Since I got a new job and cashed out my vacation time at my old gig, I have been gorging on (new, not thrift shop *shock*) clothes, dinners out with my baby, and MUSIC! Yes, I put some away for a rainy day too, my love.

So, I bought a horizontal stripey dark grey/light grey V-neck sweater, a vertical stripey grey wool/black mesh skirt, various tank tops for layering in fatigue (desert and jungle!) colors, olive and black long-sleeve tees for Autumn, skully socks, and more wool capris. Hot DAMN, I love me some wool cropped pants. And I am going to say it -- I will never stop wearing them. Yes, I know I said practically the same thing in college about 4 inch platform creeperesque shoes and boots (I think my exact words were, "I will never wear anything else"), but I was much more goth then than goth-lite like now and didn't have a real job. And I still wear "those shoes which are unacceptable for work," just not daily and usually only when coupled with, you guessed it...cropped wool pants. Cropped wool pants that, mind you, can also be worn with "those shoes which are more acceptable for work" and make me look positively office-friendly. Versatility is a trend in my obsessions. See, I'm growing. Irony intended.

Blah blah clothes, okay, anyway, I was long overdue for my monthly trip to Amoeba Music, in part because I've been buying vinyl like mad and making more frequent trips to Saturn Records which was also fulfilling my pledge to spend my money in Oakland rather than Berkeley. But Saturn doesn't carry enough in the realm of CDs, and with "free money" (oh, Talitha's gonna beat me for saying that!) I usually end up being a tad responsible with my gorging and replacing the old with the new. So, I picked up The Chills' Submarine Bells on CD to replace my long lost cassette of this joyous record, Nation of Ulysses' 13-Point Program to Destroy America on vinyl to replace a recorded tape from Dominic of yore, and The Cramps' Bad Music for Bad People to replace a tape I lost in high school.

I've had The Cramps and Nation of Ulysses on the mind lately because I was recently introduced to a new band, The Horrors, which I swear sound just like these two bands had a baby. I wasn't so impressed with the spawn, but the parentage is impeccable, and so made me long to be able to plug them properly into my modern musical life again.

Oh, and I also bought the mentioned-a-post-or-two-ago Beirut debut album, as well as multiple sundries from the used clearance CD bins -- which by the way are really quite good at Amoeba for replacement of said wonky tapes of tapes and long-lost CDs, and just to try out new stuff somewhat risk free.

Also picked up the new Sonic Youth album, Rather Ripped. Very nice. I am really amazed at how fresh Sonic Youth sounds with every record released, yet they maintain a signature sound too that is, in a word that will make some sniff in my general direction with musical conceit, comforting. It is a comfort that is supremely satisfying because it fulfills a wish to hear them at their finest (for me, Daydream Nation) but still allows them room for play. Don't tell me that you don't feel it too. I'm sure it has a lot to do with Kim and Thurston's unique vocal styles. But most importantly, I think it is also that they fully own their sound, and that they are rawking first and foremost for the enjoyment of rawk's sake. You cannot go wrong with that combination.