Not Too Late To Change The Name

2010-03-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

Best St. Patrick's Day spirit:
the 5th or 6th grade Sikh kid in El Sobrante who was wearing a tuxedo t-shirt outside his school yesterday. The tux t-shirt was green, with four-leaf clovers for "buttons." I do kind of wish his turban had been green, too.

(Tangentially related: I like El Sobrante more now that I know Les Claypool is from there).

2010-03-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

Last night:

Had dinner and Belgian beers with some friends we met via the LA homebrew scene. They're about to go live around the world for an indefinite period, having been bad Americans and saved money for this project for years. Good people, good conversation, and I find myself ready to live vicariously through their blog, but I'm less jealous than I thought I would be. This is probably a good sign.

On the walk back to BART, we stopped at the Rogue Ales pub for a nightcap. That place is always tasty, but this time it was disheartening to a) watch everyone but us get carded and b) upon asking what was available at the bar that we can't find elsewhere, be told it depends on what state we live in. Um. What about my appearance is giving off "old" AND "tourist?" In fairness, the chatty drunk next to me at the bar was in fact from Minnesota. They had been pub crawling all day and his friend had just realized he left his credit card at the previous bar. He asked me where in Berkeley the college-age people hang out, and I had no idea. Thank god.

Once on BART, we got to people-watch some other Drunky McGees, including the dreadlocked guy who yelled "IS ANYONE HERE A COP?" then proceeded to bring out a baggie and start sorting his weed on a dollar bill. He was too drunk to roll his joint with any sort of finesse, and kept dropping the nugs on the ground. "That joint's gonna taste like BART!" Rick mused. His friends are gonna give him such shit today when they all come to...

2010-03-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

I am declaring blog bankruptcy, and will make no attempt to sum up the past month. Suffice to say it was busy, and mostly fun.

March!

2010-02-02T16:47:00.001-08:00

And now, some stupidity

That last post was too heavy. Cleanse your palate and please your inner 12-year-old with the following pictures:

Mr. T wants you to go to my local locksmith:

The Trader Joe's in SOMA has the best blackboard art ever:

But Jen, you promised us stupidity! This is merely inane! Okay, okay...

Also courtesy of Trader Joe's. I guess in New Zealand it's a bird, but in England it's...

Anyway, we went out walking around San Francisco with some friends on Sunday. It was correctly pointed out to us that, in the Castro, perfectly innocent business names take on new meaning.

Like the one above, and the too-shadowy-to-photograph "Squat and Gobble." I'm gonna say "Squat and Gobble" is a bad restaurant name no matter how you take it.

And, the winner in the "this is arguably a single entendre, not a double entendre" category is...

So bad, even Conan did a facepalm:

2010-02-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

I'm going through some old piles of junk and I just found the table of contents for "The Teacher's Encyclopedia of Behavior Management." It was given to me at my last job in a context I blissfully don't remember much of. I know it was a large-ish meeting, not one of the many times I was singled out by an administrator for being "culturally insensitive" or "too nice" or "Malibu Barbie" or whatever.

It's telling they gave us the table of contents, featuring a list of behavior problems, but not any of the text that would tell us how to HANDLE said problems.

I remember looking through the 100 problems (Jay Z: "...and a bitch ain't one") and realizing it would be easier to count problems I hadn't witnessed in the classroom rather than the ones I had. If memory serves, I was spared these:
* page 457, Masturbation (thank God for small favors)
* page 781, Tourette Syndrome (I'm pretty none of the potty-mouth I heard was clinical)
* page 807, Wetting/Soiling Pants (Big Lebowski: "At least I'm housebroken!")

...and, that's it. Running down the list is like visiting old friends: complaining, chronic crying, disruptive behavior -- severe, drug use, fighting, gang involvement, harassment, homelessness, hygeine problems, inappropriate displays of intimacy, nosepicking, self-injurious behavior, sexual comments, spitting, stealing, suicide threats, tantrumming (it says "K or 1st grader" in parentheses...clearly they never saw my 7th graders), threatening others, vandalism, weapons, etc etc. Well...maybe not old friends.

