No more drive-thru! Oh my ghod, I’ve absolutely got to start working out!
The article Carmakers widen seats for wider … seats shows you that we’ve come a long way, baby. And not in a good way.
Perhaps affluence is actually bad for the species? I’m starting to think subsistence living is actually healthier… at least for the ones who manage to survive.
Being a running list, 25-31:
In which I go to Ottumwa. Oh, and talk about the NYE gig.
Yesterday Tahmi called to invite me to join her for lunch and a movie in Ottumwa.
Her mister was cuddled in with his new Xbox 360 and wanted to be alone with his new mistress, so she needed to get out of the house. She picked me up at the Batavia BP and we proceeded to Applebee’s for cocktails and food.
I had two chocolate martinis because I’m a hedonist and a plate of fish ‘n’ chips. She had two coffee & booze concoctions and a pizza appetizer. Then we went to see Family Stone, which was cute in exactly the way we’d expected it to be. (Not the world’s most brilliant film, but perfect for our needs. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anybody with enough current estrogen to like chick flicks.)
After the movie we adjourned to Herberger’s, where I got clothes for my upcoming New Year’s Eve gig (link is a PDF). I bought a cute black tailored jacket, groovy black slacks that are low-slung and even kind of bell bottomed, and a fuck-me-dead-red camisole (with matching panties because, you know, what the hell). Since it was Boxing Day and everything was on sale, I spent $70 for nearly $200 worth of clothes. Yeah! I haven’t purchased gig clothes in a million years, and I’m really excited to wear a new outfit and look well-turned out for once.
I tried the outfit on when I got home and Bread gave me a “Nice ass!” which was gratifying. Apparently chubby chicks can still have nice asses, which is a relief.
All I need now are some cheap platform shoes; I’ll probably hit Wal*Mart or Payless for those. I need platforms because I know for a fact I won’t get the pants hemmed. I never hem pants. It’s just not part of my idiom.
People have been asking me about the gig and when I tell them I’m “just a back-up singer in this band,” they all make the same face. “You’re only singing backup?” they say. “What a waste!” But I’m digging it, to be honest. I get to play cowbell, for one, and tambourine, for another, and I’ve only had to memorize about a quarter of the amount of lyrics I’d’ve had to memorize otherwise. It’s a great deal for me. I love singing backup and I haven’t done much of it. Save this year, I’ve fronted every other band I’ve been in since 1992. There’s a lot to be said for ‘only’ being a backup singer – I get to sing, I get to sing cool harmonies, I get to look cool, and I really don’t have to do all that much for the privilege.
It’s like rock star lite. Plus did I say COWBELL?!
Also, being the opening act instead of the headliner means I’ll be done at 11:00 and will therefore be able to apply myself to proper partying for the remainder of the event! It’s the perfect combination of gig and non-gig events. Bread even suggested I book a room since the gig’s in a hotel so we can both get trashed and not have to bother driving home until the next morning – clever man, isn’t he?
In which we do the family thing.
Today is Christmas Eve.
Since I married into one of those weird families who open presents on this day, we’ll be loading our goodies into the truck and driving to Bread’s sister’s house in Pella in about an hour. There, we’ll sit around drinking White Russians (we’re bringing the ingredients with us – we ain’t stupid), then we’ll have dinner, and then we’ll open presents.
KW is requiring us to spend the night, so I’m guessing that there will be some kind of brunch thing tomorrow. I hope she has good coffee! I hear her daughter, our niece, is walking now. It’ll be fun to see her locomote.
I spent last night and this morning wrapping presents. I’m not sure why I’m not smart enough to buy boxes – I always end up doing these bizarre things to get weird shapes appropriately covered. But everything’s wrapped and ready to go.
Yay, Christmas! I hope you’re all having a lovely holiday, wherever you are, and that you’re healthy and happy and loved. And if Christmas isn’t celebrated where you are, I hope you get to sleep way the hell in. Just ’cause.
In which I totally drool over obsolete electronic devices!
OMG, you guys, OMG I totally want this:
It’s the Newton Museum‘s entire collection! One of every single model of Newton ever made, plus a bunch of software!
