nanovivid

Today was a surprisingly nice day for the end of December, with temperatures in the low 60s. With the sun shining, it seemed much too nice not to go for a run. Now, keep in mind that for the past couple months, I have not exactly been keeping up the good running schedule that I do during the summer. I also hadn’t had anything to eat other than a couple pieces of toast. None of this would have been too bad, if it hadn’t been for the wind.

Oh, the wind. The angry, vicious wind. Since I hadn’t run in a while, I forgot that the wind enjoys moving south to north through the valley. The route I chose took me in a loop that went north first, leaving the fight against the wind for the return.

And what a fight it was. I’m not sure how Chicago won the title of the Windy City… obviously we were not in the competition. I did finally make it home, but with some walking (something I despise stopping to do while running).

Once I got home, I felt rather queasy and lightheaded for a while, so I drank loads of water to rehydrate. Eventually I felt better, and I’m glad that I did get out and do something rather than sitting on my butt all day. But I think I’ll stick to inside running until it really starts to get warm.

♫ Death Cab For Cutie - We Looked Like Giants

I’m back home and up much too late. So why am I writing?

I received several slightly-belated gifts of the Christmas today — all cds. And that, my friends, makes Adam happy. They are the following:

Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
Ecclectic and varied. As I said to Xander, I’ve decided that Basment Jaxx sounds a bit like what would happen if one day there was a jazz fusion band practicing with an orchestra and a gospel choir, and the show was directed and produced by Daft Punk and BT, who happened to be drunk and on crack at the time. Then he pointed out that my description does not quite sound appealing. I think it’s at least a little accurate though… Jaxx takes what should be chaos with all these crazy sounds happing at once and makes it all work together. Now, I’ve always thought of Basement Jaxx as doing house music, but there are only a couple of house tracks on the album. The rest is definitely electronic dance of one variety or another, but difficult to pigeonhole. I’m really enjoying it so far and would recommend checking it out.

Howie Day - Stop All The World Now
Yeah… I don’t even know how to describe what some of these songs make me feel. Howie’s voice is raw emotion, especially on Collide. The thing he does with his voice on the chorus tweaks something inside me and gives me chills. The production on the album is very lush and full and orchestral, with waves of soft beauty everywhere. Top it all off with Howie’s amazing lyrics ("even the wrong words seem to rhyme") and yeah, I’m captured.

I also got the newest Paul van Dyk, Reflections and The White Stripes - White Blood Cells. I haven’t spent as much time with these two yet as the others. From my one listen, the PVD seems quite good, if not particularly groundbreaking. He does a good job of continuing to produce good solid trance tracks full of the PVD-sounding synths, though there is a surprise breaks track with rap vocals thrown in (and he actually pulls it off fairly well). As far as the Stripes, I’ve found that it takes me a bit to get into their albums, but once I do, I really enjoy them.

Now that I’ve stayed up even later than I ever intended… I’m going to bed. Oh, and don’t you wish your last name was Ndegeocello? I know I do.

♫ Basement Jaxx - Feels Like Home (Featuring Meshell Ndegeocello)

I always hear people saying that Christmas is all about family, or peace, or stuff like that, but they’re wrong. Christmas is really about the booze. Five words for you: blackberry wine and milk punch. One of my uncles makes some mouth-wateringly delicious blackberry wine that was much enjoyed by me today. There was also milk punch, which I adore. I guess there was other food and drink there too at the family get together. Or so I was told.

No, I kid. We had roast beef and asparagus and salad and everything was amazing like woah. So many good cooks in one family, it’s just amazing.

I like that over the years our family has focused less and less on the gift-giving and more on the being together. This is especially true of extended family, where we just get together for a meal with no expectations of gift exchange. I find that it takes a lot of pressure off and makes the holiday more enjoyable, with the added bonus of removing the material focus of the holiday.

My parents did get my a couple books and a few other little things, and I got iTMS gift certificates from a couple people. I’m totally happy with what I received, especially since I already have amazing and wonderful family and friends. (Sappy sounding, I know, but it’s true).

Hm, one of my Thanksgiving entries was also about drinking. Next thing you know I’ll be sneaking boxed wine at work. Just you wait and see.

♫ Sarah McLachlan - I Love You (BT Mix)

We’re only coming up on a week past, so I considered delaying the trip recap further, but I know my loyal readers (heh) have been waiting with baited breath. So without further ado, we begin with Friday, where after several hours of driving, Jeremiah and I reached Adam’s house. Adam gave us a driving tour of Raleigh, then we headed to the Apple store, because a road trip is not complete without a visit to the local Apple store.

