Lawd. Sooo tired. Went to work today for six and a half hours (yay); met a new co-worker barista there — Ian. He cursed a fair amount, spoke ill of the other baristas who work there, and in the five hours when he and I were both there, he went out to smoke three times. Plus, he dropped out of all his classes… at Bellevue Community College. He said he got kicked out of art class. How do you flunk community college? He also had this random friend with whom he used to work visiting for like… all afternoon, and they basically talked about how all their friends would drink or get high and then puke everywhere. And about their pedophile ex-manager. Thank you, but strange as it may seem, no, I did not want to hear that.

Okay, so I guess my point is, I don’t particularly love my new co-worker too much. Which is maybe a good thing, because if I didlike him… well, I mean, there’s a lot of blank time one spends in the store, nothing to do…

…so I got a lot of reading on “War and Peace” done. Woo. Hoo. It is an okay book so far; I’m 70 or so pages into it.

I had to do closing today, so I didn’t leave the store until 6:30, after washing all the pitchers and espresso gear and everything. When I got done with work, I came home, and — ooh, hooray! — did our dishes. Which is kind of funny, because I had to clean up everything from a dinner of which I did not partake; the only things I actually ate today were a bowl of yogurt and a bowl of rice and carrots. ::sighs dramatically:: Come on, people!! Where’s the pity?

So now I’ve been working a bunch on my AP English essay and now I have to go do the Logic one, which is overdue. (I’m really sorry, Abe!! I mean it!) I actually had a hellish time trying to write it last night; my computer dissed me when I was trying to get the assignment; then Netscape crashed. I moved to Explorer; Explorer crashed. I rebooted Explorer and found the stuff I had to *read*. I tried to bring up Eudora, because I thought I might have put it in my outbox (I do this when I want to make a note of something that I need to do or deal with later: I put it in a new message to no-one in my outbox and label it with a subject line and save it. It’s easy, because Eudora’s almost always up on my computer, and it doesn’t have fancy fonts and stuff, so it’s just as small as a simpletext file). This moment my computer chose to completely crash, losing me the stuff I’d brought up to read in Explorer. ARGH. So I rebooted the computer, went and got the stuff back up on Explorer, and got the assignment, and saved both, and then turned my FREAKING COMPUTER OFF because I was so annoyed and tired and late-into-the-night that I couldn’t do the assignment anymore, what with have to get up at six for Logic and then go to work after.

I just have to say, Juliana, girl, I love you I have had this totally crappy day, then I got online, and even though I talk to you… like… all the time You were all happy and bubbly and excited. So it’s great to see all your “haha”s and you totally put a smile back on my face!! You’ve given me the energy (I *think*!!) to do my Logic essay now, so that I can do other fun stuff, like housework and reading “War and Peace” and taking a long shower and bath and playing guitar this weekend. Ooooooh, and youth group on Sunday! I am so excited!!!

Barista Goddess say: “Sheryl Crow make dishwashing easier. Only, not sing along to certain songs when parents near.”

By which, I don’t really mean the job at all. In fact, the job is a nice change of pace, sort of. Makes me HAVE to stay awake most mornings instead of just going back to bed after class… *gulps*

But in novels, or mythology, it is always when the queen or princess is tired of her throne that she goes out on vacation, disguised as a plebian, disguised for a change of pace, to meet new people who will treat her differently.

That’s where I am right now — wanting that. Of course I *am* meeting new people — on the job — but in some ways it’s the opposite of where I want to be. It’s another responsibility tying me down… when really what I feel like doing right now (if I had the money!) is buying a huge wooden clippership and sailing the world like a salty ol’ sea dog.

