Cheerful. Not sure why.Anyway, my weekend:
Friday:
wendybyrd's birthday party. The theme was "corrupting your inner child." I had a good time hindered somewhat by the fact that I was tired and fatigued, and in a bad mood (presumably because I was tired and fatigued). I had some good conversations though, mostly trying to convince r3507 to listen to The Spine. I tried to enjoy myself and generally succeeded until I was too tired to do so. What I'm trying to say is that it was a great party, but Friday night was just not the right night for me to attend a great party. Regardless, I think Wendy had a happy birthday, and that's the important part.Saturday: I was home all day working on stuff, mostly music. Mostly the version of Pictures at an Exhibition which I just finished, and which I'm still terribly, terribly happy with. In the evening I hung out with
agaysexicon and fuzzyinthehead. We watched several episodes of an anime called The New Cutey Honey, in which the main character loses her clothes and transforms from mild-mannered attractive blonde to butt-kicking super-heroine every time she says Sunday was
the_tick27's birthday gathering in Chicago (well, Arlington Heights (who cares? (the citizens of Arlington Heights, I suppose.))) at Mitsuwa Marketplace, an Asian (specifically Japanese) mall. I rode in evil_jim's car, with matt_william and Jon (of offBeat fame) who doesn't have a livejournal. About half way there Matt received a voicemail from crabmoon saying that she and Tick wouldn't be coming, and then as we pulled into the parking lot he received a call saying that they were coming after all, and that they were just leaving. Jim, Matt, Jon and I had lunch at the food court. I had Oyakodon Donburi which was (basically) chicken and eggs served over rice. It's much tastier (and a more balanced meal when ordered at Mitsuwa) than it sounds. The name of the dish translates in English to "Mother and Child," and (thanks to this handy link provided by Jim (who also ordered the Oyakodon)) was the inspiration for the Paul Simon song you just thought of. I couldn't finish it all, which I blame on the chopsticks. I've become sufficiently proficient with them, but I can't simply shovel scalding hot rice into my mouth at lightspeed. Between that and the conversation, my brain registered that my hunger had been satiated before I'd finished half of it.We did some shopping, and I bought a few stocking-stuffer-type items for those on my Christmas list. We ran into
seanorange who lives close to Mitsuwa. I suppose I should have assumed he'd be invited, but it really didn't occur to me. Shortly after he showed up, Lindsay and Tick arrived -- more than two hours after we did -- with lord_alucard, theenigma42, and Chad in tow. Jon and Chad did not bond over not having livejournals, though it would have been funny if they had. They made a quick circuit of the store while we looked at manga and overpriced region 2 DVDs in the bookstore. They had a couple of kits that looked interesting. Jim purchased the build your own Edison phonograph kit, and I was terribly interested in the automagical, retro-looking, CD-recording Gramophone kit (not its real name), but there's simply no reason for me to buy such a thing. What I did purchase was about $8 of stuff I'll actually use. Unfortunately, my $1.50 belt hanger is not interesting enough that you'd want to read about it.After Mitsuwa we went to J1Toy, which is a great place to go if you're interested in collecting anime and Ultraman memorabilia.
I'm not.
After wandering the store and watching Jim and Lindsay play DDR, the two groups parted ways. We headed home so Jon could get some rest before class this morning, and the other group went to Sean's apartment where (I gather) so much fun was had that it has to be hidden in a protected post. Anyway, it was really an enjoyable trip.
Here are a couple of memes:
I took the Which Musician Shares Your Taste in Music? quiz this morning, and it tells me that I share common ground with The Cure. It's not worth copying and posting the HTML because all it has is that sentence, a picture of Robert Smith, and a link to Smith's celebrity playlist on iTunes. I've posted the tracks and his comments below. It's interesting in that I only know about half of the songs on the list, and they're pretty well divided between songs I like and songs that would make me switch over to NPR if they ever appeared on the radio. Quizzes like this one are fun, but they're more indicative of their author's personal biases than anything else.
