Errata

How I’m feeling:
It’s still way too hot here, but we have at least reached the point where night comes early enough that it cools off and is comfortable and I love to drive around with the windows down and play music loudly and sing along loudly, even at the risk of totally embarrassing myself. Doing this always reminds me of evenings during college and makes me kind of sentimental. Fall is coming, even if slowly.

What I’m listening to:
My favorite songs of the moment (which you might catch me singing along to, loudly) are: On the happy side, The White Stripes’ The Denial Twist. "If you think that a kiss is all in lips / Come on, you got it all wrong / If you think that our dance was all in the hips / Well, then do the twist." Kicks my ass. A more mellow tune is John Butler Trio’s "What You Want." You may have heard John Butler’s "Zebra" as pre-show music at movie theater’s all summer, and you’ll remember he’s the one who named his daughter Banjo. This is a very different sounding song. Also in HBO ads at the moment. Love it.

What I’m watching:
Corpse Bride was wonderful. Strangely, I thought the weakest part was the songs. And yet I’ll probably buy the soundtrack anyway, sooner or later. Lots of movies coming out in the next weeks and months I’m excited about too: History of Violence, Wallace and Gromit, Harry Potter, RENT, the new Cameron Crowe ... and other stuff I’m not remembering.

What I’m reading:
Lots of random stuff all at once. Technically I’m about halfway through Until I Find You, but I can’t even remember the last time I picked it up. Also am midway through The Effect of Living Backwards, which is good but not enthralling. The new issue of The Believer came this week, too. The last thing I finished was The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime, and it was excellent. I would highly recommend that book to anyone.

What I’m doing online:
LibraryThing is my new favorite way to waste time. Way fun times. Thanks to those you who know me well enough to have excitedly sent me the link. And, I also really liked this article.

What I’m looking forward to:
Many full weekends and fun activities ahead, but California beckons at the end of the month. I don’t think I’ve even been to the state since our trip last October. A year is too long. I have so many happy memories of California in the fall.

What I need:
I am in need of three letters of reference. Who wants to pretend to be a former professor of mine?

One more thing:
This girl's death has been on my mind. How can 50 Cent get shot about a hundred times and live to make a movie about it but this girl - an athlete even - can have her heart just stop? I talked to her a couple of times when she was around the newspaper office and you'll just never meet a more down-to-earth, happy to be herself person. Sad.