I used to carry a Newton or two, back in the day. They were cute, cute, cute! I had storage cards, cases, even tiny little keyboards – the Newton will always have a place in my heart. The opsys was adorable. And the easter eggs! And the handwriting recognition!
Go win me that auction. I’m so worth it. *wink*
In which nothing is being done.
It seems like half the office is out sick today. It’s really quiet at work. The people who are here have coughs and sniffles. It’s snowing outside.
I had take-out from India Cafe for lunch today. I really like their channa masala. I searched for a recipe for it, and found this site with several good recipes. (Check out the sushi recipe. It’s adorable.)
While we’re on the subject of cool food-related links, check out this little number: type in what you’ve got in your fridge, and it will find recipes matching those ingredients. Is that not brilliant?
And since I’m linking, KF sent me a link to Cute Overload and nearly fucking killed me. It takes a minute to sink in, but by the end of the page you’ll fully be giggling.
Tonight I have a House 11 rehearsal. Tomorrow, a gig at Morningstar Studio. Saturday, another gig at Morningstar. Sunday, another House 11 rehearsal. This whole ‘doing music again’ thing is proving to be damn fun.
I’m sleepy, and it’s dark and cold out. I prefer summer to winter by about a million bajillion percent.
For no apparent reason whatsoever:
Santastic: Holiday Boots 4 Your Stockings offers a bunch of Xmas mashups to feed your iPod…
…or you could choose to just annoy customers by playing it as hold music. Ooh! Or you could play it in the lobby!
Or maybe you could slip it in the Muzak machine at your local grocery store.
Xmas anarchy, yeah, that’s what we need. Anything to stop the regular ubiquitous holiday ‘music’. I love Xmas music – don’t get grumpy on me, I used to be a professional Christmas caroller fer chrissake – but the crap you’re forced to listen to when you stop for a pack of cigs or a dozen eggs is just plain WRONG.
In other news, here’s a big ol’ list of podsafe Xmas tunes.
Being a running list, Dec. 4-10, 2005:
Yes, I have been reading smut as a matter of fact!
In which you download an MP3.
Found this song browsing the iTunes music store today. I love this song. Used to have it on cassette back in the day… Lord knows where it is now. It’s Walter singing instead of Donald, which is rare, and it’s live.
I love it for the lyric:
Stars imploding
The long night passing
Electrons dancing in the frozen crystal dawn
Here’s one left stranded at the zero crossing
With a hole in its half-life left to carry on
But now the world’s much larger than it looks today
And if my bad luck ever blows me back this wayThen I’ll just look in my book of liars for your name
I’ll just look in the book of liars for your name
So I bought the song, and then I Limewired an unencrypted one. And so here it is for you to check out:
Book of Liars ~ Steely Dan
As usual, buy the album if you like it, blah blah blah.
In which I’m late for work. Again. But there’s a mix for you to download!
I neglected to change my PPC clock settings from ‘travel’ to ‘home.’ This means that when my alarm went off this morning, it wasn’t a quarter to eight. It was a quarter to nine, and I, as always, was late to work.
Oh, yeah, and it was below freezing outside. With snow flurries.
~+~+~
On our drive home last Sunday, I took control of the noise situation in the cab for awhile and played the following mix. Since we were tired, and it was grey and overcast and gloomy all day long, I made it a mellow mix. (Truck said, “If I was driving, I’d make you turn it off. But I’m not, and I dug it.”)
Behold, my Iowa 80 Rainex Mix, for your downloading pleasure:
Special thanks for some of these tracks to Squirrelville and The Sean Show, both of whom have caused me to buy CDs because of MP3s I’d gotten from them. (Which is proof, to me, that filesharing makes money. So if you really dig any of these tracks, go buy the music. Or see a show. Or have sex with that geeky drummer who never gets any. You know, contribute.)
If you use iTunes, downloading the XML file should enable you to import the playlist easily.
Oh, to download all these tracks at once try the super trick downTHEMall plug-in for Firefox.
~+~+~
In other news, if you haven’t listened to this little slut of a track lately, you totally should because, holy shit, what killer production values!