My parents' 40th wedding anniversary is coming up and I have NO idea what to get them. They're driving up to Michigan with my Grandma that weekend, so they can visit her sister and the rest of my mom's family. I was thinking about just giving them money for gas and whatever but that's not really thoughtful. I honestly can't think of anything they actually need and if I ask them what they want, I won't get any kind of useful response. I was thinking about gift cards for restaurants, maybe.

What the hell do you get people who've been married for 40 years?

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Scotch was sorting the vinyl this weekend and came across a killer compilation that I bought a while back. We put it on, and this sweet gem got lodged in my head, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I dare you to listen to this and not be feelin' a whole lot better than before!

01 - Bam Bam

Byron Lee And The Dragonaires

I'm pretty sure it's a Toots and the Maytals song, though, and the mp3 is just mislabeled. It could have been covered by Byron Lee, as he is awesome, although most of The Dragonaires stuff is sort of new wave synth ska. Thinking about Byron Lee, though, reminded me of this song:

Jamaica Ska

Byron Lee

And this awesome cover by Fishbone, with Annette Funicello on lead vocals, as performed in the CLASSIC film, Back to the Beach:

Jamaica Ska

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One month from today, I'll be in the most beautiful location of the most beautiful place, eye to eye with the most beautiful girl. We'll vow (in two languages even) to stand by each others' sides for the rest of our lives, which is pretty fucking awesome. Some people are freaked out by such a commitment, but I've never been more sure of anything in my life. As cliche as it sounds, Miss Scotch is truly my best friend and my favorite person to be with. I miss her when we're apart, and every time I see her or hear her voice I'm like a puppy dog whose owner just came home from work. Marrying her is like signing up for free massages, on rollercoasters, with chocolate fondue between each ride, for the rest of my life. I'm ON FUCKING BOARD.

Stick by Me

John Holt

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Have you ever broken a bone? If not, what's the worst injury you've sustained?

No broken bones but plenty of stitches. That said, I'm trying to think of the worst injury I've had. Hmm...

I was thrown off my horse when I was in Jr. High. Knocked unconscience and had a wicked headache for a few days. Most likely had a concussion but apparently my family was too busy to take me in and have it checked. I think I've recovered, regardless.

In high school, I was kicked square on the kneecap by an angry cow. Dropped me on my back in a flash, screaming and writhing in the middle of the barn aisle. An aisle filled with cows trying to get to their food, only I was in their way. My brain kept screaming "Get up! You are going to get stepped on the head!" but my body was screaming "OWOWOWOWOWOW!"

DadH grabbed my by the shoulders and dragged me to safety. Whew! He helped me hobble to the house and MomH decided to take me to the hospital for X-Rays. I was shocked. Really? "You don't mess around with your knees." Oh. Okay. Nothing more than a hyper-extended joint. I had an immobilizer splint thingie and was on crutches for a few weeks.

After that, some big spills running hurdles in HS track and a major spill on my roller blades. Those were mostly loss-of-flesh injuries.

I don't think scorpion stings count as injuries, per se, but they do hurt like effing hell.

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I just got the final official approval to take my course! I'm a student again! A student who just happens to also have a full-time job! Hey, wait, that last part wasn't so exciting...

I'm a happy girl.

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Okay so I stole this from Peg of Tilling's vox, but hey, at least I warned her I was going to do it. She linked to her new favourite baking blog (P of T makes some awesome cakes and shtuff, plus she has cute kitties), Cakewrecks. Oh man, you just have to go visit the site. So far I've made it through (barely, since my eyes are clouded in laughter tears now) one page and can't wait to look at the rest. And don't forget to follow the link from this post to Great White Snark, and then follow some of their links, too. Cakewrecks appears to be a new site, but damn, I hope it gets updated and kept around for a good long while.

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I need to add two more items to my to-do list for the week:

6. Practice Spanish - we learned numbers last night! I need to work up a cheat sheet to help me out.

7. Practice sax - I have my annual summer solo coming up at church in a few weeks. At least I think it's in a few weeks. It could be this Sunday. I had better check. O_O

I have the music and doesn't look to have too many thick concentrations of little black dots. That's how I can tell at quick glance how challenging a piece of music will be.

Sax Cat

I rode the Bike of Death this morning to get used to it again. Good Buddy Dave gave it a tune-up and said while it was 'old school', it was high-end in its day. I told him it won a lot of races, then I bought it and now it's a washed-up has been.

He also said one of the shifter thingies was bent and asked if I had ever fallen over while on it. "Yes. Multiple times."

Anyway, it's a blast to ride. Light and fast. (Unlike me - har!) Getting on and off is always a challenge. So I went across the street to the high school and rode around in the empty parking for half an hour to get reaquainted with it. Good times!

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Share a song that makes you laugh.

The Sultans of Ping FC want to know what you did with their jumper?

Where's Me Jumper

Sultans Of Ping FC

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Uncharted Depths

She couldn't be bothered.  She couldn't be bothered to straighten her glistening spine.  The world didn't interest her sufficiently to open her eyes wide and give it her full attention.  Their black depths remained hidden and inaccessible behind gray shores.  Her pink arms, weak and rounded, are barely strong enough to hold a fan torn from an ostrich's wingspan.  Her fatigued, exhausted posture is not the result of a vitamin deficiency, of the A's, B-12's, D's dissolved in a surfeit of cocktails.  It is merely the languid weariness adopted by young society in the early 1920's.  Before the flappers fluttered, before hems tickled ladies' knees, before Art Deco's sonogram was viewed at the Paris Exposition Des Arts Decoratifs in 1925, the 'Lost Generation' staggered out of World War One and made a high art of indifference and cynicism.

Her gown shines like a cold moon and is the color of a fish freshly pulled out of the sea.  It glides effortlessly over her body, baring her rounded shoulders but trailing across the floor: covering it like a nacreous lake.  There is no corset; there are no laces, no buckles, no hooks, no buttons.  They would make it just too complicated...

...and she couldn't be bothered.

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Oh man, you guys have to check out this video over at Sweet Misery's pad.

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