“You must live for something higher, bigger and better than you.”

listening to 2Pac, “Me Against the World,” and doing my LifeMap homework. My life, as illustrated by books. i don’t want to go too deep, but i want to go wide. after five-plus years of blogging, i’m not so into the self-assessments. too much navel-gazing. I’ll do it anyway.

“i got nothing to lose/
it’s just me against the world, baby…”

— Tupac Shakur

lie. he had everything to lose. talk about self-reflective, my Lord, this album — so brilliant. You know the poet Nikki Giovanni has a THUG LIFE tattoo on her arm? she does.

i have everything to lose, too (cuz me and 2Pac, so much in common, right?) — i want to get books to as many students as possible as I can before my time is up, and sometimes, that altruistic mission, which sounds like a cakewalk, right?, becomes such a struggle. wish me luck. have a great week.

— wm

And then there’s this oldie-but-goodie. You know I have to put this on auto-replay whenever I’m writing. I esp. love when she punches him in the nose.

Edited at 10:14 p.m. to say… Homework is done, three days ahead of time! Now I need some sleep. have a really superfine week, y’all. See ya when I see ya. Leave me some comments!

Steve sent me this clip along with a note that said, At least I’m not this bad!

He’s wrong, he is. Cuz when our girl was waiting for the bus, for her first day of middle school, with a bunch of kids she has never seen before in her life, Daddy wanted to check on her. So he dropped off her brother, buzzed back home, then, uh… yelled out to her…

“HI HONEY, I, UH, FORGOT SOMETHING! HAVE A GOOD FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!”

She loves him so.

“it’s the first day of school/
and the boys are watching…”

here’s a post from my sexy husband.

and… Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival.

seriously laughing hard over here, me and Wacky Girl, over Celine Dion smacking herself in the chest, like her heart’s stopped and she has to restart it (“My Heart Will Go On” — and on and on and on…), over the promo for Vampires Suck, over Hammer’s pants (I saw Hammer live, actually, man he put on a good show) but especially over this quote:

“I like Madonna, man, she’s alright. She can drop that 50-year-old ass in my lap any day of the week. Hell, yeah! ‘Justify My Love.'” — Sir Mix-A-Lot

(my favorite songs so far: “Jeremy,” “Under the Bridge,” “Sabotage” and, of course, “Waterfalls.”) (Oh, ’90s, you weren’t that long ago, damn. But you really were a million years ago. Love you, Left Eye. R.I.P.)

Steve walked in so we had to rewind it and watch it again.

“Oooooooooooh he hates REM!” (“Losing My Religion”: “Oh Life is bigger It’s bigger than you And you are not me” and to that I say, Thank God.) “The only band he hates worse than REM,” I say, “is… the Replacements!”

Steve: “Naw, I hate U2 worse.” The hit list included “One,” the song that “made them epic!” according to one of the commentators. “I thought Bono’s ego made ’em epic,” Steve said, thoughtfully. Then informs me that (formerly) my man Bono doesn’t like to pay taxes? But he is fond of moving the do-re-mi hither and yon in off-shore accounts.

But all by himself he’s ending world poverty, hunger and bad accessorizing, so I suppose he doesn’t feel the need to pay taxes, hmm? Is any of this true? What is the Internet for, if not to spread vicious rumors about Bono and U4, as their favorite waitress calls them.

More trivia: Did you know that Alanis Morrissette wrote “You Oughta Know” about Uncle Joey from “Full House”?

Also I’d forgotten how much I love “Baby Got Back.” Finally, a ’90s song Stevie and I agree on.

yeah, this is the kids’ new favoritest video. it is pretty funny, i’ll give em that. happy FRIDAY and happy WEEKEND!

nancy

happy weekend, everyone!

— wm

ps — I’m making this Chocolate Rice Pudding, Giada’s recipe. Tres bien. Even though I completely messed up the proportions. It’s still turning out good — I keep sampling it. So, for future reference — 2/3 cup arborio rice, 5 cups whole milk (not 2 cups rice, 4 cups milk, add some water in later because WTH?), etc. Vanilla bean, orange zest, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup chocolate chips, a scoop of unsweetened cocoa and you’re… off to the races.

Same show, she did a roasted tomato thing with gorgonzola, parmesan, herbs, salt, pepper, bread crumbs and garlic. She marinated them in olive oil, with the garlic/salt/pepper, topped with more olive oil and then baked. Oh, if only we’d planted romas instead of pumpkins, eh?

ttfnn.

…what happened to my copy of “Joshua Judges Ruth” (Lyle Lovett)? Because even though it’s a cassette for the love of God, not even a CD, and even though it’s been missing for years, I still look for it. And while we’re at it, I’d also like to know how “I Love Everybody” ended up in its case? I do like “I Love Everybody,” especially “Hello, Grandma,” but dammit I want Joshua-Judges-Ruth, especially “She Makes Me Feel Good.”

Ms. New Orleans, who is from Texas, doesn’t care for Lyle all that much. She’s all, flatly, “Robert Earl Keen” and that is that.

Yes, I realize I could just “break down and buy another copy,” but that isn’t the point, is it?

We’re having some animal trauma here today, and some animal bliss. First of all, one of the hamsters apparently had a bitch fight with the other one, and now she can’t open her left eye. It’s sad. I hope she heals up. On a brighter note, the cats seem to have adjusted to no longer being allowed outdoor privileges and are fat and happy. And by fat I mean fat. That’s how it goes when you’re avoiding the coyotes.

This afternoon I was out on the deck with the kids. They wanted to practice their mad taekwondo forms while I watered the pumpkins. Here comes a hawk, twirling down, wheeling around over us, so low I could see the white feathers and brown markings on his belly. That was cool. Then my little bright green hummingbird flew by to drink from her favorite orange flowers.

Really nice afternoon.

This one is so good, too. Why yes, that is Antonio Sabato Jr. from “General Hospital” with her.