out of the blue

When I get into a book, every sense is heightened. My pulse races, and I speed through chapters to see what happens next (all the while being sure to take it easy enough that I don't miss things). I just finished Dzur, by Steven Brust, and it was exciting. I am quite invested in Vladimir Taltos and the various other characters, and the long friendship I've had with the books makes everything that much more intense. I'm riding an emotional high right now, and it's late. We'll see what it does to my sleeping.

You people may enjoy Weird Al's new "Don't Download This Song" track. He's releasing it for free on myspace. Download it here for all of its tongue-in-cheek sarcastic goodness.

"Oh, you don't wanna mess with the R-I-double-A
They'll sue you if you burn that CD-R
It doesn't matter if you're a grandma or a seven year old girl
They'll treat you like the evil hard-bitten criminal scum you are"

My very eager mother just isn't going to serve us so well any more, what with the lack of pizzas. Then there's the whole issue of cream soda and possibly cheese-sticks, and the 20 cupcakes that we lost on the way here. But I think that dwarf-tossing ought to be allowed in this case. After all, if you think about it, they're getting swung around all the time.

Music is being sold online now. Most sales are going to be song-by-song, as people collect their favorite songs by their favorite artists. This means that the one-to-three popular songs from a CD are going to be bought a lot more than the rest, whose sales will decline. This has two direct repercussions, leading in opposite directions. First of all, people don't have to get an entire CD to get that one hard-to-find song. The record model is forever broken. So, the artist is going to lose money as people only spend a dollar or two on their CD instead of $10 – $17 for the entire album. However, this also means that a lot of people are going to find it more worth it to spend money on the artist at all. If they're only interested in one song off the album, they wouldn't be able to justify buying the entire CD, but if they can get the song by itself they're going to spend money on it. This trend brings more revenue to the artist. I suspect that the second trend will prove to be the more noted, and will result in increased music sales overall, but I'm not sure. What do you folks think?

A worthy meme stolen from the lovely Ann Foreyt, who made it up herself:

sensory things that make me happy or that fulfill some innate need-want in me

top 10 scents:

1. 1. lilacs in bloom from across a yard
2. 2. campfire smoke
3. 3. the pages of ancient books
4. 4. the crisp air after a thunderstorm
5. 5. freshly-baked bread
6. 6. snowy evergreen forests
7. 7. cinnamon
8. 8. just-washed hair
9. 9. indian food smells filling the house
10. 10. cedar wood

top 10 sounds:

1. 1. wind and rain beating against the side of the house
2. 2. a chorus of frogs croaking
3. 3. barbershop quartets
4. 4. the opening guitar work in "I Feel Fine" by the Beatles
5. 5. thunder
6. 6. duets with pretty harmonies
7. 7. trickling brooks
8. 8. soda cans being opened
9. 9. light, dancing flute melodies
10. 10. softly singing tea kettles and boiling water

top 10 tastes (individual):

1. 1. fresh pressed garlic
2. 2. a bit of vanilla licked from the fingers
3. 3. clover honey
4. 4. cumin
5. 5. ginger
6. 6. teas of all varieties
7. 7. good dark chocolate
8. 8. cilantro
9. 9. fresh sourdough bread
10. 10. ripe blackberries

top 10 sensations:

1. 1. large raindrops being slapped against my face by a high wind on the beach
2. 2. warmth of a fire in the fireplace on a winter's night
3. 3. jumping into a lake that is way too cold, and then climbing out to bask in the sun
4. 4. trapping air in bedsheets and letting them slowly deflate until they fall to shape to your body
5. 5. showers in the summertime, turning the water as cold as you can stand
6. 6. the whoosh of air conditioning when you come in out of 90 degree weather
7. 7. the feel of a frisbee in the hand
8. 8. backrubs
9. 9. cold glass
10. 10. good sketching paper

top 10 sights:

1. 1. rays of sunlight through fog
2. 2. pretty people in light blue clothes
3. 3. candlelight in a cozy room
4. 4. thunderstorms and lightning bolts
5. 5. looking up at the sun through a leafy tree in the wind
6. 6. the milky way on the darkest night
7. 7. eyes catching the light
8. 8. tree shadows
9. 9. clouds of all shapes and sizes
10. 10. foggy days

Here are some pictures from Cami's delightful end-of-summer party (at least it was the end for me). Everyone was so smiley!

These pictures are from last week when I got a bunch of people together on short notice for a picnic in the park. I took pictures of Sarah because she was leaving the next morning (though I still got to see her that night). That last week was packed full of seeing people.

I'm back in Spokane; my pretty, new, flat-panel monitor arrived this morning; the wireless is re-configured for the non-home network; windows is still as-yet uninstalled; my stuff is mostly unpacked, though there are a lot of things left to go; I'm enjoying Becky's company (at least, I did before Aaron flew back in last night); and I'm missing quite a few people who, incidentally, are not in Spokane.

Cami, thank you again for organizing the get-together on Friday night. That was a perfect end to the summer.

Earlier today Aaron and I drove to the store to pick up hamburger makings. We drove in his dad's old car, which he has had forever, claiming that he was going to "drive it into the ground." So far, Aaron's dad has done a good job of it, because it's falling apart so much that it would be absurd to worry about theft. So, we left it's dangling wires and broken paneling in the parking lot at Safeway, joking about how silly it was to lock the doors, because nobody in their right mind would want to steal it.

cut to six hours later

Aaron and I arrive at my house, and decide to go in to talk for a while (which will end up being almost four hours). We continue our joking of earlier and lock the doors "just to be funny." Then we go in to my house and forget about it.

cut to four hours later

Aaron can't find his keys. We go out to the car and peer into the window with a flashlight, and what do you know? There are the keys sitting in the ignition. Aaron rarely locks the car door at my house, but this time he did, and it's the one time he's forgotten the keys in the ignition. Can you say Irony?

Anyway, we eventually use a coat hanger, a screwdriver, and a pair of plyers to unlatch the door and retrieve his keys. A shaking of heads at the irony, and Aaron drives off into the night.

So it's less than a week before I go back to Spokane. Less than a week to visit all the people I want to see. Less than a week to pack and think of everything that I need to do to be ready to leave. Less than a week to do some work for Regina. I'm kinda feeling overwhelmed, which makes it a lot harder to work on anything. Oy.

But I'm very much looking forward to going back to Spokane, no matter how many of you I'm going to miss (and there are a lot). I'm looking forward (strangely enough) to getting back into that strange rhythm that is school, and doing homework and stuff like that. I'm looking forward to getting up at 7:30 three days of the week to go to my math class, no matter how boring it may be. I'm looking forward to getting tired of school a couple months into it, and trying as hard as I can to remain responsible until I finally give in to laziness and start slacking again. There are a lot of things to look forward to.

Most of all, I'm looking forward to being back "on my own", buying my own food, and not dealing with parents on a day-to-day basis. I'm looking forward to seeing Becky and Aaron and Josh and all those Spokane folks. Beware, I return shortly. And I will interact.