les answers!

meme answers:

1. god only knows - the beach boys
2. bring the noise - pe
3. the boondocks - asheru
4. hail hail - pearl jam
5. the ledge - the replacements
6. so whatcha want - the beastie boys
7. wiser time - the black crowes
8. suite: judy blue eyes - csn
9. hot! hot! hot! - the cure
10. alone again or - the damned
11. ants marching - dmb
12. september - earth wind & fire
13. shadowboxer - fiona apple
14. shimmer - fuel
15. go go gadget gospel - gnarls barkley
16. all these things that i've done - the killers
17. debaser - pixies
18. j'aurais toujours faim de toi - the police
19. it could be sweet - portishead
20. spagetti western - primus

all the answers tomorrow!

to konagod - there is some beasties.

to the biz - i need song titles for the 2 artists you guessed right.

also, i've apparently lost 3 of my 5 readers.

yet another meme

ganked this ages ago from tense teacher. if you're looking at it, consider yourself tagged.

les rules:
1. put your mp3 player or computer music player on random.
2. post the first four lines from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song (skip repeat artists & instrumentals *duh*).
3. post, and let your friends guess which song and artist the lines come from.
4. NO googling!

1. i may not always love you
but long as there are stars above you
you never need to doubt it
i'll make you so sure about it

2. bass - how low can you go?
death row, what a brother know?
once again back is the incredible rhyme animal
the incredible d, public enemy number one

3. i am the stone that the builder refused
i am the visual, the inspiration that made ladies sing the blues
i'm the spark that makes your idea bright
the same spark that lights the dark so you can know your left from your right

4. ah, is there room for both of us?
both of us apart?
are we bound out of obligation?
is that all we've got?

5. all eyes look up to me
high above the filthy streets
heed no bullhorn when it calls
watch me fly and die, watch me fall

6. just plug me in just like i was eddie harris
you're eating crazy cheese like you'd think i'm from paris
you know i get fly you think i get high
you know that i'm gone and i'm a tell you all why

7. no time left now for shame
horizon behind me, no more pain
windswept stars blink and smile
another song, another mile

8. it's getting to the point
where i'm no fun anymore
i am sorry
sometimes it hurts so badly

9. the first time i saw lightning strike
i saw it underground
six deep feet below the street
the sky came crashing down

10. yeah said its alright
i wont forget
all the times
i waited patiently for you

11. he wakes up in the morning
does his teeth bite to eat and hes rolling
never changes a thing
the week ends the week begins

12. do you remember the 21st night of september?
love was changing the minds of pretenders
while chasing the clouds away
our hearts were ringing

13. once my lover, now my friend.
what a cruel thing to pretend.
what a cunning way to condescend.
once my lover, now my friend.

14. she calls me from the cold
just when i was low, feeling short of stable
and all that she intends
and all she keeps inside, isn't on the label

15. i'm well on my way
i'm almost everything
and this is my day
you make me want to say

16. when there's nowhere else to run
is there room for one more son
one more son
if you can hold on

17. got me a movie, i want you to know
slicing up eyeballs, i want you to know
girly so groovy, i want you to know
don't know about you, but i am un chien andalusia

18. rien de dormier cette nuit
je veux de toi
jusque'à ce que je sois sec
mais nos corps sont tout mouillés

19. i don't want to hurt you
for no reason have i but fear
and i ain't guilty of the crimes you accuse me of
but i'm guilty of fear

20. why do we do this c.g. and i?
every night vegetables,
minds numbed up by thc.
i've got my pen, c.g. the remote.

title not necessary

this was a ? on a bulletin posted on myspace by my cousin halie:

17. I've come to realize that my dad...is and has never been around or involved resulting in us not trying either!

i could have answered the same way. another ? was something like "i've come to realize my mom...." . she answered "a saint". her mom might just be, considering how very normal and well-adjusted halie seems. i don't think i'd be answering that one the same way. my mom was most definitely mortal. she did a bunch of things she should have regretted if she didn't.

