When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange who you are into what you're gonna be

Sha-na-na na-na na na-na-na, sha-na-na na-na....

Right. I'd rather hear the Brady Bunch than the hip-hop that's suddenly pumping out of my favorite music station. Former favorite music station. They've had a format change at 93.1, The Lake. Suddenly it's 93.1 Jams. They can jam it, all right.

Friday I was happily singing along to the Moody Blues, Elton John, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Heart. Well, not so happily singing along to Heart, but you get my point.

You know, I had a boyfriend who was totally in lust with those chicks, and I just couldn't see it. I mean, what's to like about big boobs and husky voices, right?

Anyway, what's to like about this bass-driven drivel? Oy, I think I'm channeling my father.

So I turned the radio on after class and switched it off Air America – don't even start – to my afternoon tunes. Except they were playing some unremarkable rap that had no melody, no harmony and scarcely audible lyrics. Format change fear hit hard, but I hoped maybe it was an ad. Alas, the song finished and their little station identification came on to notify me that this was a twin broadcast from something much further up the dial. As if one frequency weren't enough.

Ugh. I had been so happy that there was one station that played music I liked. I guess I'll have to move over to the oldies station and suffer through "Earth Angel" to get the occasional Beatles tune.

Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're going to play that awful crap all night and day....

I must be mellowing

The last time I took this quiz, my blog was rated as medium.

Superficial

So, I finally joined Facebook. It's probably another distraction I don't need, but it's interesting to poke around and see who's on and who isn't. I certainly haven't figured it all out yet.

It's funny – I bumped into someone at the grocery store a while back, and he said if I was on Facebook I should look him up. So when I joined, I did look him up and sent him a friend invitation. But instead of friending me, he sent me a friendly message. That's OK by me. We were never close, to say the least, and I had wrestled with whether to send an invite in the first place. I guess our mutual noncommittal is fine with both of us. Our ties are superficial.

And so is so much of what we do on these social networking sites. Like this blog. Like Facebook. I've met a good number of people in the flesh after having met online. I really hit it off with a couple of them, definitely not with others, and then there's the third category of people that, well, we did fine together, but that's probably as deep as it will ever get unless we spend more time together.

But for the most part, I keep this blog superficial. I write about candy and walks in the woods, and I whine about school. Those are fine, benign aspects of my life that make up the big Me. I consider laying it bare sometimes, the good and the ugly. But negative comments (you know who you are; knock it off) have recently made me want to keep it to the inconsequential.

When I see a guy's MySpace page, and he has more than 30,000 friends (seriously, I just saw this yesterday) who leave such pithy and perceptive comments as "Thanks for the add! You rock!" I have to wonder precisely what the draw is. But it's there. I visited his page, too, after all.

What are we really doing online? That I could feel so involved with someone else's life, someone I've never met and probably never will, someone whose life I seem to know better than the old couple next door, better than some of my family – should I?

It's fun to read about ordinary people and their ordinary lives and their ordinary ups and downs. And it's quite pleasing to check in on them and have them check in on me. I like it.

So even though I don't say much that matters, I suppose I'll keep saying it. And I'll see some of you around.

Going Down?

What is this world coming to? This album makes Time-Life look cutting edge. Ooh, I really need a sick version of The Young and the Restless on my iTunes. God save us.

Putting the bone in Blog to the Bone

So the other night, Eric and I got a little loud. Let's face it: I am a screamer. But, because I don't want to wake the neighbors or frighten the children, I usually restrain the primal yell well. Holding back the cries of ecstasy takes a lot of fun out of mingling our skin and secretions, however. And think how long until the kids move out. Ugh.

But on this recent night, Eric couldn't hold back the release of decibels that accompanies the release of Mt. Vesuvius.

"That was loud," I said. "I think Kayleigh's still awake."

"Gonna give her an education," he said.

Fast forward about 18 hours. We were all in the kitchen, and Eric dropped some utensil I can't remember. And what did he say?

"Mmwuhhh, arr, uhhh." Or something similar and similarly reminiscent of the previous evening's party for two.

And Kayleigh said, "You sound funny when you say 'mwuhhh.'"

Eric looked at me and smiled. I burst out laughing and finally left the room. Kayleigh was mystified. And I'm glad. Education is fine, but the finer points she's going to have to work out herself. At a much later date. And without an audience, if she's lucky.

Family time

Last Saturday was a lovely day, so we skipped out on work and had a little fun. We headed up to the apple orchard and spent a little time poking around in the woods that were pretty thoroughly washed out in this spring's floods.

It's so hard to get Kayleigh to look at a camera, and then not to make a disgusted face.

Political Sunday

We're getting close to the election. I hope you're paying attention. There's more to the candidates than sound bytes. The person we put in office does matter. Please look at the issues and where the candidates stand on them. Maybe this quote quiz (Thanks, Dorothy!) will help. Want to try to guess my score?

October

October is my favorite month. It's not hot, it's not obscenely cold. When it's not raining, it's gorgeous. The leaves are turning and beginning to fall, apples are ripe, pumpkins are ready, the farmers' market is bursting with the fall harvest, and kids are thinking about Halloween. I suck down vats of hot tea in front of the fireplace and fantasize about all the trails I could be hiking instead of doing homework. (Hi, Katy! Hi, Lew! I love school!)

You need to get your fill of fall hiking before gun deer season starts. Last November, not heeding common sense, we set out into the hills just before sunset, gunshots echoing around us. The charm of little wisps of snow floating down with the crisp, fall leaves sort of fades when you're wondering if you're going to be mistaken for a turdy point buck.

October also means it's time to turn the heat on. I think we could have suffered a little longer, but I make it policy not to bitch about turning the heat on once 10/1 rolls around. (You should hear me howl if someone dares to try to turn it on in September. Ha! Not happening. Bake a pie if you want to get warm in September.) October is settlement month with the utility company. They check our annual power use against what was budgeted, and we either get a refund or pay up. Refunds are nice though infrequent. The downside is that you don't get cheap-cheap bills in the summer when the only things running are the computer and the Wii.

The thing I really dislike about turning the heat on is the smell. All the dust that's collected since April or May comes whiffing out the register with that stale, burned sugar odor. And it's so dry. I think I could peel my face off in sheets.

Do you have a favorite month? Does it have anything to do with face peels?