That playlist I promised, and a few other things of note.

This is a "blog housekeeping" post, meaning it feels a little arbitrary but comes from a place of sincerity.

- So here's that playlist I promised several weeks ago; it's my "I get up at 5:30 so I can drive north on I-5 all groggy like clutching a cup of coffee and trying not to crash my car and make it to work on time by 7" playlist. Or, as it is labeled on the CD,

Ryan Goes to Work:

"Everybody Say" by Takka Takka

"Nick and Norah's Theme" composed by Mark Mothersbaugh

"In a Cave" by Tokyo Police Club

"Hard to Live in the City" by Albert Hammond Jr.

"Lights Out" by Santigold

"Ticking Clock" by Sisero

"Again and Again" by The Bird and The Bee

"Catch my Disease" by Ben Lee

"Every Time" by Lincoln Hawk (not a real band)

"Some are Lakes" by Land of Talk

"What I Am [cover]" by Emma Bunton

"Talk Show Host" by Radiohead

"Piazza, New York Catcher" by Belle and Sebastian

"When I Come Around" by Green Day

"Needle in the Camel's Eye" by The Wolfmen

"Plea from a house cat named Virtue" by The Weakerthans

"Racing Lights" by Stars of Track and Field

"Happiness" by Goldfrapp

"Acid Tongue" by Jenny Lewis

- Also, I have friends visiting from out-of-town this weekend and I couldn't be more stoked if I were at Disneyland chowing down on chicken tacos and a chocolate/vanilla swirl ice cream cone. Although that would be pretty damn awesome.

- Also, I finished that Chuck Klosterman book and thought it was only okay. Not as fresh feeling as Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs or as snarky in a fun way as IV, but somewhere in-between. At the end I was left wanting a bit more, and wondering if I'd really learned anything about anything other than just how the author feels about love, death, and Radiohead (I mean, the bits about Radiohead really are brilliant and insightful, but a tangent is a tangent is a tangent). I also have come to despise his critics--Not those who blast him, but those who praise him. His writing is great, but god damn it all he's not the next Hunter S. Thompson. He's a smart guy, but this narrative is not the front-runner of a new wave one might callously refer to as "modern gonzo journalism." Just because you don't get it doesn't mean it's Fear and Loathing. Stop pretending like you've read anything by Thompson, and stop pretending you care that Salinger is dead. FUCK.

- Okay, on a lighter note, it's Easter candy season, which means my love has returned to store shelves:

- So some of you out there might have cats. Answer me this, readers--Does your cat sometimes sit in the middle of the room in the sunlight and just meow and meow and meow for an unknown reason? I mean my god, I'm right here in plain view and there's food in the bowl and water in the bowl and what could she possibly need? Is she just validating her existence by proclaiming "I am here!" the only way she knows how or is there a more desperate and sad meaning to these cries? I need a book on cat dementia.

"Bitter heart, bitter heart tries to keep it all inside.

Bitter heart, bitter heart--The shadows will help you try and hide.

Bitter heart, bitter heart is getting just a little fragile.

Bitter heart, this bitter heart o' mine."

Trouble in paradise.

The more that I'm home (which is more often now that I'm not in school) the more our cat seems to think that she controls us. She wakes us up in the morning, usually around 6am (joy!) or earlier (double-joy!); she is excessively whiney but all together much more vocal than she ever was if we're doing one activity for  a long period of time (reading a book, watching a movie, etc.) that doesn't directly involve her; she has a habit of doing what Josh calls "getting it" whereupon if something across the room tickles her fancy she'll tear-ass over to it and pounce, be it lint or string or someone's foot. I don't know what to do about this animal.

Any thoughts or suggestions about cat behavior would be much appreciated!

"Why don't you ever wanna play?

I'm tired of this piece of string.

You sleep as much as I do now and you

Don't do much of anything."

Not a rant.

The meeting with Kathy went well; apparently if I can gather enough content we can actually have a full page in the Diversity newsletter if we want, and after speaking with some of the Inland Oasis organization's members this seems to be the plan. I'm meeting with one of their board members, Chris, today to get some information for the column itself which will be a summary of what the organization did for World AIDS Day. If Diversity wants it, I'll flesh out a column and put together some information for a few graphics (a World AIDS Day stats box, for example)

No word back from Dinah, my old law professor, but if I'm right most staff won't be back on campus until today and tomorrow. It's all about the waiting game right now.

In regional news today, anybody out there hear about this? How disgusting man's injustice to his fellow man can be. I really, really hope that nobody gets hurt over there and that the local area police and the FBI resolve the matter quickly. I don't care what your lifestyle, religion, beliefs and values, or background are . . . Nobody deserves to be threatened or frightened for their lives because of the threat of violence. If I write too much more about it I'll rant, and I don't want to rant because I've only had one cup of coffee thus far today and to give a good rant I need at least 2-3 cups total.

Today marks the third technical day off in a row for me, and I'm going a little stir crazy. I was supposed to only have 2 days off in a row, which is awesome and gives me a chance to do all sorts of errands and fun stuff, but it's changed to three days in a row which is mildly unbearable. Thanks to the awful Winter weather three days ago my work had to shut down along with the rest of the mall. Now luckily the company pays us normal wages for the day when we need to do an emergency store closure, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm seriously bouncing off the walls in this apartment. I'd love to go outside, but the weather is like the song says: "Frightful." 

And I think that my cat isn't enjoying all this company that much . . . She seems disappointed if I leave to go run an errand and then come back, as if to say in the prim and proper English accent I imagine her having: "You were only gone for twenty minutes . . . You should at least be gone for 8 hours! I need a great deal of me time!" Well you shouldn't be so damned fluffy and fun to annoy then, feline friend o' mine.

I played around with my camera a little bit, as promised, and got the Mac all synced up with it (iPhoto is an incredibly easy-to-use program, by the way). Here are a few things from a few days ago:

Lucy wondering why she can't go, too.

Part of a neat candle holder I bought in Seattle.

Yours, truly.

Maybe I'll post some more later. 

By the way, Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! They were married 20 years ago today, and although I'm incredibly proud of them. I think I might tell their story here at a later date (or maybe just later today if it continues to rain and hail and be blustery). It's a pretty good one. It involves living in a tepee on a campground for a while.

"I shoot my name up every vain.
You can't get hurt, you can't complain.
No feet, no hands, no tail, no lies:
He's got youth on his side."