In case you aren't a regular reader of WCFC (in which case, you're a weirdo), the slut who runs that site has found and shared a great link to the web's greatest Venn diagrams. She already posted the best one, but here's my personal fave:
In case you aren't a regular reader of WCFC (in which case, you're a weirdo), the slut who runs that site has found and shared a great link to the web's greatest Venn diagrams. She already posted the best one, but here's my personal fave:
Posted at 02:18 PM in art with a capital 'A', Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
When I got home from class tonight, my Facebook feed was buzzing in a way that most of yours probably weren't (unless you happen to be linked with multiple people I grew up with). This afternoon's shooting rampage happened in my home county, making it our second-deadliest massacre in less than 20 years. While I feel especially lucky and grateful that neither happened in my hometown, it still strikes close to home. I don't want to make what is a large-scale tragedy all about me... it's just that not to acknowledge it here would seem, to me, somehow neglectful or indifferent.
Posted at 10:17 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Ya know how, when friends of yours get tagged in the photos albums of people whom you aren't friends with, you can still see all the photos in that other person's album? Word to the not-so-wise: try to think ahead to your first job interview before uploading all of your photos. Check out this gem I just stumbled across...
Offend much? Am I overreacting, or wouldn't the Halloween costume on the right (unfortunately, he was tagged only as "Lil Wayne") constitute blackface anywhere else in the country? With regard to church attendance, it has often been said that 11:00am is the most segregated hour in the American week. In our town, it appears that downtown on a Friday night would be an equally segregated time of the week. Otherwise, this colostomy bag (or rather, the contents of one) would have gotten his ass kicked on the streets of one of America's twelve "coolest college towns."
I realize that, when we're 19 or 20 years old, we don't always make the smartest decisions (I certainly didn't... check out my GPA, or my Valtrex prescription). Even at my own extremely liberal undergraduate institution, fraternities were frequently in trouble for this kind of stupidity. I also realize that, typically, our state is about a quarter of a century behind the rest of the country when it comes to national trends. But come on. Really??? Who still thinks it's okay to do this on a public sidewalk in 2009? Obviously, some undergrads where I teach still do. Luckily, the cheerful young woman rubbing up on the colostomy bag was tagged by name. And I'll be saving this picture, just waiting, in case she ever runs for public office.
Posted at 07:18 PM in a little local flavor for ya, oh hell no (a.k.a., I'm not having it), Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Today, the book I ordered for D-Hug's and M-Shan's Post-Colonial Book Club arrived. It's The Buddha of Suburbia, by Hanif Kureishi. Already, on page 2, there were two passages that made me laugh out loud (especially the last sentence of each paragraph), so I had to share...
"He was broad and strong too: when young he'd been a boxer and fanatical chest-expander. He was as proud of his chest as our next-door neighbours were of their kitchen range. At the sun's first smile he would pull off his shirt and stride out into the garden with a deckchair and a copy of the New Statesman. He told me that in India he shaved his chest regularly so its hair would sprout more luxuriantly in years to come. I reckoned that his chest was the one area in which he'd been forward-thinking."
"She said to Dad, 'Oh God, Haroon, all the front of you's sticking out like that and everyone can see!' She turned to me. 'You encourage him to be like this. At least pull the curtains!' 'It's not necessary, Mum. There isn't another house that can see us for a hundred yards -- unless they're watching through binoculars.' 'That's exactly what they are doing,' she said."
I think this is going to be a good one!
Posted at 12:37 AM in Books | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
That Whitney Biennial where I first saw Julie Mehretu's work got me thinking about 2004. I remember it as a year in which I was actively happy (God, how could I have not been... I looked amazing!) whereas, these days, I guess I would say that I'm content more than rapturous. So, I dug out photo albums for a trip down Memory Lane.
In the life of Sweet Pickles, 2004 was the year...
Things that were a regular part of my life that I really miss:
People who were here then that I miss now:
J-Klo, the Housleys, Yankee Librarian, the Navalinksys, Christiane G., Christelle F., Elizabeth and Andrew, Lisa R., Jen A., Helene S., and more
People who are still here that I wish I saw more of these days:
the Dales, Dr. Oh, T-Lev, G-Wrobe, Joanna F., Kao-chan, Angela H., Gin & Ash, Yunhee, Charles B., and more
People who are still here that I wish would leave:
Frosty (apparently), the Bald Dwarf, and her girlfriend (president of the Pentecostal Hair Club for Women)Posted at 11:30 PM in things I miss | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Art:21 on PBS. Specifically, a new episode I've never seen, titled Systems and featuring my favorite artist of the past decade who works in two dimensions, Julie Mehretu! At the 2004 Whitney Biennial, her work (a sample below) totally sucked me in and consumed a lot of my time (in a good way). If my #1 dream job (rich patron and career-making collector à la Charles Saatchi), #2 dream job (director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art à la Philippe de Montebello), or #3 dream job (architecture critic for the New York Times à la Ada Louise Huxtable) never materializes, my #4 dream job would be the gallerist representing Julie Mehretu!
