a royalty fortune

listening to mmj will forever remind me of the fall of 2003. holy crap. that looks so far gone on "paper," but seems like just yesterday. everything about it still moves makes me want play some kind of dramatic hollywood scene where i am so moved by the inspirational frustration regarding the state of things in my life that i pack a bag of essentials and most valuable possessions, get in my car and just leave life behind, blazing a trail to a new beginning. (oh yeah, oscar nomination right here.) anyway, mmj has experienced a considerable amount of publicity in recent days (incredibly un-fashionably late to the party, folks), but so has that [sly little] fleet foxes. i mean, i enjoy it. but that's because i enjoy mmj. imitation is flattery? please. that is just a nice way of saying "copy cat."

an older, wiser, musical genius put it best, "all I could think of was that they either need to tour with MMJ or they need to send them royalty checks!"

toss it

i love to throw things away. it is such a rush to go through a box of who-can-remember-what-is-in-there and deem it a box of shit-that-can-be-thrown-away! if that isn't your style, try it. it will grow on you.

my dad likes to keep things, so obviously i got my cleaning style from my mom. but it's endearing. and i must admit that it is fun when he pulls out something old and we can ooh and awe over it and play "remember when." in fact, my dad recently told me a funny story about my younger cousin, cord.

cord is going into 4th (?) grade. he and his brother (donny) are polar opposites. cord is really outgoing and kind of a ham. donny is reserved, serious. cord has always seemed to have a fascination for how things work. most recently, a television that had hand-turn dials. he just couldn't believe it. so my dad was telling him that we might still have our old television with turn dials. sure enough, one trip to the storage above the garage and my dad pulls out our old school black & white 12" television. dad cleaned it up and plugged it in and the thing still worked! when he dropped it off at my aunt & uncle's house, cord thought it was worth a million bucks. my dad said cord set it up in his bedroom -- complete with various action figures surrounding it like guards.

my brother & i were never allowed to have television in our bedrooms, but there was always that black & white television on top of the refrigerator. growing up on a fruit & vegetable farm in NW Pennsylvania, the weather was always the topic of conversation. every night at 6:20 sharp, the family conversation at the dinner table went silent so we could watch dick goddard tell us if the farmhands would be in the field the next day picking whatever fruit or vegetable most needed to be harvested, or inside cleaning the barns & greenhouses. approximately 5 minutes later, normal family conversation resumed.

maybe jonathan and i should remove our craigslist post for our 15" television that has a convex (GASP) screen! our neices or nephews might might think it's gold...

song of the day: nick cave & the bad seeds, dig, lazarus, dig

i'm in a movie

you know how some songs just scream "write me into a movie"? this is definitely one of them. i thought that the first time i heard it, gosh, last year? already? sigh...

Shoot from the back,
take good aim,
Make sure I'm dead
Bang Bang

'Cause I'm a rat
there's no mistake
Under the bed
where you sleep

Crush the skull
make me tame
Sweep it up
Hide it away

No morals shown
in no way explained
Stupid human
Shit for brains

And draw tiny pictures
'round all the days
Bag and burn
Bang Bang

Throw your judgements
across the breeze
Bag and burn
Bang Bang

You live inside
your Jesus dream
Bag and burn
Bang Bang

Get some sleep
or lie in wait
Until the day
I run away

Forget the corpse
present the case
to bring me down
and lose your words

I'll follow you
into the grave
and at the gates
I see the passing say,

"The judge be judged,
and all the rich be saved."
I throw my curse
all across your days

And draw tiny pictures
'round all the days
Bag and burn
Bang Bang

Throw your judgements
across the breeze
Bag and burn
Bang Bang

You live inside
your Jesus dream
Bag and burn
Bang Bang

And draw tiny pictures
'round all the days

Throw your judgements
across the breeze

Watch them float off
to never be saved

You live inside
your Jesus dream

grr...

you know what really grinds my gears? the cost of a decent bookcase. i mean, honestly... i need to hold a fund-raiser just to buy two!