"normal" to me ended up being really twisted and kind of sick. passive-aggressive. unsupportive. neglectful. i learned it was all ok. it was ok that people treated me like shit. it was ok if they were nonexistent and uninvolved. it was ok if all the love and kindness in a relationship originated with me.

mind you, i ended up getting out of my relationship with her what i needed. it took her getting cancer and coming thisfuckingclose to dying for me to get it. we had the relationship i'd needed for the last 9 years she lived. i bet she'd say that was the best phase for her too.

i've never had the relationship i needed (or even wanted, for that matter) with my father, and i never will. believe me, i've tried. all my life it's seemed like one thing or another was more important to him than i was, and when that thing ended up being his precious harley davidsons, i threw in the towel. the man wasn't even going to inform me of his impending nuptials until my brother guilted him into it. can you believe that shit? in his eyes, i was supposed to find out about it when the invite showed up in the mail, 4 days before the blessed event!

this uninvolved, uninterested thing is something that runs in the family. i think i might have a touch of it myself. i do not stay in touch with both sides of my family as well as i should. i think finding halie on myspace and seeing just a bit of who she's become is what finally made me uncomfortable with my uninvolvement. praise the psm for technology, eh?

i think july 11th is as good a day to make a resolution as january 1st, so i'm going to resolve to call a few peeps more often, and email the ones i can much more often.

well.. i'm sposed to be writing something more pleasant than i did yesterday.

i did have a rather pleasant surprise when i was out doing some errands about an hour ago. the cheap arco up on the corner has gone down another $.02/gal on gas. i put $40 in the tank on tuesday and paid $4.33/gal and now it's $4.31. too bad i didn't wait a couple days to gas up, no? the tank wasn't empty or anything, but i figured it would start going back up again, so i gassed the beast. and now it's gone down again.

are they trying to placate us, now that we all know that mcsame and all his ilk have no idea how much a gallon of gas costs? one wonders if they know the price of everything has gone up, not just gas, but anything that requires schlepping around in a vehicle of any kind (see yesterday's post about the poor ppl's french store).

it was even muggier here today, and more than one weather-related website is saying we might get t-storms the next couple days. wtF?! i'm already sweatin gallons, yo! too bad i can't figure out how to run my car on it!

did some work on the house today. both the funky bathrooms. i repurposed some knickknacks i had, and started working on the soon-to-be-rehabbed living room. i need to get to home depot and pick up some paint chips.

lastly, i need your help! one of my best pals and her family has moved into a new place (in IRVINE!! *hurling for her*), and i'm at a loss as to what to get her for a housewarming present. wen'l and i went all out when they got their very first place (like the gifts came in that blue box that sets girls' hearts all atwitter), so i'm wanting to be a little less grand this time. if any of you have a suggestion, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

no babies smiled at me today!

god did tarjjjjjjjjjjjjay ever suck today. i had to get some tp, swiffer crap, and assorted other nonperishables. the parking lot was a zoo. i should have just gone on to the grocery store and gotten the tp (the only thing i was actually out of), but oh no! dipshit me had to find a spot and go inside. i don't know about your local poor people's french store, but mine is trying to conserve electricity by not keeping the thermostat turned down so low. add to that the humidity. for real, it's like a portly man's crotch around here lately. and, throw in a store packed with other sweaty motherfuckers. the back of my head was dripping when i finally got out.

somehow i managed to spend almost $75. i bought some swiffer wet doojies, the pads for the swiffer mop, 8 rolls of tp, granite countertop spray, stainless steel spray and dish soap. oh, and a copy of dwell. i love me some shelter mags. that's another story though.

we're so fucked. i've noticed that everything has gone up in price. just a bit, mind you, but a bit nonetheless. the same cart of shit cost me about $5 less a couple months ago, and i shop a lot. every fucking cart is costing me at least $5 more. add to that the truly obscene amount a tank of gas is costing me these days, and i bet i'm spending a good $300 a month more than i'd like to. mind you, i don't have any debt, but i'd like to be putting at least half the money i'm spending but not wanting to to better fucking use! savings, roth iras, whatever.

and... on a slightly unrelated subject... i'm still pissed at sen. obama. why does he have to be such a spineless wimp about this fisa shit? and why isn't it also frying his ass that it's poking far too many holes in the 4th amendment? i'd set up an automatic donation thingy that i had to undo because of that shit. i'm going to protest his dipshittery with my pocketbook. perhaps i'll throw some more $ at him when i calm down. even considering my current need to slap some sense into him, i realize he needs to get elected in november. no way can that old man with the cancer on the side of his face (cuz come on.. what IS that lump on the left side of his face?) get handed that job. i have a cousin who's already been to iraq that'll be back in country within the next couple weeks. his tour's sposed to be like 15 months. and now the iraqis themselves are saying there needs to be a timetable. the shit needs to be over with, and not yesterday. like 1897 yesterdays ago.

k, that's my rant for the week. i'll bb tomorrow with something more pleasant, k?

sorry Eden, but i heart snakes

i got this from Eden. if you're looking at it, you're tagged!

