body, it sits at my waist instead of down by my hip. and so i want to replace it, and if i'm going to replace it, i'm going to replace it with something awesome. you can help me decide!
Poll #1351957 help me buy a new camera strap!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: Allpick one:
( that random questions meme )
and now, i go to a meeting. woo.
in my head: The Magician -- Jason Isbell -- 2008-03-21 @ the Berkeley Cafe, Raleigh, NC
cataloguing: meta:meme, meta:poll
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- [Holy Ghost Tent Revival @ the Blind Tiger] 02.13.09. Blind Tiger, Greensboro. Supported by Emily Moore, Kooley High & Inflowential. A thoroughly excellent evening, despite the fact that I will never ever ever enjoy the crowd HGTR draws in G'boro. On the other hand, I will also never ever ever get tired of shooting those boys.
- [The Old Ceremony @ the Cat's Cradle] 02.14.09. Cat's Cradle, Carrboro. Supported by Roman Candle. CD release show. Another out of this world show, save one moment late in the set, when I nearly got into it with the official videographer for the band -- I didn't mind moving out of the way for her to film the encore, but I definitely minded being shoved out of the way while I was taking a picture, without so much as an excuse me or a request for me to give up the front of stage spot that triskellita had thoughtfully staked before the set started for my crazy camera toting ass.
I never mind moving but I do mind being bullied out of the way. RUDE IS BAD, KIDS.
- On Sunday shep. and I used a Valentine's Day Target gift card from my parental units to buy two new sets of sheets and a huge bag of cat food. This is a very good indicator of my life lately, as in, things I get excited about: grocery shopping so that I can cook; new housewares; Carolina baseball (season starts Friiiiiiiiiiday); new camera gear; live music; talking about how awesome our shenanigans will be once we move out of the apartment and into either a rented or purchased house-with-yard-for-dog-and-grill-and-wading-pool; Jason Isbell; Carolina basketball; flip-flop weather; new t-shirts from Threadless; using my increasingly complex budget spreadsheet to actually pay down debt and save money.
I think this is what they call "being a grown-up". In other news, I can no longer rock as hard as I used to: Friday night shows where the headlining set doesn't end until almost 2 am, canonically becoming too late for me, especially when they're an hour out of town. SADNESS.
- I have a half-dollar sized bruise on the outside of my left knee, courtesy of the stage at the Blind Tiger on Friday night; I didn't notice until 2/3rds of the way through the evening that I'd been leaning on a bolt all night until my knee twinged when I shifted my weight. Shooting this summer in sundresses and shorts is going to be interesting, because my legs pretty much perpetually look like someone's been beating me. You wouldn't think that stage monitors have sharp edges until you spend three hours with your shins pressed against one.
- I found the conclusion to this past Friday's Psych utterly fantastic, and ( brief spoiler )
- I don't think I mentioned that shep. and I spent most Sundays in January watching Avatar: the Last Airbender on DVD from Netflix, but we did, and I fell completely in love, and sometimes I spend a lot of time at work staring at the ceiling and thinking about Sokka, who is my most favorite of all favorites. Then I think about Aang and Katara and Zuko and Appa and Toph and Iroh and Momo, who are all tied for my next favorite.
- Yesterday I bought a 50mm/f1.8 lens off Craigslist for $55. Sometimes, obsessively trolling the photo listings pays the fuck off. Hilariously, though, I have to coordinate with the father of the guy I'm buying the lens from to actually exchange cash for glass. Craigslist, sometimes you baffle yet delight me.
- I am having a terrible hair day and also a banjo playing Canadian gave me the plague.
This is sort of an epic entry, but I figure if I only post once a week, I can make up for it in length.
in my heart: sick
in my head: Chicago Promenade -- Jason Isbell -- 2007-12-30 @ the Lincoln, Raleigh, NC
cataloguing: life or something like it, numbered and lettered lists, personal:photos, tv:psych
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- [Chicago] is the sort of place a photographer could never get tired of, because it's so huge and it's always changing. I had a lovely weekend with insidian, who tolerated my habit of stopping every five feet to take a picture and who fed me incredibly well, but I also hold fast to the belief that our weather is better than Chicago's weather, and I am turning into one of those old people who makes location decisions based on the weather. Spring happens in February in the NC. Sometimes winter comes back in March for a few days, but mostly, spring, February, everyone is happy.
