And so today, my world it smiles

Hey, Megs,

Just wanted to send a little Happy Thanksgiving love your way. (And remember, that's pronounced "Thánks-giving," emphasis on the "Thanks.")

I'm fretting about having to cook the meal for tomorrow. I know I can do the various potato dishes and the green bean casserole (my fave), but the turkey has me all tied up in knots. All I know is I'm starting the day off with Pillsbury orange rolls and I'll take it from there.

I'm thankful for lots of things (I have to remind myself of this often when I'm sitting at my desk at work, for I hate this place with the heat of a thousand suns). Happy and healthy children are tops on that list. I can't even put to words what it is like to watch these kids grow up. They are wonderful little maddening creatures, I must say!

This picture was taken at the last Vandy tailgate party, about twenty minutes before the sitter took the kids away and I started making a total ass of myself. Too much champagne!
Anyway, check out Ella's boots. They're badass, right? Kids' Dr. Marten's!

Right now, I am thankful to NPR for releasing this: an exclusive first listen to a live Neil Young recording from 1968. It's incredible. I'm not sure how long it will be available online, but the album will be released December 2. I know Todd won't be able to wait! Anyway, Neil was only 22 when this was recorded, and he's pretty adorable. My favorite quote so far: "I used to play lead guitar . . . I used to be a blues band." It reminds me of Will Quin, when he would speak in his little English accent (I think he was quoting some movie about the fifth Beatle): "It's not a skiffle band, it's a rock and roll band. It's not my band, it's a group." He would roll his "r" so adorably on that last word. That Will Quin . . .

Here's hoping that your turkey is [m-word meaning "not dry"] and your green bean casserole is pimiento-free!

I love you!

Molly

previous post title source: "Bob Dylan's Dream," Bob Dylan (natch)

Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat

Dear Megan,

Melissa, an old friend from high school, posted a link to this little game on Facebook. It just so happened to be the perfect way for me to waste an hour or so at work. Also, I think that this game was made for me, as I love to look for secret meanings in pretty much anything.

For example, do you remember the time when I decided that "Still I Long For Your Kiss" was my liberation song after the end of the Philip situation? What the hell was that all about? I'll tell you what it was about. I was feeling sorry for myself, so I took a drive. "Still I Long For Your Kiss" came on the radio and I started singing along. (My voice sounded amazing.) Well, I just so happened to be driving downtown as Lucinda and I sang the following lyrics: "I go downtown!" I thought it must be fate. Nevermind that the rest of the lyrics included such liberating gems as "I see your face/Nobody around can take your place/But you put me down/But you turned me away/Still I long for your kiss." That's liberation, baby!

Anywhos, it's a fun game. I know you don't do the whole music on the computer thing; really I just posted this for Heather since I know she's the only person who reads this blog. (Love ya, HDK!)

Okay, the rules are as follows:

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc., on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the >> button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put the artist after a dash following the song name.
5. Put any comments in brackets.
6. Tag some lucky people to spread the disease.

My answers:

a. How would you describe yourself?

"Like a Hurricane [live]"--Neil Young. [A simile! "I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream." Didn't he write this about a time when he was totally fucked up? It's a pretty song, nonetheless. Lots of noodling going on in the live version. I just like how simple of an answer it is to that question.]

b. How do you feel today?

"I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) [live]"--Bob Dylan. [Neil and Dylan one after the other? Excellent. And another live track, too. Weird times on the iPod. Geez, sad lyrics when you can make 'em out. "It's like I ain't here" is pretty much how I feel at work most days. As the great Kramer said, "In my head, I'm already gone."

c. What is your life's purpose?

"She'll Remember"--Dwight Yoakam. [Ha, ha. This is a funny one since I am the person that you always call when you have hazy memories about things that we may or may not have done in college. Yes, we did see The Band {sans Robbie Robertson}, and yes, The Crickets did join them for the encore. This is a pretty good life's purpose--to remember. The good times, I mean. Although I can hold a mean grudge, too. So it fits. My iPod is a genius.]

d. What is your motto?

