Thursday, April 29, 2004

I just got done shaving. I shave at night to save time in the mornings. My face is burning, probably due to the fact that I'm bleeding profusely from thousands of tiny little marks as always. I don't know what it is, but I don't think I've ever managed to escape from shaving without cutting myself to pieces. It could be the fact that now that I'm 20 I've got all this acne I never had when I was actually going through puberty. I don't know what the hell's going on, but every day I'm getting more and more pizza faced. I definitely don't like it. But I'm not upset about it enough to go buy acne cream or anything. This newest blemish right in that dent between my nose and my top lip is really hideous, but I'll just say it adds character to my face or something. I stopped eating desserts really, I thought that'd help the acne situation, but nope. Made it worse. What the hell.

So my date with Leslie went surprisingly smoothly. I didn't bore her to tears, and we seemed to get along well. My completely lack of self esteem prevents me from completely believing her when she said she "had a blast" but if that's true then... yay me, I guess. There was only one or two minor bumps in the road. Instead of her coming up here I got a call around 7 to go down there, because her truck broke. I think that was my fault since I joked about it breaking the day before. My bad. So I got down there not knowing what we were doing, and she rushes us out the door, but not before her mom could come up and see me. Which was weird. They're both the same height (short), so that was funny. Plus I seemed tall for once, which was cool. So we went to the movies, at a theater which was 40 minutes away from her house (which was 40 minutes away from my house). That's all well and good, it gave us a chance to talk. Then we got there at 8:45 or so and found out the movie was playing at 9:55, so we walked around this lake and went into a hotel and rode the elevators and walked down the stairs and all that good stuff. Then we watched the movie, then it got out after midnight, so I was tired because I'm a pussy who doesn't stay up late. So on the ride home I think I was pretty boring and maybe a bit depressing, but she assures me she didn't see it. Hard to believe. But we made it back to her house about 1, I went in for a bit, then I left after scaring her by saying I was so tired I had a 50/50 chance of making it home. I think I was joking, but I was really tired, I can't really remember what happened when I was leaving her house. But I made it back here a little before 2, alive, and that was that. So hooray for me, I finally entertained someone, I think. Unless she's lying. But I don't think she is. I hope not, anyway.

Sunday morning is the 30 cent parking lot sale at the Finest. I guess I'm going to that, I'd appreciate some company. Also... Monday, I think, is Brother Ali if anyone wants to go. I won't be heartbroken if no one... well, shit, I'm working, nevermind. Whatever. No more concerts this semester, then. But the parking lot sale, if anyone wants to go, we should do that.

Alright, look, I'm not big into linking things, but here's the deal. If you haven't been reading the Modest Destiny comics, you're a fool, plain and simple. That's the link to the first comic the guy made, so just read straight through all of them, because they're a story, not just like single comics. They're also fucking hilarious. And there's a new comic that's been keeping my attention, called Scary Go Round. That right there should be the first comic in that series. It also deserves to be read from the beginning. It's very British and very odd, but it's very interesting and pretty damn funny, too. So those are two good ways to waste time.

My paper situation is this: I've finished my myth paper (it's shit), finished revising my theory paper (it's not that much different than the original, but it's pure gold), and haven't even thought about my english paper. I do have three books I checked out to write it, though, so Saturday I'll start writing that, and Sunday I can finish it. And then it's just coast through the last week of school, fail all my finals, and take off for Georgia, I guess. I really don't want to work this summer, but I don't want to sit at home, either. I just hope I can get a job that's not making sandwiches. If sandwiches weren't such a good food item, I'd hate them. Maybe I can get a nice construction job so I can get in shape and be outside and all that. But I'm pretty weak, so they probably wouldn't want me there. Plus I don't know how to operate heavy machinery. And I'm clumsy. And I have cerebral palsy. And I'm paralyzed from the waist down. And I have the plague.

Monday, April 26, 2004

So tomorrow's the big day. See my last entry or maybe the previous one for an explanation. I've kind of got the jitters, mostly because I'm really boring and have no self esteem (obviously), and that's not exactly a turn on for girls. So I'll spend tomorrow repeating "hey, say something interesting tonight" to see if there's some way I can change for at least one night. We'll see. Wish me luck.

