the photograph on the dashboard

why it pays to use Lexis:

I just bought this with my accumulated Lexis research points. My point total went from over 26,000 to a whopping 31--but man, am I excited.

(I suppose it probably helps that I'm a Lexis Rep. However, I've still got another year of point accumulation ahead of me--and now that Kate Spade is being added to the Lexis store next week... *rubs hands in eager anticipation*)

Anyway, expect more posts with photos in them once it arrives. (Also, expect fewer derisive comments from my friends about my continued use of a *scoff* film camera.)

dreams they complicate my life

Random observation: I have gone through more cans of diet soda in the last two days than I have in the last two weeks.

It's not all caffeinated (*tweak!*), in fact, most of it isn't. I think I get a little bit of an oral fixation when I'm stressed, so I need to be eating something, drinking something, or chewing something at all times (I've also gone through more gum in the last two days than I have in the last month, and I'd prefer to keep confidential my cracker and dry cereal intake).

Exams start tomorrow (the source of all this stress), and I'm getting things kicked off with a bang by taking Trusts & Estates bright and early tomorrow morning. The plan is to take Employment Law next Weds and Tax the Weds after (the last day). I've never taken a self-scheduled exam on the last day before; I hope the school doesn't turn into a zoo. If I feel ready (ha!) I might take Tax early, but I'm doubting that will happen.

I'm not as scared about exams as I was last year. I'm also not as overwhelmingly prepared for exams as I was last semester (for my, uh, one single exam). I'm feeling this sense of inevitability--the exams will happen, and I will be a passive recipient of them. I think I need to feel more like I can kick some ass, because, well, I can. (I think.)

I also think I need to finish working through these Trusts & Estates drills. I am a WHIZ at intestacy, though. Just try and die with out a will! I'll get your estate sorted out faster than you can say "English per stirpes," you betcha.

in the spaceship, the silver spaceship

I read these books a while back, so I feel like I should (in my infinite spare time, ha) at least re-read the first one before the movie comes out in december...

...but in the meantime, I got a pretty tiger LION daemon! (wow, it's changed already.)



you can vote on it to see if you think it matches me or not, and if you change the balance, the animal will shift. Pretty neat little gimmack. Will only work for 12 days, though, so get in on it while the getting's good. (what else do you have to do--study? pshaw.)

a way to make you smile

I really, really wish I'd come up with this idea:

Pop Songs '07, a blog that will "write about every R.E.M. song, eventually." It's pure delight for longtime fans like myself, and I'm learning new insight into old favorites already.

For instance, I have always heard "At My Most Beautiful" as a stalker song. I thought Michael's gentle, soft delivery was deliberately ironic, as he's clearly wielding a knife right below the melody line. "Saving messages just to hear your voice"? CREEPY. "Count your eyelashes secretly"? CREEPY. "I know you're closed-eye watching me, listening"? Yeah, because he's going to KILL YOU.

...and yet. Blog author Matthew Perpetua views it nothing more than a beautiful love song, and at least two of the commenters played it AT THEIR WEDDINGS. To me, this is no different than playing "Every Breath You Take" (also prominently featured in my stalkersongs playlist). I re-read the lyrics, though, and taken at face value, there's absolutely nothing sinister there... except, yes, yes there is! I'm truly astonished.

And now I'm truly behind on my work, having spent an hour reading all the Pop Songs '07 back entries and thinking about my favorite R.E.M. songs (that will have to be a post for another day, I'm afraid). Back to work. Sigh.

ruby ruby ruby ruby

Two nights, two (indie) rock stars stagediving right over/into me.

Except where Thursday night I kinda-sorta-never-really was in contact with said rock star, Friday? I got an armful of sweaty Kaiser Chief frontman. I knew the whole time he was leaping around the stage that he was eventually going to dive off, and sure enough--right in the middle of their next-to-last-song, he plummeted face-first off the stage and was ushered along the sea of people toward the back of the theater.

Except the Vic has levels, lots of them, so he was headed right for me, in the second row of the first level up, having wormed my way forward. Me, and the EIGHT HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS standing around me. I could see a look of genuine terror in his eyes as he got closer, realizing that there was nobody in this little section of the crowd with more than 50 lbs of upper-arm strength (and, um, that would be ME and my awesome bench-press skillz. phear!). Worse, the girls saw him coming and FLED BACKWARD. NO KIDDING. A potential for first-hand contact with the lead singer, and you RUN? Kids these days!

