(Discussing why kosher laws exist)
Dad: You know, I'm pretty sure the people who wrote the Torah just assumed they were rules from God because they'd been passed down orally for so long.
Me: You mean like herpes?
Evan: (starts spewing out his half-chewed food) Orally....like herpes....
Me: (raises hand) What up, can I get me an air five?
Dad and Evan: (air five)

1. Shoot the Lights Out - The Watson Twins
   If you like any of the stuff Jenny Lewis did with the Watson Twins (or, heck, without them), check this shit out. This is way more serious than the stuff they did with Jenny (all of her stuff, even her depressing stuff, has this sort of peppiness to it - there is none of that here), but it's amazing. If you like Hem, Over the Rhine, Eastmountainsouth, or music, you should download this song. For serious, yo.
   
2. Songs of National Freedom (Daytrotter Sessions) - Richard Swift
   I actually had no idea this wasn't the original version of this song until I was stalking Mark Ronson's celebrity playlist on iTunes (OH MARK RONSON PLEASE DO ME) and I got all freakishly excited to see he had it, and then I listened to it and it was...kinda different. The real version is a lot more processed, which I'm definitely not a fan of. This version is like pure, simple, recorded sunshine and joy. No additives required.
   
3. Of the Sea - AA Bondy
   I have this requirement that if a song is primarily about the ocean and is not "Somewhere Beyond The Sea", it's required to be all mysterious and enigmatic and gorgeous and slightly melancholy. This fits the bill. Good job, AA Bondy, you pass! A+.
   
4. A Postcard to Nina - Jens Lekman
   If a quirky upbeat song about a Swedish man refusing to be the fake boyfriend of a German lesbian so her father doesn't find out she's got a girlfriend is wrong, do you really want to be right?
   
5. Silver Lining - Rilo Kiley
   Look, if you haven't discovered by now that anything Jenny Lewis touches is pure musical magic, you don't deserve this song. It's another kinda-not-really country, kinda-not-really soul-inspired, completely-totally awesome indie-pop serving of wonder. Deeeelicious.
   
6. Chasing Pavements - Adele
   I am ashamed to say I actually hated this song when I first heard it in passing on VH1, but I have since learned the error of my ways, because this song is fucking incredable. It's like early Joss Stone (pre-pop, not that I'm saying her pop stuff is bad because, uh, it's totally not) minus the funk, plus blues, multiplied by epic soul. In short, it's another funky pop wonder-song that England has delivered on a pretty silver platter of awesome. I don't know how they manage to make totally way better music than we here in the states do, but I have a theory it's inversely proportional to their cuisine. This theory kind of doesn't work when concerning France, but, uh, what theory does?

current mood: awake

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• Evan got his wisdom teeth out on Friday. Following the time-honored order that my siblings and I have re: medical rites of passage, Evan had by far the easiest time of it. (See also: how severely each of us got chicken pox. Evan had it for like three days and, like, ten itchy bumps. Robin had it worst - not because she was the itchiest, I was just as bad as her, but because she got way sicker than me. I was pretty healthy, just...itchy.) Anyways, Robin always gets stuff the worst, I get it in the middle - occasionally with some zany twist thrown in - and Evan gets off the easiest.
  
  This should not be confused, however with who makes the hugest fuss. Also in keeping with tradition, Evan was the hugest prima dona about the entire thing. On the first day he was like this close to throwing around his yogurt and screaming. I didn't get like that until, like, four days later when I was still puffy and hadn't eaten anything solid. It's four days later now and Evan's almost all better and up to chewing soft things. I would have given my right arm at the same point after my surgery to be there.
  
  Granted, this is pretty much just keeping in line with Evan and his Evan-ness. When he gets in a snit he is the worst wronged princess on the face of the entire planet, which is unbecoming enough when anyone does it (myself included, though I usually throw small, slightly more reasonable fits more often. Evan stores it up and then draws out his tantrums sometimes up to a week over absolutely nothing), but when a six foot tall 19-year-old manchild does it it's just absolutely ridiculous. Especially when all the whining and toddler-like posturing is to women who are all about a foot shorter than him.
  
• Ella went to the vet and has officially been deemed on the chubby end of the weight spectrum for a dog of her size and relative breed, so she's supposed to be on a diet of no human food except for plate lickings, which of course we're actually following and Joan....isn't. Which is pretty par for course.
  
  Anyways, in honor of Ella's new diet, I have decided that Ben & Jerry's newest ice cream flavor should be called "Chubby Puppy" and it should be a delightful blend of chicken-flavored ice cream with grapes, string beans, and cheesy chunks swirled in with a beefy gravy.
  
