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January 2005 ArchiveSunday, January 30, 2005 It's a Remote Controlled World This cracked me up. It's the top of Darryn's speaker. All those remotes, and the one on top is a universal remote that accomplishes 90% of the tasks of the others. But the other wait for when he has to do a 10% task. posted on 1/30/2005 09:16:05 PM Saturday, January 29, 2005Brandy's Senior Year of High School, 1991-1992A meme floating around, I got it from Miss Heather. What were your three favorite bands or musical artists? Xtc, Trip Shakespeare, They Might Be Giants What was your favorite outfit? One? Probably pajamas bottoms and my toaster t-shirt (big toaster silk-screened with contact paper stencils). What was up with your hair? My hair was never up in the "mall claw" sense. Long, my natural brown color (the color habit started in college). Senior year I had a blonde streak. Sometimes crimped, often up in Maude braids. Who were your best friends? n/a - never had a best friend. Probably most accurate, our cat Bear. What did you do after school? I was the Queen of the Extracurricular. School got out at 2:30, there were 4:30 & 6:00 buses to boot. I was often on the 6:00, nearly never on the 2:30. I lettered in academics, Odyssey of the Mind (yep, you could major in that), newspaper, choir, drama and yearbook. Did you take the bus? Yup, see above. When I was often on the 6:00 bus, I was very often the only person on the bus. I never got a license, so it was imperative I was on the bus. Where did you work? I didn't work for pay. My parents would give me the little $ I needed/asked for, and I treated school like a job. Who did you have a crush on? Awww, thankfully no big or tragic crushes. Let's leave it at that. Did you fight with your parents? No. Not an option. Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on? Can't remember. I'm sure there was one, or a dozen, knowing myself. Did you smoke cigarettes? Definitely not. Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack because you were too nervous to find your locker? Nervous? I don't think there was any nervousness about lockers. Did you have a 'clique'? Nope, I thought high school was utopia because I was off the social radar and folks let me be myself. Remarkably I never got any flack or bullying for how weird I was. Did you have "The Max" like Zach, Kelly, and Slater? Uh, no. But I would hang out with the science teachers in the supply room. I swear, I never got teased. Remarkable. Did you have any other self-destructive habits? Only workaholism. Still haven't cure myself of that one. What had you grown out of by senior year? Being in high school. In eighth grade, I desperately wanted to skip high school and go straight to the Big Time - college. What have you not grown out of yet? Wearing bright colors, overachieving, desiring praise and gold stars. Admit it, were you popular? I think everyone knew who I was because I was in every friggin' activity and stuck out like a sore thumb, but I wasn't popular. I didn't hang with anyone. 'Cept maybe the science teachers. Who did you want to be just like? Me. Yeah, I've always been that person. What did you want to be when you grew up? An artist. Where did you think you'd be at the age you are now? I really don't think I thought about it, too busy in the present. I feared I would still be in Fridley, Minnesota stuck. Thankfully, I got the hell out of dodge in a much better place now. High school feels like two lifetimes ago by now. posted on 1/29/2005 09:29:25 PM Friday, January 28, 2005Happy Birthday to Me!I'm sitting around in my birthday suit, appropriately enough, enjoying my birthday. My birthday tradition: 1. NO work. (i.e. no client work - I can make art if I want) 2. NO plans. 3. Wake up and figure out what I want to do for the day. My sis woke me about an hour ago singing me happy birthday, and since then I've had breakfast and enjoyed the well wishing emails that have been sent. So lovely. Usually, I go see a movie, maybe buy a book or cd. This year it's cold and I'm on the cusp of maybe getting sick. So, it looks like I'm going to stay in and finally see Citizen Kane and work on Masquerade. And Josh sent this via his phone!  Now that's good use of a cell phone. Off the computer and back to birthdaying... posted on 1/28/2005 10:59:41 AM Monday, January 24, 2005Children's MusicSo, here's my first birthday gift for my very small friend, Max.  It'll all started with Henry Hall's great version of The Teddy Bears' Picnic. Between that song and Max's impending birthday, I was on a mission to create a great children's mix. Fundamentally, I don't think kids need "kids music." I hate to think of the parents who only play their tykes the insipid stuff marketed to kids and nothing else. So, the challenge was to create a cd that was a mix of my favorite "children's" music and great "grown up" music. Low cloying quotient. Much boogie-ing. 