I hate my job. I want to be a construction worker. If anyone can get me in to the construction business, let me know. Seriously.

In an effort to be less of a fat disgusting pig I've been doing a little bit of exercise and eating a little less. I've actually been turning down donuts, and I've donated my girl scout cookies to the house. I don't know if it's really working, but my work pants sure are hard to keep up now. So maybe it is doing something. Or maybe they just got stretched out sometime. All I know is I can do markedly more situps and pushups than when I first started, so at least I'm building some stamina or something.

Blind Melon is a band worth checking out. If all you know is that No Rain song, you really don't have any idea how good that band is. Great guitar work. I've never listened to it while high, but I can imagine that it's good stoner music. So if someone wants to test that out for me and let me know, that'd be good.

I think the penalty for driving drunk should be death. Well... maybe not. But I think the penalty for driving drunk should be the same as that for attempted murder, because that's what drunk driving is. Fuck you if you drive drunk. You're worthless piece of shit who values your life over everyone else's, and I hope when you crash because you're driving drunk, you run into a telephone pole and kill yourself, instead of running into a van carrying a family on vacation. I'm sick of this shit. People go to jail for a long time for dealing drugs, but you get a ticket for driving drunk. This country is fucked up and gone to hell. Very few things really piss me off, but driving drunk is inexcusable, and if a cop pulls you over he should drag your drunk ass out of the car, beat the shit out of you for being an asshole, and throw you in jail for fifteen years, and I'm not even exaggerating about that.

I'd like to give a shout out to Charlie for taking me to the driving range and fishing this past weekend. Though I definitely shanked just about every ball I hit in the air, and we got no bites fishing, it was still fun to get outside and do something different for a change. Also, thanks to Charlie and Cam and... Danielle and maybe Kara, for coming to the Matson Jones concert with me. I know it was a pretty crappy concert, but thanks for coming anyway. We did get some quality air hockey in, anyway. As far as I know, that's the end of the concerts for the year, so I won't drag you guys to anything else for a while. Unless anyone wants to go to Brother Ali.

Alright. So... I guess that's it. It was a really nice night tonight. Maybe if tomorrow's nice and I don't screw up too bad initially, I'll be going on a nice romantic walk. But probably not. Cheers. (Screw the British, I say)

Sunday, April 25, 2004

Links time again, folks. First, sign a petition to prevent the FCC from limiting free speech. Once you do that, your reward is 3 awesome Filmmaker songs. It looks like the band has broken up, unfortunately. These three songs are amazing, I'd really like to see more by these guys, but alas, it looks like that won't happen.

So last night was the last regularly scheduled show of the semester. It was lots of fun, as usual, and I totally look forward to the Napster and Dr. Jerk Show, Friday nights from 6-8. For those of you who don't care (everyone), here's the list of songs I played for my last 12-2 show:
1. Sink, Florida, Sink (acoustic) - Against Me!
2. Sink, Florida, Sink (electric) - Against Me!
3. Losin' Everyone - Drag the River
4. Lion and the Lamb - Get Up Kids
5. The Impotence of Proofreading - Taylor Mali
6. Give It All - Rise Against
7. Nick Motown - Snuff
8. No Voice of Mine - Strung Out
9. Land and Come for Us - Sleep Station
10. Martyr Me - Get Up Kids (request #1)
11. Everything I Won't Miss - Fifth Hour Hero
12. Weird Beard - Mad Caddies
13. Overcome (The Recapitulation) - Rx Bandits
14. Caramel - Pollen
15. My Black Lung - Filmmaker
16. Twenty-Seven - Lagwagon
17. The Raw and Searing Flesh - Lawrence Arms
18. Watermark - Weakerthans
19. Off the Wagon - Bad Astronaut
20. Save Your Breath - Cadillac Blindside
21. Jaw, Knee, Music - NOFX
22. Going, Going, Gone - Co-ed
23. Badly Drawn - Fifth Hour Hero
24. June and the Ocean - Junction 18
25. Guilty - All
26. Coming Home - Lucero
27. Kill the Lights - Races to April
28. Motion Sickness - Fairweather
29. Anchor - Osker
30. Walking Is Still Honest - Against Me! (request #2)
31. My Favorite Things - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

So there you have it. Awesome songs abound, if I do say so myself.

