Conversation at the Dry Cleaner's

me, with one pant leg pinned: Yep, that looks good!

lady: Okay, ready Tuesday!

me: Do you need to pin the other one?

lady: Not unless you crooked!

me: ... good point.

Annapolis love (and kitsch)

Outside view of the staircase windows (mentally added in my dream house "to do" list).



People pay money to take these things home with them. Really?


View from the Bay Bridge, on the way to eat at the crab shack.

Better Than a Dog, Anyhow

See here for Charles Darwin's oh so awesome "to marry or not to marry" pro/con list.

(Via NPR, comme d'habitude.)

Why Knowing Some History is Important.

(Original here, via Sean)

If nothing else, let the fact that others will think you're an idiot be your motivation.

I just bought, for the first time in my entire life, a pack of cigarettes. I'm 28.

They were of course for someone else. Still the feelings of guilt and shame are setting in. Trying to think up some good deed to counteract the purchase.

I love the whole wide world!

I've been meaning to post this for a while. I love the Discovery Channel!



I also realized that, coincidentally, it's Earth Day, which I'm sort of indifferent to, but hey, I do like the Earth!

A Reminder to Stop and Smell the Roses (or Listen to the Busker, as it were...)

Yesterday all the Pulitzers were announced, with one going to the Washington Post article, "Pearls Before Breakfast." The gist of it is that a Post reporter asked one of the world's greatest violinist to play classic concertos and such on his Stradivarius violin in a crowded Metro station during rush hour. I don't take the Metro these days, but if I did, I would go right through L'Enfant Plaza. Would I have stopped? Who can know...

(via NPR)

Sarah's list, published without permission :).

opening credits: "Maybe We Should Just Sleep On It" by Tim McGraw
waking up: "Winter Wonderland" by Johnny Mathis
first day at school: "Pennies from Heaven" by Billie Holiday
falling in love: "My Place" by Nelly featuring Jaheim (AWESOME!)
breaking up: "Covered in Rain" by John Mayer (so, the love songs are good)
prom: "Peace of Mind" by Boston
life’s okay: "Don’t Miss You at All" by Norah Jones
breakdown: "Holy, Holy, Etc” by Sufjan Stevens
driving: "I’m Gonna Love You Anyway" by Trace Adkins
flashback: "Slow and Low" by Beastie Boys
getting back together: "Someone Like You" by Van Morrison (appropriate)
wedding: "The Tiding" by Blues Traveler (not so appropriate)
birth of child: "We Carry On" by Tim McGraw (I hope not)
final battle: "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys (I can’t make that up)
death scene: "Typical Situation" by Dave Matthews Band
credits: "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (has a rockin’ harmonica intro)

This set up reminds me of something, but I can't put my finger on it...sort of like MASH meets iPod?

Self-Tagged Meme - Soundtrack

No one tagged me for this, I just came across it while playing. But it's fun, so I'm going to do it. Clearly I have a penchant for listing songs, so you all just going to have to bear with me.

Here’s how it works:
1. open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that’s playing
5. new question — press the next button
6. don’t lie

opening credits: "Almost Like Being in Love"- Gene Kelly from Brigadoon (Aw, love this song!)
waking up: "Walking on Broken Glass" - Annie Lennox (also my 4th grade jazz class warm up song)
first day at school: "Canceled Check" - Beck (er, no idea...good song though)
falling in love: "Never Gonna Dance Again" - Wham! (not so much)
breaking up: "Adding to the Noise" - Switchfoot (okay...)
prom: "Schlindler's List Theme" - Williams (seriously messed up, category wise)
life’s okay: "The First Song" - Band of Horses (spot on)
breakdown: "A Good Man is Easy to Kill" - Beulah (awesome)
driving: "We Got the Beat" - Go Gos (I could drive to this)
flashback: "Let it Snow!" - Bing Crosby (no more snow, please)
getting back together: "Save Me From Myself" - Christina Aguilera (appropriate)
wedding: Black Wave/Bad Vibrations - The Arcade Fire (not so appropriate)
birth of child: Coming Home - Caedmon's Call (I love this whole CD, so yes)
final battle: The Little Things You Do Together - Sondheim from Company (so great)
death scene: Rocket Man - Elton John (why not?)
end credits: I Ran (So Far Away) - Flock of Seagulls (lots of 80's...)

Kind of stupid, in retrospect. But then I already spent all this time typing, so it's going up.

Since I wasn't tagged, I'm not going to tag anyone either. Play along if you're feeling it...

2 bits, 4 bits...

I recently was sent a video on you tube that featured a woman explaining how to put on make up. The model appeared to be around 6, and the whole thing was part of some series about throwing a "modeling birthday party." Pretty stupid, if you ask me.

I was also recently working on compiling a little list (that will come by later, never you fear) inspired by this one. It's not as easy to do as you might imagine. While pondering moments that are truly happy standouts, especially when I was younger, I really remember unhappy ones more - times when I was sad or embarrassed.

For some reason I have a distinct memory of going to a particular birthday party. The party must have been for both a boy and a girl, because we were divided into groups. And what was the activity? Well, the boys played some sort of sport (baseball, maybe) and we were the cheerleaders. For real. They passed out little pom-poms and had cheers printed out for us, the whole works. I think I was maybe 6 or 7. To this day I think of it all with a little cringe. And I'm not entirely sure why, to be honest. Nothing terrible happened, and I actually don't have any problems with cheerleaders generally. Perhaps even at that age, I knew these were not my people. And not cheerleaders, because some of them are DEFINITELY my people, but maybe folks that thought a birthday party that introduced defined gender roles to first graders (with props!) was a good plan.