Meyer: Harvin’s heel healing well after surgery is the latest report from Sports Illustrated, which has me breathing a sigh of relief. Percy Harvins is easily the most exciting player to watch in college football. I didn’t get to watch Reggie Bush in action when he was in college, but from all accounts, Percy is more exciting and dynamic. His only problem is staying healthy, as he takes a beating considering the amount of times he touches the football.
I am seriously chomping at the bit for college football season to start. I’m excited for this year’s Florida Gators!
I wrote this in response to Monica, when she had asked if it was schizophrenia that she would listen to new music one day, and old music the next. I thought I’d share my reply on here:
Some day you’re in the mood for new music, sometimes you want a comfort listen, a lot like comfort food … well, comforts you. It’s familiar, soothing, has deep-seated memories attached to them whether they be happy or sad.
To me, music is a lot like photography. They remind you of a time, place, mood, taste, smell, sight, and a myriad of other feelings. They’re tiny little bookmarks that make us such incredibly complex and sophisticated beings.
New music need a chance to develop (like new photographs) while old music are fully developed, worn around the edges, but still maintaining their colors, warmth, and personality.
Some days I’m in the mood for new music, to me it’s like deep-sea diving, looking for treasure. When you finally do stumble upon a treasure chest full of all the glories that is ear candy, it’s worth its weight in gold.
Other days I’m in the mood for music of the past, that remind me of my childhood, a certain time and/or place, or just to revisit a familiar friend.
One day it’s indie rock, the next it’s reggae. After that I could have a irresistible craving for new age. Then I’ll go back to indie rock, only to explore the tiny little subgenres of rock; alt-country, bubble gum pop, folktronic, rockabilly, and so on.
We live in the best time in the world for the appreciation of music as a whole. There’s so much at our fingertips, it’s deliciously overwhelming!
I have a bevy of electronic devices in my room that basically function as nightlights. When I get up in the middle of the night, even as bad as my eyesight is, I can see where everything is without bumping into anything. Here’s a list of devices, and the type of light they provide in order of brightness and type of lights.
Throbber for steady dimming/brightening, Flickering for rapid on/off, and Steady for staying at the same brightness indefinitely.
Hava Platinum HD Placeshifter (Steady)
8GB Sandisk Cruzer Flash Drive (Throbber)
500GB Maxtor OneTouch External Hard Drive (Throbber)
17″ Macbook Pro Notebook Computer (Throbber)
Xbox 360 Gaming Console (Steady)
Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router (Flickering)
2Mbps/200Kbps Roadrunner Cable Modem (Flickering)
HDTV Cable Receiver (Steady)
Headphone Amp (Steady)
You can see a picture of my electronic nightlights here:
Someone asked me just now if I’ve always loved veggies and gourmet food. Here’s my response that I thought I’d share on here:
No, I wasn’t always a foodie. In fact, I was a lot like you a few years ago. I’d eat Mac and Cheese all the time, hot dogs, and when I went out, I got the same old stuff all the time; hamburgers, pizza, subs, stuff I grew up with and knew well. I was never disappointed doing this, but I was never pleasantly surprised, either. I never explored, never ventured outside my comfort zone, never tried to be adventurous.
But then my sleeping habit went screwy, and I’d stay up all night and sleep most of the day. One night, nothing was on at 3 in the morning, I was switching around, trying to find something to watch while I ate some chicken wings. I stopped on the Food Network because they were grilling stuff, and what they were doing caught my interest. It looked so good, and suddenly I was enjoying my chicken wings more because what was on TV was making me hungrier.
I enjoyed that so much, I did the same thing the next night. Then the next night, and the next, and the next. So on, pretty much everyday, for 2 years. I would watch during the day, too. I started learning, and then I started to appreciate food I never did before. They SOLD me on everything! Their enthusiasm and passion wore off on me, on even the most simplest foods in the world. Corn? Pfftt, no big deal, I said. But no, they’d build it up and put it on a golden pedestal. They’d caress it and whisper sweet nothings into its ears. Told me why it was so wonderful, why it goes so great in certain dishes. They told me the love that went into growing it, cleaning it, cooking and then serving it.
I’d watch shows on Italian pasta creation, Southern grilling, Cajun seafood, anything that didn’t do with baking and sweets, I was into. I hate baking. It’s stupid. Casseroles? BORING. Anyway, I digress.
Basically, I was ignorant, and when I got the knowledge, suddenly a whole new world of happiness and pleasure and nutrition opened up to me, and I’m so, so glad it did. When I go to restaurants, I rarely order something familiar. I always try something I’ve never had, and 9 times out of 10, I’m pleasantly surprised and ecstatic.
My only complaint about this revelation in my life is that I can’t try all the good foods in the world before I die, but I sure as hell am gonna try my best to.
I gave up on clearing my throat to get the attention of others who are preoccupied. It has lost its effectiveness in these modern times, so as a course of action, I’ve evolved and developed a new method of getting attention.
I now make retching noises. This has a highly effective 100% success rate. No longer do you have to clear your throat multiple times to get the attention you deserve. My retching noise method is guaranteed to work, every single time.
As an added bonus, it will get the attention of multiple people if there are more than one person in the room with you. So if you have something really important to say, my method works wonders. Practice isn’t even necessary, a beginner will also attain a 100% success rate.
I highly recommend you try this method at your next family gathering or company event, and be amazed at how superior it is over the old throat clearing method.
Note: Disregard the look of sheer horror generated by this method, it is a necessary side-effect for achieving your goal — getting attention.
When talking about albums that are ahead of its time, many people think of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, The Flaming Lip’s Soft Bulletin, U2’s The Joshua Tree, Radiohead’s OK Computer, Massive Attack’s Blue Lines, or David Bowie’s Low. However, one of my favorite that has withstood the test of time and still to this day sounds ahead of its time is Nine Inch Nails’s Pretty Hate Machine.
The day I first heard it was also the day I played my first first-person shooter. I played Doom on the Sega CD (those were the days) while listening to this amazing album. It heralded an era of consistently excellent releases from Trent Reznor over the years, all the way up to the latest album, Year Zero.
With PHM, I love every single song a lot, so ordering them is like a parent having to choose a favorite child. You love each one in a unique way, but you can’t really rank them. However, That’s What I Get and Down In It seem to get a lot more listens from me.
Every once in a while, an album comes along that completely engulfs you and prevents you from enjoying other albums. You know, you hit the repeat all button on your MP3 player of choice and listen to an album over and over and over again. When you try to deviate, it sucks you right back in, holding you tight.
The album that is doing that to me right now is Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations. I thought I was done with the album, I’ve moved on into 2007’s lineup of great albums. But then someone mentions he saw them live and suddenly everyone is talking about how great the album is. Now here I am, listening to the album, again.
There’s always the story of how a band or individual that sold their soul to the devil to play great music. I think Muse went one step above that and sold their soul to God to play such awesome music. Muse’s music owns my face.
Here’s Starlight from the album, it’ll melt your face, too.
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