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Tagged for this one, by [Bad username or site: wickedgoddess_ / @ livejournal.com]: Ten Things That Make Me Happy
(Every time this meme comes around, I think of Gaiman's 15 Portraits of Despair and that girl who decides to make a list of things that make her happy...and finds the day growing dark around her as she tries to think of more than one thing.)
+ Gates opening 2 hours before first pitch.
+ Family, more or less.
+ Finding a new song I just adore, and listening to it over and over and over again.
+ A good book.
+ Unexpected mail. (Well, unexpected mail from people I'm still in touch with. When I get mail from someone I haven't spoken to in ages, it just makes me feel like an asshole.)
+ Three Witches being back long enough for me to stock up.
+ Thank God I'm A Country Boy during the 7th inning stretch. Also, the confused look out-of-towners get on their faces when we all launch into it. Heh.
+ The rare tv show with a grand, arcing storyline I can get totally caught up in.
+ Quotes. I'm always jotting things down on napkins or in the margins of notebooks, etc.
+ Getting in and staying in an iconing groove. It's not exactly mindless work, but I like fiddling with pictures when I need a break from school stuff. Plus, I've always wished I had an eye for drawing or photography, and I don't - but Photoshop lets me pretend to be something of a composer of images ^_~
And, in for a penny, in for a pound, right? From [Bad username or site: bakoo / @ livejournal.com], via [Bad username or site: offspeed / @ livejournal.com]:
Share each one of your away messages, explaining along the way if you feel so inclined.
[1.] "I look at it all like this," [Cutangle] said. "Before I heard him talk, I was like everyone else. You know what I mean? I was confused and uncertain about all the little details of life. But now," he brightened up, "while I'm still confused and uncertain it's on a much higher plane, d'you see, and at least I know I'm bewildered about the really fundamental and important facts of the universe."
Treatle nodded. "I hadn't looked at it like that," he said, "but you're absolutely right. He's really pushed back the boundaries of ignorance. There's so much about the universe we don't know."
They both savored the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were ignorant of only ordinary things.
+ From Terry Prachett's Equal Rites. This my "zomg law school hurts my brain" away message.
[2.] if hell is in the details
then babe, I'm a microscope
+ From Tom McRae's A&B Song. You know how there are music people and there are lyrics people? I'm a lyrics person. I love an interesting image, a clever turn of phrase - song lyrics are my most regular source of away messages, I think.
[3.] I'm a war, of head versus heart,
And it's always this way.
My head is weak, my heart always speaks,
Before I know what it will say.
+ From Death Cab for Cutie's Crooked Teeth. This isn't me at all, actually - I've very much the opposite, and I self-censor like it's going out of style, but I love this about Ben.
[4.] Let's just drive your car
We could drive all day
Let's just get the hell away from here
(We could do the things,
All the things you want to do
No one here really cares about us anyway)
+ LOL. My "omg, my life is so hard, I'm so sad ;_;" away message. Patched together lyrics from different parts of Everclear's Summerland.
[5.] Oh Sweetness,
Sweetness, I was only joking
when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head
+ From Bigmouth Strikes Again. I love any and all versions of this song, but my very favorite is the Placebo cover. Because I can pretend he's not saying 'mash'. Obviously, my substitute for my retired GRR ARGH away message :-P
[6.] Visions of you on a motorcycle drive by
Cigarette ash flies in your eyes
but you don't mind
You smile
and say the world, it doesn't fit with you.
(I don't believe you)
+ From Third Eye Blind's Motorcycle Drive-by. I don't know exactly what it is about this bit that I like, but there's something about the image of this other person, vibrant and alive, and just so much cooler than you.
[7.] Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather
kick in the eye?
+ The Smiths make another appearance! From Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now. I always find myself smiling automatically at people I rather dislike. Why do I do that? Ugh.
[8.] "It's like I was saying to my wife," White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "Or maybe it was Joe Crede or Aaron Rowand. I can't remember but it was someone. . . ."