- Speaking specifically of the weather: ( if you live somewhere cold, this might make you sad )
I took advantage of the weather (and Tuesdays being my work from home days) yesterday and went out and farted around in [Chatham County] with the camera. It's always nicer to have company, which I did not, but it was still lovely to be outside.
- Anybody out there who has experience with renting camera lenses? I am tentatively eventually in the market for the purchase of a 50mm lens and while I'd love to buy the Nikkor 50mm/f1.4 (uuuuuuuuugh you guys my lust for this lens is only matched by my lust for the Tamron 12-24mm macro wide angle lens), the 50mm/f1.8 is waaaaaaaay more in my potential price range, so I was toying with the idea of renting a 50/1.8 lens for a couple of weeks, to see how it stands up to the low light in the crappiest of our venues and also taking pictures of baseball, as these are my two big lens requirements. My problem being that there are a ton of lens/equipment rental companies out there, and I have no idea who's reputable and who's not, and who's got the best selection and prices. So if you've rented lenses -- tell me from whom and what you rented! I want to investigate.
And if you happen to be in the Triangle and could point me someplace where I could rent in person instead of via the internet tubes, that's even better.
- Carolina at Duke, tonight, 9PM, ESPN if you live anywhere outside of North Carolina, RAYCOM if you're in the NC. Either it's going to be amazing or it's going to be brutal, but it's Carolina/Duke -- it's always good.
- My favorite coworker made himself a tuna sandwich at 9:30 this morning. I love him and I love tuna, but not at 9:30 AM. I've been feeling vaguely ill since.
- This is why I haven't posted recently, you guys. I have got absolutely nothing of interest to say. I took some pictures! I watched some basketball! (How killer was the end of the Florida/Kentucky game last night? AMAZING.) I cooked some things! :D? :D?
My life is so boring, but it's my life and the fact of the matter is, I really like it.
in my heart: cheerful
in my head: Mockingbird -- Allison Moorer -- Mockingbird
cataloguing: life or something like it, numbered and lettered lists, personal:photos
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- ( photooooooooooography: two show sets, some general chatter about the local record labels, and the photography process & the product & the community )
- 50 Amazing Flickr Photostreams.
- I haven't posted about this to LJ, but the passing of NC State women's basketball coach Kay Yow last week has really hit me hard. Coach Yow was a fantastic woman, smart and talented and brave and optimistic, and it seems horrible and incomprehensible that State has now lost two great people to cancer, between Coach Yow two Saturdays ago and Jim Valvano in 1993. As with Jim Valvano's "Don't give up, don't ever give up" ESPY speech from a few weeks before his death and any clips of Wake Forest's Skip Prosser, who passed away unexpectedly two years ago, the coverage of Kay Yow's legacy and death has moved me immensely, and will likely continue to forever, and the reaching out to the NC State community by the rest of the college basketball world has been almost too much to take. Sylvia Hatchell's UNC women's team wore pink uniforms against Maryland two Sundays ago; Pat Summitt had her Tennessee team and opposing Auburn in Kay Yow tribute warm-up jerseys the same night. Saturday, the NC State fans were almost all in pink, not their traditional red, for the game against Carolina, and Roy Williams wore a pink ribbon on his coat and pink laces in his sneakers, and I sniffled all afternoon.
Kay Yow was a one of a kind woman, a brilliant coach, the sort of person I want to grow up to be.
- I cooked all weekend; I made up a batch of black beans for burritos yesterday, I cooked a six-pound pork butt in the crock pot and turned it into eastern Carolina style barbecue, I made an om nom nom delicious white bean and roasted red peppers dip for the eating with pita chips. We also went grocery shopping on Friday, so our fridge is currently full to bursting with delicious foods.
- The new Lily Allen leaked, and, for a trashy dance pop album, it's surprisingly delightful and well-produced. There's no way this week can be crap now.
in my head: From Hank to Hendrix -- Ben Kweller -- BBC Radio 2 - Dec 13, 2008
cataloguing: cities:sweet sunny south:a.m.c-h, personal:photos, sports:college basketball
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I have what I call a bus friend -- a regular rider of my bus who I have also regularly seen out at shows, who I often chat with in the mornings, but who I rarely see outside the bus or dirty concert venues -- who I shall henceforth nickname Trees, based on his real name.
Anyway, this morning Trees and I were talking about the Rosebuds show from the weekend, and stuff we're going to see, and he asked me, what's the best show you've ever missed?
