Are there songs we shouldn’t listen to or experiences we have had that ruin songs for us? I am going to assume for a moment that every is like me and that music has a huge impact on them, now and again. In both good and bad ways. Do we have any of these songs universally in common? People have committed suicide and shared the most special moments in their lives to bands like Nirvana and The Cure (yes I am thinking of specific instances though none of them mine.) So that would say that a song that is powerful enough to impact someone’s life, is not universal (because it had one effect on one person and an opposite effect on another). But maybe this is the point. It is too much to expect one song to effect everyone the same, but it is reasonable to expect that one song would have an effect, significantly, on many people. So its the song, not the experience along with the song. Of course this is a highly unscientific study so whatever. I just wonder if songs like “Donald and Lydia” by John Prine would have such a profound impact on me if it weren’t for the association I have with my less than warm and fuzzy childhood in terms of my parents marriage? (Which is not to say I am blaming my parents for anything, just what is, is)

The laminating machine. I know most of you know that I have a clothing/shoe habit. I think many of you know I have a habit of cutting pictures out of magazines and taping them to my walls. Well I am running out of wall space and so while laying in bed, staring at the ceiling one night, I thought it would be cool to start hanging pictures from the there (lots of uninterrupted otherwise unused space). Then the second light bulb went off, laminate them! So that is what I did. Thursday night after buying a laminating machine Patrick and I spent the majority of the evening laminating pictures and playing a new card game a friend taught me, Spite and Malice. Now I have a large pile of laminated fashion photos that I need to cut out and determine how to affix to the ceiling. Patrick thinks we should make mobiles out of them, but I don’t know yet. I’ll take a picture when it is done and post it on the web.

This week’s picture of me is from my street corner. Since HP isn’t planning on giving raises anytime in the future, Patrick and I have taken to the streets to drag in a little extra cash. Me, to pay off my school loans. Him, to buy a new Titanium. I take the early shift. He takes the late shift. Cool, or? (OK, I am just kidding but when Patrick took this picture of me as I was waiting for my friend Alke to arrive, that is what it reminded us of.)

Next weekend is, of course, my birthday. We will start the day with pedicures at the Bliss Spa in London followed by another day at the Reading Festival in near by Reading, England. Gonna kick ass. The Hives and The White Stripes are playing. So is Jane’s Addiction. I bought a fan and an umbrella (couldn’t find a parasol) to help keep me cool and pasty white, in the blazing English sun! Look for pictures the following weekend. Cheers.