"Living on a Thin Line"--The Kinks. [Boo! Bad iPod. . . . Well, maybe it's okay. Not as a motto, but whatever. I think it's a reminder that we have to do what's right now because otherwise there won't be anything left for our kids. "Yes, it really, really matters."]

e. What do you think about very often?

"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1"--The Flaming Lips. [That's pretty funny. This reminds me of when we were in college and I would always plead with our computer engineering friends not to program the robots to overthrow us, like in The Terminator. I sure hope they listened. Can't say I still think about it that often anymore, though.]

f. What is your life story?

"Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?"--The White Stripes. ["Everything's so funny/I don't have any money, oh oh." That sounds about right.]

g. What do you want to be when you grow up?

"Memphis Pearl"--Lucinda Williams. [Alrighty then. Except for the whole wife-beating part of the song . . . wow. I guess I'd like to be Memphis Pearl before her eyes got the "vacant stare," back in Memphis when she was a pearl. Not a great stretch of answers here.]

h. What will you dance to at your wedding?

"I'll Back You Up"--Dave Matthews Band. [Aww, this would be a sweet song to dance to. But . . . WRONG! I danced to "Sentimental Reasons." If we had been able to get the CD from Old Crow Medicine Show before our wedding, rather than after, I would have danced to "Wagon Wheel." Unfortunately, it had only been self-released at that point, and Tower did not have a copy before Kevin and I left for Mississippi. {Man, do I miss Tower!} Critter gave us a signed copy when we saw them at the Station Inn after we got married. It was a sweet gift. And this is a sweet song.]

i. What will they play at your funeral?

"Has Anyone Seen My Man?"--Memphis Minnie. [Best answer ever! That is awesome. Although I was hoping that it would be "You Can't Always Get What You Want." I imagine you sitting at the organ playing the intro, like on The Big Chill.]

j. What is your hobby/interest?

"Bright Lights, Big City"--Them (feat. Van Morrison). [I do like the big cities. Wouldn't call it a hobby, but I am certainly interested in being able to visit them more often. Is that a stretch?]

k. If you could do anything right now, what would it be?

"Do You Realize?"--The Flaming Lips. [Another Flaming Lips song. WTF? Geez, this is a depressing answer to that question. Although I guess it's kind of nice. I don't know. This song will forever be colored for me by an essay I read on McSweeney's. This father wrote about what this song meant to him and it was all about one the last times he was with his son. They went to a Flaming Lips concert and listened to this song on the way. His son died soon afterward. "It's hard to make the good things last." Now it makes me boo-hoo.]

j. What do you want most of all?

"Jigsaw Puzzle"--The Rolling Stones. [I think this song just reminds me of what I want most of all. It's not that I actually got to, got to have a jigsaw puzzle.]

k. What is your greatest fear?

"Is This Home On Ice?"--Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. [Hmm. I guess that's kind of right. Ice is fragile, breakable. I guess my biggest fear is a broken home.]

l. What is your darkest secret?

"Call Me On Your Way Back Home"--Ryan Adams. [Doesn't really fit except for maybe two lines. I will not elaborate. Pretty song, though.]

m. What is your favorite thing in the world?

"All I Want Is You"--U2. [This is correct. My favorite thing in the world is my friends, so the "you" in the title would be you. We may be getting back on track here.]

n. If you could have one wish, what would you wish for?

"Bob Dylan's Dream"--Bob Dylan. [This is true: "I wish, I wish, I wish in vain, that we could sit simply in that room again. Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat, I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that." And, while it's probably not the one thing I would wish for, it would be nice to dream Dylan's dreams, wouldn't it?]

o. What is your theme song?

"Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)"--Cracker. [Hilarious. "I don’t know what the world may want, but a good stiff drink it surely don’t. So I think I’ll go and fix myself a tall one." Excellent motto, if I do say so myself.]

p. The next time you hear this song (aside from now, that is), you must dance.