We’ve been reading Billy Budd in APE, and I liked it a fair amount, mostly because of its saltiness. Some people get wanderlust… I get waterlust. I just want to be out on the water, in any sort of craft — from a raft to a clipper, though I’m happier with something made of wood than of metal, whatever its size — floating away… farther and farther from land. I don’t know why, but when you’re very far from shore, and you can’t see the bottom of the water, all you can see is the darkness below, the brightness above, and your own reflection in between. It’s like the closer you are to land, the closer you are to others, and all the obligations that go with that — being good, polite, nice; caring for people and treating them well. Not that I would like to treat people poorly, only that sometimes I want to be alone. It seems like I spent much of my childhood alone — I would go outside and play in the backyard daily; it was my whole purpose in life — and now since about the 6th grade, I’ve come to know many people, and have many obligations. I suppose that this is true of most people, but then maybe being homeschooled did incline me in some degree to loneliness and independence, both, at a younger age than many. But going back to the water, it seems to me that the farther you are from land, the closer you are to God. It is something like what the desert fathers did (Desert Fathers?), according to Thomas Merton. Hence the attractiveness of hermitage I suppose I’d like to be a water-hermit if there is such a thing, rather than a desert-hermit. I mean, in a way desert hermitage is more pure, because you cannot even see yourself in the desert, only God; whereas on the water you have both.

I suppose I am just rambling now… doubtless all y’all my faithful readers think I’m a big dope. I love you all, I just want a break! It doesn’t help that I’ve been listening to chanteys all morning, neither, or that it’s so clear out (and just a little windy, and a little chill… perfect sailing weather *sniffles*).

I want to feel the shift of the sheet in my hand, hear the boom creak as it swings, smell the foamy, salty spray, smelling and feeling like the thousands of hundreds of untold journeys of the prows that plowed the water before me.

I need a boat. This is one of my life goals. I might die an old maid with long white hair, like the grandmother (or is’t Godmother?) in George MacDonald’s books about the princess and Curdy… I don’t care who I’ll have kissed if I didn’t mean it; I don’t care if I’m married or single, because either of those roads, if I take it, I will walk to the end; I don’t care if I’m rich or poor, or if I’ve ever cut a record, or if I’ve ever directed a movie, or if I’ve ever written a novel. Because none of these things change what I will see when I’m out on the water. Only my own soul can tell me what I’ll see of myself and of God; of heaven and earth and the dark blackness below. Only I can chose if I’ll drown, swim, or fly.

On earth, those kind of decisions are complicated; you can get so confused that you don’t know which way’s up and which way’s down, and after all, from a long way off, on a cloudy day, the water looks just like the sky. That’s why I must live near the water, where I can see it, clearly… so I can be close to God. So I can walk from my house, whether it’s a mansion or a shed, down to a dock, and lay on the dock and hear the water lapping beneath, and watch the clouds moving above, and eat chocolate, and contemplate. So I can go wading and dip my head underwater and look at a world that is so different from my own, and still inexplicably connected to it.

I suppose I’ve rambled geekily enough for now Just thinking about it is refreshing, though, and I’m practically on the point of running outofdoors and down to the lake even now, barefoot if needs be, and jump right into it if I could! I guess I’ll have to comfort myself just now, though, by eating some yogurt and granola and perhaps taking a walk before Greek today. *sighs*

Barista Goddess say: “Be like Swirkle. Be sweet, soft, nonfat. Blend and chill.”

Let it henceforth be known that Lauren Brannon, Cnytr Extraordinaire, is now dubbed a full member of the Order of Ristretto. Free the oppressed Lattites from the domineering Mochites, and let it go out in the land, that we shall not tolerate decaffeination any longer!

Went to work, took bus to the Eastgate Park and Ride, and walked home from there, which is about a mile and a half to two miles. So a reasonable walk, and I got exercise. So far today, I haven’t broken my diet *dances*. I did have a little bit of mayonnaise on my sandwich, but I spread it nice and thin.

