Last Splash

The gene pool could use a little Chlorine.

Oh Dear...A quick tidbit. Coming home from St. Louis late Tuesday night, I passed an airport store and was shocked to see that the very front display rack contained none other than sale Duke Lacrosse shirts. What were they thinking? This is the first link some people have to this area, and to put those out there like that just says "hey, we know they didn't do it...we're proud of it". I don't know about anyone else, but I was dismayed to think that may be the first sight of my hometown people have. Jusst another reason those of us from Raleigh refuse to associate ourselves with the "Raleigh/Durham" or "Triangle" tag. Because we don't need to go to Durham. Ever.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 15:41 | link | comments |
meow, the sports report

You snooze, you lose...

What a shame. Amid all of the wedding planning (and spending), J and I have forgotten to really discuss whether or not we want to buy a 10-game hockey pack. The pack we really liked, with the teams we wanted, had two games we couldn't attend and would have to switch out, but we should have bitten the bullet and done it because now...one day before individual tickets go on sale, the 'Canes have sold out Opening Night, which we really wanted to attend! Damn! We should have known that watching our Stanley Cup banner raised in front of the team we all loved to hate was too big a draw to pass up. Sigh. I wonder if Buffalo will bring any lovely fans down to start parking lot fights for this game?

posted by: Cannonball14 at 14:44 | link | comments |
the sports report

I am a high fear dental patient. I mean, really high fear. Like, I didn't go to the dentist for 7 consecutive years. And I almost threw up when I made the appointment a few weeks ago. I  started crying when I called the new place that does sedation dentistry and that sent a coupon for a free whitening session (value $285 and worth it for all the freaking wedding pics that will be taken in, um, 53 days or whatever). Why was I so upset? Because I was informed by the office girl that they generally didn't do the sedation for just a cleaning.

But we worked out a little deal and I went in a week ago for my exam and x-rays and to meet the dentist that was so caring to high fear patients like myself. (Sidebar: no, I did not have a "traumatic experience" with the dentist in my younger years, I just had to go. A lot. My teeth made me look like an extra in the movie Deliverance and it required quite a lot of time to fix them. Sorry, I've just been asked that a lot.) When I was sitting in the lobby filling out my paperwork, it asked a question like 'how are you feeling right now' and I wrote, verbatim: "I want to throw up." And then I started crying when I handed her back the forms. It's absurd, I know. But the dentist was nice and was more involved in my care than any dentist I've ever been to (you know, when the assistant does everything and the dentist breezes in for about 17 seconds to look at your mouth).

So I found myself at 9AM this morning sitting in the dentist chair, gleefully awaiting the moment when the nurse slipped that wonderful little nozzle over my nose and I started sucking in the gas. And oh, was that the best dental visit I've ever had. I must have had ten mind-blowing revelations about the dentist, marriage, New York City, and life in general punctuated only by the thought "I really hope they can't hear my thoughts right now" over and over again. I was actually disappointed when he said he was almost finished. And I can't wait to go back.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 18:01 | link | comments |

Someone shoot me...I've gone completely crazy. So, we all know I love music, and while I generally prefer singer-songwriter and motown and classic rock and the old standards, I also have an intense interest in music in general. Any music. Well, almost any music. There is little rap that I like (love me some Out'Kast, though) and when J pulls out his old Conway Twitty-Merle Haggard-Bocephus crap I shut myself into the bathtub with a magazine and a glass of wine and try to block it out. But I digress...the real issue here is that I can hear the good in (some) pop music, although Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson are both total fabrications of talent. And lately, more and more decent pop music has come onto the scene. But that gives me no excuse for the sudden longing to buy Justin Timberlake's, Beyonce's, and Christina Aguilara's new CD's. I think if they came out at different times, I could handle it, because I could mix them in with something else, like a Sam Cooke classic or OutKast's new soundtrack from Idlewild, but if I marched into my local BestBuy and went to the checkout with those 3 particular CD's, I would feel really embarrassed. Like, I would flush more than if I were buying condoms and whipped cream at the grocery store.

The music, however, is actually really good. I know you ask how, but it is genuinely something different for each artist, and different for pop. A step in the right direction, which for Timberlake means more hip-hop and some really cool futuristic sounds, and for Aguilara it means more throwback to the sounds of the 30's and 40's layed over a really very 80's style hook. Beyonce is just Beyonce...(my fiance is in love with her, I think) but the song she performed at the VMA's really had a more raw edge than the America's Sweetheart R&B she's done in the past. And she can dance far better than Britney "I've had 14 years of dance lessons" Spears. All in all, a good crop of pop, if you like that sort of thing. Will I be buying them all? Hell, no! Did I download "sexy back" as my ringtone this morning? You betcha.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 15:33 | link | comments (4) |
music theory