Is it wrong that the Violent Femmes' "Country Death Song" is actually able to cheer me up? I'd like to take my annoying roommate and push him in a deep, dark well (like in the song, of course).

It is currently half past midnight. And 32°F outside.

So, naturally, now is the time when the idiot roomie decides he absolutely must work on the fucking apartment door. It's got an issue where the wood is a little splintered and not holding the hinge in place, so the door is steadily yawing farther away from the frame near the top. But the door works. It opens, it closes - everything you could want, or ask for, in a door. On his way out the door with his trash (he works nights, but it still doesn't make all that much sense so don't ask), he stops and leaves it open for 10 fucking minutes while he stands there with a screw driver and tries to tighten the screw back into the jamb. The same door jamb where the wood is splintered and already isn't holding the screws in. Because now is the right time to get moving on this problem. Not tomorrow when it's warmer or light out so that he can see what he's doing, no. NOW. At 12fucking30 a.m. When it's 32fuckingDEGREES outside.

WHAT. THE. FUCK. O.o

Tags: annoyances, music, rambling, violent femmes
maybe he's caught in the mood: cold as fuck!
he just sings whatever he's seen: Suzanne Vega - Tom's diner

I love Paul Guilfoyle's acting in these episodes, but I'm pretty pissed at what the writers did to Brass. Sure it's angst heaven, but Brass can never, ever live this down. Never. What cop will want to work with Brass? Who will listen to him and obey his orders? Assuming he's not suspended or fired, or heaven forfend, a little deus ex machina occurs where Brass didn't really shoot Bell, this could mean serious problems for Brass. What's he going to do on the show if he doesn't have a job anymore? ::cries::

I also hate the writers for shoveling yet more shit on Brass. What, are he and Nicky in a pissing match to see who can have the most bad things happen to them in one lifetime?

Speaking of Nicky, why didn't the 'stache look so well groomed last week? I'm not any closer to liking it, but it doesn't look so much like a hairy slug in this episode.

Tags: annoyances, csi, rambling
maybe he's caught in the mood: grumpy
he just sings whatever he's seen: Eskobar - Violence

I hate it when people use "grinded" as the past tense of grind. I know I'm just insanely OCD about things sometimes, but the freaking word is ground, okay? Grind, grinding, ground.

Unless your name happens to be Sir Walter Scott or Sir Francis Bacon, you are not allowed to use "grinded" in your writing.

Okay. Done frothing now.

Tags: annoyances, language, rambling, word nerd
maybe he's caught in the mood: cold
he just sings whatever he's seen: Performance Today on NPR

Alright, I'm watching The Division. Now where the hell is Eric? 'Cause I don't know how much more I can stand of the Lifetime channel if there's no Eric to ease my pain.

Okay, as soon as I saw Bonnie Bedelia's daughter, in all her spikey-dyed-hair and faux-pierced glory, I knew Eric had to be her boyfriend. And I was right. Unfortunately, Mommy Bedelia was angry that Spikey Daughter wanted to marry Eric's character Mark. I'll paraphrase Spikey Daughter's dialogue, "So what if Mark is a lowly carpenter? And Mom, he was like, 15, when he stole that car, okay?"

Of course, with less than ten minutes left of the show, I have yet to even see hide or hair of Mark. Unless I just wasn't paying attention. Which is totally possible, because I'm finding it rather difficult to actually force myself to take an interest in this show.

Oh, god. Oh, god, oh god. I have to kill myself now because they just started playing Angel by Sarah McLachlan*. What..what the fuck? This show, it's a like living in a cliché, a cliché filmed in Vancouver.



*I am actually somewhat a fan of Sarah McLachlan (mostly her older stuff, anything post-Fumbling is a bit too sugary and vapid for me), so this shouldn't be construed as hating her music. Mostly, I hate that song, and mostly because it's overused and poorly utilized. It was in a fucking Meg Ryan movie, okay? I think that says it all.

Tags: annoyances, eric, lifetime network, szmanda, the division
maybe he's caught in the mood: disappointed
he just sings whatever he's seen: King Missisle - Martin Scorcese

Let me just say that I hate everyone, and will continue to do so until I've actually seen Gum Drops.

I have, like, a bajillion hours until the stupid torrent will be done. :: glares balefully at torrent progress bar ::

I will return to loving everyone in approximately six to eight hours, don't worry.

I've resorted to watching So I Married An Axe Murderer to cheer myself up. Do you see the toll this is taking on me?

Tags: annoyances, csi, flailing, wahhh!, wailing
maybe he's caught in the mood: bitchy
he just sings whatever he's seen: The Boo Radleys - There She Goes

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

Everyone's raving about this damned episode of CSI, and it hasn't even aired on the West Coast yet. I'm so jealous, and I can't stand it! To add insult to injury, I won't be able to watch it, or even start downloading the ep until tomorrow because I have to work tonight.

