and where did you go?
Dec. 1st, 2009 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agentotterYou guys are not going to believe this at all, but this is a true story:
Today my boss brought another couch into the office. This is a thing he does; he acquires stuff, and instead of taking it home he brings it here. It explains the state of our office, which is barely-controlled chaos with a side of indoor yard sale. But whatever. So he brought in a new couch, and he needed to move his old two-seater loveseat deal out of the "conference room" (which is really his poodles' bedroom). So they brought this little couch into my office. And when I pointed out that the only one here who was going to use it was my dog, everyone gave me this duh sort of look.
I kid you not. Not only can I bring my dog to work (and he's settled down enough now that I can let him wander the office at will and not worry that he will devour my boss's poodles), but my boss gave my dog an entire couch of his own.
Trudeau may officially be the most spoiled creature in all the land. He wouldn't have you believe that, though. I've now got him in a gentle leader headcollar, which I was skeptical of just because I thought he'd easily slip out of it, but not so... I've been taking him on walks in it and suddenly my ridiculous stress-inducing maniac-style pulling dog has become a well-mannered angel. We can even walk by other dogs and it's easy to keep him in control when he gets overexcited by that. (By contrast, I have in the past had to physically restrain him, while trying to also not get bitten by whatever loose dog Trudeau is trying to killify.) It's fucking awesome. But occasionally he goes nuts with trying to scratch it off his head, and when I try to stop him before he knocks his own teeth out or something, he yelps like I'm killing him.
It's made for some interesting walks in the park. The other day a woman turned back and made a remark which sounded like, "That's awful." But it also might've been "That's thoughtful," so maybe she was paying me a compliment. *fails at dogs*
In other news, I embarked upon my expedition to San Francisco last weekend. There were many lulz, and awesome fangirls (plus bonus fanboy), and I even enjoyed an alcoholic beverage. And a buffalo burger. In case you were wondering,cofax7 and kuwdora are somehow impossibly EVEN MORE AWESOME in person. Cofax even made me an omelette. Nobody's ever made me an omelette before. And kuwdora led me on a whirlwind tour of San Francisco's sights by foot and public transit, but I have to say that my favorite part was the Castro. (Did you know there are places where gay people can go out in public while actively being gay?) So very strange and wonderful, this foreign land.) To round out the weekend of First Times I Did That, I also had my first flat tire. >.< Why yes, those were brand new tires. Why yes, I did just buy them two days before. DAMN YOU, FATES.
My first night in town I went to see The Swell Season in concert in Oakland, which admittedly was mostly the reason for the whole trip. It was amazing. I really don't quite have the words for you to describe how fantastic it was. I can only say that while their recorded music has the power to move you, their music live will make you feel as if you've been lifted off your feet. It's a bit of a strange sensation, considering how many of the songs Glen Hansard writes are about struggling and failing, falling and getting up again, hope in the darkest of hours and love that doesn't generally conquer all. But somehow listening to this music lives makes you... I don't know, makes you want to be a better person. Makes you want to do right by the people in your life and appreciate them more and pick yourself up and dust yourself off and hell, maybe busk on a street corner. Their music is an ode to human fortitude and frailty, to mistakes and regrets and the hope that next time you'll get it right. As you can see, I'm still coming down off the high, but thankfully it's not worn off yet.
Also, those of you who have seen and enjoyed Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard in Once may be interested to know that Marketa has an almost entirely different speaking voice now. I guess she's been in Ireland long enough and Glen's clearly been an influence on her speech patterns; she now speaks with an Irish accent with inflections more or less identical to Glen's. It's fucking adorable. They're all adorable. That fiddle player was adorable, and he played a solo all of his own. And Glen played a song unplugged, and he frequently recruited the audience to sing background vocals and whatnot and it was just a blast. The only thing that would've made it better was if there had been a dancefloor instead of seating. I could've shook my "moneymaker," as the kids say.
If you haven't heard The Swell Season before -- or The Frames, or Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, or whatever search terms might bring you to the epic music that comes from Glen Hansard's brains and his brilliant collaborations with other brilliant artists -- I really hope you'll give them a listen. You can find their official website here, and a YouTube playlist of some of my favorite album and live tracks here.
In WTF news, I went to YouTube just now to access my collection of Hey Rosetta! videos, and under "recommended for you," among Glen Hansard, Matthew Good, and Supernatural bloopers, there was a video titled "Flies on a dead cow." From the preview picture, it appeared to be a video of just that. What's up, YouTube? You really think I want to watch a video of flies on a dead cow? What exactly are you trying to say about me?