Empirical Construction. 2003. Acrylic and ink on canvas, 9'8" x 14'7"
Posted at 09:50 PM in art with a capital 'A', get your learn on, oh hell yeah (a.k.a., I'm all horned up about it), Television | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
One-Night Stand -
Erin (Stevie Nicks)
A-Ev (Jermaine Stewart)
L-Shep (Elton John)
Booty-Calls -
JustJess
(Vanilla Ice, Sade)
M-Shan (Bobby Brown, Sheena Easton)
Frenchie (Lil' Kim, Eminem)
Homewreckers -
Nobody is currently busting up marriages.
Sex Addicts Anonymous -
Nobody is currently seeking counseling.
Putting the REAL in Venereal -
Yankee Librarian (Dolly Parton, Violent Femmes, Fiona Apple, Nick Lowe, Juice Newton, Styx, Duran Duran)
D-Hug (Duran Duran, After the Fire, Young MC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Prince, The Clash)
Brad Bagby (Marky Mark, Prince, Human League, Band Aid, Madonna, The Gap Band)
Maribeth (Sugar Hill Gang, Peaches, Cake, Rick Springfield, Scandal)
Riddle me this:
Why do you never eat a pig?
Posted at 04:16 PM in D-Hug's & P-Rut's Music Trivia Game, Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Earlier this morning, Mama Pickles forwarded me an email. You know how Sweet Pickles feels about that. However, this one included a series of photographs of my all-time favorite head of state with all the heads of state of my own country during the past half century! For some reason, I couldn't get the attached images from the email, but was able to find most of them elsewhere online. Of course, she wasn't yet queen while Truman was president, and I don't know why there were no images of her with President Johnson. For those of us who are part of the Saxon Diaspora (doesn't that sound sweeter than "British imperialists"?) but not part of the Commonwealth, she's kinda ours too!
Looking online to try to reassemble these images, I stumbled across this gem (below), which would quadruple iPod sales if Apple knew what was good for them:
Posted at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
You know how anytime filmmakers need to set anything within the LBJ Administration, something like Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth starts playing in the background? I mean, imagine it... the voice of the guy who narrates Frontline makes some pronouncement about the historic nature of Obama's election victory while the film shows overhead views of the election-night crowds in Chicago's Grant Park, and then, cue the Jason Mraz!
Musically, 2009 has been a complete bust so far. I think 2009 might be the year that new music and Sweet Pickles broke up. I have thrown less money at iTunes this year than either of my godchildren (a 2nd-grader and kindergartener). For me (but probably to the obvious delight of my goddaughter), I think the most obvious death knell has been the inexplicable and infuriating recurrence of Miley Cyrus' songs in iTunes' top 10 most downloaded songs (That's it... I'm out, bitches).
As my historic birthday approaches, I realize this must happen to every generation. I wonder when did it happen for my parents? There was a time during my childhood when they were still buying LPs and 8-track cassettes, and dancing together around the living room. I know it continued through the era of disco and well into the heyday of yacht rock. Looking back at 1984 (the year in which they turned the same age I'll be turning this December), I wonder... at what point did they say "F*ck a bunch of this!" Who pushed them over the edge, who was their Miley Cyrus? Was it Ratt? Laura Branigan? Rockwell? Night Ranger? Corey Hart? Rick Springfield? Nena? And with that, I give you:
The Top 100 Songs of 1984
1. "When Doves Cry".....PrincePosted at 06:56 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Myself! Am I the most awesome instructor ever, or WHAT?!?! But my real love is international students. Today (the first Tuesday or Thursday on which it wasn't flooding during the past six weeks), I took one of my classes downtown to execute their 'Free Hugs' experiment. Every Tuesday and Thursday, they were always disappointed that we'd have to postpone because of the crappy weather, but in the van on the way downtown this afternoon, I could tell they were all nervous. Riding shotgun, up front next to the driver, I sounded like my mother... "You'll do fine. Everyone will love you. You'll have a great time." And they did. They totally got into it, and didn't want to leave when it was time to return to campus. I told them, "Damn! Y'all sure do love hugging strangers!" I was so proud of them! I can't wait to read their reports. Check out the rest of the pics (including the "awww-inspiring" action shots) on my Facebook page. We are the world, bitches! P.S. - Have I used enough exclamation points in this post?