Talked to Carissa at work a bit… I’m probably going to be working with her a fair amount. She’s twenty, and basically very cheerful and nice, and she knows how to work the machines pretty well and knows all the drinks, so when we get busy, I can just do register and she does the bar. Anyway, told her this guy asked me to go to the concert gig thingie, and she was all like, “Yeah! You should go!!… Is he cute?” so we dished for a bit. And these two (oooh) very nice-looking army men came into the store, too They really like the white chocolate drinks. I tried not to slobber all down the front of my apron, but it was hard to tell if I had or not, because it’s a black apron. I told Lauren what their uniforms/patches were like and she said they were Private First Class, so, like, low. Well, we can’t all marry officers, Lauren!

Also, girl, just have to say, if you are a bad student, I do not even want to know what *I* am!! I am SO behind in Chem and Art History and now I have a Logic essay which I have to post today, and Chem class, and and and that APE essay question doohickie. And, oh, btw, I’m working Friday, too.

Which reminds me: come and see me at the Meadows Tully’s! It’s in Issaquah, on Gilman Blvd, to the left of the QFC. Right near the freeway. I’m working Monday from noon to 6:30, Wednesday from 9 AM to noon, and Friday from noon to 6:30. I’ll make you yummy drinks and get you pastries and everything and it’ll be really cool. Besides which, it’s a really slow location, and so I want to drum up more business to make my manager happy and so that I have something to do, too.

And in case anyone is wondering why I blog so much, it is almost completely Lauren’s fault, because she complains if I leave Blogtopia for five minutes Even though she goes for days without blogging. But I forgive her, because her rare blogs are higher-quality than my frequent ones. Plus I am LOVING that Latin-English poem she just put up! Everyone go look at her blog, now!

Okay, I am a retard. I am sitting her chewing on this little blue metal barette that I had in my hair, and I just realized that bits of the blue paint are chipping off and probably I’m swallowing them. I don’t taste anything, but eww! This stuff could be POISONOUS! I am eighteen years old, and have not yet learned the whole keep-non-food-out-of-your-mouth rule. *is idiot* I need to go study Chemistry. Cause, obviously, there’s a lot of free room in my brane

Barista Goddess say: Cnytr who make room topic of “THERE IS NO MERCY FOR THE DECAFFEINATED!” has future in hot beverage business.

Okay, just between you and me, I figured, if I had lived any time I wanted, and if he hadn’t maybe been gay, I would have married TE Lawrence. I grew out of that a year or two ago, and moved on to massive swoonage for Nikola Tesla, who survived to a later age than Lawrence, though he also was incredibly freaky, looney, messed up in the head, and besides, dead now. (Also thought by some to be gay. Alright, fine, so what!!)

Well, now I’m way in love with Glenn Quinn, who died in December. *sniffles* I liked him way way back when he was Cedric on Covington Cross (ooo); then just recently, Mary and Dad and I started watching ‘Angel’, and he plays Doyle in the first season of ‘Angel’! I was all happy and hoppy and running around going, “Ooh ooh ooh he is mine mine mine!” but then I found out he is dead and so now I’m all sad. *gulps* Of course he was… like… old… well, oldER… but okay, nevermind, point is he’s cute, and Irish, and darling. Here, you see for yourself.

Barista Goddess say: “You do not make choices, choices make you. Also, hair makes you. And food. And overexposure to direct sunlight, just like a houseplant.”

Starting my 28-Day Energize plan tomorrow, officially, though I’m trying to get into the spirit of things today, and may go for a walk or run this afternoon, seeingashow it’s SUNNY in the great northwest!

I thought I’d post it here. I sent this to Lauren so she can do it with me and I will be sending daily e-mails with reminders and suggestions of fun stuff to do, too, recipes and stuff… If you see this and want to do it too (and if I know and love you), just let me know, and I’ll send you the e-mails, too. It’s not like it’s any harder to send it to two people than one.

