Slanted and Enchanted

Damn, I’ve been on a posting frenzy lately…

Got a lot to say, I guess. Must be springtime, wiping out the winter Seasonal Affective Disorder. ‘Bout damn time, I say.

Any ol’ way, I wanted to write about this new band I’ve been listening to. Well, new to me, anyway. I mentioned a couple of days ago that I’ve found a new band to listen to.

They’re Pavement, an indie band from the ’90s. I found them by looking through the All Music Guide (it’s a link-fest, in addition to being a post-fest!) for bands that I liked, and trying out the bands that the AMG said sounded similar. Behold the power of HTML! What did we do before the IntarWeb?

I guess we just talked to people to find out who the cool bands were. Or something. At least for me, I just listened to the radio, but I’m learning that there’s lots of cool music around that isn’t on the radio. Weird idea, huh? Don’t tell Clear Channel, though.

Anyway, I’ve listened to Pavement’s first two albums, “Slanted and Enchanted” and “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain”. Of the two, I actually like the second album better. “S&E” (I bought it used, from my favorite used record store, Everyday Music (they don’t have a website, just a placeholder; no linkie) because I’m cheap; didn’t spend twice the money to get the re-issued two-disk version with the bonus tracks (where was I? Oh, right)(almost lost track of my asides, there))… “S&E” is more muted sounding, and I think by the second album the band was having more fun with their sound. According to the AMG, Pavement was started as a studio project for Stephen Malkmus and his friends, and gradually became an actual band.

Of course, it turns out that Pavement’s only radio hit, “Cut Your Hair”, is from the album I like. I just can’t get away from my radio-friendliness, I guess. But my favorite two tracks from the album are “Heaven is a Truck” and “Stop Breathin'”.

“Stop Breathin'”, on my first couple of listens, seemed to be a spooky moody sci-fi war song. Only partly true, if the lyrics I’ve been able to find online are any indication. I like my interpretation better, though. The narrator starts out singing about being wounded in the first falling of “The Core”, which to my mind sounded very much like a Matrix- or Terminator-type war against artificial intelligence. The narrator continues, pleading for someone to stop breathing for him — perhaps he’s being kept alive by the machines? His complaint about no one waking up fit in with my mental images.

Sure, there’s a more mundane explanation for the lyrics: Instead of “The Core” he could be saying “The Corps” — as in Marine Corps. And instead of being kept alive by intelligent machines, he could just be in a coma and hooked up to a respirator. Boring, not to mention it’s been done before: Metallica’s “One”.

The song ends with a long outro that goes on for minutes, and completes the haunting feeling of Malkmus’ pained lyrics.

“Heaven Is A Truck” tells the story of an aging beauty queen, hitching a ride and seeking acceptance and, possibly, love, from strangers. Another great, self-contained story.

Check them out if you like sombre, mellow, near-punk sounds. Pavement’s lyrics have some of the irony and humor of Cake’s music, but only a little, and a much darker edge.

Irony

Went out tonight with friends. Played some darts, had dinner at Hoda’s (it was very good. One friend had been to Turkey before, and she proclaimed the food at Hoda’s to be top-notch).

Afterward, we went to shoot some pool, and while I was waiting for my shot, I noticed a guy in his early twenties, and dressed in a t-shirt and baggy jeans.

His t-shirt read:

“Bros before hos.”

The bestbestbest part was — He was playing all alone. No bros, no hos.

Another diet/exercise update

Did I mention before that I’ve switched to counting calories? ‘Cause I have, as of last Monday. And it’s gotten my weight moving downward again. Plus I get to eat bread and noodles and pasta again, which is probably a good thing. At least my friends will stop making fun of my diet… OK, they won’t, but that’s what friends are for, right? I just keep pointing to the results — At the end of January, I was 193.5 lbs, and today I weighed in at 186.0, meaning in four weeks I dropped almost 2 lbs per week. Not bad for a “fad” diet.

Of course, the proof is in keeping the weight off. That’s one of the reasons I switched to another diet. It’s how I keep interested; finding new ways to tweak and obsess over numbers and figures. I have a spreadsheet now that I use to track daily calories, and I’m banking the extra calories every day to give myself a reward at the end of the week.

I figure, with all the working out I do, and the walking, and taking the stairs at work (my office is on the 8th floor, and I also provide support at a 7 story building plus four other locations downtown), etc. etc., I burn around 2200 calories per day. I’m allowing myself 1700 calories per day, a deficit that should lead to a pound of weight lost every week (500 calories * 7 days = 3500 calories).

But for this first week (which isn’t over), I’m averaging 1598 calories per day. Is that too little? Am I hurting myself? Don’t know. Some nights I’ve gone to bed hungry, it’s true — the days I only ate about 1450 calories per day (those are the days that have dragged my average down, I’ll admit). So it’s likely that I could be less strict and eat a bit more.

The problem is that I tend to have a huge lunch, which doesn’t leave many calories for dinner. It’s hard to find something filling that’s only 200-300 calories. I’ll have to work on a) reducing the size of my lunches, and b) finding lower-calorie dinners.

Exercise:

Ran two miles this morning! Whoo-hoo! Felt pretty good. I did less walking this time. I ran the entire first mile (after warming up for 5 minutes) then walked two blocks, then started running back. I couldn’t quite keep running back, though, and had to walk a couple of times. Finally (but before the halfway point back) I decided that I would run the block, then when crossing the street I would slow to a walk. And that did it; I could maintain that pace all the way back home.

Oh, and I did some calisthenics (pushups, stomach crunches, stretches) before running, too.