  Deeee-licious.
  
• I've been marathoning Gossip Girl lately. It's awful. Like, really supremely awful. In fact, it's so awful it's TOTALLY WONDERFUL. It's like, some mornings you wake up and go "I want to watch a show that requires zero brain cells and/or emotional investment, and I want it to be pretty." AND THAT IS WHEN YOU WATCH GOSSIP GIRL. God. It's really awful. And I love every minute of it's shallow ridiculousness. Also, did I mention it's pretty? It's pretty.
  
  Also, I have an inexplicable soft spot for Jenny. Apparently this makes me super-weird? Explain this to me, my babies, because as much as she's sort of stupid, I sort of love her anyways.
  
  Non-surprisingly, I'm already making a soundtrack for the first season. I want to put Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money Mo Problems" on it, but, uh, yeah. I think the fact that I sat at my computer with my iTunes open for a solid minute cackling to myself over this is proof that I do, in fact, have the worst sense of humor on the planet. Self, this is why you can't have pretty things.
  
• More people need to reply to my last meme. C'mon, folks.
  
• It used to drive me NUTS whenever I'd go to my last.fm after playing Schuyler Fisk because her picture looked so familiar but I had no idea WHY, until I learned that she was in an episode of Law & Order SVU. Ahhh, it's so nice to scratch that mental itch, finally.
  
• This weekend I got shorts at H&M (which fit my ass AND waist AND aren't too long! THIS IS AMAZING.) and a bra at Aerie. I would like to state for the record that Aerie is by far the best store I have ever been in in regards to shopping for underwear. They're extremely helpful, extremely knowledgeable, they're willing to totally go the extra mile for you, their stuff isn't too expensive, it's all cotton, and they have every weird size imaginable, including 32C. And they had 32C in every single style. None of this "Oh, well, we have it, but only in puke green because only freaks of nature are 32Cs." No. Every style. And when they were out of the color I wanted they said they'd ship it to my house for free. GOD I LOVE THEM. Also, my new bras. One of them is, as I mentioned, still in the mail, but I'll take pictures when it comes. (That's what she said.)
  
• I had a dream last night that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert taught third grade at my old elementary school and my job was to be their TA so they could both teach and broadcast at the same time. And the kids in their classes were AWESOME and I got to help them write material and be on air sometimes and it basically was the greatest thing to ever exist ever. And then I woke up. It sucked.
  
  I miss being a TA so hard. I miss teaching, I miss correcting papers, and most of all I miss the kids. I miss helping them, I miss them lighting up every time I came in the room (they really did. N'awww, freshman), I miss mentoring, I miss them thinking I was so cool just because I cared, I miss the way they talked, I miss the stupid stories they'd tell me, I just miss everything. Sometimes I wonder if I should be a teacher, but I think if I was an actual teacher a) the kids wouldn't like me that much, or wouldn't be that open with me, because I was in charge of their grades, b) I'd have to plan curriculum and go to stupid-assed meetings and do the stupid-assed detaily things that I got to miss out on because I wasn't really a teacher and c) I wouldn't always get to work with amazing kids. I don't know. Today, at least, it feels like it might be worth it anyways.
  
  Does anyone get this? I'm 99% sure that no one I know or can talk to right now has teaching experience or if they do have sort of TAing experience got as into it (I went so above and beyond what I was supposed to do it was actually a little pathetic) or enjoyed it even a fraction as much as I did. And all this missing and shit is just making me really, really, really cranky.

current mood: cranky

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition is pleased to announce the release of its 2008 GENIUS Survey in partnership with Ernst & Young.  GenderPAC works to ensure that classrooms, communities and workplaces are safe for everyone to learn, grow and succeed.

The Gender Equality National Index for Universities & Schools (GENIUS), GenderPAC’s most recent effort to end discrimination and promote awareness, encourages colleges and universities to recognize the benefits of a GenderSAFE^tm campus - supportive equitable and protective for all students. Choosing to participate in GENUIS sends a strong public statement that bullying or discriminating based on the race, sex or gender of a student, faculty, or staff member is not tolerated at your institution

Fill out the survey at:  www.gpac.org/GENIUS2008survey, and make sure that we have data for as many schools as possible. Your voice will help us continue to work towards a safe and welcoming environment for every student.

While we greatly appreciate the interest taken in GENIUS by students, staff and faculty at academic institutions outside of the United States, at this time GENIUS is only able to track schools based in the United States.