Sched-yule.

That title cracks me up. I am so clever sometimes.

So I am packing (or blogging perhaps) tonight for my flight outta Austin-Bergstrom International Airport after work tomorrow. I am too excited. It's been a while. My November trip home was too whirlwind to count, and I am looking forward to watching movies with Mum whilst wrapped up in a blanket with snow outside. Yes.

But I have had some interesting results in trying to see people I thought it might be nice to see. My friends who have either moved from NM before me or who have moved INTO New Mexico and had friends in other states have described this feeling to me, but I guess I never got it. However, I have made attempts to contact certain people for a casual get together involving food, and about 1/8th of those I contacted have even ackowledged me. So that whole "you know who your friends are" vibe I got from the more-experienced ex-pats is true.

And I understand that most of my friends still run on a school schedule wherein students think they have a right to ignore people for a semester...I did it too. But I guess I wish I hadn't. And I am trying to make amends and I am trying to keep something going. Sometimes I guess you just have to let things go.

And might I add, the people who read this, or call me, or let me call them, or who I know I'll see because we just work that way...this is not about them. And my good friends are copious and this is not a "Woe is me, I'm lonely" post. I guess the "working world" and all my networking and such has made me expect perhaps simple acknowledgement of an email. It's pretty basic. And sometimes I do let voicemails go for way too long a time...and maybe some people work better by voice and some by text.

It just seems that those who I have made an effort with and who make an effort with me...even though they are busy in school or are having babies or changing jobs...those are the ones who are worth the phone tag anyway. Maybe it's best not to mourn the loss of those who chose to fall off the map. I only have so many hours in the day. They are probably saying the same thing about me.

Wow. I resolved my issue all in one blog ramble. :) I hope again this doesn't sound whiny, because it's just fact. And to you my buddies who ramble along with me in this crazy life, thank you. I really could not do it without you.

Good buy.

So, I buy a lot of stuff I don't really NEED. We all do. And sometimes I have the immense burning desire to sell it all, or give it away, or just chuck it off the balcony. I mean, I moved it 750 miles to Austin and I put it on a shelf and I have not touched it in 6 months. Is that what we call a "necessary" possession? But then again, some of it is just that keepsakey stuff we have to have. Things I WANT to look at maybe...3 months from now. Just to know where I've been and what I've done.

But I digress. I realized Sunday while driving to San Antonio for a house concert (Susan's not mine) that the purchases I made at the UNM Bookstore over a year ago are quite possibly some of the best-used items I own. I had gotten paid for a gig in UNM money, meaning I had $100 to blow on Lobo Goods. It took a good bit of wandering around to plan my attack. It was Fall of 2005, and I was graduating soon. I knew that post-graduation would require...a roadmap. So I bought an atlas. I was also feeling a bit nostalgic for my soon-to-be alma mater, and also a little bit cold...so I bought a black zip-up hoodie with LOBOS written across the front. I had also impulse purchased an iPod earlier that summer and decided...I needed the iTrip adapter for my car radio. Hells yeah.

So while driving to San Antonio on a lovely rainy Texas Sunday, wearing my Lobo hoodie and listening to a swath of random songs on a mix...and having to consult my atlas because MAPQUEST SUCKS and made up a street name entirely...(like...this street did not exist. And honest to goodness this was the one time I was thrilled to have the actual artist's cell phone number to get directions to a show, haha)...I realized I had gotten constant use out of this collection of Lobo-ized gear.

Those three items have gone on a lot of journeys with me and I thought it was the most random purchase at the time, but I chose well I guess.

Now to get rid of all the other crap around here!

MemeTime

Name your top 10 most played bands on iTunes

1. Shedaisy
   
2. Mary Chapin Carpenter
   
3. Rosanne Cash
   
4. Sugarland
5. John Jennings
   
6. Kathleen Edwards
   
7. Sara Evans
   
8. Susan G.
   
9. Dixie Chicks
   
10. Soul Miner's Daughter
    

What was the first song you ever heard by 6?
"Six O'Clock News" I think on David Letterman. Ben and I bought the CD that night on Amazon. The rest is...well, I love Kathleen. Haha.

What is your favorite album of 2?

Stones in the Road

What is your favorite lyric that 5 has sung? Oh that JJ. I love:

"Maybe one day we can make our amends, but for now with all due respect please do not call. Cause I can't think of you without stalling again. I love you, goddamn you, that's all."