So, now it's just me standing there, and I'm doing my best to prop him up and keep him from going head-down onto the concrete. Thankfully (and quick-wittedly, though I'm fairly certain I was yelling for him at that point), the Boy rushes in from a couple rows behind and single-handedly gets Ricky up on the railing in front of us so he can introduce the band. The sold-out crowd is going wild! The lead singer is standing right above us, clutching the Boy's head for support! wooooo! (To Ricky's credit, he did seem genuinely grateful for the Boy's assistance. Those nice British lads.)

The funniest part? Afterward, the girls were all, "I almost touched him!" "Oooh!" YEAH. YOU COULD HAVE HELPED. Geez.

Anyway, the Kaiser Chiefs were incredible--SO much energy, so much fun. I've paid good money for shows that were far less entertaining.

...and then I slept till 2pm the next day. Thank you, 3-3am nights spent with a trip-to-Egypt paper (it actually DOES end, contrary to the fatalistic viewpoint expressed in the previous post). Now, just 3 little old exams to take, and 2L year is naught but a memory. Shoot, but where does the time go?

fill our mouths with cinnamon

Yesterday's Decemberists show was good, but tonight? Tonight was GREAT. Amazing set list, and I have to say--it might be worse on my back (everybody knows it sucks to grow up), but forsaking the comfort of the balcony for jostling of the stage floor just adds SO much more excitement and energy to a show, especially for as crowd-participation-heavy a concert as theirs. Speaking of, Colin stage-dived at the end of the show and nearly toppled onto me--I'd be fangirly about it, except I would've probably gotten a concussion. I can, however, vouch for the quality of his seersucker jacket (nice!).

Oh, and my little tawny gypsy mac is infinitely pleased that they played "Shiny" tonight. *strokes monitor lovingly*

I heartily recommend opening act My Brightest Diamond, Sufjan backup-singer Shara Worden's band. She opened for the Soof last fall and was decent, but she's really come into her own now. Very energetic with an unusual, fascinating voice. I love that she was classically trained and is now fronting a rock band. Shows there's still hope for me.

...I mean, um, if this lawyer stuff doesn't work out. Right. Ahem.

Back to the trip-to-Egypt paper (IT NEVER ENDS)...

box your ears and leave you here stripped bare

Did I say I was done with the trip-to-Egypt paper?

That's not true. Woefully, hearbreakingly, exhaustingly not true.

I thought group work was supposed to be better in law school. That's what I told all my interviewers last fall--we're going to be collegial laywers someday, so the group work now is so much better because everyone cares more than in high school/college/whatever.

I now realize that the extent of my "group work" was working on legal writing projects with a like-minded study partner, who, yes, DID care. That is most assuredly not always the case, and it fucking sucks.

I'm going to bed. I'm pissed, I'm tired, and I'm sad that it's coloring my appreciation of the Decemberists (because they were wonderful tonight, and I'm sure they'll be wonderful again tomorrow). But maybe sleep will help.

the clicking of the heels

Can you tell my trip-to-Egypt class paper is done? (Well, not really--I'm going to be fixing the citations after the Boy is done combining all of our group members' parts, and that will be a bitch, but it's not ready for me just yet.) I'm actually still listening to my shuffle, having gone to the store and back for some milk in the interim. And the great music just keeps coming. I got the Good, the Bad & the Queen, the Fratellis, new Modest Mouse, Kaiser Chiefs + Shins...

...and, of course, some New Pornographers. And I don't think Twin Cinema will ever leave my shuffle. It has assuredly wormed its way into my list of all-time best albums. I mean, it's perfect for working out, which is a key criterion for making it onto the shuffle in the first place--practically every song on the album is upbeat, or gets upbeat at some point, or has enough rhythm that I can pound an elliptical throughout and not lose pace. The songs are musically complex, rhythmically fascinating (I can never predict the shifts in "The Jessica Numbers," no matter how many times I've heard it), catchy, gloriously harmonized... I don't know how they'll ever top it, but of course, I desperately hope they will.

There's another album, though, the bulk of which also will be extremely difficult to ever swap out of the shuffle... and I say this because every time I update the shuffle I think about it a moment, and then delete something else instead. It's probably not something anyone would ever suspect, either, so hear me out on its awesomeness: the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack.

