I forgot I needed it

There's nothing quite like the feeling of coming upon a new album that grabs you by the collar, slaps you around a little, and then won't let you put it down. The new Thermals CD The Body, the Blood, the Machine is doing that to me right now. I'd heard a song of theirs on WOXY and I remember seeing Pitchfork wet themselves over it a few weeks back, but didn't peg it as my thing. Julie picked up the CD the other day and I didn't give it much thought, but after hearing the song on the radio a little more, I thought it would be worth checking out. And boy is it ever. I think 2 things about it really grab me. First is the vocals - the singer has a really unique voice/style, almost like he's talking instead of singing, but just talking really loud and really insistently. The other is the energy - the album is suffused with a kind of joie de vivre and and has this crackling electricity about it. A kind of Ramones-ish, buzzsaw, push-you-along kind of energy that doesn't let you sit still and makes you want to sing along at the top of your lungs. So I'm excited about it. I'm not so good with the descriptive, flowery reviews, but you can check out the nice things that Pitchfork and Cokemachineglow have to say about it. Other CDs that I've been digging on lately are The Lemonheads new s/t album, and Mastodon's Blood Mountain.

Also, on the way home from work last night, traffic came to a sudden halt because there was a homeless man in the middle of the street lighting a cigarette, who then proceeded to unzip his fly and start peeing. Right in the middle of the street. In broad daylight. Awesome.

Screaming for Vengeance

I got word this morning that I was going to be getting new office furniture (again) tomorrow, so I had to start frantically cleaning up my desk and packing things up. My current desk area has these cubicle-esque walls that I can tack things on, while the new desk would have no such feature. This means that I would have no place to put things like my giant catfish photo collection and the Judas Priest poster above. Thankfully, it turns out that the new furniture isn't coming after all, so Rob, KK, Glenn, Ian and whoever the drummer is will still be there to help me get through the work day. If you could use a little help from the Priest as well, you can download one of those bad boys here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Nearest Book Meme

I'm not much on these memes, but I haven't posted in a bit and this one seemed like more fun than the normal Q&A ones...

From Critters and Spectacles:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Possibly the two had been "indiscreet," although he did not think Gertrude capable of so drastic a moral lapse. The more he pressed her for an explanation, the more troubled and adamant she became. She wished she had never come to Chicago. It was a blighted, hellish place full of noise and dust and smoke and inhuman towers that blocked the sun, and she hated it - hated especially this gloomy building and the ceaseless clamor of construction.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson, which is about the planning of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, and also a serial killer that was using the occasion to do his business. Not a book that I would have normally picked up, but I needed a new book to read and the lady friend lent this to me. I'm actually on page 110 of this book right now, so I'm glad that this didn't really give away anything drastic...

Egretta thula

As I was walking over to the mail room today around noon, I was greeted by the sight of a snowy egret rounding a corner and slowly waltzing towards me from the other end of the sidewalk. The egret was soon followed by short man on a cell phone who proceeded to yell "Don't scare him!!" in my general direction. This was a little jarring not only because I was getting yelled at by a man on a cell phone, but because egrets are usually near water (which there is none of anywhere near the medical center) and not casually walking around by the mail room. As the bird got nearer, it was evident that it was injured because its left wing was hanging so low as to drag on the ground. The scruffy gentleman on the cell phone and a friend of his were obviously trying to round up the bird and were trying to call someone who could help, so I explained that I volunteered with PW and that I was going to get a box and towel to catch the bird from my car and would be right back. Miraculously, the bird stayed in the same area and was still there when I got back with the supplies, and with some help from the two dudes, we managed to corner the bird, toss a towel over it, and get it into the carrier. The two guys were so excited that we accomplished this and began loudly exclaiming to each other that they'd done a good deed for the day. They proceeded to introduce themselves to me and then said that they'd love to be able to do more things like this and wanted information about volunteering and how they could help, because they were "looking to turn their lives around."

Now I don't give people a whole lot of credit, especially when it comes to dealing with animals (and given my experiences at PW with people like the guy who tried to feed steak to a cowbird, can you blame me?), but it was really heartening to see how much these guys cared about getting help for the bird and making sure that it got taken care of. A lot of times people see an injured animal and are like "Oh look - how sad." But here are two guys that are clearly down on their luck who did everything they could in this case, including calling PW to get help and find out what they should do, making absolutely sure that the bird didn't go anywhere before we could catch it, and then helping me wrangle the bird once we got all the necessary supplies. They were very insistent about wanting to help out and getting information on volunteering, but I didn't have any of the PW pamphlets with me, so I told them that they could get information on the Web site or that someone from the help line could probably take their address down and then send them some info.

