Is it wrong that I was very much blown away by the Duran Duran concert last night? Is it wrong that when Simon LeBon took off his jacket with the suggestion of a strip tease that I swooned a little? Is it wrong that, when he came into the audience to find someone to introduce him, I really wished he could have found his way up to the upper tier to pick me?

Seriously, I am still in a bit of shock over how honestly fabulous that concert was. (Made all the more fabulous by the fact that I didn’t have to pay for the tickets!) I’ve seen a couple of shows in the past year or so where the appeal is very much rooted in nostalgia and little else, and I sort of expected this show to be the same. I was very wrong. Amazing show… Simon LeBon really is still a hottie, as are most of the rest of the band. The sound was tight and solid, and the showmanship and energy was beyond that of a lot of younger bands. There was only one real faltering moment in the night, when Simon’s monitors went out and he couldn’t hear himself for the first verse of “View to a Kill”… poor thing was off key pretty badly… but he recovered for the second verse quite nicely. Besides, at least we know the man is still singing live, not to a “guide track”.

The crowd was very into it, at least for the old stuff. Sadly, it seems that not many people have caught up with their latest album, which I will admit I like a lot more than I thought I would. They actually played a number of songs from the new album (about 6 or 7), but still managed to play all the old hits, with the exception of “Reflex”.

VHS or Beta, the opening band, was interesting too. Hailing from Kentucky (of all places), they struck me as what would happen if Duran Duran and Joy Division had children and raised them listening to nothing but the Cure’s Robert Smith singing a cappella. Strangely, that all came together to make something that sounded pretty damn good.

It’s amazing to me how much music can still lift my spirits, can make me forget about the worries and the problems, can force me to let go and enjoy it. That was just what I needed last night.

Ah yes, I’ve already hit the mark where the blogger apologizes for not updating for a while. And with excuses no less! Sorry… I’ve been sick - the first cold I’ve had since November 2003 actually - and the combination of that and still getting settled into a new computer after losing all the good stuff on the old one has had me not really in the mood for thinking much or writing at all. My muse was apparently residing on my old hard drive, and so I’m trying to find it again. I’m sure the little bugger will come back soon, or at least there will be some piece of news other than Terry Schiavo that spurs me to comment. In the meantime I’ll direct you to some other things you should definitely be perusing while the search for my muse continues.

The video of Joe (of Joe.My.God) performing Payments at WYSIWYG is worth a long download to see. It’s really strange to hear Joe speak, as I had a voice in my head designated for him that will have to be changed a little now. (Yes, I have voices in my head. You do too, you just don’t want to admit it.) Wish I could have been there to see it live. (If you simply cannot wait on the download, you can read the piece here. You should also go back and read all of his archives.)

In honor of National Women’s History Month (did you know that’s what March was?) Noelle of hedgeblog has been posting a daily lesson on women in history. If Noelle had been teaching my history classes, I might have paid more attention; she’s made each one extremely interesting. I’ve learned quite a bit this month from her. Bravo Noelle, and thanks.

If you haven’t been following it all along, take a few hours, start at Chapter 1, and read through all of A Gag Reflex. Just trust me on this one.

Oh, and find some way to go and watch every episode of the new Battlestar Galactica up till this week so that you can be with me next week when I’m babbling about the apparently very shocking twist ending that’s coming in the season finale. Don’t ruin it by finding the info online (it’s there to be found since the show was aired already on the BBC) - just wait with me till the last episode. It’s taking a lot of restraint on my part to resist the urge to find the episode to download. But my restraint shall prevail. Dammit.

There now. That should keep you all busy for at least, um… 3 or 4 days. Right?

Muse… oh muse? Please come back, and send these sniffles along to someone else while you’re at it.

So… the primary hard drive from my old computer, the 80 GB hard drive that’sjust a little over a year old, is dead. The 40 GB drive that was my secondary drive is fine. Mind you, all the important, irreplaceable stuff was on the big one. Ahh… such is life I suppose. I’m actually really bummed about it, as I lost literally hundreds of pictures (including all the pictures of my apartment in LA that were ever taken), 6 years of emails I had deemed worthy of saving and transferring from computer to computer over the years, and contact information for lots of people. Lesson learned: back that shit up. I don’t mean move your ass while you dance either.