Also, if you feel like leaving a comment, feel free to do so by clicking on one of the 48 comment buttons. I have no idea why the old comments disappeared, but it looks like they're back again, maybe. I just like seeing "Comments (0) Comments [Comment - (0)]" or something like that. I'm overwhelmed at the abundance of comment options available to you, the reader. Singular, of course, since there really is only one person who reads this, probably.

Yeah, that's it for now. I'll think of something funny to say later (no I won't).

UPDATE: Adam went and fixed the comments, so now there's only one comment button. He effectively made my non-humorous tirade about the comments button look like the rantings of a hallucinating penguin. So forget everything I said.
Someone stole our comments! I go to see how much love we've been getting from our adoring fans, and there's no comment buttons anymore. So I go check Cam's blog and he doesn't have any comment buttons either. The plot thickens. But Charlie's blog does have comment buttons. But he's using a different system than me and Cam. So I had to go out and get a new comments thing. But it's there now. It's just there aren't any comments anymore. I'm sure we're all upset about that, but together, if we all hold hands and chant and stuff, we can make it through this tragedy. On a side note, Trista, I did see your comment before the old system evaporated into thin air, so... thanks.

I never updated y'all on the concert last weekend, after all that hyping it up. The Front was a tolerable but completely mediocre female fronted punk band with no frills at all. The Code was just plain bad, an Anti-Flag ripoff with no talent whatsoever. The preachy lyrics weren't doing it for me, and that guy's voice was pissing me off. Against All Authority was pretty damn good. Their bass player was crazy, he was playing with four fingers, not the measly two most of us play with. It was cool watching him. Unfortunately, they played only three or four songs off my favorite album by them, a couple off of their b-sides CD, and a bunch off of All Fall Down. I think this is because All Fall Down was kind of a ska album, a lot of horns, and since they bring their horn player on tour they didn't want him to just stand there like an imbecile and do nothing. Whatever. The Suicide Machines had a pretty cool setup, they had six little TVs going showing pictures of nuclear bombs and things related to nuclear bombs. It's better than the usual nothing, anyway. And they played a lot of songs. Only one off of their pop S/T album, a few from Battle Hymns, a good amount from their newest album, and most of their first album. I'm guessing only a couple off Steal This Record because I don't have that, but I recognized just about all the songs. They're really good live, they put on a good show and they seem like they're really enjoying themselves. I'd recommend seeing them and AAA, but definitely don't go out of your way to see those first two bands.

Then last night's concert was kind of a debacle. I assumed that like, you know, every single other show I've ever seen at the Starlight, doors would be at 8, show would be at (at being a relative word, they never start on time) 9. I was right about doors, but the show didn't start until 10:45. I postulated that maybe the reason it was taking so long was because the bands would suck, so they had to wait until everyone got drunk so they didn't notice. I think I might have been right. The first band, Ready Machete, was... bad. Yeah, there's really no creative way to say it. They had a weird out of tune low guitar, a crazy bass player (crazy player, the bass was nothing special), a drummer (yup) and an organ player/singer. The musical parts of the band were alright, but when that girl starting singing it sent lightning bolts through my head. Off-key and amelodic. Bad voice. Bad band. Then the Tarmints played and they were the most mediocre band I've ever heard. They did absolutely nothing for me, but I don't harbor any feelings of hatred towards them. They just played this compltely uninspired rock music with no personality that wasn't any good, but it wasn't bad at all either. Then Matson Jones played, and I still want to marry that girl who looks like a doll. Those guys are awesome, even if Cam did spill water all over our elevated seats so we couldn't see for most of the show. I'll see them again, I'm sure, but I may just show up at like midnight so I can skip the crap bands.

