2003-10-31
I should be happy because the weather is nice, but I will just complain about it,, because that is the kind of person that I am
The weather looks for ways to screw me over.
See, I am going to my parents' house this weekend, but on Tuesday I was pretty much at the end of the cycle of clothes I normally wear. Since I didn't want to pay to do laundry*, I decided that I would just make do with the clean/nearly clean clothes that I had left. Sure, it would mean wearing things that I don't really necessarily like, but I felt that prolonged exposure to things like skirts with slits in the front would help me gain new fondness for those oft-misunderstood garments.
So on Tuesday I planned outfits for Thursday and Friday (Wednesday didn't matter since I wasn't going to work or to anywhere besides the humane society). Thursday went off without a hitch (I didn't even get black scuff marks all over my white tights, which is what happened on Sunday when I wore white tights - it was kind of confusing. I guess I am just a filthy person), but today it is 71 degrees! For real! I am wearing a black skirt, red tights, red shirt, and black cardigan and I am about to melt. But I had to wear this because these are my last final bits of clothing. I suppose I could've gone without the tights, but that would've messed up my color scheme and, to be honest, I don't remember when I last shaved my legs.
*I have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to do laundry here. I would be better off just buying new clothes every time something gets dirty. (Well, maybe not really, but since my clothes are usually not clean and still wet after I have paid to wash and dry them, I really dislike feeding quarters into that washing machine.)
np: work
2003-10-30
The contents of my bag/purse
There aren't any pens at my desk.
I thought that there was a pen in my bag, but instead my bag contains:
1. a pamphlet from the soo locks
2. a spoon
3. dr. pepper lip gloss
4. many ticket stubs
And that is why I am writing with a pencil stub that is the length of my thumb.
And sure, I could go get a pen from somewhere else, but what kind of tragic library heroine would I be then?
np: work
2003-10-29
Other people exist? You have got to be kidding me!
Today we were going to go to the humane society, but then we went outside and my male housemate's car was parallel parked on the street over the opening of our driveway. I stood there in awe for several minutes, and then Jessica went to see if he was here and could move his car. He was asleep (it was only noon, after all), and when she finally woke him up he said something like, "Well, it's our driveway so we can park over it, right?" Because it's not like my happy little honda civic was parked in the driveway, right? It's not like I had any intention of ever moving my car.
Anyway, he gave us his keys to move his car and went back to sleep*, but we decided that we'd rather leave him parked over the end of the driveway, just on the offchance that a meter reader would happen by and give him a ticket. And that is why I got to drive down the sidewalk today.
When we got to the Humane Society, I met a kitten named Joey Ramone, whose cage tag said he was on medication. This led me to run around the shelter saying, "Look, Joey Ramone is on "medication!"" while making quote marks with my fingers.
I think I'm really funny.
But oh my gosh, Joey Ramone was the cutest kitten ever. If he wouldn't get me evicted, he would be running across my floor like a maniac right now.
I spent the rest of the day looking for tights with bats on them. Success=0.
*We thought that he hadn't noticed we were upset by his total self-absorption ("What? Other people live here? Are you kidding me?"), but apparently he did because when we got home there was a note on the wall telling us that we should tell him if his parking habits bother us because he can't read minds. Because it takes a mind reader to know that constantly parking in the end of the driveway so that no one else can park there is irritating. And that leaving entire meals out on the dining room table leads to mouse problems. And that leaving all the lights on in the house all the time means that we will have higher electric bills. And that leaving all of your homework and food all over the kitchen table so that no one else can use it is inconsiderate. And watching two of your housemates take out the trash every single week without ever offering to help is unacceptable behavior. And that watching tv with the volume all the way up (and then just leaving it on whe you leave the house) might be annoying to others in the house.
He also added something like, "And you shouldn't use the mouse traps. They are cruel and you're better than that." And, you know, I'd rather not use the mouse traps, but we can't live with the mice eating our food and pooping all over everything we own. It really is disgusting to have to clean mouse poop out of your pans and off of your stove and out of your bowls before you can prepare and eat a meal. He hasn't experience these problems first hand because he always gets takeout. And then leaves his leftovers on the table for weeks.
np: Neutral Milk Hotel-Song Against Sex
2003-10-29
Why even I know the solution
I went to three different dollar stores today and only bought grey tights*, and those metal scrapey things for washing burnt on bits of pizza crust off of pans. I briefly considered buying some sort of ironic bumper sticker for my car, but decided against it as the hilarity of having something like, "100% Genuine American Bitch" stuck on the back of my car would probably be very short-lived.
Later, we couldn't decide what to do for dinner, so we went to Whole Foods and abused their policy of self-serve cheese samples. I am fairly sure that next time we go in, all of the cheese samples will be surrounded by armed guards. At least we had one glorious night of eating handfuls of tiny cubes of $10/lb cheeses.
*sure, not the best quality tights that I own, but I figured that I can just wear them once or twice and throw them away.
np: the Dismemberment Plan-What Do You Want Me to Say? (drop dynasty remix)
2003-10-28
Bizarre
I am using a mac in the computer lab and:
(1) it is very very white.
(2) it doesn't have any drives or buttons.
