This morning, David Kestenbaum had an amusing story on NPR called “How iMet my neighbor on iTunes.”

For those who don’t care to click the links or listen to the story, I’ll sum up. As Kestenbaum listened to music on iTunes, he saw a new source of music show up called “Anna’s Music.” Who is Anna? he thought. He talked to his wife and figured out that it must be one of his neighbors. He looked through Anna’s music and found it was the same music he listened to; she was his new musical best friend. As luck would have it – and in a twist I don’t quite understand – her e-mail address “popped up” when he clicked on one of the songs in her folder. So … he emailed her.

“I am not a stalker. My wife and I would like to have you over for dinner sometime.” That’s basically what he wrote. She never wrote back and it’s obvious that he was a little sad about that. One day his wife did some searching and found out which of their neighbors Anna was – a very nice gesture since she later admits being a little jealous of his “musical soul mate”.

He rang Anna’s doorbell and she came out to talk but was clearly weirded out. She says she wanted to believe that he was not a stalker, but in the end, didn’t trust his email. After all, she thought, he already has my email address, what if he shows up at my house?

In the end, Kestenbaum has no new musical best friend. Anna never came over for dinner. He encrypted his Wi-Fi connection. They don’t talk.

I started out writing a long-ish post about my own experiences as an “Anna” although mine are considerably less interesting since I was never discovered. But what really left a lasting impression on me in Kestenbaum’s story was the unspoken theme of loneliness, or yearning to make connections with people that possibly result in friendship. You see this not only in Kestenbaum’s response when he learns that Anna enjoys the same music he does, but in Anna’s response to his email. She said she really wanted it to be true, but in the end chose not to risk writing him back. Not that I blame her. The story probably would have had a different ending were it Anna writing an email to Kestenbaum.

I figure this theme is pretty universal. In fact, makes me think of this poem.

“Twenty Billion Light Years of Loneliness”
- Shuntaro Tanikawa (trans. Harold Wright)

Mankind on a little globe
Sleeps, awakes and works
Wishing at times to be friends with Mars.

Martians on a little globe
Are probably doing something; I don’t know what
(Maybe sleep-sleeping, wear-wearing, or fret-fretting)
While wishing at times to be friends with Earth
This is a fact I’m sure of.

This thing called universal gravitation
Is the power of loneliness pulling together.

The universe is distorted
So all join in desire.

The universe goes on expanding
So all feel uneasy.

At the loneliness of twenty billion light years
Without thinking, I sneezed.

I’ll leave you to think about that for a little while.

I just heard some sad news. David Brown, the host and senior editor of Marketplace, is leaving the program. He apparently just got married and is moving to Austin to work on some new music program with UT, where he will also start his doctorate work. I’m going to miss hearing his voice on my radio. I’ve come to find it rather soothing.

While I’m sure many blogs around the world today are talking about the release of the latest film in the Star Wars franchise, Revenge of the Sith, alas, mine is not. I haven’t seen it yet. Instead, I am pleased to bring you the following.

Today, I’m experiencing a feeling I’ve come to know well in my 27 years: the desire to create something beyond all knowing. By that, I mean I have no idea what to create. This time, it seems to be an urge to design something new for my Web site. Just can’t figure out what. What I really wish is that I could somehow channel this urge into things I actually need to get done today. I suppose the answer is to just start doing those things, and I’ll get to it as soon as I’m done writing this.

At the office today, Jason’s Deli delivered a couple sandwich platters, two bags of chips, a gallon of pink lemonade and a gallon of tea. This lunch was courtesy of some health care company or senior living center or something like that. I can’t recall exactly. It was thanks for an advertisement or press release we supposedly ran in the paper. None of us can figure out what we did for the guy, but, oh well.

Speaking of doing things for others, I am really glad that KCRW has discovered Deadman, a great Texas band, whose first concert ever I had the joy of attending several years ago and saw again at ACL Fest 2004. I would have liked to give you a link to my post about my ACL Fest experience, but it seems that it was lost in December’s server crash. Anyway, Deadman. They deserve to make it big.

[Listening to: The Go! Team - Ladyflash]

The sad news on the radio today was that Paul Hester, drummer for Crowded House, died over the weekend of an apparent suicide. I never had the chance to see Crowded House live, but in the many concert recordings I’ve heard, Paul Hester always made the funniest jokes.

The other radio news is that NPR is going to revive This I Believe, which in the 1950s gave Americans a forum to voice whatever their beliefs might be. The idea is that we’ll gain new respect for people who see things differently than we do. Could be pretty cool.

[Listening to: Crowded House - Into Temptation]

and we’re back. i’m happy to say that damien is now spinning “santa maria” by the frames. unfortunately i missed everything he said about them because i was on the phone with the houston livestock show. it’s ok though, because i love this song. the frames are opening for damien on tour right now. my two favorites. i’m so sad they’re not coming to texas.

on the live studio video, they’re zooming in on damien autographing a stack of his CDs. must be tough to be rich and famous.

so i returned from the hallway with a pack of reeses peanut butter cups. i’m not sure if that qualifies for a candy bar or not.

so they’re wrapping up the program with someone named jeff or jack brown. no, it’s french. so i’m guessing it’s gotta be jacques. but then the last name must be wrong. i don’t know. it’s hard enough to understand damien’s irish accent, and then to figure out what he’s saying in french… i can’t do it.

back to work. have a nice day.