a waking dream

i'm sure it will come as no surprise that i've been having trouble sleeping lately. excitement about moving also means stress about moving. if i wake up in the middle of the night to use the facilities, when i come back to bed i start thinking about all the stuff i need to do for our upcoming yard sale.

if i have trouble getting comfortable after i roll over, i remember i need to pick a hotel for our first week or so there.

and the list goes on. which means i do, too.

which means after a little while i remember a) you've got this all written down, stop worrying about it and b) it's time to invoke the Coast Snowfall.

now sure that's just a name for you folks. in my head i think, it's time to go *there*. Coast Snowfall's a fitting name though, because i immediately start playing the first snowfall (snippet here, courtesy B&N. nighttime version, courtesy of my internal ipod), and then go here.

imagine driving along this road, a series of trees in this light, and you can see how the dappled light could keep time with the beginning of that song (if you listen to it, hint). then we curve inland for a moment of dark and green, albeit not foggy in my nighttime film.

then we rise up the hill and crest to this, at which point i leave the car and become a bird, apparently, flying out and over the rocky shoreline. not a bad trick.

the song repeats itself at a certain point, and so do i, starting at the first image above. sure, sometimes it takes a while to progress from there to sleep, but i never get tired of this journey. or the song, which is saying a lot.

these flybys are a conglomeration of the many, many drives my family took along 101 in southern oregon, often at sunset. i've been using this little montage for probably 15 years.

incidentally, if you look at/listen to that song, you'll see it's an instrumental from a christmas album. what can i say? i've listened to that album a lot, which is KickAss. if you don't mind reverent *christmas* music and/or enjoy classical, i highly recommend it.

showing my white bread stripes

i got this from wen the other day. honestly most of these don't make sense but sharing the playlist is fun.

How do you feel today?
closer - nine inch nails

What’s your outlook on life?
breakfast at tiffany's - deep blue something

What does your family think of you?
way you walk - papas fritas

What do your friends think of you?
holiday - green day. i hope that means some people think of me as fun, at any rate. ;-)

What do your exes think of you?
hurting each other - carpenters. ouch.

How’s your love life?
indiana jones theme - john williams. actually that's pretty damn funny. or would be if it actually involved jumping onto trains and rescuing artifacts.

How will your love life be in the future?
smells like teen spirit - nirvana. ok this is a disturbing trend.

Will you get married?
since you been gone - aretha franklin. gee.

Are you good at school?
will you still love me? - chicago

Will you be successful?
big sur - the thrills

What song should they play on your birthday?
scooter boys - indigo girls. hah! both wen and i got IG on that one.

What song should they play at your graduation?
it's not unusual - tom jones

The Soundtrack of your life?
sign your name - terence trent d'arby. uh, yeah so not.

You and your best friends are?
cream - prince. um.

Happy times:
drive - incubus

Sad times:
brave and crazy - melissa etheridge

Every day:
stacy's mom - fountains of wayne. hah! actually twisted a bit, that's not so far off.

For tomorrow:
let it ring - amy ray.

For you:
river constantine - jars of clay.

What does next year have in store for me?
sara smile - hall & oates

What do I say when life gets too hard?
shattered dreams - johnny hates jazz.

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
what a fool believes - doobie brothers.

What do you want as your career?
on your honor - amy ray

Your favorite saying?
things can only get better - howard jones

How will I die?
if only she knew - michelle branch. great, i'll die at the hands of a woman. i suppose that's appropriate.

ok, anyone else who wants to do this, consider yourself tagged! and yes i'll be posting about my camping excursion soon. i'm still catching up...meantime i did upload pics. :)

cheesed off

i came across the most perfect quiz. please witness:

You Are a Chocolate Cheesecake

Rich and greedy, you're attracted to the dark side of life. Nothing ever quite satisfies your inner beast. And somehow, people find that sexy.

What Kind of Cheesecake Are You?

as a bonafide cheese lover, any quiz that asks 'How do you feel about cheese in general?' is a good quiz in my book. but i was quite torn at this one:

Your sense of humor is:
* Eclectic
* Sarcastic
* Weird
* Wild
* Goofy
* Sexy

i can rule out 'wild' right off the bat. as far as percentages go, i can rule out weird, sexy and eclectic. i can be, and often am, all those things, but not as frequently as what's left: sarcastic and goofy.

due to my love of mocking, i ultimately settled on sarcastic, but damn.

other random stuff from this week:
* clearcase sucks ass
* that non-vexing sleep thing? doing better.
* i have had this and this playing nonstop. and no i do not have to be at the computer to continue the nonstopness.
* i got contacted (via IM) today, out of the blue, by a female fan of nelson.

and why? because we are both on a writing list. against my better judgment i said she could email me a story she was working on, and i'd give her feedback on it when i had time. FIVE MINUTES LATER she IM'd me again to ask if i'd read it. hi, i told you the first time, i'm at work.

as to the story itself, let's just say, i have no interest in stories with lines like 'The straps are for your protection'. redundant commas and adjectives aside, the story was thankfully rather short.

i think the lesson here is that if, when talking to a writer about their work, you ask, 'oh, have you had anything published then?' and they reply, 'oh, i couldn't be published!', then you really should just move on.

ok yep, sarcastic -- correct answer!

you know

a lot of ills can be cured by blaring def leppard on your headphones.

while i'm waiting for a file to open

(don't ask)

i booted up the itunes because i had a horrid yet wonderful song stuck in my head.

the first song that the mr. dj served up was thin line, by the indigo girls. i've heard this song many times. owning the album will do that to you. but for some reason when i booted it up today, i was taken back to nashville. i was sitting with my roommate kelly, singer/songwriter/fellow IG freak, in the dining room and in the background, this song came on. i'd been studying at the table, she'd been sitting up on a desk, feet on the chair below, sometimes playing her guitar along with the cd, sometimes playing her own music.

suddenly in the middle of this song, we got into a big discussion about harmonies, what worked about the song, what could have made it better, and soforth. we were both incredibly passionate about our positions, some shared, some disparate. although of course i don't recall the details, obviously it was a moment in time that stuck, resonated with me. it is a moment that, even though my moment in the music business world has long passed, and am no longer such an IG freak, i cherish.

and so i share a bit of it with you. the song is really good, if you haven't heard it. one of the few covers IG has released. check it out!