Then there's the "I wish I could care about these problems" problems. You know, like the ones I always heard about from teachers at nicer schools at professional development sessions. Forgetting materials, gum chewing, homework issues, late work, sloppy work, talking in class, tardiness. (Beach Boys: "Wouldn't it be nice...") It was like reading teacher blogs and hearing those philosophical musings about stuff like, "My students are learning procedure, but are they understanding it?" I would have been happy for my students to learn that you don't try to sit on your boyfriend's lap in class, you don't check out the teacher's ass and ask for her phone number, and you wait til after school to try and get high or fight someone.

It just occurred to me to go through the list again and list the behavior problems I witnessed between adult staff at the two schools I worked at, but I think I'll put it straight into recycling instead.

How's my new job? It's fine, thanks for asking.

2010-01-23T09:49:00.001-08:00

"I sang in the shower this morning because the water was hot and because no one was trying to kill me. It was a pure, uncomplicated happiness. I can only hope this lasts."
-- Chris Ayres, _War Reporting For Cowards_

2010-01-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

I have fully transitioned to giving rude drivers a thumbs-down instead of a middle finger.

I have not stopped swearing at them from the safety of my car, however.

2010-01-21T09:15:00.000-08:00

I'm with Coco, but I'm not exactly crying over it

I wanted to be well-informed again, but be careful what you wish for. I am suffering from extreme Haiti and Massachusetts senator fatigue. (And yes, I donated some money to Doctors Without Borders. And yes, YES, I knew Haiti was in trouble before this earthquake and I also give to local charities. I also have "why do people wait until a tragedy to help?" and "what about the problems in our own backyard?" fatigue. Making people feel guilty for giving to charity? Huh? Shut up already.)

In much lighter news, I've been watching Conan for the last couple weeks. I've always thought he was pretty funny, and watched the Late Show (and this year, the Tonight Show) occasionally (or at least fast forwarded to Triumph or Year 2000/3000). I've very much enjoyed his mockery of LA and Twitter this year. But knowing he's got nothing to lose has made him particularly awesome these few weeks. Not everyone gets to go out on top like Conan will.

In short, I think Conan is funny, Leno is not funny, and therefore NBC is dumb. That Leno prime time show seemed like a bad idea from the start, even to me, and I don't know much about the TV industry.

It's nice to see Conan stand up for himself/the Tonight Show/Jimmy Fallon, but it's even nicer that at least once per show he reminds people that there are real problems in the world and this silly showbiz kerfluffle isn't one of them. On that note: really, people are demonstrating in the street over this? There should have been riots all through the Bush administration, then. (Do I sound like one of those preachy "donating after an earthquake isn't enough" people now? Sorry...)

It's hard to feel too, too bad for Conan. His career is surely not over, and $45 million is a really shiny golden parachute. Leno can have my job for $45 million. On the other hand, I've relocated for a job and then had the job disappear, so that really does suck, and I hope everyone involved with the show got enough severance to move back to NY if that's what they want.

Finally, I know basic cable is considered a demotion from network, but watch this and tell me Conan wouldn't be happier at Comedy Central anyway:

Conan O'Brien Plays Rock Band

2010-01-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

When I was teaching, I gave up/lost a lot of outside interests. This was partially due to the time demands of the job, partially due to the single-minded focus that plagues new teachers intent on not fracking it up, and, later, due to what I now recognize as severe depression. So it goes.

Some of these interests were easy to pick up again. As soon as I left the LAUSD, I bought my self a "Congratulations On Quitting The Worst Job In The World" subscription to the New York Times crossword. It's taken a little longer to be well-informed about politics again. Much like there are very few comedies left in my Netflix queue because that's usually all I could handle watching while I was busy living a bad inner-city teacher movie, I couldn't stomach much politics during 2008 and 9. I tried very hard to have an informed opinion during the presidential election, of course, but I'm sorry to say I let it slide once my decision was made.

Lately, I've tried to read up on politics again, both in the mainstream print media and in some political blogs. I'm reading two liberal/progressive blogs (which might be one too many, since they say the same things) and one libertarian blog (not because I'm a libertarian, but because they're the only reasonable challenge to my commie pinko beliefs since the Republican party got taken over by the Wingnut Brigade). If any of my conservative friends would like to recommend a conservative news source that will make me say, "I disagree, but that's interesting" rather than "ARE YOU PEOPLE BRAIN-DAMAGED?!?" I will check it out.

