Monday, February 05, 2007

Okay, so I lied

I was planning on doing some substantive writing this weekend.

Didn't happen.

Bupkis, kids.

Sorry about that.

I was in the office on both Saturday and Sunday, trying to play catch up after one big project and getting ready to complete another humongous project this week. I don't mind being in my office over the weekend -it's quiet and I can motor through tasks that might take ages to complete on a normal workday. Today I brought my old, beat-up, well-traveled Radio Shack noise canceling headphones with me, and I listened to a bit of the Super Bowl tonight over the NFL.com live broadcast from Sirius/Westwood One. But most of the time, I jammed out to some really pretty freaking good music on iTunes radio - I decided to try a station I hadn't sampled before: RadioParadise.com.

Damn, that was good! Check out their playlist for recent hours to get a feel for what's spinning there. I finally had to start taking notes on tracks I was digging on and bands I was amazed to hear for the first time. Apparently, according to the Sasquatch, I've been living under a rock, and I should have known about this station ages ago. Well, I kinda do live under a rock lately, so I guess I'll just own that one, eh?

Speaking of new radio experiences - DC peeps, have you heard the new WARW yet? 94.7 is no longer "The Arrow" - now it's "The Globe", sort of an Al Gore-eco-friendly-alternative-energy-powered adult alternative station. The spiel from management says you should "think WHFS circa 1985." Well, I don't know about that (since I was in college in Minnesota then), but I'm diggin' on what they're playing so far. They tossed out a musical hook with bait for left-of-center 40-somethings, and I bit.

I'm a sucker for music, plain and simple. It doesn't just sit in the background of my life. It sustains me. I'm not kidding there. Without music, my life would lack much of its color. And who needs to live in greyscale?

Speaking of music and color (or, in this case, off-color)... anyone remember the short-lived Canadian comedy show "The Vacant Lot"? I loved those guys. Very funny, very weird, and they did the occasional music video. One was called "He Slept On His Arms Last Night" and another, supposedly the work of a (very fake) Norwegian band called Porridge and Biscuits. Their song "Knee Slap" is the band's tribute to American culture and documents their tour of the United States. Absolutely ridiculous stuff from our friends to the North, and, many years later, it still makes me laugh. God bless Canadian comedy. What the hell would we do without it? (And now, the Sasquatch has me watching Kids in the Hall clips on YouTube. Jeez - I'll never sleep tonight!)

On a totally different note - I didn't even check my mailbox on Saturday. I got home from the office around 10 p.m., and just walked right past the box. This afternoon, I gathered up all the mail and took it with me to work. Around 7, I remembered it was in the bottom of my bag and I started to sort. Junk, junk, angry credit card letter, junk, junk, junk... and two envelopes from Says Who, the cool little Bay Area boutique that makes and sells the wonderfully comfy trousers I wear to work (and were thrashed with bleach.) One envelope had a gift certificate from my super cool friend the Alasko-American (who starts a new job tomorrow with a great non-profit - congrats to her!) and the other envelope had another gift certificate - from a mystery person. It was simply noted as being from "A Good Friend."

And I can only agree. With humbleness and tears in my eyes, I can only agree.

Thank you, Alasko-American. And thank you, mystery good friend.

I'm sending you all sorts of good energy and hugs and all the appreciation in the world. You guys make this world better. Like music, my friends bring color to my life. I live in a well of gratitude, and I am swimming in your kindness. I thank you all.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey merujo! Just wanted to say I saw an excerpt from your blog entry in the Express, and I'm so happy you are still in the area! How cool that you got to be in the presence of a certain Chili Pepper, and how incredibly neat about your 'invisible friend' sending you something in the mail....that is so touching. Hope to see you the next time MP is in town, and thanks for the tip on the online radio station!

E :) said...

It's so wonderful that a terrible situation for you has resulted such kindness by your true friends. You must be such a good friend to inspire kind deeds like that.

I think karma will catch up with the asshole who bleached your clothes...

honeykbee said...

A bit of my faith in mankind has been restored.