Now, let me turn that on its head.

I've been listening to a lot of classic Motown lately. I have no explanation for why that's what I've wanted to hear lately.

But one of the albums I've been digging through lately is Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. I love the title, and I loved his explanation for it—look it up sometime.I think most everyone probably likes the most well-known track, "Isn't She Lovely." But I have a particular affection for the song "As"—its gospel-influenced give and take, its cheerful hyperbole.

It's a good song when you're thinking about your spouse on the day before Valentine's Day…

"Did you know that true love asks for nothing
Her acceptance is the way we pay
Did you know that life has given love a guarantee
To last through forever and another day

Just as time knew to move on since the beginning
And the seasons know exactly when to change
Just as kindness knows no shame

Anyone who has spent more than ten minutes around me in the past six months has heard my phrase, "a nasty thing for…"

It can mean many things. Generally I use it to refer to something that I really like, past the point of reason or comprehension.

As in: "I've got this nasty thing for…"Common endings to that sentence are:

• brunettes (don't ask me why; I've always favored them. maybe I just don't want anything that could be construed as competition to my strawberry blondeness?)
• geekboys (ever since I encountered one at age fifteen they've made my toes curl)
• Jonatha Brooke (because she writes killer lyrics)
• John Cusack (even I can't explain this one…)

There's something to be said for taking time away from work. Yes, there IS something to be said, but I'm not sure what it is, and even if I was, I wouldn't be the person to say it.

This from the person who spent all day Saturday hammering on a website to make it work. It's mostly there. geek-chick.net has been waiting for a few months to see the light of day, and I think I've finally gotten tired of waiting. When I got the offer to host it for free at my ISP, I decided to take advantage of that. The DNS for geek-chick.net hasn't propagated yet, so everything's still pointed at the old site (the one that starts off with, "Houston, we have finals"). At some random point in time, differing for each ISP, everything will point to the new site (which already has posts from friends on it). Then I will be much happier—because I will finally be able to test the silly guestbook script.

I prefer to write my life along the lines of a soundtrack, using music both to express emotion and evoke past memories. Movie directors intrinsically know what I have just begun to understand: that a piece of music can both stand alone and evoke memories of previous listens. I've often joked that I could probably put together a soundtrack of my life, but it would have meaning to no one else but me.

• Live's "Lightning Crashes"—my freshman year of college.
• Arrested Development's "Tennessee"—in high school, watching a talented classmate paint.
• Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"—my grandfather.
• Blues Traveler's "Run-Around"—watching the Razorbacks lose the NCAA men's basketball championship.
• Jonatha Brooke's "Full-Fledged Strangers"—getting in the car to make the seven-hour drive home from seeing Jeff.

I was humming this song this morning. Couldn't possibly have anything to do with Sunday's trip:

up on the airplane
nearer my god to thee
i start making a deal
inspired by gravity
   - indigo girls

I was daydreaming while sitting, stopped, at a red light during my lunch break, looking into the vast expanse of sky. I was enjoying the only slightly hazy blue of the sky. From my memory, the D.C. area is a bit smoggy.

The song in my head today:

Seven days and not a return / Seven lives and not a thing learned
Take a lover on the highway / Do you know…

'Cause I am sleeping on a time bomb / And I am waiting for the light to come
You and I could get away now / Do you know…

'Cause I don't know how / I don't know where
We are… We are…
And I don't know why / I don't know if
We are… We are…
[ Vertical Horizon ]