This 28-Day diet plan is meant to energize and make you buff, with particularly well-toned skin and no cellulite

Don’t overdo or misconstrue the idea of dieting. You have to eat regularly, and not skip meals; skimping on food will actually work contrary to your dieting purposes, because eating regularly and exercising frequently are what keep your metabolism awake, healthy, and working properly. And as you know, your metabolism is what processes food and makes sure that the good stuff stays and the bad stuff goes. That’s why it’s so important to eat *some* form of breakfast: it sort of jumpstarts your internal processes in the morning.

Okay, that said There are some foods you aren’t allowed, and some you are, on this diet.

BAD FOODS:
Sugary things;
candy, cake, ice cream, or pop
white bread
cooking oils
fats or lots of butter
nuts, chips
potatoes
starchy foods
salty foods
alcohol — you are allowed at most 1/2 drink… which is a half glass of wine, or half shot of whiskey, or whatever. I don’t think this applies much to you, but it was in the book that I based the plan on, so I thought I’d mention it ;D
coffee — you may have one coffee drink. For espresso drinks, this means the smallest available size mocha or latte, because that is made with just one shot of espresso. In the same way one shot whiskey has the same amount of alcohol as one glass of wine, a shot of espresso has the same amount of caffeine as one cup of coffee. However, your body can tolerate caffeine better than alcohol, so you’re allowed a whole coffee beverage where with alcohol you should only have half. Also, your body will like coffee better if you couple it with milk. Black coffee can hit your stomach really hard in the morning, especially if it’s empty because you skip breakfast. Plus, if you’re not a regular milk drinker (I’m not), coffee sort of gives you an excuse to have milk.

The reason why alcohol and coffee are particularly off this diet is because of cellulite. Cellulite builds up under your skin because of several factors. One is, if you are slow and don’t move around enough but just sit in front of your computer; just getting up and walking around will help rid you of cellulite somewhat. Another is alcohol and coffee, which contain toxins which will bind to cellulite and make it build up more. Something you can do to get rid of this process is to drink lots of water. LOTS of water. This is good for you in many other ways, too, and especially if it is cold water, will help you keep awake and so on; but also, it will flush out toxins before they make cellulite. Providing your cells with the things they need (like vitamins, sugar, protein, and water) will help actually process the cellulite to get rid of whatever you already have.

So the foods that ARE allowed and recommended are these:

Fresh fruit: kiwis, oranges, bananas, tomatoes
vegetables: cookes or fresh, but especially green vegetables
salads; fresh lettuce and spinach
Lots of water
juice (only natural, real juice, not punches or Capri Sun or something like that)
lots of protein;
beans, eggs, morningstar farms fake-meats
tofu, if you can stomach it
whole wheat bread
whole grain cereal
grains, nuts (less fatty nuts, so not cashews or hazlenuts, but the occasional peanut)
milk (lowfat or nonfat) — calcium is important, as I’m sure you know…
oatmeal
honey
herbal tea
yogurt
cottage cheese
olive oil
sushi — sushi is SO on this diet! Seaweed apparently has lots of interesting hard-to-get vitamins, and most sushis — but then especially non-fish ones — have hardly any or no fat, so eat it up!

Finally, if you have vitamin supplements, make sure they have good amounts of vitamins B, C, and E, and zinc, iron, and magnesium.

So: eat a filling breakfast. If you don’t like eating breakfast in the morning, drink a glass of cold juice, or a cup of hot water with a squirt of lemon or lime juice in it. Something, at least, to get that metabolism started. Generally, you should eat three portions of fresh fruit, three portions of vegetables, and one portion of a non-dairy product every day.

In the morning, take a warm shower. At the end of the shower, turn the water to cold for a few minutes; this is quite good to wake a person up, I know! Plus, it’s really REALLY good for your hair, as it makes it less susceptible to breakage and heat-damage, especially if you brush it or blow-dry it after you shower.

EXERCISE, etc….

Breath deeply, especially when you feel tired; it will get oxygen down into the deepest parts of your lungs and get your cells working.

