I’m tryin’ out some new links in my daily blog reading routine. They’re down there on the right. I discovered them all via comments at this site, so if you think I should be experiencing your brilliance, speak up!

Musical taste

If Max does it, it’s a meme. Therefore I fired up iTunes and hit random play to see what came out. With 3,198 songs on our shared server, you’d think the results wouldn’t be so embarrassing…

1. “Whenever, Wherever” – Shakira
2. “#41” – Dave Matthews Band
3. “Back Home Again” – John Denver
4. “We Walk” – Steelpole Bathtub (from Surprise Your Pig, an REM tribute album)
5. “The Arrival’s Gate” – Ani Difranco
6. “Seasons of Love” – Cast of RENT
7. “Lazyhead and Sleepybones” – They Might Be Giants
8. “Thanks Bro” – Filter
9. “Crawl” – This Way
10. “Bad Moon Rising” – Creedence Clearwater Revival

I was all set to complain that those make me sound lamer than I am, but after reconsidering I’m forced to admit that it’s actually a scarily-accurate picture of my music-listening personality. Yes, I listen to Broadway soundtracks and Top 40’s pop and feminist folk rock and classic rock standards.

Another Visit to the Doctor:

Me: So I took the antibiotics like you said and they made me feel better, but I finished them on Monday and Tuesday night I woke up with a sore throat and a headache.
Dr: Sounds like you’ve still got the bug!

He shines his little light down my throat again.

Dr: They certainly look… juicy.
Me: JUICY??
Dr.: I recommend that you have another course of antibiotics, and that you have your tonsils removed soon.
Me: REMOVED??

So that appears to be that. The Snook thinks I should get a second opinion before agreeing to have bits lopped off. Personally I’m a little nervous about the whole prospect. I’ve never had an operation in my life. Any of you had your tonsils taken out?

Yet Another Lesson I Learned the Hard Way: Folks sending me packages from the U.S. should refrain from including food, especially unprocessed stuff like popcorn. Because if the sniffer dogs catch it, Customs will quarantine it for months before eventually throwing out the popcorn, and I’ll get my remaining Christmas presents three months late. 🙁

Back in grade school, one of my friends bought a “slam book” and brought it to class. Each page had a category, like “Favorite song” or “Boy you like”, with a bunch of numbered lines for everyone’s answers. One page puzzled us though: “Pet Peeves”. As I was the class brain, everyone turned to me for an explanation. “I think it’s, like, stuff that annoys you… about pets.” Okay, so I was sorta close. I remember everyone then writing down stuff like “When they pee in the house” and “When they jump on you” as their answers. It was years before I figured out my mistake.

Anyway, my Pet Peeve O’ The Day: people who touch your computer monitor while pointing at something and leave greasy fingerprints all over it. That drives me nuts! Okay, now it’s your turn to vent…

The The Age ran a great interview with Dr. Atkins today entitled “Look Mum, No Carbs”. It’s an excellent introduction to the low-carb lifestyle and addresses some of the criticism that’s been written about it. It also tries to explain how the diet works, which is something that often gets lost in the usual “You can eat steaks deep-fried in butter and still lose weight!” tabloid angle.

Channel 10 just showed E.T. as counter-programming to the Cricket World Cup. Man, that movie always makes me cry. Afterwards I had to go back and read Ebert’s excellent review, which is one of my favorites. I love that he signs it “Grandpa Roger.” 🙂

As there seems to be little interest right now (even from me), I’m officially putting “The Book Group” on hiatus. The old discussions are still active, though, so feel free to keep adding to them.