For example: he once walked out of a $5 Arcade Fire show at a tiny basement venue (the Cave, for Triangle-ites and ex-Triangle-ites) during the opener because he was tired. He also saw the Flaming Lips soundchecking at the Cradle, had no idea who they were, and skipped the show; he has since become a big fan. I sincerely regret missing any and all of the early Chicago dive bar Fall Out Boy shows. (He laughed at me when I said that, and I told him that I sincerely and unironically loved Pete Wentz and all P.Weezy stands for, including really ugly boots and loving Patrick Stump, and Trees told me that he could respect my love but he would never understand it.) Wilco played Carleton's spring concert my sophomore year and I was in London at the time. I'm pretty sure there were things at the Cave at Carleton that I would regret missing if I could remember what they were. Any of the Truckers shows in the Triangle between August '05 and April '07, which are, respectively, the dates when I moved to the Triangle and when Jason Isbell left the band, and also the Tres Tangled Truckers show (Caitlin Cary, Kevn Kinney, Jason Isbell) at the Pour House in Raleigh in December '05. REM ever before Bill Berry left. The Pixies reunion shows in Chicago.
So. It has to be, through timing and location, something you could have seen. (Because if we're talking history, I wish I could have seen Skynyrd in the 70s and the Truckers doing Southern Rock Opera start to finish at the 506 and Sam Cooke anywhere ever, but I wasn't alive for two of those and I was in Minnesota for the third.) What's the best show you've ever missed? Go.
(In other news: our electronic timesheet system hates me, I think one of my earbuds is breaking and I don't want to buy new ones, the bra that was fine when I left the house is now incredibly uncomfortable, our hot water heater seems to be busted again -- I had a shower like the ocean in December this morning, and I couldn't skip showering because I rode the exercise bike this morning and, well, gross -- and it's incredibly gloomy and foggy today. FAIL, WEDNESDAY. Also, I want spring to be here. Is it spring yet?)
in my heart: grumpy
in my head: The Blue -- Jason Isbell -- Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
cataloguing: media:concerts, media:music
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- ( photos from two holy ghost tent revival/the new familiars shows, one rosebuds/megafaun/love language show, and some chatter about both photography and the shows themselves )
- Digital Photography School: The Biggest Secret of Photography.
- The National -- <3 Matt Berninger -- is recording a new album this year, theoretically, and they are definitely producing new material. [The National -- "So Far Around The Bend"] 5MB, .mp3. It's from a compilation benefit disc of some kind, and it's good. Then again, I think everything they do is good. But, liek, even objectively! Objectively, it's good, I swear!
- [My Chemical Romance -- "Desolation Row"] 3MB, .mp3. And for comparison, because when someone covers Dylan, the original is necessary. [Bob Dylan -- "Desolation Row"] 11MB, .mp3. I like the MCR version a lot, but I prefer Dylan. I often prefer Dylan to many things. For example, today I definitely prefer Dylan to working. So it's not really a statement of opinion but mostly a fact of my existence that I prefer the original.
- The new Jason Isbell album leaked yesterday and I had no problems downloading it because a) I've already bought tickets for a Jason show the week of the actual release date and b) I know I'll buy it on CD if only so I can fondle the gorgeous tripped out smoked too much weed album art and c) no, seriously, the amount of cash I will hand over to Jason Isbell this year isn't even funny. And, oh, you guys, this might not be the best album released this year but it will be my favorite hands down without a doubt. ♥
Also: hilarious adorable 20 questions interview Jason at Popmatters. My crush on Jason is epic.
- My right foot is asleep. >:( And also I hate days where I have to hurry up and wait for other people to get back to me. No lie, I think the IT guy in the registrar's office is avoiding me on purpose. >:(
in my heart: bored
in my head: Cigarettes And Wine -- Jason Isbell -- Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
cataloguing: fannish:bandish:truckers etc, media:music spam, numbered and lettered lists, personal:photos
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In the 80s, Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger toured together for a while, and released an album as a result of that tour, an album called Precious Friend. We had it in a double-cassette set when I was a kid and listened to it over and over again in the car, and when I was in college my mom bought it for me on CD. No matter how many times I listen to it, that show still gives me goosebumps, still moves me in ways that remind me why we listen to music, you know? redwillet and I were out taking pictures yesterday, and I had it on in the background; after I dropped N. off I turned it up, and I was driving down 54 and Arlo Guthrie started singing "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" and I made this great heaving noise that I generally reserve for when ESPN surprises me with Jim Valvano's "Don't Ever Give Up" ESPY speech early in college basketball season, and I started crying so hard out of joy, out of hope for this country, that I had to pull into a gas station until I could get myself together enough to see and drive home.