I'm thinking a delicious breakfast burrito may be in order today, assuming we have tortillas. Then I HAVE TO (read: probably won't) write at least one paper today. Time is running out and I still have these two and a half (one I just have to revise and stuff) papers sitting here that I haven't even thought about. So if I get one of them done today I'll feel better about my situation. One only has to be 4-5 pages, so I should be able to pump that out in an hour if I can think of anything to say.

The Avalanche sure have sucked so far this round in the playoffs.

That bitch left early again at work yesterday. That's the third time in three weeks. She doesn't understand the fact that when she leaves, it sends signals out to everyone on campus to come eat Subway, so 15 minutes before I close 20 people show up. That pisses me off. She didn't ask or anything yesterday, she was just like "I'm not staying until four." So another rant on work might be in order, but I'll skip it. I'll just say that I hate the people I work with because they're lazy pieces of shit. And coming from me, a lazy piece of shit, that's saying something.

I have a "date" with Leslie on Tuesday. I don't know what it is, really, but we're going to go see a movie. This will be the first actual date I've ever been on, if it turns out to really be a date. I'm bad at reading people, so who knows. Again, I won't get excited about anything until it's so clear that even I can see it. But hopefully that won't bomb. Okay, nature calls.

UPDATE: The comments are back. The old comments. Weird. So... okay then.

Thursday, April 22, 2004

Adam just informed me that they're supposed to get anywhere from 5-12 inches of snow between now and tomorrow night. That is ridiculous. So I'll use this post to rub in the fact that it's 60 degrees outside once the sun sets, and around 80 when the sun is up. It's so nice.

Yesterday in my Psychology of Human Intimacy course, my teacher, a short 60 year old Persian man, cut the two and a half hour long class short by an hour and fifteen minutes. This is unprecedented, seeing as how we usually hold class for two hours and twenty eight minutes, most days. So why the shortened class? Well, my teacher's daughter in law dropped by with his two grandkids and he was "so happy, I can't talk." Those were his exact words. And just seeing those two baby kids, one cute boy and one very attractive girl (I'm not a pedophile, I swear), it made me happy, too. I don't know why, really, but just seeing how content he was... It was neat.

Rock Against Bush Vol 1. Get it. After hyping it up without even having heard it, I can now continue to hype it, since I know it's good. I have renewed faith in the Alkaline Trio. Notably Matt Skiba's song writing ability. PICK IT UP! There. Caps AND an exclamation point. That'll motivate you to go get it.

14 more days. That is fucking ridiculous. It's about time to get the hell out of Blue Ridge, though. This dorm is just about the worst place in the world. I'm so ready to move into a townhouse. That'll be so awesome.

I had a weird day yesterday, since it was one of those days where it seemed like everywhere I went I would run into someone I knew. Which is weird since I have no friends. But either on the bus, or walking to/from class, or wherever, I'd see someone who would recognize me and I'd recognize them, but there's still that awkward feel as we're both unsure as to whether or not the other person really remembers us, so it's a half-wave, half-glance, and then we pass one another and that's the end of that. But it's kinda cool, at the same time, since it's like, "hey, I know people after all."

The radio show this Saturday is the last regularly scheduled one of the semester. Yannos will be co-hosting, the first time in many a week. So tune in and listen. I mean, TUNE IN! There we go. If that tactic worked once before, surely it'll work again. Right?

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Yes, Brian, I am writing something tonight. You must have, like, ESPN or something. Alright, so there's this movie coming out, I forget what it's called, it may or may not have Lindsay Lohan in it, but that joke's used in there, and therefore I'm going to have to give it the ol' ADAM VETO! Yes, the Adam veto has been laid on that movie, and therefore if there were a god, it would not only make zero dollars, it would also spontaneously combust.

The Finest can kiss my black ass. How can it not ever get any new CDs in? How can it charge 16.99 for an Elliott Smith CD? I went in there after classes today in the hopes of picking up at least one, at most three CDs. Those CDs are the new Rock Against Bush comp, Pulley's new CD, and the Alkaline Trio/One Man Army split. And how many of those did they have? ZERO. And how many other CDs even marginally of interest did they have? ZERO. If this keeps up, when they have their 30 cents parking lot sale in a couple weeks, I won't even be able to find anything I want to spend 30 cents on. Screw The Finest, support your local huge national chain store like Best Buy. There's a reason independent stores stay independent, and it's because they're goddamn expensive, and they don't get shit for new releases. But it's right there in a convenient location so I'll keep going there and getting pissed off.

