Month: May 2003

Good News: We bought our round-the-world tickets today. We fly from Sydney to Chicago, Chicago to Boston, Boston to London, London to Venice, Rome to London, and London to Sydney via Singapore.

Bad News: An Australian flight attendant has just been placed in isolation with a suspected case of SARS after working the Singapore to Sydney flight. Crap.

Friday Five:

1. Name one song you hate to admit you like.
There are so many. Just tonight I was trying to hide iPod from view so the cool guy waiting near me at the bus stop wouldn’t see that I was bopping to “All the Small Things” by Blink 182.

2. Name two songs that always make you cry.
People actually cry from songs? Seriously, people. I mean, sure, if your boyfriend has just dumped you and you’re listening to the Smiths, maybe. But I don’t think a song on its own has ever made me weep. I guess if I had to answer I’d say Ani Difranco’s “Untouchable Face” and U2’s “One” make me choke up a little bit. A very little.

3. Name three songs that turn you on.
REM’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”, Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”, and Indigo Girls’ “Romeo and Juliet”.

4. Name four songs that always make you feel good.
“See a Little Light” by Bob Mould, “I Won’t Be Your Yoko Ono” by Dar Williams, “Fight Test” by Flaming Lips, and “New York City” by Cub.

5. Name five songs you couldn’t ever do without.
What, in addition to all the ones I’ve just named? Let’s see… “Like a Prayer” by Madonna, “Knowing Me Knowing You” by ABBA, “Say Goodbye” by Dave Matthews Band, “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, and “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” by XTC. Man, I didn’t realize I was such a fan of pop music. I guess everybody likes to think of themselves as a “serious” and discerning fan, but I can’t hide behind that anymore. I am an unabashed crappy pop music whore.

I was telling my co-workers this morning that one of the pub trivia questions last night was: “Which company invented the dot matrix printer?” They all laughed because the answer, of course, is Epson. Well, to be technical, it was Seiko who then started Epson. They built the “EP-101” for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. (Hence the name “Epson”, which expresses the company’s determination to produce many worthy “sons” of the EP-101. That’s from our company magazine; I kid you not.) Anyway, afterwards one of the IT guys called me over and showed me the EP-101! We’ve got one in a display case. It looked like a lawnmower motor, to be honest. I thought it was pretty funny though.

Trivia Update: Disappointment. Our bid to defend the title was unsuccessful. We had eight people and we weren’t drunk; we just got a lot wrong this week. We failed to guess the two swimming events Mark Spitz won gold medals in, and we also missed the two years London hosted the Summer Olympics. My own meager personal highlights were knowing the four Presidents shown on Mount Rushmore and correctly identifying the Cure song “Boys Don’t Cry”. Questions of the Week: What letter do most of the world’s countries end in? Which country executed Mata Hari?

I was lamenting to my friend Kevin this morning that I haven’t been able to find any Crisco in the can in Sydney to bake with. I’ve seen the bottles of cooking oil everywhere, but never the solidified stuff. Imagine my surprise when he responded, “I’ve seen it!” Me: “Where?” Him: (embarrassed) “The sex shop.” Hilarious! And yet gross too, especially since I’ll probably have to venture in there to pick some up if I get the baking urge…