In general, read or pray before going to bed, because it’s relaxing, and will help you sleep. Don’t watch TV or movies right before bed, because that demands too much immediate attention, and will make it harder to wind down and get to sleep. Don’t eat anything caffeinated or sugary (of course) for at least three hours before bed, and don’t eat *anything* for an hour before bed, unless you are really starving, in which case you should have toast or bread or pasta or cereal.

On sunny days, or otherwise when you feel like it, go out for a walk or a run, even if it is just a short one. The fresh air is good for you, and the atmosphere will lift your spirits.

Exercise is good You probably know the right ones to tone where you want to be buff already, but just generally, most girls want to have less stomach/butt; so,

Squats — stand with feet shoulder-width apart, and bending at the knees, lower your body. Try to keep your back straight and head up and forward.

Leg-lifts — lie on your side and the upper-leg skyward in a scissorish motion; then bring it down. Do as much as you want, just be sure that you do it on both sides. I like to do this when I’m lying on my bed reading, because it’s easy, and I have an automatic switchpoint of changing sides every page. However, especially if you’re reading, it’s easy to get sidetracked and not do it at all, or to get so involved in your reading that you *over*do it and then your butt hurts like a pagan music festival for *days*!

Crunches — lie on your back, put your feet on the floor, legs bent at the knees. Link your hands behind your head and sit up until you can touch your elbows to your knees; but don’t pull on your neck.

Push-ups — I’m just putting this here because I like it, and it’s cool It makes one feel very buff, especially if one is a girl, to be able to do lots of push-ups. Plus, it really is good for the shoulders, arms, upper body… so yeah. You don’t have to do them, but they are COOL, so you really should.

And of course, brush and floss your teeth nightly, change your underwear, and do all the other stuff you usually do.

Hope this workses!!

Love, and truth, and love again — these do not fade.
Day and night and sand and stone will melt and merge and dissolve to dust, and then to naught.
Sky and sea will be one blue; and grass and tree will be one green.
Scars last a lifetime, but they live no more than one life.

And so, dear ones, fear not pain, nor death, nor darkness;
Fear not the things that creep by night and hide in day.
Fear nothing that is transitory, but love eternity and the eternal;
For that is where God dwells: outside of time, within your soul.

And will you let some other one guide your path and harken to your call?
Will you heed another’s heart and read the tomes of his library?
Whose spells will you cast? I bid you well:
Cast only those which make the day shine brighter.

And if God is eternal, then the soul will dwell,
the mark of the soul that is on God, with God.
And if he is not eternal, yet He created time, and not time He;
And so, beyond time, the two are twined, are one.

Taking a page (ha, from the Books of Ascension, a la Willow?) from the Mayor of Sunnydale, I began my official transformation to Barista Goddess yesterday. This means that I spent seven and a half hours yesterday at the Mountain Room of the Tully’s Home Office (which, btw, is located in what used to be the Rainier Brewery, by the freeway. The large red “R” on top has been replaced with a large green “T”, but it otherwise looks the same, and is still called “the brewery” in traffic reports. [For non-Seattlites: as in, "The traffic is backed up way past the brewery because there's a jacknifed semi..." If you *have* been to Seattle, you've probably seen this, because it's pretty much on the direct way to Seattle from the airport (or, I suppose, vice versa).] Kind of like how no one calls Southcenter Mall “Shoppingtown” or whatever the heck their sign says [I actually don't know!] There’s no point calling it that, because people would only get confused, and go, “Where the heck is that? New Jersey?”)

Training WAS hard, but luckily, I am getting paid for it, so I kinda sorta earned $110 (roughly) this weekend, which I will be recieving in my first paycheck a week from Monday. This may seem insignificant, but my goal to have by August (though it’d be nicer if I had it by June, because I’d like to have some time for fun this summer) is $1500, because that’s how much Mom wrote down on the financial aid paperwork that I would earn for college. So, in one weekend, I am 1/15th of my goal by June. Also, if I far surpass my goal (which would not hurt), then I will be able to pay for driver’s insurance, which will no doubt make Mom more faborably inclined to teach me how to drive. (She has already promised to teach me, and has made me promise to at least have my learner’s permit by Spring Break, so we can practice a lot then — but I’m sure she’ll be happier about the idea if I a) am showing the excellent responsibility necessary to hold a part-time job, and b) am able to pay some or all insurance costs for myself.) So, yayyyyy!

