three things...

i've been into lately

the music of pizzicato five. although i don't have their entire discography, the few cds i do have make me happy...and even push me to blog! a miraculous group indeed. sure, the majority of the lyrics are in japanese but the beats and grooves are infectious. when you're listening to their music, you constantly hit the repeat button to dissect the numerous layers of melodies and sampling. of course, maybe that's just a testament of my ever present ocd ;)

the music of black sabbath. yep, i've been a fan of ozzyosbourne ever since my neighbor, john, and i would sit up in his room, playing 'war pigs' on his little fisher price turntable...a good 25-30 years ago. although his royal ozzness is past it (as evident in any of his live shows and reality show), you have to admit that the fearful foursome that he fronted (how's that for alliterative...now say that 3x fast;) in the 70's was sheer sludge brilliance. 'Paranoid' and 'Master of Reality' are simply two of the best (old school to be cliché) metal standards. besides, how could you ever pass up picking up these cool covers at the local record store circa 1971?

and if you were on drugs, these two later releases would only enhance the acid trips or dragon chasing experiences...sigh



the third thing is also something old and multi-colored. yes, it's the dreaded rubik's cube. recently, i was going through some old stuff and came upon it, stashed away in an ancient shoe box...along w/ pictures from my first trip to guatemala in 1991 and 50 empty film case canisters that i use for either quarters (in the car) or faunal/flora specimens (in field). that's a weird time capsule cache...

anyway, i had two cubes in there. an original one that i received for my 11th birthday from the above neighbor who played sabbath...and a knock off that i convinced my mother to buy for me a few months later. talk about beat up!!! the original one i nearly killed in trying to solve it. after who knows how many spins, it's still intact...just extremely difficult to manipulate. and only god knows how many times i dismantled it to reassemble in an easy cheat. eventually, i learned how to solve it within a few minutes...i honestly don't understand how those champs can do it in less than a minute! of course, after not picking one up in more than a decade, i've forgotten how to do it! i still remember how to get all the inside pieces, but i'm a couple turns wrong with the corners. argh...does anybody have a solution book? i'm just too old and impatient now to re-figure it out.

my head hurts...