10/15/02
SIX days since I updated? What was I thinking? Well, I've had a cold, which is some sort of excuse. But not much of one. I've been pumping myself full of vitamin C, thanks to a box full of Emergen-C packets that I bought yesterday at Tamarind Seed, the health-food store opposite Columbia's campus where I seem to eat at least once a day. Not doing much good yet, though. Drip.
In any case, Lisa and I finally got through one of the great barriers in our relationship: the end of the B section of the parashah (an extensive Byrds section--God, you know, those later Byrds records really aren't very good at all, though they're exonerated in the grand scheme of things by the glory that is their version of "My Back Pages"). This morning we listened to Camper Van Beethoven's Telephone Free Landslide Victory, and the future looked bright. And tonight we're listening to the bundle of stuff I just ordered from Aquarius: the 20 Years of Dischord and Trojan Calypso box sets, and (if I stay awake long enough) the Ichi the Killer soundtrack by some Boredoms side project. It really does seem to be the case that the history of Dischord is the history of 9 people who all knew each other in high school, some of whom are preternaturally talented and others of whom... aren't. Playing as I type is the Caribbean disc of the calypso box, specifically Count Lasher & Williams with Lyn Taitt & the Baba Brooks Band's "'Mufridite," which is probably just what you think it is.
The comics panel Friday went nicely, and I promptly followed it up by coming down with the aforementioned cold--spent a lot of Saturday going to and from a party in the darkest wilds of Connecticut (one of the NAJP's famous "obligatory parties"), and Sunday lying in bed and reading comics (though I got up for a bit to cook tomato curry and a sort of improvised Greek "raita"). Dragged myself into yoga class Monday morning, whining about how I was under the weather and would probably just watch the class. Columbia noted that the things we'd be doing in class that day would be good for me and fill me with energy, so I might as well do them anyway. She was right, of course.
I seem to have reverted to an old practice of mine--actually one I never did all that much before (but may have picked up a bit from Aileen): decorating my backpack with little buttons. At the moment, it's got badges from my friend Fumiko (who makes little badges with images of her friends' moms' high school yearbook photos), Melt-Banana, and Palomar. I considered buying a Tracy & the Plastics badge at their show on Friday, but decided the ones they had weren't interesting-looking enough. Really, it's as fiendish a graphic-design problem as you could ask for: make something really striking and representative of a particular aesthetic in a circle with a 1-inch diameter.
In other news: DQE and Grace Braun's I'm Your Girlis out today on Dark Beloved Cloud! It's great!