Band Ranking Meme

I'll have actual stuff to say later.
For now, though.. :)

(grabbed from blackfelicula)
Your meme, should you choose to accept it, is to rank the following bands in order, from COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT to COULDN'T CARE LESS. To add value to this process, you must also add one band to the list, and remove one band from the list, before passing the meme on (including these instructions).

They Might Be Giants
Barenaked Ladies
The Beatles
Queen
Nirvana
REM
Fleetwood Mac
Great Big Sea
Duran Duran
Bowie
The Cure
Radiohead

My Weekend

I'd never thought it possible, but I have to say.. Thank God It's Monday!
This was... a weekend.
Way too much occured, only some of which I'll share publicly.

Friday
Friday.. well, the plan was for ecwoodburn to arrive either shortly after EDS called or about 9:00 assuming they didn't call until 5:00. EDS called, she headed out the door.. and got caught in traffic. This.. well, it happens. It's just one added "buh" for the day.
Meanwhile, mom came home from a doctors appointment with potentially very bad news. I won't share the news but it's potentially very bad. It's bad enough that I am totally extremely freaked out over it. Anyways, then mom went to take a nap.
I won't kid you folks. Mom's news is extremely distressing. I realize I'm a pessimist and expect the worse, but I'm really freaked out by the possibilities of what the news COULD mean, to her, to the family, to her job, to everything. I don't have much in the way of facts, just the news and the realization that she has to go in for (and doesn't want to, because she's afraid to) further testing to see...
Anyways....
At 6:30 I wake mom, am doing.. something.. and Kristen comes and we hugged and talked a little and the thought was maybe I'd take her out for a congratulatory dinner (Yay job!) at a local chinese place. So we tell mom we're about to leave and will be back shortly... and mom hits the roof.
Mom has the terrible tendency to take out her frustrations and anger on other people. Yes, we (Josh and I both) have learned this too. But if you wonder where we got it from, it's our mom and not our dad. As far as I can tell, it was displacement. She was worried and upset and.. we were just the people in her way.
Anyways, due to mom yelling and then me trying to get her calmed down so she doesn't spend the entire weekend yelling (which she WILL DO and HAS DONE and, honestly, may have done anyways if she was upset enough) at me and Josh and.. anyone in her way at the time over any small thing that annoys her and otherwise she'd handle better (like the papers SHE tends to spell onto the floor, can't get, and expects us to look for and retrieve.)
Did I mention how much I need to get out of here and get my own apartment?
In any case, that's only HALF the story.
The other half is the sleep-deprived and, hence, overemotional girlfriend. I'm not saying that in and of itself the sleep-deprived isn't handleable. By and large, she was, when tired, fuzzily agreeable. But... she was sleep dep'ed and overemotional and.. (at this point in time, I'm mentioning this because we did both discuss this).. she added to the overall tension of Friday.
Oh, and I got to introduce Kristen to Sim City 4: Rush Hour, but I suspect she was too tired and fuzzy to really get into it. Maybe I'll try again later.

Saturday
Saturday.. could have been better.
Woke up about 9 and watched some cartoons until mom came down. We made cream cheese pie in preparation for Rosh Hashana dinner Saturday. Mom started laundry and Kristen woke up. We played DDR Max 2. I played a few new songs and she did the first two practice modes. She seems to be a little more into it. I can't see her being a DDR addict, but I can see me taking DDR out and her playing along with me.
We went out for lunch, a couple of quick errands and then went home to shower and get ready for Rosh Hashana Dinner.
30 or so minutes later, Josh comes back from Leadership camp, exhausted. Apparently he had a great time, but the beds were rotten or something and he ended up not sleeping so well on a table and the floor. We all got ready for dinner and headed out, sans Kristen :(
A little backstory before I get into the dinner.
I was asked not to ask grandma if Kristen would come. The reasoning my mother gave was A) that grandma doesn't like nonjews at High Holiday dinners and B) (The one that bothers me less), if Kristen came, Marc would have made a stank if HIS girlfriend wasn't allowed to come.
So we talked about it and, with the new work schedule in mind, she decided she'd stay home and nap/read/DDR/whichever while I did family things.
One other point, background information to know. Earlier this week, my cousin Jaime talked to my grandmother to see if she or mom could do anything about Marc following her around. She wasn't thrilled about that. As far as I know, no one ever spoke to Marc.
So we left at 5:00, got there before everyone else, so helped out a little bit and started on the cheese.
Uncle Alan arrived about 5:45 and.. he looks bad. He hasn't looked good in a couple of years. He's looking pale and fat and.. just altogether not good. (Background knowledge, he has congetitive heart failure and has been in and out of the hospital more times than I wish to count.)
Dinner was SUPPOSED to start at 6:00, so, of course, at 6:15, Uncle Jeff calls to say he's stuck on the Peace Bridge. And Marc hasn't shown up.
At 6:45, Uncle Jeff and family arrived. 2 minutes later, Marc. So we talked for a few, then dinner started.
Dinner, in and of itself, was quiet. It was buffet style.. brisket, carrots and potatos, green bean caserole. Pretty good stuff.
After dinner things got interesting, though. While all the adults cleaned up and talked privately and Josh slept on the couch, Marc regailed us with stories.. such as, how his cat, within two weeks of being neutered, was the father of nine more kittens.
Or how he's working towards being an EMT and getting his certification in New York, but is going to go to Israel because that's where they need him. And how he's got this deal with Israel to get in basically free.
Or how he works two jobs and goes to school and doesn't have time to sleep.
He was definately following Jaime around too. It got to the point as Marc, Jaime and Jon went for a walk that Jaime actually asked me if I wanted to come along (which I did, so spent half the walk in front of Marc and Jon talking to Jaime about.. nerd stuff: cell phones, internet, palm pilots.. stuff we're both comfortable with)
As 9:15 rolled past, I called Kristen to let her know that we'd be late. We hung out watching Remember the Titans until about 9:45 and then ran home.
Apparently while gone, Kristen had played some DDR. She needs some practice, but I'm certain that if she keeps practicing, she'll get better and be able to gets As and AAs :) I joined her (though at that point, she was tired and hungry, so she ate and I played).

Sunday
Was woken up at 9:15 by my mom calling downstairs to tell me to click the reset button on the first floor so she could get power in her bathroom, which I did. Went to check on Kristen who was asleep, so ended up watching Star Trek V until she came downstairs about 11:00.
We showered and went out for another lunch (over to Pizzaria Uno, which was not as good as usual) and then cuddled for a little bit while my mom napped during the first half of another pathetic Bills Game.
I'm not sure why the Bills are looking as lousy as they've looked the past two games, but they look lousy and not at ALL like the band that shut out New England :/
After that, we did a couple more errandy things (Bank, Gas station, then searching the basement for some of mom's winter clothers).
Then, since Kristen had said she'd never seen it, we watched the DVD of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (interrupted only to get dinner).
Then Kristen had to go home. :(

So... somehow I managed to make it through a worried and bitchy mom, an overtired girlfriend, an exhausted brother and a brother who is either delusional or talks lots of shit.
Thank God It's Monday.

That's basically my weekend there. I can't think of anything else I need to say and I've been writing this post for a while.
So.. I'll post this, then.