Saturday, September 28, 2002

FRIDAY FIVE
The Friday Five are really boring again this week, so since it's my birthday I'm going to do what I want and answer five of the more interesting questions I found at another website http://www.tinyplace.org/miscelleny/surveysays/

What languages do you know swear words in? Let's see, I know several dirty words in French, and a couple in German and Spanish. Soon hopefully I know swear words in Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and more!

What famous person you really wish you could be friends with? Hhm, good question. There are several really. I think Nick Hornby (novelist) would be a really nice person, and I know we have some favorite musicians in common. Also, Suzanne Finnamore (also a novelist) I imagine would be really fun to hang out with. I'd also like to befriend is P.J. Harvey, she's so cool. Anyone too famous seems a bit intimidating, I mean it'd be great to hang out with Pete Townsend but I'd never really feel comfortable, I'd be too star-struck.

What makes you act the most evil? Again, good question. Probably intolerance and impatience. I can be really selfish at times.

How much does your mom know about your life? More then she wants to know I'm sure. My poor parents don't have the luxury of ignorance when it comes to all my early bad behavior, and present whims. Sorry guys. On the plus side, because my parents know so much about my life, we're really close. There aren't any secrets.

What music did you once love but can’t even listen to now? I used to like the Grateful Dead. Can't explain it now. Honestly, I wonder if I was brainwashed in college?


I was looking over the hundred things about Marjorie list recently and realized I should have added that I am the queen of run-on sentences. I never know where to use a period instead of a comma. Hope that's not too annoying to anybody out there. The irony is that I can edit other people's writing, just not my own apparently.
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Marjorie
Happy Birthday to you

You rock my world, baby.

Friday, September 27, 2002

Shallow Gal
Ever scare yourself with a thought so petty that if someone else said it out loud you'd sigh audibly and roll your eyes? I've had several of those moments lately. Example: Today I was looking at a sweater I recently bought, and I actually got a little sad because I won't have any opportunity to wear it if we go to Southeast Asia . PLEASE GIRL! I find that I'm increasing shallow in lots of ways lately. For example I don't have as much enthusiasm for Art/Indie Films (although I just saw "Monsoon Wedding" and really enjoyed it), and tend to enjoy scary big budget flicks more. I also tend to enjoy "entertaining" books more than "intelligent" books. I blame my job. I mean I spend my days with children who have serious issues, and families trying to cope with those issues, and when I get home I just want to float on the surface.
Anyways...... Mark's a lot better at this blogging thing than I am. He's much more likely to post on any given day than I am. I saw that my mother commented on his last post telling us not to go to Laos or Malaysia. I think we're going to have to ignore her. Sorry Mom! We'll use common sense and only go where other travelers go. And we won't go to Pakistan. Even I'm afraid of that now.

Thursday, September 26, 2002

Rats! I've been passed up again!
The comment feature seems to flake out intermittently. Sorry about that. There don't seem to be any terribly reliable blog comment services, judging from the experiences of friends who use other ones. If you know of a good comment service, leave me a comment about it. ;-)

We encountered a waitress last night who recently got back from a year-long tour of southeast Asia. She was a wealth of information, and got us excited about doing a tour (prior to finding a job) like we had been considering. Especially when she mentioned how little she spent in a year. So we're trying to work out whether we have the means to do this for a month or so, and when would be a good time to do it. I don't want to be stuck looking for work in December, which is a bad time for that everywhere in the world it seems.

It's funny -- up to this point, I've been the one who's been saying (like I usually do), let's just go, it'll all work out, while Marjorie (the planner) was saying no no, we need to have a job lined up. We seemed to switch roles after a point last night.

I think we're both dreading all the things that need to be done once we commit, which makes it easier to think about other fun things -- like, where we would go if we toured. The waitress last night was raving about Burma, and got us excited about it. Also high on my list are Angkor Wat (Cambodia), the Mulu caves (Borneo), and Laos. I know Phuket (Thailand) and Vietnam are on Marjorie's list. And I think we're both pretty keen on Redang (Malaysia). And I haven't even mentioned Indonesia. The question is, will a month be enough?

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

It's attack of the solo artists around here. I just noticed that in the coming weeks, Atlanta will play host to a whole mess of my faves, including:

  • John Wesley Harding (Oct 16, Eddie's Attic) Actually, I don't like JWH much on album, but he's pretty amazing live.

  • Billy Bragg (Oct 24, Roxy) Big woop! One of my faves, and I had to miss him last time because of work. I was worried I'd never get to see him.

  • Elvis Costello (Nov 6-7, Tabernacle) Okay, he's not solo this time. Saw him recently, but hell, he da man.

  • Glenn Tilbrook (Nov 17, Red Light Cafe) Saw him recently, too, but there is no one alive more entertaining. Such a small venue too. Will we still be here?


  • Throw in possible concerts by the Stones, BR549, Neko Case, and the Strokes, and it sure looks like my musical biorhythm is on the upswing.
    I'm now most of the way through A Drink With Shane MacGowan, a biography of the former Pogues front man. The man is a messed up but undeniable genius. More on that in a later blog.

    What really strikes me reading it is how important group identity is (or was) in London, compared to here in the US. In the 70s at least, everyone there was either a hippie, soul boy, mod, rocker, lad, punk, or whatever, each with their own music, style of dress, haircut, etc... I mean, that sort of thing here certainly occurs here, what with gangs and cliques and such, but I think we prize individuality a lot more. On the flip side, I think fear of appearing conformist prevents us achieving some of the highs -- in achievement AND enjoyment -- that can be reached as a group.

    Interesting also was his assertion that punk was the first really egalitarian youth movement to appear in England. Like, for the first time, a woman could walk down the street with six guys without being considered loose.

    Sunday, September 22, 2002

    Last night was fun. We were at a local hangout -- the Earl -- with a bunch of people for a friend's birthday party. They have an area out front by the sidewalk where you can hang out, which was where we were when the rain started coming down, hard -- a thick, soaking rain. We were pinned against the front wall for a while before I decided to say to heck with it, and went out and did my best Fred Astaire imitation down the street and curbs. I'm sure I looked silly but I had more fun than anyone.

    Correction: Marjorie has pointed out to me that I meant to say Gene Kelly, not Fred Astaire.

    Today we were driving around looking for a place to eat when the same sort of rain hit us. We ended up outside a cozy little restaurant called Zoe's, but by this time the lightning was pretty fierce and we had to wait in the car for a bit. So, we found some early jazz on the radio, reclined the seats all the way, and sat there and watched the storm for ten minutes.
    100 THINGS
    I've added my 100 things about Marjorie to the blog. Blogging really is a self-indulgent endeavor isn't it. Oh well. If you make it through the list your either really bored or one of my best friends.