I woke up this morning feeling like utter crap, so I called in sick and stayed home. This is the first sick day I've taken in almost two years, and I still felt a little guilty about it when I was leaving the messages saying I wouldn't be in. I left my home number with the people I called and told them to call if they needed anything. I never heard from anyone so I'm assuming all is well. I do hope the rest of my week isn't ridiculous since I now have to squeeze five days of work into four days of time.

What are your top 25 most played songs? 
Submitted by Cooxie.  

Since my Zen only shows the top 20 songs, here they are:

1. Tie Your Mother Down - Queen
2. Laid to Rest - Lamb of God
3. NWO - Ministry
4. Roots Bloody Roots  - Sepultura
5. Thunder Kiss '65 - White Zombie
6. Supernaut - Ministry
7. Blue Orchid - The White Stripes
8. BYOB - System of a Down
9. Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
10. Lunchbox - Marilyn Manson
11. Brave New World - Motorhead
12. Creeping Death - Metallica
13. Reload - Ministry
14. Supercruel - Monster Magnet
15. What About Us - Ministry
16. Powertrip - Monster Magnet
17. Shut Your Mouth - Motorhead
18. The Denial Twist - The White Stripes
19. The Right Stuff - Monster Magnet
20. Heads Explode - Monster Magnet

I guess I really do like it loud. Especially on the subway on my way home from work, which is where I do most of my listening.

I made some soap for the first time in a few months today. The first batch turned out okay, but unfortunately the soapbase I bought doesn't reheat well after it's been melted once and it warped one of my favourite molds when I poured it in. It's a real bummer since I really liked the mold, and now it's wrecked. I can replace it, but that's money I really didn't want to spend.

I really want to get into making soap regularly again, but since I have four pounds of base I don't like, and I want all sorts of new fragrances, I need to spend some money to perk up my soaps. Of course, I only want to spend money when I don't have any to spend. I need to start buying Christmas presents and since I don't think I'm giving soap to anyone this year, soapmaking supplies shouldn't be high on the spending priority list.

My inner child is screaming "But I waaaaannnt it!" in my head. That child makes me nuts sometimes.

Give us artsy fartsy. 
Submitted by Meg.

Today's occurrence of Friday the 13th wasn't too bad. Things didn't go snakey at work, which tends to happen on Fridays no matter what the date is. Once people realize that they are going to be away from the office for two days, they realize they must! get! that! thing! done! right! now! so it can be ready for first thing on Monday morning when nobody has time to look at it cuz they have all sorts of other stuff to do. Don't rush guys - people will give your work more thought on Tuesday once the initial barrage has passed.

Friday the 13th makes me think of the concept "transparent, yet plausible". I coined this phrase back in highschool after telling a friend that I wished the guy I liked (and hardly knew so had no real reason to talk to him) a happy Friday the 13th. She thought I was being ridiculous, but I said that it was transparent, yet plausible, meaning that it was a legitimate wish of goodwill, but the reason behind that wish was not necessarily to spread goodwill but to show this guy that I was a fun, creative, wacky kind of girl and he should get to know me better.

That didn't work, but the phrase and concept stay with me. I still like to use it, just not to pick up boys who wouldn't know transparent, yet plausible if it punched 'em in the head.

What are some of your favorite, forgotten albums that have stood the test of time?
Submitted by PeterGibbons.

I had trouble with this one cuz I haven't been listening to a lot of new music beyond what's on the radio. So I don't necessarily forget my favourite albums cuz I listen to most of them regularly.

I suppose that's one of the pleasures (!!!) of becoming an adult - not being able to obsessively track new bands and get to know their material intimately by reading the liner notes while actively listening to every song.

Anyway, here are a couple of albums I haven't listened to in awhile, but I really like.

Everything I Long For - hayden (1995)
One of the few albums that I bought in high school that I can listen to in full and not feel like I've stepped back in time in a "this music is so dated" kind of way. If you get the chance to see him live, go - his live shows are fabulous.

Antipop - Primus (1999)
I had just started working full time when this album came out. Listening to this album on the train to and from work reminded me that I was not a corporate drone even though I was dressing for the office, getting up early and becoming a respectable member of society.

Crush - Doughboys (1993)
I bought this in front of a boy I liked to make him think I was cooler than my softer-music loving friends. Fortunately, I had heard the singles from the album first and liked them, so I wasn't buying it just so the guy would like me. The boy and I never worked out, but I've kept the CD all this time.

The last six years of my writing on the web can be found here. This is where I've put all my old Blogger posts from my old domains. geeksuperstar.org and searchingforhappy.net.

searchingforhappy.net now forwards to this site, so if you came from there, please update your bookmarks. (who am I kidding - no one has bookmarked my site!)

Show us the view outside your window.
Submitted by Cat.

What's the best way to spend a rainy day?
Submitted by Vee.

As with almost everything in life, it depends. I love curling up with a good book, but if it's been raining all day, I'm going to finish that book and need something else to do.

Mindless housework can be good as finishing it leads to a sense of accomplishment and earning the right to curl up with with another book. (I was also one of those children who was told to eat the food they didn't like first so you could save your favourite for the end.)

The right movie can also be extra nice on a rainy day, especially when you have someone nice to share it with, and a blanket to cuddle under.

If it's raining on a cold day, doing laundry in the dryer can make your house feel homey, and a little warmer. The thump and whir of the clothes can be a very soothing counterpoint to the rain.

If there are many people around during this rainy day, board games can be oodles of fun.

If none of these things are appealing, there is always the good ol' standby - taking a nap!

If switching to Vox goes well, this could be a huge change in my online presence (online presence! way to sound like an internet rockstar instead of a dork with a website!). I've had a website in some shape or form since 1999. I've had my own domain and hosting since 2000, so I have always had control of my own website, although I've used Blogger to maintain my blog.

So moving to an externally hosted site is really different for me. And a little scary - I'm not sure if I want to give up complete control. However, as I continue to think about it, switching to a free blog host makes more sense. I don't create as much content as I would like, so paying for hosting my own domain seems silly sometimes. Since my web design skills have gone down the toilet due to lack of use, it's not like I need for the hosting for doing creative things design-wise. It's nice to be able to click a few times and have something nice to look at (and the layouts here are quite spiffy). That way, I can concentrate on creating interesting content. Interesting of course, being in the mind of the beholder.

I really like the sense of community here. And that there are things like "Question of the Day" and "Vox Hunt" that can give you a starting point for a good post when you are sick of posting things like "too busy at work", "house is a mess" and other phrases that lead to uninteresting content.

My only major problem is that I don't know what to do with the last six years of archives from my previous sites. I don't want to pay to host them somewhere if they are only up for posterity, and it doesn't look like I can export 'em here. A lot of the content is drivel, but there are some interesting things in there, and it does show some progression in my life. hmm...I wonder if republishing to a new blogspot account and just letting it sit there would be a good idea. Then I could link to that site from here and if someone wanted to look at the old stuff, they could. I can't imagine that many people would really want to look at posts I made six years ago, but taking it down makes me feel like I am ashamed of it, which I am not.