2001-11-26 - 3:29

Here comes the argument

I'm slack with the updates again, so I'm a few days behind. On Friday, everything went very well at work. I got the code that I've been working on for a long time now actually running on our hardware and doing what it's supposed to do. As recently as the start of last week, it was only running on my PC and the final steps weren't there. I had the code to the point where it could interpret messages and know what it was supposed to do; but I didn't have the implementation saying how to do it.

There . . . that's my vague references to my geek job for now. The point is that the main work is now finished; and all that I need to do now is tie up some loose ends. The real challenges are over and I just have some monkey work to do. Considering how long I've been working on this project (well, off and on, since many other smaller jobs came up in the meantime), I'm very happy that it is working out now.

Saturday, I got together with Flett for our overdue trip to Record Runner. They had almost everything that I was looking for. The only omission from my wish list was Einst�rzende Neubauten's Strategies Against Architecture III; but that loss was countered by the discovery of a Neubauten soundtrack CD, the existence of which was news to me.

On the negative side, I didn't earn an I'm special sticker this visit, despite having the same girl ring up my purchase. Next time, I shall strive to be more eclectic.

(The girl was as yummy as ever, though. When she was factoring in my discount, I confirmed for her that 32 minus 21 was indeed 11; and, as I was exiting, she left me with a cheer for "teamwork!" Ahh . . . record store girl . . . sigh.)

The EN soundtrack turned out to be decent. It is mainly instrumental tracks, some of which are new, some of which are derived from Silence Is Sexy. It's far from an essential listen, but I enjoyed it. Then again, I'm a big fan of practically everything that the band has created (admittedly, Hamletmaschine is a bit of a challenge), so I was bound to like it.

The main CD that I picked up was the latest release by Fugazi. I know, I know . . . I should've had that one weeks ago; but we have repeatedly established my slackness. The Argument immediately reminded me of all of the reasons that I love Fugazi. I've already listened to it half a dozen times. My only question now is how to juggle my list of the best CDs of the year to add that title to albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Bj�rk, and Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

Also in my acquisitions was the new Sparklehorse, which I had been interested in hearing even before my mix tape benefactor treated me my first exposure of older Sparklehorse. Again, I have been very quickly impressed by this disc; and it will also be in heavy rotation.

Rounding out my shopping were the new (International) Noise Conspiracy--which is another tight, punchy collection by the band, who I saw live only two weeks ago--and the latest Ozzy CD, which seems to be stronger than its predecessor, the so-so Ozzmosis.

Whew. You didn't know that it was CD review night, did you? Well, the rest of my weekend was spent listening to those discs, usually while playing games, so it was either this or a one paragraph entry. I even hooked up the N64 for the first time since last Christmas, because Loralei wanted to play Tetris and because I planned on staying in the living room, anyway, simply to hear the new material on a real stereo, as opposed to my blaster.

Actually, I'm lying somewhat. This entry thusfar was what I had in my mind for tonight all along; but there is more that I could say now.

I was just reminded (again) of where I was at in my life a few years ago, which was rather different, mainly for being in a serious relationship. It's odd. As sincere as I was at the time, when I try to imagine myself taking that path to its logical conclusion, I can't picture it at all. It just doesn't seem like I can reconcile who I am with where I would have been headed. It's not at all that it was a bad situation, or that I didn't want it to progess, or that I have changed drastically; but . . . hmm . . . I haven't thought this idea through to a conclusion yet.

Maybe my thought is simply that it is very good that everything has developed as it has, for all concerned. Actually, if that is all that I'm going to come up with, I'll have to admit that it is a very old conclusion, which has never truly been in doubt.

But it's still something to think about.

Now go buy the new Fugazi (unless you're cool, unlike me, and you already have it) and keep me posted on tour dates.

J.