(3) there are two monitors attached and when I drag the mouse way over to the side of one, it appears on the other.
(4) i wish i had one of these.
np: computer lab
2003-10-28
Resume
I was sitting here and suddenly realized that my resume (that I've given to pretty much everyone who looks like they might want one of my resumes), doesn't have a single word on it about the fact that I went to high school. And it's not that I assumed people reading it would infer that I went to high school because I have a bachelor's degree. No. High school just entirely slipped my mind.
I supposed it doesn't matter.
np: Super Furry Animals-Gwreiddiau Dwfn/Mawrth Oer Ar Y Blaned Neifion
2003-10-27
Life lessons
This morning when I was getting dressed I noticed that my toenails were really long. Alarmingly so. I was unsure of whether to cut them or take pictures.
Moral: look at feet more often.
Also, if I ever said that Carmen Electra wasn't contributing anything to society, I was very wrong.
np: work
2003-10-26
I believe, I believe that I have been reborn
Spiritualized played for a really long time tonight, and yet somehow in all of that time they managed to not play any songs that I really like*. I guess I'm not really into the new album, which is where most of the show came from.
And also, I really prefer the quieter songs, and whenever bands play quiet songs, there are always a million people at concerts that are like, "Oh my god, it is quiet! I have to yell something, but what?! Oh I know, a song title, because it's not like the band has already decided what they're playing tonight! WOOOOOO! BROOOOOOKEN HEEEEEEEEEEART!" And you know, if that was happening during "Lord Can You Hear Me" or "Shine a Light," I would've been really mad.
On the way home, we passed a car on the shoulder of the highway. It was on fire. It seemed a little strange that there weren't people standing around looking worried about their car being on fire, but now that I think about it, the entire situation seemed very Detroit.
*well, except for "Cop Shoot Cop" and "Walking With Jesus." And, I mean, I liked the show. I just would've liked it more if they had played what I wanted to hear. I guess I should've sent them a letter or something ahead of time. "Dear Spiritualized, these are the songs that I want you to play. You can pick the order, though! Love, Kim."
np: Spiritualized-I Think I'm in Love
2003-10-25
You took my time and you took my money
If you were to see me right now, the first thing you would probably say is, "Whoa. Have those totally unnaturally looking blonde streaks always been in your hair?"
And I would say, "No. The streaks are a new development in the life of my hair. I decided last night to try a trendy hair technique called 'chunking.'"
And you would stand there for a few minutes trying to think of something tactful to say, but then you would settle for, "Was there alcohol involved?"
And I would say, "Yes," and you would feel relieved for a few minutes until I added, "but I only started drinking after the bleach was in my hair and I realized how bad it was going to turn out."
We would stand there in awkward silence until you said, "Well, the right side looks okay. . .I mean, you've got those wide stripes of blonde, which is what you wanted, right? But the left side. . .well, the blonde is just sort of all over on top of the brown."
I would look at my feet. "You know how the other day I said I was upset that I missed the golden age of women's hats? Well, I'm even more upset about that now."
"Hm. You know, there's a reason that people pay money to get their hair highlighted by professionals."
"Yeah. I guess I'm going to get some brown hair dye today and just cover everything up, but this hair destroying/repairing means I can't buy food for the next week. It's a good thing I have all of that soup."
Then you would probably say something like, "You know, you're going to end up with a brown that is just different enough from your natural color to make you look clownish."
And I would say, "Screw you, faceless internet public. Screw you."
np: New Order-True Faith
2003-10-24
Crises
So, what to write about first?
How about how I was so tired at work this morning that every time I blinked, I was afraid my eyes would never open again? (This paved the way for the afternoon naps to end all afternoon naps. But now that I am suitably well rested, I have no plans for the evening. sigh.)
Or:
How about how it is my dad's birthday today, but I am not going to see him because I want to go see Spiritualized tomorrow? (I felt guilty about this this morning, but a shift became available at work on Sunday and I have the feeling he will be pleased about the fact that I will have to borrow a little tiny bit less money from him.)
Or:
How about how the glass guys came and fixed my window today, but did not leave a receipt, which makes me wonder how I am going to get the insurance to pay for it? (Perhaps I will just call them up, without any written proof, and try to convince them of the price and that they should pay me for it. That sounds like a plan!)
Or:
How about how I suddenly realized I'm sick of living here, and therefore, my choice of grad schools (Wayne State) is a bad one, but time is running out if I want to apply to another school in another place where my life would not be so boring? (And by that, I mean that I would always have rock shows to see, every night, because noise keeps me from being bored and lonely).
Or:
How about how I can't even decide on what I want to study in grad school now? (OK, so there are only two choices (linguistics or library science), but for one brief Tuesday afternoon, I had decided that my path to true happiness involved a master's degree in medieval studies. yeah.).
As you can see, it's been an action-packed couple of days.
np: tv playing "I Love the Eighties" downstairs
2003-10-22
Blah
I felt awfully pleased with myself when I woke up at 9, sans alarm.
I felt somewhat less pleased when, the next thing I realized, it was 12:03.
np: Iron and Wine-Southern Anthem
2003-10-21
I'm a winner. But that was already pretty evident, I think.
