Ten Thirty Musings

I meant for the title to be "Midnight Musings," which actually has some appeal as a title. But it's not midnight, not by a long shot, and "Midnight (almost) Musings" seems...a tad silly. But just a tad.

Anyways...welcome to the wonderful world of nutter. The actual point of this post was to note that I blog much better late at night (the virtue of this ability is debatable, as is the truth of it). I'm trying to work out in my mind the value of a concise, to-the-point post, versus one of my near-midnight rambling stream of consciousness "posts." I noted quite a while ago that stream of consciousness writing gets you in trouble. Alas. Hmmm...I've rediscovered the zooming function of my optical mouse, which allows me to type in a font so tiny my eyes hurt. Lets get out of that...there we go. Here goes the stream of consciousness...this is just another wonderful feature of my mouse/Firefox (also amazingly convenient, despite the fact that I have used it just once, is the feature that brings up a Google search box when I hit Ctrl twice in a row. Although I think that's Google desktop rather than Firefox...but the point is obvious: IE sucks).

The question of nice and neat vs rambling mess is still unanswered, but I'm going to soldier on until I wrap this up or I fall asleep, whichever comes first. Hm...whichever is a word. "Hm" apparently is not, according to the Firefox dictionary (neither is "Hmmm," "Hmmmm," or "Hohum." Wow...it's like being drunk, and knowing that what comes out would probably be better unsaid (untyped), but being unable to resist the temptation of just saying (typing) whatever comes to mind. I feel like Smithers "I love boobies!" And a scholarship to Yale for whoever gets those two references (Yes, two references, and I want an episode number/title). For those who read this: I'm aware I'm insane. It's a hobby.

Of course, I could just as easily blame this on sleep deprivation. Seeing how I did wake up at ten of six to watch baseball. The Red Sox, by the way, won the first of what I predict will be 103 games this season. There were some promising things (Manny being the Manny of old, Brandon Moss being amazing, Dice-K settling down for four good innings), and some alarming things (Papelbon getting tagged). Regardless of how the win was achieved (disregarding the Moss tying homerun to actually get to extra innings), and allowing for Oakland to let us win, things are looking just like they should. Except that Papelbon needs to look better.

Do not worry; this will not turn into a baseball blog. Not entirely, at least. For my loyal readers, know that you will still be gifted with many mundane details of my life. Read and enjoy, and do whatever you do with the knowledge that I ramble unto you. Can I just use that as a verb? It makes me think of a verse from the Old Testament: "And Daniel didst ramble unto his readers, until verily they were bored out of their minds."

Which puts me in mind of the fantastic book I just finished, "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I picked up a reissue (first published in 1990) at Books Etc. in the Old Port the other day, and absolutely devoured it. I have time to do things like that this week. I won't actually tell you what the book is about, but imagine your two favorite authors. Then imagine them writing a book together. That book is this book, literary manna from Heaven. Unless your favorite authors were completely different. Like, I dunno, C.S. Lewis and Richard Dawkins. In that case, you'd be screwed, and the book would suck. Plus, if those were your two favorite authors, you've got some issues of your own to work out.

Okay, so I've gone through baseball and books. All that's left is music and movies. And maybe weather. Actually, I'll attack weather. Snow tomorrow. Snow Friday. Are you fscking serious? To reiterate: I love New England, and wouldn't be anywhere else. But isn't snow supposed to, oh I don't know...GO AWAY?! Sigh. I want spring, now, after many months of cold and white. And everyone I know who's in Florida, or California, or New Orleans, or anywhere warm, right now, will be sure to remind me of their experiences in the warmth when we're back on campus next week. And I can say...at least there was a little more grass visible. Alas.

Righto (another non-word), music is next. "Jessica" is playing right now, and I didn't even have to cue it up. I am officially in love with a radio station, and it doesn't even broadcast my show. If you're ever in Portland, Maine, for any reason, and you're looking for classic rock, 107.5 FM is the answer. Way up high on the dial, beyond all the country, beyond even the jazz and public radio, is this fantastic station. In the past half hour that I've been writing this junk I've heard the Beatles, Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, and now the Allman Brothers. Yay! And now Queen...love continues! Here's the station's top ten for everything imaginable (all classic rock, naturally, but still).

Wow...I just came to understand the lyrics of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," when the band goes "Ready Freddie." Wowee, can I be dense. Anyhow, now it's Bad Company and the Who.

So...movies. I saw my first Kevin Bacon movie this past weekend: Silverado. Edit: the movie does not actually have Kevin Bacon in it. I was sadly mistaken by the presences of Kevin Costner and Kevin Kline. Ah well, no Bacon. Mmmm...bacon. The movie did feature John Cleese, however, so not all is lost. A decent movie, not terrific; it did feature a nice score, which apparently was nominated for an Oscar. Tonight I saw Click for the first time; a decently touching movie, although because it was Adam Sandler there were several crude moments that didn't quite mesh with the rest of the movie. Then again, given how many times the film showed a dog humping a duck, it could easily be said that the tender parts of the film didn't mesh with the crudity.

I think I've covered all I wanted to cover, and it's time to answer my question. Hang on while I scroll up to remember what my question was. Ah yes, that question. Well, my answer is short and simple, even if the post wasn't: Bully. Less simply put (isn't that ironic), I don't really care which is better; I'll write as the mood strikes me. If I have time (now, late at night), I'll write. If I don't have time (middle of the day), I won't wax annoyingly long. This applies to email, which I now remember I wanted to address. Accidental pun; kudos if you get it (the candy/cereal bar, which is pretty good. They still make those?) Aaaanywho...if I check my email, and don't have time to answer everything I need to, I file it away to answer later. If I wait too long, I forget about it. After two days, it's hopeless. Thanks to the annoying school email service, anything more than a couple days old goes off the main screen, and I have to dig for it. And that's if I remember when I get online. A memo to anyone who emails me/has emailed me: if I don't reply after a couple days, email me again. Chances are I remembered to reply to your first one while I was nowhere near a computer, and forgot again by the time I sat down in front of my laptop hours later. Apologies to anyone who has waited days, weeks or months for replies. Or you could email my Google account. If you can find it. Mwahahaha. Honestly, though, it's not that hard to guess. For now, I leave you with these, the

TOP TEN ROCK ANTHEMS
Those powerful songs that always JUMP out at you… the songs that are “what rock and roll’s all about”

10- Jump/VAN HALEN
9- Baba O’Riley/THE WHO
8- Where the Streets Have No Name/U2
7- You Shook Me All Night Long/AC/DC
6- Start Me Up/STONES
5- More Than A Feeling/BOSTON
4- Born to Run/BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
3- Sweet Home Alabama/LYNYRD SKYNYRD
2- Dream On/AEROSMITH
1- Stairway To Heaven/LED ZEPPELIN