I got to/had to watch some mainstream TV news over Christmas break. I'm glad my f-i-l no longer watches Fox News, but network news isn't much better. Lots of fear-mongering, little information, and no analysis. Compared to this facile crap, the Daily Show *is* hard-hitting journalism -- but I still wish people would stop making liberals look dumb by proudly stating that it's their only news source and all they need. (I do like the Daily Show, and I'll say its political satire is better than consuming no news content at all *and* better than mainstream TV news, but no replacement for in-depth print pieces.)

Anyway, I'm glad I'm paying attention again, because otherwise I would have missed gems like Rudy Giuliani saying we never had a domestic terror attack under Bush. What HUH? And it's not the first time that talking point has been put on TV.

So not only did Saddam Hussein blow up the WTC, he did it under Clinton. Awesome. I'll be at Netflix.com looking for more comedies.

2010-01-06T19:58:00.001-08:00

I think it's safe to announce at this point:

I got a job.

I won't be blogging about it. I hope I don't need to blog about it, if you know what I mean. But I thought the three of you that aren't on Facebook and don't call me regularly should know ;)

It's a nonprofit. Some of it is teaching and some of it isn't. If you want more details, you can email me.

It's my second week there now, and having a job that doesn't make me want to kill myself is pretty nice.

However, I'm learning that my time-management skills, er, "need some work" after 4 months of unemployment. I'm only working about 5 hours a day, but it feels like a *lot* more than zero hours a day. I will be trying to keep up my good cooking/eating/exercising habits I picked up while unemployed...we'll see.

I've gotten all sorts of calls for job interviews since taking this gig, so I hope this means the hiring market is picking up. Best of luck to everyone who's still looking.

2009-12-31T19:39:00.000-08:00

Dear 2009,

You cleaned up pretty nicely at the end there, but after what you did to me for your first half, we are STILL NOT COOL. Not to mention the unbelievable soap-opera/reality-tv-level hijinks you pulled on some of my friends.

Good riddance.

***

Dear Jim's Big Ego,

You guys are great and all, but I hope this is the last year for a really long time that I feel an urge to watch this on December 31.

2009-12-22T18:08:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought you had your mental list of Christmas standards you NEVER wanted to hear, EVER again, under ANY circumstances...

...along comes Los Straitjackets doing an album full of the shit, surf/rockabilly instrumental style.

Sorry, Jingle Bell Rock and Little Drummer Boy. We're cool now, come on over for a Christmas ale.

This may be my favorite -- since Xmas spirit is all about me embracing a culture that's not my own, why not two at once?

Feliz Navidad - Los Straitjack...

2009-12-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

I was going to say The Pogues are pretty much all I know about Irish music. Then I thought, duh, I know U2 and Enya and Sinead O'Connor, and so does the rest of the planet. I know The Cranberries will always make me think of college. I know that when Luka Bloom's "You Couldn't Have Come At A Better Time" got covered at Hamburg's best Irish bar one night in 2001, the whole bar danced hard enough to break two pint glasses.

Until today, I didn't know Elvis Costello is Irish, actually representing the bulk of the so-called Irish music in my collection. My trivia knowledge is, it turns out, as always, surpassed only by my ignorance.

It also turns out that when you have a finger of Irish whiskey right before bed, you may have a dream about being in a diner and ordering a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a Guinness.

Mmm, Guinness float.

Damn skippy I own a giant Guinness hat. Have I mentioned lately that I have awesome friends?

Where was I? Right, The Pogues, specifically the song "Fairytale of New York." When a tune's first line is, "It was Christmas eve, babe, in the drunk tank" you know you're not in for four and a half minutes of festive holiday cheer. Shane MacGowan and Guest Vocalist Extraordinaire Kirsty MacColl (English, not Irish) play the falling-apart couple on what may be their last Christmas together.

I am slightly disappointed to have discovered today that "happy Christmas you arsehole, thank God it's our last" is a misheard lyric. More songs should employ the word "arsehole," don't you think?

This is always the first song on my Xmas playlist, no matter how much I fiddle with what comes after, even though my own marriage is a happy one. This tune is potentially evocative for any listeners who feel their best days may be behind them. Which is to say, at one time or another, all of us.

