our particular brand of madness

not sure if this will encourage us to write more or less frequently, but food-type writings can now be found here.

like so:
superior hummus

and so:
apricot-cherry sauce

mmm, food.

we got back from the marathon-drive-with-whole-family-to-new-york-for-my-cousin's-wedding around 2am Monday morning. it took us until about Thursday night to get back into the rhythm of our normal life.

it didn't help that we both started the trip with an all-nighter Wednesday night catching up on work and house things--oh, and packing--before we left the house at 6am (also not helpful was the inevitable fight right before we left: inevitable because we were both stressed and exhausted--but making up is always nice). as for the trip itself, my family is still speaking to one another; the wedding was very um, modern Catholic; the reception was lavish; and Saratoga Springs is pretty happening for a tourist town. the drive up, she was long. the drive back, she was longer.

anyway, after a week of fussing about having to go to work and do the dishes and so on, we finally buckled down on Friday afternoon and starting actually doing things again. as a matter of fact, it turned out to be a really productive weekend. my checklist now looks like this:

• herd cats**
• rearrange living room
• purchase and assemble new tv cabinet
• decide on paint/finish for cabinet and small chest-of-drawers, purchase; testing in progress
• food blog started and inaugurated with new recipe specially created for the occasion
• footie "practice"
• yoga (for two, whoda thunk?)
• liverpool friendly highlights watched and discussed
  
• grocery shopping: supermarket and farmers' market
• return wedding clothes possibilities that didn't make the cut
• catch up on battlestar galactica
• vacuum
• marinate lamb
  

hell, I feel downright accomplished. the lamb and the floors can wait. I'm going to go have a single malt and read my new book.

**not really. but making vacation plans/reservations for your in-laws (Dunc's parents) is not unlike herding cats, particularly when you're trying to get them to tell you what they actually want to do.

Total Volume:
15G on work laptop, 15G on personal laptop (maybe a few gigs of overlap there), 45G on personal desktop—and about 350 CDs that aren’t ripped yet.

Last CD Bought:
Smokin’ at the Half Note - Wes Montgomery
This is the Modern World – The Jam

Song Playing Right Now:
"White Pepper Ice Cream” – Cibo Matto

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

1. “Babylon” – David Gray
2. “Pearl” - Chapterhouse
3. “Three Lions” – Lightning Seeds/Baddiel & Skinner
4. “Anna Begins” – Counting Crows
5. “Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues” – The Eels

Currently in Heavy Rotation:

(albums)

1. The Birth of Cool – Miles Davis
2. Guero - Beck
3. From Here On In - South
4. Set Yourself on Fire - The Stars
5. Cellar Door - John Vanderslice
6. Sunrise Over Sea - John Butler Trio

(songs)

1. “Such Great Heights” – Interpol
2. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” – The Eels
3. “Won’t Give In” – Finn Brothers
4. “Sunlight in a Jar” – The Lucksmiths
5. “Baby Don’t Cry” – INXS
6. “Call Me Mellow” – Tears for Fears

Top 5 Songs of the 80's (not sure about this category, I ended up listing the 5 songs that I identify most intensely with the 80’s, i.e., when I think 80’s music, I think these):

1. “Take on Me” – a-Ha
2. “Call Me Al” – Paul Simon
3. “No One Is to Blame” – Howard Jones
4. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” – Tears for Fears
5. “Power of Love” – Huey Lewis & The News

Top 5 Rock Albums of All Time (I do not like this category; I think my answer would be different every week):

1. Dulcinea - Toad the Wet Sprocket
2. Woodface – Crowded House
3. Rubber Soul - Beatles
4. What’s the Story, Morning Glory? – Oasis
5. Graceland – Paul Simon

Top 5 Greatest Hits/Compilation Rock Albums of All Time:

1. Decade - Duran Duran
2. Anthology - Tom Petty
3. Rock Spectacle - Barenaked Ladies
4. Every Breath You Take: The Classics (note, not EBYT: The Singles) - The Police
5. A Secret History – Divine Comedy

Music videos that you thought kicked ass at the time, but now they embarrass you:
Not sure I watched enough music videos to answer this, but I’m pretty sure I thought the video for a-Ha's “Take On Me” was very cool back in the day. Now it just makes me laugh. Also, “Land of Confusion” by Genesis.

Twirling baton to:
whoever wants. post a link (or your answers) in the comments if you bother.

or, y'know, not.

it's kind of like splitting up with that guy, the one you've been with for a long time, the one you were friends with first, the one your friends and your family and even your ex likes, the one that you thought maybe might be in it for the long haul. but when you were honest with yourself, you knew there had been something missing lately; you looked him sometimes when he didn't know and you could tell his heart wasn't really in it anymore, that he kind of wanted to be somewhere else, and you even had that thing where you thought he was cheating on you last year, but you worked things out, and, although it was up and down for a bit, it was really really good for a while.

and then things got really weird. you tried to talk about it, but that just made it weirder. and no matter what you said or did, he was positive he couldn't stay, he just didn't feel like you wanted the same things, even though you're sure that you do. what he didn't quite say, but you're pretty sure he meant, was that you're not good enough anymore.

so right now, he's upstairs packing his stuff, trying to decide where to go.

oh sure, there've been other guys, and there will be more to come. some of those you might already know--there's that green-eyed Dutchman who just got into town, and that French guy with the cheeky grin and more energy than a miniature poodle, and what about that quiet young Spaniard with the twinkle in his eye--and maybe some you haven't met yet.

but right now, you're just confused and disappointed and hurt and sad.

Liverpool won or drew 65.12% of the games Steven Gerrard played in last season (league, cup, and Europe). They won 48.84% of those matches. That's almost half of the 43 in which he made an appearance, usually playing the full game, but occasionally being substitued after 65 or 80 minutes.

For the 17 matches we were without our "inspirational" captain, we won or drew 76.47% of the time, winning 52.94% of them outright.

My head can understand it's not the end of the world to sell him (for at least £40,000,000, of course), but my heart is still struggling with the idea.

On the other hand, if he wants to go, I can't help thinking fuck 'im, we don't need players that don't want to play for us.

And regarding why this happened, I'm not at all convinced that it's the club's fault. The whole thing is disappointing, but I can hardly see how Gerrard can say we didn't start talks soon enough when his own agent was away on his HONEYMOON until the end of June.

pictures on flickr. too tired to tweak them, though, or write anything useful.

imagine I've said something patriotic, and yet not necessarily pro-current-administration. thanks.