Posted at 08:13 PM in a little local flavor for ya, fun with foreigners | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Are y'all ready for this? Sweet Pickles just confirmed his booking at The Lyric for his 30th birthday party. On Saturday 12-Dec., it's gonna get krunk! Start planning now. For Sweet Pickles' out-of-town readers, start making your travel arrangements today. For you local sluts,what pair of your luckiest underwear will you wear, what taxi service will you use, where can you score some X, who will you call to bail you out of jail?
Posted at 01:23 PM in a little local flavor for ya, oh hell yeah (a.k.a., I'm all horned up about it) | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
One-Night Stand -
Frenchie (Lil' Kim)
Erin (Stevie Nicks)
A-Ev (Jermaine Stewart)
L-Shep (Elton John)
Booty-Calls -
JustJess
(Vanilla Ice, Sade)
M-Shan (Bobby Brown, Sheena Easton)
Homewreckers -
Nobody is currently busting up marriages.
Sex Addicts Anonymous -
Nobody is currently seeking counseling.
Putting the REAL in Venereal -
Yankee Librarian (Dolly Parton, Violent Femmes, Fiona Apple, Nick Lowe, Juice Newton, Styx, Duran Duran)
D-Hug (Duran Duran, After the Fire, Young MC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Prince, The Clash)
Brad Bagby (Marky Mark, Prince, Human League, Band Aid, Madonna, The Gap Band)
Maribeth (Sugar Hill Gang, Peaches, Cake, Rick Springfield, Scandal)
Riddle me this:
Two girls from what kind of neighborhood go 'round the outside, 'round the outside?
Posted at 03:14 AM in D-Hug's & P-Rut's Music Trivia Game, Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
A couple of months ago, I received a friend-request on Facebook, from a dude from my high school. It was one of those that could have gone either way: accepted, or relegated to the friend-request graveyard (i.e., my in-box of pending requests, where half of the friend-requests I receive go to die a slow death from neglect). Technically, he didn't meet any of my criteria (you need to hit one to get past the velvet rope and into the exciting online world that is Sweet Pickles' Facebook page): 1.) Have drunk with me at least once in the past decade. 2.) Have ever had a photo taken together with me. 3.) Have met one of my parents. 4.) Be a student in one of my classes (former student if you're not international).
I had been friends with the dude's younger sister, and worked a couple of summers with his younger brother. I knew his parents a little bit, and always enjoyed being around them. And I can recall having had fun with him at a couple of parties back during the first Clinton Administration. So, I figured, what the hell, and accepted.
A couple of weeks ago, he posted a status-update that read: "Hang the white man from the watermelon tree." At first glance, I was all WTF?!?! What on earth could this possibly mean that isn't just totally unacceptable? Since he had placed this status-update within quotation marks, I wondered if it could be some ill-conceived commentary in which he assumed his readers would catch his meaning without context. I googled the phrase, to see if it turned up anything that, perhaps, he was trying to be ironic about. Nada. For the first time since accepting his original friend-request, I actually went into his FB page to try and figure out what this might be about. The first thing that jumped out at me was the biker do-rag he had on his head: a Confederate battle flag kerchief. A small detail I had never really noticed because of the tiny size of his profile picture. With THAT little piece of context, I scrambled for the delete button. I don't like to rush to conclusions, but whatever the hell seemed to be going on, my instinct was telling me that I didn't want to stick around to figure it out. And my visceral response was that 'hiding' him from appearing in my feed wasn't enough. This represents my first actual 'de-friending' of an individual for any reason other than confused identities or the clean-up sweep in which I first instituted my criteria.
Fast forward to last week. Dude has sent a SECOND friend-request AFTER the de-friending.
Question: Do I...
A.) Respond with a reason, detailing my concerns, or
B.) Just leave this second one in the friend-request graveyard to die a slow death with the rest of them?
P.S. - Have any of you ever heard anything similar to his status-update? Is this some poem I've never read, or a famous quote I've never heard of, or the punchline of a bad joke from the 19th Century? Is there something I'm missing here that could possibly put this in a less offensive light?
Posted at 08:58 PM in oh hell no (a.k.a., I'm not having it) | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 11:29 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Minestrone! Sweet Pickles just made a bigass pot of it. And it was easy! Preparation and cooking time = less than 15 minutes altogether. And there's a lot of it, so I'll be able to enjoy some for the next several days. Considering the ingredients, it strikes me as both low-cal and healthy (the former the more important). It tasted great, and I am pleasantly surprised by how filling one bowl was! Now, I need a nap.
