There's some ebb & flow to my work load..

I would say I'm in an ebb phase at present.  My friend Roxanne says to play the eager beaver and pop into my boss's office asking for stuff to do.  I feel like that is the exact WRONG thing to do.  And I'm not just saying that because it totally goes against everything I am either (though it does).  I feel like, if you're in an ebb phase, and you have a boss that is less than vigilant (and are CONFIDENT in your assessment of The Man) then the proper course of action is to take what dribs and drabs of work come your way and dra-a-a-a-w them out to last the whole day.  Look  industrious.  If you repeatedly alert your boss to the fact that you don't have enough work to do, then they might start thinking they could absorb your role into another role and  you are quite possibly out of a job.

I also find my own valid,  nitpicky jobs to busy myself with. For instance, today  I read our online safety manual and I found all the grammar and spelling errors therein.  Of course, I did not print this manual out, mark these errors (and there were tons) down, or call this to anyone's attention. This way I can do this job again during future lull times.  The important thing is if my boss comes galumphing around the corner without my knowing...well, I'm reading the agency safety manual.  How can the harpy object??

Below you see the end result of two days of surreptitious doodling..

OHHH Sometimes I Crack My Own Shit Up...

I had a fun Saturday night out in Rutland with my friend Andrea.  We went to this nice little restaurant and then to a comedy show.The only thing I didn't particularly like about this eatery was the name. They call it "Roots the Restaurant".  Now, I woulda been fine with just "Roots" .  The other bit makes it...I dunno..patronizing.  Yes, I am familiar with Roots: the Miniseries, but I'm hardly going to get it confused with this restaurant am I?? There's considerably less LeVar Burton & whipping...at least on the Saturday night that I went.  Jimmy Fallon's house band is The Roots, so they are adequately differentiated, methinks.

Anyway, while dining at Roots THE RESTAURANT, Andrea was snapping pics on her phone, live-commemorating the fun.  We did 2 smiley, heads-together portait shots and she HAAATED her face in one of 'em but didn't delete that one because I asked her to send it to me because I thought it was the better shot of me. I actually came out looking half-decent in both shots, but in the one Andrea favored, the keep-it-on-the-hanger-ribbon-loop of my shirt is clearly visible.  I'm such a putz--always forgetting to snip those off...and they always be fucking up my decolletage.



Andrea said I could have the shot she didn't like but before sending it to me, she sternly FORBADE me from posting it to FB without first cropping her outta the pic. Well, I thought I could do a much more clever edit than a mere crop...and I put out a sort of demi-album on my Facebook page-- all the people besides Andrea I hung out with on Saturday night.

Well, 1st, scope out the original shot (this one NOT posted to FB..in accordance with her wishes)--

I actually wanted to pixelate Andrea's face, but could not, for the life o' me, figure out how to do that. Perhaps if I shilled out $$ for some software that's a bit less basic (MS Paint is my medium in all these)

This is the best I could manage...




The original... with Witness Protection Program grade identity blur.



A DREAM.  Kinda f-ing rad, this, but it also has a sad fangirl stalker undertone. That's why I moved on to...





...artsy sophisticated  stalker fangirl. Doesn't Uggie look like he's poised to bark up a storm to alert his oblivious master to the creeper hiding behind his sofa? Good boy, Uggie, good boy!!

I was also going to do a Richard Dawson one, just so's ya know. Couldn't find a decent Dawson pic to work with.



Ohmigod CAROL CHANNING is wicked fun to do shots with you guys!!

Holy Guano, this is the one I really love. It gave me a mighty guffaw.  I have never seen anybody so thrilled to meet somebody as Bat Boy was to meet me (CLEARLY).  And after reading Bat Boy's wiki bio , I realize that I should have been the one ecstatic to meet him. He is surprisingly accomplished!!!

"Recently Added"

Since I am an insatiably ravenous tune consumer as of late (more so than usual), let's review some of my new acquisitions.  Here are the 15 tracks on my "Recently Added" playlist. .. plus a smattering of inept commentary.  As much as I LOOOOVE la musica, I am utter crap at writing about it.  I can dissect a song up to a point, say what  bits of it I particularly like, but when it comes to saying why I like what I like, well, that is where I founder. That's very esoteric isn't it...the why of our likes.  It's esoteric to me, anyway.
Well, sans further preamble. . . .