How many times have you seen 4 live?
Once. I hope to see them in Houston this spring, though! Loves.

What is your favorite song by 7?
"New Hometown" - and that was before she was all tabloided out. Oy. Poor Sara.

What is a good memory you have involving the music of 10?
The last semester of college I got really into Soul Miner's Daughter, and I would take my iPod with their CDs loaded and walk to Starbucks in Nob Hill on gloriously crisp fall days and enjoy a pumpkin spice latte and write for hours, and then I would walk home with more Soul Miner. I miss those days. Except I have more free time now and could do the same, haha. I guess I miss Nob Hill!

Is there a song of 3 that makes you sad?
Black Cadillac, because it is about her father passing away, and I am really sad I only grew to appreciate Johnny Cash after he died.

What is your favorite lyric that 2 has sung?

Oh come on, one Chapin lyric? Ok. This one:

How did you get into 3?
Back when my grandma lived in Kansas she had Rosanne's album "King's Record Shop" on tape and after I started playing guitar I became obsessed with that album, especially "Green, Yellow, Red" with its awesome guitar solos and once I borrowed the tape and took it home to Albuquerque and copied it and mailed it back to Grandma. Those were ghetto media days.

What was the first song you heard by 1?
I know "Little Goodbyes" came out first but I hated them then...and then "I Will...But" came out and loved them, haha. I judged their image too quickly like everyone else does. I was just able to rise above bad marketing and recognize brilliant lyrics.

What is your favorite song by 4?
Sugarland has hit the nail on the head of my desire not to work a 9-5 on both of their CDs, the first being "Something More" and the new CD has "Settlin'" which I am obsessed with.

How many times have you seen 9 live?
Thankfully as of last Monday I can comfortably say: once.

What is a good memory you have involving 2?

Well, once I flew to Atlanta to meet a large group of people and conga around Chastain amphitheatre at her concert. And when I conga'd past the stage I flashed her a peace sign AND SHE WINKED AT ME. I am such a nerd. But man, if that was not one of the funnest days of my life.

Is there a song of 8 that makes you sad?
Well, there's this new song that I am sure has a title, but the killer line goes:

I like the feel of you next to me, but that's not love, that's geography.

Ouch.

What is your favorite album of 5?




What is your favorite lyric that 3 has sung?

God is in the roses
The petals and thorns
Storms out on the oceans
The souls who will be born
And every drop of rain that falls
Falls for those who mourn
God is in the roses and the thorns

What is your favorite song of 1?
Man, probably "Love Goes On" because it is just perfection lyrically, vocally, and instrumentally. Also Beth heard me awaken to it every day for about 4 months. Sorry, Beth.

What is your favorite song of 10?
Cross Ties -- my introduction to Jennifer Nettles singing non-Sugarland.

How many times have you seen 8 live?
Pfffffffffffffffffft. Seriously like too many to name.

What is your favorite album of 1?
Knock on the Sky, oddly not the album that contains my favorite song. It is a gem, and the antithesis of the sophomore slump.

What is a great memory you have considering 9?

Well. I don't think I have told many people this but I loved "Wide Open Spaces" and CMT had this program where they'd play a music video and people would write in and tell how that song affected their lives, and CMT would scroll the text while the video played. So I got my little blurb about Wide Open Spaces on CMT. I have it on VHS somewhere. Nerd.

What was the first song you heard by 8?
Wide Open Spaces

What is your favorite cover by 2?
Hm. I think maybe...Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen. She doesn't really need to do a lot of covers. Oh, and she does a mean Price cover, too.

One of the most beautiful things...

I have ever seen occurred this week while I was driving to choir practice. I was on I-35 going North, it had just turned cold and was in the 30's. It was about 6:00 PM, and the sun had mostly set. There were clouds in the sky so it was a greyish-green hue.

The interstate lights cast an orange glow along my path, and an ambulance with its lights flashing was ahead of me. It took the exit to 183 North, which involves looping back up over I-35, right over where I was driving.

So there I am listening to Imogen Heap's "The Walk" which is my new favorite song, and this ambulance is suspended above me in concrete on the ramp, and the lights are flashing in time to the song. And the orange-grey concrete against the green sky with the yellow ambulance and the flashing red lights to the beat of Imogen...wow. I can't explain it.

I'm so postmodern-industrial.