Then I came home and watched Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger lead 500,000 people and the man who will be our President in just a few hours in singing "This Land Is Your Land", even the angry populist union worker verses that nobody ever sings, and I cried a lot more.
And then I uploaded music, because that is what I do, when I am hopeful and joyous and looking forward in life:[Pete Seeger & Arlo Guthrie -- "Precious Friend You Will Be There"] just when i thought all was lost you changed my mind/you gave me hope, not just the old soft soap/you showed that we could learn to share in time/you and me and rockefeller/i'll keep plugging on/your face will shine through all our tears/and when we sing another little victory song/precious friend, you will be there
[Arlo Guthrie -- "Will The Circle Be Unbroken"] I don't know why this song gives me goosebumps but it does.
[Pete Seeger -- "If I Had A Hammer"] Pete wrote this song with Lee Hays in 1949. Lee was an amazing songwriter, progressive political thinker, supporter of the unions -- you can read about him here, and it's worth reading. I am broken-hearted that Lee Hays didn't live to see this day. I am beyond ecstatic that Pete did.
[Pete Seeger & Company -- "This Land Is Your Land"] Live at the Newport Folk Festival. I know there are people in the country who aren't happy about this -- there are people who read my journal who aren't happy about this inauguration -- but I am unreservedly joyous and hopeful today, and if you post anything in the comments that I could in any way remotely conceive as pissing in my Cheerios today, I will ban you. Permanently. So if you have an opinion that is something other than hope today, you should take it elsewhere.
Because today, for me, is all about joy because I am so overwhelmed that my country could be this amazing. Could amaze me like this.
in my head: Precious Friend You Will Be There -- Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger -- Precious Friend
cataloguing: media:music spam, meta:politics
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what i really, really need from the universe right now is a ryan atwood/the o.c. songvid to the mountain goats' ["pigs that ran straightaway into the water, truimph of"]. yeah but you're going to do what you wanna do/no matter what i ask of you/you think you hold the high hand/i've got my doubts/i come from chino where the asphalt sprouts
so yeah. somebody make that for me. :D? :D?
in my head: When You Were Young -- The Killers -- Sam's Town
cataloguing: media:pathetic begging, tv:oc
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some things that are making wednesday tolerable if not downright delightful:- the rolling stones' sticky fingers.
- the delicious tomato/mozzarella/spinach salad i made myself last night (but not the fact that i left it in the fridge at home :((().
- the fact that several people on twitter reassured me that no amount of love for the band is ever irrational.
- the sky has been clear all week. i really cannot stress how much seeing the sun every day keeps me sane.
- riding the exercise bike before work. wakes me up and makes me less cranky!
- the photography stuff for sale section of craigslist, even if i never buy anything.
- the rolling stones doing "you can't always get what you want".
- related to several of the above items, the big chill.
- my blue-green muppet scarf, made for me by siscat several years ago.
- the fact that my coworker in charge of hr fixed my timesheet problems even though she's technically on vacation.
- related to several of the above items again, the band.
- steve earle recording an album of townes van zandt covers. (seriously, when quicknow sent me that link yesterday, i fell off the couch. i love all earles.)
- the thought of going out to the arb/gardens on campus at lunch and taking pictures.
- flickr.
- taking pictures, full stop. i am genuinely happiest with a camera in hand.
- my new MOO mini-cards -- complete with "no, really, i'm a professional! :D? :D?" photographer contact info on the backs -- shipped today!
- bones, the continued airing of. (is it new tonight? my life needs more new bones.)
- panic at the disco covering ["the weight"].
- for the last few weeks, actually, my job. the work is challenging and interesting, it uses my master's degree, and it's been pushing my skill sets and my comfort zones in good directions.
- trader joe's and all its delicious foods.
okay, now you go. seriously, what's awesome today? i was in a decent mood already but making this list made me happy.
in my heart: happy
in my head: Country Honk -- The Rolling Stones -- Let It Bleed
cataloguing: numbered and lettered lists
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