Seriously. Take a look:

1. The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead -- Crash Test Dummies
2. New Age Girl -- Deadeye Dick
3. Insomniac -- Echobelly
4. If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself) -- Pete Droge
5. Crash '95 Mix -- The Primitives
6. Whiney Whiney (What Really Drives Me Crazy) -- Willi One Blood
7. Where I Find My Heaven -- Gigolo Aunts
8. Hurdy Gurdy Man -- Butthole Surfers
9. Too Much Of A Good Thing -- The Sons Feat. Bret Reilly
10. The Bear Song -- Green Jelly
11. Take -- The Lupins
12. You Sexy Thing -- Deee-Lite
13. Get Ready -- The Proclaimers

With three exceptions,* this is one of the best movie soundtracks EVER (take that, Zach Braff). But the rest of the songs? So totally fantastic that it more than makes up for these minor failings. I know scarcely anything about most of these bands--did Deadeye Dick do anything else besides New Age Girl? Does it even matter? And you haven't really had a workout till you've pumped your legs in tandem with the triumphant lead guitar chords on Too Much of a Good Thing. It's another perfect workout album, from the glossy pop of Crash to the quirky humor of If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself), or the rump-shaking Proclaimers' cover of Get Ready. Plus, as an XTC and CTD fan, the opening track makes my little heart burst with glee the moment I hear Brad Roberts's deep "Let's begin!" at the outset. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the 90s were an excellent decade for music, and this 1994 soundtrack has earned its coveted spot in my 240-song shuffle. Considering I have nearly 23 days' worth of music to choose from, that's really saying something.

Anyway. Just listening to music is a pleasure I so rarely allow myself... it feels downright sinful to sit here and play solitaire and listen to R.E.M. and Equation and Gary Jules, Aqualung, Imogen Heap and Cat Power. Cat Power! That's another album I'm loving more and more as I hear it. Plus, there's last Monday's Diesel Sweeties, which has been playing at the back of my thoughts ever since (click to see it full-size):




* The exceptions are track 12 (meh--I'd prefer Groove Is In the Heart, thanks), track 10 (which I honestly don't remember what it even sounds like anymore, so long ago did I relegate it to the bin), and OMG TRACK 6 (which rivals Xmas at Kmart for worst song ever). The beauty of digital music? It's as though these didn't exist and, instead, we have a perfect little 10-song soundtrack instead. Ta da!

heard you sing the sweetest sleep

Man, my iPod shuffle is on a roll--the English Beat ("Save It for Later") then Fountains of Wayne's "Troubled Times" followed by "Angel Won't You Call Me," by my favoritest Decemberists? I was going to take it off now that I'm home, but I can't bring myself to do so. In fact, I might listen to this one again...

...no, too late--it went to "July, July" before I could hit the back button. And I'm totally OKAY with that. Decemberists tomorrow! *dances around apartment*

Hi, reader! I'm full of sugar from FREE CONE DAY OMG. Next to my birfday, this is my favoritest day of the year. As the Boy will attest, I LOVE FREE STUFF, and I LOVE ICE CREAM, so FREE ICE CREAM is just about the best thing ever. Also, FREE CONE DAY is much more fun with people other than... um, not other people. I just realized I've done the last three FREE CONE DAYs solo, and while the principle (FREE ICE CREAM OMG) is still the same, it's a little less ALL CAPS when you're by yourself. Also, you feel a lot more guilty getting back in line for multiple scoops, which might be why I walked away today with three different flavors before we left Navy Pier. I sampled Cinnamon Bun (mmmmm), Chocolate Therapy (something I suspect ericat13 would enjoy), and lemon sorbet (because I'm a wuss and got ice-creamed out by the third round).

Oooh! Now I'm predicting a riot. Go little shuffle, go!

(Yeah, I know I put all this awesome music in my iPod to begin with. But I'm sure there's a loser track or two in there somewhere, but NOT TODAY. Because my iPod knows it's FREE CONE DAY, I think.)

but we still have the radio

the internets are quiet tonight.

It's been a hard day. So much sorrow for some.

Makes my minor sorrows (stupid paper grr arrgh arrgh) seem minimal in comparison. At least I'm alive.

So I got to thinking about things I love about being alive to take my mind off the paper-writing (grr arrgh), and my mind went to Billy Collins, as it sometimes does. Search my archives for "Tintern" to read a previous favorite poem of his, or just sit back and enjoy a poem I was first introduced to on the walls of my bathroom freshman year of college (dry-erase marker, but the custodians were unamused):

I Chop Some Parsley While Listening To Art Blakey’s Version Of “Three Blind Mice”
By Billy Collins

And I start wondering how they came to be blind.
If it was congenital, they could be brothers and sister,
and I think of the poor mother
brooding over her sightless young triplets.

Or was it a common accident, all three caught
in a searing explosion, a firework perhaps?
If not,
if each came to his or her blindness separately,

how did they ever manage to find one another?
Would it not be difficult for a blind mouse
to locate even one fellow mouse with vision
let alone two other blind ones?

And how, in their tiny darkness,
could they possibly have run after a farmer’s wife
or anyone else’s wife for that matter?
Not to mention why.

