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.

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…

1. 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)
2. 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)
3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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)
6. 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)
7. 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)
8. My love was like a seed that you had planted (Timber – Neko Case)
9. 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)
10. Small stakes give you blues (Small Stakes – Spoon)
11. 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)
12. 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)
13. 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)
14. Damn good Mr. Jam (Damn Good Mr. Jam – Guided By Voices)
15. Tall and tan and young and lovely (The Girl from Ipanema – Getz & Gilberto)
16. 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)
17. 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)
18. Everybody wants 2 know what’s wrong with U (Loose – Prince)
19. 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
20. 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)
21. 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 Sinatra
22. We spotted the ocean at the head of the trail (Walk on the Ocean – Toad the Wet Sprocket)
23. 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)
24. I’m bound by the fire (Bound by the Beauty – Jane Siberry)
25. 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)

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:

• Conversation.

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:

• Heretic Pride and Supernatural Superserious.

What time of day are you? via Linda

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.

What Art Movement Are You?

As seen at RDM’s.

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.