"Margie"--Ray Charles. [You know I dance every time I hear Brother Ray sing!]

q. What will you post this as?

"Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat."

Have fun (Heather)! Let me know what you come up with.

love, molly

previous post title source: "Since You're Gone," The Cars

The moonlight ain't so great

Hey, Megs,

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately. I've been in a bit of a funk and I'm not quite out of it yet. To fill you in on the things that have happened since my last post: the Kindschys came to visit, Florida kicked Vandy's butt in a hardcore manner, Brad and Kevin's team pretty much pwned Heather's team in flip cup (probably the best drinking game ever, after "Thunderstruck"), I got a copy of Pet Sounds signed by Brian Wilson, the Titans won game #9, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Vandy beat Kentucky (bowl-eligible, baby!), the Titans won game #10, and Monday and Tuesday again.

Flipcup pwnage.

All in all, some pretty fun stuff happening there, but I was in a funked up mood for everything in bold and then again for this afternoon. WTF?

I got really sad after Heather and Brad left. It was a gray day here in Nashville, and the weather had turned chilly. Pretty standard fare for November, I guess. After a nice buffet lunch at Tabouli's, we parted ways and I took Luke to Grimey's for the Brian Wilson signing. May I just opine about how amazing it is that Brian Wilson signed crap for an hour at Grimey's? How cool is that?

We got there about fifteen minutes after the shindig started, and the line stretched around the block. Lucky for me, Luke was in a decent mood. I know that most days he would not have put up with the wait, but he was quite the trouper. We were supposed to meet Evan there, but he was running late from Murfreesboro. Luke and I finally made it in around 1 p.m. They stopped the line ten people behind me because Brian Wilson was getting tired. You could definitely see it. He looked awful. His handler was behind him rubbing his shoulders and I almost felt bad going over there. But they shuffled me to the little stand and then quickly shuffled me away. He signed a newly-purchased copy of Pet Sounds (now I can be a hipster, too!) for me. His signature looks like B W with long flourishes after each letter. I left wondering what the signatures looked like earlier in the day.

I took a picture, but the combination of not knowing how to take good pictures with my iPhone, having only one hand free with which to take a picture, trying to hold Luke in the other hand, and trying to be discrete so as not to trigger any flashbacks definitely made for poor photography. Picture will be posted below when I can upload it from my work computer. Then you'll see what I mean.

This picture? Not so good.

Evan finally showed up about ten minutes later. He had another CD to pick up (the latest from The Features), so we mosied back into the store and got caught invited to join in on the champagne toast with the staff. It was such a nice little treat! I wish my workplace had champagne toasts . . .

Evan and I went out to Nolensville Road so he could eat at one of the yummy Mexican restaurants out there. I forget the name. "La" something or other. Anyway, it was there that the funk settled in. I was already sad about Heather leaving, and then Evan started talking about how he's thinking about going to business school. He mentioned that he might go back to UNC. Then he excused himself and left me alone at the table with Luke sleeping soundly in my lap (he hadn't done that for two years, I'd bet) and I just lost it. Seriously. My chin started trembling and I could not hold it back. I just kept thinking, "Keep it together, keep it together!" I wanted to put my hand on my chin just to make it stop trembling, but I couldn't move for fear of waking Luke! It was terrible. I only cried for a minute or so and I thought I had calmed myself by the time that Evan got back to the table. He started talking again, and then he stopped. And then he looked at me and said, "You're awfully quiet today."

Ugh. He saw right through me! I have very conflicting feelings about such occurences. On the one hand, I sort of hate to be so easy to read. On the other, it feels nice to have someone know you that well, doesn't it? Not that I didn't already know it . . . it's just good to be reminded every once in a while.

Anyway, my response was, "I just feel sort of sad today and I don't know why." And that's when the waterworks started. Terrible. I have to say, there is little to make you feel more helpless than crying in a Mexican restaurant, trying not to wake the sleeping baby in your lap. Evan offered what he could: a few napkins and a pat on the hand. And then a slice of tres leches cake.