I learned how to make all of the Tully’s drinks, I met a whole fleet of baristas-to-be, some of whom were very cool, and one of whom was very *ahem* cute — and with whom I will likely be working in the very near future! He gave me a little flyer for a gig that he’s playing… uhhh… somewheres (he’s a musician. Oooooooooooooooo!); and I just realized after he’d gone and I was looking to see when it is, that, HA, he wrote his phone number on the back! And it looks like it’s in my pen, too, so he must have meant it for me A CUTE GUY GAVE ME HIS PHONE NUMBER!!!! Oh, er, ahem, okay. Well, anyway… *tries to look professional again* (Pssssst: Don’t tell my Dad! Or, my Mom! I get the very distinct impression that they do not want me to have any relations or acquaintance with any person of the male gender who looks better than a hungover, unshowered, toilet-scrubbing Quasimodo. Also, ewww, I just realized HOW nasty that mental image was.) Point being, not really that he was a cute guy, because probably any guy who would give me his phone number after less than 24 hours total experience of me is a complete cad, but simply that I met some cool new people, and I think it was a good experience — and working there regularly will be that much better

My first official working hours will be noon-6:30 PM on Monday. Eeeee!!!

*jumps up and down, runs around in frantic little worker-bee circles*

Yes, welcome to Tully’s! What can I get for you today? ICED NONFAT ALMOND! Would you like a pastry with that? A dipped biscotti? We have some nice, hot scones. (ICED NONFAT ALMOND FOR JOE?) Thank you for coming to Tully’s!

Besides that… Although I’m feeling a little (no, lying: VERY) queasy from too much coffee and too little sleep and food, I’m having the first good hair day I’ve had in a very long time, and I think Mum and I are going to go see Two Towers again tonight (yum, movie); so the day is not completely wasted. PLUS, I am going to call Lauren! I need to bug her and Alice. *calls* LAUUUURENNNNNN!!!!

Okay, *having called* Lauren is a butt She totally dumped me for Alice and candy! Like, UNH!!! *sticks nose in the air and looks in the other direction from Lauren and Alice*

Besides this, not much exciting has happened this weekend except that Mary got the first season of Angel on DVD, which means that I will in fact be able to survive till June, when the next set of Buffy comes out. Also, in the meantime, I get to find and GET Laputa: Castle in the Sky, because it is coming out on DVD SOONSOONSOON and I need it like I need water.

Welllll I have this huge BUMP on my head from where I hit it on the counter this morning, and it hurts like an unattended, unclean espresso machine (you don’t think that hurts? ;), so I was going to take my big swollen head to bed with me and dream that I was swimming (in warm weather) in a large, clear, beautiful pool of ice-water, and that my head is (for a little while) its normal size… but then I got distracted and decided to talk to Dan instead, and sort of didn’t finish till dinner-time, with the result that I now have had only five hours sleep, too much coffee, a huge lump on my head (which, btw, Mum has informed me is probably filled with blood. I could handle this if it were a small lump, but the Tully’s counters are made of stone, and I whanged it right on the corner, and, well, it’s a huge lump. I keep looking in the mirror to see for sure that it’s not distorting the shape of my head, and I’m not entirely sure it isn’t… if I could see my own head from the side/back, I might be able to tell). And I’m going to go sit in a darkened theater for three hours.

