When I'm Lost...
So this is going to be a trifecta post: (1) Blogger Pro (2) My Day (3) Idol. I am blogging like a
pro now. Last night my frustration from dial-up traffic or just your typical blogger related delays just pushed me to the brink. That, and then I got a weird message about my archives running out of space or something (and this is one of my biggest fears that without warning or one accidental click will wipe out a year of ranting and raving) I decided to go platinum and upgrade to the $35 clam version of Blogger Pro. On the surface, it should look the same to you, but my interface is a little different, I have spell check, better archiving servers, and other fancy tools like offering my blog like a mailing list whereby you'll get my latest post in your in-box. I haven't really set that last function up yet, but when I do, you'll see a prompt or something, for the time being just read my pearls from the site.
My day - trip two to Providence in the last five days. It was one of those dreary, spitty rainy, gray days - one of those days when it's lousy to be in the car, but when it's equally as lousy to be just about anywhere else. I soccer mom'ed all the way from Providence and back, driving the mini van because we needed the room to tote home the rest of Kristin's earthly possessions. One day in a bix boxy mini van made me long for my smaller and substantially more aerodynamic car. Although the drive is repetitive at this point, today actually gave me time to sit and just listen to an album from start to finish, something I haven't done in a long time or don't do often enough. My mother took my car (part of the swap for today) so I was left for slim pickens considering that my music collection resides in the glove compartment on my car. I grabbed what I could find laying around, only to learn that the mini van is apparently a sour moralistic beacon siding with the robber baron record companies and won't read or play burned CDs of illegally obtained Mp3s. Bastards. I was left with Jackson Browne's
Running on Empty, circa 1977. My parents were big JB fans and thus, it's always rounded out the soundtrack of my childhood and followed me into adulthood along with a strong preference for singer songwriters that aren't completely flakey hippy folkies. But this is a very good album and I enjoyed hearing Jackson do "Running on Empty," a song who I think belongs to the Eagles, but it could be a joint venture. There's also a song I've become more familiar with from the Royal Tennenbaum soundtrack, "These Days" (there performed by the haunting Warhol groupie, Nico) but also done Jackson's style on my driving soundtrack today. I forgot how full it feels to listen to an album beginning to end, let one song flow into the next, and hear it as a complete piece. The downside to Mp3s are that they turn you into a rapid-dial mix tape kind of kid - when sometimes, it might be better off to lay down the $15 and get the album as the artist intended (or at least had a hand in intending). If you aren't a Jackson Browne fan, shame on you, but there are sometimes, especially when you are sort of in-between things, or looking, or lost - or at the end of your rope, when it really comes through. Today just seemed to be one of those days as I am locked in the boredom of my routine, getting ready to go back for a long lost and long overdue graduation, and then taking off for an uncharted land by the end of the season. Jackson Browne just felt like the right thing today.
Such was my day, my sister is home in one piece and all of her possessions are here too. I think I had my first pangs of anxiety today, and an unimportant anxiety, that of packing. The amazing thing about packing is that you always have more than you think you have. Preparing to go back to school, a week before I was always cucumber cool and then the night before I would stun myself with the height, depth, and weight of the pile having to fit in a tight space. Considering that my sister had the tiniest dorm room imaginable and I need to bring enough to not only be a professional student, but also everything to wear, eat, live, and work - I just don't know how it is going to fit. No use worrying now, but to quote my father on every trip up and down the stairs moving in and out for the last four years, "you have way too much stuff, kid."
I am very excited for the upcoming week - kicking it off early for a New York Saturday. So excited to learn that Matthew Barney goes through June and I can in fact, see the show I've been drooling over in the papers since my days as a Gugg girl. Excited to see a sure to be beautiful Thomas Struth retrospective at the Met and then wandering over to their headlining Manet /Velaquez show. Embarrassed to admit that I haven't been to a museum since my days as a diligent intern, I am sure I am in for a real treat. Plus, the great and unmatched company of old friends in my favorite city - now just cross your fingers for sun and we have the makings of a perfect day. Then I hope to get an early start to get on the road to Midd on Sunday, but the layover with my Aunt and her family is an added bonus in its own right.
So Idol, and I'll be brief because my sister is home and I no longer have the Internet all to myself. Maybe I am past my Idol prime now that I actually have things to sustain my interest beyond basic and extended cable. I have successively lost interest in the past weeks. The BeeGees week bored me and I guess as the pool of personas dwindles, it is harder to stay interested in the week to week stuff. Tonight, all three contestants seemed nervous (something I hadn't noticed before) and all of them were off their game. Overall, Clay was the most behind the eight ball - staggering through his first performance of Don McLean's
Vincent,botching the words, and then coming out for two mediocre renditions of
Mac the Knife, and the such a good song you can't do it wrong, the Righteous Brothers'
Unchained Melody. I didn't think Kim had enough sparkle tonight, despite Paula "Al Capone" Abdul's comment about her being a diamond. I think she's the most likely to go, but it was a hard fought battle. I think Rubes was the best, but even he struggled a little, looked sweaty, and didn't seem to be rolling in his usual good cheer. Maybe I am this ambivalent, I could really care less who makes it to the finals and even who prevails, because I feel like all three deserve to be here. I have no doubt that each of them will go onto record very successful albums, but with so few competitors left in the game, it is admittingly, less fun. I'll have to phone into home base next week because I'll be out of town, but I still want to see Ruben take the cake (he's obviously taken many in his day) but I have a real feeling that Clay and his girly vote has the contest all tied up.
posted by lmjasinski at 10:58 PM
