Velella Velella: Wheeee! Wheeee! (Not all PMRs are gonna be snark.)
Check 'em here. PDXers, go see 'em at Holocene on 2/28.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Pithy music review: Girlfriend in a Coma
If this wasn't by the Smiths, it would have been laughed off the planet.
Monday, February 18, 2008
"I have been in villages in rural Gujurat! I have been a patient in a hospital in rural Gujurat!"
In planning our trip to Kerala this coming November, my husband has been sweating the details of our itinerary. Which town, which hotel, how many days, how to transport from A to B, etc.
And what he keeps asking me is, am I sure I want to visit his family's rural village?
This is bugging me - not the question of whether or not to go; I definitely want to go and would consider the trip incomplete without going. But my husband, who hasn't been in India since he was 3, seems convinced that village life would take me outside of my comfort zone, even though I have been in rural villages before. I'm also wondering if the fact that his repeated asking bugs me so much indicates that (a) he's reluctant but feels duty-bound to go, and would like an out or (b) I am experiencing "I am soooo into diversity! Lemme show you!" whiteyism.
So I keep telling him, I want to go, I am part of his family and would feel awful if we didn't go. Maybe by the time we're on our way there, he'll believe me.
And what he keeps asking me is, am I sure I want to visit his family's rural village?
This is bugging me - not the question of whether or not to go; I definitely want to go and would consider the trip incomplete without going. But my husband, who hasn't been in India since he was 3, seems convinced that village life would take me outside of my comfort zone, even though I have been in rural villages before. I'm also wondering if the fact that his repeated asking bugs me so much indicates that (a) he's reluctant but feels duty-bound to go, and would like an out or (b) I am experiencing "I am soooo into diversity! Lemme show you!" whiteyism.
So I keep telling him, I want to go, I am part of his family and would feel awful if we didn't go. Maybe by the time we're on our way there, he'll believe me.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
John McCain wants me to break the law
I am getting several calls a day from John McCain, asking for my vote in Virginia's primary.
These calls are coming to my Oregon home phone number. When we moved, we had the "this number is no longer in service, please call this number...." message direct people to my still-Virginia cell phone number, so we don't know how the McCain folks got our home number. We're also perturbed by the fact that these calls come from "blocked number" or "no data" IDs.
In any event, I can't legally vote in VA's primary, and something - like say, a 503 area code - should have clued McCain's databankers to this fact. But maybe he's that desperate that he's willing to take a chance on the possibility that I am not registered in Oregon yet (which, of course, I am).
These calls are coming to my Oregon home phone number. When we moved, we had the "this number is no longer in service, please call this number...." message direct people to my still-Virginia cell phone number, so we don't know how the McCain folks got our home number. We're also perturbed by the fact that these calls come from "blocked number" or "no data" IDs.
In any event, I can't legally vote in VA's primary, and something - like say, a 503 area code - should have clued McCain's databankers to this fact. But maybe he's that desperate that he's willing to take a chance on the possibility that I am not registered in Oregon yet (which, of course, I am).
Monday, February 11, 2008
Pithy music review: Tu Fawning
Tu Fawning describes the audience, enthusiastically clapping for this. Yikes.
"There are better ways to show one's appreciation for Tom Waits. Sitting alone in a room is one of them."
"A soundtrack to a movie I would stay the hell away from."
"There are better ways to show one's appreciation for Tom Waits. Sitting alone in a room is one of them."
"A soundtrack to a movie I would stay the hell away from."
Heretical perfume review: Rose Ikebana v. Clarins' Par Amour Toujours
Hermes' Rose Ikebana = Clarins' Par Amour Toujours.
Rose juice with berries and grapefruit. One is designed by Jean-Claude Ellena, Hermes' in-house perfumer, as part of their Hermessences line and thus accoladed; the other is available at the department store and has a heart on the cap and is therefore to be ridiculed.
Rose juice with berries and grapefruit. One is designed by Jean-Claude Ellena, Hermes' in-house perfumer, as part of their Hermessences line and thus accoladed; the other is available at the department store and has a heart on the cap and is therefore to be ridiculed.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
XTCensored
Took a few moments to walk the baby in a stroller today, in between raindrops. Put on the iPod, which was set on shuffle as usual. It starts up with an old favorite, XTC's Respectable Street. But this was some odd version, and I wonder where I got it...
"Now they talk about ?absorbtion?, in cosmopolitan proportions to their daughters..."
Oh yes. Suburbanites discussing paper towels, or perhaps feminine hygiene products, 'tis the scourge of Britain.
"Now she's talking 'bout diseases, and which ?proposition? pleases best her old man...."
Ok. The real lyric is 'sex position.' Maybe not OK with the BBC.
"Sunday Church and they look fetching, Saturday night saw him ?stretching? over our fence..."
So.... no drunken wretching. Yoga! Your obnoxious neighbor does yoga over property lines!
All part of decency's jigsaw, I suppose - indeed!