From: promotions at metrotimes dot com
To: kmt_0515 at yahoo dot com
Subject: RE: Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players at the Magic Bag
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 16:17:42 -0400
Congrats!!!
You won two tickets to see
Trachtenburgh Family Slideshow
October 30th at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, doors at 7pm
Your name +1 will be on the guest list for the show
Enjoy the show!!!
******************************
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I've always wanted to win something that doesn't suck!
And I've never been on a guest list before!
And let's hear it for the Metro Times for spelling the name wrong! Woo!
np: work
2003-10-21
Misplaced nostalgia
Tonight we visited every grocery store in town looking for cheap, store-brand diet cola. While in the car, we thought we'd listen to the worst radio station in Detroit. And although we were right about it being a very, very bad station, every once in a while it would play a song that would remind us of the golden age of youth*, when I was just starting to be a music snob and didn't yet think that I was too good to listen to the radio**.
The nostalgia was overwhelming.
And that is why "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" is downloaded onto my computer.
*I am at the point where I can remember that high school was bad, but I can't really put my finger on what made it so terrible.
**Compared to now, when I am a music snob and yet have no real grasp on what is popular among the masses. (Actually, the more I think about it, I know a lot more about pop music now than I did then (I even like that one Justin Timberlake song. sort of. In a sadistic kind of way.), but I know next to nothing about what is on 'modern rock radio,' which is what i would've listened to when I was in high school.)
np: Foo Fighters-Big Me
2003-10-20
Bad to the bone
Today I saw a kid (10ish years old) walking down the street wearing a halloween shirt that said "Bad to the Bone" (like the one the man in this picture is wearing).
He was also carrying a trombone.
It made my day a little better.
Also, writing a letter to your landlord telling him that you want money off of the next month's rent because of the inconveniences caused by all of the things that he hasn't fixed is equivalent to lighting a fire under his ass. 100% of the things we have complained about since the beginning of September (the oven, porchlight, blinds and toilet) are now working properly.
np: the simpsons
2003-10-20
Away from here where the air is clear
There is no new glass for my car window today, as the glass the man had was too long.
"This is a 91?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"A hatchback?"
"Yes."
"A Civic?"
"Yeah."
So he rechecked all the information I had given him and then we stood around being baffled by the situation. He retaped my carboard into the window and said that he would have to go back to the glass store and see what the deal was.
Oh well. Perhaps tomorrow.
np: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci-Waking for Winter
2003-10-20
Easily amused
Also, earlier today I typed my name as "Kimbelly" rather than Kimberly and almost died laughing.
And then just now I typed Halloween as "Hallowee" and it happened again.
I should cancel my cable subscription and just sit around mistyping things all day.
np: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists-Come Baby Come
2003-10-20
One through six
1. My dad almost lost an arm yesterday at work. He set the machine he was working with to manual, but then the computer defaulted back to automatic and a flap thing inside flipped back over and started pinching his arm. No one else was around, and his hand started to go numb. Someone else eventually showed up and they pulled his arm out, but there was a lot of blood and the other guy screaming, "OH MY GOD DON'T LOOK AT YOUR ARM!" because he thought it that the glove my dad was wearing was the only thing keeping his arm connected to his hand.
I told him that he should buy a Halloween costume hook to wear when he goes back to work tomorrow, but for some reason he went back to work after he went to the emergency room to get his hand looked at, so everyone already knows that he still has a hand.
PS-My dad works in a factory that makes Pop Tarts. So, next time you have one, just keep in mind that my dad almost lost an arm (on a Saturday, even) so that you could enjoy your breakfast treat.
PPS-My dad is upset that he was wearing his best pair of gloves at the time.
2. My parents said that my brother has stopped eating. He's about 5'4" and weighs 95 pounds now. My parents dropped off some of those yogurt smoothies* for him on their way down here today, so hopefully that will help.
3. My first student loan payement is due November 7. Please buy some of the stuff I have listed at half.com. Please.
4. The ghettomobile** is getting its window fixed tomorrow. Also, my dad complimented my professional-looking cardboard tailoring and duct tape job. Perhaps I have found my calling.
5. I swept my floor today but I think that all it really accomplished was that all the dust flew up in the air and then settled again.
6. I am saddened that I missed the golden age of women's hats.
*am I the only person who thinks those things are just absolutely, wretchedly disgusting? here, have some watery yogurt. vomit.
**i took that pictures so early in the morning. i'm surprised that it didn't turn out even worse than that.
np: Iron and Wine-Such Great Heights
2003-10-19
More mice and laundry
Apparently, the mice enjoy weekending in my room, since I didn't see any all week until now. Maybe they think it's some kind of boring resort.
Also, I wanted to do laundry just now (it's Saturday night, so, like, what else would I be doing?), but when I went downstairs my male housemate had stuff in both the washer and the dryer, even though he was nowhere to be found. Because he is a slob who leaves trash all over our house and our doors hanging open all the time so I don't care what he thinks of me, I just took all of his stuff out and put my own in.
See, that isn't anything special; I used to deal with other people's laundry in the co-ops I lived in. But do you know what I took out of there? A pair of pants, a shirt, a pair of shoes, a backpack and two rugs. It seemed a little odd.