Recently Added

1.  The Cave [ Mumford & Sons ]-- I'm a smidge behind the times in getting this one.  I think it was their 1st hit,  but I really latched onto "Little Lion Man", snatched that up and listened to the hell out of it (as I still do...LOVE that song) Then, belatedly, I gave this song a repeated listen and decided "Oh hey. This one is also good". Had it on my iTunes wish list for a bit and finally bought it on my latest spree.



Also belatedly realizing that Marcus Mumford is pretty dishy.  Yes, he for real IS named Mumford (I, too,  had 1/2 suspected it was just arbitrarily picked out for the band name ).  I wonder if he is on the hunt for a g.f.  I wonder if I got to be that g.f. if I would get over the compulsion to call him "Amazing Mumford" all the time. A LA PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES!!!

2 Play the Guitar [ B.o.B. feat. Andre 3000]-- I mostly dig this song because I love Andre 3000 and I missed him!! He needs to cool it with the razor commercials and make more music.  It's kinda bullshit how he gets the "featuring" 2nd billing when he really does 98% of the song here.  I particularly like his trippy-ass  playing-guitar-on-top-of-fast-food-restaurants imagery. Also like that little spoken word bit at the 2:37 mark..


3. Don't Slow Down [Matt & Kim]-- the sound here is as coked-up as the title suggests.  Maybe it'd make for good cleaning music.  I used to clean to the Ramones. I haven't listened to the Ramones in some time.  This is why my apartment looks a friggin' fright.
4. What's a Girl to Do? [Bat for Lashes]--I heard of Bat for Lashes before, but hadn't previously checked out their music.  Natasha Khan has a really neat voice (I do believe I forewarned you vis a vis  my ineptitude)

I do prefer the other Bat for Lashes song I bought, but there was no question I had to embed this one.  Did you watch that?? If no, watch it RIGHT NOW. It's fantastic and weird.
5. Daniel [Bat for Lashes]-- A real breathy, ethereal sound here. Me mucho gusto.  Additionally, I am hoping in time that this song will take the place of Elton John's Daniel as the track that plays in my head whenever I hear the name "Daniel".  I find that so many Daniels go by "Dan" so  a "Daniel" really stands out.  Even "Danny" seems more prevalent.  Anyways, the name usually makes "Daniel" play in my head ...the Elton John one...which I don't really like.  Although occasionally it makes me flash on Daniel Striped Tiger, which is ok by me.  I always welcome a sojourn to the 'Hood of Make-Believe.

6. Levels [Avicii]-- I've not much of anything to say about this song (other than that I like it).  The video is remarkable though. . .it is exactly how I want the zombie apocalypse to go down..

 7. Hang Me Up to Dry [Cold War Kids]-- I love the aggressive guitar in this.  And who doesn't like to belt it out along with an angry chorus??
8.  We are Young [fun.]-- this is all over the tube in some Chevy commercial .  I had to hunt it down because I loved the little snippet in the commercial.  That commercial is probably doing more for fun. than it is for Chevy...whatever Chevy model is in that commercial. I'm *pretty* sure it's Chevy...
9. Some Nights [fun.]-- the title track of their latest.  I like fun's sound, but in retrospect, I should just bought that one song ("We are Young")  This is pretty good, but not a MUST HAVE. Hence the lack of link.
10. At Least I'm Not as Sad as I Used to be [fun.]-- when checking out fun's back catalog, I was won over by this quirky-dramatic song title and the cover art. Behold--

It sure is fun! It's like Lily Pulitzer, Ludwig Hohlwein, Peter Max, and Vera Bradley got together for an orgy....and after realizing there was no sexual chemistry in the room, opted to collaborate on an album cover.  Don'tcha think?? I enjoy it.  The song is beginning to bore me a bit though.
11.  212 [Azealia Banks] -- Be forewarned, before clicking play...these are some pretty graphic lyrics.  Crude stuff....particularly if you have an aversion to the C U Next Tuesday word.  That's one of the few words of English that actually *does* offend me, but I think this song is so slammin' that I can overlook it.  I freakin' love this one...

