thoughtcrumbs : january 2000

Last night I dreamed I'd come up with the name for my new server. It was perfect. Easy to spell, made sense in lowercase, fit with our animal theme (we have a server named spot and a search engine named rex). I woke up in a flush, struggling to remember that elusive name that was just right. And then I remembered. Perhaps dreams aren't always the best fonts of creativity. I'd almost named my server squeaky.

Went to the Sing-a-long Sound of Music last night with Hannah, Sean, and Sarah. Here's the gist: You pay way too much money for a movie ticket, a cute guy with black-rimmed glasses gives you a bag of party favors, and you get to watch Christopher Plummer in awesome detail. Like a wholesome Rocky Horror, you shout innuendo at the screen and pull champagne poppers when the Captain and Maria first kiss. We hissed at the Countess and barked at Rolph. And a hundred Portlandians with affected vibratos sang along to "Climb Every Mountain." There was a costume contest. Apparently last night's entries were pretty tame (my favorite being Sister Nun of the Above); last week's winner was "Brown Paper Packages," a costume which involved a carboard mailer tube attached in a way that would have made Sister Margaretta blush.

Best lines from Gilmore Girls tonight:

• Oi, with all the poodles already!
• I'm so lonely even Animal Planet doesn't do it for me anymore

Nuggets from the dooce vault:

[PowerPoint is] the Joan Rivers of business documents: an impenetrable fortress of mismatched forms and nonsense, wailing, screeching, unbearable to witness and unwilling to die.

Introducing Installment I of the Moira's Lovelife Series:
Endearing Characteristics of the Object of My First Crush Whose Significance Somehow Eluded Me Then But Were Blatantly Obvious in a Recently Viewed Home Video, Circa 1989, and Which Constituted a Trend in All Later Romantic Endeavors:

• Attire: Pink jacket and MC Hammer pants
• Preferred Dance Music: Vogue (Bonus points for lip-synching and knowing all the poses)
• Extracurricular Activities: A proclivity for sneaking Hermia's costume in drama club
• And the Clincher: Founding member and president of the MacGyver Fan Club, Alameda, CA Chapter (which even had its own stationery)

Soundtrack for this hazy, mellow day:
   1. Beatles - White Album (both disks)
   2. Glen Phillips - Abulum
   3. Al Green - a random greatest hits collection
   4. Rent Soundtrack
I expect seeing Mason Jennings live this evening will round out the set.

Mom, you can read more than what's on this page. Here are my archives.

Jude. Who knew that besides being a kickass lyricist and guitarist, he was blisteringly hysterical? He had us rolling on the floor of the Aladdin Theatre last night, which, as opening diva Sam Shaber pointed out, they've thankfully mopped since it was a porn theater. With no planned set list, he opened with an idyllic song about Cuba (complete with a long-barrelled rifle, should any music execs show up), and then took requests for the rest of the night. Between songs, he bantered with the audience. We communally decided to order a pizza. Jude married a couple in the front row.

Sans band, he let us be his horn section -- the left side of the theater sang the ascending trumpet scale in the chorus of Everything's Alright, while the right side did the poppy descending arpeggios. And we got to be the synth percussive puh-puh-pows in Brad and Suzy. We had a Gay Cowboy singalong. Sample lyric:

I want to hear some other spurs on the floor
When I walk in the door
I want to feel some other hair on the back
When I climb in the sack

Afterward, Karren and I celebrated our birthdays with chocolate cake and loud tracks from King of Yesterday.

Went to see a friend-of-a-friend's bluegrass/funk/jazz band last night. And I'm now in love with a fiddle player. He has the most sparkly blue eyes I've ever seen. And trust me when I say I've never described anyone's eyes as sparkling. He could be an axe murderer or a Republican, even. Why, Moira, when in the presence of musical genius do you sacrifice your brains and wit for drooling groupie syndrome? "You're awesome." Yeah, awesome.

Damn you, Andy, for giving me that virtual vial of crack, Collapse. You are singlehandedly responsible for my lack of productivity this week. I'm dreaming in colored tiles now.

"You don't know 'frumpy' but you know 'onomatopoeia'."