Me according to Bob

I find I do a lot more Facebooking these days than blogging, which is kind of lame, I know. Anyway, here's a meme I did the other day at the behest of a dear friend:

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "my life according to (band name)".

Pick your Artist:
Bob Dylan

Are you a male or female:
"ballad of a thin man"

Describe yourself:
"like a rolling stone"

How do you feel:
"hurricane"

Describe where you currently live:
"blowin' in the wind"

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
"mozambique"

Your favorite form of transportation:
"idiot wind"

Your best friend is:
"just like a woman"

You and your best friends are:
"lily, rosemary and the jack of hearts"

What's the weather like:
"a hard rain's a gonna fall"

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
"simple twist of fate"

What is life to you:
"one more cup of coffee"

Your last relationship:
"tears of rage"

Your fear:
"you're gonna make me lonesome when you go"

What is the best advice you have to give:
"lay down your weary tune"

Thought for the Day:
"lay, lady, lay"

My soul's present condition:
"romance in durango"

My motto:
"the times they are a-changin'"

High school. Hmm.

From a pal's Facebook page:

Fill this out about your **SENIOR** year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!

1. Did you date someone from your school? --- Not really.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? --- No way.

3. Did you carpool to school? --- I walked, less than a block.

4. What kind of car did you have? --- Car? Ha. Bike. Skateboard. Shoes.

5. What kind of car do you have now? --- '02 Honda CR-V. I still prefer shoes, though.

6. Its Friday night ... where are you? (then) --- playing D&D at Chris's house. Or pining after a couple of girls (see above).

7. It is Friday night ... where are you? (now) --- in the kitchen, maybe having a beer, maybe reading a book.

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? --- A temp job at Nordstrom, box clerk at two grocery stores, pizza maker at Sunshine Pizza Exchange, hand weaver.

9. What kind of job do you do now? --- newspaper city editor

10. Were you a party animal? --- no way. The closest was the time Chris and I bought beer at the grocery store we worked at and drank it up in a neighborhood. Pretty wild. One beer each.

11. Were you considered a flirt? --- One of my friends nicknamed me Mr. Carbon (bonds to everything), sooo.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? --- Um, no.

13. Were you a nerd? --- Usually, but see No. 14.

14. Did you get suspended or expelled? --- Yes, suspended, for fighting.

15. Can you sing the fight song? --- South Salem Saxons, that's our name! You betcha.

16. Who was your favorite teacher? --- Mrs. McGregor (that's just a joke for my dad). Actually Frau Maurer.

17. Where did you sit during lunch? --- I didn't. I stood in my kitchen.

18. What was your school mascot? --- Hello, Saxons.

19. If you could go back and do it again, would you? --- no fucking way. (sorry grandma, but if you knew what it was like, you'd probably say that, too).

20. Did you have fun at prom? --- I don't know how to answer that one. The girl who took me was one of my best friends, but not my lover, who took my best friend. But we did all go together and it was a pretty good time.

21. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? --- Certainly, still my homie (she's a girl, but still a homie).

22. Are you planning to go to your next reunion? Probably, but it depends on my two best friends from high school. If they go, I'm rolling, too.

23. Were you a good student? Yes, especially for not cracking those books. (I'm copying my pal Vicki here)

24. What did you like most about high school? being done with it. (I'm copying Vicki again)

25. Do you still talk to people from school? --- Two, yes, in the real world. A few more online.

Influential albums - a list

Carlos tagged me on this challenge - Fifteen albums that changed your life. I'm not sure how to qualify some of these: I'm sure several albums helped form my world view. I mean, I'd say Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Cisco Houston and those kinds of people, but they're where I started. I guess that rules out Springsteen, who's in that set.

In a lot of ways, my musical experience has been one of blundering from my sheltered past into unknown universes. Cool, but also a little embarrassing when I arrive somewhere everybody's already been.

I'll shoot for albums that changed my outlook. These are pretty much in chronological order. I put in some samples, too.

1. Bad Religion - Suffer. I grew up listening to classical music, Dust Bowl folk and country & western. I rarely listened to rock 'n' roll until high school. I mean, I knew about Ratt, Styx, Foreigner, all that in middle school, but that wasn't what I usually listened to. When I heard this (with my best friend, Chris, over at Jay Dunlap's house), it blew me away.
   
2. Jimi Hendrix - Some compilation or another. I was unaware of the existence of classic rock that was other than what you might hear in Back to the Future.
   
3. Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers - My introduction to reggae. Chris bought that one.
   