Accent: None. Californians don't have one.
Breakfast or no breakfast: That depends. If someone else is making it, sure! If not, then normally I don't partake.
Chore I don’t care for: Cleaning the bathrooms. Two men live in this house. Try to imagine the amount of body hair that can accumulate. Also, keep in mind I tidy up the shitters about 2x/week. The hair and the toilets make me wanna barf.
Dog or Cat: Dog. I loathe cats.
Essential Electronics: Cell phone, puter, 60” of tasty hi-def goodness, PS3.
Favorite Cologne: Acqua di Parma. I love how it smells, all citrus-y and slightly soapy. Chanel Allure Sensuelle. I can't really explain the smell of that one though. And, oddly enough, Acqua di Gio for men. I like the broads' version of it fine, but the dudes' is even more delicious. On occasion I sneak some of my bro's. I figure it's only fair since I introduced him to it and it's his sig. scent now.
Gold or Silver: Platinum?
Handbag I carry most often: My birthday bag (see below!).
Insomnia: Not normally, but sometimes. Depends on whether I spoke to my father that day or not.
Job Title: DG!
Kids: No thanks!
Living Arrangements: I live with my husband and my brother in my father's house. Cheap rent is cheap rent, kids. The 3 of us split the smallish mortgage on the place, and it makes sense w/ Wen'ls commute.
Most Admirable Trait: My ability to tell people some truth they don't want to hear but need to hear anyway.
Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: I wish I'd had some naughty childhood behavior. Perhaps it would have been a happier childhood if I had.
Overnight hospital stays: Concussion-induced coma in 1974. 72-hr observation in 1986. I wasn't crazy enough for them to keep me any longer than that. *lol*
Phobias: I don't know if it's exactly a phobia or not, but... I have vertigo and whenever I'm on a bridge of any length, I get all panic-y. The Richmond Bridge in the Bay Area was almost my undoing once. What's weird is I went over the Golden Gate on the same trip with no ill effects.
Quote: “The ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more than the blood of a martyr.” - Lupe Fiasco
Reason to smile: Wen'l getting home from work, ANY baby smiling at me (hey, just cuz I don't want one doesn't mean I'm immune to their charms!), the sun and an ocean breeze.
Siblings: A half brother I've never met (try to guess which of my parents spawned him! *lol*) and the bro I live w/.
Time I wake up: Whenever the hell I want!
Unusual Talent or Skill: I paint well. Rather, I copy other people's shit really well.
Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Any that's overcooked. If they're not cooked to death, I'll eat any veggie.
Worst Habit: I smoke. My second worst habit is that I keep threatening to quit and have yet to.
X-rays: Oh, I've had a few. My last was a chest x-ray. The doc was afraid I might have pneumonia. Before that, it was my lower back.
Yummy Stuff: Boeuf bourguignon (waaaaaaaaay too hot for that these days!), tacos de carnitas, any ice cream that involves chocolate and/or coffee, tarte tatin, mac n cheese, spaghetti alla carbonara, homemade pizza.
Zoo Animal I Like Most: I love snakes, and they always have the big ones at the zoo!

independence day

i do love this country. i love it in spite of hating it sometimes, as though it were a person.

i know it has a heart like one, and i know it isn't just in the midwest or in the south, no matter how much some people in those parts of the country would like the rest of us to believe.

i wish sen. obama would stop tracking so hard to the center. he should be remembering to dance with who brung him, you know? but i realize he'd about 10x better than what we have now, and better than mccain could ever think of being. at least obama realizes this country does best when people like you and me aren't struggling under the weight of our ever-increasing expenditures. when our wages aren't stagnant. trickle down economics has been proven to be a joke. trickle UP economics works though.