Today my boss brought another couch into the office. This is a thing he does; he acquires stuff, and instead of taking it home he brings it here. It explains the state of our office, which is barely-controlled chaos with a side of indoor yard sale. But whatever. So he brought in a new couch, and he needed to move his old two-seater loveseat deal out of the "conference room" (which is really his poodles' bedroom). So they brought this little couch into my office. And when I pointed out that the only one here who was going to use it was my dog, everyone gave me this duh sort of look.
I kid you not. Not only can I bring my dog to work (and he's settled down enough now that I can let him wander the office at will and not worry that he will devour my boss's poodles), but my boss gave my dog an entire couch of his own.
Trudeau may officially be the most spoiled creature in all the land. He wouldn't have you believe that, though. I've now got him in a gentle leader headcollar, which I was skeptical of just because I thought he'd easily slip out of it, but not so... I've been taking him on walks in it and suddenly my ridiculous stress-inducing maniac-style pulling dog has become a well-mannered angel. We can even walk by other dogs and it's easy to keep him in control when he gets overexcited by that. (By contrast, I have in the past had to physically restrain him, while trying to also not get bitten by whatever loose dog Trudeau is trying to killify.) It's fucking awesome. But occasionally he goes nuts with trying to scratch it off his head, and when I try to stop him before he knocks his own teeth out or something, he yelps like I'm killing him.
It's made for some interesting walks in the park. The other day a woman turned back and made a remark which sounded like, "That's awful." But it also might've been "That's thoughtful," so maybe she was paying me a compliment. *fails at dogs*
In other news, I embarked upon my expedition to San Francisco last weekend. There were many lulz, and awesome fangirls (plus bonus fanboy), and I even enjoyed an alcoholic beverage. And a buffalo burger. In case you were wondering,
cofax7 and kuwdora are somehow impossibly EVEN MORE AWESOME in person. Cofax even made me an omelette. Nobody's ever made me an omelette before. And kuwdora led me on a whirlwind tour of San Francisco's sights by foot and public transit, but I have to say that my favorite part was the Castro. (Did you know there are places where gay people can go out in public while actively being gay?) So very strange and wonderful, this foreign land.) To round out the weekend of First Times I Did That, I also had my first flat tire. >.< Why yes, those were brand new tires. Why yes, I did just buy them two days before. DAMN YOU, FATES.My first night in town I went to see The Swell Season in concert in Oakland, which admittedly was mostly the reason for the whole trip. It was amazing. I really don't quite have the words for you to describe how fantastic it was. I can only say that while their recorded music has the power to move you, their music live will make you feel as if you've been lifted off your feet. It's a bit of a strange sensation, considering how many of the songs Glen Hansard writes are about struggling and failing, falling and getting up again, hope in the darkest of hours and love that doesn't generally conquer all. But somehow listening to this music lives makes you... I don't know, makes you want to be a better person. Makes you want to do right by the people in your life and appreciate them more and pick yourself up and dust yourself off and hell, maybe busk on a street corner. Their music is an ode to human fortitude and frailty, to mistakes and regrets and the hope that next time you'll get it right. As you can see, I'm still coming down off the high, but thankfully it's not worn off yet.
Also, those of you who have seen and enjoyed Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard in Once may be interested to know that Marketa has an almost entirely different speaking voice now. I guess she's been in Ireland long enough and Glen's clearly been an influence on her speech patterns; she now speaks with an Irish accent with inflections more or less identical to Glen's. It's fucking adorable. They're all adorable. That fiddle player was adorable, and he played a solo all of his own. And Glen played a song unplugged, and he frequently recruited the audience to sing background vocals and whatnot and it was just a blast. The only thing that would've made it better was if there had been a dancefloor instead of seating. I could've shook my "moneymaker," as the kids say.
If you haven't heard The Swell Season before -- or The Frames, or Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, or whatever search terms might bring you to the epic music that comes from Glen Hansard's brains and his brilliant collaborations with other brilliant artists -- I really hope you'll give them a listen. You can find their official website here, and a YouTube playlist of some of my favorite album and live tracks here.
In WTF news, I went to YouTube just now to access my collection of Hey Rosetta! videos, and under "recommended for you," among Glen Hansard, Matthew Good, and Supernatural bloopers, there was a video titled "Flies on a dead cow." From the preview picture, it appeared to be a video of just that. What's up, YouTube? You really think I want to watch a video of flies on a dead cow? What exactly are you trying to say about me?
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 02:18 am (UTC)I got a flat about the third day out on the new bike; I think if tires are going to fail, they often fail within the first week, which has made me revise my schedules for pre-travel bike/car repair.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 06:51 am (UTC)