Someone Ate the Baby - Shel Silverstein We're Going to be Friends - The Whites Stripes Daddy Sang Bass - Johnny Cash & June Carter Helping - Tom Smothers Linus & Lucy - Vince Guaraldi (this song should go on every mix ever.) Friendship - Johnny Mercer & Judy garland The Sun Has Got His Hat On - Henry Hall & His Orchestra Get Away - Georgie Fame Mahna Mahna - The Muppets Pink Elephants On Parade - Dumbo Big Rock Candy Mountain - Burl Ives It's All Right to Cry - Rosey Grier (so fantastic) Everybody is a Star - Sly & the Family Stone Teddy Bears Picnic - Henry Hall & His Orchestra Bumble Boogie - B Bumble & the Stingers (super wiggle your butt song) Conjunction Junction - Schoolhouse Rock Silent E - Tom Lehrer The Donut Song - Burl Ives ("As you go through life, make this your goal: Watch the donut, not the hole.") Feelin' Groovy - Simon & Garfunkel I Don't Want to Live on the Moon - Ernie Bear Necessities - Louis Armstrong Harry Belafonte - Man Smart, Woman Smarter Percolator - The Ventures Little Bitty Pretty One - Thurston Harris & the Sharps High Hopes - Doris Day You are my Sunshine - Ray Charles Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Peter, Paul & Mary The Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog (I mentioned this before - we sang this in a 1st grade choir recital, and I though we were rock stars. And this song makes me cry.) Fireball XL5 - Barry Gray This Will Be Our Year - The Zombies (Such a fantastic song.) posted on 1/24/2005 11:10:23 AM Thursday, January 20, 2005Alright, after all that hoo-ha last night, I suppose you want to know. Today was good and bad. Mixed bag. I'm worn out.Normally, I only get sick once a year, between the holidays and my birthday. I've got a week left to get sick before my time's up. I've been working myself so hard I'm baffled as to why it hasn't hit yet. Off to drink a jug of water and go to bed. posted on 1/20/2005 11:08:56 PM Wednesday, January 19, 2005I know I've got a good life, but it's SO good right now that it's kinda freakin' me out. Like my head might explode from joy. And tomorrow is so eagerly anticipated that I may have to pretend I have a headache and take Excedrin PM so I'll sleep. Total seven-year-old Xmas Eve anticipation.posted on 1/19/2005 11:01:30 PM Tuesday, January 18, 2005Who's a Badass?I am a badass. Let's just say that: • I fed two friends and myself tonight • I've got two packages to send out tomorrow • I'm rocking AND rolling my new computer • my apartment is tidy (Whatchu say?) • four loads of laundry DONE. POW! • I finished Max's birthday present, and he'll get it the day equidistant from his 1st birthday and my 31st. • I've got a great day planned tomorrow G'night! posted on 1/18/2005 01:02:31 AM Wednesday, January 12, 2005I'm too much. I'm a gas.Hearing Blossom Dearie's "I'm Hip" has charmed me so much. It's been added to The Soundtrack to My Life. What would you put on a soundtrack of your life? I think a single theme song is too tough, but a soundtrack? What's in there for mood, what's in there for message, what's in there for pure history? Like I've gotta represent The Cars, The Monkees and Cat Stevens just for history. I'll pause pondering this to get some actual work done... posted on 1/12/2005 05:19:16 PM Tuesday, January 11, 2005The Red Bird Flies At MidnightJim and Pat hosted a party that wasn't a birthday party on Saturday. It was superb! Much fun. The invite promised intrigue with a spy theme. Given that, I went in disguise:  Q Kunstler. German name, French moustache, Russian coat, French beret, American accent. I'm no good at accents. I'm a quadruple agent. After refreshments, dossiers, soundtracks for the car ride and a superfun ride with Steve, Lauriean and Michele, we ended up The Safe House in Milwaukee. Passwords, trick doors, 007 everywhere. Here I am, um, Q Kunstler is, turning my head when I heard it was also tablemate Ian's birthday. I blew my cover to say, "It's YOUR birthday TOO?" I need to be more jaded and less giddy to be a proper spy.  posted on 1/11/2005 04:21:09 PM Monday, January 10, 2005Hometown/HomeI like this meme: 1.Go To Mapquest.com 2.Click on Directions 3. Enter your Current Address and the Address of your Childhood Home (or at least the town if you don't remember the exact address) 4.Put the time and distance in a post like this: Total Est. Time: 6 hours, 26 minutes Total Est. Distance: 413.92 miles p.s. The computer is officially set up and ready to go. Only one snafu that involves waiting for softare, but everyelse is rockin' and rollin'. posted on 1/10/2005 09:39:06 PM Sunday, January 09, 2005Ha!So far, so super. This computer is frickin' fast. And I'm watching a DVD (Cabaret) on the sucker, which hurts my brain. Remember - I had a Zip drive on the last one, and an external cd burner. And I switched the interface to "Windows Classic" and feel much better. Ahh... posted on 1/9/2005 07:31:59 PM Sunday, January 02, 2005WhistlingSo I was waiting for the Division bus at Clark and Division this morning. I figured I had just missed one, since no one was waiting. Listening to good music on headphones. I lived right by Clark Division twice, once for a semester, once for a summer. So standing there was familiar and distant at the same time. A tall, black man walks up to stop, looks for the bus, then gruffly asks, "Been waiting long?" Took a second to snap out of musicland, "Uh, nope, a few minutes." He looks annoyed, waits a few minutes and then starts down the street. A bus gets to the corner, about to turn onto Division and I do this comic look at the bus, look at the man walking away, look at the bus, look at the man walking away thing. I whistle. I've got a stellar taxi cab whistle. Whistle once. He doesn't move. Whistle again. He turns around. I point to the bus. He gives me a restrained two thumbs up, close to his chest. Then mouths, "bless you." Within the few seconds it takes the bus to pull up and for him to jog back to the stop, his demeanor has completely changed. He thanks me and is nearly giddy. I'm thinking that he's happy to catch the bus. As we sit down, near each other, he says, "Wow. Thank you. I can't believe you did that..." "Sister can whistle." So he was more impressed with the whistle, than the bus. Fine by me. It was a delightful turn of events. We ride along. The man gets off the bus first. I'm sitting right by the back door. As he stood by the door, he touched my shoulder. I turned and he gave me a little wave. As he got off he said. "Take care. Thank you." I smile and reply, "Sure thing." I get to my destination, tell the story, adding, "It's noon and that already made my day. Everything else is just gravy." Happy New Year. Hope your year is chocked full of kindnesses. posted on 1/2/2005 05:52:55 PM |
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