i just wish our collective first impulse wasn't to take our newfound wealth and sink it into mcmansions in the burbs, and big cars and more stuff that we'll have to find cabinet space for, you know?

anyway, happy 232nd birthday america.

troo dat

got this in an email from my aunt. came very close to spraying my monitor with iced coffee when i saw it.

my political compass

i saw this over at balls and walnuts, and thought i'd take the test myself. go to his blog to check out his results if you'd like (and if you'd like some context... he was patient enough to save some pics i'm not bothering with!)... the link is in the sidebar.

perhaps more later!

carnitas de julia

this is the easiest thing i cook. it's great for the warmer months too. all you need equipment-wise is a crock pot. the ingredients and part of the procedure i found in gourmet magazine. i love me some foodie porn. anyway.. it was written by amy finley, the winner of last year's food tv contest. i made it, and i could tell it was lacking one thing... a certain crispiness. also, no garlic, and that's a crime.

there's one thing in it that might not be available in just any grocery store though. mexican oregano. if you don't have that or can't get it, i'd throw a bay leaf in instead. or, omit it entirely. it'll still be tres delish.

your mise-en-place:

1 5 lb boneless pork shoulder (butt end preferably), cut in about 5 1½" thick slabs
1 T salt (and use good salt dammit! i use gray salt from trader joe's)
1 T pepper (and i use a mill and it takes forever, but it's worth it)
1 T dried mexican oregano (or one bay leaf, or not)
2 good-sized onions, sliced into ¼" thick rings
4 large cloves garlic, smashed

one slow cooker

put the pork into the crock part of your slow cooker. in a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and mexican oregano. toss with the pork in the crock. place slightly broken up onion rings on top. place cover on crock and cook on low heat for 7-8 hrs.

remove to a plate to cool enough to shred. shred into large-ish chunks.

place a 12" (or larger, if you're lucky!) saute pan over med-hi heat with 1 T vegetable oil. this is inportant! do not forget that teeny little bit of oil. it will make all the difference in your crispies. when it's just starting to smoke, throw in all the pork and resist the urge to mess with it too much. just leave it be for about 4 mins. then bust it up a little and flip it over. give it another 4 mins. and you're good to go.

i usually serve this with steamed corn tortillas (handmade if you live where you can find them *swoon*), avocado slices and pico de gallo. i think it's the best thing i cook.

mass graves for the pump and the price is set

what the hell does obama have to do?

hillary's made me lose all respect for her. she's doing mcsame's job for him for one thing. for another, she's with him on this gas tax holiday bullshit, and saying obama's out of touch with middle america... because he's got a brain in his head and realizes that 3 months of the roads and bridges in this country not being tended to will fuck us in the ass, sideways, in the long run.

why must she pander so? or, alternately, where the hell does she think the money to do that maintanence on our already mcgyver'd infrastructure is going to come from? certainly not the defense budget!

instead, we're talking about his pastor? and someone he sat on a board with? how people really ARE bitter? (see a couple posts down) how about they let the man talk about what he wants to, the shit we sometimes don't want to hear, but need to? continuing to ask him bullshit questions about shit that came to light almost 2 months ago now? how about hillary's little senior moment? where she "misspoke" *rme* about being forced to make a corkscrew landing under heavy sniper fire? or mcsame and his good buddy, the rev. hagge? you know, the one that said god inflicted hurricane katrina on new orleans because they were a bit too *friendly* to homosexuals? you know, just to be fair.

the movie ran through me
the glamour subdued me
the tabloid untied me
i'm empty please fill me
mister anchor assure me
that Baghdad is burning
your voice it is so soothing
that cunning mantra of killing
i need you my witness
to dress this up so bloodless
to numb me and purge me now
of thoughts of blaming you
yes the car is our wheelchair
my witness your coughing
oily silence mocks the legless boys
who travel now in coffins
on the corner
the jury's sleepless
we found your weakness
and it's right outside your door

- "testify", rage against the machine

anyhoo, where was i? oh yeah... i was bitching about the media, the traditional, ie multi-national conglomerate owned, media. why do they think we give half a fuck about that shit? or is it that they know there is a certain percentage of the population out there that they know will buy what they're selling? either way, i feel insulted. i, like an ever-larger percentage of americans, get my news from places i click to. if this swill is what they're going to inflict upon us, then may they perish from their own uselessness.