4. Pink Floyd - The Wall. Weird-ass movie but a ton of great music.
   
5. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton. My exposure to rap was pretty limited until college (first roomie was an Army brat, a black guy from Oceanside, not a jazz guy). "Fuck the Police" was a revelation.
6. The Geto Boys - The Geto Boys. Pretty much the most outrageous and funny gangsta rap ever made.
   
   
7. Richard Thompson - Rumor and Sigh. Opened my eyes to the folk scene of the early 1990s.
8. Tori Amos - Crucify. My favorite from the angry woman movement. Alerted me to the existence of a completely unexpected scene.
9. The Butterfly Lady - Her musical taste is similar to mine, but she searches for new music in completely different circles, so I get a lot of exposure to music I probably wouldn't find on my own, like Ali Farka Toure, Outlandish, Mister Gang...
   
   that one is aka:
   
   
10. The White Stripes - The White Stripes. Opened my eyes to garage rock. I think I listened to this album about 50 times in a row.
11. Townes Van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter. I obviously had heard his songs before, but not performed by him. This is a fantastic album. Minimal production is a big plus. This album got me to check out a lot of folk/country from the 1970s.
    
    
12. Joe Purdy - Julie Blue. Uh, yeah, there's a pattern here. I didn't know there was an L.A. folk scene until I blundered into Joe Purdy, who incidentally kicks ass live. Here is a song from his supposedly upcoming album, Last Clock on the Wall:
    
    
13. Mitch Hedberg - Mitch Altogether. Not music, right? Yeah, but he changed how I tell jokes and how I look at run-of-the-mill stuff, which was his bread and butter.
14. 9 Songs. OK, that's a movie. But it tuned my in to music of the hipster scene. What they were listening to in that five minutes, anyway.
    
    

No tag? I'm it anyway

Lulu has this meme going, so I am aboard.

1. Five names you go by:
Alasdair, Alax, Al (see a trend here?), Stew, Scraps

2. Three things you are wearing right now:
Dr. Martens
A diamond earring (the butterfly lady rules!)
A thin layer of dried-up chlorinated water

3. Two things you want very badly at the moment:
No more staph nose!
Another cup of coffee

4. Three people who will probably fill this out:
Wellll: The butterfly lady, better than your average idiot, um, I'm with Lulu. TBA.

5. Two things you did last night:
Made lasagna (super awesome, as always, with lots of basil)
Slept the whole night through with no dogs having to go out (three times in five months!).

6. Two things you ate today:
Tunisian stew (beef, honey, almonds, fennel, caraway, cumin, coriander) and rice
Mint chocolate M&Ms

7. Two people you last talked to on the phone:
My mom
The owner of Fritzi the dog

8. Two things you are going to do tomorrow:
Weave a scarf
Swim a couple miles

9. Two longest car rides:
Walla Walla, Wash., to Newmarket, N.H. (off to grad school for the lady!) - 1999
Newmarket to Salem, Ore. (all done!) - 2004

10. Two of your favorite beverages:
Espresso - in the mini mug with a Demerara sugar cube and lemon zest
Single-malt Islay Scotch whisky

Tag along

Tagged by SqGl am I:

The "rules" of the game: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

Ten years ago:
I lived right here, in sunny Walla Walla, and worked at the same place (albeit in a totally different job). Our hottest plan at the time was to go to Belize and Guatemala for Christmas, the first time traveling abroad together for the butterfly lady and I.

Five things in today’s to do list:
1) Respond to the tag SqGl left me.
2) Call the kennel (Damn! Have to do that now! ... Ha. Done.).
3) Watch a movie.
4) Do not weave. Do not do yard work. Let hands heal from too much of both.
5) Make something interesting for dinner. I have lots of great ingredients (squash, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes) and no brilliant ideas.

Snacks I enjoy: Peanuts. Well-aged cheddar cheese. Licorice. Pretzels (the stick kind). Olives. Baklava. Shoot what don't I like?

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:

• Stop working (OK, I would probably keep weaving).
• Travel more - My to-go list has a lot of entries.
• Swim more, read more, watch more movies.
• Donate more to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
• Shoot, the list could probably go on for a while. I think what I'm saying here is that when I can retire, I will, and I most certainly won't be one of those people who finds the free time boring.

Places I have lived:
How liberal are we being here? If you include part of a summer, or a few months a year for a few years:

Rickreall, Oregon (actually, in the country outside Rickreall) (population 57)
Salem, Oregon
Hopewell, Oregon (actually, in the country outside Hopewell) (population too low to count)
Reeds Spring, Missouri (population 465)
Salem again
Walla Walla, Washington
Del Mar, California (there's the stretch, but I did take up residence there, even if only briefly)
Newmarket, New Hampshire (home of the Mules)
Walla Walla again

Ahh, who to tag? How about Mama, Mama II, Johnny Yen (I know he's got a list), the butterfly lady and Lulu.