Data recovery would be an option if I were rich. Kripes, there’s a business to get into if you have the know-how. I can’t believe how expensive that service is. Anybody know someone that would do it for under $50? Ha! Yeah, right.

In better news, the BF and I attended the final Cleveland performance of Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby today, compliments of the fabulous Zane & his partner. (Thank you so much!) Despite being a 30 year old cynic, I found myself charmed by the production, even after realizing that more than a few of the kids parts were being played by adults (other than the well known fact that Cathy Rigby is a 52 year old woman playing a little boy…). My BF enjoyed it too, especially Smee & Hook, though he claimed it was very hard to get over the age of the actors and the visible wires and such. I have a much easier time suspending disbelief than he does I guess. Very cute moments in the show though - like Hook being booed upon his initial appearance and him looking at the audience and quipping, “Why all the hate?” - and I wished I’d had a niece or nephew around to take to the show. I would have loved to have seen a kids reaction to the faerie dust and flying.

I’m still brooding over the loss of my digital past at the moment. When I’ve recovered from that a bit more I may finally have some stories to tell.

These directions were included in the USB hard drive enclosure I purchased this evening (still moving stuff from disk to disk at the moment). I managed to figure out how to work it and did immediately trust the usage. I love Engrish.

1. Consuming copious amounts of corned beef and cabbage will be followed at some point in the evening by a large dose of Tums (even if the main ingredient of Tums is sugar).

2. Trying to set up a new computer while in the throes of cabbage fueled gastric discomfort is not a pleasant thing to do.

3. While awaiting delivery of a new computer, gather together the software for the peripherals you already own. You will need it, dummy.

4. A Serial ATA hard drive may be better, but when the case is designed specifically for this newer technology, it’s next to impossible to install an IDE hard drive as a second drive. (More money will have to be spent to get my data. Whoopee.)

5. Think about little things like jumper settings before becoming exasperated and declaring “This sucks!” when trying to install a previously owned DVD burner in addition to the drive that came with the computer.

6. Getting a good deal from Dell is all about timing. (The exact same configuration of computer I ordered on Monday would now cost nearly $300 more than I paid.)

7. Despite a few setbacks and frustrating moments, having a new computer is exhilarating, at least for a geek like me.

8. You should not leave the same pair of earrings in your ears for 6 months without removing them periodically, even if you do clean around them well. You don’t even want to know what happens.

The new computer, that I’m much more excited about now that I’ve gotten over the sticker shock some (though that pain will be felt for months to come), will be here today. I’ll spend a day or two setting it up and (hopefully) transferring all my stuff from my old hard drives, and then my normal babbling on the blog will resume. I only have to make the Moon in Katamari Damacy first. Crack, I tell you.

Katamari Damacy is crack. If you have considered playing this game, you should know this fact before you pick up the controller. I have to snicker every time the King of All Cosmos comes to take the Prince back to space via the Magic Rainbow. It’s just so… gay. I think this will be one of my favorite video games, if I can ever get a better score on the Make Ursa Major level. Damn bear carvings.

And I’ve been playing it a bit, because my computer went kaput. I press the power button, it clicks, but nothing else happens. Yes, I’ve checked everything multiple times. From what I understand, it could be the power supply, it could be the motherboard, or a combo of the two. It would cost more than the computer is worth to really find out and/or fix whatever issue it is, and for some reason the tower is made in a way that replacing the power supply or motherboard would involve welding. Genius designers. It’s hard to justify spending any money to fix the thing anyway, as it is over 3 years old and was far, far, far from top of the line when I got it. I think it cost something like $300 then. I suppose it’s good timing, as the income tax refunds are on the way, so I will be getting a new computer shortly. We really had that money earmarked for other expenses, and we have to just hope against hope that they keep extending the boyfriend’s temp job (they’ve kept it up so far) so that we won’t need that money to pay rent or something.

Because the checks aren’t here yet, we’re using credit to purchase it now and then pay it off as soon as the checks come in. Not my credit or his credit, because those are both shot all to hell at this point. It’s my mom’s credit. Bless her for being a wonderful mom; she understands that life without a computer is not something I can even fathom anymore.