I’m kinda worried about the Shamrock Run. It’s in two weeks, and I can’t yet run continuously for more than a mile. But I’m going to keep working it.

Runners, it seems, eat a high-carb diet. Maybe my Atkins diet hurt my performance? Oh, well, I’m back on bread again, so hopefully that will help.

I’ve got 500 calories “extra” so far, and it’s sooooooo tempting to go eat a huge chocolate chip cookie. Mmmm… chocolate chip…

Lethem

I’ve been on a “new things” kick lately. Picked up some books by a new author, and found a new band I like.

New author is Jonathan Lethem. I’ve read his first two books (he’s got five so far), and I like what I’ve read. At some point I’ll post actual reviews of them, but for right now I just wanted to post my favorite quote.

In “As She Climbed Across The Table”, Alice is a research physicist on a project to create a wormhole, or something. The project actually creates a void, an area where things disappear. Well, some things do; other things don’t. Alice begins to rationalize that the void is making choices… and infers a personality from those choices… and then falls in love with this vacant area of space. She calls it “Lack”.

The story is told from Phillip’s (the heartburning boyfriend) perspective, as he watches this all happen. At one point, when he goes to confront Alice about loving Lack, he says:

“I can’t possibly compete. I could never offer you as little as Lack does. He’s playing hard to perceive.”

(I guess this turned into a mini-review anyway).

The book is very good, and I recommend it. Very creative, dryly humorous, and focused more on character (or lack thereof (sorry, couldn’t resist)) than on the science.


Update: Added links to author and book. 4 May 2009 – BAM

My First Shamrock

Well, I did it today. I signed up for the Shamrock Run1. I’m doing the 5K race. It’ll be Sunday March 14, 2004

It’s funny — they ask what size t-shirt you wear, and because I’m still losing weight (I saw 186 on the scale this morning! Go, me!) I’m not sure if a Large will be too big by the middle of next month when the race is.

I probably should have chosen a Medium. Oh, well, it will be baggy. Or maybe, since it’s my first-ever event, I’ll have it framed!


Update: I have fixed this link as of 4 May 2009. – BAM

Reverse?

Damn. Still have to figure out how to get the archives to list in reverse order. Probably something simple I’m just missing.

Site update

Made a couple of small changes to the site. Archives are now linked and saved by month. I figure I’ve been doing this enough to warrant that change.

Also, moved my favorite links to the top of the left column.

Whee. I’m giddy with excitement.

Terwilliger the First

Let’s get the diet-y and exercise-y stuff out of the way: Weight is holding steady at 188 for the past two days. Whoo-HOO! It means that my weight has dropped below 190 for the first time since, oh, I don’t know, High School? It feels great.

I’ve switched to counting calories, although the calories I eat are still mostly Atkins-y. F’rinstance, I had BBQ Beef Brisket for lunch. I’m aiming for 1700 calories per day, which is approximately 500 fewer per day than my body burns, working out to a one-pound loss per week.

I happen to think that the Atkins diet is just a sneaky way to restrict your calorie intake, as counter-intuitive as that seems to people unfamiliar with the low-carb diet. “What?” they shriek, “you’re eating nothing but fat and bacon! How can you possibly be eating fewer calories?! That’s just not right!” Truth is, though, I do eat vegetables; Salads, green beans, broccoli, all good for me and included in my diet. Atkins is more about restricting white flour and sugar (and other starches, like potatos or corn or rice) than it is about stuffing your face full of bacon and pork rinds.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Hey, a tangent. Where was I..? Oh, right.

Exercise-wise, I’m doing great. Went running with some friends on Monday (to celebrate my last Monday off; schedule change, it mostly sucks), and managed to not hold them back too much. I went about 2 miles, which doesn’t sound like much until you realize it was uphill. We were running from Duniway Park up Terwilliger Blvd, and then back down. My faster friend, Jake, ran ahead and covered the first mile in seven minutes, give or take. He stopped around where there’s some stairs leading up from the road to some building. (Sorry these descriptions are so vague; I’m not that familiar with the area). Jake missed the stairs and ran past, then stopped and came back to me. I had been running and mostly keeping up with Caleb, but Caleb had pulled ahead of me by then. Jake reached me, then we continued up to the stairs, which Jake promptly ran up.

I tried to run, but ended up plodding up the stairs one by one. At the top, Jake asked me if I was tired.

Dumb question. But, actually, I didn’t feel that bad. No pain, just short of breath.

On the way down, I met and talked to a girl who works at the hospital on the hill. She was dressed all in black and had on some seriously clogg-y looking shoes, but had some trail shoes sticking out of her backpack, which prompted my conversation. She seems nice. I ended up walking the rest of the way back to Duniway Park, where Jake was waiting for me.

Yesterday I ran 6 miles on the elliptical trainer, and today I rested. Tomorrow, back to the elliptical trainer, unless the rain lets up in the morning; then I’ll go running again.

Different but the same

I think it’s funny how some people are intimidated by computers.

But it’s probably the same way I feel around horses.

All but one

A friend and I had lunch last week. We hadn’t talked in a while, and were catching up on how our lives had changed. He’d moved to another state, bounced around at his job, had a baby (along with his wife, no immaculate conception), bought a new car…

I’d gotten out from under an ineffective boss, gotten a cushy job downtown, lost a lot of weight, gone to Mexico, started a side business… and broke up with my girlfriend over a protracted period of time; a very painful experience.

His comment was “Well, except for that one area of your life, things are going pretty good for you.”

To which I can only think: Yeah, the one area of my life that’s most important to me is in the shitter, while everything that I don’t really care about is smooth sailing.

Yay.