Categories I could easily beat that Jeopardy guy at

I think his name was Ken, or Kirby, or maybe Kitten. Whatever. He knew everything, right? Well, he didn't know everything about (or would be slower than me at):

• Weaving terminology. Is it a woof or a weft? The world wonders.
• Birds seen by me on Plum Island, Mass.
• Tasks undertaken in the former Strauser Manufacturing plant in Walla Walla in the summer of 1994. Hey, they all sucked.
• Best routes from 2B N. Main St., #212, Newmarket, N.H, to 17 Executive Drive, Hudson, NH. These mostly sucked, too.

I'm sure there's one more out there, but Jeopardy ceases to amuse me...

Where's for dinner?

Lulu tagged me with a places-to-eat meme, so I guess I have to spill the beans about where's OK for food in Walla Walla :)

Here're the rules:

1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you.
Include the city/state and country you’re in.
Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Lulu (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Alasdair (Walla Walla, Wash., U.S.)

2. List your top five favorite places to eat at your location.

3. Tag five other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

Well, let's see. Walla Walla is a city of about 30,000, tucked away in the southeastern corner of Washington, near the Oregon state line. It is fast becoming a big-deal wine destination, so the places to eat have changed quite a bit in recent years. One thing we have very little of is chain, sit-down restaurants. We've got Applebee's and Shari's, but that's about as far as it goes.

I'll be honest here. I miss southern New Hampshire/Greater Boston pretty intensely when it comes to food, and we rarely go out around here. I may not be a professional chef, but I'm sorry to report my meals are significantly better than most of what you get in restaurants here. This isn't a complete wasteland, though: Here are some good places for chow, in no particular order:

• Taco trucks: Walla Walla has a whole bunch of these, step vans that carry a kitchen on board and can be found pretty reliably at a few locations around town and at special events (like game days for the regional Mexican Soccer League or over at the alma mater). You gets your basics here - a beef taco on corn tortillas with salsa and lime for about a buck. Tasty, quick and friendly is standard fare, whichever one you choose. There's also a place called Taqueria Yungapeti, which is kind of like a taco truck except that it is a sit-down restaurant. The food's the same, but the venue's nicer on any of Walla Walla's 50 or 60 annual days with rain.
• Whitehouse-Crawford: OK, this is really a place I/we go for drinks, which are pricy, tasty and strong. The restaurant and bar are in a reconditioned mill and the ambience is maybe a third of the reason to go. Besides sidecars and martinis and such, W-C also has tasty fried onions (I love onion rings) and excellent desserts, especially their twice-baked chocolate souffle/cake and flan. Plus, if you spend a lot of money, they'll give you a customized woodworker's pencil as a souvenir.
• Rosita's Mexican restaurant: Besides the taco trucks, we have no shortage of Mexican restaurants here. Rosita's is a kind of quiet, hole-in-the-wall sort of place that's been around for decades. The enchiladas verde are the best Mexican food I've had in Walla Walla by a long shot - spicy, rich in tomatillos and with a good proportion of chicken, cheese and sauce. Most out-of-towers don't notice Rosita's because it isn't near the main entrance to the city and because it isn't flashy. So much the worse for them, but so much the better for the locals, who don't have to wait for a table...
• Fast Eddy's and Ice Burg: Two high-profile drive-ins, both of which are good old-fashioned hamburger joints. At Fast Eddy's, the lady comes to your car, at Ice-Burg you step up to an outdoor counter or use a drive-through. Both places have quality burgers, really good milkshakes (Ice-Burg has fantastic blackberry shakes) and serviceable onion rings and fries. Compared to In-N-Out Burger, these are both highway robbery and just all right for food, but they're pretty damn good for local fare.
• Patit Creek Restaurant: The classic fancy place in the area, this little restaurant is in Dayton, a smallish city north of Walla Walla. Frommer's gives it two (out of three) stars; I've heard someone else offered three (out of what I don't know). I have actually had their signature dish, filet mignon poivre verte, which I would put in my top-five all time for steaks (another meme, perhaps. The others were 1) an open-face roast-beef sandwich at a steakhouse in York, Neb. I think it was at Chances 'R'. 2) a steak at Front Street Steakhouse in Ogallala, Neb. They even give you an ice cream sundae for dessert. 3) lunch special at Suehiro in Kyoto. You cook it yourself on a little griddle brought to your table. Served with some kind of proprietary soy sauce - fantastic. 4) New York strip steaks grilled by yours truly in Newmarket, N.H., bought at the Durham Marketplace meat counter and seasoned with Spade L seasoning. 5) Uh, Patit Creek? Yes, and it was very good.)

