Strange Pulse

If I lay down for more than 10 minutes during the day, though, it kills me. Headache, sloggy…Ruins my entire day.

Sucks when I’m really tired, and sleeping feels so good. I wake up and feel horrible the rest of the day!

Saturday Daniel and I both laid down for a nap. We slept for an hour. He woke up wanting to go to the beach. I woke up wanting to never move again. But after an hour or so (and an Aleve) I decided just to go. Who cares if I move in slow motion? I was hoping to stay long enough to catch the sunset, but it was too cold. (We’re wimps now about cold.)

I must’ve had my white balance set wrong, these pictures shouldn’t be this yellow. But I kind of like it.

That’s Long Beach in the distance.

Daniel asked if I wanted him to model for me. As if he has to ask. Then he said, “Cuz I’ve learned a lot from watching America’s Next Top Model.”

Uh huh.

Nathaniel complimented Elijah on something.

Elijah said, “Nathaniel, quit antagonizing me!”

Nathaniel said, “I knew I shouldn’t have taught you that word. Now you’re just going to use it against me.”

Daniel asked Elijah what it meant, and Elijah said it’s like an antagonist. Someone who makes things bad for the protagonist. Or maybe Daniel explained that, I can’t remember.

I said, “So what does protagonizing mean?”

Elijah said, “That would be helping someone out, being nice…like Catherine!”

I was driving back from lunch with some co-workers, and the driver was flipping radio stations. I said, “Was that Alanis?” and the other co-worker in the car did a doubletake. He said, “Is there any music anywhere that you don’t know?”

I said, “Maybe in France.”

He said, “You know popular music, you know underground stuff…How do you know so much?”

I said, “It’s an illness.”

He laughed and said, “But not a terminal one. It’s a pretty cool one.”

I said, “Actually, I don’t know a lot of the bands my daughter listens to. They all sound the same to me. That’s when you know you’re getting old.”

He said, “What do your kids think about it?”

I said, “They’ve just grown up with it. No big deal.”

He said, “Do they realize how cool their mom is?”

I said, “Not really.”

He said, “Someday when they’re older they’ll look back and realize it.”

I said, “My oldest’s first show was Jane’s Addiction when he was a year and a half old.”

“No way!” He looked shocked.

“Unless you count Bad Brains when I was pregnant.”

—

I love how he was surprised that I’d know who Alanis Morrissette is.

Daniel just got back from picking the kids up from seminary. Cat told him she thought her substitute seminary teacher was weird because when he saw the space heater in their room, he called it hardcore.

Daniel said, “If it were me, I would’ve pounded on it and said, ‘R2! R2! Turn off the trash compactor in level 6! R2!…R2’s not responding!’”

A coworker sent me a link to the shotgun guide, the official rules of calling shotgun, which my kids now stick to religiously.

It used to be, if we were going somewhere, Elijah would leave the apartment a half hour early so he could have the front seat (he’d just wait out at the car). But the official shotgun guide says you can’t call shotgun until the other competitors for the front seat are within sight of the car.

Why do they care? Mostly because our oldest, Nathaniel, is now taller than his dad, with super long legs, and doesn’t like being cramped in the back seat. He also tends to get carsick if he can’t see out the front window. But of course, the other kids can’t let him have the front seat all the time. It’s not fair.

Yesterday the boys and I picked Daniel up for lunch. When we were leaving the restaurant, Nathaniel got a refill of his soda, so Elijah made it to the car before him. He got in the back seat with his dad, and when Nathaniel came out, Elijah said, “I did you a favor, Nathaniel.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I told Dad to take shotgun, but he didn’t want it.”

Nathaniel said, “Uh. Thanks!” and we burst out laughing. Some favor!

Elijah uses my computer a lot. Sometimes he ends up intercepting an IM meant for me. Here he is chatting with Steve, an Internet friend of mine.

Some notes: When he asks if he’s met Steve before, he meant online. He was confusing him with Tony, another friend of mine he chatted with before.

I’m pretty sure Elijah’s never actually listened to any Rush albums before. Maybe Moving Pictures, but for sure not 2112, unless he dragged out our old vinyl copy. I guess that is possible.

