December 2007 Archives

I've already had two rounds of present opening and I feel almost dirty from the embarrassment of music riches I've amassed. As an aside I think I really need to take a stand against present buying next year. For part of my family though buying presents at Christmas is the only real outward way of showing love that they engage in and asking them not to do it, even when I'm not in need of any material goods, seems wrong. So here's a list and some very early thoughts.

Half Nelson Soundtrack
This is a really nice mix of indie rock with a little Latin jazz and hip hop thrown in. It's my first real exposure to Broken Social Scene. I know I'm behind, no need to scold me, because I feel like I've been deprived by going so long without Broken Social Scene in my life. Any recommendations for what Broken Social Scene record I should buy first?

I'll be honest that I'm not feeling any of the hip hop tracks and wish they were replaced with some more indie rock stuff but as a whole I'm really enjoying the album. And I'm so loving the Billy Bragg track.

The Creek Drank the Cradle by Iron and Wine
I love me some wuss rock so obviously I love Iron and Wine. Somehow, someway I'd managed to go all this time without having the first Iron and Wine record and let me tell you my life is infinitely better now that I finally have it.

The Con by Tegan and Sara
I've liked every single Tegan and Sara song I've ever heard yet this is the first Tegan and Sara CD to be added to my collection. What's up with that? Me being stupid obviously. I'm very much enjoying this record so far.

Greatest Hits by Keith Urban
Cut me some slack. I occasionally enjoy the strange amalgam of country and rock that makes up the majority of contemporary country radio and Keith Urban does it really, really well. He also does sad, depressed country songs well too. I like those.

Writer's Block by Peter, Bjorn and John
I bought the Young Folks single over the summer. I can't recall why I thought it was a good idea to buy just the single and not the whole album but I did and now I own that song twice. Whatever. I've only had a chance to breeze through this quickly but I'm liking the record as a whole so far.

Gattaca Soundtrack
George and Melissa both enthusiastically endorsed the Gattaca soundtrack when I asked for some good ambient music filled film scores. Listening to this a couple times has reaffirmed my decision to trust all of George and Melissa's recommendations without reservation.

Maybe this Christmas will mean something more
Maybe this year love will appear
Deeper than ever before
And maybe forgiveness will ask us to call
Someone we love
Someone we've lost
For reasons we can't quite recall

Maybe This Christmas by Ron Sexsmith

Those lyrics have been in my head all day. This morning there was an email in my inbox from someone who used to be a friend. We haven't spoken in nearly two years I think, maybe three, I can't even remember. The friendship ended on a very sour note, I was quite hurt at the time. Now I can't even remember all the details.

I recall doing everything I could to be a friend to this woman and feeling that the favor wasn't returned. Perhaps because of the season (winter solstice is Friday you know) I'm more open than I normally would be to acknowledging that my memory is faulty and that maybe I did some things wrong too. I tried to be kind in my response to her email and sincerely wished her well. 

Someone wished me merry christmas the other day and I wanted to have some kind of honest and sincere response that more accurately reflected who I am and what I believe in instead of just blindly saying either "merry christmas" back or the more general happy holidays. The lyrics quoted above and the time I took composing my reply to the long lost emailer have helped me formulate that response and verbalize my sincerest wish for friends and family during this season. "May you have a reflective and peaceful solstice full of love. And may those warm feelings accompany you into a new year full of friendship, community, knowledge and even more love still."

It's a little long to say to the cashier at the drug store but I say it with deep sincereity and reverence to all of you.

It's been a while since I've liked any story as much as I like How I Cured Your Heart by Kevin Fanning. You should read it.

I got up to a Twitter update from George letting me know Dan Fogelberg had died. That news added a layer of sadness to my day.

