mental meandering

["Eat Me" Rachel Fuller]

    It's unbefuckinglievably cold out today. Sunny, gorgeous, and too flippin' cold to be outside. The kind of weather that makes "snowbirds" seem sane. I often dress a little more 'girly' on Fridays--skirt, heels, sweater--rather than the typical "I work in an office by myself" get-up. Today, there was only one thought: dress for warmth. Thick socks, black pants (not tight, not stretchy, just sort of...fit?),

["What Do We Want" Uncle Kracker]

charcoal camisole, white blouse. I look a little, um, stark, I guess, but I was warm enough while I scraped snow and ice and crap off of my car. For 10 minutes. For my 5 minute drive to work. Yargh.

["Atomic Dog" George Clinton]

    I work with a girl that I don't like at all. She's one of those terribly effusive people who you know aren't sincere about a goddamned thing. She just asked me if I know how to make double-sided copies on the public-access Xerox machine. I said yes. "Perfect!!!"
"Perfect!!!"?!Calm the fuck down.

["We're Not Deep" The Housemartins]
["Zip-lock" Lit]

    There are a couple of "elders" from the L.D.S. in the area, doing their mission[s]. I use quotation marks for that one because they're around 18 years old and so to refer to them as "elders" without some sign of irony on my part would be too much to expect. Anyway, they're hanging out at my place of work now and then, presumably to use the internet (presumably, again, not for the porn). One thing led to another, and they realized that they could perhaps kill two birds with one stone. Part of their mission is to do "community service" of a sort in the area in which they do their mission.

["My Coco" Stella*star]

    So they volunteered to do stuff here, whatever we need done, for a few hours each week. At the moment they are shifting our entire nonfiction section by half a stack--tee hee, they have no clue how crazy that is. A couple of weeks ago they were stripping paint in the back room. When I walked in, they were slumped over a table, giggling uncontrollably. I think they might've needed more ventilation, but I left them there. They often seem a little too buttoned-up, so it was lovely to see them acting so goofy, even if it meant their brains were melting. Literally.
    Here's the funny part: they work with George. Almost every week. The Mormons and the punk. Shifting books, stripping paint, cleaning stairwells. And apparently every weekend, he lets them come to his apartment, to talk to him about, as he put it, "That God shit."
    It's adorable. I'd imagine they'll get a hell of a lot more than a toaster oven if they convert that one.

["Mary, Mary" Chumbawamba]

    I sometimes sing along with whatever music I'm playing. It's a little scary when it's a song like this one, and I'm at work, and the door is open. I probably sound really, really demented, particularly when I'm singing it with a slightly Scottish accent.

["One Week" Barenaked Ladies]

    Ah, prophecy. And white-boy "rap." Makes me feel all warm and squishy inside.
    The dumb girl just walked by, clearly looking for help, or a clue, or someone to step in and do her job for her. None of the above.
    I'm dealing with a book called Porno. The cover art is a blow-up doll, but all that shows is the face and the business-end of the breasts. I cannot imagine thinking that something like that would be sexually satisfactory. Not satisfying--an "A"--but even satisfactory--a C at best. Ick.

["Completely Pleased" Semisonic]

    Just had a visitor: George. He's not in jail. He's simply been informed to appear at a later date.

["Canto Alla Vita" Josh Groban, feat. The Corrs ]
["Echo" Vertical Horizon]
["Gardening at Night" R.E.M. {different...something...mix}]

    My hair is in a loose braid. Translation: I didn't have a clue what to do with it, so I braided it in about 2 minutes. It's all falling out (not out of my head, just out of the braid). For the first ten minutes of that, it looked all romantic and tendrilly and sweet. Now I just look like a 5-y-o who's been doing somersaults on the carpeting. I'm thinkin' that I'll be redoing my coiffure at lunch.
    There is a little shitball running around in the public area. Time to go out and act Adult and Menacing.

["Everything's on Fire" Hunters & Collectors]
["Slow" Fuel]

So much for that: the little bastard hid behind his dad.

["Whatever We Are" Sugar Ray]

So hard sometimes
Gets so hard sometimes with you

Whatever we are, we are...
Whatever

I try to show you somethin' you would understand
It's gettin' better all the time
But I never think you'd listen to a word I said
Whatever it is, we are, we are & I said

Whatever we are, we are...
Whatever

I don't know where to start
I don't know where to stop
It gets so crazy all the time
(wooh)
But I just keep tryin'
Not to let you down
Whatever it is we are we are we are
And I said
It gets so hard sometimes
We always change our minds
It gets so hard sometimes with you (wooh)
Our love is there to find
But it gets so hard sometimes
It gets so hard sometimes with you with you
(Oh pretty baby...you're the one)

Whatever we are, we are...
Whatever

["The Lazy Sunbathers" Morrissey]
["Cecelia" Simon & Garfunkel]
["Please Come Home" Uncle Kracker]

    I don't give even a tiny little fuck about the Olympics.

    I am, however, enjoying the Deadspin on it [them?]--as I do with everything else sports-related. Just the right degree of snark to make my day.

["Bad" U2]
["Lullaby" James]

    I just thought of something that I miss, from when I was married. I haven't been married for...a year, 2 months and 1 week, and this is the first time that I can recall having a thought like this, so strongly. But here's what I miss: going to Kansas. We used to go to Kansas every other year, in October I think, or maybe April?, for a conference. He would confer and I would just wander around Lawrence. It's a college town, full of funky shops (like Urban Outfitters) and bookstores (like Signs of Life). There are tons of great places to eat, like Free State Brewing Co., where I had an awesome chicken sandwich topped with what the waiter called "the dessert of meats"--bacon, of course. And the big attraction is The University of Kansas, with its beautiful, hilly campus and lush history. The whole place is...special. I'm a college-town girl; it's in my blood; I've never lived further from a college than I do at this very moment, as a matter of fact. But Lawrence is something else. I used to get to see it, and be a part of it, regularly. I miss that.
    But life's not all about wandering through little cities, shopping for things I don't need. There are plenty enough reasons to not be there, and maybe today's the day to remember those, too.