Oh gosh, I love spring. What a great day out there. I'm feeling so good about it, I don't even think I'll complain about
being couped up in the office. I'm just happy it's there.
And now for a little experiment. I was thinking of putting music up on the site, maybe as MP3 downloads or something.
The idea was that I toss up something to reflect my mood, or that just seemed cool at the time. But I don't want to be
an MP3 download site, so a streaming thingy might be the better choice.
Shoutcast is nifty, but it sucks up most of my limited bandwidth just for one listener. So
much for my Squirrel Radio idea. I don't know if I'll keep it up, but try this out anyway:
Oh, you need Winamp. But you've already got that, right?
I love that song. Lots and lots and lots. It's from the soundtrack
the The Hanging Garden, a good ol' drepressing Canadian movie. Great soundtrack.
Give it a try.
I was thinking about saying something about this. I'd come
across the Psycho Ex-Girlfriend site
through memepool.com last week sometime and thought... well, I'm not really sure what I
thought. But eventually I thought I'd get around to working it into my running, somewhat ironic "putting your life on
the Internet" theme. Especially since Psycho Boy has become some sort
of pop culture icon. But Tycho did a better job than I ever could,
evidentally having more of the sort of real life experience that makes one's opinions worthwhile.
Instead, I'm going to go with that old adage and write what I know.
There's this little Chinese food place just up the street from where I work. They have some lunch specials—rice or
noodles topped with meat, veggies and sauce—which were a bit more expensive than what I was used to in my past life a
couple blocks away, but not too bad, considering. I first ordered the Beef in Black Bean sauce ("mild," I said when
asked), which tasted fine, if a little dry, except that there were hard, rock-like bits of stuff in it which kind of
turned me off.
They also gave me a fork. This is understandable, racially speaking, but there's always a right way and a wrong way to
do things. Mind you, I've never asked for chopsticks and a spoon, so I have no real right to complain, but if I applied
that rule to everything, I'd never have anything to complain about.
I didn't go back for a while. With my alternate choices being pizza, subs, waiting in line at Tim Hortons and nothing (
the latter being what I was most proned to do for some time, having given up any hope of ever being organized enough to
prepare myself a bag lunch), within a month or so, I tried them out a gain. Beef and Black Bean (mild) again, and this
time, I was quite happy with it. I tried their Chow Mein, and it was quite passable. Then I tried their Chicken and
something.
Oh my freakin' Lord in Heaven. What the hell's with all the flaky bits of chili pepper?! I threw most of it out. Putting
aside that I can't eat it, call me crazy but I actually like to taste what I'm eating. You know, savour the subtle
flavours and textures. I can't do that when my mouth is on fire.
Figuring it was a fluke with the chicken thing, I tried the next item on the lunch special menu. Toss. Okay. The next
time I wised up a bit. Realizing that for the last two things, the lady at the counter didn't ask me if I wanted "hot"
or "mild" as she had for the Black Bean Beef, I decided to head her off at the pass for the next item on the list.
This time, it was actually edible. Barely. Those damn chili flakes again.
Something was up here. Today, I went back for the Black Bean thing, recalling that, when specifying mild, it wasn't
spicy at all. So it seemed like a safe bet. When prompted, I stated my "mild" preference. Get it back to work and ACK!
Not inedible, but those damnable chili flakes are everywhere. Toss.
Maybe I'll just give in and stock up on luncheon meats.
I haven't been reading much lately. In part, I don't mind so much. I've got lots of other things to do. In another part,
I kind of want to drift away to some fantasy land, rapt in somebody else's life.
I went out and bought Mary Doria
Russel's Children of God,
the sequel to The Sparrow, which
I read and liked. But The Sparrow, the story of a Jesuit priest with a mission to make first contact with aliens (and,
in a sense, God and himself) was way depressing in a lot of ways, and that's just not what I need right now. Strangely,
both these books are linked
to To Say Nothing of the Dog by
Connie Willis, a book I loved lots, but mostly because it was light and cute and funny and had time travel in it, none
of which applies to Mary Doria Russel's stuff (Connie
Willis' Doomsday Book, while
still having some muted humour and time travel, has a heavy, tragedy-laden story which is what bridged me over to The
Sparrow).
I also
bought A Game of Thrones
based on recommendations from friends. This was despite the fact that it's a hexalogy (?) of really thick books.
Unfortunately, the prologue revealed a legion of sinister, undead creatures. I hate undead things. I tossed that one
back on the shelf.
I'll take reading suggestions, but don't be offended if I turn them down. I'm kind of picky, and since I'm an awfully
slow reader, this is a bit of a time investment for me. I think I'd like to dive into some fluffy and fun mystery novel.
Maybe I'll stop by the library on the way home.