Posted at 01:37 PM in Food and Drink, my new favorite thing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I hate to be one of those complaining Longhorn fans, for whom enough is never enough. Even if this one is likely to see us drop in the rankings, a win is a win. Especially against OU. So, I'll take it.
Posted at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 11:21 AM in a little local flavor for ya | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Okay, so... tonight, I'm getting drunk by myself at home (like I do), but now I'm OUT OF BEER! And since October is the new January, it's too cold for me to go to the convenience store in my pajamas to get more. So, here are my options, as I see them now (with a buzz):
1.) Start mixing Maneschewitz with Crystal Light.
2.) Drunk-text everyone I know locally to come to my house for an 'after party', in order to trick people in to bringing me more beer.
Advice?
Posted at 10:55 PM in a little local flavor for ya, you decide | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
about Sweet Pickles' faculty exchange happening in summer instead of spring? These sluts will be back in town for the Film Festival! It has been eight and a half months since the Texas Women Art Travelers re-packed their SUV and drove away from my house, back to the Promised Land, without me. That means... less than 4 months until the TWAT rolls back in to town again!
Posted at 10:03 PM in oh hell yeah (a.k.a., I'm all horned up about it) | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Misty-Water-Colored Memory of the Way We Were: One Friday each October, back when George H. W. Bush was president, we always skipped classes to caravan up I-35 to Big D for the annual UT-OU game. Although we never got tickets to go inside the Cotton Bowl, we still made the migration every year for the par-tay, and about 15 of us would stay the weekend in a friend's 2-bedroom/1-bath apartment across from the SMU campus. One year, we decided that we needed something more special than the usual "Hook 'Em" or "Go, 'Horns" to shoe-polish on the back window of K-Bor's car for the ride north, but couldn't figure out what we should write. That genius T-Bagg proposed: "Dallas-Bound and 'Horny" (and we made the 'o' in Horny in the iconic shape of Bevo's head). On the highway, we got more complimentary beer passed to us from the open windows of other fans' speeding cars than we knew what to do with!
Posted at 07:48 PM in Sports, stories, things I miss | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I don't want to jinx myself, but after this afternoon's conference call to Quito, it's looking like your favorite slut is bound for the equator in 2010! Icing on the cake: My South American counterpart and I will be exchanging homes as well as our teaching jobs, and dude gots a swimming pool. Before the conference call, when Sweet Pickles was informed of this fact, guess what he did in his pants. Frosting on top of the icing on the cake: I didn't totally understand this part of the conversation (there were five of us around the speaker-phone on our end), but apparently my counterpart's home will come with a live-in handyman (or some kind of servant?). Sweet Pickles was thinking, "Uh, do you mean like, to take care of things and do shit around the house that I can't do??" Then, Sweet Pickles had to excuse himself to go change underwear and smoke an 'after' cigarette. Now, I ain't sayin' Sweet Pickles is a gold digger... but he ain't messin' with no broke faculty-exchanges! At this point, I think I may have flipped everyone in the meeting off, and said something to the effect of "Swimming pools and servants? Later, bitches! I'm out!"
Also, my counterpart and I will be doing a 'transportation exchange' as well. So if you spot a Latino driving Sexy Edward around town, wave! Unfortch, my counterpart's automobile is a standard (is that what you call the kind of car that's not automatic, where you have to jack around with the stick-shift?). At this point in the conference call, some smartass N-Lope made the observation that, even if the car was an automatic, Sweet Pickles still probably shouldn't be driving in a foreign country. True dat. N-Lope has ridden shotgun in Sexy Edward often enough to know that Sweet Pickles probably shouldn't be driving in the U.S. But, no worries... apparently, a taxi to campus only costs $1.00! And Sweet Pickles loves to be driven places!
The good news for my local peeps is that we're scheduling the exchange for 8 weeks during the summer of 2010. So, I won't be away long enough for you to start experiencing withdrawal symptoms. The bad news for my local peeps is that, obviously, Summer 2010 in O-Town is going to suck. Hard. If this thought is too unbearable for you, start pricing airfare for a visit to Latin America now. [When you get down there, we can swim in my pool!]