So, I suppose I have to tag some people. How about the butterfly lady, mama, MWR, Daphne and Rich. The first one and the last two don't follow the rules for geography, but I like to compare (and I have a limited circle of acquaintance!).

Somewhat belated tag fun: Six strange things

And by somewhat, I mean I was tagged in December, but somehow missed the boat. Anyway, Technorati kindly alerted me to Johnny Yen's tag.

Six strange things about myself:

When I talk in my sleep, it's not in English.
I like to learn foreign languages - German, French, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, ancient Greek (yeah, that's handy) - and I seem to have a knack for it. It just seems easy, apparently especially when I'm not awake. I used to speak only German on the rare occasion I'd talk in my sleep, but I'm told I've branched out a bit. When I'm dreaming, I rarely perceive myself to be speaking a foreign language, but who knows?

I can write with my foot.
By which I mean, I can use my foot to hold a pen, not "I can drag my foot in the sand to form letters,'' which I can also do. I'm sure this, too, will come in handy. Especially when I have to communicate with ancient Greeks while my hands are tied.

I like to read the Federal Register.
So should you. Federal rule making can be boring and/or arcane, but this is the semi-hidden way that things actually get done in this country, and there are some true gems tucked away in the pages of this publication, which is published on non-holiday weekdays. When I covered environmental news, the Register was a daily must-read. This is an acquired taste, I suspect.

I can't talk politics with you.
Or anybody else, really, besides my family and others who are sworn to secrecy. A vagary of my job, but also a fabulous way to dodge boring conversations I didn't want to have anyway. I am hyper-interested in politics, just not in public.

I can't stand iceberg lettuce.
I think I am allergic to it. It makes my tongue swell up, but not too badly. Just enough to be annoying. WTF.

My other job is weaving.
Maybe that's not really super strange. But I'm not sure how many people can say they work in *two* rag trades.

A music meme

Hey, every day is a good day to post about music.

What was the first recorded music you bought?
"Business as Usual" by Men at Work. That album kicked ass, even if nobody remembers anything but that dumb song about vegemite sandwiches.

What was the most recent?
"Big Wheel," the prerelease single off Tori Amos's new album, American Doll Posse. I don't have everything she's ever done, especially now that she's kicking out DVDs and compilations. But I've got all her albums, plus some other covers and assorted this & that. Except "To Venus and Back," which I haven't gotten around to buying.

What was the first professional music show you ever went to?
Oh, I have no idea. Probably some operetta that my sister and I got in trouble for squabbling in the midst of. Hmm. Do Gilbert & Sullivan shows count? Maybe I should just say, a Willie Nelson concert.

The most recent show?
Man, I haven't been to a show in quite a while. Joe Purdy and some outfit I've forgotten the name of, in the fall in Virginia.

What's your desert island album?
Thank god I remembered to bring my iPod when I was marooned. I hope my solar battery charger holds up. Too bad it only had "Live at the Old Quarter" by Townes Van Zandt on it, but so it goes. At least it wasn't Iron Butterfly.

What's your favorite album/song title (not the actual album or song)?
Lulu's friend's band, 7,000 Dying Rats, has outstanding song titles ("The Thought Bubble Above My Head is Filled with Golden Rotating Shotguns"), but I guess I have to come up with something I knew before I read her post. I dunno. "Tecumseh Valley" - it has a loaded meaning.

What's your favorite album art (include an image of it if you can)?


What’s your ideal choice for a karaoke song?
For karaoke, maybe Mozart's Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453. But only if it is performed by a starling.

You hate that song … but it won’t leave your head if you hear it.
Fortunately for me, I don't have this problem. I usually just get fragments of songs I like but barely know. That's pretty annoying, too.

Which is cooler — vinyl? CD? cassette? 8-track?
Cooler? I guess vinyl, because I find its manufacturing process more interesting than the others'. But I think for coolness, downloads are the way to go. Anything else seems like a needless waste of resources (and more potential landfill when you get sick of listening to that Enrique Iglesias disc).

A to Z

A - Available or Single - Neither.

B - Best Friends - The butterfly lady, my dad, sister and mom, Chris... I don't know very many people, but I tend to give freely of my friendship.

C - Cake or Pie - Apple crisp and blackberry cobbler.

D - Drink of Choice - Yegods, the list is endless. Coffee, black.

E - Essential Item - Diamond earring.

F - Favorite Color - Red. That's kind of a bullshit choice. Cinnabar.