i'm fast approaching 40 here. i drive a car that's 12 years old and gets shitty mileage on the highway! i will keep paying my damn taxes. the taxes aren't the problem. our weak dollar and our petroleum-dependent administration are the damn problem. our army being in iraq keeping that oil in the ground. the chimperor said today that not enough oil is being produced. no shit, sherlock! you've got a blue-chip MBA and you just now realized that? when will you realize why? january 20, 2009?

btw, that song came out in 1999.

heh

well i was just reading a blog that had a post on it called *coach whore*. you, my 3 faithful readers, know that i am a coach slut from waaaaaaaaay back.

i meant to post this right after my birthday. i got a bag from wen'l, and bought myself the matching wallet with the happy birthday coupon i got from coach ($50 off any $150 or larger purchase!). my bag was also purchased with a coupon. coach just loves me apparently.

anyhoo... here's the pics i ganked off coach.com. one of these days i'm going to gather all my various handbags and wallets and take their picture.

the bag:

the wallet:

and... i might have mentioned this before, but wen'l picked that bag out all by himself! he rawks almost as hard as i do, eh?

back!

i left yesterday saying i need to go gas the beast, etc...

so i'm at the arco on the corner of dale and ball and the place is packed. it's one of the more reasonably priced gas stations around, so it's really no surprise that i have to wait for a pump. my fellow patrons are all grumbling about how little gas they're getting for their $50 (13 gallons here, and i got the *regular* unleaded). they sounded a bit, uhh... i dunno... bitter?

i don't believe in guns or god, so i can't cling (oops, does that make me elitist?) to either of those things, but i'm glad i have my DH. i'm sure he's glad he's got me too. it's better being bitter with someone you love, you know?

another thing i'm bitter about: the arrival of our impending "stimulus package". i wish we weren't so dead crackers broke so i could donate about half of it to mr. obama. that seems about the biggest FUCK YOU statement i can make to the bushies and their ilk in re trying to buy me off with a check for $600.

but just like everyone else i know, i'll be spending that money on shit like rent and the electric bill, not making political contributions or paying for the 3 day weekend out of town wen'l and i could surely stand.

what will you, dear reader(s), be doing when you get stimulated?

been awhile...

my birthday was sunday. i turned 39. too old for a lot of things. too young for a few more.

i've been watching countdown with k.o. every night. mostly it's because i have a massive girl crush on rachel maddow. but also, i am so pissed off at the state of affairs politically that i want to barf.

mostly i'm pissed because my dipshit disillusionment with the clintons. they used to bitch and moan about the shit the right wing pulled, and i did so alongside them. now that they're resorting to the same bullshit tactics, i find myself bereft. how can they actually be doing this? how dare they?

i find myself understanding how it is people stop participating in the process.

i am also perturbed at how the punditry in this country won't let the whole "bittergate" thing go. last time i checked, (mostly) overpaid twits from inside the beltway weren't exactly known for their empathy with joe q. public. i don't live in the rust belt, but the economy around here pretty much sucks too, and i can't think of a better word than bitter to describe how i feel after almost 8 years of this.

what were the causes du jour last time around? gay marriage was one of them. all these states had bullshit legislation on their ballots decreeing marriage to be between a man and a woman, etc? now i read that some people who got married in massachusetts or canada and then moved to say, iowa, are now seeking to divorce... and guess what? not only will some states prevent you from getting married (a heartbreaking thing, no matter one's orientation), they'll keep you from breaking up too!

wtF?

sorry to end this in a weird place, but i gotta bounce. i need to gas up the beast and go pick up my husband. he takes the train. we're doing something to help, anyway.

more later. i promise.

ratchet & clank

this game is evil.

i haven't played videogames since the early 80's. i rocked back then, and i kinda suck now, but i am soooooooooooo hooked on ratchet & clank future: tools of destruction. say what you will about the wii and the xbox 360, but the ps3 is just sick.

the graphics, the sound, all the weapons and devices... the vocal stylings of voice deity jim ward... of course, it doesn't hurt that i'm playing the game on 60" of tasty hi-def goodness.

if you have the ps3, i highly recommend you check this shit out, yo.