Fiddling around my playlist, it looks like this version is from the greatest hits compilation Upsy Daisy Assortment. Cleanliness wipes a lot of the fun from it. Do yourself a favor and make sure you listen to the Black Sea version.
"Now they talk about ?absorbtion?, in cosmopolitan proportions to their daughters..."
Oh yes. Suburbanites discussing paper towels, or perhaps feminine hygiene products, 'tis the scourge of Britain.
"Now she's talking 'bout diseases, and which ?proposition? pleases best her old man...."
Ok. The real lyric is 'sex position.' Maybe not OK with the BBC.
"Sunday Church and they look fetching, Saturday night saw him ?stretching? over our fence..."
So.... no drunken wretching. Yoga! Your obnoxious neighbor does yoga over property lines!
All part of decency's jigsaw, I suppose - indeed!
Fiddling around my playlist, it looks like this version is from the greatest hits compilation Upsy Daisy Assortment. Cleanliness wipes a lot of the fun from it. Do yourself a favor and make sure you listen to the Black Sea version.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
sweetest thing
On the advice of my music teacher, I picked up a copy of Ravi Shankar's autobiography and musical exercise book, My Music My Life. There is a beautiful new edition published by Mandala, and it features a recent picture of Shankarji, playing his sitar with closed eyes.
My daughter likes to take the book, drape her fingers across the sitar's strings, and kiss Ravi Shankar's face.
My daughter likes to take the book, drape her fingers across the sitar's strings, and kiss Ravi Shankar's face.
swimming upstream
So here's what's going on with me....
Some kind of weird, girl-area pain. It's been on the heels of some other problems, and I finally got another doctor to look at what was going on after my first doctor seemingly dropped me. But it's a case of "you have small abnormalities that shouldn't be causing a lot of pain, so come back in a couple of months and we'll check again." In the meanwhile, I'm on Vicodin to keep on top of the pain, as ibuprofin and other OTCs do nothing.
A friend of the family is in a very uneasy situation, and I can't say much about it publicly, but it has had me and my husband worried sick. We think things are looking up, but not sure yet.
I completely screwed up a work situation - someone had asked me to cover for them today. They asked me in November, and hadn't mentioned it since, and I just plum didn't keep track of it and was gobsmacked by the 'where are you' call this morning. Adding to that, I was in an increased amount of pain today from yesterday's poke-n-prod, and I realized I had one Vicodin left so needed to stop to get a refill or the pharmacy would be closed before I got home. I have been pining for a device that would easily sync calendars with my Mac, and would allow me to update in the field. I time. As it is, I don't utilize my calendar enough because I have to be in front of this machine to see it. Want it in my pocket. It's new cellphone time. You know where this is heading.
I'm also lobbying for the return of a cleaning service. The pain and the medicine leave me very tired, and screw up my sleep, and I can basically keep the toys from completely overrunning the place and the laundry and dishes done and the crumbs swept and that's about it.
Despite the tone of this post, I don't spend a lot of time griping about this condition. I do have fears about where it may be leading, but there is nothing I can do at this point. I'm not getting much reading done, I'm pouring my energy into coordinating a group knitting project at work, into my kids, and trying to stay comfortable. But I don't have much energy for much else, and I feel that it's time to get some help with the daily tasks if I can't get medical relief for a while.
Some kind of weird, girl-area pain. It's been on the heels of some other problems, and I finally got another doctor to look at what was going on after my first doctor seemingly dropped me. But it's a case of "you have small abnormalities that shouldn't be causing a lot of pain, so come back in a couple of months and we'll check again." In the meanwhile, I'm on Vicodin to keep on top of the pain, as ibuprofin and other OTCs do nothing.
A friend of the family is in a very uneasy situation, and I can't say much about it publicly, but it has had me and my husband worried sick. We think things are looking up, but not sure yet.
I completely screwed up a work situation - someone had asked me to cover for them today. They asked me in November, and hadn't mentioned it since, and I just plum didn't keep track of it and was gobsmacked by the 'where are you' call this morning. Adding to that, I was in an increased amount of pain today from yesterday's poke-n-prod, and I realized I had one Vicodin left so needed to stop to get a refill or the pharmacy would be closed before I got home. I have been pining for a device that would easily sync calendars with my Mac, and would allow me to update in the field. I time. As it is, I don't utilize my calendar enough because I have to be in front of this machine to see it. Want it in my pocket. It's new cellphone time. You know where this is heading.
I'm also lobbying for the return of a cleaning service. The pain and the medicine leave me very tired, and screw up my sleep, and I can basically keep the toys from completely overrunning the place and the laundry and dishes done and the crumbs swept and that's about it.
Despite the tone of this post, I don't spend a lot of time griping about this condition. I do have fears about where it may be leading, but there is nothing I can do at this point. I'm not getting much reading done, I'm pouring my energy into coordinating a group knitting project at work, into my kids, and trying to stay comfortable. But I don't have much energy for much else, and I feel that it's time to get some help with the daily tasks if I can't get medical relief for a while.
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