KJ

And this time for awhile, thankfully. I love to travel but between the holidays, the cruise, and this quick trip I feel like I've barely seen my house lately (not to mention my husband). So it's nice to be back, and to know that I'm not taking off again anytime soon.

But it was a great trip. As previously mentioned, hanging out with cupcakemonster was a blast and I was happy to see a bit of Vancouver, even if it did rain the whole time. And the concert was one of I've been to, in terms of the band's energy and their interaction with one another and the audience. The Parade of Bald Techs is not something I'll forget soon. And the last encore was one of my favorite songs by them ever ever ever, and I've only heard it a couple of times live, so there was much squeeing. I am very glad I went and that I dragged luvmoose along with me. This may be my last BNL for awhile, but it was worth it.

The new DSL modem came yesterday and so my home is once again connected to the series of tubes at a rate faster than the land speed of a sloth. It was so weird, being unable to watch videos or download pictures or really do much of anything other than chat online. How anyone still tied to dial-up manages is just beyond me. I'm so spoiled.

Anyway, it's good to have things back to normal. Or as normal as they ever get. Tonight I pack, and tomorrow evening I head out for a weekend in Vancouver. That's right, it's another BNL pilgrimage for luvmoose and me, and this one comes with a bonus cupcakemonster! I've never seen the band play in Canada, and it's been a very long time since I've been to Vancouver. So I'm getting pretty excited, despite the ice and snow that I'm sure will be waiting for me there.

So when we last saw our hero, she was heading off to go read a book by the pool, which she did, and managed to not get too badly sunburned in the process. That night was the last BNL concert of the trip, which was, as expected, a great show -- not quite as many true "rarities" as in the Tuesday evening concert, but it was an Ed-heavy set (there are two singers, Steve is the main lead singer and I like him a lot, but I adore Ed's voice and his songs tend to be more my style, although there are of course exceptions), and that always makes me happy. Then luvmoose and I attempted to crash early, but we were kept awake by loud music on the deck above us. A few times I considered getting up and going to watch, but I didn't, and now I regret it because so many people told us that it turned into an absolutely amazing jam session with nearly all the musicians that had come on the boat.

( More, including the story of the luggage. Oh so long. )

So I was going to put up a bunch of pictures but thanks to American's baggage "service" this post is already ridiculously long and so I'll save the pics for later tonight. A few from the cruise, more from yesterday's adventures.

For all my complaining above, it was a really great trip, and I'm so glad I went. Lots of excellent music, and it was fun as always to hang out with luvmoose and her friends. BNL announced on Thursday that they're doing another cruise next year, and though my work schedule and finances may not allow it, I'll go if I can.

The first week of a new quarter is upon me and it's been crazy. Class presentations -- scheduling them and giving them -- getting back into the rhythms of life with students, dealing with glitches large and small. You would think that, after a three-week break, that we would have all our ducks in more orderly rows than this, but no. So it's busy. Not unhealthily hectic like it was at the beginning of the last quarter, but enough to keep me on my toes.

And then there's the rest of life. Instead of exchanging stuff for Christmas this year, I pooled some money with my parents and sent my brother, his wife, and their son some plane tickets. They arrive today and will be in town for a week. I can't believe I finally get to meet my nephew tonight! Very exciting. I'll spend tonight with them, and then Saturday we're having a big delayed family Christmas. You think that would be enough excitement for one month, but no: Sunday morning I head out of town for a week on a boat, and there's still plenty I have to do to get ready. It's Barenaked Ladies cruise time, and I can't wait. I fly to Miami on Sunday morning, the cruise departs Monday and comes back on Friday (so two full days on the boat and one day on Grand Turk), then luvmoose and I will be spending a couple of days in Florida -- she discovered that Jon Stewart is performing in Miami that Friday night, so we got tickets. BNL and Jon Stewart? I may melt into a puddle of fangirly goo before it's all over.

So if you feel like you aren't seeing me around as much as usual, you're not wrong. Especially next week, when I will be offline entirely for seven days. Hi, 'Net withdrawal, nice to meet you. Anyway, things should settle down once I return. I hope. At least it's been the good sort of busyness. Fun and exciting stuff happening. Yay.

Nothing quite like a four-day weekend to recharge after a time of stress. I had been hoping for a few fun but low-key days, and I got them: some Kingdom Hearts, some LEGO Star Wars; a visit to the Ferry Building for fruit and pesto fixings; a couple of trips to check out the demolition of the Bay Bridge (photos to come!); lots of online conversation; and dim sum, tea, cream puffs, mah johngg, and kitty time with SE and SF yesterday.