G - Gummi Bears or Worms - Bears. But I prefer gummy frogs (There ain't no frog-attack prevention manual. Do not look the amphibian in the eye. This will incite him.).

H - Hometown - I didn't grow up in town.

I - Indulgence - Whiling away the day in the kitchen, or ice cream sundaes with marshmallows, peanuts and maple syrup.

J - January or February - January – it contains my birthday (and my father's, and Robert Burns's, and a bunch of other cool people, too!). February's got its plusses, too.

K - Kids and Names - We don't own any goats, but we do have two dogs, Max (aka Pig or Gristle) and Katy (the Baroness von Roughenhausen).

L - Life is incomplete without - Curiosity. When I stop caring enough to ask questions, I’m done. (I have copied the person whose blog I found this meme at).

M - Marriage Date - Hmm. Not the sort of information I typically divulge. Going on 1o years...

N - Number of Siblings - One sister, plus three sisters-in-law I have known long enough to count without the in-law.

O - Oranges or Apples - Depends. Blood oranges & galas, mikan & Fujis: All of these make me happy. Navels and Granny Smiths? OK, but in a recipe.

P - Phobias/Fears - I'm leery of yellow jackets, wasps and hornets. I worry about things, but I have very little fear.

Q - Favorite Quote - "Let's fix bayonets." - attributed by Michael Shaara to Col. Joshua "Lawrence" Chamberlain during the Battle of Gettysburg, uttered as Chamberlain decided to lead his out-of-ammunition regiment in a (successful) charge down Little Round Top.

R - Reasons to smile - A zillion: The butterfly lady, the weather, our dogs, our home, my interesting job, my other interesting job, a good swim, a good meal...

S - Season - Yes, for sure, with coriander, cumin, ginger, pepper, cayenne, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric and a bit of salt. I love all the parts of the year, by the way.

T - Tag 3 People - I was untagged for this, and I'm sure the people whose fancy it strikes will tag themselves.

U - Unknown Fact About Me - Oh, which one to choose? I can prove the Pythagorean theorem with only a piece of paper and a pair of scissors.

V - Vegetable You Hate - I hold them harmless for the villainous cooking techniques inflicted on them, so I hate no vegetable. That weird bamboo-like crap in Chinese food can be annoying, though.

W - Worst Habit - I have a very hard time doing certain tasks out of order. If there are dishes in the sink, I can rarely bring myself to cook anything before they are clean. Why not wait until the cooking is in some phase that takes little supervision? I don't know.

X - X-rays You've Had - Ankle, hand, teeth (routine) and a fabulous head CT (which came back negative, har-de-har-har). I am not always accident-prone, but I have many scars that suggest I am.

Y - Your Favorite Foods - We're talking premium versions here: Bacon, olives, peanut butter, licorice, chocolate, waffles, bananas, tomatoes, cheese... I will stop there because this list will never end otherwise.

Z - Zodiac - Aquarius/rat.

Google image meme

Place you grew up.

Place you live now.

Your name.

Your grandmother's name.

Your favorite food.

Your favorite drink.

Your favorite song.

Your favorite smell.

Favorite foods

Sets of threes:

Dairy
Grafton Village cheddar (the now-extinct Gold - aged three years)
Parmiggiano-Reggiano - from Italy of course
Whole milk - very cold, please

Fruits
Raspberries (with that milk!)
Blackberries (in cobbler)
Bananas (lotso K and good for primates of all stripes)

Vegetables
Odwalla carrot juice (carrots are OK, but this is way better)
Okra (stuffed with kheema and baked!)
Spinach

"Vegetables" that are really fruit
Squash - summer or winter, I love 'em all
Tomatoes - preferably a funky heirloom variety, right off the vine in the sunshine
Red Hot Chili Peppers

Meats
Hill Meats bacon
Homemade chicken soup
Ground lamb (good in lots of things!)

Grains
Jasmine or basmati rice
Sushi rice
Bob's Red Mill oats

Grains that have actually been made into something
Extra-crispy English muffins
That kick-ass crusty bread you get at good Italian joints, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar or harissa
Biscuits and gravy (maybe that counts in meat, too.)

Fats
Bacon fat - the best
Extra-virgin olive oil - also nice on the hands
Unsalted butter

A book tag

Hardback or trade paperback or mass-market paperback? Depends on the book. Some books I like (A Series of Unfortunate Events) come in hardback, so that's how I buy them. Mostly, I prefer trade paper, but if the book is free...

