They Don't Make Them Like They Used To

You don't really hear songs these days that just make you feel good. More than likely, if I hear a current song I think, wow, that would be really good in a movie trailer or at the end of an episode of LOST or Grey's Anatomy. What happened to songs that are just great on their own merit?

For instance:

My Maria by B.W. Stevenson

Photograph by Ringo Starr

Kodachrome by Paul Simon

Teach Your Children Well by Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Seriously, take a listen to them. I'm sure they've been used in TV or movies, but that's not the point. These songs speak to a part of us that doesn't get much flexing. Start exercising. 

You can go to pandora.com and put in any one of these artists or song titles, and get tracks back that are similar.

The Old Man

I've been back East for the past five days, and got to see lots of friends and family. I also saw my dad, which was a visit more out of necessity than desire. If I didn't visit, I wouldn't hear the end of it.

We caught breakfast with him in his hometown, at the old restaurant he and I used to visit. When I saw him, he was dumpier and older than I remembered. But in an amusing way. His neckflap had grown, his glasses appeared smaller on his head, his voice became more gravelly, and he was wearing a biker vest.

In some ways, he resembled Bill Adama. Not a spitting image by any means, but if there was an expanded lineage of the Adama family, he would be Bill's cousin, the one who runs a small fabrication company overseas.

The Happening, Part Two

9:25 p.m. Mount Pleasant, MI.

The sun has just dipped below the horizon. Two friends, Z and J, are walking back to their car. There is a light wind blowing through the trees.

"I think it's supposed to rain this weekend," says Z.

"Yeah, it's been doing that a lot lately," says J.

"It's nice, though. I don't get rain that often."

"Are you kidding? I'd love sun every day."

"I think it's supposed to rain this weekend."

"You already said that," says J.

"I think it's supposed to rain..."

"Z?"

"...supposed to rain..."

"You're freaking me out."

"...rain..."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Z shakes his head.

"I was just thinking about The Happening again. G-ddamn that was a horrible movie."

Only in America...

...can you make fourteen bucks an hour selling underwear.

Movin' on up...

Today, I was a Bluetool

So WWDC happened today, and it was the single-most anticipated event for me this month. I had three liveblogs open, and the Apple Store page ready should the vaunted iPhone 3G be on sale today.

I'm sitting here, practically foaming at the mouth from all the goodies El Jobso was showing, when I am torn away from my desk to compile binders for a confidential meeting SC was holding this afternoon.

For nearly two hours, shuffling around, grabbing pages, binding, trying not to get papercuts, all the while the second coming of the JesusPhone was happening. I had a plan to have my wife run across The Grove to the Apple Store should it come, but disconnected from all sources of information, I was left with one option.

While sorting pages and having a minor freak-out, I used my Jawbone to call my wife and have her check for me. Now, this doesn't seem like that big a deal, except I was completely hands-free, talking to the air, while handling time-sensitive documents that could cost the University millions. All for a freakin piece of plastic.

Still, it's probably the most gorgeous phone I've seen. July 11 can not come quickly enough.

On Maestro

Sent in my laptop to the Apple Store to get repaired. My genius was really good about helping me out. Jason Sklar was there also, getting his machine fixed. He wore really odd glasses.

Now I'm on my first computer, a Powermac G4 MDD. It'll be tough going for the next 7-10 business days. I probably won't get my machine back until after I get back from MI.

I must be on my man-period

Didn't take long from June 1 for all those happy, light feelings to go away. After a few days of bad sleep, a bad review of my screenplay, the GPU fan on my laptop crashing, running short on money, watching friends have fun because they can afford it, and preparing to travel East to hardly have a vacation, I am officially tired, sad, and cranky.

If I could, I would retreat into my head right now and not come out until I got some fucking good news.

I need my computer to be fixed, to earn some more money to take care of debts, to have some confidence in my writing again, and to lose weight so that I have more energy and not feel like such a fat-ass around the people I want to hang out with.

If I can actually get accepted and afford to go to Prague in January, it will really whip myself into gear.

I do what I want

I think I'm actually doing what I want to in life right now. I've got my wife, our apartment, our pets, our money. I've got amazing, talented friends. I get paid to fix computers, and I write in all the time between.

This is what I want to do. Enjoy it while it lasts, I suppose.