radio

the only time i really listen to the radio is when i go to and from the train station (now that am committed to saving the environment in 2011, i don't drive to the DC metro station. also, the traffic has just been reported to officially be worse than Chicago). so, on a daily basis we're looking at 40 minutes tops of radio time. for apparently as "big" as Baltimore is, there is really no radio station variety. unlike seattle or at least the tri-cities, i can't find an oldies station, or any station that plays music from the 90s. trust me, i've tried. i've never yearned so bad for a hootie and the blowfish song.

106.5 and 104.3 play straight up, unadulterated pop music, and some of the time they are so synced that i can get pissed their playing Miley Cyrus on 104.3, switch to 106.5, and hear the SAME SONG on a twenty second delay. i wish i was making this up. so in my short time in the car i inevitably hear a song by katy perry, rihanna, pink, or nikki minaj. for my readers who don't have any clue who these people are, consider yourself lucky. i usually power through, knowing full well that if hit at the right moment i will sing along to "Your Love" (when i was a geisha/he was a samurai - yes, an actual lyric).

but some mornings i just can't take it. i'm trying to get into the zone of turning my brain on, i'm a little too tired and i just NPR out. right then, about 7:45, i hit Morning Edition and immediately i feel smarter and more informed. this morning, after a riveting piece about the high demand for bison meat (apparently one of the only industries that's growing at the moment) they started talking about Yemen. i know, i know, i should care about Yemen. there are terrorists there. but, i switched back to 106.5. and right after i heard,

'BABY YOU'RE A FIIIIIIIIRRRREEEWOOORRRRKKKK! COME O---"

done. i hate you, katy perry. and i will listen to the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen talk about "diplomacy in the face of terrorist threats" all day if it means you are silenced.

maybe this means i'm an adult. or at least uncool.

a good line

for my five blog readers, my apologies for not giving you all a good holiday wrap up. i'm back in baltimore now, am on day 3 of camping out in my obnoxious pink fleece pants, and missing WA a bit. back to reality and starting the new jobs on tuesday. thankfully i don't start school until the 10th, so i have a little more time to ease into it. i still don't have my syllabi for two of my three courses anyway, so it looks like i'll be flying blind.

but a quip from my new year's eve in baltimore, celebrated at a bar with joy:

it's roughly 11:30, and with the staggering fee to get in, the open bar is flowing. gotta send out the first decade of the millenium with vodka tonics. it really is the best way.

the crowd is snazzy to say the least. joy and i missed the memo about donning a fully sequined mini-dress/skirt, so i feel kind of out of place even with my nice skirt and shiny shoes. i don't do sequins. the women are generally skanky looking and the men are in dark suits or shirts. not a white shirt or jeans to be found on a man...except one person. every time i saw this guy walking around the bar, dressed in jeans, scruffy beard, glasses, and a white striped/patterned button-down i kept singing to myself, "one of these things is not like the other." in my head, i knew: engineer/nerd type. i have a radar for these guys nowadays.

i keep dancing and he comes up to me and begins with this line: "i think you're cute." allllright. thanks.

after my slightly shocked response (men are rarely that forward/not sleazy nowadays) he utters the single best line ever uttered to me at a bar (name changed): "my name is Dave and i have a unicycle."

sold.

side note: i'm batting .1000, he's an engineer. for NASA.