Scrivener June 1st, 2008
The top 100 or so books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users. Bold the books you have read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish. As seen at Itinerant Thinker.
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Scrivener May 6th, 2008
A few months ago, everyone was doing that six-word memoir meme and I was tagged a couple of times to do it. So I had a few, but then got interrupted before I could write a whole post about it, and decided I’d come back to it. Well, now that the meme’s time has passed, I guess I can finally get in on it. So, I’m slow, sue me.
I was really, really tempted to steal a line from David Eggers and just go with “This was uncalled for” but then I did the math and realized I would need to flesh it out, and it didn’t really seem to need two more words.
So, anyway, I’ve got two candidates. The first one is the funny one, or at least I find it amusing, and the second one is sappier:
It wasn’t so easy at first.
Shined some light on the darkness.
jo(e) reminded me that today marks four years of blogging for me, though most of it took place in the earlier iteration of Scrivenings on Blogger. It’s the silk anniversary for my blog and me, but the only present I have for my blog is one measly little post. And just a meme at that. Nonetheless, even though I’ve pretty much taken a hiatus on the written portion of my blog, I do very much appreciate all of you who have visited and read my blog–I still find it difficult to believe that I’ve had more than 350,000 visitors to these virtual pages. The community that I have found in the blogosphere has been incredibly important to me. Thank you.
Scrivener April 22nd, 2008
[I've given you more to work with now. Any help?]
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING. So is looking at my last.fm feed for the last hour or so…
Go easy now
Go easy now
Later on the road I’m gonna lay my body down
We’ll meet along the way, I knowGrow straight and true
Grow straight and true
Later on the road is gonna break your world in two (We’ll Meet Along the Way - Hem)I try to stay busy
I do the dishes, I mow the lawn
I try to keep myself occupied
Even though I know you’re not coming home (Hate It Here- Wilco)Voc precisa saber da piscina
Da margarina, da carolina, da gasolina
Voc precisa saber de mim
Baby, baby
Eu sei que assim (Baby - either Gal Costa or Os Mutantes)- Did you clean yourself
for me last night
put the water out and donned a marigold
in your hair to bring me here
and tie one on you
did you dress me down and liquor me up
to make me last for the minute
when the red comes over you
like it does when you’re filled with love
or whatever you call it (Available - The National)
This city is silver in the moon
And mountains heaped with sugar spoons
The click and clatter of my feet
On lonely crooked cobbled streets
Like castanets (Castanets - Bishop Allen)- Bed is for sleeping
Love is for making
You know love I am yours for the taking
My eyes are for seeing
The wind is for blowing
And you see love I am yours for the knowing (Bed is for sleeping - Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Princ” Billie)
If you ever change your mind
About leaving, leaving me behind
Bring it to me, bring your sweet loving,
bring it on home to me, yeah
You know I tried to treat you right
But, you stay out, stay out every night
Bring it to me, bring your sweet lovin
Bring it on home to me. (Bring it on Home to Me - Sam Cooke, though mine was the Britt Daniel cover)My love was like a seed that you had planted (Timber - Neko Case) On and on and on we’ll stay together yeah
On and on and on we’ll be together yeah
You and I will try to stay together yeah
On and on and on we’ll be together yeah (On and On and On - Wilco)Small stakes give you blues (Small Stakes - Spoon)- Winter time is coming
All the sky is grey
Summer birds aren’t singing
Since you went away
Since you’ve been gone, end of the season (End of the Season - The Kinks)
- take me down from the ridge
where the summer ends
we’ll watch the city spread out
just like a jet’s flame
I’ve got a secret for you
I cut your angel in two
I left her bleeding
and soaked it with a dry sponge
no life has singed her now (No Life Singed Her - Pavement)
Oh, do I have to put my hand cuffs on you, mama?
Do I have to keep under lock and key?
Do I have to put hand cuffs on you, mama?
Now we both know that’s not how it should be
Do I have to put my hand cuffs on you, mama?
You’re a sweet fine sexy woman and you’re good to a man
Cause if I have to put my hand cuffs on you, mama
I hope that you will understand (Hand Cuffs - Parliament)Damn good Mr. Jam (Damn Good Mr. Jam - Guided By Voices)Tall and tan and young and lovely (The Girl from Ipanema - Getz & Gilberto)First I saw her on TV then later in a magazine.
She was charming and I was charmed.
These things I know:
Her mother was an actress.
She likes boats, dogs and horses.
But she doesn’t like guys who are a turn off.
But maybe, just maybe.
She’ll make an exception for one who really cares. (Later in a Magazine - Half Japanese)- In time you’ll know.
