Spidercamp

i didn't even have to use my a.k.

Hey I'm an idiot, the whole reason I wrote that thing a while ago about strangers being so unexpectedly forward and weird, was to tell the thing about having Thansgiving at Denny's with my family. I was going to say "long story," but it isn't, we just had Thanksgiving at Denny's. Denny's offers a "traditional" Thanksgiving platter but... no, so we ordered a crazy assortment of completely non-holiday foods, except my brother, who, being my brother, ordered a burger with a side of stuffing.

The stuffing got to the table first - no other food, just a little dish of stuffing dropped off by the very busy very nice waitress, and she said something we didn't quite hear, but after Noah tasted the stuffing he said, Did she say this was homemade, or something? Because truly it was the second-best stuffing I've ever eaten in my life. And we were at THE DENNY'S. She'd made a truckload of it at home and brought it to share with the waitresses who had to work the holiday.  We were one of two tables in the whole place, and we'd been chatting with her, and she was a sweetheart and then she shared her own personal Thanksgiving dinner with us. And then the other one brought us banana pudding, same deal. They kept bringing us food we hadn't asked for nor expected, they were so cheerful and kind.

It was at this point that I remembered I had a box of beautifully frosted cupcakes in the car, meant for sharing with my family, but way too many anyway. So I got to do a really good thing. They got shared around and this skinny kid poked his head out of the kitchen to thank me, a little while later, and he was smiling and he had frosting on his face. What's better than that?

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Here are some songs that made me happy at the post office today.

Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People. Ok, it's squorky. I know. Especially at the very beginning and end. And there's this one thin needley sound that might slice up inside your ears a little bit. But I love his voice and I love when he mixes it up crazy-style, and glitch + the Sufjan = my happy blown mind. Also I love the word "delighted" so the repetition of "all delighted people raise their hands" is sweetly teriffic.

Beyonce vs. Arrested Development - People Ring the Alarm Everyday. Tired of mashups? Suck it, this song rules.

Lil Mama and Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend Remix. Uh this one is trash but I can't get off it.

Atmosphere - Say Hey There.

Apathy - It Takes a Seven Nation Army to Hold Us Back.

if you like them, tell me. if you don't like them, tell me.

but i held my breath and i kicked my feet and i moved my arms around

I don't know anything about The Squid and the Whale except it's about divorce and probably sucked, but I have the trailer to thank for giving me Swimming Song. I hesitate to say favorite song because usually that's a dumb thing to say, but I don't know, I've thought of this as my favorite song for well over a year now. It is the People Get Ready of 2007. If you saw the rest of my music you'd know these two picks are hilariously out of line with most everything I listen to, but I can't help it that these are the best.

Loudon Wainwright III - Swimming Song

Chambers Brothers- People Get Ready

brannon i have a feeling you get this too

I don't know what is wrong with my face but strangers immediately tell me all kinds of things. I know about Eddie at the post office's upcoming cruise to Alaska (prediction: FAAABulous!) and what the nametagless post office lady ordered the last time she went to Red Lobster (fish!). Fabric store Miss Hattie loves oatmeal cream pies, how the FUCK does that even come up in conversation, but it did. Mitch at Trader Joe's has talked me all the way from the register to the exit door, more than once. Sean at Trader Joe's recommends Vermont, should I ever have to choose which New England state to visit, AND HERE'S WHY.

It's usually wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I do wonder how many calories I have burned over the course of my life, edging away from people. Last week some tiny old lady in a red hat l i t e r a l l y told me about her ass rash for no reason, like there's ever a good reason.

But yesterday I was gossiped around, and eventually gossiped with, by two black women at the fabric store. One of them kept laughing and shaking her head and saying, "white ladies!" in the way women sometimes say, "men!" and she was looking right at me, like, am I right or what? She was right, white ladies so crazy. Then I saw a very fat policeman directing traffic through insane construction on Piedmont. His whole face was obscured by aviator shades and a massive gray mustache. I thought he was checking his watch but instead, I swear to you he was doing the robot in the middle of the street. I think I live in a charmed world.