Sarah Vaughan-Smooth Operator
2003-10-18
It's so easy when you're used to it
The good news is that my car was made in Canada, and therefore, the glass for it can be obtained by Monday (if it had been made in the US, it would take much longer. go figure.).
And, honestly, there is no bad news, because I really enjoy driving my car around with the cardboard duct taped in there. It's not as hard to see out of it as I'd thought it would be (I never used the passenger side rear view mirror before, but it's actually pretty useful), and, oddly, there is no perceivable difference in the road noise between now and when there was actual glass in it.
I've started referring to the car as the ghettomobile, because in addition to the duct tape and cardboard, the back seat still has quite a lot of glass in it. I picked up what I could (with my designated mouse and glass handling gloves), but I don't have a vaccuum. My parents are supposedly coming to visit me tomorrow (they've been planning to for a while, anyway, since my mom hasn't seen where I live yet), so hopefully they will be able to bring one.
Also, I had about four hours to kill while I was in Lansing yesterday, so after I had gone to record stores and book stores and auto glass stores, I went to Meijer. While I was in the bathroom, the first stall door was slightly ajar. I was happy because I'd found a cheap skirt and bought a doughnut with multi-colored leaf sprinkles on it, so I threw open the stall door with much gusto. . . . . . .only to have the door hit a woman quite violently across the knees. I felt really bad and hid in another stall until she left.
After Jessica was done with her test, she wanted to go see a movie, and since she was the one who had to take the graduate retarded exam, I figured she should pick. Of course, she picked The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was horrible and had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. And I was thinking about it later, and she usually picks the movies we go see, and as a result we end up seeing crap like Cabin Fever and Wrong Turn and Dreamcatcher (all of which, by the way, were way better than TSM, if only because they were (intentionally or not) humorous)*. So anyway, next time we go see a movie, I am picking it, and it is going to be School of Rock.
And I meant to mention this the other night, but forgot: Pas/Cal opened for Gorky's because the Kingsbury Manx were in a car accident (or something), and so now I imagine that they spend theire free time waiting by the phone, and then, "Quick, everyone, we're needed at the Magic Stick! Into your retro suits! To the tweemobile!" They have some awfully nice songs, though, and said that it was a shame that there were so few people at the show. They were right.
*I will start being more selective about the movies I see when my student I.D. expires (in 2006!). I actually really like bad movies, but they have to at least be funny.
np: work
2003-10-17
Why don't I get my daddy's car and knock those fuckers down, cos they've gone too far
I think it is safe to assume that the 60 or so people at the Gorky's show tonight are the very smartest and coolest people in southeast Michigan. And even though it was nice to not be choking on cigarrete smoke in the Magic Stick with a million other people, it was a little sad that more people weren't there because Gorky's really deserves to be wildly famous. The lead singer is tiny and cute and I exclaimed, "OH MY GOD THAT'S EUROS CHILDS! when I saw him talking to a sound guy before the show (I am the only person who can go to a show that small and still react with amazement when I see the lead singer). He told a long story about one of the songs, and a bus or something, and even though we couldn't understand him, we all beamed at him because it was impossible not to. They played "Sweet Johnny" and "Spanish Dance Troupe" and "Poodle Rockin'," and I simply could not hide my glee when they played "Heart of Kentucky" (because Kentucky is my favorite state ever, since it didn't screw me over when I visited it) for the encore. If you have not heard this band, you need to. That is all there is to it. Check your library (the Grand Rapids Public Library has a copy of "Introducing. . ." which makes them the coolest library in the whole world), check used bins, or email me and I will make you some sort of cd. Because you really need to hear this.
Anyway, so, yes, the show was great. I got a little poster off the wall as we were leaving and I was so happy and then I arrived back at the car, only to be greeted by his sight:
and this:
and this:
My car was missing:
1. 1 personal cd player (it was pretty old. i think it was the first one they ever made that had a radio in it.)
2. 1 copy of "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" by the Flaming Lips
3. one set of jumper cables
I called my dad because I was kind of freaked out by the situation, and I have a cell phone, you know, so I might as well use it. He was incredibly calm about the whole thing. He said something like, "Well, drive home slow and the insurance will cover getting it fixed. Put some carboard or something in it. I'm watching the baseball game!" And then I felt better. I mean, I hope he's more worried about my personal safety than he let on, but it was nice not to have to hear it because I was scared enough.
It could've been a lot worse, anyway. They could've smashed the windshield. They could've smashed me. And we were talking about it on the way home, and both of the front doors had been locked when we came out, even though the glove compartment was open and the cd player had been under the driver's seat in such a way that they would've had to have been in the front of the car to get it out (unless they had long, rubbery, inspector gadget-type arms). So, thank you thieves, for relocking my car after you burglarized it. It was much appreciated.
