blorple full of mirrors.

there are many good things about today. the chief, overriding good things are these: got the parental visit out of the way (and it was actually rather fun; they're still a little freaked out about my impending Move into the Realms of Co-Habitational Sindom but are dealing okay), and now have a night of shopping for camping provisions and getting much hair sheared, followed by a night of bowling and karaoke, followed by four days of debauchery in the Hundred-Proof Woods of Wisconsin.

what's not to love?

once i get back, of course, i've got a month worth of packing to do, what with my home and my office both relocating, but let us not think about that right now, 'kay?

instead, let us ponder coincidence: walking out of the house to dinner with the folks last night and a couple, dog and kid in tow, passed by the building ... and instantly recognized my parents. as it turns out, said couple are the son and daughter-in-law of mom + pop's old neighbors, and they live quite literally around the corner from me.

also, they were kind enough to invite us over for post-dinner beers. which brings up a weird thing for me: i'd like to hang out with them more, but they're a few years older than i am (like, they have 11-year-old kids), and while they are cool folks i'm not sure about all the attendant grown-uppiness that would go along with that. my friends are, like, *party* party people, not dinner-party people, by and large, and i'm not sure if my brain can handle the symbolism of such a thing.

though: whatever. my parents are in their 60s, and they know how to fuckin' party. more developments if and when they happen.

turning once more to the less navel-gazey, here are the highlights of today's briefer but no less fervent idle perusal of the internets.

• ckwonderful, in which the intrepid and excellent mostlikely2 kept a liveblog of more hours in front of the retarculous ckone "live billboard" than anyone should have had to endure. mighty fine reading, and more informed snark than you can shake a stick-thin model thigh at.

• the Guardian Digested Read, always one of my favorite book-thinks on the internets, distills Melissa "The Girl's Guide to Hunting And Fishing" Bank's new novel to its essence. easy target, to be sure, but it's still pretty fucking funny.

• speaking of pretty fucking funny, Sports Guy's depreciation of Rafael Palmiero is, too. actually, the funny part is toward the end, when he refers to Coldplay as "a high-tech version of Bread." possibly the best unintentionally spot-on music criticism i've seen in months.

• and in commerce news: somehow, i did not know about the existence of MNSpeak.com, a blog devoted entirely to the TC (and written by Chuck Klosterman's nemesis), until today. roughly thirty seconds into browsing the site, i purchased this, which is awesome in eleven ways. (also very nice, especially for you Sexy 612/Slightly Less Sexy 651 types: the MNSpeak Aggregator, updated hourly with new posts from 140+ MN-based blogs. 'cause you don't need productivity at all.)

off to continue doing whatever it is i do.