Just so she could cut off their tails
with a carving knife, is the cynic’s answer,
but the thought of them without eyes
and now without tails to trail through the moist grass

or slip around the corner of a baseboard
has the cynic who always lounges within me
up off his couch and at the window
trying to hide the rising softness that he feels.

By now I am on to dicing an onion
which might account for the wet stinging
in my own eyes, though Freddie Hubbard’s
mournful trumpet on “Blue Moon,”
which happens to be the next cut,
cannot be said to be making matters any better.

come on chemicah-ah-ah-ah-ah-als...

Remember this?

Well, then you need to see this. I was not kidding about Of Montreal being batshit-crazy.

oh, and did I mention that Paul Rudd sang karaoke with them on Saturday night???

I've gotta see these guys live sometime.

um diddle diddle diddle um diddle-i

hey! I'm on YouTube!

Here's my big scene (fast forward to 2:30 if you don't care about seeing my classmate TJ without a shirt on):



And here's my other song:



And here's my cameo in our intermission video:



And here's the big-ass finale:



And here's my favorite number I wasn't in:



Want more? search for "wigmore follies" and go nuts. Also, start favoriting them and writing nice comments, please? thanks!

Now, back to the schoolwork I didn't do all weekend (I was in NYC, not just slacking, I swear)... Thank heavens I managed to get back to Chicago tonight--things could have been worse.

i can do it without you

...except no, no I can't. Help me buy shoes. I had to toss my old blue suede retro Skechers when I came back from Egypt--too much embedded sand, tar and camel hair, alas. I'm leaning towards these (as is the Boy, when queried):



but part of me feels like I should choose something a little more sneaker-y and perhaps slightly more rugged:



Maybe the correct answer is to buy them both and then send one back (or, uh, not... *cough*). Unless the readership weighs in as in favor of one or the other (or neither)...? A girl can, sadly, not live on Fluevogs alone.

repeating your name

So, I'm going to see the Kaiser Chiefs next week.

For free.

RAWK.

I always fill out those little contests that the JamUSA promotional emails have in them ("Win two tickets to see [insert artist here]!"), assuming it's an artist I like. Most of the time I've already purchased tickers to the show, so even if I won, I'm not sure what I'd do with the tickets. I decided against buying the Kaiser Chiefs tix back when they went onsale because I'd just bought a fistful of Decemberists tix and was feeling the pressure in my bank account. I've lately been reconsidering my lack of faith because their new album? SO GOOD. Still hadn't gotten around to taking the plunge, though, when lo and behold--I get an email telling me I won the contest! hooray! So now yours truly (and a +1) is on the Jam Web Promotions guestlist for the show next Friday night at the Vic. RAWK, I repeat.

...though now I'm not going to win anything for, like, another four years. Case in point: I won a CD from WOXY in 2003, and a TV in 1999.

Oh, and a circular saw in 1998. But that was a one-off, I think.

birds, snakes and aeroplanes

Happy Easter, dear reader! It's 32 degrees here and the forecast says hail. Awesome weather for an egg hunt! Sigh.

Not much to report on this end--busier than ever, as deadlines loom--and I'm supposed to be doing laundry right now. But after a much-later-than-anticipated evening out last night (ahh, Wigmore), I'm finding it hard to get inspired to be productive. Meh.

I did want to report that I procured the new Modest Mouse and new Kaiser Chiefs, though I've only had time to listen to the former. It, however, is awesome, and I saw the "Dashboard" video at the gym yesterday--SO great. I'm glad more of my favorite bands are adopting a nautical theme (see also Decemberists, supra). Check it out:



Finally, what the hell, people: why won't DJs play "It's the End of the World as We Know It"? Who doesn't love that song? I've been thwarted at two different bars for two saturdays in a row, and I won't stand for it anymore. Michael, Mike and I will take our beer tab elsewhere. Harrumph.

unlimited repairs

whoa, it's a posting rampage!

But this? is why I LOVE John Vanderslice. The nicest man in indie rock, hands down:

"If you'd like to sing LEAD VOCALS on a song, please find us before the show and we'll bring you onstage. Try to learn two songs in case we don't know your first choice. If you want to PLAY BASS, bring it (don't worry about the amp) and learn either 424 or My Old Flame. It'll be a free for all."

Too bad I'll be in NY when he's at Schuba's on Apr. 13, or I'd be all over "Promising Actress." Sigh.

kitten break!

I'm knee-deep in a Powerpoint for music class tomorrow (anyone want to know about Apple's FairPlay DRM? 'cause I can tell ya), but I just wanted to remind you that I have the CUTEST KITTY IN THE WORLD:




That is all.