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The new Pretenders album is really good.

It’s a little more rootsy than some of their (Chrissie Hynde’s) other albums, which makes it interesting. There’s that Bo Diddley beat on the title song, a call for destruction and rejuvenation. Also, the bonus tracks are great. “Tequila” is almost a parody of the pathos of country music, but the narrator’s voice of self-aware self-pity works, as she ends up in a bar in the cold Ohio winter, perhaps drinking alongside Townes Van Zandt’s Lefty.

I think the reason the Pretenders are pretty much my default band is that they combine just the right elements of American jangle-rock with New Wave/Punk sheen. I’ve always been fascinated with web sites and programs that suggest things you’ll like based on your other preferences, from a site called Firefly based at the MIT Media Lab in the early 90s to the new itunes Genius feature. A few years ago, I discovered that half my music collection can be summed up by the links on The Pretenders’ allmusic guide web page.

This is what it feels like to be me: certain Pretenders songs have exactly the rhythm and lilt of me in a cheerful (“Don’t Get Me Wrong”; “Who’s Who”) or driven (“Mystery Achievement”) mood. Well, and also when I’m happy sometimes Peter’s theme from Peter and the Wolf plays in my head.

Nobody loves me,
Nobody cares,
Nobody picks me peaches and pears.
Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,
Nobody listens and laughs at me jokes.
Nobody helps when I get in a fight,
Nobody does all my homework at night.
Nobody misses me,
Nobody cries,
Nobody thinks I’m a wonderful guy.
So if you ask me who’s my best friend, in a whiz,
I’ll stand up and tell you that Nobody is.
But yesterday night I got quite a scare,
I woke up and Nobody just wasn’t there.
I called out and reached out for Nobody’s hand,
In the darkness where Nobody usually stands.
Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook,
But I found somebody each place that I looked.
I searched till I’m tired, and now with the dawn,
There’s no doubt about it-
Nobody’s gone!

-Shel Silverstein

Sometimes you get lyrics stuck in your head, and sometimes poems that were enormously popular in 4th grade.

In keeping with my current obsession with fusion music, I just saw the video for the Bollywood-rock classic “Aao Twist Kare” on TV and fell in love with it.

“The Americans have a lousy government. So therefore, their economy is lousy even though they have significant oil revenues.”

Oh, wait, did he say “Iranians?”

One of the many perks of my fancy new software company job is free yoga classes, of which I partook for the first time yesterday, feeling a bit nervous and scruffy, as I’m not naturally flexible and hadn’t tried to do yoga in years.

Then the instructor pulled out a camera. She said she’d told everyone before that she’d be photographing the class that day, but for some reason the person who talked me into attending did not pass that information along. I groaned.

Said the instructor in her very best, soothing, yoga-teacher tones: “Now remember…” I took a deep cleansing breath and tried to calm down. Then she continued, “This camera has a delete button.”

I lay down on the mat and laughed for about five minutes. It probably aligned all of my chakras or whatever. Hyena pose. I don’t know.

It turned out that I could do some of the poses. I remembered what I learned years ago. (Thanks, Fred!) And other times I fell over repeatedly, and that was fine too. This camera has a delete button.

I felt great all day today.

My coworker recently brought in a dark chocolate pound cake that was so good it was ridiculous. I’ve had chocolate pound cake before, but none that was as chocolately and delectable as this one.

She got the recipe from Cream Puffs in Venice, although she said that when she makes it again she might use a different glaze. I thought the glaze was delicious, too, although I think it probably wasn’t originally meant as a pound cake glaze.

Anyway, now I have the recipe for an amazing cake, and a link to a good baking blog I’d never read before (which I hope doesn’t mind that I borrowed this picture).

Here are a few photos from my recent family trip to the mountains in Highland County, Virginia. Click the pictures to make them bigger.

Sunbeam on Echo Mountain

Afield

Deer in the Woods

Mountain Stream

Not for all the tea in China
Not if I could sing like a bird
Not for all North Carolina
Not for all my little words

In honor of the Beijing Olympics, I’ve been listening to Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble.

Thoughts on the opening ceremonies: soooo many people! Though that, of course, does represent China well. I did miss some of the wit of the Sydney opening ceremonies, which I loved.

Mostly I’m just looking forward to watching lots of swimming.

This is not my joke, my era, or my actual feeling, but somehow, thematically, I feel the need to say this here: Wong sucks.

more cat pictures

These LOLmurz r helpin me simultaneously shout out to George, Hari, and the year 1997.

Trust me, there are 7 or so people in the world who know exactly why I had to post this.