I also have a couple words to say about wind: It sucks. You can't even see it, but you're walking along and all of a sudden it shoots up and blows you off course. What the hell, wind? There's no hurry, you don't have to get anywhere that fast. Take it easy.

People who talk on cell phones should be put into concentration camps and herded into the incinerator. I'm Jewish, so shut up about the Nazi thing. Let's say I'm trying to study somewhere because I've got loads and loads of stuff to do. And then let's say some jackass comes waltzing down the hall doing his "yeah, I'm cool, I'm talking on a cell phone" walk. And he's yelling at the top of his lungs into the little piece of plastic, "YEAH MAN! I GOT SO DRUNK LAST NIGHT! I COULDN'T EVEN WALK! I KNOW, IT WAS AWESOME! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT? DRINKING! HELL YEAH BRO!" Now how does this make me feel? See the first sentence of this paragraph for the answer to that. I understand the need for cell phones. I don't understand why you can't tell your buddy to meet you in the student center where you can sit down and talk. Maybe talking on your cell phone all the time makes you feel like you have real friends. Well, it makes you look like a jackass. Hang up the phone. You don't need to talk all the time. Silence is golden. I hope you get throat cancer and have to talk with that thing Steven Hawking has.

Speaking of cell phones... If you have a job, do me a favor and put the damn thing away while you're working. Don't see how many calls you've missed. Don't check your messages. Do your job. And also, don't have friends stop by and talk to you for extended periods of time. It's cool if friends stop by to say hey and chat for a minute, but when they're distracting you from work, it has to stop. I sound like a party pooper, but that's what I am, alright? You get paid to work. Socialize in your off time. Especially if you're working with me and I'm trying to close because I've got shit to do, and you're wondering what the number is from Denver that keeps trying to call you. It doesn't matter. If you want to talk on your cell phone and to your goofy looking guy friends all night, request the day off and do so. Let me work with someone who's willing to work. That being said, props to Talitha for being cool.

Wiffleball is the great American pasttime. But we need a new bat because when people come over everyone thinks it's a good idea to throw heavy things at the plastic bat. I don't know why. Also, old potatoes are stinky.
This is amazing. I've got two consecutive posts in a row? That means Adam's gonna write something tonight and shove aside this highly entertaining and splendidly insightful post. Actually, since this post is neither highly entertaining or splendidly insightful, I suppose that's acceptable.

Fifth Hour Hero. There's a band you should check out. "Everything I Won't Miss" is a great song, you should download that one. Gunmoll might not be bad, either, from the few songs I've heard by them. "Less Than You Hoped For" is the song of choice for me.

So I've got my two 6 page papers behind me, as well as the Mary Oliver presentation for Poetry. The rest of the week should, hopefully, go smoothly. However, I do need to start some prep work on the two papers due next Thursday. Essay writing never gets old, let me tell you.

Today Rock Against Bush Vol 1 comes out. Your homework assignment is to pick this up. Unreleased tracks by Rise Against, Against Me!, Strung Out, NOFX and others = very good. Plus, it comes with a bonus DVD with who knows what kind of stuff on there. All for the price of (about) 6 bucks. Plus, the money goes to support punkvoter.com, which is a very worthy cause.

Look at me, throwing links around like crazy.

The weather is beginning to get very, very nice. Go outside.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

So here's something I've decided: I don't like lies. The truth, as unappealing as it may be, is at least better than blatant lies. That's all I have to say.

Here's another thing I've decided: If you find the Armchair Martian/Bad Astronaut split, in the name of all that is holy, pick it up. It's 3 amazing Armchair Martian songs, 3 of my all time favorite Bad Astronaut songs, and one fun cover song the two bands collaborated on. Some of the best 17 minutes of music out there.