I have to go to bed now, because I have to get up early and clean glass out of my car and drive Jessica to East Lansing so she can take the GRE. I hope I can get my window fixed while I'm there, because I really want to go see Enon tomorrow night. Because one little broken window isn't going to make me scared of Detroit.
np: Flashpapr-White Flowers
2003-10-16
Problems/Solutions
So, right now my problems are as follows:
1. I don't have any clean clothes to wear to the show tonight.
2. I haven't showered yet today.
3. I have a meeting at work at 5:30 that is sure to both bore and irritate me.
Solutions:
1. Get off lazy butt and do laundry. Hah! I found some clean clothes. suckers.
2. Um. Shower?
3. Go to meeting. Eat free pizza. Sit on hands until the pattern from the chair is on them. Look at pattern on hands and pretend to be Spiderman.
PS-The red thing on my face hasn't gone away. Instead, it has scabbed over (?) and invited many of its friends over for a party.
np: Wilco-I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
2003-10-15
Not again
I am tired of childishness.
np: ridiculous behavior
2003-10-15
Nothing like we ever dreamt
I watched a program on PBS last night about this guy. He makes pictures out of spaghetti*. That is the kind of art I can get behind.
And also, there is nothing in the whole world that is cuter than a basketful of kittens.
And also, if the big red thing on my face doesn't go away before tomorrow night**, I am going to kill myself***.
*and lots of other things
**Gorky's Zygotic Mynci in Detroit!
***not really.
np: The Shins-So Says I
2003-10-14
Rainy days and Tuesdays
I was supposed to go looking for a job today, but it was rainy and dark and cold, so instead I watched slasher movies, re-learned how to knit, and listened to Spiritualized all day.
I also, due to housemate demand, became a mouse killer. We looked for live traps, but couldn't find any that we could afford, and we didn't want to wait around for a mailorder one because the problems in the kitchen were getting kind of out of hand.
And, honestly, I know that we couldn't let him keep eating our lentils and pooping all over our stove, but I still felt bad. His last thoughts were "OH MY GOD! Someone left some peanut butter on the floor!" It doesn't seem very fair.
np: Spiritualized-She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit)
2003-10-13
They hate these new ideas
Regardless of the ugliness of the foliage*, it is, in fact, fall. The crunch of dead leaves under my shoes reminded me of the time in high school when we decided that we were going to make a gigantic leaf pile and jump in it. We raked a whole block's worth of leaves into my friend's yard losing a rake and an umbrella in the process. This made us reluctant to jump into the leaf pile with real vigor and excitement, as we had imagined we would while planning our gigantic leaf pile. Later, my friend's mom came home and was upset for some reason (probably because we raked everyone's leaves into her yard). She told us that we should have asked before taking those leaves, that we had stolen them.
Overcome with the hilarity of the situation, we walked around the neighborhood, giggling and distributing leaves back into the yards we had taken them from. We slept on the porch, and I woke up at 5 in the morning to someone poking me in the head and whisperyelling, "Kim! It's raining!"
And that is my nostalgia for the night.
*Dear trees: learn how to turn a color besides yellow with black spots. Love, Kim
np: Hot Hot Heat-Move On
2003-10-13
Close to me
Tonight I watched a lot of crap on VH1, including a show about the Beckhams. Being an American, I had no idea that David Beckham's hair was such a big deal, but you can be sure that during the first commercial break I lunged for my hair gel (which was in another room, so it was quite a sizable lunge). I ended up looking a lot more like Robert Smith than David Beckham.
np: 90 Day Men-Last Night, a DJ Saved My Life
2003-10-12
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
The mouse is getting awfully bold. He just sat on the floor and looked at me for a long time. I almost had enough time to get a picture of him.
And I sent Jessica an email about the situation, as she is out of town, and she has replied that she will scream, go into hysterics, and then die if she sees a mouse. So I guess we will have to get rid of him/them. And by we, I mean that I will have to get rid of them, because Jessica will just stand around screaming and being in hysterics, and judging from the fact that the other two housemates haven't done anything at all regarding any kind of housecleaning or upkeep, I don't expect them to help with this either.
Also, FYI, yelling at mice doesn't help. I was like, "NO! TURN AROUND! DO NOT COME INTO THIS ROOM! PLEASE LEAVE THE HOUSE AND FIND SHELTER ELSEWHERE!" I felt a little silly.
np: Monty Python's Meaning of Life
2003-10-11
But I used to really enjoy the board game
To clarify:
I don't mean that I am too wussy to actually set mouse traps, just that I am too wussy to not either cry or throw up when I see his little broken body.
np: Brenda Holloway-When I'm Gone
2003-10-11
Mouses
So. . . .
The answer to the do we/don't we have mice question is: yes. We fucking have mice.
And let me tell you something: if that little furry bastard that just ran through here thinks that I'm too much of a wussy girl to set traps for him, well, he just might be right about that.
So there.
ps-i think that carson daly might have called sfa 'scary furry animals.' and his show is even worse than i remember it being.
np: the Mountain Goats-No Children
2003-10-10
Furry
Overheard at the Humane Society today: "I've seen cats this size take down COWS."
And also, there was a cat there who looked just like my cousin Bekah. Just exactly like her.
