May 24-26, 2001 — We all love to see our name in print

I've been distracted for most of this evening, and it wasn't until a few minutes ago that I realized I'd spent the last few hours sitting in my room with my hundreds of Christmas lights on, with my 17" monitor and computer on, and with my window closed. I wasn't aware that it was warm at all until I first noticed that I'd been sweating. If only I could say that it was the intense, calorie-burning effort of typing that had me this worked up, and that my keyboard athletics are keeping me in wonderful shape. If only.

In other news, thank God the week is over and that I'm switching to a new project next week. Admittedly, the change in departments won't make much of a difference as far as my sanity is concerned, but my new project has multiple bonuses:

1. No one knows how long it will take.
2. I am the only one working on it.
3. I wrote the original program that the new one is based on, so no one else can do it.
4. Programming is slightly more interesting than pasting text into HTML templates for two consecutive weeks of coma-inducing bliss.

I also managed to finish my first book of the summer. (As much as I complain about having to get up early and about having to ride the bus for a little over two hours each day, it is nice to be forced to read again.) I had been reading All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson, and I've now moved on to War Fever by JG Ballard. I finished the former on Wednesday, but I've only read the first two stories in the latter. I also found an edition of Crash by JG Ballard that is much nicer than the version I already have at a used bookstore, so I bought it and will probably read it again once I've finished the book of short stories.

Already filled with pride from having finished a book for the first time in months, I arrived home on Thursday to find a box of Bran Van 3000 CDs waiting for me. I'm doing my best to convince myself that this won't be the last time that my name appears on a major-label CD, but I'm not sure that my optimism is as powerful as that.

And speaking of advanced copies of CDs: reading the unofficial Saves The Day site this week didn't exactly fill me with confidence in their upcoming release. From the site: "Let's just say if you're an avid fan of the Can't Slow Down material . . . then this record is going to completely appall you. I honestly don't think I can get used to it." Coming from someone who, y'know, does the unofficial site, I'm a touch worried.

As I typed that last paragraph, my download of the first song off of the new Saves The Day album finished. Called At your funeral, apparently. Two minutes in, I'm still not entirely sure what I think. I like the beginning and the chorus -- complete with talk of singing requiems, so you know you can't lose -- but I'm still not sure of the guitar parts during the first two verses. I feel a bit less worried, though. And while I don't think anything would've stopped me from buying the CD come July 10, I'm more willing to wait until then before cheating and downloading more songs.

In other music news, I've yet to hear a single song off the new Air album and I am looking forward to being a good consumer and buying the CD on Tuesday. Meanwhile, I caved on Friday and bought the Pyramid Song single. A good song, that. I also ordered a Rainer Maria album on vinyl from Organized Sound -- having what I'd consider to be Ottawa's closest equivalent to Toronto's Rotate This on the same block as my place of summer employment is not good for my efforts to avoid buying too many records this summer...

I'm not sure that I accomplished much else these past few days. Angela Blaike said she saw me in the Rideau Centre from the store that she works at, but I haven't seen her working there since, and I check every day. I wasn't jeered at while biking in Richmond this week (compared to two jeering incidents last week), which is disappointing, since I'm planning to start Slayering from my bike whenever skids decide to yell at me from now on.

And I'm damn sick of this rain.