2009-12-18T16:19:00.001-08:00

I'm still trying very, very hard to enjoy the Xmas season. My resolve has flagged once or twice during this effort, but usually all it takes is a Christmas beer or two to set me right.

It's probably about time for me to share a few of my favorite Christmas songs. Now, this is Xmas -- or Jewsmas, if you will -- not Hanukkah. I think Hanukkah is over tonight. So I won't be discussing Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song," Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Can I Interest You in Hanukkah?" or South Park's interpretation of the dreidel song. Though all of those are pretty rad, too.

Let's kick this off with the Ramones. "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight" lacks the lyrical punch of, say, "We're a Happy Family," but it does at least nod to the drama-reduction necessary in so many families this time of year. And Joey Ramone was Jewish, making this practically the official Jewsmas fight song.

"...no Christmas cards to send, Daddy likes men"...oops, wrong Ramones song

Though I was born too late to see the original line-up, I am still, 19 years (?!?) later, all kinds of squee that I got to see a Ramones show once.

No, I wasn't 16 yet. Shh.

2009-12-16T09:49:00.001-08:00

Probably not what they meant

Unintentionally funny marketing on the table at a Mexican restaurant: "If you want to try our tequila now, ask any employee on the floor!"

2009-12-15T09:18:00.001-08:00

Dear Snoop Dogg,

Look, you're amusing. Gin 'n' Juice is a pop classic. And I appreciate that your latest single has better beats than that Drop It Like It's Hot crap (I could have mixed a better hip hop song myself with GarageBand, even if I was smoking whatever you were.)

However.

1) You did not invent that "izzle" infix you're so fond of. Frankie Smith did that in Philadelphia in 1981. Get on the Double Dutch Bus and admit that once in a while.

2) You're STILL repping the Crips and gangster life? Dude, you're like forty. You're on the late-night talk show circuit talking about your celebrity voice GPS system, for pete's sake. Hang it up.

Best wishes,
Jen 'n' Juice

2009-12-10T15:55:00.001-08:00

Curiosity, part 2

This poll is for people who wouldn't know me if I bit them on the ass...er, for people who have not had the pleasure of meeting my delightfully classy self in person.

Complete this sentence. "I discovered this blog because..."(survey)

2009-12-10T15:12:00.001-08:00

I just made mustard.

By "just," I guess I mean that 2 days ago, I put mustard seeds in water and vinegar, and today I put it in the blender. Apparently this recipe tastes pretty rough for the first couple of days, so time will tell how it is on sandwiches and in salad dressing, potato salad, etc. But the initial sampling tasted...well, like mustard!

I know, I know. Mustard is cheap. And since I live near a Trader Joe's, it's easy to find one without my pet-peeve American food ingredient, high-fructose corn syrup.

However, this is the kind of thing that happens after 4 months of unemployment. Partially, it's the thrill of pinching pennies, since saving money is the only way I'm currently adding anything to the household bottom line. (Yes, we can well afford mustard, but these sorts of projects lessen my guilt about not bringing home a paycheck.) The other part of these projects is that they fill my time. It's better than playing Wii and picking my nose all day, right?

Some days, I think this is awesome, in my Berkeley way. I'm learning where food really comes from, and everything is better from scratch, and blah blah blah.

Some days, like this one, I think, "Gladys, girl, I love you, but OH! GET A LIFE!"

The Ice Of Boston - The Dismem...

(Am I still glad I'm not in my third year of teaching? Am I very grateful to be in a financial position where I can wait a little longer for a good job to come along instead of having to sub? Yes, and yes. My life is really very excellent and I'm not complaining.)

2009-11-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

A cashier yelled at me today because I didn't have my cash out fast enough (because I was bagging my own stuff. No good deed goes unpunished). I guess she didn't so much yell *at* me as start passive-aggressively ranting to no one about people who don't get their money out quickly enough.

There was a time -- namely, when I was teaching, and had rage issues -- that this would have ended badly.

Today, I said something to the effect of, "Yeah, we've all got a lot on our minds. If you want to take it out on me, go ahead, if it makes you feel better."

I only wish I'd thought to give her a big, ingratiating smile when I did it.

