RS has pointed out that my prose has taken a turn for the Gothic. �Maybe it�s the weather,� she wrote in an email to me yesterday. Maybe it is. The gloom certainly seems to be settling in for the long haul. Today has been one long, slow, cold drizzle.Then again, it is feeling like bad things are happening all around us. N�s dad�s death. My niece�s dogbite. The train accident. It�s making me feel like curling up in the house and barricading the doors until spring. Instead I�ve been cooking fall comfort foods. Last night�s dinner was a vat of steaming split pea soup with baked apples stuffed with walnuts, raisins and cinnamon. Before that it was butternut squash and feta casserole with a stew of chickpeas, tomatoes and spinach. I�m about due for a major bread baking fest, I think.

I am still fighting a cold. I tried denial first. I dragged myself to yoga last night and felt better afterwards. She had us try handstands, which I�m usually horrible at because although I have the arm strength, I don�t believe that I won�t fall down. But last night she had us do a stand where you bend your hips at a 90 degree angle and rest the soles of your feet on a wall, making a perfect square from wall to floor to arms and torso to legs.
As we tried to get into this position, we told stupid jokes like, �come on, don�t be such a square.� But eventually, I got it and I have to say, it feels good to be a square. There was something satisfying about being a geometric figure, about having edges and corners. With a little more practice I�ll be ready for Pilobolus. Okay, I�ll never be ready for Pilobolus, but I�ll be able to pretend.

I�m always a sucker for a music meme. This is one courtesy of diber, a fellow musicologist and mom of Ellis. I was particularly attracted to this meme because ever since I was a kid, I have walked around imagining soundtracks for my actions. I pretty much always have a song going somewhere, even as I�m typing this, even as I�m talking to you.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD YOUR SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.

Opening Credits: Juanita Harris & Jon Lukas : �Making Up Her Mind.� Great choice. Zuzu mentioned Harris, whom I seem to recall is a friend of hers, in one of her entries once and I�m totally in love with this track. If she had albums, I�d buy them all. But unfortunately, this is a demo and there doesn�t seem to be anything else yet. I was going to put up a link to the song, but I can�t seem to find one.

First Day At School: Dire Straits: �Money for Nothing.� I want my MTV! Not a very accurate pick, considering MTV wasn�t around when I was starting school. I want my Electric Company, perhaps?

Falling In Love: Keller Williams: �Love Handles.� �I�m packing the love, I�ve got it hanging off of me.� Looks like my baby�s got back.

Breaking Up: Astor Piazolla: �Ojos Negros.� Apparently we broke up after a domestic violence incident. But the music is suitably mournful in a saccharine kind of way.

Prom: Allegri: Miserere (performed by the Tallis Scholars). Oh, yes, Miserere just about sums it up.

Life's OK: Crosby, Stills & Nash: �Southern Cross.� �And you know it will.�

Mental Breakdown: Yo la tengo: �Moby Octopad� Actually, this might be some good breakdown music of the banging-your-head-against-a-wall variety.

Driving: George Thorogood: �Bad to the Bone.� This is AJ�s favorite song to play in the car, so this is actually pretty true to life. Plus you haven�t lived until you�ve heard AJ try to sing, �B-b-b-b-b-bad.�

Flashback: Beatles: �Because.� �Love is all, love is new, love is all, love is you.� Hmm.

Getting Back Together: Stars: �One more night.� Perfect, thanks to its nostalgic string line and retro synth.

Wedding: �Modern Girl� by Sleater-Kinney. �My baby loves me, I�m so happy. Happy makes me a modern girl�.My whole life looks like a picture of a sunny day.� Love the chromatic bass line. And the harmonica.

Birth of Child: Lyle Lovett: �She�s already made up her mind.� This is one of the most beautiful songs I know. I�m not sure how it fits the category, but I�m glad it�s on the list.

Final Battle: �Tallahasee Lassie� by Freddy Cannon. Okay. Apparently my final battle is a dance contest.

Death Scene: Guided by Voices: �Drinker�s Peace.� �Sometimes I wish I was dead.� Apparently I lost the dance contest and drank myself to death.

Funeral Song:XTC: �Dying.� Hard to argue with.

End Credits: Breeders: �Huffer.� I�m rocking out in the afterlife.

If you�re reading this, consider yourself tagged.

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