It's come time to start writing about my (lack of) adventures since I haven't been keeping in regular contact with a lot of friends.  My friends only deserve the best, and since you're probably just a voyeuristic creep I met at a party once, you get the internet equivalent of a cube steak served cold.

I'd like to take a minute now to discuss a few things that I've been at least momentarily obsessed with the past few months.

Tea: Who knew?  It's great!  It tastes good, it can be good for you, and it comes in a wide variety of colors, flavors, and caffeine levels.  It's like Bagel Bites- you can have it any time of day or night.  I especially like earl grey and green tea infused with lemon.

Loudon Wainwright III: This carries over from an ongoing obsession since last year.  I started listening to "Prince Hal's Dirge" a lot, which is the angriest song I've ever heard by him, which is not to mirror the waning anger inside me, but which is to signify that Loudon is some kind of minor god, full of spite and revenge.  Also, Vetiver covered "The Swimming Song" on his last album and now they play it on the radio here.  This leads me to my next minor obsession...

Swimming in the ocean:  When I was a kid, I hated swimming in the ocean.  I couldn't do it for very long without getting the water in my eyes and mouth, and it was much akin to when Johnson & Johnson's baby shampoo got in my eyes.  I got really used to the salt water though, and it actually doesn't hurt at all (except that the water all gets up my nose and makes it run).  I also never really liked swimming much because I didn't see the point- you stand around in the water, maybe splash around, and that's about it.  The only way it was fun was when you added an activity, like going down a water slide or playing Marco Polo.  Or...body surfing!  You wait for a big wave to come, then start swimming with it, and wham!! you end up 15 paces closer to shore in no time!

Flight of the Conchords:  Ok, so my parents have On Demand, and I watched one episode of it last summer with my cousin, RP, and some stoned kid, leftover from a party that my sister and cousin had, whom I saw hanging out in the Dairy Queen parking lot later that evening when I was getting ice cream with my grandma.  Awesome.  Anyway, the episode wasn't all that funny.  It was the first episode, you know, where Jemaine wants to hook up with Sally, even though Bret had recently dated her.  That part was kind of funny, but I didn't like the "Year 2000" song, so I didn't check it out any further.  But now that I have, man am I glad I did!  Cameos from Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry, Dimitri Martin, and Daryl Hall!  Transistion time...

Hall & Oates:  If you know me well, or have ever been on a road trip with me, you'll know that I have a spot in my heart for Hall & Oates that takes up both ventricles.  This year marks my obsession with the back half of the Atlantic catalogue, including Side 2 of Abandoned Luncheonette and War Babies.  It gets kind of dark and pleading in there somewhere.  It comes after that soft Philly folk but before their really commercial stuff, and well before Lyme's Disease came into the picture.

Join me for my next installment, when I'll discuss clean jokes, ABBA, Scrabble, cooking, and the dianetics sign on Pitt St.