Hey Jack Kerouac
Jul. 9th, 2003 10:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
itsallovernowI've been indulging in a wave of musical nostalgia, that linking of time and place to music triggered by my weekend, so I spent this morning listening to 10,000 Maniacs In My Tribe (the version with Peace Train on it). This album and Sandy Denny's I Know Where the Time Goes are all about being 18, away from home for real for the first time, a little lost and younger than I'd ever been in this place that was supposed to be my nirvana and was proving to be, on occasion, just as sad and frightening as high school had been.
I have fond memories of Bennington, but most of them involve sitting in the creaking wooden rooms of the farmhouses that served as dorms, cigarette smoke curling up into the air, held in perfect stasis within streams of Vermont sunshine, writing accompanied by endless cups of coffee and these albums.
I'd love to hear other people's time/music connections. Songs or albums that instantly put you somewhere else, even if just for a moment.
I've reached a plateau in all of my activities and it's making me cranky. I feel unconfident in dance these days because I can't push past the level that I'm at. It's like writing. There are those days of flying inspiration and thene there's the equally necessary slogging. Right now, dance for me is like slogging. I have to work on my arms, my technique, my placement and it's necessary, it will make me a better dancer just like editing and plowing through will make me a better writer, but it's just not much fun and it is incredibly discouraging. Besides all that, we had to do falls again in Krav Maga and my neck hurts.
And I am clearly still on a whining jag. As an antidote, I stole this from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
veritykindle, although I don't know if I want to answer all 99 questions. This may end up being more like 20 questions:
1. Are you an innie or an outie?
Innie.
2. Have you ever worn bell-bottoms?
Yes. My fashion sense has come full circle since I was 3.
3. Have you ever written a song?
Yes. My piano teacher used to try and make me write pop songs so that I could learn the structure of a song. They were awful. S. and I wrote a llama song because she loves llamas:
We have too many llamas
We're running out of hay
We have too many llamas
Oh, I think that one's gay
llama,llama,llama,llama,llama, etc.
I said we wrote, I didn't say it wasn't silly ( and you try rhyming hay with anything llama related:)
5. Have you ever been in the opposite sex's public toilet?
Yes. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I used to have to clean at the Bennington library.
9. Have you ever been a boy/girl scout?
God no. I'd have been a terrible scout. But I did go to Y camp and learned to shoot a rifle and a bow and arrow.
11. Have you ever put your tongue on a frozen pole?
Yes. The experience was predictably painful.
12. What is your biggest pet peeve?
I have so many, it would be unfair to get me started. People not following through is probably my most reasonable one.
14. Have you ever blown bubbles in your milk?
Yes, although I don't drink milk anymore.
15. Would you rather eat a Big Mac or a Whopper?
Neither. I don't eat meat.
16. Have you ever gone skinny-dipping?
Yes.
17. When you are at the grocery store, do you ask for paper or plastic?
Paper.
18. True or False: You would rather eat steak than pizza.
False.
19. Did you have a baby blanket?
Yes. It was blue velour on one side and green on the other and I was seven before I gave it up.
20. Have you ever tried to cut your own hair?
Not since I was four.
21. Have you ever sleepwalked?
Yes. Several times in fact. Once I got up and yanked the screen out of my window and tried to climb onto the roof. It freaked my out beyond belief.
22. Have you ever had a birthday party at McDonalds?
Yes. And my ballet teacher dressed up like a clown and did magic and there was a cake with tiny black horses on it. I have a picture of me putting the horse in my nose. I was six.
26. Have you ever gotten gum stuck in your hair?
Sigh, of course.
27. Have you ever thrown up after a roller coaster ride?
No.
28. What is your dream car?
A 1978 red MGB hard top convertible with chrome bumpers and spokes. This is patently abusrd. I'm 5'10" and I hate to maintain things. Still, my dad promised me this car if I got a full ride to college. He lied. But I still got a computer.
29. What is your favorite cartoon of all time?
Bugs Bunny - Robin Hood Daffy. Hands down, no question.
30. Would you go swimming in shallow waters where, one year earlier, a shark had attacked a child?
No. Deep, abiding fear of sharks.
33. If you were in a car sinking in a lake, what would you do first?
Roll the windows down. I've been afraid to ride in cars with electric windows since I read a story when they short circuited in a lake and the people were trapped.