+ From one of the stories in the papers after the World Series; someone pointed it out, Jim Caple or Bill Simmons or someone. Cracked my shit up. I just love the suggestion that it could have been any of those three people. Because they're so easily confused. Also, this amuses the part of my brain that is convinced AJ is a manwhore.
[9.] "No baseball? But now when I need incomprehensible gobbledeygook, where am I going to turn? Your journal was providing me with my daily surreal gibberish fix."
[Bad username or site: yagathai / @ livejournal.com] said this to me the day after the final game of the postseason. LITTLE DID HE KNOW :-P
[10.] "Who took the jam outta your doughnut?"
"You took the fucking jam outta my doughnut, Tommy. You did."
+ Movie quote! Snatch was on the college cable station one day and, just for kicks, I made a couple away messages. I deleted most of them later, but this one's stuck. I like it, because, surprisingly, few people on my buddy list seem able to place it, so that's fun. This is another ugh, I hate everyone away message.
[11.] I was a kaleidoscope -
The snow on my lenses distorting the image of what was only one of you.
I didn't know which one to address as all your lips moved.
+ Death Cab's I Was A Kaleidoscope. This song has provided me a couple away messages, this is the latest. I don't associate it with any particular mood of mine; It's just a lyrical image I love.
[12.] Don't cry
You raised your hand for the assignment
Tuck those ribbons under your helmet
and be a good soldier.
+ **laughs** The mandatory Tori Amos away message. Because I am 17. This is for when I'm getting frustrated with school and living in Virginia and part of me is just like yo, wear it.
[13.] I wanted in your storm so bad
I could taste the lightning on your breath
+ From Ohia's Coxcomb Red. Just a descriptive lyric I really like.
[14.] On the back of a motor bike
With your arms outstretched trying to take flight
Leaving everything behind
But even at our swiftest speed
we could not break from the concrete
+ From Death Cab's Brothers On A Hotel Bed. This one is for when I'm feeling restless.
[15.] "I cannot begin to express to you how often ethical dilemmas come up. On the one hand, you want to represent your client. On the other hand, you don't want to be scumbag. I mean, I hope. If you want to be a scumbag, it's a lot easier."
+ Heh. This one just cracks me up. Employment Law attorney Mike Okun, speaking to my Employment Law class.
[16.] "What does it mean - the right man? the love of your life? The concept is absurd. The idea that we can only be complete with another person is evil! Right?"
+ Celine in Before Sunset. This is from the scene in the car where she's freaking out about how her ex-boyfriends always call her up and tell her they've married, and thank her for teaching them to love and respect women. And she's just generally ranting about how the pressure to find The One has completely ruined her lovelife to the point where she doesn't even see the point in trying in a relationship anymore. I partly have this as an away because it reminds me of Celine going a mile a minute in the car and Jesse not able to get a word in edge-wise, which makes me smile. But I guess I also have it because I agree with the sentiment? I think. Check back with me on that.
[17.] Everybody's parents fucked them up. Rich kids parents gave them too much. Poor kids, not enough. You know, too much attention, not enough attention. They either left them or they stuck around and taught them the wrong things.
+ Jesse in...Before Sunset I think, but maybe Before Sunrise. Just a quote I like. Nobody's perfect and all that jazz.
[18.] And I am nothing of a builder
But here I dreamt I was an architect
And I built this balustrade
To keep you home, to keep you safe
From the outside world
But the angles and the corners
Even though my work is unparalleled
They never seemed to meet
This structure fell about our feet
And we were free to go
+ From The Decemberists's Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect. I just adore this image.
[19.] "Do I have a big fucking sign on my forehead that says, YES! I AM FASCINATED BY YOUR SENSELESS BABBLE. COME TALK TO ME FOR THAT IS ALL I COME HERE FOR? "
+ Heh. I love this quote. It's part of a [Bad username or site: strangeidea / @ livejournal.com] rant that was metaquoted. The second half of this rant is a permanent fixture in my AIM profile. ("Probably what it is is that I do feel bad for these people. I mean, even if they're so divorced from reality that they think that they aren't getting on anyone's nerves, you'd have to be pretty God damn painfully lonely to spend your whole life wandering around telling everyone about yourself ...rather than just getting a Livejournal like the rest of us.")