song of the day: wolf parade, california dreamer

it's all around

inspiration is a wonderful thing. for me, it is such a sign of God's presence when i see things or hear things (or touch, or taste, or smell) that awaken me in the most exciting ways. the senses are just amazing. they can serve as reminders of the good, the bad and the ugly. but they can also make you feel something that comes from deep within -- something you didn't know even existed inside of you. and i'm pretty certain that the senses are 99% of the catalyst for taking risks. the other 1% depends on who you are -- it could be utter stupidity or fall-on-your-knees faith.

i should definitely take more risks.

song of the day: john vanderslice, up above the sea

'tis the season

wedding season. ahh... makes me remember what it was like for me this time three years ago. finishing up our wedding thank you notes, playing tennis after dinner at the courts in mt. lebanon (that's what we like to think it was... any real tennis player would have passed out watching us), still figuring out where things are going to go as we sorted through (both of) our belongings, wishing we were still in hawaii... it was fun. this year, three of our friends are getting married -- and all of them this saturday! one in ohio, one in pennsylvania and one in new york. obviously none of them asked us before deciding on a date, or a location. thanks, guys.

sadly, we won't be heading to ohio for the wedding of maria & george. maria and i met when i worked at woxy in cincinnati (oxford). we hit it off right away and she has been such a dear friend ever since. i have been waiting, with eager anticipation, the arrival of the beautiful kate spade toasting flutes i purchased for them -- only to get home yesterday to find them delivered in a shattered mess. lovely. so thinking i could purchase them in a store and not just online, i went to buy them last night and they are nowhere in sight. figures. so maria & george will be toasting their new life together in vera wang instead. the trade off could be worse, right?

song of the day: silversun pickups, lazy eye

rejected

as it turns out the "opportunity" didn't love me as much as i loved it. apparently it's just not that into me.

and one thing i'm not into is the song of the day (i'm just not cheating and i'm being honest about the first song i heard on woxy today):

the donnas, too bad about your girl

oh, patience, wherefore art thou?

patience is a virtue, right? sometimes i'm really good at it, but sometimes i'm not. this is one of those "not" times. kind of. i think it started last night with frank [the beagle]. he's such a little pisser sometimes! sure, he had to be in his crate yesterday instead of roaming the house like he normally does during the day, but that is no excuse. he was giving us 'tude all night. so i gave it right back. he wouldn't go to sleep until i coaxed him with a biscuit to lay down. and as i was coaxing him, he actually nipped at me! ughghrrr... that just made me even more frustrated at him.

and i'm waiting to hear about a new "opportunity" [code for just what you think it is code for]. i'm so excited about it and put a lot of time and effort into preparing, etc. and i'm trying to remind myself that it isn't the end of the world if this "opportunity" doesn't come through, but oh that is just so hard sometimes! i know i'd do a great job at this new "opportunity."

lessons stink. i'll be singing a different tune later, but for now, that's my motto.

(i was singing this earlier) song of the day: talking heads, cities

you stay classy, san diego

song of the day: elliot smith, pretty (ugly before)

we got back from san diego last monday. i had a conference to attend and jonathan was able to tag along. it was a great time. we haven't really been on vacation since our honeymoon... i know, tragic. last year we went to napa w/ family for a dear friend's wedding, but nothing just the two of us. anyway... we went to a padres game, ate at some fantastic restaurants, spent hours debating over which long board to buy (only to find out it can't be taken on the plane, so we didn't get it), mastered the metro, soaked up some California sun and got a sunburn. it was great! jonathan is so much fun to be with... he makes the smallest trips into an adventure. oh, the conference went well, too.

so in honor of the great city of san diego, the fun we had there and the comedy of Will Farrell, here is one of the best sequences from Anchorman... enjoy!

Ron Burgundy: Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina.
Veronica Corningstone: No, there's no way that's correct.
Ron Burgundy: I'm sorry, I was trying to impress you. I don't know what it means. I'll be honest, I don't think anyone knows what it means anymore. Scholars maintain that the translation was lost hundreds of years ago.
Veronica Corningstone: Doesn't it mean Saint Diego?
Ron Burgundy: No. No.
Veronica Corningstone: No, that's - that's what it means. Really.
Ron Burgundy: Agree to disagree.