36. How many remote controls do you have in your house?
10. Although that is counting the remote for the TV that is long gone since the VCR got stuck on permanent rewind. I was going to fix it since I was on a high from doing surgery on two VHS tapes, but didn't get around to it and therefore avoided certain electrocution.
37. Have you ever fallen asleep in school?
Once in high school when they gave me phenobarbutal for my migraines, and once when I was teaching and we went to the planetarium. Hey, it was early in the morning and a very soothing place for a nap, and the teenagers were too scared to get into trouble.
39. How many foreign countries have you visited?
9 or 10 - Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, I guess that's 12.
40. If you were out of shape, would you compete in a triathlon if you were somehow guaranteed to win a big, gaudy medal?
Not even if I was in shape. I don't run willingly.
41. Would you rather be rich and unhappy, or poor and happy?
Well, poor and happy is better than poor and unhappy:) (I've done that many a time. I'm looking for variety)
44. Do you ask for directions when you are lost?
Yes. in many languages.
45. Have you ever had a Mexican jumping bean?
Yes.
46. Are you more like Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland?
Disney Cinderella or Perrault Cinderella? I'd like to say yes, but probably Alice. I'm nosy and interfering and wide eyed.
50. Have you ever been in a car that ran out of gas?
Yes. My own. I thought it was broken.
51. Do you talk in your sleep?
Yes. But I never say anything interesting. Mostly I just have conversations. I always worry when I'm writing fic though that I'll talk about that.
52. Would you rather shovel snow or mow the lawn?
Shovel snow. I hate mowing the lawn and it makes my allergies go all wonky.
53. Would you rather be bitten by a poisonous snake or constricted by a python?
Python - snake venom can make your flesh and your limbs fall off. Unless it's a tiny vine snake.
54. Have you ever played in the rain?
Yes! I love rain in the summer.
56. Would you climb a very high tree to save a kitten?
Climb the tree yes, I just don't think I could get back down - having experienced this problem before.
57. Can you tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?
No.
61. Have you ever accidentally taken something from a hotel?
Accidentally?
65. Have you ever locked yourself out of the house?
Yes.
66. Would you rather make your living as a singing cowboy or as one of the Simpsons voices?
Singing cowboy.
67. If you could invite any movie star to your home for dinner, who would it be?
Young Peter O'Toole so I could bat my eyelashes at him and sigh like a 50's schoolgirl.
68. Have you ever gotten a truck driver to honk his horn?
Yes. We won't talk about that in public.
70. Would you hang out with someone your best friend didn't like?
Yes.
71. Would you hang out with someone your best friend liked, but you didn't like?
Yes.
72. Have you ever returned a gift?
Hell yes. My sister, lovely girl, gives me the uglies clothing imaginable ever year. Her heart's in the right place and I've never told her.
73. Would you give someone else a gift that had been given to you?
Yep, unless it was from someone who meant something to me.
74. If you could attend an Olympic Event, what would it be?
Swimming - mens and womens.
75. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
Between 30 and 40. And that is embarrassing, I realize.
76. If your grandmother gave you a gift that you already have, would you tell her?
Not a chance.
77. Do you sing in the car?
All the time. I wouldn't subject the rest of the world to my voice.
79. What is your favorite breed of dog?
To own - Alaskan Malamute, to look at - Dalmation.
80. Would you donate money to feed starving animals in the winter?
Yes.
82. What is your least favorite fruit?
Canned mandarin oranges.
84. If you won a $5,000 shopping spree to any store, which store would you pick?
I love clothes, but I'd have to say The Tattered Cover bookstor in Denver. It's one of my favorite places in the world.
86. Are/were you a good student?
I was top of my class until I went to grad school and stopped caring. (I was still a good student, I just became half-hearted at best).
88. If you had to choose, what branch of the military would you be in?
That would be the courtmaritaled branch. Never in a million years would I be in the military.
89. Would you ever parachute out of a plane?
Only if I had to.
92. What is your favorite season?
Fall. Leaves, crackle of fire and smoke and the color and the nip in the air. It meant school was starting, new clothes and books and school supplies.
93. How many members do you have in your immediate family?
7 - Mom, Dad, Stepmom, 2 stepsisters, brother in law and niece.
94. Which of the five senses is most important to you?
Sight.
95. Would you be a more successful painter or singer?
Painter.
96. How many years will/did you end up going to college?
Four. Grad school and post bac doesn't count.
97. Have you ever had surgery?
Yep, I'm tonsil and adenoid free.
