i think i'll start with some notings again: *i do wish i could be in attendance at mr. jay eckard's southern soiree; however, being landlocked as i am with shining monetary shackles, i can only encourage others to go and take a nice fruit salad in my honor. preferably the delightfully WT ambrosia type of fruit salad. i think jay might like that. *someone mentioned sigur ros: this band, indeed, is like nothing else. what i can tell you (as an avid avid fan): jonsi, the gay and half-blind frontman, plays his guitar with a cello bow (thus producing the characteristic ambiance). their first album (well, the first released in america; the actual first was von, but now very hard to get) was largely in icelandic, with the exception of track 8, olsen olsen, which is in hopelandic, the band's made-up language. apparently the language consists of whatever jonsi mumbled in practice; not actually words, but sounds. whatever. the new album, (), is all in hopelandic. all that aside, though, the music is incredible. the first time i listened to agaetis byjurn, i cried. and i was driving at the time, so it was kind of a problem. but yeah. i think it was the very most spiritual musical listening experience i've ever had, and it have one every time i listen. and sigur ros means victory rose. how cool is that? ooo. yeah. spiritually orgasmic. *one last thing. oft bored at work, i've become somewhat addicted to the crosswords accessed at www.bored.com. today i wandered around the site's other links, and discovered that the only other things there would actually incite boredom, including a virtual bubble wrap site that featured a piece of 'virtual bubble wrap' with small circles (emulating bubbles) on which one could click (emulating popping said bubbles). yikes. almost as bad as msn's 'top 10 places to kiss' article (which i of course checked out). too bad there aren't any ski lifts where i live. i guess i'll have to settle for the most original locale on their list: under the covers. anyone wanna come over? *** my sister made me an ace holiday music mix. largely christmas, but there's a hanukkah song in there. yeah. that one. the people at the paper seem to like it, anyway. and there's a techno number on there. three pouncing minutes of beat and synthesized auld lang syne with this crazy voice shouting 'happy new year.' it makes me laugh, and it's stuck in my head now. well. better that than U2, i guess. *** bono spoke at the university tonight. i went, notebook in hand, to gather information for the editorial i just finished writing about 20 minutes ago. between all the standing ovations for bono and ashley judd and lance armstrong i dropped my pen and had to borrow from the bloke next to me. but fellowship was the theme of the night anyway. millions of orphans in africa have parents who die from AIDS, and thousands more people are dying or contracting HIV every day. the statistics were sobering. the same number of people in my university's current graduating class is the same number of people who die every day in africa from AIDS or HIV. a little over 6,000. there was a woman who spoke. out of africa to america for the first time. she was HIV positive. and for some reason i wondered what would happen if she fell, if she got cut, if she bled out onto that stage. what the people would have done, who would have been the first to touch her. everyone who spoke, all the celebrities, received a standing ovation. one man didn't. a doctor. apparently at the forefront of AIDS research. and that pissed me off. we didn't recognize him, but we recognized ashley judd and bono, who received wild applause and cheers when he performed a surprise song at the end of the show, some new U2 track celebrating america and its gracious wonder. i wasn't so proud of my fellow americans, all those kids who sat through those two hours to hear a song, reminisce about hearing the joshua tree for the first time amongst themselves and then go home and talk about the moving numbers, the true-life story, the little choir of african kids who joined in with bono and his cd backup. we all left with this little idea that the world would be better and that we really wouldn't have to do anything. we could let bono do it. or a group of kids in lincoln. just to go to that one event was enough. just to go and cheer for the famous, and let the everyday go by again and again and again. well. i guess some days are better than others. the war on AIDS? the war on terror? the war on the world? i guess those are just for off days, and we get over those after a few cigarettes and a good night's sleep. when we stop being scared, we'd be ready to touch a bleeding woman, we'd be ready to tell her we really would do something, just by taking her hand and telling her that someday, the bleeding would end before her life did. go do something about something. don't just talk about it, say you love 'we rule the school' and then never make the attempt to do something pretty while you can. *rae __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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