I just found out about a possible Races to April show tomorrow (Friday) night. Hopefully that'll happen, it's been much too long since I've seen those guys play their awesome music. Everyone should go. I mean, it's $4. You can find that much money under the couch.

I have two (2) papers due Monday. I have a feeling Sunday night won't be much fun. I'm trying to find the motivation to write them before Sunday night, but that's not happening.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 comes out tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be as good as the first. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I'm trying to set up a Sleep Station show in Harrisonburg on May 31st. Anyone who wants to help me out, let me know. Any contribution would be much appreciated. Especially with the showing up part, I'd like that. Sleep Station is a great band, and if you don't know who they are, go here and educate yourself. Again, in the name of all that is holy.

I've also got a new short story in the works, as well as a new B&A Records script, but the problem is: A) I have no time to write for fun, what with all these papers; B) I cannot write the middle part of stories, just the beginning and endings; and C) There is no C, I just felt like making three points.

I don't know what's wrong with Rold Gold (registered) Pretzels. First of all, I always thought it was Rold's Gold, not Rold Gold (registered). Guess they're not a fan of the possessive. Also, they have way too much salt. I eat 3 pretzels and I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack and go blind from the sharp increase in my sodium intake. NaCl, that's the chemical term for salt. Don't ask me how I remember that. I remember the oddest things. Couldn't tell you a damn thing about my Biology class freshman year of high school, but I can tell you that that NaCl is the chemical term for salt. I'm weird.

Breaking news! An Against Me!/Lucero split????? Hell yes. It's not fair, how No Idea Records teases us so. But it'll be worth the wait. Oh, it'll be worth the wait.
So this is how this week's gone. Tuesday I was in the library studying, and I made a note to myself to stop, copy some stuff at 1:45, go downstairs and look for English books, and be out by 2, so I could go to the bathroom and study for my history quiz for an hour. So I'm in the bathroom at like 2:10, and I realize that my class starts at 2:10. So I've got to pinch it off (at this point, I should warn you that this is not the G rated entry you thought it'd be) and run over to class. So the moral of this story is I didn't get to study for the quiz, but I'm a motherfucking genius so I got an 8/10. (The gratuitous cussing is due to the fact that I already said "pinching it off" so I figure I might as well not hold back). And then today I go into class and there's all these people walking around with maps. So I grab one girl who sits a few seats away from me because of that pesky unattractiveness aura I've got hovering around me, and ask her why she's carrying that map. Turns out there was a map test today that nobody mentioned to me, and I hadn't studied for. So this girl, being the angel that she is, gave me an extra blank map (I'm giving her one back, and I'd like to give her something else for being so nice, but I don't know what) and let me use her practice map to study off of. I said thank you about a million times, but that just didn't seem to cut it for me. So instead of failing miserably, I did only pretty bad. So whoever you are, girl, God bless you for being so nice when you didn't have to.

I have a test tomorrow in Western Myth. I don't have to take it because I took the first one, but I'd like to because it would make the final count for less. I have a test Monday in Shakespeare. I do have to take that because I didn't take the first one. My grade should plummet. On Tuesday I have a real history test, which I will kick the ass of and get another high A. On Wednesday I have an English quiz over Early Modern and Modern English. On Thursday I have a rough draft of a 10-12 page research paper due. On Friday I will sleep 24 hours. And finally, next Saturday I will hopefully be going to see Matson Jones. Matson Jones is the shiznit. Y'all should come. Except Brian. He can come, but I don't expect him to make the trip from Virginia. Alright, I just had to whine about my workload.

Again, if you're cool, you'll come see the Suicide Machines and Against All Authority this Saturday. Let me know. Peace.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

What is the deal with British people? Okay, Welsh people. They might still be British, I don't know what Britland is. I'm reading the book about the English as a Global Language, written by a Welshman, and not only do they use the extra lettours (letters... yeah), but apparently they have no concept of a billion. I've been putting up with this 1,000 million business, but just now he wrote out "One thousand million," and I couldn't take it anymore. It's a billion, it ain't that hard a concept. Geez.