Special appreciation to my fineass boss for making this possible. She totally beats out all of my former bosses: Johnny Vasquez, Jack Mendel, Ueda-san, Nakajima-san, L'il Roy, J-Mur, the Bald Dwarf... even Hisaya's father (who made my first Japan experience possible)! Awww... thanks, slut. Love ya ;)
Posted at 06:33 PM in oh hell yeah (a.k.a., I'm all horned up about it) | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
This past weekend, the Lindas returned to the Lone Star state, safe and sound. Two weeks in New York, Boston, Halifax, Charlottetown, and Québec City is a whirlwind tour, but it always seems like a lonnnnng time to Daddy Pickles, Sissy Pickles, and me, whenever Mama Pickles is away from the nest for that many days. Mama Pickles was impressed with all the ports-of-call on their itinerary, but the only one she has definite plans to re-visit in the future is the Big Apple. She said, "If some people left their hearts in San Francisco, I left mine in New York!" I'm really pleased that she had a great first time there, and seems to love it as much as I do. Next time, we'll have to go together. The Lindas were talking up the idea of going back for a museum tour of NYC, with Sweet Pickles as their tour guide. Can you imagine taking Manhattan with this crew (pictured below at LaGuardia International)? It blows my mind that three of these started kindergarten together, and the other two joined them in junior high school. I hope this is how T-Bagg and Brad Bagby and Wipey and I will spend our retirement!
Posted at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 08:23 PM in things I miss, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I think that a big reason why I haven't had much to blog about lately has been the soggy-ass weather. Seriously. Driving to work this morning, as I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed that the white columns on the front of our building are now green with some kind of fungal growth. No lie.
I was further worried by an article I read about the Pacific Ocean losing heat, and the planet entering a 10- to 15-year cooling phase during which temperatures will be lower overall (apparently similar to the 1950s through 1970s). This does not bode well for my mood. In general, Sweet Pickles finds that cooling phases are not conducive to sexy times.
My newest favorite discovery (via D-Sap) is the music of Peter Fox, especially the song Schwarz zu Blau. I've had it in my head the past couple of days. I'm finding that its lyrics strike a particularly resonant chord with my mood: Guten Morgen, Berlin... Du kannst so häßlich sein, so dreckig und grau ("Good morning, Berlin... You can be so dirty, so ugly and gray"). Check out the video. The animation is pretty great.
Posted at 01:51 AM in a little local flavor for ya, Music, my new favorite thing | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Normally, I don't usually enjoy children who aren't my godchildren. However, over at Salon.com, they've got videos of little kids telling stories. They're all cute, but this one (below) was my fave. Every story told by a boy involves either heads getting chopped off or buildings collapsing, and every story told by a little girl is a retelling of some commercialized tale involving a princess. Except for this little girl's. I liked how her story started out involving herself, and then got all imaginative. You go on with the magical realism, little girl!
Posted at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
One-Night Stand -
Frenchie (Lil' Kim)
Erin (Stevie Nicks)
A-Ev (Jermaine Stewart)
L-Shep (Elton John)
Booty-Calls -
JustJess
(Vanilla Ice, Sade)
M-Shan (Bobby Brown, Sheena Easton)
Homewreckers -
Nobody is currently busting up marriages.
Sex Addicts Anonymous -
Nobody is currently seeking counseling.
Putting the REAL in Venereal -
D-Hug (Duran Duran, After the Fire, Young MC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Prince, The Clash)
Yankee Librarian (Dolly Parton, Violent Femmes, Fiona Apple, Nick Lowe, Juice Newton, Styx)
Brad Bagby (Marky Mark, Prince, Human League, Band Aid, Madonna, The Gap Band)
Maribeth (Sugar Hill Gang, Peaches, Cake, Rick Springfield, Scandal)
Riddle me this:
Instead of saying a prayer for me now, until when should you save it?
Posted at 10:30 AM in D-Hug's & P-Rut's Music Trivia Game, Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Last night at Tasting Society (where we sampled German beers à la Oktoberfest), some peeps were talking about the Gideons distributing copies of the New Testament on campus. Back when I used to have to walk across the Circle daily between my former department's two buildings, I used to see this annual ritual firsthand, but now that I rarely leave my building, I only hear about it. Which kinda gives me the sads, because I would like the opportunity to tell someone who obviously cares about that kind of stuff, "I'm a Jew." But A-Ev had an even better retort for me to use: "Do you have anything older?" HA!! That bitch kills me. She never fails to bring it. Right on time, every time. What excited me even more last night was when she said she's going out on Friday night. WOO HOO! Smartass in the house!
P.S. - Gideons distributing New Testaments on campus doesn't really bother me. I'd just like to see some variety. Why doesn't anyone ever offer copies of the Book of Mormon or the Qur'an or the Mahayana sutras? If I can get my hands on some tiny green Talmuds, watch out!
