Short Notes

1. I was sick earlier this week. Again. Seriously, people, if you are sneezing all over the place or coughing up a lung, just stay home. No one is so important that they can’t miss a day of work and help avoid turning the workplace into a germ warfare lab. And if you could just not breathe anywhere near me, that would be awesome.

2. As previously mentioned, I’ve been obsessively categorizing my CDs. I also purchased an Ipod. I have about 38 playlists. The list of songs I’ve downloaded is just embarrassing. I was explaining it to a co-worker:

“I like the anonymity of itunes. I can buy whatever stupid song I want and no one has to know. Like that Justin Timberlake song “SexyBack,” I like it, but I would never want to buy a Justin Timberlake album because that would be…”
“Embarrassing?”
“Yeah.”
“But now I know you bought that song, and I’m embarrassed.”

(Good thing I didn’t mention that Britney Spears song I downloaded.)

Punk rock cred: officially dead.

3. The new Bloc Party is pretty good, not exactly a departure from the first one. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I suppose that’s the peril of the sophomore effort. You don’t want to make the same album over again, but if you move too far in another direction, all your fans will hate it. The Shins’ new one is also pretty good*. One band I am loving right now is La Rocca. Their album, The Truth, is teh awesome. I’m excited for the new Arcade Fire. I’ve heard a couple of tracks and they sound amazing. I just got into their first one, and I can’t stop listening to it. I’m glad I spent all those hours putting 5000 songs on my Ipod, seeing as I listen to approximately 40 of them over and over again. Still, it kept me from doing other lame stuff, like my taxes or cleaning the kitchen.

4. Apparently, it’s cold out. I hadn’t really noticed. Well, actually, I had noticed, but far more annoying than the cold is everyone bitching about it all the time. I have a new rule: if you’re not wearing a hat, scarf, and gloves, you have no right to whine about the cold. If you’re walking around with coat unbuttoned in 20-degree weather, of course, you’re going to be cold. It’s winter, duh. Unlike most people in DC, I love the cold weather, and I find most of our winters much too warm. I’m pretty sure that in a previous life I lived in New England. Or maybe the Arctic Circle. I’m distantly descended** from the Vikings, so maybe that explains it.

5. I keep seeing commercials for some new Billy Bob Thornton flick. Something about astronauts (awesome timing Hollywood). Mr. Thornton has always scared the bejesus out of me, but there’s something even scarier than usual about him in these commercials. What is up with his face? Has he had a facelift? How else can one explain the fact that his eyebrows are practically in the middle of his forehead.

*This is why I could never write music reviews. I think everything is “good” or “cool” or “doesn’t suck.” It’s almost as bad as “It’s got a good beat. I can dance to it.”
**“Really, really, really distantly,” as Lord Kissington puts it, but something has to explain my love of Arctic weather and all things Scandinavian.