2009-11-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

In which I probably offend Christians, Jews, Pagans, and everyone else

About my upbringing
I was raised in a Jewish family, attending synagogue mostly on big holidays rather than every Saturday, in a town with a very significant Jewish population. I mumbled the carols at school, but half my 2nd grade classmates were also burdened with the knowledge that Santa didn't exist and the Christian kids were fooling themselves, so I had lots of company.

In high school, I exchanged cards and sometimes gifts with my friends of both religions, generally on the religion-neutral last day of school before what my district probably judiciously called "winter break." (Yeah, we got the major Jewish holidays off, too.) I watched the Yule Log on channel 11 and the Charlie Brown special, and then I enjoyed my Chinese food. Ho ho hum. At least we got off school.

About Hanukkah
I'm not in any way an authority on any Jewish matter, since I am no longer observant and was a Hebrew school dropout even in my youth, but believe me when I say that Hanukkah is not a big holiday on the true, actual, Jewish calendar. Its coincidental placement in December has turned it into a Christmas substitute in America, where one of our top national hobbies is keeping up with the Joneses. If the Jones kids get presents in December, darn it, the Goldberg kids will, too! In my experience, Jewish adults don't do Hanukkah gifts, thank goodness. In my non-religious world, Hanukkah is mainly an excuse to fry potatoes.

About my "mixed marriage"
My husband was raised Christian, but is about as religious as I am...which is to say, not at all. Regardless, early in our relationship when we lived near both our families and regular visits were realistic, my family got Thanksgiving and his family got Christmas. I helped trim a Christmas tree for the first time in my early 20s, and became part of his family lore by gamely asking, "Am I doing it right?" Truth be told, I could take or leave Christmas day. I wasn't raised with it and I didn't get it. Also, I didn't quite understood what compelled Christians to continue the toy-buying into adulthood. Oh well, at least it got people to be nice to each other and give to charity.

About a non-practicing Jew learning to love Christmas in Germany
To my American eyes, Germans did this whole December shebang a lot differently. It was more about festivities and less -- a lot less -- about shopping and stress. The Christmas market downtown had stuff to buy, sure, but it seemed like a citywide excuse to eat, drink, and be merry, complete with seasonal bars erected for the occasion. Then there was the annual Winterdom amusement park, again with some stands where one could buy gifts, but mostly for eating, drinking, riding rides, and walking around with friends and family. I could get behind the German version of Christmas. Those two years were fun.

About re-entry shock and the neo-conservative recession decade from hell
For various reasons -- some personal, some reverse culture-shock related, some financial -- the next few Christmas seasons in America pissed me right off. It was like coming back to the country and standing bewildered in the grocery store aisle, staring glassily at the dozens of types of ketchup. The whole thing seemed ridiculous, with all the focus off family, friends, food, drink, niceness, and charity and all the emphasis on STUFF STUFF STUFF. Bah Humbug! Let's just say the Germans had no such thing as Black Friday when I was there, and not just because they didn't have Thanksgiving.

About this year
Something happened. I don't know what. But I snapped. I decided this:

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JOIN 'EM

Dammit, I'm gonna have the damn Christmas spirit this year. I'm gonna drink Christmas beer. I'm gonna listen to Christmas music (thanks to some less Scrooge-y friends, I actually have a fairly hip collection of holiday tunes). If it's not a giant party in this country, I'm gonna MAKE it a giant party (bring out the Gl�hwein!) I'm gonna rent the Charlie Brown/Rudolph classics from Netflix, and watch every Christmas episode of South Park online. I went to Target and bought myself some Santa socks from the $1 aisle. Merry merry MERRY, DAMMIT, MERRY!

Maybe I can fake it 'til I make it.

Coincidentally, this year our cat is finally too old and tired to wreak havoc with a Christmas tree -- which is a pagan symbol anyway, right? -- so Rick bought one yesterday (and a case of Christmas beers). I brought out the incense-burning Santa mascot we got in Germany (where, in 2001 at least, it was still okay for Santa to smoke a pipe). We watched the episode of Futurama where Leela explains that "Christmas" is pronounced "Xmas" in the year 3000. And I've found my Christmas anthem, from the band that also brought you such heartwarming holiday hits as "Oi to the World" and "Christmas Time For My Penis:"

"...if you try to ruin my holiday, I swear you will regret it for the rest of your fucking life!"

