Braised Lambchop
a nurse trying to work while suffering with chronic pain - she rambles a bit

I've seen three baseball games at The Stick (again, I'm in Oklahoma, so that's not too pathetic, is it?) and it really is a mess -- for a visiting team. Remember what Twain said about the coldest winter of his life being a summer in San Francisco and you'll get half the picture of a game in August at Candlestick.

But see, they don't use it as a baseball park anymore. It's for football. In the fall. Which is the Bay Area equivalent of summer, except for the monsoons near the end of the season.

I have a special place in my heart for San Francisco. We spent our honeymoon there -- an unusual choice for someone from this part of the country, but I fell in love with it, fog and all. In August, the fog comes in to the bay over the Golden Gate Bridge like the Angel of Death from 'The Ten Commandments'. I swear -- it looks exactly like that. And the smells are unbelievable. I was there in March for the first time in about three years, and it never changes, but it constantly changes.

I wrote earlier about the Sidewinder. That song talks about their world having flat backgrounds.

They could have been singing about the rest of our world -- compared to San Francisco. It is truly unimaginable unless you've seen it.

And now they've named a landmark 'Monster.' I hated '3Com', but I hate this more.

Although it does describe the 49ers to a T these days, doesn't it?

I go through spurts with songs sometimes, and tonight it's The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite (link to iTunes Music Store), from Automatic For The People.

Automatic was the album released after Out of Time, which contained Losing My Religion. If you've never heard anything else R.E.M. has done, you've heard this one (or End of the World). I didn't like Automatic for a long time. I don't know why. Now it's one of my favorites.

Sidewinder is speaking to me tonight about love and desperation. I think it's one of the loneliest songs they've done, and that's saying something.

If I had some Nescafe, I'd go fix it right now. I guess I'll have to make do with chocolate milk. I know I've got Green Eggs and Ham around here somewhere.

Maybe it will help me sleep. Standing up.

Seven days to their new album, Around The Sun.

Twenty-one days to Stipe, Buck, and Mills -- in front of me.