What happened?

Who's asking: Kit McLaughlin, Upper St. Clair, PA

I knew yesterday's posting was probably too cryptic. Things are fine, it's just the usual exasperating maintenance of a life that sometimes bears too much resemblance to an episode of "I Love Lucy." ("I Love Lucy" is fun to watch, but Lucy Ricardo would have been an annoying person to know in real life.)

In a perfect world I would have a secretary, a business manager, and a handyman, who would all work for peanut butter sandwiches, live in my kitchen drawers and come out only when I need them. In this world I live alone with a dog who'd like to be helpful but is not especially handy, and I rely on an income stream that does not necessarily flow at the same rate as my expenses.

I also drive a seven-year-old car that needs two new tires and a new set of rear brakes -- routine replacements, just expensive.

And the washing machine mishap was just my own incompetence. I'm not bad at routine handyman work, and I'm good with hammers and screwdrivers. I did, after a couple of tries, manage to replace the three-pronged electric cord on my new dryer with a four-pronged one, and the dryer runs without blowing any fuses, starting fires or electrocuting me.

Plumbing, however, is another story. All I'll say is that pipe connections need to be really, really tight before anyone turns the water on.

I'm still behind, and need to head south again this weekend for Chris's graduation from St. John's. Today and tomorrow will be exercises in triage.

Five Random Songs (since I skipped them yesterday)

Lou Reed, "Satellite of Love." I don't care if he made TV commercials for scooters and American Express. Lou Reed will always be an icon of Cool.

Delbert McClinton, "Why Me?" Funny honky-tonk about being picked up by a woman the singer knows will break his heart.

The Delgados, "The Weaker Argument Defeats the Stronger." The Delgados, now broken up, are a band I should have paid more attention to when they were together. This cut is from The Complete BBC Peel Sessions, which I got for Christmas last year. It's cool to listen to this two-CD set in order, because they sound like completely different bands at different stages in their career.

X, "My Goodness." Another good song about an encounter that's nothing but bad news. "My goodness/Just left to make room for you..."

Wonderlick, "Never Let You Go." Wonderlick is one of the successor bands to Too Much Joy, but don't sound much like them; their sound is much more electronic and the perspective is an adult one, though the sense of humor shines through.