99. What do you like to collect?
Books, shoes, DVD's. I used to collect antique hats, hat pins and hair pins, but that wasn't by choice. My stepmom had a few years of antiques addiction and liked to buy us things.
I have fond memories of Bennington, but most of them involve sitting in the creaking wooden rooms of the farmhouses that served as dorms, cigarette smoke curling up into the air, held in perfect stasis within streams of Vermont sunshine, writing accompanied by endless cups of coffee and these albums.
I'd love to hear other people's time/music connections. Songs or albums that instantly put you somewhere else, even if just for a moment.
I've reached a plateau in all of my activities and it's making me cranky. I feel unconfident in dance these days because I can't push past the level that I'm at. It's like writing. There are those days of flying inspiration and thene there's the equally necessary slogging. Right now, dance for me is like slogging. I have to work on my arms, my technique, my placement and it's necessary, it will make me a better dancer just like editing and plowing through will make me a better writer, but it's just not much fun and it is incredibly discouraging. Besides all that, we had to do falls again in Krav Maga and my neck hurts.
And I am clearly still on a whining jag. As an antidote, I stole this from
veritykindle, although I don't know if I want to answer all 99 questions. This may end up being more like 20 questions:1. Are you an innie or an outie?
Innie.
2. Have you ever worn bell-bottoms?
Yes. My fashion sense has come full circle since I was 3.
3. Have you ever written a song?
Yes. My piano teacher used to try and make me write pop songs so that I could learn the structure of a song. They were awful. S. and I wrote a llama song because she loves llamas:
We have too many llamas
We're running out of hay
We have too many llamas
Oh, I think that one's gay
llama,llama,llama,llama,llama, etc.
I said we wrote, I didn't say it wasn't silly ( and you try rhyming hay with anything llama related:)
5. Have you ever been in the opposite sex's public toilet?
Yes. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I used to have to clean at the Bennington library.
9. Have you ever been a boy/girl scout?
God no. I'd have been a terrible scout. But I did go to Y camp and learned to shoot a rifle and a bow and arrow.
11. Have you ever put your tongue on a frozen pole?
Yes. The experience was predictably painful.
12. What is your biggest pet peeve?
I have so many, it would be unfair to get me started. People not following through is probably my most reasonable one.
14. Have you ever blown bubbles in your milk?
Yes, although I don't drink milk anymore.
15. Would you rather eat a Big Mac or a Whopper?
Neither. I don't eat meat.
16. Have you ever gone skinny-dipping?
Yes.
17. When you are at the grocery store, do you ask for paper or plastic?
Paper.
18. True or False: You would rather eat steak than pizza.
False.
19. Did you have a baby blanket?
Yes. It was blue velour on one side and green on the other and I was seven before I gave it up.
20. Have you ever tried to cut your own hair?
Not since I was four.
21. Have you ever sleepwalked?
Yes. Several times in fact. Once I got up and yanked the screen out of my window and tried to climb onto the roof. It freaked my out beyond belief.
22. Have you ever had a birthday party at McDonalds?
Yes. And my ballet teacher dressed up like a clown and did magic and there was a cake with tiny black horses on it. I have a picture of me putting the horse in my nose. I was six.
26. Have you ever gotten gum stuck in your hair?
Sigh, of course.
27. Have you ever thrown up after a roller coaster ride?
No.
28. What is your dream car?
A 1978 red MGB hard top convertible with chrome bumpers and spokes. This is patently abusrd. I'm 5'10" and I hate to maintain things. Still, my dad promised me this car if I got a full ride to college. He lied. But I still got a computer.
29. What is your favorite cartoon of all time?
Bugs Bunny - Robin Hood Daffy. Hands down, no question.
30. Would you go swimming in shallow waters where, one year earlier, a shark had attacked a child?
No. Deep, abiding fear of sharks.
33. If you were in a car sinking in a lake, what would you do first?
Roll the windows down. I've been afraid to ride in cars with electric windows since I read a story when they short circuited in a lake and the people were trapped.
36. How many remote controls do you have in your house?
10. Although that is counting the remote for the TV that is long gone since the VCR got stuck on permanent rewind. I was going to fix it since I was on a high from doing surgery on two VHS tapes, but didn't get around to it and therefore avoided certain electrocution.
37. Have you ever fallen asleep in school?
Once in high school when they gave me phenobarbutal for my migraines, and once when I was teaching and we went to the planetarium. Hey, it was early in the morning and a very soothing place for a nap, and the teenagers were too scared to get into trouble.