A major goal of mine was to get some writing done, and I did so, every day. It went very well. Although my hopes of getting at least one of these shorts I have on deck finished were dashed, dashed I tell you!, thanks to a chat with bottle_of_shine that somehow led into the decision to finally write a Paine/Nooj 'ship manifesto. I figure, I've chattered at enough people about the pairing and all the evidence for it; might as well collect all my meta in one place. The first draft is basically finished, and now I'm letting it marinate for awhile. So tonight it's on to other things. I did spend some quality time with DSHnD -- it hasn't gotten enough love from me lately, and it was good to get back into the groove on it. Also a stand-alone Paine short, which is off to a nice start, although I'm not quite sure where it wants to go in terms of an ending. Unfortunately, I don't think is going to slot into any of the 30_fantasies themes. I had hopes that it might, since I haven't posted anything over there for two months and don't want to let my claim die, but I really don't see it happening.

In completely unrelated news, the new Barenaked Ladies album is out today, on the iTunes Music Store! [Edit: Not any more. Must have been an accident. Whoops. Not sure whether to feel guilty or not... though I did pay, fair and square.] :) It's a little odd, though. Since they've been playing these songs live, some of them for years now, almost none of the songs are completely new to me. So it's not quite the usual "woo, new music!" experience that a new album from a favorite band usually is. I am happy to hear the studio recordings, and it's fun to compare, but it's a bit of a letdown that I much preferred some of them live. But I'm not really complaining. I will never argue with new BNL. And it was fun to listen along with luvmoose and swap impressions about the various versions.

So yeah. A good weekend. Pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be. Now I can approach the impending end-of-quarter craziness with a fresh mind. Yay.

More lines.

Barenaked Ladies tonight! Looking forward to it, as always. Although also it will be a little odd, because it will be the first time I've ever seen them without luvmoose. She'll be with me in spirit, thanks to phone love, but still.

On an unrelated topic, the cats have the morning crazies. I had a small disagreement with Lexi this morning: I wanted to sleep, and he wanted to pounce on me. Now they are chasing each other around and crashing into things. Ah, kittens.

Trip was very fun. Flights were mostly uneventful, although I managed to get on an earlier flight coming home that was then so delayed that I didn't actually get in any earlier than I would have otherwise. The concerts were excellent -- I liked the opening band so much that I bought their CD. Meeting the band was a kick. I got some autographs and some photos. And now I can say that I've danced the hora with Steven Page in the parking lot of a high school in New Jersey, and really, how many other people can say that? (Besides anzubird and her friend AG.) And it was really wonderful to meet the East Coast BNL crew -- I hope to see you all again on the next big tour!

Now to unpack, and get some sleep, and reacquaint myself with my kitties. And my husband (oh yeah, that guy). More later.

i_iambe has spread the good news and converted Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies to Pastafarianism. I am so proud of her. With followers of FSM popping up in such high places, can official national recognition be far behind? I think not.

How many total songs?

4273 songs, 11.4 days.

Sort by song title; first and last?

First: '85 Radio Special by They Might Be Giants -- it's a little B-side from their first compilation album.

Last: It has Japanese character for a title, so I can't reproduce it. It translates to "Simple and Clean" and is from the "Kingdom Hearts" soundtrack. I guess that means I'm admitting my fascination with video game music.

Sort by time; first and last?

First: Fingertips (11) by They Might Be Giants (0:04).

Last: Dies Irae from the Verdi Requiem, by the Robert Shaw Chorale (36:41). My chorus is singing this piece right now and it's awesome (in both senses of the word).

Sort by album; first and last?

(Not counting items with no album name.)

First: So Far Away, by Staind (from "14 Shades of Gray")

Last: Numb, by U2 (from "Zooropa", of course)

Top five played songs?

Naturally, these are songs that I tend to go back and listen to again as soon as they play the first time. They are:

Aluminum, Barenaked Ladies, from "Everything Acoustic"
Next Time, Barenaked Ladies, from "Everything to Everyone"
'97 Bonnie and Clyde, Tori Amos, from "Strange Little Girls"
Side, Travis, from "The Invisible Band"
Aluminum, Barenaked Ladies, from "Everything to Everyone" (tied with two other songs)

You might conclude from this that "Aluminum" is my very favorite song. You would not be too far off.

Find "sex"; how many songs show up?

Three. Wild Sex in the Working Class by Oingo Boingo, So Unsexy by Alanis Morissette, and Sexy Sadie by the Beatles.

Find "death"; how many songs show up?

27 songs, but only because it matches the Dead Milkmen album "Death Rides a Pale Cow". Not counting these song, there are four: Judas' Death from "Jesus Christ Superstar" (original London cast album), Starve to Death by Chris Whitley from the "So I Married an Axe Murderer" soundtrack, "Death's Door" by Depeche Mode, and "Deathwish" by the Police.

Find "love"; how many songs show up?

171 songs. Again, this matches artist names (Laura Love, Lyle Lovett) and several album names as well.