I'm not ready to make nice, I'm not ready to back down

A few years ago I purposely stopped watching the Grammys on t.v.; and forced myself to not read anything directly about them. As the music fan that I am, this was a loss, because I could count on the people at the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America--the people behind the Grammys) to expose me to some good music during their annual broadcast--Diana Krall, Shakira and Ricky Martin come to mind. And don't laugh: if you saw Ricky perform La Copa de la Vida on the broadcast, you understand.

Anyways, sometime after Diana sang I Can't Give You Anything But Love with Erika Badu, the RIAA decided to start suing people over file sharing. This pissed me off to no end, because in my view the RIAA took away a valuable way for me to become exposed to music. When MTV stops playing music, one tires of the 5 songs on the radio, and where all other avenues for new exposure don't exist, file sharing was a way for me to find new music AND to hear it enough to want to buy it. I know that I ended up buying more CDs because of the files I found... but, thanks to the RIAA and their suits, I no longer allow myself the avenue. Consequently, I've become less of a music consumer: I buy less music because I am exposed to less music, and the stuff I do hear on the radio I don't like enough to buy (I still don't understand how Lips of an Angel is popular--a scratchy, growly, about-to-go-off-pitch voice is a good thing? The country version is better sung, but it's now tainted in my mind by the original... I guess I'm just getting old: I don't understand Beyoncé either...).

Anyways, to fight back at the loss blown to me by the RIAA, I retaliated with the most direct attack I could: I stopped giving the Grammys my attention (I even know how to freaking spell the awards correctly! for Pete's sake). I no longer got excited for the announcement, nor bemoaned my missing favorites. I do not visit the RIAA's website nor the one devoted to their awards, and I've not seen the show in a years.

All of which is probably ok... I'm still not really over viewing the popularity contest that it is: Smooth over I Want It That Way, "When the Pawn..." not being best alternative album, come to mind.... And a new atrocity from last night: My Humps is a Grammy winner?!? (And, ironically, Is It Any Wonder? just started playing on my iTunes....)

I am happy about the Dixie Chicks winning tho :)
(I do wish Beyoncé had won "Best New Artist" a few years ago, tho... [grin])

I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

Party in the city where the heat is on, all night on the beach 'till the break of dawn

So the weekend ends... and I feel like I don't really have anything to report. I spent most of this weekend helping run the timing system at a Florida Senior Circuit meet at the pool; and training one of the parents to do said job. All went fine; I even managed to remember to get a bell out for the mile (a subtle, minor victory; you probably need to be a distance swimmer to really care--the starter beep just is not the same).

The weather was beautiful, and, thankfully, the meet got me outside, or otherwise, I'd have probably just bummed around inside most of the weekend. I did manage to read a good chunk of Midnight's Children (50-75 pages), which is good but hasn't enthralled me (nor has it lost me, either).... All terrible excitement, I know.

I guess my excitement for the weekend happened on Friday when I got to drive to northern Miami to deliver some master tapes for work. It managed to take all of an hour, but I was out-and-about playing in I-95 traffic. I watched Idiocracy on Friday night, and enjoyed that, as well.


Party in the city where the heat is on
All night on the beach till the break of dawn
I'm going to Miami (bienvenidos a Miami)

Mamma mia, here I go again...

Have... you met Ted?

Since the rainy-day Super Bowl Sunday, I've been on a t.v. kick: I watched two episode of Psych, and have now been watching season 1 of How I Met Your Mother. (Ted's the one front & center. Periodically, friends of him play "Have you met Ted" as a way to introduce him to various women--Ted's the one married to "Mother" .)

Anyways, I'm enjoying it, and the fact that there's connections with actors formerly in Buffy/Angel/Firefly, doesn't hurt.

Hasta...

Mamma mia, here I go again
My, my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again

Sunday morning, rain is falling...

Well, it is Sunday morning, and it's raining (as viewed through my screened front window at left).... But my condo has officially been warmed.

Yesterday, after a frantic cleaning of my place and a quick dash out to pick up some wings (and a bad cell-phone signal caused me to be late returning home), I held a housewarming party, which went well--although I apparently over-bought on the drink front.

I even managed to get a few people to come, after my purposely short-notice invitation--the invites went out late Thursday night (and they almost went out Friday, due to my confusion over where I was in the week). Now if only I'd remembered "to drink a Big Red instead", to invite the out-of-state friends, or not gotten so panicky... that, and I need to keep the place clean until I can get some pics of its tidiness--proof that it can look clean.

Oh, and congrats to Casey who qualified for State yesterday at Regionals, despite a pesky reorganization by the UIL of the Regions that moved Austin in with the San Antonio area...


That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

You better, straighten up and fly right... cool down, Papa, don't you blow your top

On Thursday night during practice, I was swimming next to one of my teammates who was doing backstroke. We were going along when suddenly I notice her surge forward, coinciding with her hand closest to the lane line entering the water--a tell-tell sign of her hand having pulled on the underside of the lane line upon entry.

Now there is a lane-line drill, but generally speaking pulling on the lane lines is frowned upon. One, because it's not legal to do in a meet: it turns the stroke into a who can pull more effectively rather than a swimming stroke. Two, the lane lines aren't really constructed to take the pulling--they're there to stop waves and help confine us swimmers who'd go all over the place otherwise--and break from relatively low numbers of repeated tugs (one in some types of lane lines). And three, because people can move down the pool faster by doing it, it's frowned upon (it's equivalent to cheating).

So, after we finish up the swim and we're both sitting on the wall, I ask her how the lane line was. She confirmed that she had been caught, offered a token excuse for the behavior, and then said (jokingly) that she "better straighten up and fly right". This line caused the song of the same title to come into head, and I mistakenly assumed she was referring to the song.

I then proceeded to start singing about the buzzard and monkey, which prompted a question from Ms. Lane-Line about my crazy-speak. When I explained I was reciting the lyrics to Straighten Up and Fly Right, she said she didn't know the song....

Anyways, I should go: must get to tidying up my place prior to my housewarming this afternoon. Hasta...

The buzzard told the monkey, "You are choking me.
"Release your hold, and I will set you free."
The monkey looked the buzzard right dead in the eye
And said "You're story's so touching, but it sounds like a lie."