39. How many foreign countries have you visited?
9 or 10 - Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, I guess that's 12.
40. If you were out of shape, would you compete in a triathlon if you were somehow guaranteed to win a big, gaudy medal?
Not even if I was in shape. I don't run willingly.
41. Would you rather be rich and unhappy, or poor and happy?
Well, poor and happy is better than poor and unhappy:) (I've done that many a time. I'm looking for variety)
44. Do you ask for directions when you are lost?
Yes. in many languages.
45. Have you ever had a Mexican jumping bean?
Yes.
46. Are you more like Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland?
Disney Cinderella or Perrault Cinderella? I'd like to say yes, but probably Alice. I'm nosy and interfering and wide eyed.
50. Have you ever been in a car that ran out of gas?
Yes. My own. I thought it was broken.
51. Do you talk in your sleep?
Yes. But I never say anything interesting. Mostly I just have conversations. I always worry when I'm writing fic though that I'll talk about that.
52. Would you rather shovel snow or mow the lawn?
Shovel snow. I hate mowing the lawn and it makes my allergies go all wonky.
53. Would you rather be bitten by a poisonous snake or constricted by a python?
Python - snake venom can make your flesh and your limbs fall off. Unless it's a tiny vine snake.
54. Have you ever played in the rain?
Yes! I love rain in the summer.
56. Would you climb a very high tree to save a kitten?
Climb the tree yes, I just don't think I could get back down - having experienced this problem before.
57. Can you tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?
No.
61. Have you ever accidentally taken something from a hotel?
Accidentally?
65. Have you ever locked yourself out of the house?
Yes.
66. Would you rather make your living as a singing cowboy or as one of the Simpsons voices?
Singing cowboy.
67. If you could invite any movie star to your home for dinner, who would it be?
Young Peter O'Toole so I could bat my eyelashes at him and sigh like a 50's schoolgirl.
68. Have you ever gotten a truck driver to honk his horn?
Yes. We won't talk about that in public.
70. Would you hang out with someone your best friend didn't like?
Yes.
71. Would you hang out with someone your best friend liked, but you didn't like?
Yes.
72. Have you ever returned a gift?
Hell yes. My sister, lovely girl, gives me the uglies clothing imaginable ever year. Her heart's in the right place and I've never told her.
73. Would you give someone else a gift that had been given to you?
Yep, unless it was from someone who meant something to me.
74. If you could attend an Olympic Event, what would it be?
Swimming - mens and womens.
75. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
Between 30 and 40. And that is embarrassing, I realize.
76. If your grandmother gave you a gift that you already have, would you tell her?
Not a chance.
77. Do you sing in the car?
All the time. I wouldn't subject the rest of the world to my voice.
79. What is your favorite breed of dog?
To own - Alaskan Malamute, to look at - Dalmation.
80. Would you donate money to feed starving animals in the winter?
Yes.
82. What is your least favorite fruit?
Canned mandarin oranges.
84. If you won a $5,000 shopping spree to any store, which store would you pick?
I love clothes, but I'd have to say The Tattered Cover bookstor in Denver. It's one of my favorite places in the world.
86. Are/were you a good student?
I was top of my class until I went to grad school and stopped caring. (I was still a good student, I just became half-hearted at best).
88. If you had to choose, what branch of the military would you be in?
That would be the courtmaritaled branch. Never in a million years would I be in the military.
89. Would you ever parachute out of a plane?
Only if I had to.
92. What is your favorite season?
Fall. Leaves, crackle of fire and smoke and the color and the nip in the air. It meant school was starting, new clothes and books and school supplies.
93. How many members do you have in your immediate family?
7 - Mom, Dad, Stepmom, 2 stepsisters, brother in law and niece.
94. Which of the five senses is most important to you?
Sight.
95. Would you be a more successful painter or singer?
Painter.
96. How many years will/did you end up going to college?
Four. Grad school and post bac doesn't count.
97. Have you ever had surgery?
Yep, I'm tonsil and adenoid free.
99. What do you like to collect?
Books, shoes, DVD's. I used to collect antique hats, hat pins and hair pins, but that wasn't by choice. My stepmom had a few years of antiques addiction and liked to buy us things.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 11:44 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-07-09 12:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 11:58 am (UTC)Don't remember the music though.
