congratulations leslie

sure, other distinctions exist, but do any really outweigh being the first artist listed on my audible list twice? i reckon nay.

last night as i surfed the internet, i decided to steal her new album (temporarily, i'll buy it when it comes out). technically, it's not even released and won't be until may 1 stateside. but that has no bearing on it being available on various p2p sites, my preferred one being soulseek. and just as i suspected, a slew of individuals had already posted it on the network.

so this morning as i sauntered down to the muni station, i took a listen. my first thought was negative: god damn it, these stupid white earbuds that come with ipods suck. they perfectly reproduce what the music would sound like if your studio were a tunnel on a winter day in chicago.

but as soon as i got over that fact, her songs absorbed me. unlike her previous (and also great) album let it die, these songs all come from feist herself -- with the exception of one nina simone cover. and she displays true variety, varying the pace from the bright and danceable i feel it all to the sultry and bass-laden my moon my man all the way down to the melancholy and contemplative the water. mix this with the sexiest voice in the biz and, well, there's not much else to say except that feist has about three weeks left before achieving international pop stardom.

oh, and that first listen has turned into half a dozen going on seven.

you're short? better work hard

i don't think it's much of a secret that women prefer taller men. but now it's been quantified just how much they prefer them. and the news isn't so good for me.

apparently, the average annual income for a man in the united states is $62,500. i make more than that, but not $150,000 more, which is what i'd have to do to offset my disadvantage versus an identically-qualified six-foot version of myself according to a study done on the preferences of men and women using matchmaking services. read about it in john tierney's article in the nyt.

fortunately, i have my sterling good looks, incisive wit, and impeccable taste to fall back on. that's got to be worth, oh let's say two inches. now where am i going to find the other $50,000? hehe.

my three month checkup

here's what i pledged to do for 2007. let's see how i'm doing.

* stop biting my nails
a rousing success, though one slightly marred by the replacement of one bad habit with another questionable one. kind of like people who quit smoking and get fat, i've quit biting my nails and have started filing them with a four-surface emory board (though i only use two, no buffing for me!)

* dinner party once a month (starting february)
only failure to report. i began the year at zero, and remain there.

* cook one real meal per week (multiple pots and courses)
a mixed bag. i've cooked several real meals, but nothing that i would consider impressive. i continue to disappoint myself by the way i cook. still, my goal here was partly economic, and i've probably saved something.

* one month cycle
failure!

* stay with the gym (add ten pounds of muscle and lose five pounds of fat)
i'm pretty sure i've added ten pounds. unfortunately, it's not all muscle. just reupped at the gym though. of course paying's the easy part, now i have to start going.

* 20k invested
i've modified this goal to having 50k across all my investment vehicles. that includes two 401k accounts from old jobs, a brokerage account, and an online savings account. with the $4000 of excelsior funds i just purchased, that brings me to ~ $30k. since i started the year with around 20k, that puts me roughly on schedule.

* 2 international trips
well i'm still at zero, but i think there's a reasonable chance i could get to four if i include work trips. ireland for my birthday, southern europe for new year's, and then montreal and manila for work.

* remember how much i like my friends (keeping in touch, visiting, gifts)
i've found it offputting to give gifts to friends. so far i've purchased two of them, and delivered one after a long deliberation. this may just be me being me, but there's always something to feel weird about. if she is single -- or even worse if she's not -- will she misinterpret it as a play? if the friend is a he, well, guys exchanging gifts is just weird, right? i have a gift sitting at my house and am actually waiting for a reason to give it. of course, this kinda defeats the purpose of random gift-giving, which is what i set out to do.

* keep chin high (six days so far)
haven't been able to sustain this, and have tried to replace it by keeping myself busy. i've taken freelance assignments so that i wouldn't have to sit and think about things i shouldn't be thinking about. and when there have been other free moments, i'll play cards. hell, if you're not going to be happy now, at least set aside something for the future when you might. well at least that's my thought process.

honestly, it's been a tough year, and nothing close to what i had envisioned at the beginning. i feel like i've done some good things, but it still feels like i'm coming up short. i guess the silver lining's that i still have nine months to correct that.

illegible

a couple weeks ago, i added a sidebar to my blog called legible, where i could list all the things i read that truly moved, relaxed, fascinated, uplifted, or inspired me. i am a bit afraid everything is going to come from the new yorker and ny times -- more or less the required reading for anyone who considers themselves informed -- but hopefully that will motivate me to broaden my reading habits.

normally, they make terrific diversions, enriching my time on a crowded streetcar or breaking up a monotonous work day of writing sop documents for our customer support team. but today, the times failed. failed miserably.

starting as i often do in the most emailed box, i clicked on the most written about story, For Girls, It’s Be Yourself, and Be Perfect, Too.

it's long, especially for a newspaper article. it requires you to click six times to reach the end, and the only thing that got me through it was the knowledge that i was going to rail about it on my blog.

basically, it's a woe is me piece about rich girls, who have to balance being rich and the rigors of making sure that they're going to stay that way. yes, the horror of having to take honors and ap classes so they can go to the ivy league school that their parents are alma maters of, all while trying to be pretty.

yes, i understand college is competitive these days. but my sympathy doesn't extend to crying adolescents who didn't make the grade for williams and will have to settle for smith. and call me a snob, but when i read about the huge sigh of relief that came when one student received her acceptance letter from usc (who knew the university of spoiled children had those? i always assumed parents just sent in the first semester's tuition with the "application".), what little credibility that had survived for the first five pages of the story instantly vanished.

so to the "amazing girls" of newton high, i say good luck.

not that you'll need it, since you're rich already.

everybody loves (long) blondes

normally when i travel, i travel to eat. but with a tentative plan to head over to the uk at the beginning of july, i decided to see if my current favorite band happened to be playing somewhere on the island. as it turns out they're on the summer festival circuit with stops at oxegen and t in the park. too bad they're sold out (three months in advance?), which means the only times they'll be within a 5000 mile radius of my location in the foreseeable future will pass me by.

i love the long blondes album, somewhere to drive you home, and basically loop it on my ipod. and to the detriment of my connectedness to the world, their cd has replaced npr as my automobile listening. in fact, i'm so enamored with their music, that i've developed a crush on lead singer kate jackson, despite not finding her remotely attractive physically. kinda like feist (though she's still #1).