spaazlicious

I think a large part of the money I earn goes to books.

I sometimes wonder where my money's gone and all I have to do is look around.

Stacks and stacks.

Books I've read, reread, books I really want to read, books I know I SHOULD read if I really want to be the well-rounded person I imagine myself to be, overdue library books (ouch, I hate shelling money out to the general fund, knowing that they'll probably do something completely silly and unbook-related with it) and old schoolbooks that have more sentimental than resale value.

And boxes and boxes of books in the garage.

Anyway, I stopped by The Grove at 30th and Juniper, a local combination yarn/book store and couldn't resist a book called One Thousand White Women, (I'm sorry but that title has so many fabulous possibilities for me) even though the jacket designers indulged themselves in something I really hate.

When I flip a book over, I want to see a brief summary of the plot, not what a bunch of effusive crap picked out by the publishers and written by people who earn a living reading books. Lucky bastards.

I look inside a book to see if I like the voice, what I need from the first glance is if this voice will have anything interesting to say.

Am I alone in this?

I also picked up Lamb (not with that cool cover though) because I think I'm on a bit of a Christopher Moore mini-kick. The man makes me laugh.

I love South Park. I'd love to live in that neighborhood if we could afford a little place with a yard and a garage, but I think one reason we really love it is that all that funky mixed use zoning and cute Craftsmans remind us of Sacramento.

I also love music.

Almost all kinds except thrash metal, depresso-rock, and misogynistic hardcore. So I've been enjoying reading this so-called "meme" around the blog-world and was actually (-sob-) really touched that Absinthe Heidi tagged me.

So here it is, though I don't do these kind of specific favourite things lists well (like a forgetful shotgun I am--all over the place I mean, not prone to blowing away stupid people who are trying to clean me...well, Rachael-a-go-go's explanation is a pretty good fit)but since I really like a lot of different stuff consider the items of #4 as random pellets in a large field (well, that's nice, summoning up the image of bunny dung when I'm just trying to keep that shotgun metaphor going. I give up, here it goes):

1. Total amount of music files on your computer?

According to iTunes, 11.28 Gigabytes, but since 1.84 is Audible stuff, I guess it's less than ten. I lost a whole bunch of stuff when the iTunes folder got wiped and I still have to re-import it. But it takes forever and iTunes is always crashing and freezing on me.

2. CD you last bought?

Afroman's Good Times. I may lose my Jr. Feminist Club Card for admitting that, but I think he's funny.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?

Well, at this moment, I'm listening to Willie Nelson's "The Maker" from Teatro but it just ended and now I'm hearing "Such Great Heights" (the Iron & Wine version).

4. 5 songs you often listen to, or which mean a lot to you?

Now the questions are getting hard.

a. "Feeling Good Again" from Robert Earl Keen's Walking Distance is the song we danced to at our wedding, and possibly the most perfect song I've ever heard. Sometimes when I hear it I get all misty because I feel in a rush how MUCH I love my husband and the life that we have, the love that we have, how lucky we are. I love Robert Earl Keen's stuff (not his Farm Fresh Onions CD, though, I don't know what happened there).

b. Gotta be something from Dar Williams in here, but WHICH one? I love her jaunty-happy-bouncy songs, like "Better Things" "Alleluia" or "Flinty Kind of Woman" but I think my favourite for capturing (again, that undefinable feeling of hope, thrill, confusion) a "mood" is "Are You Out There?" from Honesty Room. Though "I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono" from The Green World gets stuck in my head for days--"You can't trust a person like me/ I might sell your songs to Nike"

c. "Me Gustas Tu" from Manu Chao's Próxima Estación: Esperanza because it can completely turn my mood around. And I love all his stuff.

d. "Your Revolution" from Sarah Jones because it's "patently offensive."

e. "Kaanta Laga Haye Laga" from DJ Doll, because if I'd never run into this CD at a shop in Berkeley while getting an oil change I might never have fallen in love with Indian music. I also love that the video for this song was banned. I can't find the link for it now, but there was an internet stream of it, and it's totally tame by US standards (of course) but it's fun to see what looks like Hindi line dancing doing on, like "Thriller" meets "Boot Scoot Boogie" meets Bollywood. This song just makes me want to dance, like "Chunari Chunari" from the soundtrack of "Monsoon Wedding."

5. 3 you'll pass this on to (& why? Because I like you, that's why):

(this "meme" has been making the rounds, so if I tag anyone who's been tagged, please forgive me and ignore me [in either order])

Lori at HappyGoodLuck.

Stella at StellaKnits.

Ande at Knit and the City.

I like music that has a good beat, doesn't matter if I can understand it at all. If I can, and it is utterly reprehensible to my values...well, I try to deprive myself. I at least don't buy it, don't support its supporting advertisers. I love bhangra & punjabi pop, folk, bluegrass, hip-hop (MC Solaar, Afroman), music that makes me laugh or feel something (other than irritated at the noise). Yeah, so music, well, musical tastes aren't very easy to encapsulate in a "meme," but I really wanted to try.