Then there's '92, '93, learning to live (not well) with my stepfather and stepsister in the house, getting up Saturday mornings, making coffee and reading the paper as we listened to CDs: the Cranberres, Soul Asylum, Nirvana, Pearl Jam. Driving aimlessly and singing along to the Spin Doctors. Playing my Singles tape 'til it wore out. Getting my first copy of Nevermind and screaming along in the car to "Come As You Are." The first time I heard Pretty On the Inside; the cello on "Disarm."
Re:
Date: 2003-07-09 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 12:25 pm (UTC)Blah!
no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 12:51 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-07-09 01:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 12:45 pm (UTC)IMO, Pearl Jam's Jeremy takes me right back to my first dates with Mr. F.
Adam Ant's Jolly Roger puts me in my high school best friend's bedroom, baby powder on the wood floor and pictures of Mikhail Baryshikov (sp?) taped to the wall.
Re:
Date: 2003-07-09 01:48 pm (UTC)I had a roommate in Greece who had it on repeat when her boyfriend broke up with her and she would scream along with the lyrics to his photograph. I'm so glad I'm not 20 anymore:)
no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 01:00 pm (UTC)Well, we wrote music parodies to pass the time. About people in the camp with us.
The Bobby Chant:
Here's the story
of a boy named B0bby
who ate 40 pounds of groceries every day
he's obnoxious
and short and ugly
and we'll leave him out in Utah, so I pray
so on and so forth
Catastrophe Girl
I feel so sorry for Catastrophe Girl
Each and every day of this trip
First week she got here all alone
Fell in the swamp and got soaked to the bone
She broke her water bottle and lost half her gear
Slipped off a log and got soaked to her rear
She slips
She trips
She falls with a whirl
I feel so sorry for this poor Catastrophe Girl
Every day (every day) of this trip
Nowhere Man
He's a real nowhere man
driving in his COlgate Van
He's Wrong Way Reigels biggest fan
He's Paul Pinnet
Nowhere man
This sign says "One Way"
Nowhere man
You're going the wrong way
Nowhere man
Tucson to Phoenix shouldn't take all day
We've started on our seventh lap
couldn't find his ass with a map
I'm sick of all this silly crap
from Paul Pinnet
Re:
Date: 2003-07-09 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 02:22 pm (UTC)The most visceral musical sense-memory I have is The Cranberries' Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We. The summer between freshman and sophomore years of HS - the last summer before I could drive. Alternately, the last summer of complete freedom. Sitting in the family room late in the evening with the warm summer breeze coming through the screen door, providing perfect counterpoint to the lazy, atmospheric music. Riding around in a friend's Tempo with the windows rolled down, sunglasses on. Swimming all afternoon in the river and knowing you only had to be home in time for dinner.
Years later, furiously doing homework during college, late late at night, with the album on and the warm summer breeze drifting through the screen door. Remembering freedom from stress. Remembering to close my eyes, just for a moment, and breathe.
Also:
Childhood: Long before we had the money to play recorded music, hearing Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" on the radio. A rare moment of accord between my sister and I - we both thought it was funny. Realizing later that song is all about loss and disappointment and carrying on. Carly Simon's "You're So Vain," late at night when my insomnia first started, on my first radio alarm clock with the ear buds and the sleep mode so I could listen to the radio while I tried to sleep.
High school: Del Amitri's Twisted, Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club, 10,000 Maniacs' Our Time in Eden. Being lonely. Writing poetry. Reading Victorian novels.
Summer before college: The X-Files movie soundtrack, Lucious Jackson's Fever In Fever Out, flush with the excitement of a new start and coming off my first breakup. Relishing the feeling of being independent.
College: Jude's No One is Really Beautiful CD player in my car rather than a tape player. Hearing "I Do" live, the first time, and almost crying. Hearing "Brad and Suzy" live, the first time, and thinking it was the sexiest thing ever. BNL's Rock Spectacle. Wondering how an album could make me laugh and cry at the same time.
Moving out for the first time: U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind, BNL's Maroon. Specifically, "Baby Seat" on that last one. The lyric "You can't live your life in the baby seat" being the catalyst for that decision: Move out. You can't play it safe forever.
Re:
Date: 2003-07-09 02:59 pm (UTC)Jude's No One is Really Beautiful is one of my favorite albums. I bought it a year after I'd moved to L.A. and it just defines living here for me.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-09 06:24 pm (UTC)I can see how that'd be a great album to listen to obsessively having just moved to LA. *g*
(It's funny. No one - even in RL - thinks I'm as young as I am.)
Re:
Date: 2003-07-10 10:18 am (UTC)