2002-07-08 9:51 p.m.

Sounds of the Fourth

*wwwwwwwwhhhhhhoooooooommm!* The neighborhood kids shooting off their contraband, high-octane fireworks. Two years ago they shot off one so powerful it shook my building and set off every car alarm on the block.

God Bless America, the bloated, bombastic Kate Smith version. I bought this for TheBoy for his last birthday and have been regretting it ever since. He cheerfully endangered my lease by playing it loud, but we decided that if any of the neighbors complained we'd tell them they were being unpatriotic. (Think that would've worked in the Bay Area a year ago? Me either.)

*ssssssss* The sound of marinated leeks hitting the grill. They were good but a little chewy. Next time I'll cut them smaller and cook them longer. Mom suggested tying them up in cute little bundles like they do on the Food Network, but I didn't have the patience.

*whimper* The sound of my parents watching Livan Hernandez get shelled by the Diamondbacks. The A's lost, too, but it wasn't the blowout that the Giants game was, and nobody's talking about trading Mark Mulder.

Fourth of July, the Robert Earl Keen version. I didn't realize this was a cover of the X version until TheBoy pointed it out to me. It was the "hey baby"s that threw me. Exene sang it as "heeeeeeeeeeeey baaay-beeeee" and Robert Earl does it as "heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey baby." Download them both and you'll see what I mean.

A gasp of happy surprise when it dawned on us that not only do the folks not mind us coming over and commandeering their grill for evil cooking experiments, they like it. This should tide us both over until I get a proper house with a proper backyard and a grill of my own. Yay!

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