So… woooo! I’m getting a new computer! I’m good at finding silver linings strewn about, and there’s the shiny little glimmer in this situation. It’s not top of the line, because even with income tax refunds that isn’t in the budget. But it’s way better than what I had before, so it’s good enough to be excited about.

As long as the hard drives on my dead computer are ok, that is. If I’ve lost everything on my computer… if all that has gone away… I shall collapse into a big ball of quivering flesh in the corner and cry for many days.

It’s a lot of reading, but well worth it: The Schtick!: Bullets & Bibles Project.

In summary - some blue state guys are trying to learn what it is that drives the red staters to be who they are. To do this they are all reading the Bible and learning to fire high-powered weapons and then publishing their comments on these studies (along with a handy summary of each book of the Bible). Keeping true to their blue state roots, any proceeds they get from this will go to Planned Parenthood. A worthy cause and a fair amount of laughs.

To get you started, a quote from Mike’s comments about Genesis:

I have to tell you, when I signed on for this project I felt no small measure of trepidation about the potential dry and stuffy factor that I assumed the Bible would have in store for me. But so far this sucker is like a hot pulp novel. I’m not kidding. I can’t believe that people let their kids read this thing. At least when it comes to Genesis it’s all sex, drunkenness, murder, incest, theft and deceit. And that’s the good guys. You don’t believe me? Well, just for all you naysayers out there I’ll be sure to footnote as I go along. I’m reading the good old-fashioned King James Bible, the best selling book of all time. So don’t blame it on some crazy left wing translation. You got a problem? Take it up with the Big Fella upstairs.

I’ve only made it through Genesis and I already think this is one of the most brilliant projects I’ve ever seen.

For the past few weeks a boy has been hanging out at City Dweller with me quite a bit, and, for once, when I say boy, I mean boy. He’s 16. Sixteen and out, which is just an amazing concept to me. He’s a total sweetheart with a truly fucked up life, and the things that are fucked about it actually have little to do with his being gay.

It’s easy to forget I’m talking to a 16 year old sometimes because he’s really bright. (Though he’ll often mention how much he totally loves Hillary Duff and the illusion is shattered. I’m working on that by making him listen to better music when he’s hanging out with me.) The boy remembers everything I say - I have to be careful what I tell him. Despite having lots of problems to deal with, he’s usually upbeat and in funny mode, though I can tell when something’s bugging him. He’s really a cool kid… it’s been fun having him hang with me (and help me check product in and get it out to sell).

He’s a bit of a nostalgia trigger though, and it makes me long for the days when I was 16. Today he wrote this note for me while I was busy doing work (I’ve blocked out identifying info because he’s a kid):

The friend who gives free blow jobs thing is an entirely different story for another night… And I’m not too sure what the “remember me if I ever die” bit is all about… 16 year olds have a strange sense of humor about death I think. Um, anyway. Yeah, so this just so completely reminded me of passing notes in class in high school.

Somwhere at my parents house, in storage, there is a box with notes that I deemed worthy of keeping for whatever reason. The last time I sorted through them I couldn’t even recall what half of them were about… names, events, and references have all greyed out in my memory over the last (ack) 15 years or so. But enough of the memory remains that I was fully entertained by reading them.

Most of them were about some boy or another that one of my friends was crushing on, with lots of hearts in many places. I wasn’t really that into any of the boys at my high school (and they weren’t really into me), and so my notes usually included a line that said “I ♥ ?” or “Melanie ♥’s ?” This eventually developed into an entire line of jokes, where I was constantly hooking up with different punctuation marks. I had a fling with ; and ‘, and I cheated on & with ,. For a bit there I was dating the twins, ( and ), at the same time. I was a total punctuation whore.

Hmm… I guess you kind of had to be there.

One thing that struck me from his note though - the use of Internet shorthand like “LOL” and “g2g”. These weren’t part of our vocabulary when I was in school… This makes me wonder, do kids even pass notes in class anymore, or is all done in cell phone text messages now?

What does this make you think of?

Yeah, I know. Because you’re all perverted like I am. But it’s really about golf. Bet you never knew golf could be that exciting, huh?

(first pointed out by Strude)