is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Sick Day.
Man, am I exhausted. The conference in Montreal was lovely and productive, but very tiring. Its pacing was relentless, and there was an aspect of hostage-taking in the way all the lunch meals were eaten in the same room where the presentations happened. But I met some nice new people and caught up with some people I know, including some who I have not seen for some time because they live in London or thereabouts and I have not been to my beloved London for years now. So that was good. Still, I think I must be fighting off a cold, because I could not catch up with my exhaustion the whole time I was there.
However, last night I got to go out with Caroleen! She was in Montreal for work, too. We were both exhausted, until we had some blanche peche! (White beer with peach schnapps. Man, it is GOOD.) Then we were ready to rock that town inside out. We talked about many things. She listened to my story of quasi-woe, and gave good advice and made all the right sardonic comments. We talked about perfect pop songs. And about things that inspire people. Then I made her stop by where all the philosophers were, and then we hung out with some of her co-workers for a bit, and had some cherry beer at a chocolate restaurant. At the chocolate restaurant there was much talk about how all the beverages were better if you got them �grandma-style,� which means hot and chunky, but, well, even though it�s chocolate so you can see why �hot and chunky� might be OK, I just can�t imagine what was going on in the minds of the people in the brainstorm session that came up with �grandma-style� as a way to draw people in.
So I woke up in Montreal today at 6am to get to the airport and then flew back here and then had to go straight to teaching. And I was so tired that it was hilarious how my speech was just a bit less articulate than usual. Luckily I had the foresight to give the students an assignment so that they were more prepared than usual to take control of the discussion. So things went well even though I was so tired that it felt a bit like maybe I was hallucinating or dreaming that I was teaching and not actually teaching at all but rather sleeping at the time. Perhaps I should write a Cartesian meditation on how I came to prove to myself that I actually was teaching.
On the way home from teaching, it all of a sudden struck me that I really had to listen to the Fountains of Wayne song called �Sick Day,� from their first album. Ipods make these decisions possible. What a good song! Whenever I hear it, I can�t believe how good it is. It is like a timeless piece of pop perfection. Smart, quirky, interesting pop perfection (as opposed to normative, unquirky but still catchy pop perfection like the Backstreet Boys or Kelly Clarkson). The Fountains of Wayne song also charms because it is a cute little testimony to the way in which the drudgery of cubicle life is lived by so many as if the good things that we live for must constantly be deferred.
My friends, do not defer!
But of course I am not impartial. �Sick Day� was written by one of my friends! And all of my friends are above average. But no one is impartial when it comes to music. Sure, I have a special kind of love for Chris, and he was my friend before I ever heard him sing a note, and I�m not even certain I ever would have become a Fountains of Wayne fan had I never met him (only because of the sheer amount of music out there that might be great but which I�ve never heard because it�s a bit to the side of my music-shopping-zone). But I sure do love his singing voice. And I am far from alone in thinking that he and Adam are both pretty amazing songwriters. But mostly what I love about Chris is how smart he is, and how he puts his intelligence at the service of a variety of very odd things. For instance his incredibly evil sense of humor. Sometimes it is shocking!
(I think Chris wrote that song. It occurs to me that I never asked him whether he did. I just assumed I knew. So I could be wrong. It wouldn't matter.)
12:26 a.m. - September 20, 2006
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