In time you’ll grow to say
Tomorrow will not be another day (Tomorrow Will Not Be Another Day - Robert Pollard)
Everybody wants 2 know what’s wrong with U (Loose - Prince)- You have to do it running but you do everything that they ask you to
cause you don’t mind seeing yourself in a picture
as long as you look faraway, as long as you look removed
showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
the very last time that I saw stu
he was on his way out west
he said that he was trying to find himself and something else
having a helluva good time trying (Stu - Superdrag)I was five and he was six
We rode on horses made of sticks
He wore black and I wore white
He would always win the fightBang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down. (Bang Bang [My Baby Shot Me Down] - Nancy SinatraWe spotted the ocean at the head of the trail (Walk on the Ocean - Toad the Wet Sprocket)You look so good in the clothes of a poser
And when you smiled all the kids fell apart here
I know a place where it’s warm and it’s dry, dear
Let me take you there
North of the river all the streets are the same
We can pretend that they don’t know our name
And the heat is turned all the way to full
So don’t pretend that you don’t feel the pull (”What I’m Trying To Say” - Stars)I’m bound by the fire (Bound by the Beauty - Jane Siberry)- Just like the way that you ran to wine
when they made the new milk turn
Jesus, a friend in the better times
let your mother’s bible burn
freedom, a fever you suffered through
and the dog drank from your cup
frozen, the river that baptized you
and the horse died standing up
but when a southern anthem rings
she will buckle to that sound
when that southern anthem sings
it will lay her burdens down (Southern Anthem - Iron and Wine)
Scrivener April 21st, 2008
Billie tagged me for this meme of the mundane a while back. I’ve been really sucking on responding to meme prompts, though I’ve got some half-written drafts saved in my dashboard. I’ll try to post the 6-word memoir thingie tomorrow, now that it’s totally run its course and no one’s interested anymore.
Favorite laundry detergent:
- Kirkland, the Costco brand, because it’s the cheapest.
Favorite item used for an unintended purpose:
- I’ve got an old messenger bag I used when I was a grad student that holds my “in case of emergency” kit in the car: it’s especially nice because in my case, I have defined “emergency” more in terms of “oh crap I’m stuck here by the side of the road ( or in this waiting room …, or whatever) with the kids, so now what?” so the compartments for holding office supplies are useful. It’s got notebooks and pens, a couple of bottles of water, and some of whatever kind of snacks made sense to me when I packed it. And then whatever else I could fit in the bag for more general-purpose emergency response: some rope, a rain poncho, a wind-up flashlight, that kind of thing.
- Oh, and another thing that was handy just today. When I got rid of the kids’ car seats, I kept the anchor straps that had come with them. They worked beautifully today as a tie-down for the trunk while I was transporting some bookcases I got at a friend’s moving sale, a real bargain.
Favorite way to buy music:
- I could make the standard joke–”buy music? whah?”– and it’s true that I get my share of music by downloading it from the music blogs or from friends (and recently, as preview singles or even whole albums sent by some record companies, which is pretty cool), but I have an account at eMusic so I purchase 30 songs per month. Frankly, these days there are months where the only new music I get is from my eMusic donwloads. Ok, that’s not quite true. But I’m in a stage that seems to be more about synthesizing what I’ve got than acquiring new stuff, if that makes sense.
How clean is your car?
- Pretty clean, if you mean the interior. Now, if I’d done this meme a couple of days ago, it would have been a different answer, but I cleaned out the car in order to transport those bookshelves. The exterior is filthy, but we’re in the midst of a drought, you might have heard, so I’m not concerned with washing my car. Frankly, washing the car was never an activity I was too assiduous about back when we had water anyway.
How clean is your apartment/house/room?
- Middling clean. It was very clean only a week ago but now it’s kind of in that stage of clutteredness where you can tell that it was recently clean, but that I really am not maintaining its clean state like I might.
How clean is your office?
- Much, much cleaner than it was a week ago, too. I’ve been organizing and cleaning in there when I can and now I’ve got new bookshelves to go in there and plans to turn that into a much more functional space.
Favorite weekly free time:
- In the evening, just after the kids fall asleep.
Is there a word, phrase, or gesture that is identifiably yours?
- I’ve been told that my defining gesture is a shrug, and that might be true, though I’m not certain that I can claim ownership of shrugging.
Most effective medicine for one (or more) of your ailments:
A favorite thing you try to sell/push/encourage your friends to try:
- Music. Not sure which band I push more: Wilco, The National, The Mountain Goats, or Andrew Bird.
Favorite new (or new-to-you) thing:
Scrivener February 13th, 2008
Your exact moment of the day is always changing, because the sun never sets at exactly the same time. You are the romantic moments just after sunset when it’s still light enough to see your way around outside, and the sky is a blend of reds, pinks, purples, and blues. At this time of day, the light has a special way of making even rundown buildings looks like works of art. You’re like that, too – you’re always finding beauty and magic in unexpected places. Not only will you wish on the first star you see, somewhere inside, you actually expect that wish to come true.
What time of day are you? via Linda
Scrivener December 29th, 2007
You Are Surrealism
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Dreamy and idealistic, you’ve created a world that is all your own.It’s very likely that you’ve either dabbled in drugs or are naturally trippy.
You are always trying to push beyond the boundaries of your culture and society.
You believe that art, love, and freedom can change the world.
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What Art Movement Are You?
As seen at RDM’s.
Scrivener December 6th, 2007
First meme in the new space, as seen at Jane’s place.
Your Score: Juniper Berries
You scored 100% intoxication, 50% hotness, 75% complexity, and 75% craziness!
You are Juniper Berries!
You’re a drunk. No, really. Cool it with the hooch.
Just kidding. You’re really good at adding flavour to boring old life. You can be astringent at times, but once the harshness passes, you’re quite relaxing. And you smell good, too.