Ah, well This is the way life goes. I hope everyone is feeling as happy (and more awake) than I am. Mum and I saw a helicopter land on top of Harborview today, and after a few moments of talking, we realized the implication of this event, and fell silent for a few minutes. (Once again, for non-Seattlites… Harborview’s the big hospital in Seattle; it particularly specializes in intensive care, ER, and other situations where people are in critical condition or worse… having someone helicoptered there just isn’t a good thing, not even an okay, hopeful thing.) So, pray for whoever that was, as well as all the other people you’ve got on your prayer list!

Barista Goddess say: “Coffee keep woman awake when she is only little tired; but when very tired, it can kill her. Also, too much coffee at once causes smelliness.”

Last night was a good night… I’m not exactly sure why, but we just sort of sat around after dinner, talking for a really long time, which was just good… I got some of my anxieties about going to college worked out, and Mary swears up and down that getting my wisdom teeth out will not hurt as much as I fear.

I’m not entirely convinced about the wisdom teeth thing, but my parents do seem quite comfortable that my guitar will survive on a plane, and that it would not be unwise of me to take it to college (as if I would go to college without Cordelia?!). I absolutely refuse to let her travel there in her current (cardboard) case, but assuming I got her an actual hard plastic case, I’d be willing to try it. But by goshdarned golly, if any airline screws up my guitar, I will avenge her. Somehow.

So anyway, last night was good, but rather long, and I did not sleep very well, or very much, because I had a back problem which was just… just really really bad. And, now, I’m extremely hungry. I pretty much have an on/off switch as far as food goes in the morning. Either I can’t stand the thought of something solid, or else I am almost on the point of hiring the entire staff of Denny’s or Shari’s to set up in my kitchen.

As ’tis. I think, eggs, toast, and LOTS of orange juice. OOOOoooooo orange juice… and ketchup, too. All over the eggs. Swimming eggs! I… er, hm, well, I know this doesn’t sound healthy, but since I am starting a rigorous diet/exercise program on Monday, I pretty much need to eat all the fat and bad-for-me crap I can get now.

“You really are a mass of prejudices, aren’t you, professor? You’re so much thought and so little feeling…”
“Oh, I am, am I?”
“Yes you am, are you. Your intolerance infuriates me! I should think that, of all people, a writer would need tolerance! But the fact is you’ll never, you can’t be a first-rate writer or a first-rate human being until you learn to have some small regard for human frai– Aren’t the… geraniums… pretty, professor? Is it not a handsome day that begins… professor?”

– Philadelphia Story

Have been reading Williams’ “The Place of the Lion” all day, and now, twenty pages from the end, I am having to do Chemistry class. It is killing me that I am not done. Everything’s tense! What’s going to happen to Damaris and Quentin? Anthony, of course, will be okay… won’t he? I’m dying here, people!!

Mostly just sort of hung out last night at #cnytr… did a conference call and learned some good new jokes (I guess Daniel wanted to get in on the action, ’cause I told him we were telling jokes and he told me some on AIM.) It was good times, because I’ve never conferenced with my fellow cnytrs before, and so it was a sort of glimpse of what things will be like if (when) we get together irl. CNYTR-MOOT!

Post-cnytr, went and watched Remington Steele with Mum. Yummmmmmmm, Remington Steele.

This morning, had Logic class, eggs, cinnamon-raisin toast, and hot apple cider. I also DLed a coupla songs (Steeleye Span. Yummmmmmmm, Steeleye Span!), and worked on my Sauternes mix(es), which is/are NEVER going to be done! Basically they’re all my favorite love/romance songs of all time, both happy ones and sad ones, but the thing is, I have too many favorites or something, plus I keep finding cool NEW songs.

