I'm an excellent driver.

Doctor says "Take a week off." I says "Okay."

Went to visit my father in Cape Cod while he was there with his family-- who are my family as well, incidentally. I shared a few margaritas with his wife who I completely enjoy.. had a few conversations with her daughter about what she wants to be when she grows up. Looks like she's considering singing or theater of some kind- she likes Adele and Florence + The Machine. I don't blame her.

She asked me what I wanted to be when I was her age.

"A Jedi" I told her.

Never give up on a dream.

I stopped running cause it started to hurt my joints (I think) and I don't really miss it, but I did enjoy it when I was doing it. I liked the process.. the incorporation of the music.. I listened to a lot of Underworld- specifically King of Snake, Dinosaur Adventure 3D, Pearls Girl.. and some Flo + The Mo.

There are over 9000 songs on my iPod. I listen to it now almost exclusively on shuffle. I've beat the shuffle a few times- got all the way to the end.. nothing fun happens. I really only listen to a few songs on it, almost always stopping to listen to any Michale Jackson or Madonna.. or R.E.M. Other than that I skipskipskipskip until I find something bearable.

There are rules.

For example:

I have managed to acquire a tremendous amount of 90s radio hits in the form of the Billboard Top 100 of each year from 90 to 99. As a result of this some songs are in the shuffle more than once. My rules involving this are that every time the Macarena comes on I listen to it. Not because I enjoy it a whole lot, but because those are the rules. Here is a link to the version which was all the rage in 1996 incase you have been fortunate enough to forget it. I believe that the two guys in the suits are supposed to be in the same room as many of the half naked women. Can you believe that I actually find this video more tasteful than a lot of other similarly bent videos? Cause I do!?!?

I just watched -to refresh my memory and check the accuracy of the above statement- a video that was quite popular while I was living in New Zealand in 2006. It's called "Push the Button" and it's by a "group" called the "Sugar Babes". You will notice I have not included a link to the video.

Nope.

Sure didn't.

It's kind of a riot. The lyrics of the song are all about liking the way a man respects a woman, and wondering how obvious said woman needs to be in pursuit of said dude. Should you choose to youtube the video, you will notice that it features three half naked women prancing around in an elevator encountering three unsuspecting gentleman attempting to "push the button." The three are not in any danger of being too subtle. The number one guy is unconvincing.. the number two dude with the skinny tie is kind of dreamy.. the number three guy attempts to win her over by pulling out some random pirouette and later decides to shift over to the robot. The guys try hard too, sometimes.

Fantastically popular in New Zealand.

Back to the Macarena.

Also while I was living in New Zealand, I worked with a couple who taught Argentinian Tango, Camilla (who I will refer to by name, because if she ever stumbles across this I would love to get back in touch with her) and Davide (same). Camilla is probably one of the most attractive women I have ever had the pleasure to know personally, in addition to being a really awesome person. She and I would occasionally go out in Wellington, the capitol, to wonder around and see the sites. The drinking age in NZed is 18 so whenever a particularly sloppy gaggle of trashed hussies would stumble by us she would turn to me, lower her wonderful Argentinian eyelashes, sneer her lovely Argentinian lip, and mutter in her throaty Argentinian voice: "Desastre."

Camilla, Davide and I had a lovely time waiting tables together at a local Italian trattoria. I used to make Davide sing the Macarena.. and La Cucaracha. He would get me back by singing "Shake That Ass For Me" on repeat.

There was one magical night, after hours when the two of them danced a tango together through the tables, holding one another very close. It was quite special. I miss them.

Thanks to Eminem I have, just now had the pleasure of saying "Shake That Ass For Me" on the internets to strangers. Yup.

Also:

I watched, over the course of about five or six days, the following movies:

Awakenings, Rain Man, Lorenzo's Oil.

My friend High Kick and I used to play a game we called "Awakenings" at work when it was slow. Either he or I would sit, inert, in a chair in the center of the back servers station. The other person would then huck an object at the sitter who would then.. catch it!

These three movies have aspects in them which could potentially be hard to watch. Awakenings features a man suffering from the after effects of encephalitis who is briefly rehabilitated and then relapses via a downward spiral of loosing all bodily control. Lorenzo's Oil is about a young boy diagnosed with Adrenolukadistrophy which is a disease which destroys the myelin which surrounds the nerves in the brain, essentially turning the brain to mush. The story documents his decline and his parents drive to find a cure for the disease. Rain Man is about an autistic man who is kidnapped by his recently discovered brother to drive across country in order to negotiate their inheritance.

In Awakenings it was really uncomfortable to watch the main character decline into an angry twitchy state, unable to control any of his bodily functions.

Lorenzo's Oil is a brutal, miserable film, I'd watched it when I was much younger. It still bothers me, all of the screaming, the choking on spittle, the relentless cooing of the mother..

Finally, Rain Man, which has moments of high tension when the Autistic brother gets alarmed or upset or you believe he will die in some way.. but still.. even considering all of that.. the most difficult part to watch of the whole thing was Tom Cruise.