I remember years ago when our punk rock was none of their business.

The sweetest thing about Monday night is the feeling that I've made it through another Monday. I always feel that the prospect of another week is much more attainable once I've survived that pesky first day.

Rewind to Sunday and my rather unsuccessful journey to Word on the Street. I didn't go there until the afternoon, and it was just far too busy when I got there to really have a good look around. Then it started to rain a bit. So I just went to a CD store and bought a new CD (Emily Haines and Soft Skeleton) instead. I didn't really need new books. I have too many books to read anyway.

Speaking of which... Staff book club is on Thursday and I'm determined to finish the book (Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem). I figure if I stick to a hundred page a day diet, I'll be done by Wednesday night. Actually, I've probably already read 75 pages today, so I think I'll exceed the daily goal.

After school, I went to my local Starbucks to read. I ordered a cafe latte, but the barista thought I said a pumpkin spice latte and rang that in. I thought actually that was a better idea, so I said to here "You must be psychic. I ordered a cafe latte, but actually a pumpkin spice sounds better so I'm fine with that." She decided to be nice and just charged me for a regular latte, but I got a pumpkin spice instead. I saved about a buck. However, it totally made my day. Does this make me pathetic if the highlight of my day is getting a deal on a pumpkin spice latte?

I'm not sure of my opinion of Fortress of Solitude yet. There are some things I like about it, but I am finding it a rather tough read. I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't reading it for bookclub, I'd probably have abandoned it, instead of plowing through it. One thing I do like about it, is that it has a lot of musical history (some late 60s stuff, but a lot of 70s soul, and the birth of punk and rap) in it.

So, I've been reflecting on my recent listening patterns as I listen to it. Lately, I've been listening to new stuff (new Sloan, of course, and Emily Haines) and David Usher (seeing someone live always makes me dust off their stuff).

I've also been listening to a few Hole songs, which is odd for me. I was never a huge Hole fan in the 90s nor was I especially interested in them. However, I'm really enjoying listening to their old radio singles. I find it hilarious that I like the song "Malibu" again. When that song was on the radio in the late 90s, my friend Jolene and I would scream everytime it was on the radio because it had become massively overplayed (along with Praise You by Fatboy Slim) and could not stand it any more. We joked that the radio station we listened to (London's FM96) was more or less just a Praise You/Malibu station because that was all they played. Anyhow, I'm kind of surprised that I can enjoy Malibu again. Only took 6 damned years.

I never listen to the radio anymore since I have my iPod. This means that if a song does become overplayed, it's only my fault. Kind of makes me notalgic for the days I could curse a radio station for wrecking a song for me.

Courtney Love is coming out with a new CD and a book at the end of this year. I'm interested in it, because I think she's a rather interesting figure. She's a huge mess, but she pulls it off somehow.

I've also been listening to Hawksely's Lover/Fighter album. I think it's my favourite non-Christmas Hawksley CD. I always listen to it around autumn, partially because I put "Autumn's Here" in heavy rotation in the fall, and also because it came out in the fall, and makes me happy to think that my life is much different than the way it was when I bought that CD.

Anyhow, enough with my music babble. I need to get back to reading!