Everyone knows by now that there's a lot of things I don't like. Well, I decided to demonstrate that there are some things I do like:

I like it when I'm walking at night under a streetlight and it goes out. I don't know why, it's just, it's all light, and then I pass under it and it goes out. There's a lot of superstitions about that, I don't know what they are, but you can probably ask a girl about that. They know that stuff. I just know it's cool, and it makes me happy.

I also have decided that my favorite time of day is dusk. Just as far as observing goes. I walked outside taking the trash out from Subway today at dusk, and it's really pretty. The sky turns this pale but somewhat dark blue, it's sunset... I like that. If I had someone to cuddle with, that's the time I'd do it. But alas...

There. I do like things. I'm a sappy guy deep down (those of you who know me well are probably laughing pretty hard right now). Okay, I'm not sappy, I'm a jaded, mean, sarcastic, cynical asshole and I like it. But there are some good things in life. Like getting home from a long day of school and work and having an email from a girl for no reason, that ain't bad at all.

But enough of that. I decided that guys like to play basketball because it's acceptable for them to take their shirts off while playing. It's much less acceptable to play baseball or polo topless. I say this because I always walk to my car and pass the basketball courts, and there's all these guys playing basketball topless. So I watch (not ogle) them, and they suck. There's no reason for them to be playing this, except that they like being topless outside so girls can check them out. I'm no good at basketball, as evidenced by my performance yesterday, but then again, I'm not out there playing it topless. Egotistical bastards.

Alright, Suicide Machines and Against All Authority on Saturday. 7:00. I don't know how much. Don't make me go alone (but I will, dammit). Let me know if you want to come. They're a couple pretty big bands in the punk scene, so we need to show up on time to get in, I'd say. Alright, that's it for today. Peace.

Sunday, April 11, 2004

WEEKEND UPDATE TIME! Hooray! I'll give you a minute or two to regain consciousness/catch your breath/put your private parts back in your pants.

So what's going on? Nothing. I'm bored, that's what's going on. I need to go to the library to do my research paper, and that pisses me off. Usually I can just get on the internet for five minutes and get enough sources that I can pump out an essay in a few hours, but this time I have to look at books. It's not like that in the requirements or anything, but being incredibly smart I picked a topic that short little internet articles aren't written about. It's basically authorial intention in Richard Wright's Black Boy. So I need to know who his intended audience was when the book came out, what the reception was like between whites and blacks, stuff like that. Whole books are written on this. There is no way in hell I can read whole books on this subject. A)I don't have time, and B)The boredom just might kill me. My other research paper, on the extinction of languages and the role of english in said extinction, I can at least feign interest in. But authorial intention in Black Boy is not interesting in any way shape or form. Literary theory should be avoided at all costs. It's not a bad class as far as the actual class and teacher go, but there is absolutely nothing more boring and pointless than literary theory. These people treat books as if they're divine. Now, I like reading as much as the next guy, but I do it mainly for entertainment. These literary theory people are insane. I just read a whole essay about the difference between the "work" and the "text." The "work" is the physical entity, the "text" is an ethereal existence that hovers somewhere between this world and the next, that connects to all human experiences and unites us all. Actually, I don't think I understood two words in that essay, but from what I could figure, that was the gyst of it. Jist of it. Gist of it. Jyst of it. Is any of those a correct spelling? So when you're looking to take free electives, don't take literary theory classes. This is the kind of stuff that makes me not like english majors, the "we're smarter than you" attitude. I'm a pretty smart fellow, but if I ever turn into one of these egocentric assholes who think intelligence is something to hold above all other values, shoot me.

I'm also reading, or attempting to read, a book about English as a Global Language. This is a topic on the level of The Experience of Staring Blankly at a Piece of Paper in terms of excitement. 200 pages about how people all over the world are speaking english. Who...gives...a...shit... I already knew that shit, I could have told you that people speak english in less than 200 pages. Here, I'll do it right now. English started as an Indo European language derived from Anglo Saxon through the West Germanic family of languages. It spread because the people who spoke it were powerful and greedy and conquered lots of areas. Now people all over the world speak english because, well, the people who speak it are the most powerful in the world. There you go. Of course, I left out stuff about specific countries and what it's used for in say, southeast Asia, but who cares about that? Nobody.