:: wails from CSI deprivation ::

Ya bastages! Stop watching this episode without me!

Tags: annoyances, csi
maybe he's caught in the mood: aggravated
he just sings whatever he's seen: King Missile - The Bunny Song

I like reading spoilers at YTDAW because they seem to get better spoilers than other sites, and they're more circumspect about not spoiling the entire episode.

But it's really, really irking me that some of the posters there are actually saying they don't care about seeing the next episode of CSI, they're just waiting to see the fucking preview for Gumdrops. I know that YTDAW is one of the biggest Grissom/Sara shipper sites in all of CSI-dom, and I can usually tolerate it, but I hate that those couple of posters are so fixated on one damned scene that they're willing to just ignore an entire freshly minted episode of CSI. Idiots. ::beats them::

Tags: annoyances, csi, rambling, ytdaw
maybe he's caught in the mood: full
he just sings whatever he's seen: They Might Be Giants - I've Got A Match

I have no idea why the hell I can write short stuff like a house on fire, but I'm terrified of writing anything over 500 words. It pains me. I want to to do it, and I've even started several interesting pieces...I just have a hard time getting my fingers to type the words. It's not writer's block so much as mortal insecurity, I think.

Another thing that freaks me out: Nick/Greg is really close to being my OTP, yet I keep writing Gil/Greg stuff. I don't know what the crap the deal is. And I do like Gil/Greg. Love it, even. Just like Nick/Greg a tiny smidgen more, but find it really hard to write.

Well, anyway, I'm going to go flail around a bit in this corner over here.

P.S. On a Jason Mraz kick. Don't know why.
P.P.S. I LOVE DAVID RAKOFF. But not as much as Stephen Fry.
P.P.P.S. Ignore the rhyming couplet over there ^^^. This is not the rhyming couplet you're looking for. :: waves hand like Obi Wan Kenobi ::

Tags: annoyances, writing
maybe he's caught in the mood: sleepy
he just sings whatever he's seen: Jason Mraz - Absolutely Zero

You have four new newgroups:

alt.pets.dogs.breed-specific-legislation,
alt.pets.dogs.dog-fighting-breeds,
alt.privacy.anon-server.stats,
alt.sport.dog-fighting

Yeah, what the fuck? Is there really a need for one newsgroup devoted to dog fighting, let alone three? 'Cause you know the legislation one is probably just about legislation regarding breeds used for dog fighting. And who the hell is this into dog fighting that they wanted to create three separate newsgroups about it? That kind of person deserves to be left alone in the ring with the opposing dog, sans clothing or weapons so they can see what kind of horror they've created.

Related: ASPCA site on dog fighting.

Tags: animal abuse, annoyances, aspca, dog fighting
maybe he's caught in the mood: angry
he just sings whatever he's seen: Jason Mraz - You and I Both

Ever wake up with a song stuck in your head? That kept repeating itself, over and over? That you couldn't get out of your head by any means? No? Lucky you. This phenomenon has a name: earworm. My favorite definition of "earworm" from the Urban Dictionary: "a song that will stay in one's mind and will not leave no matter how much one will try. The most effective way to get rid of an earworm is to replace it with another. Be prepared to become a jukebox. Another effective way is to shoot yourself."

So, this happens to me all the time. And what's worse is that I have an almost eidetic memory when it comes to music I've heard. Some people get to have a photographic memory, but not me, no, I get stuck with the useless abiltiy to recall songs (and their associated performers, usually). I recognized the Crowded House song "Pineapple Head" at a grocery store, even after it had been rendered dull and lifeless by the cruel bastards at Muzak. I once brusquely shushed friends at a restaurant because I heard a cover song and felt compelled to pinpoint its origin. It's like a little tape recorder in my head, repeating the chorus to a song, a thousand times, until it drives me to distraction.

For some inexplicable reason, earworms appear most often as I'm transitioning from sleep into the beginning stages of consciousness. The spawning of an earworm doesn't have anything to do mood, and happens regardless of whether it's a song I've listened to recently. Maybe I listened to the song yesterday, maybe I listened to it a year ago, earworm doesn't care. The only way for me kill an earworm is to listen to that particular song over and over until the earworm dies of sheer boredom, its job having been usurped by the stereo/mp3 player. Then, finally, I am free to listen to something else (which, I can only hope, won't become a future earworm).

Today's example is "Hopeless Bleak Despair" by They Might Be Giants. Sing along with me. At least until insanity sets in.

( I never knew what everybody meant by endless, hopeless, bleak despair... )

Tags: annoyances, craziness, earworm, music, rambling, they might be giants
maybe he's caught in the mood: indescribable
he just sings whatever he's seen: They Might Be Giants - Hopeless Bleak Despair