On Saturday B and I were driving around my hometown and "Same Old Lang Syne" came on the radio. I tried but couldn't adequately explain to her how much Dan Fogelberg, and particularly "Same Old Lang Syne" and "Run for the Roses" meant had always meant to me. Call him 70s light rock, call him cheese, call him sappy, call him what you want but he always struck an emotional chord with me and I'm grateful to have his music in my life. There is some music that I have and occasionally listen to and that's that. There is other music that isn't just a passive bystander to my life, it's an active participate and I'm grateful to have it. The best compliment I can pay a musician is to not just enjoy his music but to be grateful for its presence in my life.

I'm grateful for Dan Fogelberg's music. A couple years ago I was going through a rough time and I found myself listening to "Same Old Lang Syne" a great deal in late Spring. I was so emotionally raw the song made me cry almost every time I listened to it but it also made me feel a little bit better each time. That tiny little emotional release that this song about old loves, home towns, warm memories and being home for the holidays gave me brought comfort to me. Thank you Mr. Folgelberg. George is right, Same Old Lang Syne won't be the same knowing you're not around anymore.

After 12 years, 3 states, 5 apartments, 1 house and a dog, B and I are as legally bound as we can be. We finalized and signed wills, living wills, powers of attorney, health care surrogacy directives and all the other necessary documents with our lawyer today. Those who listen to MacBreak Weekly will understand when I say this process cost a little more than an Alex. That ain't cheap but of course it's better than one of us losing everything should something unfortunate happen to the other or perhaps even worse being shut out of medical decision making for each other should one of us become incapable of making those decisions for ourself.

I'm happy and relieved that we've done everything we can to protect ourselves and our life together but I'm angry that we had to jump through so many hoops and it still doesn't feel like it's enough. It still feels like it will be ten times more difficult on us than it should be if/when we have to whip out things like the health care surrogacy and powers of attorney. There's nothing else I can do about it though so I'm just going to be grateful that we are financially able to do these things we need to do. Maybe my next project should be fundraising for a non-profit whose sole purpose would be to give money and free legal help to couples who can't afford to hire an attorney to draft all these legal documents.

Last night was our annual holiday open house. The turnout was fantastic and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. The only negative was that I made enough food and bought enough booze to feed an army and ended up with more leftovers than I would like. That's a minor thing of course that was far outweighed by all the positives.

It's become our tradition to choose one charity or organization we'd like to support and turn our holiday party into an informal fund raiser for that charity or organization. This year we chose the Louisville Metro Meals on Wheels program. Since B is a geriatrician we wanted to support a program this year that specifically helps senior citizens. The fundraiser was an amazing success. People in Louisville have generosity of spirit and give freely of their dollars. At our little party we raised exactly $250. That amount will support one entire Meals on Wheels route which feeds, 10-12 senior citizens, for one week. We are overjoyed at the amount raised and feel so lucky to have such generous friends, neighbors and colleagues. Happy, happy holidays indeed. 

A couple months ago I cut a recipe out of the magazine Vegetarian Times for what were essentially a vegan version of Rice Krispy treats. I made the recipe for some friends, they loved them, I planned to make them again and stashed the recipe. Now it's time to make them again and the recipe has dissappeared from the face of the earth. The Vegetarian Times website doesn't have the recipe online (their website sucks as a whole actually), my library doesn't subscribe to vegetarian times and here I sit with all the ingredients (almond butter, brown rice syrup, vegan chocolate chips, brown rice cereal) and no recollection of quantities, etc. I don't recall exactly which issue of the magazine the recipe came from but it was definitely this fall so I'd say probably the September or October issue. Naturally the recipe wasn't called "Vegan Rice Krispy Treats" but was instead Crispy Rice Squares or something like that. I've listed the bulk, in fact maybe all, of the ingredients above so if you have the back issues it shouldn't be too terribly hard to figure out which one it is. I would be incredibly grateful to anyone who could find and send this recipe to me in the next day or so. I'm hoping to make these for a party this weekend but if I can't find the recipe I need to start looking for an alternate recipe.

Thanks in advance.