It definitely adds a little spring to my step on days when I get to help out with a transport or can take an animal that needs help up to the care center, but it felt especially good seeing how excited those guys were and how important it was to them that they helped out the bird. It's nice to think that maybe, in a way, the bird helped them out, too.

Trial and errors

I had a thought the other night, and the recent flurry of dating posts has inspired me to actually verbalize it. Many of you (you all know who you are and I can't thank you enough) have had to listen to me bitch and moan - a lot - about my relationship trials and tribulations, and all the anxiety that accompanies them for me. But last night I was thinking that, all things considered, I've been pretty lucky in dating and relationships since I've moved out to San Diego. Granted, none of them have been entirely successful and I'd much rather be in a long-term relationship by now and not continuously doing the whole dating thing, but still. I've managed to have 2 1/2 relatively intense relationships, where, although they didn't all last as long as I might have liked (keep your fingers crossed for the current relationship, people), I really got to know the girls, had a really strong emotional connection with them, and got to experience all of the highs and the lows that come with real relationships. And for all my griping, I realize that things like these don't come around that often, and that I've really been lucky to have had these experiences in such a relatively short period of time.

When I first met H last spring and things really started clicking, I was just knocked off my feet. I had feelings of an intensity that I hadn't experienced for a LONG time. It was really like I was falling head over heels. And although it flamed out a lot quicker than I would have liked, just knowing that I could feel that way again and that someone could have that kind of effect on me was a real revelation. I had honestly gotten to the point where I felt as though I was never going to have those intense feelings again. It had been so long that I just assumed that once you got older and had been through things a few times, those really powerful feelings that you felt when you met someone fantastic would never be quite the same, and while I certainly hoped to find someone who I really dug and was fantastic, I didn't expect the knock-your-socks-off kinds of feelings to come around again. And now to have had several relationships in a row with that similar intensity of feeling again? It's almost too much to ask for.

So I realize now how lucky I've been, although I know I haven't always fully appreciated it, mostly because I was too busy picking things apart or just being wracked with insane amounts of anxiety. Now I just need to work on keeping this mind set, and enjoying what I've got. My best friend in the world (and others as well) gave me some very sage advice that I've tried to follow, with varying amounts of success: "Be as fair to yourself as you want to be with her. Enjoy it. We spend too much time trying to get something that we forget to enjoy it when it is there." Sounds simple, but it doesn't necessarily come that easily for me. But I'm gonna keep working on it, and hopefully one day I'm going to make one of these relationships stick.

The Pearl

Ok, which is more awesome: the fact that Baltimore has an ABA team called the Pearls, which has a basketball/clam logo, or that they misspell "BASKETBALL" in giant letters on their Web site?

Black widow

Sitting out on the patio two nights ago, I spied this lovely lady lurking in the shadows nearby. I was thrown off by the coloration a little bit, but some Web research (no pun intended) quickly revealed that they don't become fully black until they're completely mature.

It's always pleased/comforted me to know that there are quasi-dangerous animals around that we have the possibility of running into on a daily basis. People in general want things to be safe and homogenized, and don't want to worry about things like having an alligator eat their poodle when they're out for a walk. They want nature out of their lives except when it's convenient. Now by no means do I want to get mauled by a puma when I'm out hiking, but at the same time, I like knowing that all the different facets of a given ecosystem are there and working, even the ones that could potentially have an adverse effect on our existence. But any animals that fall into that category - be it a spider, rattlesnake, coyote, puma, or whatever - would much rather be left alone and in most circumstances would only bite/sting/attack out of a last resort, hunger, or to protect their offspring. And I know that people don't always like to have common sense enter the equation, but hey - keep your cats inside and coyotes won't eat them.

So anyway, thanks for hanging out, spider. It's good to have you around.

Edit: Thanks to alert reader Mysterydater, it was pointed out that this is most likely a brown widow (who knew?), a species that's actually been in Southern California for a while, despite some hubbub on Yahoo! about it being a new threat.