I'm thinking of this December as Jewsmas. I do have some dreidels to play drinking games with -- my sister-in-law put four in my Christmas stocking a few years ago. I will continue to give a brief history of Hanukkah to any well-meaning person who awkwardly wishes me a happy one thinking it's the Jewish Christmas. I may even make some latkes in the Fry Daddy, but that's all separate from enjoying my shiny pagan tree and the Christmas episode of Father Ted.

To any observant Christians who may be reading, I apologize. But it's not people like me who took the "Christ" out of "Christmas." Our culture is what it is, and both old-skool Christians and non-Christians are equally out of luck unless we jump on the bandwagon and enjoy the secular trappings of December in our own way (complete with being nice to each other and giving to charity, I hope.)

Besides, Christians can have December 25. That's Christmas. You can also do December 24 your way. That's Christmas Eve. But the secular hot mess between Thanksgiving and December 23 -- for better or worse, like it or not, that's for the whole western world to either enjoy or tolerate with gritted teeth. So I might as well enjoy it. Froehliche Weihnachten!

2009-11-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

Who's reading this thing, part 1

Take this poll if you have actually met me. If you haven't, there will be one for you later.

Please choose one answer.

2009-11-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

One last chuckle over my middle school yearbooks before I burn them in the campfire on my next camping trip

Middle school yearbooks. Why does such a thing even exist? Why would anyone want a permanent reminder of the worst years of their lives? Better yet, why do I still have mine after twenty years?

(For some of my former students, middle school was the best years of their lives. This is only possible if, by 18, you have children and a dead-end job to worry about instead of high school graduation.)

Highlights:
* 7th graders are not very original. "Have a great summer!" "Nice knowing you!" "Keep in touch!"
* Two people who both wound up dead by 30 signed my 8th grade yearbook on the same page. Yikes.
* One entry cites Guns 'n' Roses, the Beatles, and Bon Jovi. Ah, 1988 (and classic rock radio).
* Karen, your 8th grade entry used the word "fantabulous." Mad props.
* As someone inevitably says every time one of my high school classmates gets bored and uploads ancient scanned photos to Facebook: "Oh my god, the hair!"

That was terrifying. I'm not sure I can wait until my next camping trip. Maybe they'll fit in the backyard grill...

2009-11-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

Your Berkeley moments of Zen

1) Apparently there is such a thing as tofu blintzes. On the other hand, this:

2) Walking down to South Berkeley to check out a shop, one of our mentally ill citizens saw me coming, screamed at me so loud I could hear it over the music in my headphones, and kept screaming at me after I'd passed. It went something like, "YOUR ASS IS SO PALE...BITCH! PALE-ASS BITCH! YOUR BITCH ASS IS SO PAAAALE!" Huh. I haven't been called white since I was a teacher. I can't say I'd missed it.

Adding injury to insult, this is what I found when I got to the shop I'd wanted to visit:

3) The guy in line in front of me at the grocery store today, wearing overalls with no shirt, put his gym bag on the belt along with his groceries. When the cashier opened the bag to put the groceries in, a cat jumped out. I continue to enjoy living somewhere I'm considered normal by local community standards, but I feel sorry for that cat.

2009-11-10T10:32:00.001-08:00

How long is this recovery process gonna take, anyway?

The past two nights, I have had anxiety dreams that I am a teacher again. In last night's, it was this school year and I was back at my old school for year three. Also, I had lost my left shoe and was walking around without it.

I also occasionally dream that I've forgotten to study for a midterm, despite being out of college for over a decade, so maybe I'm stuck with this forever.

I also wonder when I will stop being thankful, DAILY, for the following basic dignities of life:
* taking a long enough lunch hour to enjoy my food
* being able to poo when I need to instead of holding it until nutrition

No, these are not reasons I give when asked, at job interviews, why I don't want to be a K-12 teacher anymore. (Yes, I've had some job interviews. Yes, they are education jobs. Yes, there are education jobs other than K-12 classroom teacher. I will have one someday...but this may, like so many other things, take some time.)

2009-11-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

Correction: the sun is not a mass of incandescent gas. They Might Be Giants regret the error.