"you're too far away to love"

it's friday, and i've officially decided that if i was surveyed, "favorite day:" i would answer a resounding FRIDAY. you see, i work at home [there are weaknesses to this, not just strengths, TRUST me]. all the work that comes in isn't due until MONDAY, so i find it nealry impossible to work on friday. fridays are reserved for estate sales [and flea markets like last week's jaunt to mike's warehouse]. calmness, happiness. running errands, driving in the sun-drenched winter with the ipod on shuffle. which brings up

MARITIME

first, i must admit to having been quite a sizable promise ring fan [hell, i even MET boy i proceeded to date for years at a promise ring show]. loved the records. 30° everwhere---->the older, gritty, messy stuff. the newer, cleaner pop stuff like the last two records. all of it. then it was all over. next, frontman davey vonbohlen and drummer dan didier went on to form vermont, which i never caught on to at all. i'm not quite sure anyone did. so when i heard about their newest incarnation, maritime, i felt a little squeamish. nauseous? no. scared? kinda. excited? a resounding, no. but what happened is i put the new record on my ipod, and everytime that goddamn SHUFFLE pulls up maritime, i get totally happy. head-bopping occurs. the sun shines a little brighter. the day gets a little lighter, literally. REALLY. you should try it. i got convinced, hooked, sucked in, all of it. TRY IT:

maritime -----> calm
maritime -----> parade of punk rock t-shirts

both are off their newest record, we, the vehicles, out april 18 on flameshovel. enjoyyy. oh joy.

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now that all that ipod shuffle-induced talk is out of the way [you think it's prophetic/psychic or what? something's controlling the shuffle, and i don't think it's always random chance. you agree?], i'm going to bitch about my photo hosting site, fotki. fotki used to be a godsend. easy, reasonably-priced, so much space you'll never use it all, not-fussy photo hosting. not anymore, fuckers. they've been changing shit around there, and now to insert a picture hosted on fotki, it is imperative that the image have the words "image hosted by fotki" below it. fuck THAT. since i'm PAYING for this service, they should in no way use this as a chance for advertisement. perhaps for non-paying members using limited accounts this is reasonable, understandable.

Dear Fotki,

I am taking my business elsewhere. These changes are absolute bullshit. For years, I was once a loyal, paying member who even referred friends to use your service. This is not a monopoly, jerks; you haven't cornered the market on image hosting by any means. And namely, just because all my photos are hanging out on your servers, don't for a second think that I need you. Because I don't. It's over.

Sincerely,
Margaret

ps. What the HELL is the "dating website" bullshit you're tying in with the site? I want to host my images, not meet my soul mate. There are many other sites for dating, hadn't you noticed? Don't think you'll corner the market there either. Don't even dream it.

pps. Flickr has a WAY better layout. Nice. Clean. Professional. Appealing. They WIN.