All in all it was a pretty pathetic showing on my part. And the funk just kept on coming. I could not shake it. It's not an easy thing to do when you hate your job as much as I do, of course, but still. It was a whole frigging week. And it still lingers a bit. (Do I have to, do I have to, do I have to let it linger?)

I think that my current issue is not having something big to look forward to. I am so lonesome here in Nashville. I got so used to having friends around in this town, so now that they're all gone it's just . . . hard. It's easier, though, when I have something big to get ready for: seeing everybody at Heather's wedding, Heather and Brad's visit, etc. Things got a little easier when the 'Dores beat Kentucky last week, because now we get to look forward to a bowl game (!). I'm afraid, though, that I'm relying too heavily on the success of Vanderbilt sports to make me happy. Could it possibly be that sports for me has become, as Dan Black opined several years ago, "the new opiate of the masses?" When he said that (I recall that it was during the Titans' last Super Bowl run), I replied, "No! They just make you feel . . . good." Nice. It's a tricky proposition.

Ah, me.

Well, now that I have my soul-searching out of the way, I can move on to better and brighter things. Vanderbilt is bowl bound, baby! I never thought I'd see the day. The rumor mill has it that our best bowl possibilities are Chick-Fil-A (formerly known as the Peach Bowl) in Atlanta, Liberty in Memphis (I am going to go to town on some ribs at the Rendezvous, and I look forward to having my drunk friends crawl on the floor to see the ducks at the Peabody, rather than Uncle Butch's), Music City (short commute!), and . . . the Independence Bowl in Shreveport. That last one gets a big "Blerg."

***Momentary interruption*** So, I was looking for a link to the ESPN Bowl predictions, so that I could hyperlink the "rumor mill" phrase up there. This is what I found under the tab for Rivalry on the College Football page:

Tennessee has controlled its rivalry with Vandy for years, but under the signal calling of Jay Cutler, the Dores are finally favored.

WTF, Chris Low? Memo: Jay Cutler does not play for Vandy anymore. ***Back to the matters at hand***

Anywhos, I know the Liberty Bowl is pretty lame in the grand scheme of things, but I want some ribs, dammit!

And now it seems that I have wasted a good hour-plus on this post. I suppose that I should get back to work.

I miss you, Megs, and I hope you're doing well.

love, molly

previous post title source: "T for Texas," Jimmie Rodgers

T for Tennessee

Hey, Megs,

Not much to report the past two days. I just read this and thought you would appreciate it. The Sports Guy's latest Power Poll included a potent top 2:

THE FAVORITES

2. New York Giants
Our friend Mike Lombardi did a tremendous job of describing Tom Coughlin's coaching style over at the National Football Post last week: "He is using a very simple leadership strategy called the 'Law of Threes.' On each team there are three types of players. The first are the ones who will do anything that is asked, willing to help the program. The second group are the undecided players, the players who are not sure what to do. And the third are the malcontents. These are the players who want to buck the system all the time and try to break down the team. As a leader, there is a tendency to try to win over the players in group three by trying to make them happy. But all that does is move the players from group two into group three, and cause you to start to lose the players in group one. What Coughlin has done is focus on group one. He pays no attention to group three and what has resulted is that Plaxico is on an island and no one wants to join him. The team is bigger than Plaxico."

Love it. Now THAT makes perfect sense to me. The Law of Threes. I really respect how the Giants have defended their title this season. We don't see it enough in sports anymore. The road to Super Bowl XLIII goes through them.

1. Tennessee Titans
And yet, the league's only undefeated team gets pole position heading into Week 10. You know what I like about the Titans? They get it done. First and goal ... they punch it in. Huge third-and-8 from midfield ... they make the play. Big defensive play on third-and-short ... they get the stop. Sometimes football is that simple.

The article didn't end with that. It ended with this:

I had the Titans as the favorite three weeks ago and nothing has changed. You know, except the fate of the country.