So I divided them into three (basic) categories: happy love songs, sad love songs, and songs that were just sort of about love in some way or another and were neither particularly happy or sad. Here, for your perusal are the lists. The ones with asterisks are ones I’m considering taking out, cause I just don’t know if they belong. Lemme know what you think:

Happy Love Songs

“Kiss of Love” by Anything Box
“I Want Your Love” by Everything But the Girl
“All is Full of Love” by Bjork*
“How Long Has This Been Going On?” by Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington
“I See God In You” by India Arie
“I Want You to Want Me” by Cleo*
“The Tide is High” by Blondie*
“Bubbletoes” by Jack Johnson
“Your Body is a Wonderland” by John Mayer
“Over the Moon” by Luka Bloom
“Head Over Feet” by Alanis Morisette
“I Need Nothing Else” by Sophie B. Hawkins
“Morning Song” by Jewel
“Near You Always” by Jewel
“You Couldn’t Have Come” by Luka Bloom
“Whenever, Wherever” by Shakira
“Sway” by Bic Runga
“Never Seen Blue” by Tori Amos*
“Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel*
“Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies
“My Love” by Petula Clark
“Your Song” from the soundtrack to “Moulin Rouge”
“Wear Your Love Like Heaven” by Sarah McLachlan

Songs About Love

“Angel Love Theme (Close Your Eyes)” by Christopher Beck (from Buffy)
“Anakin and Padme Theme” by John Williams (the second track on the Ep2 soundtrack)
“Elephant Love Medley” from the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge
“Desert Rose” by Sting*
“My Beloved Wife” by Natalie Merchant
“We Who Love” by some little person***
“What Can You Lose?” by Madonna and Mandy Patinkin
“Flake” by Jack Johnson*
“The Miller’s Son” from the Original London Cast recording of “A Little Night Music”*
“This is For Life” by Luka Bloom
“Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” by Joan Baez
“Full Circle” by Loreena McKennitt
“Dante’s Prayer” by Loreena McKennitt
“Bess, You is My Woman Now” from Ella and Louis’ recording of “Porgy and Bess”
“Way With Words” by John Mayer
“Stay” by Lisa Loeb*
“The Luckiest” by Ben Folds*
“Ready for Love” by India Arie
“Wait” by K’s Choice

Sad Love Songs

“Only in the Past” by the Be Good Tanyas
“Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” by Joan Baez
“Foolish Games” by Jewel
“I Will Not Forget you” by Sarah McLachlan
“I Am A Rock” by Simon and Garfunkel
“Alright Again” by Sadie Hawkins
“Butterfly” by Weezer
“Midas Touch” by the Electric Bonsai Band* (though this song was also done when they were Uncle Bonsai… I like that recording better, but I don’t have it.)
“One (acoustic, live)” by U2* (I want this song, but I want a better version of it. This is an awfully cool live version, but usually, unless a whole album is live, single live tracks can sort of detract from the overall experience…)
“Deep” by Binocular
“Trouble” by Coldplay
“Twelve” by Seven Nations
“Send In the Clowns” from the Original London Cast recording of “A Little Night Music”*
“Every Day a Little Death” from the Original London Cast recording of “A Little Night Music”
“Painters” by Jewel*
“You Were Meant For Me” by Jewel
“Don’t Speak” by No Doubt
“El Tango De Roxanne” from the soundtrack to “Moulin Rouge” (if I had to put just one song on the Sad Love Songs album, this would be it [g] I love how they’ve made “Roxanne” so serious, the way the tango thing works, and how the choral bit at the end sounds like the Dies Irae… *mwa*, bravissimo!)
“Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak*
“You Don’t Know What Love Is” by the Guy Baker International Quintet feat. John Martyn

So, those are the possible mixes as they now stand. I don’t know why I’m making these mixes, except that there are so many romance/love mixes out there, but none of them really have any songs that I think are romantic, because none of those songs deal with the moral aspects of love, infatuation, etc. I think these songs are better… even if some of them are wrong; at least the lyrics are more inventive than, “ooh, baby, you set me on fire, you fill me with desire, lalala” or whatever it is that all these boy bands are singing.

Barista Goddess say: “Think not long on how you look. There’s nothing a little plastic surgery won’t fix, and a little gas fire mess right on back up again.”