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Sunday, January 18, 2004 ( 9:08 PM ) Girl Detective I am reborn As a live music enthusiast, that is. I went to my first live show in ages on Friday. When a friend called to remind me that the Old '97s were playing, we both hemmed and hawed. Should we go? Wracked with ambivalence, we finally decided yes. Here were the signs that this was no normal show. We liked the opening band. I didn't look at my watch. Then when the 97s played, they said this was the first time in 2 and a half years that they'd played together outside of Texas. They warned that they'd be playing a few new songs for a new record they have yet to record. The first one they played was not just good, it was terrific. When does that ever happen? My friend had cannily positioned us so that we had good vantage points, breathing room and were not deafened. The bands started on time and it was an early show, so we weren't on our feet for hours and hours. Yes, it was smoky, but I didn't mind much. I don't know if I just needed a few years break from live music, or if I just saw a number of bad shows that put me off. I also don't know if this means I'll start seeing a lot of shows again--not so easy with a 5-month-old baby. But it was a great show by a band that's good live, so perhaps my live music seeing days aren't quite over yet. | Thursday, January 15, 2004 ( 4:33 PM ) Girl Detective Mmm, mmm, gray I love good food. Friends have even noted that I am obsessed with food. I have spent far much time in my life planning, preparing and cleaning up after meals, especially since they're only for me and my husband. I try to eat mostly organic foods and few packaged foodstuffs. With a new baby, this expense of time seems even more extravagant, especially since almost all falls to my husband, who has gotten pretty sick of cooking and cleaning. Last week, I said jokingly that we should buy some Campbell's soup and do some of those soup recipes. He didn't laugh, and I thought, why not? It'll give us more time to spend with the baby, and for ourselves. We've made two recipes, a chicken and rice bake and a cheesy tuna casserole. I tried to have an open mind, but I'm failing. These things are pretty gross. They're bland in spite of astronomical sodium, they're gluey, they're goopy and you know what else? They're gray. How can I be a food snob if I'm eating this? | Sunday, January 11, 2004 ( 8:53 PM ) Girl Detective Products that make me go "hmmm" And yet, I buy them anyway. I am such a sucker for marketing. Saw the commercial for the new "less intense" flavor of Listerine, Natural Citrus. Picked it up on sale at Target since we'd just run out of blue Listerine. Did not really think about how bizarre a product it was until I tried it. Citrus mouth wash? OK, what flavor do you absolutely never want to put in your mouth after you've brushed your teeth? You know, like when you forget in the morning and have toothpaste taste still in your mouth and take that swallow of orange juice and screw up your mouth and go "Ew!" That would be citrus. Yet somehow, citrus Listerine manages not to have the same effect. Perhaps because even though it says "natural" right there on the label, there's nothing at all natural about the flavor. It tastes like Tang mixed with grain alcohol, and gave me flashbacks to Crystal Light shenanigans in college. (Why was it always Crystal Light? Did we like it, or did someone actually believe that we were better off with its reduced calories over other powdered beverages like Kool Aid or Tang?) Also, it looks orange in the bottle, but comes out of the mouth pink. The advertising is right; it is less intense. Bizarre and unsettling, but less intense. | |
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