PS-Super Furry Animals are on Carson Daly tonight - I suggest that you leave the show muted until they are on the screen. Or, tape it and fast forward through all of the parts when Mr. Daly is talking. All I'm saying is, avoid listening to him talk as much as possible.
np: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci-Happiness
2003-10-10
Glass eye
My dad had glaucoma as a child and is blind in one eye. The other day he woke up and couldn't see, so he woke my mom up (dad said that my mom jumped out of bed, brushed her teeth, and then came back to ask him what was wrong) and they went to the doctor. They found out that the shots my dad gets so that he doesn't die* when he gets stung by bees might be causing inflammation in his one good eye, so his choices are:
1. be immune from bee stings, but blind.
2. be able to see, but die if a bee ever stings him.
Also, he needs to get a glass eye to replace his dead one. This means that my dad is cooler than you are.
In other news, I have developed a rather unfortunate crush. Details are, as always, super top secret.
*He once almost did, when he hit a beehive** while mowing the lawn**. We were just about to eat dinner, and my dad came in and was all puffy and weird looking. My mom rushed him to the hospital, and my brother and I ate dinner. It was the first time that I'd ever had to feed him***.
**'Nythod cacwn' means beehive in Welsh. Having knowledge like that at your fingertips is just one of many reasons you should listen to pop music in foreign languages.
**My brother used to eat by himself (with a spoon), but he gradually stopped. He will still pick up food off of his plate with his hands, though. Or off of your plate. He's not choosy.
2003-10-09
So very unidentical
Today we made snowflakes at the periodicals desk, and mine turned out like crap, as snowflakes made by me generally do. My coworker's snowflake, however, made a librarian squeal with delight when he presented it to her as a gift.
I also spent almost a whole hour retrieving microfilm/fiche, finding the articles contained within the film/fiche, and printing them for a woman who kept saying things like, "God damn, my leg hurts." It took so long to help her that I was exausted and had no energy to refuse when another woman asked me to type a letter for her.
And finally:
Dear Gorky's Zygotic Mynci,
Today I paid $21.13 for your new album, which is more than I have ever paid for a cd in my whole life. I think this makes up for the fact that I bought Patio, Barafundle, Gorky 5, and How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart used.
Love,
Kim
np: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci-Pretty as a Bee
2003-10-08
Born on a train
So, I really did buy a VCR tonight. It is part of my continued effort to buy older and older technology until I am happily living in 1993. My next purchase shall be a typewriter.
In other news, I might have been in Meijer earlier tonight saying things like, "Next stop: Pringles!" And then I might have made train noises while pushing the shopping cart.
It is a little distressing that, even as I see my bank account dwindling, I still go out and spend $50 on things like VCRs. But the VCR was necessary, and will be used for the very important purpose of taping King of the Hill when I am unable to be at home to see it. And also to watch my Freaks and Geeks episodes that I taped many years ago. And Ghostbusters, which the library only has on video (and I can't afford to get movies anywhere else). So you can obviously see that it was a necessary purchase.
I really need to find another job.
np: The Simpsons
2003-10-08
-
I finally got out of the house and went to the record store, only to find that they didn't have the new Gorky's album*. This just goes to show how futile leaving the house is.
*OK, but I did get a used copy of the new Spiritualized album. And they do have the new Gorky's at Borders (they even have a plastic divider that read 'Gorky's Zygotic'), but it costs 10 million dollars, so I just figure I would go and see if they had it tonight at Best Buy, since I also wanted to look into buying a VCR.
np: King of the Hill: "Has anybody sniffed today's garbage? And I thought yesterday's garbage smelled good!"
2003-10-08
Shoes
Oh my gosh, I think I have found the greatest shoes in the whole world.
And, sadly, that is all I have to say, for it is 4:14 pm and I have not yet left the house.
np: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci-Diamond Dew
2003-10-08
Midnight obsessive rereading confessions
I have been reading this book very slowly because I never want it to end. I hate the fact that it's nearly impossible to get as involved with books as it is with cds or movies, since repeated consumption takes so much more effort. Really, I think the only books that I've reread obsessively are Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction and Nine Stories. And my multiple readings of those all took place before I went to college and didn't have time to read things for fun anymore.
I don't know exactly what point I'm trying to make here. I guess that there are certain books that I'd like to read again and again and again, because I like the familiarity. It's just that I feel like I'm wasting time rereading when I can be reading new stuff.
A few more things:
1. Either the apple juice I bought tastes like apple cider or it has been so long since I've had apple juice that I've forgotten what it tastes like.
2. I forgot to buy the new Gorky's album today because I was too busy being lazy.
3. Midnight confessions (part 1): I don't really like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
4. Midnight confessions (part 2): Or Dave Eggers.
np: King of the Hill"It's Jesus peace, dad, not hippie peace!"
2003-10-07
Hope
I just wrote a long complainy entry, relating, among other things, to FTP nightmares and that woman on the tvguide channel with the too straight blonde hair. But I deleted all of that and instead I will leave you with reasons I don't particularly care for my male housemate (note: the household consists of me, Jessica, the male housemate, and the female housemate).
1. every week he watches as we drag the trash out to the curb, but never once has he even acknowledged what we are doing, let alone offer to help.