[20.] Food, omg yay.
+ My "breaking the fast" message, left over from Ramadan :-P
[21.] johnnybvo: lol y'know whats fucked, if I die today
johnnybvo: right here where I sit
johnnybvo: the porn on my hd wont be as embarrassing as my music collection
+ As someone with a high tolerance for crap, I so relate ^_~
[22.] The only thing Mussina can improve upon this season is his dour personality.
+ From ESPN.com's 2002 Baseball Season Outlook. That cracked me up when I first read it, and it still amuses the hell out of me to this day.
[23.] "Nobody talked to me," Mussina said. "Nobody ever talks to me. It was nothing new."
+ From an article on Moose's near-perfecto against Boston on 09.02.01. Awww. And **laughs ass off**
[24.] Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep, Data.
+ Heh. A dorktastic away message I sometimes feel like only me and my brother get. It's my "I'm off to bed" away message. The quote is from Best of Both Worlds Part II, when the borgified Picard tries to communicate to Data a way to get around the Borg defenses.
[25.] I remember at Michael's house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse
In the morning at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
You told me you were scared.
+ This is my newest away. I was listening to Sufjan's visit to MBE a couple days ago, and he performed this song. The whole thing is really sad and beautiful, but I especially liked this "scene", as it were.
[26.] This vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.
+ Do I need to explain this one? If you cannot place this quote, I...would rather not know that about you. Please. I'm sure I've de-friended people for less.
Spring Training in T-52 days. That prolly should have been on the list of things that make me happy.
ETA: [Bad username or site: kmousie / @ livejournal.com], I got the notification from LJ today. That was awful sweet of you; thanks.
(Every time this meme comes around, I think of Gaiman's 15 Portraits of Despair and that girl who decides to make a list of things that make her happy...and finds the day growing dark around her as she tries to think of more than one thing.)
+ Gates opening 2 hours before first pitch.
+ Family, more or less.
+ Finding a new song I just adore, and listening to it over and over and over again.
+ A good book.
+ Unexpected mail. (Well, unexpected mail from people I'm still in touch with. When I get mail from someone I haven't spoken to in ages, it just makes me feel like an asshole.)
+ Three Witches being back long enough for me to stock up.
+ Thank God I'm A Country Boy during the 7th inning stretch. Also, the confused look out-of-towners get on their faces when we all launch into it. Heh.
+ The rare tv show with a grand, arcing storyline I can get totally caught up in.
+ Quotes. I'm always jotting things down on napkins or in the margins of notebooks, etc.
+ Getting in and staying in an iconing groove. It's not exactly mindless work, but I like fiddling with pictures when I need a break from school stuff. Plus, I've always wished I had an eye for drawing or photography, and I don't - but Photoshop lets me pretend to be something of a composer of images ^_~
And, in for a penny, in for a pound, right? From [Bad username or site: bakoo / @ livejournal.com], via [Bad username or site: offspeed / @ livejournal.com]:
Share each one of your away messages, explaining along the way if you feel so inclined.
[1.] "I look at it all like this," [Cutangle] said. "Before I heard him talk, I was like everyone else. You know what I mean? I was confused and uncertain about all the little details of life. But now," he brightened up, "while I'm still confused and uncertain it's on a much higher plane, d'you see, and at least I know I'm bewildered about the really fundamental and important facts of the universe."
Treatle nodded. "I hadn't looked at it like that," he said, "but you're absolutely right. He's really pushed back the boundaries of ignorance. There's so much about the universe we don't know."
They both savored the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were ignorant of only ordinary things.
+ From Terry Prachett's Equal Rites. This my "zomg law school hurts my brain" away message.
[2.] if hell is in the details
then babe, I'm a microscope
+ From Tom McRae's A&B Song. You know how there are music people and there are lyrics people? I'm a lyrics person. I love an interesting image, a clever turn of phrase - song lyrics are my most regular source of away messages, I think.
[3.] I'm a war, of head versus heart,
And it's always this way.
