talk about your ruts... last year i went to 30 different concerts and with the month ending in a few hours, my total to date is ...wait for it... 1. Redemption is that there are some shows coming up in the next couple of months that i'm looking forward to...Barenaked Ladies, Peacemakers, U2, David Gray, Dispatch if they ever come to the left coast...
had photography class tonight where they went through some of the shots we'd taken on the projector (we'd used slide film). in the back of my mind i had this thought that my photos where going to be horrendous (that's me, the pessimist). that feeling wasn't as bad as when we were nearly done with all the slides and none of mine had been shown...were they that bad? again...the pessimist. ended up getting compliments to boot and they didn't put up the portrait of my birks with my feet in them. maybe i'll get around to putting up some of the shots after i've gotten prints of them. off to bed though...just drained tonight.
superbowl sunday. the day most americans are sitting around the television sucking down beers and some sort of processed cheese product. not i. while i did watch the big game (3 tds in 36 seconds!) i was consuming oj and 7-up along with chicken noodle soup.
despite having this lovely head cold, i seem to have become the sounding board of everyone as of late. this isn't a complaint about that, because i feel that's one of my strong suits as a friend, but at times i feel like i'm talking out of my ass. it's not like i can draw from any experiences for some of this...i live the most anti-dramatic life of anyone i know. i think i may be in the running for People's 25 Most Boring. guess that's not a bad thing in the big scheme of things.
the day started out not so good. heard a hissing noise coming from the washer and checked it out only to discover that the hot water line was leaking. it wasn't so bad until i tried to "fix it" which means turn the water off. after much cussing and banging around (which woke my roommate up) and burning my fingers (i said it was the hot water line didn't i...) the line was shut off.
things did get a bit better from there at least. finished up the roll of film for photog class and got my truck muddy in the process. i think this is the first time it's had mud caked on the wheel wells. dirt is good. the rest of the day was spent bumming around and buying some new hiking boots. hopefully i'll get a chance to break them in tomorrow if it doesn't rain again...hell, i'll probably go even if it does rain again.
this was the best day EVER. no, not really, but maybe if i keep telling myself that i'll start to believe it. i did get U2 tickets though. yea, you know the shittiest seats possible, at the very top row, right directly behind the stage? yea, we are to the right of those...maybe i'll be able to see Bono's or The Edge's right ear.
Scrambled over rocks, took some photos, pulled goatheads out, cleaned my livingroom, baked banana bread, got an email that made me feel like the bitch that I was. And how was your Sunday?
this is how talented i am...i bruised my fingertip fluffing today. that's right...while fluffing. although, to my defense, it was the futon cushion that i was pounding and the metal frame is what met my fingertips. make fun of me.
i realized today that part of the reason i travel so much and stay so busy is so i don't have the time to sit and think exactly where i am in life. it's not that i find myself in a difficult place. while i don't spring from under the covers every morning to go to work, i don't hate my job (most of the time at least). i have some very good friends, granted most all of them are many, many miles away. that's probably one of the harder things. no one here just to talk to, express these feelings. so i try to write it down or i try just to push it to the darkest corners of my mind. and i do it to myself, i really do.
sometimes things happen in life that you have absolutely no control over. take this guy at work...so over the weekend he was putting in a couple of hours only to find out by email that his girlfriend has died in a plane crash. of course i felt sympathy, but it wasn't until today that it started to bother me. just like that, one instant, one choice and a life is gone. a person in your life is gone. that could have been you, that could have been me, and instead it was a stranger, some guy's girlfriend, some parents daughter.
but what about tomorrow.... what will another day bring? i don't know, but in that day am i going to be satisfied with the person i've become? i know who i used to be, all those years ago. it's like i have these stills in my head at different stages in my life and i know i'm not them anymore but they are still part of me - the insecure one that creeps out every now and again, the quiet one who's content to just sit amongst the crowd, the lonely one staring at words. staring at words...