Posted at 09:41 PM in a little local flavor for ya | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
It looks like this weekend is shaping up to be pretty awesome. JustJess and I are planning some more daytime drinking in her carport tomorrow afternoon. And M-Dev told his today that he's going out tomorrow night, which indeed makes for a special occasion. And according to Facebook, it looks like Brookles' coolest out-of-state friend is coming in to town for the weekend. So, after JustJess and I get things started right, maybe everyone can meet up at Snackbar for fun times?
Saturday, I've got a ticket to see David Sedaris (who I still cannot believe is coming to town) on Saturday night. Then, it's off to a birthday party for my favorite Brazilian! How much more fun could possibly be packed in to 48 hours?!?!
Posted at 07:33 PM in a little local flavor for ya, oh hell yeah (a.k.a., I'm all horned up about it) | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
I had a very nice weekend, until Sunday. A relaxing Friday evening... stayed in, ate my favorite nachos for dinner, and read. Saturday was a spontaneous daytrip in to the Bluff City with M-Shan and D-Hug. We listened to D-Hug's This Ain't No Disco mix that she burned for me (get yours at WCFC while supplies last!), had Ethiopian food for lunch, joked about buying 'quinn-noah' at the hippie grocery store and about buying thongs at Old Navy. Met friends at Snackbar that night for drinks. Then sometime Sunday morning, rolled over in bed to hear rain outside. Again. All day. All night. And still today. My whole Monday was off... my mood was just shot. It's too early in the fall for it to be this chilly, this wet, and this dark for this long. The whole month of September has looked and felt like January. And to add insult to injury, it's supposed to be like this until NEXT Sunday! That will make it a full month with less than a week of sunshine. I just can't. I'm starting to think I should be pursuing a faculty-exchange in Dubai.
On a totally unrelated note: When I logged in to Typepad a few minutes ago, this was their Question of the Day:
Reagan had bowls full of jelly beans; Obama, M&M's. If you were elected President, what would you choose as the official White House candy?
I can't decide whether mine would be Jordan Almonds or Maple Nut Goodies. What would yours be?
Posted at 06:21 PM in a little local flavor for ya, Food and Drink, oh hell no (a.k.a., I'm not having it) | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 11:30 PM in stories, things I miss | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Welcome to our newest Music Slut, L-Shep!
One-Night Stand -
Frenchie (Lil' Kim)
Erin (Stevie Nicks)
A-Ev (Jermaine Stewart)
L-Shep (Elton John)
Booty-Calls -
JustJess
(Vanilla Ice, Sade)
M-Shan (Bobby Brown, Sheena Easton)
Homewreckers -
Nobody is currently busting up marriages.
Sex Addicts Anonymous -
Nobody is currently seeking counseling.
Putting the REAL in Venereal -
D-Hug (Duran Duran, After the Fire, Young MC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Prince, The Clash)
Yankee Librarian (Dolly Parton, Violent Femmes, Fiona Apple, Nick Lowe, Juice Newton, Styx)
Brad Bagby (Marky Mark, Prince, Human League, Band Aid, Madonna)
Maribeth (Sugar Hill Gang, Peaches, Cake, Rick Springfield, Scandal)
Who can bring the funk?
What was it that I dropped on you, baby?
Posted at 08:20 PM in D-Hug's & P-Rut's Music Trivia Game, Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Maribeth joins the ranks of the slutastic!
One-Night Stand -
Frenchie (Lil' Kim)
Erin (Stevie Nicks)
A-Ev (Jermaine Stewart)
Booty-Calls -
JustJess
(Vanilla Ice, Sade)
M-Shan (Bobby Brown, Sheena Easton)
Homewreckers -
Nobody is currently busting up marriages.
Sex Addicts Anonymous -
Nobody is currently seeking counseling.
Putting the REAL in Venereal -
D-Hug (Duran Duran, After the Fire, Young MC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Prince, The Clash)
Yankee Librarian (Dolly Parton, Violent Femmes, Fiona Apple, Nick Lowe, Juice Newton, Styx)
Brad Bagby (Marky Mark, Prince, Human League, Band Aid, Madonna)
Maribeth (Sugar Hill Gang, Peaches, Cake, Rick Springfield, Scandal)
Anybody know this one?
What seamstress for the band will marry a music man?
Posted at 07:25 AM in D-Hug's & P-Rut's Music Trivia Game, Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
My friend and colleague D-Sap told me she used this in her American Culture class today. To which my response was, "Why haven't I ever thought of that?!?!" I have to say that, of all the great old Schoolhouse Rock tunes, this has always been my fave. What's yours?
