Thursday, April 27, 2006
Shufflememe me!
I’m not much of a meme-er, but today I am really grinding my gears - I slept poorly and woke up in a panic when I realized the alarm had somehow been switched (eh, Zach?) from loud NPR to a very quiet wooshing breeze sound; then the baby woke up before I got a chance to stretch the kinks out of my back (yes, they’re back on tour, the Kinks appearing live at Daniel’s spine, L2 - L4), we were out of anything reasonably breakfasty for breakfast, I rode a bus to work that was full of entirely entertaining travelling companions but wound up actually surrounded by smelly guys who sighed and yawned incessantly all over me, and I just discovered that the pillow that I’d found soaking up all the ink from a red pen left open on the desk at home somehow stained the cuffs of the shirt I’m now wearing… and now I’m bored, people, just goddamn bored. So I dragged out my results of a meme I did a few weeks ago, prompted by Reecie - a meme that Lynn just posted as well.
Reading Lynn’s post about it, it was so nice to see that I had a buddy in the iPod-shuffle-meme/ignored-for-admin-professional-day thing that I decided to share my results with the whole world, of which a shamefully small percentage will actually see this. but anyway. What you do is set the ‘pod to shuffle, ask a series of pre-determined questions, and, magic-8-ball style, it’ll kick back your fortune. Oh don’t snicker. It’s just as accurate as those folded paper things you made in grade school. You didn’t make these in grade school? That makes one of us a nerd. And the way my day is going, I can guess which one it is.
ANYWAY. Here’s the questions, and my faithful pod’s responses thereto:
How does the world see you? Bugs (phish) (oh good, an exoskeletal parasite. I was afraid this would be depressing.)
Will I have a happy life? Panacea (greyboy)(makes me think that every little thing’s gonna be all right, except I have that song and it didn’t come up for this question. maybe they meant “pangea,” which actually makes even less sense.)
What do my friends really think of me? La Marea (manu chao) ("the tide") (so they think of me as alternately waxing and waning on a twice-daily schedule, raising all ships but waiting for no man. Apparently my friends start drinking early.)
Do people secretly lust for me? The Prisoner (gil scott-heron) (this is a depressing song and it strongly suggests that the main emotion being sent my way is more like pity than lust. I guess I can see how that would be true.)
How can I make myself happy? Love Tractor (widespread panic) (what I need is professional-grade diesel-powered industrial machinery that literally drags love across the rutted surface of the planet. This was not my original plan, but if the ‘pod says so, so it must be.)
What should I do with my life? Sexual Healing (ben harper) (this is too shameful to even make fun of)
Will I ever have kids? Gully Low Blues (louis armstrong) (a sad song for a man who adopted the world’s greatest boy. I’ll need to chew on this one for a while.)
Good advice for me: Con Poco Coco (chucho valdez)("with a little coconut")(So the advice is, add some tropical flavor - your nut is huge and rock-hard and covered with tough fibrous hairs. Yeah, I can see that.)
How will I be remembered? Touch You (golden palominos) ("Your memory is made up of light / It takes up residence and shines out / Like a photograph of fire / Like the light of my own body in the dark / Like something you almost remember” - I don’t know if I merit this kind of recollection)
My signature song? Green Chimneys (stanton moore)(this is rather dissonant hipster jazz, and not a song I particularly like. Then again, I’m not crazy about my signature either.)
What do I think my current theme song is? Lead Me On (Kelly Joe Phelps) (a powerfully evocative song about a man seeking his place in the world. I hadn’t thought of it as my theme, but now that it comes up, it rather makes sense)
What does everyone else think my current theme song is? I’m Sorry (zony mash) (instrumental hipster jazz fusion. I’m sure folk think I’m pretty sorry so I guess this makes sense too.)
What song will play at my funeral? New Kind of Neighborhood (jonathan richman)(lots priced to sell! adjacent to parkland! quiet at night! (except for those pesky zombies!))
What type of woman do I like? Git Morgn (margot leverett and the klezmer mountain boys) (traditional ethnic sounds reborn through a bluegrass-jam band mentality - the kind of woman who’ll enjoy mazoh brie with cayenne, marmalade and local honey. sure, I can buy into this one.)
What will my day be like? Insurance Fraud #2 (mountain goats)(this was true for that day a few weeks back when I did this first, but hell, it’s probably still true. “I won’t be cashing in that policy/till I find out what it is you’re trying to do to me” - a great song about a man facing some tricky ethical questions. Story of my goddamn life.)
Hope you had a good time playing along. I’d better get back to work now before I find a meme that will have me taking the bus back home to see what I’ve got in my recycling container or something. In theory, I am an administrative professional, after all. Maybe I should administer some professionalism at some point today.
