Cumulus Halo Rhinocerous Attached

What do “Cumulus,” “Halo”, “Rhinocerous,” and “Attached” have in common?  They’re all Linkin Park demo songs included in the 20th Anniversary edition of Meteora.  Yes, Meteora has existed for two decades.

Pic cred: Linkin Park

I recall liking Linkin Park’s second album, but it wasn’t until the 20th Anniversary release of Hybrid Theory that I learned to appreciate it fully.  Rather than pre-ordering the anniversary edition the moment I learned about it, which was what I did with Hybrid Theory 20, I waited for Meteora 20 to hit the Barnes & Noble shelves because I knew Linkin Park would update their YouTube channel to convince me, “you need to get it.”  I can’t begin to articulate adequately how glad I am that I did.  It matters not if you were a diehard fan from the start or maintained casual consumption, you need to get your senses on this album.  You will thank me when you experience the transtion of “Numb” into “Lost,” which was not a part of the original release of Meteora.

Now on to those demo songs:

Cumulus

Halo

Rhinocerous

Attached

~!~

And now for something totally unrelated.  I’ve avoided consuming gluten primarily in the forms of pasta and bread for over ten years due to GI tract woes.  After Obama’s second term, I decided that I was going to experiment a bit and see how much gluten foods I could handle in small and infrequent servings.  I had gone straight to croissants cause they’re delicious.  And over the course of six months to a year, my digestive response to re-introducing this food item wasn’t unpleasant… until it was a few years later.  I had to swear off croissants again.  The last time I had one was probably in 2019 or early 2020.

I blame a few cafe-hopping video’s I’ve seen of people eating Korean hot dog bread things for recent cravings of very much gluten-filled carbs (I realized a year ago that I had to stop eating them cause of this precise feeling ugh).  I also blame this dude for the croissant preoccupation:

I have now re-learned that I absolutely cannot have croissant-like dough ever again unless it were more of a quiche (or I could apply enough restraint and just have one item), because it makes my innards feel like I won a large pho challenge.  Everything from my sternum through my belly button was in slow-motion, as though my gut bacteria were confused and then wanted to hoard the memory of the occasion by not moving things along.   Fortunately, they finally got their act together and remembered their purpose in life.

Ugh.  Jamais plus.  But croissants are so yummy.