I’ve been listening to a lot of different (for me) music lately—thanks to Pandora, which does tend to repeat itself after hours of playback—but after I’ve had enough of these guys I like to return to my own stuff in iTunes. Nothing like an ear vacation to make those same tired albums sound new again.

So anyway, yesterday, I noticed something about two of my most favorite messy-pretty songs:

“Stars” by The Clean

and

“Rising of the Sun” by The Rabble

The names of the bands and the titles of those songs are total opposites. Weird, huh. Also weird: The Clean are from New Zealand, as well as another band called The Rabble, but not this Rabble, who came from Canada in the ’60s.

I thought it was interesting! But then I’m pretty boring.

I know this will probably sound like one of those “you never needed it ’til they said you did” scam deals (Latisse, douching with Lysol), but ever since I started lotioning my armpits, I’ve been 200% more comfortable with myself! And I don’t mean stupid moisturizing deodorant; I mean regular body lotion. I’m less itchy, and shaving’s easier.

Does anybody else do this? It’s decadent.

I’ve posted about ‘em before already, so here’s another online game I’ve been having fun with. It’s a slower-paced arcade-y thing called Fire Boy and Water Girl, and there are two characters that can either be moved simultaneously on different keys by two people, or one at a time by one lonely person whose husband doesn’t want to play with her. The players have to work together to collect diamonds while facing certain obstacles like levers and boulders and stuff (nothing too crazy). The most important rule is that fire and water can’t cross paths—yet for a while, I thought the characters themselves couldn’t touch each other, either, but then they did touch and nothing happened. So that makes it a little easier. Check it ouuut.

Here’s what it’s like nearly every day with this guy:

Chris is doing the dishes after we’ve gone two days without doing them. “I’m not doing them all,” he says, and I say that’s okay, I’ll do some. A few minutes later, though, he’s still washing and the sink is nearly empty. “Stop it!” I exclaim, and he says, “I’m not doing them all.” I can tell he’s being cute, so I leave him to finish the dishes. He finishes, the sink is sparkling, and I tell him thank you. Then I go to make something to eat, and I see a single spoon in the sink. He sees me see the spoon and he says, “Told you.”

Orange (Not red.)
Red
Yellow
Green

Can you guess what this is?

August 15th is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day, and so I celebrated by baking lemon bars. (Looks like a bubbly cheesy dish, though, doesn’t it? That’d be the eggs.*) I’ve never baked a citrus anything before, but I do love key lime and lemon meringue pies. I’d actually been planning on the bars for about a week previous to my knowledge of the holiday, and isn’t that just perfect timing?

Plus they’re totally delicious.

The recipe I used is from Smitten Kitchen (the version with less filling since the pan I used was super shallow), omitting the confectioner’s sugar. A dusting of powdery white sugar would help these to look more pretty and dessert-y, but I just want all lemon all the time.

* Speaking of eggs, have a look at these.

For a while I used to think “OH:” on Twitter meant “other half,” as in, like, a quote from somebody’s boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse. I’ve seen this acronym used on forums before, and so I’d see people preface their Tweets with OH and think, wow, these people date some hilarious weirdos! But no, OH actually means “overheard.”

I love the funny things other people have been overhearing lately. For example, Sarah from Que Sera Sera witnessed a schoolyard argument that quickly escalated into a screaming blowout, and in San Francisco, Maggie from Mighty Girl was overjoyed to overhear a brand-new family trio having fun.

Reading these scenarios reminded me of a time I was on the beach many years ago, sitting on the sand with my mom. The sun was setting, people were drinking, and then, at last, a certain couple walked by that we couldn’t help noticing: she, with her gigantic floppy hat, and he, with his very small and white (and wet) swim briefs. He himself was very small, while his lady companion was much larger. As they passed, we heard them chattering excitedly to each other. Nearly naked though he was, the man had no qualms about his appearance, and neither did the woman about hers—or his, except for one small thing. The man suddenly stumbled over the sand, leaving the woman a few paces behind him. Upon seeing his backside, she noticed (just as my mom and I had) that the tag of his swimming briefs was sticking out. She giggled and tucked it back in, patting his butt gently after she did so.

It wasn’t exactly an “OH:” moment, but certain silly memories of other people make me so happy.

It’s called Bloxorz. Using your arrow keys, you have to manipulate the rectangular block so that it fits through a square-shaped hole. It’s pretty fun, and there are a few other elements that make it stay interesting, like collapsible bridges and orange tiles that can’t hold the block when it’s standing on end.

It kinda reminds me of that scene in Resident Evil: Extinction where the one zombie that’s becoming tame is playing with childhood games and remembering how to use a camera. He’s putting shapes into one of those hollow blocks with holes and looking kinda happy about it, but then he can’t get one of the shapes into an improper hole, so he turns back into a wild zombie and kills everybody who’s in the room with him. But this game isn’t that frustrating at all. In fact, I feel more like that zombie when I’m playing a little round of Mahjongg Solitaire.

Here’s a fun game: it’s called Totem Destroyer and it’s a bit like Jenga. You have to remove a certain amount of blocks from funky, bouncy towers without letting the little golden idol fall onto the ground. Chris and I took turns playing, because we are kids who learned how to share. Try it!