You know Eve Slender as panic Lips full But her mouth is empty No question she poses In your hand her hand opens and closes
You know Earl Angry as silence He bruises every room he walks into He drinks and laughs in a burst You'll never crush him cause he'll crush himself first
And everyone I know Everyone I know Everyone I know Can only talk to strangers Talk to strangers
You know Anne Tender as righteous She's here Naming everything The words never run out She only talks when she knows what she's talking about
And everyone I know Everyone I know Everyone I know Can only talk to strangers Talk to strangers
It's her hand shaking And it's his rage wasting And it's her mouth aching And it's my tongue saving myself from myself
And everyone I know Everyone I know Everyone I know Can only talk to strangers Talk to strangers
You know me Hopeful as a second guess Both hands free Reaching out into emptiness
california...a guy smashes into the state capital last night, there are rolling blackouts today and more to come tomorrow (my heat is down to 62 & all the lights are off so i feel justified in my computer power consumption)...what the hell am i doing living in this state. serenity now.
was going through some old notes and scraps of paper tonight when i came across some "quotes" from a trip to Denver with my then roommate. no need to ask...of course i'll share.
"good thing i don't know what a fake Montana ID looks like" - bouncer at Bluebird Theatre where we went to see Train (and Far Too Jones opened)
"yea, we're trying to get to Utah..." - me to the ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park, inquiring whether the roads were open
"i drink fast, eat fast, i do everything fast" - jenn said it, not i
you know what's frustrating....when you haven't talked to someone is a very long time and when you do try, the phone number is wrong or has been disconnected. and they never even told you...bastards.
ahhh the memories. freshman year of college...battle of the bands... i dragged my dork of a roommate with me and end up driving her back to the dorms after 1 band has played. i get back in time to only hear a few songs from oblio joes...damn you jenn. give a listen here.
Some people that work at Best Buy are assholes, some are idiots. Kris gave me this kick ass Canon Elph camera for graduation and at the Counting Crows/Live concert in Berkeley...it somehow broke. Well, I tried taking it back before Christmas, but the lines were way to long for me to want to deal with. I went back this weekend, but in the meantime my parents gave me a digital camera for Christmas.
See, my plan was to use the credit to buy a digital since I already have a nice 35 mm, a point and click 35 mm, and a polaroid. After getting the digital, I was just going to get a printer, but NOOOO. The management at Best Buy wouldn't have it...no, I had to buy a camera. So I see this as an opportunity to upgrade the 35 mm zoom I have which is at least 10 years old...but when I finally pick out a Canon Rebel...they are sold out of the model I want. At this point I'm just getting irritated and decide that yes, i can afford to buy the upgraded model.
Cut to 10 minutes ago...I am searching BestBuy.com to post a link to the camera I bought when I realize, they sold me the one I wanted in the first place (which I would have noticed if I'd looked at the receipt). Anyway...guess it all worked out in the end and now I have a Canon Rebel XS.
Saw Cowboy Mouth on Thursday night making it the first concert of the year. Quite the way to get things started right. The opening band was 7th House and for never having heard of them before I was impressed and entertained. I think the drummer could have been Fred's (of Cowboy Mouth) illegitimate son... As for CM's set...just so much energy which is impressive with the usually aloof Hollywood crowd. Stuck around after the show with Karen to get my ticket signed (i might have to stop saying i don't go the autograph route) and being my usual stoic self, waited while others did their thing. This resulted in 1. being made fun of by Fred and 2. getting a hug and called "darlin." Definitely a solid live show though. Next up looks to be Peter Stuart at The Mint.
it's raining again this morning. realize that i'm not complaining in the least. last night was the first time in ages that i was able to just sit in my room and listen to the rain as it hit the earth. i missed that.
it rained for the second day in a row which i believe a record in the year and a half that i've been here. so i'm sure you've heard the u2 song beautiful day... well, the lyrics go something like "see the oil fields at first light ... it was a beautiful day" and for once I could at least agree that it was a beautiful morning.
got glen? i did today. finally after such a long wait abulum was in my mailbox. i also bought my first cd of the year. never made notice of what was the first disc i bought...not sure why i did this time around. in case you were wondering, it was Unified Theory. first heard about them at a Counting Crows show this past summer but it took me until know to get around to checking them out. from the first time i heard Whither the melody was stuck in my head...almost haunting.
Started looking over some travel plans for this summer going to the Canadian Rockies and Banff...a road trip of sorts. i just want to be there NOW. No, instead of looking out up on pristine mountains and lush vegetation, i have pumping units and pipelines in my line of vision and if i'm lucky...you might be able to make out the small vertical elevation changes they call mountains through the haze. But i love it here (watch your step...i spilled a little sarcasm there).
So what i'm lacking here is content. Yea, i think i've worked the layout nearly to death and i'm still not completely happy with some things, but it will work for now. That and i've spent way too much time in front of a computer in the last couple of days. Most of the day at work and then put in a good stint working on this. i'm just too damn picky so please, email me and tell me that this sucks.
