mandalay

sunday afternoon ruminations

a few things that have been on my mind of late:

memories of ACL 2003 - a lovely drizzly blissful experience from start to finish. i had a near epiphany when i realized how people must have felt at woodstock - walking into this space and being surrounded by such a feeling of peace and talent. it was the best weekend of my entire year, spent with good old and new friends and amazing music. it was the first time i saw ben harper, jack johnson, patty griffin and david garza perform. i was blown away.

memories of ACL 2004 - heat. lots of heat. hours of sweat and exhaustion. the sound on one of the main stages was very inconsistent so some of the best bands sounded terrible and the pixies ended up being a huge disappointment for that reason. calexico, however, was amazing.

the ACL after-parties both nights were awesome and just about made up for the days.

having house guests you don't know is risky. on friday night, i got yelled at from a girl i DON'T KNOW (friend of a friend) because i didn't tell her she was buying non-alcoholic beer at the grocery store and she demanded when we got home that i drive to the convenience store MYSELF and buy beer for her to make up for MY oversight. I WAS LETTING HER SLEEP AT MY HOUSE!!! once i was able to pick my jaw off the floor, i told her i didn't feel bad at all that she didn't notice she was buying the non-alcoholic version of her FAVORITE beer nor did i feel bad for not warning her.

7 hours later, when i returned from said friday afterparties, she woke up and asked if i could get her and her friend coke (of the non-caffeinated persuasion) before noon. when i managed to comprehend what she was asking and tell her no, she got mad at me and asked "why not?!?" and then asked if my other friends who were staying with me could get it. when i said no again, she responded with "really?!?!!" MISS MANNERS WOULD NOT APPROVE!!! did i mention it was after 5 am?

the good news is that the next morning when she asked if she pissed me off, i flat-out said yes and she later thanked me for being straightforward and having the guts to say how i felt. she said she respected me for that. my thoughts? thanks for your respect, get out of my house.

spooning, not opposable thumbs, is the most convincing sign of our progress as a civilization. really though, when you think about it, in the most basic of actions that animals can perform, this is where we're unique. just about all animals can pick stuff up, but who besides humans can do such a wonderful comforting thing as spoon? everybody loves to spoon! we are superior!!!

"the mountain" on the WB sucks. i only watched because of oliver hudson, but even oliver hudson isn't enough reason to watch it again.

brittany murphy has played not one, not two, but THREE psycho chicks. please see your oxygen channel on cable and refer to "david & lisa" (1998). this is in addition to "girl, interrupted" (1999) and "don't say a word" (2001). apparently, oprah was the first to spot her psycho potential. as for me, i knew from the moment she said "i'm outie" on clueless.

while spooning might be proof of our progress as a civilization, public auctions might be proof that we are descended from aliens. i spent 6 1/2 hours yesterday with my mom at a french and swedish auction in northeast austin. did you know that the auctioneer makes up amounts randomly? it's kind of like playing a game on price is right -- you have to pray that you put your card up when he lands on "ten" instead of "twenty." and if you don't act quickly enough, you might not even get ten or twenty, not because someone else bid before you, but because after a few seconds, he might decide that the first bid has to start at "thirty" instead. and all of this has to be discerned from rapid-fire verbal acrobatics. do they go to school for that shit? the good news is that i now have a periwinkle trunk to show for my never-ending evening, purchased by bidder #48 for the low low price of $40. hurrah!

posted by amanda @ 5:14 PM