2. He leaves huge messes all over the living room and dining room. There is random garbage and paper and nonsense all over the living room (apparently,he can't even be bothered to pick it up and put it in the trash can that we empty out). There is a pizza box in the dining room that has been there for days. He leaves meals sitting out on the table all night (I'll take 'Reasons we possibly have mice' for $100, Alex).
3. He (this also applies to the other female housemate) watches tv at top volume around the clock.
4. He (and the other she) hasn't mastered not slamming the screen door.
5. While we were in Kentucky, the two of them got locked out so they broke a window to get in, and now they always leave the back door hanging open so that they don't locked out again.
6. Parks in the end of the driveway, thereby forcing me to always park in the street (actually, he's stopped doing this now, but I think that's because the landlord talked to him about it).
7. And you know what makes me maddest of all? Once he asked me for a ride to school, and I couldn't come up with a quick enough lie to refuse.
I am not sure what is keeping me from having them evicted (which I could totally do since they smoke in the house).
np: work
2003-10-06
Supergold titzlers
Man, I just spent forever reconfiguring my main email client so that I could reply to some person who sent me an email about the SFA photos without revealing my last name. I mean, my last name is already fairly guessable, but I just have ignored that and figured that people won't try that hard. But anyway, after I'd gotten everything properly camoflaged, the email wouldn't send from the client I was using, so I decided to use one of my yahoo!mail addresses and totally forgot about changing the name. Blah.
I guess I'm not really that worried about it.
In other news, I had some downtime at work today (everyone is shocked, I'm sure), so I made a chart relating to what I will do after Wednesday at noon when I can no longer host images at my beloved umich.edu. And to show everyone how organized I am, here it is:
Image hosting at umich.edu | |
Pros | Cons |
| payments spread out over year | $120/year |
| get to keep umich mailbox | I've given the university enough of my money |
| wouldn't have to change any of the addresses of the images that are already up | |
| 50 MB of space | |
Image hosting with a Diaryland Supergold account | |
Pros | Cons |
| $50/year | payment in one lump sum |
| support Diaryland/stop being a freeloader | probably wouldn't use any of the other features |
| 30 MB of space (which would probably be plenty since right now I'm only using 6) | have to change all the locations of the images that are up now |
I guess the answer is Diaryland Supergold, since it is cheaper in the long run and I can pay for it once and forget about it for the rest of the year (after which I will once again have university-related web hosting - because I WILL go to grad school I WILL). And really, the price is the only thing that mattered to me in the first place and I just added in all of those other things to look like I had really really thought the situation through. And also because I was bored at work even though I read a book about dragons, another book about gnomes (which included gnome nudity!), and another one about the history of the bra (which was invented by a man named Titzler and then stolen by someone named Brassiere, or something (I didn't actually read the whole thing). The point is that bras should actually be called 'titzlers,' which would totally rule, and I challenge you all to begin calling them that.).
And it is warm in my house again. Yay.
np: Enon-Spanish Boots(this song always skips when I play it in my computer and it makes me sad)
2003-10-06
Brr
Unless you are staying in The Ice Hotel, I don't think that you can really understand how cold my house is right now. I closed the heater grate last night when I realized it actually was letting in a steady stream of cold air, and then this morning I think that I might have used all the hot water when I was trying to reinstate some sort of normal body temperature, because towards the end of my shower, I had the faucet cranked all the way around to hot and it wasn't scalding my skin off.
This is making me really excited to be going to work this afternoon.
np: Elvis Costello and the Attractions-No Action
2003-10-05
New sheets and frumpiness
My mom taught me a very important lesson while I was in high school: always check the Target clearance shelves/racks. And although I wasn't particularly appreciative at the time (like, just being seen with my mom was bad enough, i didn't want to be running around the ends of aisles like we were poor, or something.), I later realized that the old woman was really onto something. I bought new bedsheets (which I really really needed) and three big sharp knives* last night for mere pennies. I swear.
And then it was apparently hipster nite at Meijer tonight. I felt like I was dodging members of The Strokes at every turn. I felt frumpy.
Then I came home and cleaned mouse poop out of the kitchen drawers. Wa hoo. Personally, I think the phrase 'We had mice' is more accurate than 'We have mice,' but we shall see if the poop reappears. And anyway, I'd rather have mice than bugs since you can tell what mice have been into, unlike bugs which might just suddenly float to the top of your cereal while you're eating it. Blah.
PS-My new sheets are red, which means that they are way cooler than yours. The hospital white of my walls is really starting to get to me (you will recall that the last room I lived in was bright yellow, and the one before that was dark blue with silver stars) and I felt like some color was necessary for my continued mental wellbeing. I think I need to get some sort of wallhanging too.
PPS-I really think that I've lost the ability to create well-formed paragraphs.
*I had to buy big sharp knives because I really wanted to make a stir fry** involving cabbage, and so I bought a head of cabbage but when I got home I remembered that all we have are wee small (2") paring knives. And, although it is extremely possible that I could have cut up cabbage with one of those tiny knives, I was not willing to exert the staggering amount of effort that would've been involved.
**The stirfry was, at best, odd. I think I should've used more cabbage. But that's pretty much my answer to all of my culinary misfires.
np: John Cale-Antarctica Starts Here
2003-10-04
This kind of thing is really common
A man just asked for the coupons from last Sunday's newspaper, but since it is almost Sunday again, the old ones have been thrown away in preparation for new and better coupons.