Posted at 09:46 PM in things I miss | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 07:20 PM in jewcy tidbits | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Mama Pickles and the girls made it to NYC safely, and spent the afternoon walking around, eating, and drinking (at Tavern on the Green, natch). They're in for an early night, because they're attending the 8:15am service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine tomorrow morning, but Mama Pickles sounds exhilarated!
On the connecting flight from Charlotte to LaGuardia, she sat next to "a New York man, named Aaron, who is Jewish, and in the music business." I didn't ask how she learned all this. Can you see Aaron the New York Jew in the music biz, boarding a plane to find that his assigned seat is next to some combo of the Texas Lindas? I imagine that Aaron got his ear chewed off, and had the flight of his life. When she told Aaron that they wanted to ride the State Island Ferry, he recommended the Circle Line cruise instead. I concurred, but it sounded like she was already sold on the idea since a local had told her about it.
When I asked how she was liking New York so far, and what were her first impressions, Mama Pickles is still obsessed with finding out how these people live. "I just want to ask them so many questions. But I don't want them to think I'm crazy. I'm just curious!" So what kind of questions are you wanting to ask New Yorkers? "Were you born and raised here? In a house or an apartment? How big was it? How much did it cost? Where did you park your car? Where do you work? Do you just walk to work every day? When you go grocery shopping, how do you get all of your groceries home? Do you have kids? Where do they go to school? Does their school building stand separately or is it attached to other buildings? I saw this one school, but it looked like an office building, and shared walls with the buildings on either side." Admittedly, I wondered several of the same things before I ever visited New York.
Across from the Lindas' hotel, there is an apartment building they can see from their rooms. Mama Pickles wishes she had thought to pack binoculars so she could observe the goings-on inside a typical Manhattan home. This probably sounds funnier than it is... I suspect she's not as interested in what might be happening in the bedrooms of New York as she is in whether or not they have dining room tables, and if so, how many can they seat.
Posted at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
In about an hour and a half, Mama Pickles and four of the Lindas will be touching down at LaGuardia. Every other year, this group takes a cruise together. This year's cruise of New England and the Maritime Provinces kicks off with four days in the New York! I think that the richest Linda has been to NYC before, but for the rest of them (including Mama Pickles), it will be their first bite of the Big Apple. And today is Mama Pickles' birthday! I can't think of a better way to celebrate than a sixty-somethings' version of Sex and the City with your oldest girlfriends (although I suspect they'll be drinking more Governors and Duchesses than Cosmopolitans, and shopping at Chico's or Talbots instead of Versace). I'm going to call her later tonight to wish her a happy birthday, and find out her first impressions of New York.
After New York, the girls board the ship for two weeks, with stops in places like Boston, Halifax, Prince Edward Island, and Québec City. While this one doesn't seem as interesting to me as their North Sea/Baltic or Mediterranean cruises, I know they're excited, and I'm excited for them. Even though I always feel slightly out-of-whack when Mama Pickles is away from home base for extended periods of time. You go, Lindas!
Posted at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
is how Sweet Pickles feels right now. A potluck dinner with my former department at L-Hane's and K-Wad's place (in which I only ate beer for dinner), then patio wine-drinking at T-War's, and now I'm headed in to a 3-hour string of back-to-back classes. I think that, for this semester, I've just proved to myself that Thursdays cannot be that thirsty. I'm gonna have to do my midweek drinking on Wednesdays, since I don't have to teach until 4:00pm on Thursdays.
P.S. - The weather isn't helping. Anybody else had enough of this shite yet? I was over it two weeks ago.
Posted at 08:50 AM in a little local flavor for ya | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Texas' senior-Senator-cum-gubernatorial-candidate, Kay Bailey Hutchison! I've always been a fan, and so much want her to become the next governor of my home state. I don't know all the details, but apparently our current governor is a bit of a douchebag (that's what happens when you let a Texas A&M alumnus into the Governor's Mansion for the first time in the history of statehood. Just think... in the dome of the Capitol's rotunda in Austin, there will now hang an official portrait of an Aggie. Abomination!).
For those of you who didn't like George W. Bush, you'd loathe Rick Perry. [But if you like Giorgio, you'll love Primo!] If John McCain had been serious about wanting to win the White House, no one would even know the name of Sandra Poland, and today we might be talking about the country's first female VP. Not to diminish the impact of our first African-American presidency, but her candidacy could have been a realistic shot at breaking a barrier no matter which ticket won the 2008 presidential election.