Amazon or brick and mortar? Brick and mortar! My preference is Powell's, where I have spent oodles of hours - and a few bucks - over the past 30 years (yegods). But I'm happy to shark around just about any bookstore, especially second-hand and college shops.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Well, ya makes do with whats ya got, and we got neither here. I used to like wandering around the B&N in Newington, N.H., but now that Powell's is only 250 miles away, why bother with the chains?

Bookmark or dog-ear? Bookmark! My books have all sorts of unusual bookmarks, including handmade paper ones manufactured by the butterfly lady, 3-D postcards of Jesus Christ, assorted New Yorker cartoons and other oddball slips.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? Alphabetized by city of publication; within each city organized by telephone number of p.r. representative, lowest initial digit first. OK, really by category. All my cookbooks are in the kitchen...

Keep, throw away, or sell? Throw away? What? I prefer to give away or sell books (at Powell's, so I can buy more right away!).

Keep dustjacket or toss it? I'm not sure who these two are directed at; I can't think of any reason to throw away parts of books, never mind the whole thing. That's weird.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? I own so few books with dust jackets this is almost irrelevant, but I read them with the jacket on.

Short story or novel? I'd rather read a novel any day. Short stories just don't do much for me (though there are notable exceptions).

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? Would you prefer anchovies or oysters on your chocolate ice cream?

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Well, I enjoy both series, but I think I like Lemony Snicket's better. It took a few books for the characters to develop, but by the end, I was pretty fond of them. Maybe I'm just a sucker for clever writing.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I stop reading when I wake up and realize I've read the same paragraph four or five times and don't have a clue what it said. I guess that's when I reach "tired."

"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"? Well. I dunno. If Lulu hadn't tipped, I wouldn't have been able to identify the former as the start of a mystery. I'd rather read a story that started "There was nothing else going on at the luncheon." I think I'm going to have to write that one myself, though.

Buy or Borrow? I like to buy, but borrowing is more fun. (I like lending, too!)

New or used? Used, almost certainly. Some books just aren't available new, and if there's a choice, I'd have to say that the cost usually sways me to the older book. I like to buy field guides new, but that's not always possible. Besides, used books are usually sold in places that are more fun to wander around than new books (Powell's has the combination figured out, of course, but lots of places do not).

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? I'll take any idea I can get. I really like to browse - I could spend hours in bookstores without really noticing the passage of time.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? I'll take any ending that isn't a cop-out or a bullshit wrapup concocted to hide the fact that the writer really didn't have an ending. "And they all died" is just as dumb as "And they all lived happily ever after." What rubbish.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Sounds good, especially if someone could swing by with snacks and coffee/soda/bourbon (depending on the hour).

Standalone or series? Doesn't make me no nevermind. I love books. If they're good, that's what counts. If they're good and there's more of them, super! But some series are only good for the first couple of books...

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron. Maybe that's too mainstream. The Forgotten Kingdom, by Peter Goullart.

Favorite book(s) read last year: Night Flight, which I've read before, takes the cake. I reread a lot of books last year...

Favorite books of all time? Hmm. Wind, Sand and Stars, The English Patient, the three I just mentioned... I like plays a lot, too, so if they count, Romeo and Juliet.

Tag? Someone who likes books!

Tag!

Thank you, Lulu.

Three screen names that you’ve had:
Triton, Mediahound, Losmoros

Three things you like about yourself:
My sense of humor. My smile (One of the top five nicest things anyone has said to me: "you have a kind smile"). My ability to relate to others.

Three things you don’t like about yourself:
I can be impulsive. I apparently mock people sometimes (I must make that more subtle). I tend to be shy.

Three parts of your heritage:
I’m Scottish, which means I like whisky and kilts and bagpipes and bad weather. I’m Ukrainian (but not in the majority, ethnicity-wise), so I'm good at fleeing the country before they come to kill me. I'm Indian (in a very vague, medical missionary sort of way), so I cook fantastic food.

Three things that scare you:
Religious extremism. Climate change. Yellow jackets/hornets.

Three of your everyday essentials:
Coffee. Peanut butter. Kisses & hugs.

Three things you are wearing right now:
A Le Tigre polo shirt. LL Bean military-style khakis. A red, ultra-fine, felt-tipped pen (PMOP, which I think is Paper Mate, a division of Newell Rubbermaid). This would be city editor uniform apparel.

Three of your favorite songs:
Pancho & Lefty ~~ Townes Van Zandt. Shelter from the Storm ~~ Bob Dylan. Why You ~~ Joe Purdy.

Three things you want in a relationship:
Shared values. Humor. Hot sex. (all in large quantities!)

Two truths and a lie:
When I talk in my sleep, I speak German or French. Because of my time in a foreign military. I am allergic to iceberg lettuce.

