Saturday, July 31, 2010

in which i yammer on about music

Wow, guess its been a long time since I even looked at this blog. So today I decided to refresh the whole thing and start again. As you can see I used some of the newfangled templates and such. It looks so good, I just blew your mind.

Last night hubby and myself took a little stroll in our neighborhood to get some take out from Kabob Hut. I would go there for the name alone but luckily the food is tasty too. We forgot it was Friday and Fridays in the summer mean some sort of block party/outdoor concert thing with tons of people and randomness. Mark does not like people so large numbers of them in close proximity make him nervous. Unfortunately, right in front of the Hut was the live band so it was loud and super crowded. As we approached the band began to play the classic 90’s 4 Non Blondes hit, “What’s Up” and the singer appeared to be a middle aged soccer mom type. Interesting.

We escaped without incident but it did get me to thinking about music. I have been listening to more since I gave up my car and use my ipod while I walk everywhere. Listening to music while walking around town does kind of feel like you are in your own movie. Also people look at you funny if you try to sing along, so maybe you should avoid that. I listen to a lot of old stuff from my youth because I don’t really follow new music and I know that makes me old.

I am missing a good chunk of my college music because most of it was on tape, usually copied from a friend. After several moves I eventually I threw out the bag of tapes I had. My taste in music hasn’t changed too much since high school but in college when I was a little more angry and a little more political I did tend to listen to some harder stuff. When Mark and I first met I introduced him to Consolidated with the album Business of Punishment and it became one of his favorites. But we have lost that one twice, once when he let someone borrow the tape and again when we bought the CD and I think we left it in the Kia after the car was totaled.

In high school I was way into The Smiths (and Morrissey, Bona Drag is especially good), The Cure, anything British like Cloudcuckooland by the Lightning Seeds. Senior year I became interested in singing and therefore great albums to sing to like Carole King’s Tapestry and James Taylor. In college I discovered Sarah McLachlan, Indigo Girls, Throwing Muses, Veruca Salt, The Fastbacks, The Sundays and tons more. Also, for the record, Courtney Love is amazing and if you have not seen her new Behind the Music episode you should do it immediately. I need that new album.

Since college it has been harder to keep up with new music that I truly like. I mean, I could if I took the time I guess but I just never did. I began listening to a lot more standards and jazz classics. Mark and I would have once a week candlelight dinner at home with martinis and classic ladies of Jazz. I also have a strange obsession with Doris Day.

Overall I am more of a lyric person than a music person so if the lyrics are good or I can sing to it I like it. I especially like witty or clever lyrics. Lately I have been listening to Pandora to try and get new music I like. It’s working. My favorite new band is The Bird and the Bee. They did an entire album of Hall and Oates covers. ‘Nough said. I actually only have Ray Guns are Not the Future which I highly recommend. Pandora also introduced me to my new theme song, The Dollyrots song “Because I’m Awesome”. And so is this blog. Rock on.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Snowpocalypse


So, We just had back-to-back blizzards, have you heard? It's kinda newsworthy. I've only lived here 3 years but it seems like we get very little snow here. I like that.

Last Friday the BIG STORM was coming so we got out of work early and everyone was freaking out. I had gone to the grocery store the night before to stock up and it was super crowded with everyone buying essentials like hot cocoa and cheese doodles. Friday night we kept waiting for the snow and making fun and being a little disappointed because it didn't seem to be coming. Then it started. Mark was so excited he could barely sleep and kept jumping up to see what it looked like NOW.

The snow kept coming all day and it was very pretty and exciting and we were all settled in. Mark decided to go outside and check it out and I took a picture for fun and we laughed. That night Mark was playing fetch with the cat (it's true she loves to play but doesn't often bring the rubber band all the way back) He jumped up to pick the band off the floor and stubbed his toe. It hurt. A lot. But you have to remember that Mark complains about every little injury so his reaction was not necessarily indicative of the actual level of injury. I told him to quit bellyaching unless it starts to bruise. Well, it did, two toes and part of the foot, quite black and blue. He may actually have broken a toe. He called his Mom, the nurse, and we taped it up as per instructions. Snow storm not seeming so fun now.

Sunday we decided to try and dig ourselves out. But we didn't plan on that part. We had no snow shovel or shovel of any kind. I had a rubber broom (as seen on TV) that I never use because its not as cool as it seemed on TV. I also had a plastic dust pan. We took those things outside and Mark tried to push the snow off the car and I used the pan to shovel around the car. That lasted about a minute. My dust pan broke. We gave up. Nothing is open to purchase shovels. We went back inside. I started to feel trapped because in fact I was and that did not make me happy. We began bickering. But, thinking work would definitely be canceled and we would at least have a day off made us feel better. And it was, no work for us, suckers!

Monday I walked over to the hardware store (conveniently just across the street but even then I had to walk in the road because sidewalks no longer exist). They only had kid's size snow shovels. It's still better than what we started with so I bought it and trudged home. Mark and I took turns with the shovel even though he had to shove his broken toe into shoes and socks to do it. It took almost 5 hours to dig out the porch, sidewalk, and car. While Mark finished I took the car to the store to just get out and pick up a few things. I locked the door. Neither of us had our phones. Mark was locked out until I got back. He was not happy. That night we watched the news and learned about SNOWPOCALYPSE II: It's Not Funny Anymore. It was coming Tuesday night and all day Wednesday. Tuesday work was canceled and we might be out the rest of the week. You take the good with the bad I guess. at least I bought toilet paper at the store, and hummus. We got mail for the first time on Tuesday and I asked Mark if the postman was resentful to be trudging through the snow just to bring me a Rhode Island Novelties catalog.

Tuesday and Wednesday are a blur of boredom, local news alerts, Advil and pain. Pain in my arms, back and legs from shoveling all that snow. I am probably quite out of shape. The short shovel handle doesn't help either. I got very upset Wednesday when Days of Our Lives was cut in favor of constant snow news. Look - the governor is speaking, he says snow=bad stay off roads. Look - the mayor is speaking, snow=bad, stay off roads. GOT IT. Mark and I were not getting along, feeling very trapped, had a fight about rationing hummus. Mark's toe still hurts.

Thursday dawns and I am still in pain. Mark says we should shovel. I say no. Mark says if we have to work on Friday we need to shovel the car out. I say we are not going to work Friday and I don't feel like it. Mark's work announced they are closed through Sunday, hurrah! My work announced they will be open Friday, UGH. It's 4:00 and we have not started shoveling. I look outside and the snow fairies (or actual paid apartment groundskeepers) shoveled a narrow path from our front door to the street so there is something. We go out to shovel the car. It only took 2 hours this time.

I did go to work Friday. Roads are narrow with 10 foot walls of snow on either side and downtown snow is everywhere. But it was good to get out of the house. And talk to people. Mark's toe looks a lot better too. Friday the postman delivered my new InStyle magazine. My weekend was looking up.