After Sunday’s concert by Sweet Sunny South in a gorgeous setting in perfect weather, I’m back on an old-time music kick. So today I find Hober Thinking Radio, which turns out to have a lot of the aesthetic I was after in office music. Life is good.

I found my desk!

Dear Political Activist Groups,

Please send me emails that are in a format other than the following:

Subject: Something including the words “Victory” “success” or “win”

Dear ______,

Last (period of time) we (some small political event, phrased to seem like a partisan victory).

But, we need your money.

14 paragraphs about how you can help. All of which are giving money.

Really. I’ve had enough. It was clever when MoveOn was beating the GOP with political judo, pulling in this “internet” thing and making it dance and sing, airing ads and making people wonder how the fuck they did that.

That was more than half a decade ago, folks. We’re used to it now. It’s not new. Even the most technophobic corners of the political campaigning world know how to write those emails. From now on, I’ll be filing your requests for money in this bland, uninteresting, and, frankly, disengaging form directly in /dev/null.

Sincerely,

Aria.

P.S. You suck.

According to BP’s fancy little calculator thing, my carbon footprint is about 6 tonnes per year. Not bad, a third of the US average, but could be a lot better if my house didn’t leak heat like a seive.

Yesterday, I got a driver’s permit. I failed the motorcycle written (I didn’t have time to study, next time), but I passed the driver’s.

I think I have my mobile phone problems sorted out. Looks like T-Mobile’s roaming contracts are better than Cingular’s, so I can use the same towers that I’ve been using, keep my number by porting it from Cingular, and possibly be month-to-month, using a decent and friendly provider, and happy.

Time to go to Montrose to actually sign up.

So this is fun.

My phone’s been dead this week, and when I call in about a repair of my old phone, they tell me that since my usage is mostly off-network (Yay for living in the mountains!) and using Commnet Wireless’ network, that they’re cancelling my contract and that I have 34 days to find a new provider.

That’s lovely. Nice of them to actually give me a copy of the contract that I didn’t sign, and to point out this part. And for my phone to say “Cingular” when I ask it what network I’m on.

Scytrin dai Kinthra: I have a mind for it. Scytrin dai Kinthra: My mind is -O6 Scytrin dai Kinthra: but all the debug stuff got taken out so no one knows what’s wrong with me… :(

It’s all about the eggplant-feta-onion-mushroom pizza on homemade herb crust, folks.

I may get to go a folk festival in Lyons, and Ani DiFranco’s playing. I am so excited.

I’m angry.

This isn’t a bad thing. It just is. I haven’t felt angry in much of my life.

I feel motivated. Frustrated but not stuck. Willing to work hard because I’m angry.

I get angry at a TV show making a character do something I think is against their nature. I feel angry at a friend for leaving. I feel angry at an old friend for not being here.

Anger is just impetus to change.

baileyjordan asks “How does tickling work? Why are people ticklish?”

People are ticklish because when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, God poked Adam in that spot where his rib used to be, and said “You. You are so gonna think of all the eternal bliss you could be having right now, but instead it’s gonna be slightly uncomfortable, and make you slightly crazy and squirm. Just think, it could be orgasmic, but you’re gonna spend most of your life seeking that feeling, and you just had it.”

mathwhiz78 asks “And TV? How do the sound and pictures get from some studio into a little box in my living room?”

Mike, TV was invented after scientists in the 1940s figured out how to shrink people. They stuff ‘em in the box and torture ‘em into performing. That’s why there’s a whole profession of shrinks. They’re really secret talent scouts. It’s the most exploitative industry in the world.

Mike quips “the news anchor just gave a “shout out” to her friend who was married today. yay professionalism!”

To that, I can only say “See what torture gets you?”

James gasped and asked “So when i go to my shrink he’s really trying to figure out if i belong in that box?”

Exactly.

mathwhiz78 asks “How do microwaves work?”

High power microdildos stimulate a tube of lube and stored electromagnetic radiation, which causes some of the radiation to spray all over the inside, bouncing around until it knocks up your food, making it all hot and steamy.

Yesterday at the thrift shop, I scored 11 issues of Kabuki, in pristine condition, and three CDs, the best of which is an on-air live-music CD of a bunch of artists I love: Tori Amos, the Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, the Cowboy Junkies, and a bunch of artists I think I’m gonna love, because they’re in the same somewhere-between-country-folk-and-bluegrass genre and really amazing singers and songwriters.

elliotpp just pointed me to a gorgeous slideshow of Thomas Hawk’s photography, which is generally amazing