ASNN

I'm addicted

Damn you, Joel. Were it not for you, I probably would have never dug around half.com looking for music. (I always knew it was there, but I never bothered to really check it out.) Now, I can't help myself. Last night I bought another batch of CDs:

Fallen, Evanescence
Regretfully Yours, Superdrag
Loud and Clear, The OC Supertones
Cowboys From Hell, Pantera
Schubert Dip, EMF
No Code, Pearl Jam
Broken [EP], Nine Inch Nails
The Downward Spiral, NIN
Further Down The Spiral [EP], NIN
Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Red Hot Chili Peppers

All of that for about $56, shipped. That's the great thing about half.com: I can invest a very little bit of money in relatively unknown music (EMF, Superdrag) and if it sucks, I'm out the price of a latte. The other side of it is that I can get a bunch of CDs I've always meant to get (NIN) for about 20% of the original price.

However, at this point, I'm thinking of trying to put a block on half.com, lest I blow any more money.

get back to where you once belonged

So I splurged a little bit and ordered a whack of CDs. I periodically need new music to keep from going insane, and now was about that time. (Plus, with my road trip coming up, it's doubly good timing.)

Here's what I bought:

Damaged, Black Flag
Peep Show, Siouxsie and the Banshees
Showtime, Nitzer Ebb
Suicidal Tendencies, Suicidal Tendencies
The Clash/London Calling/Combat Rock Box Set, The Clash

Alan says I'm dating myself (especially since not only can I remember Suicidal Tendencies, but I remember when they jumped the shark). I really don't care. A lot of those are albums that I missed because I didn't really get into music until about 1984 (at nine years old). Before then, I just listened to music with my neighbors (who, thankfully, were skate/surf punks and feasted on Oingo Boingo, Minor Threat, and all manner of punk, hardcore, ska, oi!, and reggae) but missed out on a lot personally. So yeah, I'm kind of reliving my childhood, but kind of living it musically for the first time.

oldies and goodies

Pink Floyd : Music 1973-79 :: Sandy Koufax : Pitching 1963-1966

neighbors

My neighbors up here are cool. After Ily awoke from her nap, I took her to her friend's house. Said friend's dad was hanging outside. He was a lawyer for 11 years before he decided enough of that, and moved up here into the mountains to build houses.

He and I talked for about 40 minutes. He likes to backpack, so we compared hiking spots; mine were mostly in the Sierras, while he has taken backpack trips throughout the US. We chatted about owning one's own business and the value in staying small (or, as he put it, "Not getting too big for one's britches.").

As it was time for me to head home and start dinner, I mentioned that I am without car and with children for the weekend, as Nase is in Palmdale with my parents. I said that I wished she had gotten me some beer before she left. And then, this man with whom I had spoken for 5 minutes before yesterday, offered me beer. "Do you like Foster's or Corona?" (Well, I don't like Corona too much, but ANYTHING is better than that kangaroo piss, Foster's.) He loaded up a cooler with six icy Coronas and sent me on my way.

I just think that's cool and wanted to share. Plus, I needed to try Joel's little pizappa.com thing. :-)

whiske?y

In my quest for a good, cheap blended whiskey, I've just purchased Canadian Club. It's MUCH warmer than XO (too woody) or Canadian Mist (too, uh, moonshine-y), yet less expensive than Crown Royal. (Basically, given the right sale, I can get 1.5L of Club for the price of 750ml of Crown.) I think I've found a winner.

introvert article

This isn't a new article, but I read it for the first time today. Very interesting stuff re: introverts interacting with extroverts...

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/03/rauch.htm