And just look at her. She is the quintessential picture that comes to mind when you hear the words "the senator from Texas"... both senatorial and Texan. I admit, I am partial to the look... she resembles most of the Lindas. Not that appearances should matter. Who am I kidding? I doubt that you could look like Barbara Mikulski, Carl Levin, or Patty Murray, and get elected governor of the Lone Star state (we're attracted to the attractive, don't judge!), so let's be real. But Kay is from Galveston (Mother City of the Republic) and a former cheerleader at the University of Texas. What else could Texas possibly want in a governor that has a snowball's-chance-in-hell of being elected? Go Kay, go!
Posted at 11:15 PM in get your learn on, oh hell yeah (a.k.a., I'm all horned up about it) | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Just saw this 'anagram maker' on somebody's Facebook page. You type in your name, and it rearranges the letters for you. Here are the results for Sweet Pickles' nickname, real name, and full name:
Slickest Weep
Incoherent Gnarl
Enchant Heroical Gremlin
Try it yourselves, and let me know what you get for your own names!Posted at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 10:09 PM in a little local flavor for ya | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 08:06 PM in great moments in the history of film | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Why aren't Dina Merrill and Pam Dawber credited in this trailer? Recognize. And why haven't more people seen this movie?? Even more than Popeye or Prêt-à-Porter, this is, hands down, my favorite thing Robert Altman ever did.
Posted at 11:33 PM in great moments in the history of film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
One-Night Stand -
Frenchie (Lil' Kim)
Erin (Stevie Nicks)
A-Ev (Jermaine Stewart)
Booty-Calls -
JustJess
(Vanilla Ice, Sade)
M-Shan (Bobby Brown, Sheena Easton)
Homewreckers -
Nobody is currently busting up marriages.
Sex Addicts Anonymous -
Maribeth (Sugar Hill Gang, Peaches, Cake, Rick Springfield)
Putting the REAL in Venereal -
D-Hug (Duran Duran, After the Fire, Young MC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Prince, The Clash)
Yankee Librarian (Dolly Parton, Violent Femmes, Fiona Apple, Nick Lowe, Juice Newton, Styx)
Brad Bagby (Marky Mark, Prince, Human League, Band Aid, Madonna)
How about...
When shooting at the walls of heartache, who are you?
Posted at 08:17 AM in D-Hug's & P-Rut's Music Trivia Game, Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Now A-Ev is sluttin' it up, too!
One-Night Stand -
Frenchie (Lil' Kim)
Erin (Stevie Nicks)
A-Ev (Jermaine Stewart)
Booty-Calls -
JustJess
(Vanilla Ice, Sade)
M-Shan (Bobby Brown, Sheena Easton)
Homewreckers -
Nobody is currently busting up marriages.
Sex Addicts Anonymous -
Maribeth (Sugar Hill Gang, Peaches, Cake, Rick Springfield)
Putting the REAL in Venereal -
D-Hug (Duran Duran, After the Fire, Young MC, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Prince, The Clash)
Brad Bagby (Marky Mark, Prince, Human League, Band Aid, Madonna)
Yankee Librarian (Dolly Parton, Violent Femmes, Fiona Apple, Nick Lowe, Juice Newton)
So...
In what country were Mr. Roboto's parts made?
Posted at 09:26 PM in D-Hug's & P-Rut's Music Trivia Game, Music | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 01:19 PM in a little local flavor for ya, oh hell no (a.k.a., I'm not having it) | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Here in Lilongwe, we ain't got real good cell phone reception as it is. But during the past nine months of bliss, I had forgotten what happens when all eighty-five fans of Ye Olde Academic Sweat Shoppe's football team show up in the village at one time and want to use their Jitterbugs to call their whorey granddaughters to meet them for fried chicken at Pawpaw's tent: nobody who lives up in this biotch can make a cell phone call or send a text message. If you ever get serious about committing suicide, come here on a home game weekend to do it... you'll never get an ambulance because 911 will never even know. But hey, it's worth it... how often does your team get to play against the South Carolina State School for the Blind?
Posted at 09:49 PM in a little local flavor for ya, crotchety old grandpaw | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Happy 5770!
Nothing give me goosebumps like the blast of a shofar. It's an ancient call... the sound that trumpeted down from the top of Mount Sinai, and that brought down the walls of Jericho. And it's especially powerful inside a synagogue filled with Jews. Not just two or three Jews, but several hundred assembled together and in prayer-shawls. P.S. - You know who looks great in his prayer-shawl? Sweet Pickles.
May you be written and sealed for a good year!
Posted at 07:58 PM in jewcy tidbits | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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