How sweet is that? A 6000+ word article and those last eight made me catch my breath.

Have a great weekend. The Funbar should be here in about 5 hours. Make sure to watch for us on ESPN tomorrow night.

Go Dores!

love, molly

previous post title source: "Beautiful Day," U2

See the world in green and blue

Megs!

photo via chicagotribune.com

Woo-Hoo!!

The day dawned a little brighter, didn't it? Incredible.

love, molly

previous post title source: "A Change Is Gonna Come," Sam Cooke. (Loved that part of the victory speech, by the way: "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.")

It's been a long time coming

Megs,

photo via deadspin.com

Feeling much better today. I couldn't open the link to the WRVU ram file, so I missed out on the first 20 minutes of Best of Bread this morning. When I finally got it on, the host announced The Cult's "Love Remover Machine," but said that today it was "Bush Remover Machine" or "Obama Installation Machine." This song rocks. "Baby baby baby baby baby I fell from the sky." No, no, no, don't stop the rocking!

Plus, The Cult always reminds me of the bet that Jacqui and I made with Dan and Chris (?) early freshman year. I'm pretty sure it was "Love Remover Machine" that came on the radio and Dan shouted out, "Yes, Danzig!" Jacqui and I laughed and laughed at his dumbness. Finally, we made a bet about who was singing. Dan lost, and he had to wear a dress. Then Brett came over, and he put on a dress just for shits and giggles. He even teared up a bit because, and I quote, "It's so soft!" Good freshman times.

Anyway, I think it's going to be a big day. As the incomparable Chris Crofton just said when playing Pat Benatar's version of "Helter Skelter," "LET'S DO THIS!"

I can't wait. Now get out there and vote!



love, molly

previous post title source: "Reason to Believe," Rod Stewart

Still I look to find a reason to believe

Dear Megan,

I am all antsy about tomorrow. I have been trolling the internet all freaking day looking for something to ease my worried mind. (Yes, I am at work. Why do you ask?) To make matters worse, Andrew Sullivan hasn't updated his blog for nearly two and a half hours! Sure, he left a very moving essay about why he supports Barack Obama (the end is the best), but that's just not enough for me today.

I early-voted two weeks ago tomorrow. There were a few people in line ahead of me, and I was surprised to find out that I was the 168th person to vote at that booth (one of about eight, I'd guess) at that precinct on that day. It is the first time in my years of voting that I have actually felt good about my vote. In other elections, I chose the lesser of two evils. I regret that I didn't vote for Gore now (not that my vote would have mattered in Mississippi), but at the time I didn't feel like he would be able to be a good president. He didn't get out from the shadow of Clinton until he grew a beard and started the hardcore environmentalism campaign. I thought then (and still think to an extent) that there was no way he would be able to lead under the weight of what had happened in the years leading up to 2000. The Republicans wouldn't have let him.

I voted for Kerry in 2004, but I felt dirty doing it. I didn't think that he would be an effective president, either, but there was no way that I could reward Bush for the actions that he took during his first four years. To call Kerry the lesser of two evils insinuates that he could actually hold a candle to Bush/Cheney in the evil department. It still wouldn't have made him a good president.

There is but one thing that I remember pretty vividly about the 2004 campaign. (A lot of folks recently have been mentioning a Bin Laden tape that was released on October 31 of that year. I have no recollection of that.) I remember watching Barack Obama speak at the DNC convention. I don't know why I would have had any reason to watch that. Ella was barely one year old at the time, so I had a little bit on my hands. But I remember that all of the announcers were talking about how great a keynote address it would be. And so I watched. I got goosebumps. It cannot be denied that the man gives a good speech. "Out of this long political darkness, a brighter day will come."

I am unabashed in my enthusiasm for Obama. I believe that he will be a great leader for this country. I just hope . . . HOPE . . . that he will be given the opportunity.

Tomorrow.

MAKE SURE TO VOTE!!!

love, molly

previous post title source: "Dumb Girl," Run DMC