My head is weak, my heart always speaks,
Before I know what it will say.
+ From Death Cab for Cutie's Crooked Teeth. This isn't me at all, actually - I've very much the opposite, and I self-censor like it's going out of style, but I love this about Ben.
[4.] Let's just drive your car
We could drive all day
Let's just get the hell away from here
(We could do the things,
All the things you want to do
No one here really cares about us anyway)
+ LOL. My "omg, my life is so hard, I'm so sad ;_;" away message. Patched together lyrics from different parts of Everclear's Summerland.
[5.] Oh Sweetness,
Sweetness, I was only joking
when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head
+ From Bigmouth Strikes Again. I love any and all versions of this song, but my very favorite is the Placebo cover. Because I can pretend he's not saying 'mash'. Obviously, my substitute for my retired GRR ARGH away message :-P
[6.] Visions of you on a motorcycle drive by
Cigarette ash flies in your eyes
but you don't mind
You smile
and say the world, it doesn't fit with you.
(I don't believe you)
+ From Third Eye Blind's Motorcycle Drive-by. I don't know exactly what it is about this bit that I like, but there's something about the image of this other person, vibrant and alive, and just so much cooler than you.
[7.] Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather
kick in the eye?
+ The Smiths make another appearance! From Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now. I always find myself smiling automatically at people I rather dislike. Why do I do that? Ugh.
[8.] "It's like I was saying to my wife," White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "Or maybe it was Joe Crede or Aaron Rowand. I can't remember but it was someone. . . ."
+ From one of the stories in the papers after the World Series; someone pointed it out, Jim Caple or Bill Simmons or someone. Cracked my shit up. I just love the suggestion that it could have been any of those three people. Because they're so easily confused. Also, this amuses the part of my brain that is convinced AJ is a manwhore.
[9.] "No baseball? But now when I need incomprehensible gobbledeygook, where am I going to turn? Your journal was providing me with my daily surreal gibberish fix."
[Bad username or site: yagathai / @ livejournal.com] said this to me the day after the final game of the postseason. LITTLE DID HE KNOW :-P
[10.] "Who took the jam outta your doughnut?"
"You took the fucking jam outta my doughnut, Tommy. You did."
+ Movie quote! Snatch was on the college cable station one day and, just for kicks, I made a couple away messages. I deleted most of them later, but this one's stuck. I like it, because, surprisingly, few people on my buddy list seem able to place it, so that's fun. This is another ugh, I hate everyone away message.
[11.] I was a kaleidoscope -
The snow on my lenses distorting the image of what was only one of you.
I didn't know which one to address as all your lips moved.
+ Death Cab's I Was A Kaleidoscope. This song has provided me a couple away messages, this is the latest. I don't associate it with any particular mood of mine; It's just a lyrical image I love.
[12.] Don't cry
You raised your hand for the assignment
Tuck those ribbons under your helmet
and be a good soldier.
+ **laughs** The mandatory Tori Amos away message. Because I am 17. This is for when I'm getting frustrated with school and living in Virginia and part of me is just like yo, wear it.
[13.] I wanted in your storm so bad
I could taste the lightning on your breath
+ From Ohia's Coxcomb Red. Just a descriptive lyric I really like.
[14.] On the back of a motor bike
With your arms outstretched trying to take flight
Leaving everything behind
But even at our swiftest speed
we could not break from the concrete
+ From Death Cab's Brothers On A Hotel Bed. This one is for when I'm feeling restless.
[15.] "I cannot begin to express to you how often ethical dilemmas come up. On the one hand, you want to represent your client. On the other hand, you don't want to be scumbag. I mean, I hope. If you want to be a scumbag, it's a lot easier."
+ Heh. This one just cracks me up. Employment Law attorney Mike Okun, speaking to my Employment Law class.
[16.] "What does it mean - the right man? the love of your life? The concept is absurd. The idea that we can only be complete with another person is evil! Right?"