He said, "Sometimes I think you just throw them right in the trash when you get them. That's nine eleven for you."
I have no idea what he might have meant by that.
np: work
2003-10-04
Depressed griminess and intellectualism
I went to see Lost in Translation last night with two of my friends. They aren't really friends with each other, though, and it was kind of weird and stressful. One of them really seems to dislike the other(although she didn't overtly say or do anything last night - I just know this from previous experiences).
The theater was packed, and both of my friends said (while the other was not present) that it would've been better to see it with fewer people, or at least with a with fewer intellectual smarty-pants types. The crowd was full of people who all laughed in just exactly the right places, in this very calculated, pretentious way, as in, "Oh, looky me! I'm at an art film! Ho ho! I get the joke!" There was a preview for Casa de los Babys, and as soon as the title appeared on the screen, the whole place erupted in laughter. The title might very well have been "LAUGH NOW EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!" And we all three just sat there, a veritable island in a sea of intellectual bullshit.
Sometimes I wonder how I made it hrough four years of college without imploding under the pressure of self-conscious pretentiousness that seems topervade this university and town (by association). I guess I was strengthened by years of tolerating pretentious indie rock types at concerts.
Sigh.
And I worry that anti-intellectualism is probably just as pretentious as intellectualism.
I think I might be having some sort of crisis. I probably should've moved to somewhere that I could relate to a higher percentage of the population while I still had the chance. One more year. And then*?
*Right now I'm thinking grad school in detroit. or maybe not. i really have no idea. i do know, however, that (1) i don't want to get a real job just yet, so grad school is a must; (2) wayne state would be cheaper than my other in-state options with linguistics programs**; (3) i enjoy detroit's depressed griminess, although i am unsure i would enjoy it 24 hours a day for two years.
**i've been having second thoughts about that master's in linguistics, too, but i won't bore you with that now.
np: work, where it smells like potting soil for some reason.
2003-10-03
Rain rain rain etc.
It is cold and rainy and windy, and my umbrella is stupid and broken and nearly useless. The last time I used it I left it on the porch, in hopes that it might, you know, disappear (because even though I know that it doesn't work properly, I won't be able to justify buying a new one to myself until it breaks into several pieces), but someone else found it in and brought it into the house and said, "I found your umbrella in the street this morning!" I was so close.
Also, I am wearing the same jeans that I wore to the show the other night and they smell like cigarettes. I thought that I had checked them before I left. Maybe the walk through the rain renewed the odor.
It makes me sad.
np: work
2003-10-02
Road trip part 2
The Super Furry Animals show was (as expected) super amazingly great. I took my camera (I usually don�t take it places like this because I�m afraid of losing it/it getting stolen), and most of my pictures turned out pretty bad, but I got one okay shot of Gruff dressed up like himself and another of Gruff dressed up like a yeti* before there was a security smackdown. And by smackdown, I mean a security guy tapped me on the shoulder and shook his head. During the very last song that they played.
Grandaddy was (as also suspected) somewhat less good, but still fine. I would have preferred an SFA-only show, or at least an SFA-last show, but I will take what I can get.
The next day, we took pictures of Louisville and its many bridges (including one mysterious bridge that didn�t go anywhere) and then I took about ten million pictures of a bird in the Ohio River until it flew away. It was okay that the bird left, though, because just after that, I saw a riverboat, and chased it down the walkway like a crazed tourist. I never got any really good pictures of it, though, because Louisville doesn�t know how to make a riverbank that does not obscure the river with trees.
Then we ate a Big Boy with a horrible freakish statue out front (for those of you that are unaware, a normal Big Boy statue looks like this) and went to Churchill Downs, just because it seemed like the thing to do if you were in Louisville (which we were). We were reluctant to pay the $9 admission fee, though, so I zoomed in as much as possible on what might have been the actual racetrack and we looked at the resident thoroughbred, who is called �Phantom on Tour,� because racehorses have to have silly names like that. But don�t be fooled by that silly name (or his docile appearance), because PoT is a real badass, as can clearly be seen by this sign.
After that we decided we were finished with Louisville, and drove left. We stopped several places along the way home, most notably at Big Bone Lick State Park. We were intrigued by the vulgar sounding name (of course), but when we got there we discovered that it was a paleontological site (hence �big bone�) where the ground is salty so animals lick it (hence the �lick�). I do think, however, that they could�ve picked a better way to adjoin these two ideas, or to have name it in Latin or something. Oh, and Big Bone Lick State Park promised us bison, but we found only lush greenery and blue skies.
The drive home through Ohio seemed much longer than it had on the way, and we arrived home just in time for King of the Hill at 12:30. I watched it and then fell asleep. The end.
*The pictures are only of Gruff because from where I was standing, Cian was totally obscured by Gruff most of the show, Daf was partially obscured by some guy�s head, and any photos taken toward the Guto/Bunf section of the stage would have meant my camera�s flash (which was on its default level of totally fucking harsh) going off right in some poor Kentuckian�s face.
np: computer lab
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