Weekend of June 20th

I think I have finally been let down by an ACDC album.  Really, looking back, almost every album has had at least 2 good songs, or at least was rocking enough that I would not turn the radio station.  "For Those About to Rock" was probably the lowest point for me previously, but the title song is such a strong song and no ACDC concert is complete without it.  I've said before that "Flick of the Switch" and "Fly on the Wall" have been treated unfairly.  Well my friends, "Stiff Upper Lip" is about as close to elevator rock music as you can get.  There is no power or enthusiasm in Angus during this entire album.  I actually feel that Brian Johnson is giving his all, and we get to hear some awesome parts of him using his regular voice, which is every bit as awesome as his rockin' voice.  The songs just kind of drone on.  Is there a highlight?  Is Stiff Upper Lip good?  I think my view might be colored because I was blown away by Ballbreaker.  I'm sorry but the guys phoned this one in.  Well, at least the next one, almost a decade later, comes out kicking ass with its first single, which I already know and enjoy immensely.

My girlfriend had 2 giant bugs in her home this week that caused me to have to re-sure up all her windows.  One was Mothra, the mythical God-being that has fought and defeated Godzilla on a number of occaisions.  I was afraid of squishing Mothra with my paper towel, but it was soon apparent that she was not delicate.  I did manage to wrangle her out the door.  The 2nd was a Dobson fly, this one her cat got to before we did, and so it was dead before we could get it out the door.  Dobson Flies are about the scariest looking thing I've seen fly in Georgia except that one time my friend's ex-girlfriend got launched 10 foot into a lake.  I read they are quite docile(the fly, not the ex-GF) and nothing to be afraid of.  Go ahead and look it up, and be prepared for nightmares.

I met my turtle again on Saturday.  It had the same markings beneath it, and sure enough he was walking across the road again.  This area of the road is like the worst to be messing with because its right after a sharp curve AND a sharp drop in elevation.  The problem he had was that he wanted on the other side of the road, but the other side of the road was a fence with so much growth there was no way he could get by.  So I decided to have a turtle transplant.  My brave girlfriend held the turtle as I drove it toward my home.  We have a creek and a rather nice for turtle area near my home, and if he desires to walk across a road, he will find a lake on the other side instead of a fence.  He was a grumpy turtle though and tried his best to poop on my girlfriend, luckily I had a towel and no one got actual poop on them.

And continuing, I find the fact that my weekend revolved firmly around my girlfriend, and I"m fine and happy with that :)  She read Elantris and enjoyed it so much it did not take her even a week to make it through it.  I enjoy talking about books with her and I'm almost sad there isn't more Elantris to read, but then again I would not have read it if it wasn't a stand-alone novel.  Brandon Sanderson is a good author and he's got several series on-going.  He is also fairly young as far as writers go, and he writes like Patrchett and Card, he can write mass amounts of good story very quickly(lucky bastard).  I am thinking really hard about choosing a series of his to read.  If you have not read Elantris and you do things like read, you should give it a try.  There are many characters with great personalities, and the story builds and becomes epic.  It is incredible how much of a world Sanderson creates with only one novel.

Sunday night my mother made a broccoli slaw kind of fruit salad thing.  I can only eat tiny tiny amounts of it, but if you have a chance to try something like it, I'd recommend it.  It uses poppy seed dressing as the "mayo" replacement, and uses peanuts and green peas to give it a nutty flavor.  To add a little bit of sour there was craisins.  So there is a good mix of sweet, salt, sour and savory in it.  It would make a fairly incredible sandwich if you put a scoop of it on top of a grilled chicken breast or some pulled pork.