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Perhaps every friendship should begin with some good, quality, soulful round of song.
Song of the day: Norman Blake: You are My Sunshine.
*Ignore the images on this video. Just listen.
Back in the day (about four months ago) when my friends were going back to school and I was off into the career world, I was really wishing to be them.
School has always been my thing, and the more I went to college the more I wanted to stay in college. So many things to learn and topics to discover — my last semester, I wanted to audit about 20 classes.
Now, though I still miss Cougar Eat lunch buddies and 5th floor social hour, I realized I can still learn about all those topics I’m curious about, independent study-style.
Best of all: no droning professors, no pop quizzes, no tests! No rules!
To kick off, I’m enrolling myself in a modern music history course, the text being 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, with The Rest is Noise as a supplement.
The future will include harmonica, calligraphy, and knitting classes. Another class will include French cooking, with The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child as my guide, accompanied with re-watching Julie and Julia multiple times. If you want to join me, come one, come all.
*On another note, have you ever driven at an average speed of 10 mph for 3 hours straight? Oh, cool. Well I have. But with Oldies 94.1 and KRCL as my friends, narrowly escaping death for hours on end became strangely all right.
*Song of the day: The Beach Boys: Ol’ Man River. Article of the day: Puuurrrr-fect pet gifts!! and puppy treats!
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This morning I learned what a winter walk to the bus stop is like, before the snow plows arrive and the powder is footprint-free.
And as the bundled-up middle school boys laughed and shoveled their driveway in the illuminating glow of Christmas lights, I almost thought this snow thing was wonderful. Almost.
Song of the day: Sigur Ros: All Alright
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I have a couple favorite Trax riders these days.
Rider #1: A lone LDS missionary boy, with an unknown handicap and an enthusiasm for whatever is playing on his discman that day.
Yesterday’s playlist*:
1. “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.” Dr. Elmo.
2. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” The Tokens.
3. Unclear. Possibly “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air Theme Song.” Will Smith.
*I know this only from his accompanying vocals, enhanced with random protests (“Wait - No. NoNoNoNo NOOOO!’) and delighted cheers (“Yeah, all right now everybody, yeah!”).
Rider #2: Completely legitimate, modern Native American man, who sports completely legitimate, modern Native American man denim and leather jackets and waist-length, beaded jet black tresses.
I wrongly want to ask him if he, too, might be on Team Jacob?
Song of the day: The Cure: Fire in Cairo
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The way she calls us “ladies,” and motivates with descriptions of Thanksgiving’s turkey with gravy,
The way she knowingly shouts inaccurate, deceptive countdowns without so much as a quiver in her voice,
The way she blasts Pitbull remixes of the remixes so loudly, even having the satisfaction of hearing my own irregular huffing and puffing is impossible …
These things make me wonder if this is what being that modern, strong and oh-so-womanly “lady” are all about — all the while preparing to punch that gym instructor cleanly and squarely in the face. Like, really hard. And then make an early (and triumphant) exit. And maybe slam the class door a little while I’m at it.
My body may be feeling effectively sore now, but I declare my days at Gold’s Gym Power Pump class officially over.
Song of the day that I strangely keep listening to while running on the treadmill: Beach House: Used to Be. Article of the day: One I forgot to post awhile ago.
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Speed walking to the bus stop after work every day, I pass the same rabbel-rousing Salt Lake skater boys, the same completely empty, newly-opened restaurant and the same homeless men asking for money. The whole scene makes me a little sad.
But yesterday one of the usual homeless men approached me and, rather than requesting money, requested a smile.
“Oh, please young lady, please just smile?”
A little creepy, maybe. But at least he reminded me to walk down that sad strip of city street looking happy, and maybe soon those skater boys will be causing less ruckus, that sad burrito restaurant will get a little business and those homeless people will be giving a little smile back.
Song of the day: Toro Y Moi: Blessa. Article of the day: New Moon Mania.