Three things you can’t live without:
Reading. Good food. Swimming/exercise (as a result of the second, perhaps).

Three places you want to go on vacation:
Algeria, to hike, look for birds in the Atlas Mountains and sit in cafes. Spain, to hike, look for birds in the Pyrenees and sit in cafes. Japan, to hang out in shrines, sightsee, eat, shop and generally have fun with my dad and the butterfly lady.

Three things you just can’t do:
Be an apathetic bystander. Publicly state most of my political opinions (part of my job, alas, is keeping these to myself). Vote for anyone who intends to - or has a track record of - restricting constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties.

Three kids names:
Clarice. Mathilde. Ophelia.

Three things you want to do before you die:
Write and publish a novel, too. Go to Scotland for a spell, to hike (Sgurr Alasdair is on my dream list of summits to bag), watch birds, go golfing (I'm not great, but it's Scotland!) and have a glass of whisky... Learn to play a musical instrument.

Three celeb crushes:
Eva Green. Maggie Gyllenhaal. Cate Blanchett.

Three of your favorite musicians:
Townes Van Zandt. Joe Purdy. Tori Amos.

Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeal to you:
All the soft and curvy parts. Luscious lips. Pretty eyes.

Three of your favorite hobbies:
Cooking. Bird watching. Playing word and logic games.

Three things you really want to do badly right now:
Get a massage. Cook up a huge Indian feast attended by all the butterfly lady and my friends and fellow conspirators. Have a double espresso magically appear in my hand while I sit at the summit of Mount Lafayette and look down on Franconia Notch (if it is visible through the clouds/fog/snow).

Three careers you’re considering/you’ve considered:
Writer. Hand weaver. Intelligence agent. These are all roughly the same job, by the way.

Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy:
I like to fix things (sinks, ceiling fans, my loom, you name it). I like spiders and snakes and skunks and frogs. I know far too much about weaponry.

Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl:
I don't like to kill things. I have a lot of stuffed animals. I watch my weight (grr.).

Three people that I would like to see post this meme:
The butterfly lady, Daphne and Tenacious S (who claims to be too busy to blog - pah!)

What's on shuffle?

Hooray for tagging! (and thank you, Lulu)

And what, pray tell, is in the shuffle for me?

How many songs: 2507 (but some of those are Pimsleur language lessons/comedy tracks)

First song: 'Em - The Geto Boys (I guess iTunes thinks ' is the first letter of the alphabet)

Last song: Zoot Suit Riot~~Cherry Poppin’ Daddies (popular choice!)

Shortest: Commercial - House of Pain (0:07)

Longest: Alice's Restaurant Massacree (18:36. Official Song of Stockbridge, Mass.)

Five most played songs:

Do Ya - Electric Light Orchestra (74, going on 75 right now)
Catarina - Joe Purdy (73)
Wash Away (reprise) - Joe Purdy (65)
Pancho and Lefty (live) - Townes Van Zandt (55 - the other live performance of this song by Van Zandt is No. 7 at 49)
Poor Taylor (acoustic) - Jack Johnson (52)

First song that comes up on "shuffle” Father and Son, covered by Johnny Cash & Fiona Apple (off of the Unearthed box set)

Number of items that come up when searching (by song only, not albums, titles & artists) for:

"sex": 2 (NoFX and Hot Chocolate)

"death": 4

"love": 80. (Don't get too excited, The Geto Boys are in there, too. Twice)

"you": 172 (does that include "Food, Sex and Ewe"?)

"me": 294

"cry": 7

Who shall I tag??? The world wonders.

Holly, Mama & Daphne

Let it snow!

Living in my un-tagged world, I have to shop for memes. Here's one:

Do you get snow where you live? How much? Yes, but not much. We do get freezing fog (like hoarfrost) and freezing rain. Last winter, we had about a week of freezing fog and one day in which snow fell in the valley. There's tons of snow in the surrounding hills and mountains, though. Once in a while, we get a good dumping, maybe once every five or 10 years.

When was the last time it snowed in your neck of the woods? Two days ago. About an eighth -to a quarter-inch. Wow.

Tell us about the worst snowfall/blizzard you've been in. Well, there was the whiteout I drove the moving truck in around Thanksgiving 2004, which was pretty bad. Probably the most significant snow I've seen was in a Noreaster in New Hampshire in early 2004. The storm dumped a couple of feet of snow over a couple of days. I couldn't even see my car one morning because it was under so much snow.

What is your favorite thing about snow? Snow wipes away trash and grime and makes everything beautiful, at least for a little while.

