This is what I heard resounding from my family room as I went downstairs to make tea a few minutes ago.
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| No, not basically. Country really does suck. |
Let me tell you about my day.
First of all, my day began by me shutting off my alarm to go back to sleep and resolve the vivid lucid dream I was having, which, surprisingly successful (as far as continuing the same dream goes). It was really grisly and awful in the end, though, and I woke up in a weird funk at 11:30 when Noopo walked in and told me to get ready for our photo session.
That's right, I mumbled to myself as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. We never took a family Christmas picture, so my mom's friend Diane was going to help us take it. She was over anyway, chatting with my mom downstairs like they do every week. I pulled apart my curtains, and to my pleasant surprise, it was lightly snowing, giving us the perfect backdrop for a marshland photo sesh. I pulled on my plaid and jeans, and tromped into the kitchen to make my customary egg on toast.
I have been inclined to eat said meal for a good few months now, ever since I saw this wonderful rendition in Miyazaki's movie Laputa: Castle In the Sky
Am I right?! Yes. Delicious. All of the Ghibli film foods are mouth-watering.
Another thing that makes making eggs so attractive to me is in Steinbeck's book East of Eden, it describes how when one character is making eggs, that he watches "the edges flutter into a brown lace." That is exactly what eggs do. It is so delicious to watch. And eat.
We eventually arrange ourselves, and troop out into the marshland behind our house to make some photos in the new dusting of snow. A rather pleasant thing to wake up and do.
We later had lunch, and then Noopo and I went shopping for school supplies, groceries, and clothes. I bought my first pair of skinny jeans, I guess you could say. They're a rust red, which is why it was hard to pass them up.
And then came the really fun part of our day. We went home, picked up dad, and Noopo, Dad, and I went out to give Dad his belated Christmas present. We took him to The Electric Fetus (which he's never been to before) to pick out a vinyl record, which he hasn't done in ages. I'll have you know that my dad was sort of the 70's equivalent of a hipster--not quite a hippy with all the peace, love and drugs, but the kinds of guy who loved Simon & Garfunkel, burned incense, had black light posters, and sold and played guitars. That kind of 70's guy.
So, even though he's not really the kind of guy to show a lot of outward emotion, you could tell he was excited, especially when he saw how big the place was, and how many records there were to sort through. We spent at least 45 minutes sifting through vinyls, CDs and DVDs, and finally settled on a James Taylor record, a Beach Boys record, a Bill Cosby record, and a Jim Croce CD. My dad repeatedly asked me if I'd heard of Jim Croce, and when I told him that no, I hadn't, he was astounded. Well, Dad, have you heard of Bon Iver? Iron & Wine? The Decemberists? These will be the Jim Croces when my kids are in college. Anyway, after much incredulous shaking of the head, he excitedly chose the CD, and declared himself finished. It was nice, because the used vinyls at the Fetus are between $2-5 usually, so we left with a good armful, and a box of incense.
We drove over to Dinkytown to eat at Annie's Parlour, to the great excitement of all. After battling the credit card parking meter, we dashed through the blistering cold wind, and were eventually seated in the middle of the cozy Parlour, ordering burgers and malts. I had my favorite--the grilled cheese sandwich with three different kinds of cheese and three pieces of bread. Carla had a veggie burger, Dad a California burger, and we split a basket of their delicious fries. Dad and I also indulged in a hot fudge Oreo malt, which was to die for.
We downed our meal happily, then tromped back into the cold, and went over to my apartment to say hello, then made our way home.
On our way back, I asked Dad which record he wanted to put on first. He said he was excited for all of them, but particularly anxious to put on that Jim Croce CD...even though it wasn't a vinyl. I told him he could do whatever he wanted to do. So once we pulled in and went inside, he went straight downstairs and stuck that CD in. My mom came down, smiling, and mentioned that he should boogy around, or something. Which, to my great surprise, he did. And she joined him. My parents bounced around the family room, just like their old square dancing days in Kansas, until mom stepped on the dog and he got offended.They resigned to sitting down and tapping their feet and reminiscing about the song that was playing, Operator. I felt slightly left out, since I didn't recognize anything yet, and felt that they were kind of having a happy moment, so I excused myself and went to make that tea.
I came up here for a while, and then heard the Michael Graves teapot screaming its readiness. I rushed down to turn the burner off, and that's when I heard the strains of "Bad, bad Leroy Brown..." drifting up from the family room. I knew that song, at least. I could hear them being all happy down there, so I have resigned myself to sitting at my desk, smelling my lovely new plumeria-scented candle burn, watching the steam from my tea roll up into my desk lampshade, and listening to this song over and over and over. My mom came in a few minutes ago to ask me some question about something or other, and reinforced the idea that she thought Jim Croce's songs were timeless, and appealed to a wide range of people. Which I'm sure they do. I still don't really know who that guy is, though.
But I guess I do know who Leroy Brown is. So there you have it.
Well, I'm going to see what everyone else is up to. It's a good night. I think my mom is making homemade Chex Mix, because I can smell something buttery in the oven. Mmmmmm.
But is also a sad night, since Noopo has to go back to Duluth tomorrow morning. But the good news is, I'm going up with her to spend the night! So that'll be funskees.
Alright. Audios. :)
Songs of the Day:
Paris Blue (Death to the Throne Remix) by Lykke Li
Wilderness by Active Child
If I had a Heart by Fever Ray
and
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by that Jim Croce guy
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