+ Celine in Before Sunset. This is from the scene in the car where she's freaking out about how her ex-boyfriends always call her up and tell her they've married, and thank her for teaching them to love and respect women. And she's just generally ranting about how the pressure to find The One has completely ruined her lovelife to the point where she doesn't even see the point in trying in a relationship anymore. I partly have this as an away because it reminds me of Celine going a mile a minute in the car and Jesse not able to get a word in edge-wise, which makes me smile. But I guess I also have it because I agree with the sentiment? I think. Check back with me on that.
[17.] Everybody's parents fucked them up. Rich kids parents gave them too much. Poor kids, not enough. You know, too much attention, not enough attention. They either left them or they stuck around and taught them the wrong things.
+ Jesse in...Before Sunset I think, but maybe Before Sunrise. Just a quote I like. Nobody's perfect and all that jazz.
[18.] And I am nothing of a builder
But here I dreamt I was an architect
And I built this balustrade
To keep you home, to keep you safe
From the outside world
But the angles and the corners
Even though my work is unparalleled
They never seemed to meet
This structure fell about our feet
And we were free to go
+ From The Decemberists's Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect. I just adore this image.
[19.] "Do I have a big fucking sign on my forehead that says, YES! I AM FASCINATED BY YOUR SENSELESS BABBLE. COME TALK TO ME FOR THAT IS ALL I COME HERE FOR? "
+ Heh. I love this quote. It's part of a [Bad username or site: strangeidea / @ livejournal.com] rant that was metaquoted. The second half of this rant is a permanent fixture in my AIM profile. ("Probably what it is is that I do feel bad for these people. I mean, even if they're so divorced from reality that they think that they aren't getting on anyone's nerves, you'd have to be pretty God damn painfully lonely to spend your whole life wandering around telling everyone about yourself ...rather than just getting a Livejournal like the rest of us.")
[20.] Food, omg yay.
+ My "breaking the fast" message, left over from Ramadan :-P
[21.] johnnybvo: lol y'know whats fucked, if I die today
johnnybvo: right here where I sit
johnnybvo: the porn on my hd wont be as embarrassing as my music collection
+ As someone with a high tolerance for crap, I so relate ^_~
[22.] The only thing Mussina can improve upon this season is his dour personality.
+ From ESPN.com's 2002 Baseball Season Outlook. That cracked me up when I first read it, and it still amuses the hell out of me to this day.
[23.] "Nobody talked to me," Mussina said. "Nobody ever talks to me. It was nothing new."
+ From an article on Moose's near-perfecto against Boston on 09.02.01. Awww. And **laughs ass off**
[24.] Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep, Data.
+ Heh. A dorktastic away message I sometimes feel like only me and my brother get. It's my "I'm off to bed" away message. The quote is from Best of Both Worlds Part II, when the borgified Picard tries to communicate to Data a way to get around the Borg defenses.
[25.] I remember at Michael's house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse
In the morning at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
You told me you were scared.
+ This is my newest away. I was listening to Sufjan's visit to MBE a couple days ago, and he performed this song. The whole thing is really sad and beautiful, but I especially liked this "scene", as it were.
[26.] This vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.
+ Do I need to explain this one? If you cannot place this quote, I...would rather not know that about you. Please. I'm sure I've de-friended people for less.
Spring Training in T-52 days. That prolly should have been on the list of things that make me happy.
ETA: [Bad username or site: kmousie / @ livejournal.com], I got the notification from LJ today. That was awful sweet of you; thanks.
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Uh, you should be getting unexpected mail from me soon. Once I am home and can actually mail the card.
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omg I love that line. omg I love that movie. and it's brilliant as an away message too. !!!
also, dorktastic? awesomest word ever in the history of awesomeest words.that was a very dorktastic sentance
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You're welcome. :-) *smooch* I ordered it the night before you posted about being good for such gifts...like I said, super-efficient, not oblivious! That was just a litle token to say how much I enjoy your company. And to thank you for teaching me that baseball is great. Yay for spring training soon!
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:-)
And seriously - the offseason completely flew by this year...
Too true. I think for me it was being heavily engaged in the entire postseason, and then caring about trades, arbitration, etc. Paying attention can be so exhausting sometimes! ;-)
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