12. We Found Love [Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris]-- I always did like Rihanna, but for the past coupla years, I kinda got over her.But this song, I really dig.  I suspect it's the influence of Harris that cinched it for me.  After all, I also bought...
13. Bounce [Calvin Harris]-- A little bit of electro-melodrama that I REALLY enjoy..

Occasionally songs delight me because of the goofy accompanying dances I can see in my head.  With this one...well my mental .gif I'm seeing is me doing the running man and playing along with that riff on a key-tar. LOVE.
14.  F*cking Boyfriend [The Bird & The Bee]-- just discovered this duo.  They have a cool sound and she (the bird, I'm presuming) has a really cool voice.  But I found a lot of covers, notsomuch w/ the original material. I do think this song is an original of theirs and I LOOOOVE it.
15. Airport Surroundings [Loney Dear]--This is the song I am ADDICTED to presently. I love the Micromachines-guy style vocals.  And the dance-along in my mind's eye is quite funny...it's something akin to the minimalist moves of Tracy Morgan in the SNL performance of  I Wish It was Christmas Today.

All I wanna to is Zooma Zoom Zoom Zoom down I89!!

It's too bad...I had a great time this weekend with amigos....and I had my camera sitting in my computer bag in the car the whole time.  I snapped a pic or two on my phone, but they came out pretty lousy. 

I stumbled upon my camera on Sunday afternoon as I was about to embark on my way home.  Batteries were dead though.  This necessitated a stop-over at  Kmart. But you don't understand...it was a long awaited Kmart expedition. There is a Kmart that I've passed a hundred or so times on the Shelburne Rd in Burlington that looks a li'l something like---

Well actually, it looks *exactly* like that. That, above, is a photo I snapped from the parking lot. I wanted to stop there for a long time because I am a bit of a nostalgia junkie, I thought perhaps the store interior was as outdated as the storefront, thereby giving me a nice little 'stalgia fix.  I guess I was dreaming of something like....

OR




Both images borrowed from the Pleasant Family Shopping blog...a really RAD site that all my fellow nostalgia fiends should check out
http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/

 
But the inside was just like any other circa 2012 Kmart store.  Quelle disappointment!!! 

Well, I was decidedly NOT disappointed with my next stop.  I wanted some road eats. I spied that a Five Guys had sprouted on Shelburne Road since I'd last travelled it. I decided to check it out.  Fecking 'ell was that a good burger!!!  Also I am not a total ignoramus--I do know that is a real kamikaze move--nutritionally speaking .  I'm just glad I don't have one too close by ...the temptation would plague me for sure!!  If I go back...I will plan ahead.  I will  lead up to it with a week long cleanse (OR would one cleanse afterward?? Probably wise to do before & after....only green roughage for a 1/2 week prior to the 5G pilgrimage, green roughage for 3 days thereafter) Or I will bring someone to split everything in 1/2 with.  That seems a WAY more feasible workaround.  However, according to the chain's website--
"There are over 250,000 possible ways to order a burger at Five Guys."
Could I ever agree with someone on the proper burger specs???  For my inaugural Five Guys feed, I got a big soda, order o' fries (OMFG- SO good. Got 'em plain when I prob'ly shoulda gone for Cajun style...since that's one of their unique things. Oh well...next time?) and the burger thusly-- cheez burger w/ bacon
mayo & ketchup
grilled onions
grilled jalapenos
pickles

PERFECTO!!  
Oh, since I had just resurrected my camera I was feeling a little snap happy whilest waiting for my order--

For what it's worth...  I only ate 1/2 the burger and 2/3 of the fries and decided to eat the rest for supper.  I thought if I had to ingest 9zillion calories all by myself, I would split it into 2 meals. So gnoshing only preoccupied me from Exit 13 down to about Exit 11...after which there was still  a looong way home (quite a number of miles between exits in VT, you must realize) and I have driven that stretch of I89 a kazillion times, so I was bored as hell and seeking some other preoccupation.

And so you have the below video.  I was trying to capture the thrill of winter weather driving (though the snow ceased around Exit 6) . Ok so nothing actually happens in these vids...but watch 'em anyway, huh?  I've pared 'em down to <1minute.