Tanned and Rested

iPod morning commute music: Gram Parsons, G.P./Grievous Angel (1990)

I no longer remember when or where I first hear of Gram Parsons, but I've had this disc (his two solo albums, released in 1972 and '73, respectively, with Emmylou Harris supplying supporting vocals) for years. Parson basically invented country rock, was the driving force on The Byrds album Sweethear of the Rodeo, and helping to form The Flying Burrito Bros. The songs on this disc are timeless, and his duets with Emmylou are wonderful. While classified country-rock, the music here definitely leans to country.

Last night I finally reached my limit, falling asleep sometime after 9 while sort of waiting for President Bush's speech on his Iraq policy. I'm not sure I missed anything. I awoke just before 2 am and dragged myself upstairs to bed, where I slept until 5 am. I feel great today, which is cool because usually Thursday is when I start feeling the weight of the week. I'm planning to take Saturday off (I'm suppose to be at work for lunch, from 12:20-1:00, but I'll just take a personal half-day off), so I just need to get through tonight's teacher's meeting (ugh!) and tomorrow's classes.

It seems hard to believe December is here. Soon I'll have to get out the Christmas tree (we have to make due with an artificial one).

Oh, here is some good news (for me). One of my old students, Yasuyo, now married to an American and living in the States, wrote that she was planning to visit Japan at the end of November, and she asked if there was anything she could bring me. I asked if she could check for canned eggnog (I bought it once on Vashon, brought it back to Japan, and saved it for the Christmas season). We met on Monday, and she found some powdered instant eggnog at Target and bought it for me. I'm saving it for the holidays, but what a cool thing! Eggnog is one of the seasonal things you can't buy in Japan. Joy of Cooking has a couple of recipes, but they don't look particularly easy to make. If any of you know of a good recipe for thick, holiday eggnog (just add rum and sprinkle nutmeg on top), feel free to let me know.