Steve: bored
Elijah: this is not my mom
its me
Steve: oh hey
wassup?
Elijah: werent you the one who saw maiden
Steve: no, but I wanted to. Eddie rules
Elijah: oh
you sure
ive met alot of my moms friends
Steve: we haven’t met. I’m stuck in Seattle and was supposed to meet you a few months ago, but couldn’t
Elijah: well do you like megadeth?
Steve: of course!
Elijah: own any albums?
Steve: somewhere I think
Elijah: which ones
Steve: Killing Is My Business
Elijah: that it?
Steve: I have tracks from others
Elijah: i own peace sells
Steve: Countdown to Extinction
Elijah: countdown i own too
Steve: I am not that much into thrash, I admit
Elijah: also rust in peace, so far so good so wat
killing is my
thats about it
Steve: so what’s the best Megadeth?
and is Megadeth better than Alice in Chains?
Elijah: peace sells, countdown or rust in peace
and i cant decide that
Steve: or for that matter, Judas Priest?
Elijah: i like em both
Steve: you know they all toured together in the early 90s
Elijah: I like megadeth btr than judas priest in some cases
what bands do you like?
Steve: me? I’m all about emo pop. lol
Elijah: kool
what songs?
Steve: no, I like some metal, but it’s usually just stuff your mom will send my way like Opeth
Elijah: opeth is rad
slayer is emo metal evil devil satan stuff
Steve: but I am old-skool when it comes to metal. it’s either got to involve dragons or satan, or it’s all AC/DC.
Elijah: you mean like maiden?
Steve: right.
Elijah: ive been to one of their concerts
Steve: that must have been awesome. I’ve heard they are pretty fun
Elijah: how about ozzy?
Steve: he’s past his prime.
Elijah: oh and eddie came onstage
Steve: tough to beat Sabbath though
Elijah: i like old ozzy
you know all that crazy train stuff
Steve: yeah.
Elijah: mr crowly
Steve: War Pigs, Iron Man
Elijah: yea
paranoid is one of the three best albums with ozzy in it
Steve: I agree.
Elijah: how about metallica?
Steve: well, they are the standard. but I hate their politics. they treat fans like idiots
Elijah: ya and they sued fans once
still kirk is insane!
Steve: OTOH “Enter Sandman” is possibly one of the finest songs ever written, and it’s a great video
with that old creepy man
Elijah: im more into their “master era”
Steve: huh, that’s cool too. Have you seen the movie?
“Some Kind of Monster”?
Elijah: no not yet it looks good though
Steve: it completely rules.
Elijah: have you heard their old bassit
Steve: no, was he better?
Elijah: bassist*
yes!
he did huge bass solos
Steve: of course, the best bassist of all time………
……..Getty Lee from Rush
Elijah: you know their first guitarist in metallica was the singer for megadeth
geddy Rocks
Steve: Rush doesn’t get enough cred.
Elijah: ya 2112 and moving pictures are the best
i like old stuff too
Steve: yeah — they were the first to come up with these crazy mythologies that were the whole album. Like 2112 is a total head trip, but it’s all brilliant.
Elijah: ya
Steve: and then “Tom Sawyer” just kicks.
Elijah: also
yyz
Steve: word.
Elijah: and what about cream?
Steve: hey, did you hear that guitar hero is coming to the nintendo wii, btw?
Elijah: really?
i can beat expert
Steve: yeah, it should rule. I’ve got a wii and it is extremely choice. I suck at GH but love it.
Elijah: Lucky!
what games
Steve: zelda, wario ware, wii sports
Elijah: nice
Steve: wario ware is CRAZY FUN
Elijah: i have a quiz
Steve: on?
Elijah: music
Steve: like a school quiz?
Elijah: not really
like a who’s better
Steve: ohh.
I love those.
Elijah: first question is:
Kirk hammet or randy rhoads
Steve: whoa
Kirk.
Elijah: ya
i have trouble with that
Steve: though randy is dead, you have to give him credit for that.
Elijah: ya
next question
Steve: did you hear how he died?
Elijah: ya
drunk pilot
Steve: yeah
they tried to buzz the tour bus
Elijah: ok next question
Steve: ok
(gotta go in 2 minutes, so email me the quiz if we don’t finish)
Elijah: this has an obvious answer although i disagree
jimi hendrix or eric clapton
Steve: Hendrix ALL OVER CLAPTON.
Elijah: i like clapton better actually
Steve: Clapton is a technical genius but has no soul
Elijah: ok
Steve: clapton’s best work is copied from other people, and he just inserts guitar. listen to Jimi at woodstock
Elijah: brian may or pete townsend
Steve: Townsend. Who rules
Elijah: kool
my dad loves both
Steve: no crime there.
Elijah: how about
dimebag or marty friedman
Steve: phew.
I dunno.
I gotta go, but I’ll tell your mom my decision later.
peace out
Elijah: peace out

—

I’m not even sure who Marty Friedman is, which means chances are good Steve doesn’t either.

Elijah has this thing against Jimi Hendrix. I think because they’re both left handed, Elijah feels like he’s in competition with him somehow. So he doesn’t like Jimi.

I don’t care about stuff like that. Daniel ran the kids to church activities last night, and when he got home he said, “I almost got you some flowers” and I said, “I’m glad you didn’t.” All I could think was it’d mean getting a vase out from timbuktoo and then having to clean it later, after the dead flowers dropped their petals everywhere, because I never throw things out when I should.

We’re not very romantic about holidays and anniversaries.

I was surprised at how many people at my work were into it, though. Dinner plans. Getting gifts for their SO’s. My company even handed out roses and candy to everyone. Maybe it’s a California thing.

The other day, my husband was watching a skateboarding contest on FUEL tv, his favorite pasttime. It struck me how I rarely see female skateboarders. I asked him why that was.

He said, “What, are you kidding? Because skateboarding hurts!”

And I remembered the first time I stood on a skateboard. It slipped out from under me and I landed on my hip on the concrete.

Never got on one again.

And Joan Baez came on to introduce something. I said to Daniel, “I met her once. She said I looked like the burning bush.”

He asked when and I told him when I was 16, the same trip I met U2.

He said, “You are the weirdest girl I have ever known.”

I asked why and he said, “I can’t believe we’ve been married for 20 years and you just tell me, ‘oh yeah, I met Joan Baez, she called me the burning bush!’”

(She called me that because of my hair, which looked about like this at the time, only bigger. I think I may have been wearing that exact sweater.)

“I’m only telling you this because I love you…”

I thought for sure he was going to nag me about something.

But he continued, “…and you can’t watch it here, because I’m watching something else, but you can go record it.”

He gestured to the TV where the guide showed that Damien Rice is on a show called Breakfast with the Arts this morning.