Imagine two ideal homes, all things being the same except climate. Do you choose to live the rest of your life somewhere that never sees a snowflake or somewhere that sees a plethora of them every winter? Why? I would choose the snowy place. I like shoveling, I like snowshoeing, I like to play with the dog in the snow, I like snowball fights and sledding and running along the frozen river through the snow. Snow is gorgeous and home is all the warmer when you get home.

Playing tag by myself

1. Music That Has Changed Your Life
The White Stripes. My friend Stephanie gave me a bootleg copy of some of their stuff, including covers of Jolene and One More Cup of Coffee. I had no clue anyone was making that kind of music. Jack White is Cisco Houston and Jimmy Page put together.

2A. An Album That Has Stayed With You For More Than 10 Years (In a Good Way)
Joan Baez - Blessed Are
Bad Religion - Suffer
Joan Osborne - Relish

2B. Music You're Supposed To Like, But Are Embarassed To Say You Never Really Did
Pearl Jam. Hey, I liked Nirvana, but Pearl Jam? I just don't care.

3. Music That Makes You Laugh
Wesley Willis (ESSSSS TEEEEEE PEEEEEE, ESSSSS TEEEEEE PEEEEEE, ESSSSS TEEEEEE PEEEEEE, ESSSSS TEEEEEE PEEEEEE, ESSSSS TEEEEEE PEEEEEE, conked out my engine), Jamie Brockett (The Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic).

4. Music That Makes You Cry
Tough one. Music that has made me cry: City of Ruins, as re-recorded post-9/11; Philadelphia, by Neil Young.

5. Music You Wish You Had Written
I like to write and I like to sing, but I'm no songwriter.

6. Music You Wish Had Never Been Written
OK, I'm still a First Amendment fanatic. I can't say I wish X or Y had never been written, but I'm sure as hell not going to listen to most contemporary R&B or fake-o rock-'n'-roll "country" garbage.

7. Current Music You Like
Joe Purdy, White Stripes, Raconteurs, Strokes, Black Keys, Tori Amos.

8. Music You've Been Meaning To Hear
The next undiscovered outfit I am unaware of. I'm always on the prowl for below-the-radar gems.

A book project

Holly didn't tag me with her responses to the book meme, but I'm tagging myself.

1. One book that changed your life?
Well, there are plenty. I'll stick with "The Killer Angels," a relentlessly researched historical novel by Michael Shaara about the battle of Gettysburg that attempts to set the record of the battle straight. I didn't even know there was a record to set straight, and after reading the book a few times (and listening to it on tape about 10 times more), I concluded that the history classes I took in high school and college were nothing but a digest version intended to spur students to dig deeper. I also concluded that the history classes I took in high school and college were mostly bunk.

2. One book that you have read more than once?
One? Well, the Associated Press Stylebook is probably the book I've read the most bits of the most often! In a way, it is just a book of rules and a glossary, but like a dictionary, it is easy to get lost in.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
Like Holly, I would choose "Wind, Sand and Stars," by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Of airplanes, he says that progress is measured in how much can be taken away, how simple the machine can become for the pilot, that sort of thing. His writing, too, strips away all the chaff.

4. One book that made you laugh?
"The Bad Beginning," the first in the Series of Unfortunate Events. Holy cow, they're all funny.

5. One book that made you cry?
"Parsifal Rides the Time Wave." The kid's dog dies, 'nough said.

6. One book you wish had been written?
"How to Build Anything From Stone" Secretive stonemason motherfuckers, they never publish anything good.

7. One book you wish had never been written?
Look, many ideas suck, but keeping them out of print won't keep them out of circulation. I oppose the idea of unwritten books, even awful ones.

8. One book you are currently reading?
"Words and Rules: The ingredients of language" by Steven Pinker. A loaner from my father thta I've finally got to the top of the to-read stack. Pinker says the book is entirely about regular and irregular verbs (and of course, that means it is about a universe more), which suits me perfectly!

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
"Crypotgraphy: A Primer," which is in the books section of my profile. Reading that book will mean reading a few others first, so it is in the seriously long-term stack...

10. Tag 5 people to do the meme!
As people who know me often find to their annoyance, chagrin or relief, I rarely pass along projects. Self-tagging is so much easier.

A trend of which I was unaware

until I read a particular blog this morning: A list of five significant songs. I dunno if these are significant like "Masters of War" or "Battle Hymn of the Republic" but they count to me:

Pancho and Lefty (Townes Van Zandt)
Telling Stories (Tracy Chapman)
Tom Joad (Woody Guthrie)
32 Flavors (Ani DiFranco)
If I Needed You (Townes Van Zandt)