* It's not "the pink elephant in the room." Pink elephants are what drunk people see. The "elephant in the room" is the thing everyone dances around trying to be polite or pretend it's not there, and it doesn't matter what color it is. It is also not the white elephant in the room - that's a kind of sale. Incidentally, it also doesn't matter if the gorilla in the room is 300 or 800 pounds. The gorilla sits wherever he wants to.

* It's not "a third wheel." A third wheel makes a tricycle, which is still functional. A "fifth wheel," on the other hand, is superfluous. If you want to use a phrase referencing a threesome, say "three's a crowd" instead.

* "Flustrated" is not a word - either you're flustered or frustrated. There's no "expresso" in my latte - even though they make it really fast, it's still called espresso. And finally, "alot" is two words: a.....lot.

This concludes today's lesson in my personal linguistic pet peeves. (And I don't want to hear my own words thrown in my face about English being an evolving language...my snobby ass thinks you should be able to use it properly before you get to corrupt it to your own devices.)

I spent Memorial Day weekend sick. I had previously planned to spend it holed up in a swank hotel room, lounging in a jacuzzi drinking room service booze...or possibly in Vegas. Instead, I spent it asleep in my own bed. I was only conscious a few hours the whole weekend. Yay for me.

The upside is that I'm feeling better now. The downside is that I still want a fabulous birthday treat getaway. I promised myself one, and I didn't get it, and now I am bummed. Now I have to plot something exotic and fabulous, or at least something getaway-like. Oh, darn.

I've been feeling very...flaky....lately. Various aspects of my life that I sort of had reasonably handled have suddenly spun out of control in surprising and annoying ways. My sink is perpetually full of dirty dishes, despite my best efforts to do the washing up regularly. I'm about three loads behind in keeping my laundry up. My ability to stick to a budget, or to keep my fridge stocked so I'm not eating lunch out every day....yeah, disappeared. While I'm still managing to do the yoga five or six times a week...all of a sudden, other stuff has fallen out of my routine. And I worked so freakin' hard to get it there in the first place! Maddening!!

My antidote: re-read "Bridget Jones Diary." I suddenly feel so functional it's scary.

I had another case of musical serendipity, this time featuring Beth Ditto and The Gossip.

Now, I originally stumbled onto the Gossip a couple years back when I picked up one of their CDs at my local too-hip indie record store. Rough, raw, punkish, bluesy, ass-kicking rock and roll. Loved them, and loved Beth, big as she want to be and not shy about it with all that voice. Pure bliss.

Fast forward to me in some store listening to somebody covering Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody," a song I never particularly cared for in its hip-hop rendering. This voice sounds so familiar to me, though, and the arrangement was so spare, so raw and gorgeous. It was really well done, and gorgeous, and I loved it.

Fast forward again to a party and this rocking tune comes on, and somebody says it's The Gossip. I laugh, 'cause it's so polishd, and is obviously some club remix....nothing at all like the distorted sound of The Gossip I knew. Discussion ensues, and I learn that The Gossip are hitting the big time (uh, duh, knew that would happen) and have money to record in somewhere other than a garage. Sweet.

So, I go looking for new stuff by The Gossip, and sure enough, there's Beth Ditto covering Aaliyah. Musical bliss.

Sometimes I think maybe the only power I really believe in, in the whole universe, is music.

Today's Playlist:

"Here It Goes Again" - Ok Go
"Listen Up!" - The Gossip
"Take What You Take" - Lily Allen
"Hips Don't Lie" - Shakira & Wyclef Jean
"Watch the Stars" - Something COrporate
"Fat Bottom Girls" - Queen
"Tub Thumping" - Chumbawumba
"Overkill (acoustic)" - COlin Hay
"She's a Rebel" - Green Day
"Put Your Records On" - Corinne Bailey Rae
"You're So Damn Hot" - Ok Go
"The Beauty in Ugly" - Jason Mraz
"My Band" - D12 & Eminem
"Let's Not Fall Apart" - David & the Citizens
"Standing in the Way of Control" - The Gossip
"Everything is Alright" - Motion City Soundtrack


Recent entries...
27 December 2007: 2007: Finis.
17 December 2007: A ruse, a rant, and a poem. It's short.
11 December 2007: Music & falling....story of my life.
08 December 2007: Briefly...ish.
29 November 2007: A poem, a rant, a lesson.