It’s snowing - at long last. This morning through afternoon, they were predicting 6-10″. Now they’ve downgraded to 3-7″ and an icy coating with most of the heavy snowfall taking place tomorrow. This complicates things since it means I’ll probably be able to get TO work, but getting home (driving up a hill) might suck… not because the car won’t be able to make it, but because twice already this relatively snow-free winter, the police have set up road blocks in front of my hilly neighborhood and turned people away, telling them they can’t drive up the road. My response was, “But I live here. I don’t have anywhere to ‘go back’ to.” At which point, the officer said, “Fine, but you’re taking the risk.”

Hey, thanks!

My eye is still watering. My neck is stiff and crunchy.

It’s amazing how certain songs can evoke a sense of place or time or a person in your life. For example, whenever I hear “It’s Oh So Quiet,” I think of my friend Michelle’s wedding and how she and my friend Theresa cut a rug together to that song. Whenever I hear a particular Blink 182 song (”Miss You” which, thank goodness, is not often heard these days) I start laughing because I think of my sister and I making fun of the lead singer’s first line in the song since his voice just shatters the mood.

The memories evoked by the songs often have nothing to do with the lyrics or subject of the actual song. On one level, this bothers me because it means that the words are weak and I’m a huge supporter of words and listen to song lyrics - as compared to my brother who listens to bass lines or drums and doesn’t comprehend the lyrics.

For example, he was singing along to “Mack the Knife.”

I commented, “It’s a jazzy tune for a song about a serial killer, huh?”

Blank stare - “What?”

“The song ‘Mack the Knife’ is about a serial killer… ‘…on the sidewalk, sunny mornin’, lies a body just oozin’ life’ - how else can you interpret that?”

“Oh - I never listen to words.”

It’s also good to know that a memory can override a previous interpretation of a song and leave you with a very different taste in your mouth.

This goes for any type of experience, though, really. If you saw a movie with someone who you then had a falling out with and continued to remember that movie as “the movie I saw with that asshole” or whatever, chances are you won’t want to watch that movie since it will be linked with an unpleasant memory. HOWEVER, if you take the time to re-watch it with someone who will make it into a positive experience for you, you can exorcise the old shit and create a new connotation. Easier said than done, but possible. I know this. I’ve done it.

OK - my eye can’t take this. I just changed my Firefox and Thunderbird themes to be dark so there’s less strain on my eyes, and also changed my desktop background to do the same… but the Movable Type blog entry screen is white-white-white and this monitor is bright-bright-bright. I can’t take it!