A Few Good Memes

I realized “Hot are you?” is more fitting than I realized, if read as “Hot.  Are you?”  Global Warming.  Hybrid.  Better-than-thou.  Love me for my sexy hybrid while I save the fecking planet.

We’re off on a two week road trip.  Picking Alyssa up today from a week of summer camp in Wisconsin with other kids who have lost a parent to cancer.  Then we hit the road for Charleston, SC to visit Anna’s brother and family (some of my favorite people in the world).  We’re stopping on the way in Charlotte, NC to see my super-cool cousin and check out her first home.

We’ve got our books on CD.  Right now we’re completely engrossed in Robert Louis Stephenson’s Treasure Island.  I’m loving the flowery language and the larger-than-life characters.  The little ones are having a hard time following, so I have to stop every track or two and give the Cliff’s Notes.  We’ve got our snacks.  GORP and granola bars.  We’ve got our laptop and DVDs.  We’ve got our Nintendo DS.  We’ve got a camera.  We’ve got our music.  Lots of Beatles and this year’s Springtime Mixtape.  After SC, we hit Disney for a week.  The kids will have a blast.  My mom and stepdad recently moved to Florida, so they’ll come to Orlando for a few days, as will my ex-step-mother-in-law (Anna’s dad’s second wife who we still enjoy visiting with).

Then we crawl back home in utter exhaustion.  Sadly, Christine couldn’t make the trip, so we have to spend 16 days apart.  Things are going better than ever with her and that makes 16 days a heck of a long time.

Wish me luck, swabbies.  This captain is on the lookout for any whiff of mutiny on the S.S. Hotaru.  I wouldn’t like to be breaking out the irons.  May the winds be at our backs and the rum flow freely (well, not while captaining the ship).

Bine tagged me on this one and it seemed fun, especially since the first entry has gotten no less than 40 plays in the last 2-3 days. I’m obsessed with it.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. Shut Up and Let Me Go - The Ting Tings. Yes, it’s from an iPod commercial. I have no shame. Every once in a while, I get stuck on a song and have to listen to it until I completely burn out on it. I love the part in the middle when it breaks down and it’s just tom toms and a synth with an envelope filter. I suppose it’s Franz Ferdinand meets The White Stripes.
2. In the Waiting Line - Zero 7. I come back to this one all the time. Mellow.
3. Ain’t No Reason - Brett Dennen. Love his accent.
4. Water in the Fuel - Fred Eaglesmith. I love songs that paint pictures. If/when I get back to playing out, I want to play this one - simple and powerful. Reminds me of the old-school country music I listened to growing up (Waylon, Willie, Dolly, Emmylou). Some wonderful, now lost, internet person sent me a live Kasey Chambers CD and she covered this. It was just about pull-the-car-over good.
5. Angel - Jack Johnson. From his new one - Sleep Through the Static. Short, sweet, romantic. I like Jack Johnson because there’s really no pretense. WYSIWYG music. Chris and I took the kids to see him a couple weeks ago and had a good time, even with staggeringly drunk girl deciding to (literally) crash on our blanket with us. Ian: “Daddy, why did that girl just lay down here?” Me: “She’s just very, very tired Ian.”
6. I’m Yours - Jason Mraz. White guys doing reggae with clever lyrics. Works for me every time. See also: 311, The Police, Snow. Reggae (white, black, or otherwise) just pushes my buttons.
7. Last Request - Paolo Nutini. Is he not just crazy sexy? I wouldn’t throw him out of bed unless he was better on the floor. And here he is begging for just one more roll in the hay. Twist my arm.

I guess it’s a spring full of mostly boy-music. I tend to oscillate between big batches of female singer/songwriters and big batches of male singer/songwriters. With a bit of electronica thrown in for good measure.

Tagging: Fuzzy - browsing his Last.fm recently played list is like archeology research, Jessica - bound to be something inspirational, Tammy - because I have no idea what she listens to, Sam - for some oldies fun.