2001-11-24 - 9:50 pm
listening to: in blue by The Corrs
Heavens, The Corrs really sold out on this album. I really liked their first album, but this one is just pop fluff. At least the first song is. And the CD booklet looks all sold-out. (That last sentence may not have been the most educated-sounding one I've ever written.)
Okay, dude, what happened to the drums and the fiddles and stuff? That was the awesome thing about the Corrs. What's with all this electronic shit? Hmph.
Suddenly I feel very much like I do not want to talk about my life at all. The thought makes me anxious. Perhaps later would be a better time to do this.
Thanksgiving was good. I went to my parents' house for the day and spent the night there. I played with the cats and ate good food. And it was good. And then I had to go to work on Friday for four hours. That was not fun, but I managed.
Today wasn't too painful. It started out not well with waking up late. But I did a lot of work at work (the Public Library).
Oh! Before I go any further, I must do something I've been meaning to do in my journal for months and always forgot about when I wrote an entry. This summer someone sent me two things off of my Amazon wishlist and I have no idea who did it, but I want to say thank you thank you thank you, because that was really cool. And it was good women's music. (Nanci Griffith and a women's folk compliation.) It made me happy. After I got over my confusion... I couldn't figure out why I was getting these CDs in the mail when I was sure I hadn't ordered them.
So right now my computer, Lucy, is ailing. Her fan is failing. It makes a loud sound, sometimes low and kind of rumbley and sometimes sounding like it's going faster and faster and making a higher and higher pitched whine, like she's trying to get up enough speed for takeoff. And then, more and more often, the fan is simply stopping, for a few seconds to a few minutes at a time. This is not good. Luckily I managed to find a fan, albeit, with a whole case attached to it, which is not easy to do for this model of Mac (PowerMac 6500/275), and it should be on its way next week. I don't know what I'm going to do with another case, but I suppose I'll figure out something. Maybe sell it to one of those Mac refurbisher shops if I can't unload it on eBay. Keith wants to make it into something, but I will only permit that if I can't sell it. I need all the money back I can get out of this.
So. Things lately are stressful as always, but I'm still managing. I continue to do poorly on tests that I feel like I've done well on. This semester has been a constant stream of bad tests, and I can't figure out why, since I feel like I know everything fine. I'm hoping that this isn't going to continue for the rest of my school career.
I went in to see my Africa Professor on Wednesday, though, and he was very encouraging and gave me good tips for my next exam, as well as good book recommendations about female circumcision. He can be very nice for such a crusty old man. And if I can manage an A or an AB on the next exam, I'll get a B in the course, which would be very nice.
I'm reading about fifty books at once currently. I'm still working on Women on the Defensive
by Sylvia Bashevkin. I was reading Souls Raised from the Dead byDoris Betts, but I left it at my parents' house yesterday, so I started The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora by Michael Nesmith (yes, formerly of the Monkees) yesterday and I'm about halfway through that now. And once I get those three books finished up, which I'm going to try to do early this week, that will make a significant dent in my overdue books. I hate having so many.
And once I get done reading my overdue books, I will read The Onion Girl
by Charles De Lint, which Anna surprised me by sending to me recently. I wasn't even aware that such a book existed (not all that surprising, since it came out in October), and I love Charles De Lint, so it was very exciting. Keith was there when I opened the package and I think I was squealing with excitement. I can't wait to read it, but I'm trying diligently and responsibly to take care of these overdue books first. It's very hard.
Today at the library I worked on CDs for the first time in quite a while (it's not my regular job) and got into a little CD binge, coming home with six. So far they've not been terribly good, but I've only listened to Bjork's Debut
album and this Corrs album. I also got three Indigo Girls (Strange Fire, Nomads Indians Saints, and their self-titled one) and then Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville
. I have high hopes for the ones I haven't listened to yet.
It's cold and rainy here in Madison and I'm thinking that I should either put some pants on or snuggle under the covers with Neftoon Zamora so the goosebumps on my legs will go away. But I want to wait until this CD is over because I feel like it's a copout not to listen to the whole thing (you know, just in case the last track is completely different from the rest of the album) and I can't read and listen to music at the same time. I was born missing that gene, which everyone else seems to have.
So I'm going to talk about dinner last night. I got off work at 5 and wanted to stop and get dinner on the way home. For some reason I was in the mood for something Mediterranean or South Asian or kind of something from that (very general) area. I considered Kabul because it was right on the way and out of some general support for Afghan-American businesses or something. But I was forced to face the fact that I don't really like Afghan food. Then I considered the Mediterranean Cafe. Then I started thinking about the Nepalese and Indian restaurants down the street. And I started craving curry. Then it hit me! I needed Thai food! So I went to Vientiane Palace and didn't even eat curry because my eye was caught with this sweet and sour dish with cucumbers (I'm a sucker for cucumbers ever since I worked in the cucumber genetics lab on campus; I currently use cucumber soap in the shower) and green peppers and tomatos and onions and such stuff. I didn't really fill up on it because I was out of practice at eating spicy foods and I could only stand to eat so much of it before my sinuses rebelled. (It was only medium, but this stuff is real Thai food... those who have grown up on Americanized Chinese often get into trouble here when they order hot food and get something that's really hot. (Thai food is considered the hottest food in the world.)) So I brought about half of it home and shall have it for dinner on Monday or something. Tonight I had Chinese from The Red Pepper... Keith's leftovers from the last time we went there, a couple weeks ago. I figured that I ought to eat it before it went bad.
The Red Pepper, by the way, is the best "dining experience" I have ever experienced. They have normal Chinese Restaurant prices, but the most fabulous service ever. And the food is great. They even brought us hot damp towels after our meal to wipe our hands and mouths with. It was amazing. So everyone in Madison needs to go there. But not all at once. It's not that big of a place.
God, this album is going on forever.
Oh good, this is the last song. I don't think I could take much more of this.
I think I want to stop typing now.
