On the good, the bad, and the Friday Random Ten

Okay, so I'm so slack about getting this stuff done (Fridays are a bizarrely busy day for me, and I feel it should be otherwise. There is no easing into the weekend for me; it's just charging along at blistering speeds and then slamming into a brick wall. Hello to the relaxation), and my slackitude never holds any consequences. I love that. I should do it more. I wonder what other areas of my life allow for consequence-free slackitude?

Anyway.

I'm not going to try to burden you with a TGTBATFRT-times-three, but I'll at least double up as my way of saying, "Sorry, I'm a slacker. Not much I can do about it. Except for, y'know, not slacking. Which I'm not going to do."

What's good (for the, crap, three-week period ending 3/21):

- The Talented Mr. Ripley. How have I not seen this excellent, disturbing Matt Damon movie already?
- the moment at which an overlong and boring meeting is finished
- Rojo
- chai
- having someone at home when you get there. I've got a friend crashing with me for a few days, and I'll tell you, it's kind of nice coming home at the end of a brutally tough day and having someone there to say, "Wow, you look stressed out. Why don't you sit down and tell me about it while I grab you a Pepsi?" I guess that's part of the appeal of having a dog, although those ring-tabs are tough to navigate for critters lacking opposable thumbs.
- this guy.
- going to an art exhibit and actually being able to make some kind of intelligent commentary on the art
- Brett Favre
- Leona Lewis. I wish I'd said something when I discovered her ages ago, because now that she's going to be huge in the US, no one will believe me that I was fan before it was cool.
- peanut butter

What's bad:

- Eliot Spitzer. As Doug so rightly points out, the whores come after work. Work first, then whores. Good that he resigned.
- Sister... you-know-what-ers*. If you're an idiot and want to out yourself for it, feel free, but don't go projecting on the rest of us who, arguably, aren't. If you're an idiot and you want to try and get in good with the boys' club by slagging off the entire rest of your gender, then... you-know-what* you.
- Kashi's sweet-and-sour chicken microwave dinners. Just yuck.
- the fifth anniversary of our invasion of Iraq. Are they better off because of it? Arguably. Would they be still better off if we had actually planned ahead instead of bombing the crap out of them and crossing our fingers in hopes that it would all work out? Probably. At the very least, there'd be more of 'em, and they'd probably be less ticked off at us. Whether or not our continued presence would help or hurt peace efforts in the region, I think it's safe to say that we've cocked this thing up from the very beginning, and the fact that so many of the folks in charge of it then are still running it now is a mystery to me.

The Ten Twenty:

1. Dave Brubeck, "Heigh-Ho"
2. Lauryn Hill, "When It Hurts So Bad"
3. Evanescence, "Lies"
4. Lauryn Hill, "Ex-Factor"
5. Ella Fitzgerald, "Mack the Knife"
6. Serge Gainsbourg, "Joanna"
7. Sade, "Pearls"
8. Marilyn Horne, "Pineapple Rag"
9. Jewel, "Intuition"
10. Michael Bublé, "La Vie en Rose"
11. Sarah Vaughan, "Polka Dots and Moonbeams"
12. Nickel Creek, "Sweet Afton"
13. Howie Day, "Sorry So Sorry"
14. Cyndi Lauper, "I Drove All Night"
15. A Tribe Called Quest, "God Lives Through"
16. Elvis, "Are You Lonesome Tonight"
17. Arlington Priest, "Why Need Not Love"
18. Mos Def, "Close Edge"
19. Eminem, "Lose Yourself"
20. Kay Starr, "More Than You Know"

Unusually jazz-heavy. I'm always suspicious of the randomness of my shuffle feature; I think it gets into moods sometimes. Anyway, that's my ten-times-two; yours goes in comments. What's good for you this week two three weeks?

Incidentally, for anyone who happens to be traveling this weekend--Travel safe, have fun when you get there, don't forget to write. Best of luck with everything. Do not forget to keep in touch; I want to hear all the details.

*End of Lent in T minus two days