We also stopped by Barnes & Noble for Adam to pick up a christmas gift, and on the way out, ran into Nate. That was extremely unexpected, since he didn’t know I was in the area. It was cool to see him for the short time though.

Then it was off to dinner at Hotpoint, where we met up with AJ, Maiko, and Nathan. The food was completely amazing. I got a garlic shrimp burrito and it was so full of deliciousness that I hardly knew what to do. Then it was off to see Return of the King. I fear that my enjoyment was strongly damped by the location of our seats. By the time we reached the theater, the only place with a group of seats for all of us was the front row. I think I’ll have to re-watch it to see if it’s better when viewed without a cramped neck.

Saturday was mostly full of laziness up until the evening, when we went to Sushi Blues. The place has great atmosphere - live blues/jazz - and the food was scrumptious. It was my first sushi experience, and it was a very good one. I will definitely be looking for more sushi action in the future.

Sunday there was more hanging out up until the sad time of departure. After the return drive, Jeremiah and I had a delicious dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s. I highly recommend trying the blackberry lemonade… it’s incredible! Then I headed back home so I would be ready for the day and a half of work.

The trip was really great and I hope I get another chance to hang with Adam in the future. He’s good people. It was a weekend full of fun and wonderful food. North Carolina weeeeeeeeee!

♫ Spiritualized - Feel So Sad (Rhapsodies)

I borrowed two wireless access points from work so I would have wireless at my parents for the fiveish days I’m here. Geeky though it is, I’m really glad I brought them, because even though my parents are on dialup, it’s wonderful to be untethered from the ethernet. Plus, I’m so used to having those radio waves coursing through me that I’m not sure how I would survive without them.

Today my mom asked me to help with the christmas preparations, so I set up a kickass centerpiece on the table and did some cooking. The centerpiece is hot. I cut a bunch of evergreen from the woods and arranged that and then (this is the cool part) put gold christmas lights in it. I also prepared this breakfast casserole thing for tomorrow morning, it’ll be delicious.

I know I promised to write about the NC trip, and I will. Really.

♫ Color Theory - Just Who I Am

So the equipment id # of this monitor is 1337, and I find that far too entertaining.

♫ Weatherman - Souled Out

After five (plus) hours of driving today, my brain is pretty fried, so I’m having difficulty with writing. The weekend visiting Adam with Jeremiah was great fun. Unfortunately, I have two days of work this week (not sure why I didn’t just take off… oh well) so I should try not to stay up much longer. More weekend details to come!

…then i could travel just by folding a map…

♫ Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism

This week I’ve had really bad sleep habits, staying up talking to people until well after my bedtime. It’s taken much more of a toll on me than it would have a few years ago. Then again, while I was in college, I got to sleep in till 9:30 or 10 several times a week, so maybe it’s not as much me getting old as it is the demands of my schedule. That’s what I’m going to tell myself anyway.

♫ Shiloh - Swerve (Trail Mix)

Xander is my new best friend of music. We spent a couple hours this afternoon sending each other tracks. He’s one of the few people I’ve met who is on par with me as a dance music obsessor. It’s really fun to have someone who shares the appreciation.

I’m trying really hard to think of non-inane things to talk about, but it’s not happening. So deal with it. I totally shoveled the driveway earlier. We’ll see if it makes a difference tomorrow morning. I also made veggie soup, and I put tofu in it, and the tofu turned BLUE. WTF is that? I’ve decided that it’s probably the pot leaking colour (hm, I spelled it the British way without meaning to) so I won’t be using that pot again. My insides are probably getting the blue virus as I write. Soon I’ll be uncontrollably singing that song 24 hours a day, and my skin will turn blue too.

That sounds like some sort of supervillain plot… "I vil make everyvone insane from ze singing of the Blue zong. And ze people, zey vill be turned blue! Muahahahaha!" (I don’t know why he has that accent… it just happened that way).

And then some superhero has to be called in to save the day. Who would be the right super-person for such a job? Probably the ATHF. Only then Shake would paint Meatwad blue and Frylock would have to blast the supervillain with his blasty eyes. It would be hot.

♫ Holden & Thompson - Nothing (93 Returning mix)

If you put Shout on something, don’t let it sit overnight. One of my favorite shirts (the button-up plaidish one from H&M) is now ruined. ::cry::

EDIT: Jeremiah is going to go by H&M and see if they still have the shirt. I hope so. If he does manage to get me another one, I will be his slave for life. Or at least for a day or so. It really depends on what being his slave would entail.

♫ The Rapture - Love Is All