1. Jimi Hendrix -- Are You Experienced?
Music from another world - when I first heard this it made me want to play guitar and sing all night - it still does.
2. Nick Drake -- Time Has Told Me
The most heartbreaking sound - and maybe where we got the name from.
3. Tom Waits -- (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night
Perfect melancholia - poignant, evocative, heartfelt.
4. Janis Ian -- Tea and Sympathy
Another one of the saddest songs I ever heard...
5. Thin Lizzy -- Don't Believe a Word
Melodic and powerful - the grooviest rock band I ever saw.
6. The Clash -- White Riot
And then this happened and everything changed - a riot of my own...
7. The Psychedelic Furs -- Into You Like a Train
The Furs were such a great mix of style and substance... of styles and substances.
8. Cocteau Twins – Lorelei
Breathtaking.
9. Pixies -- Monkey Gone to Heaven
Falling upwards...
10. My Bloody Valentine -- I Only Said
The music playing at the end of a world.
11. Nirvana -- Heart-Shaped Box
Raw, passionate, heartbreaking Kurt.
12. Supergrass -- Alright
So insanely happy it makes me cry.
13. Interpol -- NYC
Twilight memories...
14. A.F.I. -- Girl's Not Grey
Dark, seductive, romantic...
15. Scarling -- Crispin Glover
Beautiful shadows...
16. Blink 182 -- Down
Perfect now music for pop people?
17. Deftones – Minerva
Simply awesome.
18. Tricky -- Moody
Mesmerising, innovative, strange-as-angels Tricky.
19. The Cooper Temple Clause -- New Toys
The eye of the storm...
20. Mogwai -- Killing All the Flies
A piece of the loudest/quietest/heaviest/lightest band in the world.
21. Placebo -- The Bitter End
Hopefully won't be coming too soon.
| Your Birthdate: June 11 |
Spiritual and thoughtful, you tend to take a step back from the world. You're very sensitive to what's going on around you, yet you remain calm. Although you are brilliant, it may take you a while to find your niche. Your creativity is supreme, but it sometimes makes it hard for you to get things done. Your strength: Your inner peace Your weakness: You get stuck in the clouds Your power color: Emerald Your power symbol: Leaf Your power month: November |
This is interesting because it describes me to a T (except for that inner peace nonsense), right down to green being my favorite color. Then again, I found this meme through
spidermoon77's results fits me almost as well. My personality is the sum of the time, culture, economic status, and family into which I was born; I simply don't believe that I'd be a different person if I were born in February or August or Octember.I have a lot of friends who believe in astrology, and conversations on the subject lead them inevitably to say either "I knew you were a Gemini!" or "Really? I would have pegged you as a ________." The split is about 50/50, and I'd bet anything that my personality matching that of a Gemini (or people born on June 11th, for that matter) is a result some partially subconscious rationalization -- the only reason it's true is that in the back of my mind, I want it to be. It's the same sort of thought process that makes me think I like the song Indian Ocean by They Might Be Giants, even though Indian Ocean is deliberately unlistenable:
I love the band They Might Be Giants.No I don't! The song is experimental noise! I can count the number of times I've listened to it all the way through on my fingers! Still, I can't bear to delete it from my MP3 player because it's They Might Be Giants, and (in case I've never mentioned it before) I love the band They Might Be Giants. In fact, this moment is the first time it's ever occurred to me that I might rather delete it than keep it there, but I'm not going to because I love the band They Might Be Giants (just FYI).
Indian Ocean is a song by They Might Be Giants.
Therefore, I like Indian Ocean.
Am I allowing myself to gloss over the (perceived) incorrect statement that my strength is my inner peace because I like to think that the rest of my quiz result is true?
I'd be interested to see how other people react to the results of this particular quiz. Go ahead and take it -- all you have to do is enter your birthdate.