I've gotten a 96 and 100 on my tests in history. She said that class was hard. I don't like her.

Oh, alright, how about some more quotes from my teacher?

"That makes me think of something else, but it's not really important... But I'll tell you anyway."
"A rule in life is to never trust anyone who says 'trust me.'"
"If you go to your parents' house and say 'I'm going to steal your silverware tonight,' you're not a thief, you're a negotiator."
"I like naked women."
"People ask me what I teach and I say western mythology and they say 'Oh.'"
"You can't trust cops anymore."
"I was walking with my wife and a bullet zinged by my ear, and then I heard the report from a rifle. And of course I knew I had an obligation to protect my wife, but I took off running first. Then I thought better of it and turned around."
"My wife won't let me do the laundry because I refuse to separate the colors and I refuse to use sufficient soap."
"I'm not forming sentences right today... I went to a party last night, so my energy is drained. So I'm out of it today. And that's too bad because this is really important stuff, but whatever."

I was up talking to a girl until 3 in the morning last night. That's the first time that shit's happened in a long time. So I was all happy to sleep in today, since I haven't gotten to do that in forever, and then I woke up at 10:21. What the hell is that about? I've got my internal clock set so I can't sleep in. It's terrible. But whatever, I went to the grocery store and bought four boxes of cereal, two big boxes of waffles, and some eggs. We already have a ton of eggs, but I don't know how old they are and I'm not a big fan of salmonella (Trista had it once, it sounded pretty nasty), so I didn't want to take my chances. There's some eggs in there from January and Charlie broke one and put it down the sink just to see how bad it would smell, and it stuffed up the garbage disposal. So I should go down there right now and throw those eggs away. But nah. Anyway, I needed the eggs because when I saw bacon and tortillas in the refrigerator I got the idea in my head that I should make breakfast burritos. So I got the eggs, came home, got a tortilla, fried up three pieces of bacon, put it on the tortilla with some cheese, poured some cheese on top of the bacon, scrambled two eggs, put cheese on top of those, salted and peppered it, rolled it up, put some cheese on top of it, heated it in the microwave, and it was deeeelicious. My plan was to make a delicious breakfast burrito and I succeeded. So now I have one thing that I can make well. I'm a culinary artist!

The Girl Next Door is a very good movie. I suggest you go see it. I always knew Elisha Cuthbert was attractive, but I had no idea just how attractive until then. Plus it was funny, and it was touching enough that I didn't cry, but that I felt pretty good. Good stuff.

Cam's away messages are funny because he makes mundane things like sleeping or videogames sound exciting. "I am playin' some fucking videogames!" and "I'm sleeping like a bitch!" So, in conclusion, to make anything exciting, throw a cuss word in there and put an exclamation point at the end.

Friday, April 09, 2004

It's official. Nickleback's songs all sound the same. Find out for yourself. Thanks to Jesse's friend for putting that up in his or her profile. That's great.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

I am completely and totally drained of all the life that's in me. I'm sure that sounds depressing, and it kind of is, but it's not that bad. I just mean I've been a busy guy recently, and yes, I'm out of energy. I'm sure Brian knows how that is, what with his Macrock (which I won't capitalize properly) weekend. So now for my weekend (and Monday and Tuesday) update.

Friday night we saw Scooby Doo 2, and it will sweep the Academy Awards. Okay, maybe not, but it was pretty damn good, I thought, quite funny, about on the level of the first one, which I liked a lot. It was us, and some little kids and parents. I don't know why our generation's scared to watch kids' movies, but for as long as I have breath within me, I swear I'll always love cartoons and bright colors and people getting hit in the head with boards.

Somehow I got myself into working both Saturday and Sunday (actually, not somehow, Evan from work called and in a moment of bad judgement I agreed to work for him on Sunday... never again), which severely limited my time for homework, which as we'll see shall come back to haunt me. About Friday or Saturday morning I discovered Drag the River was playing a show Saturday night, and I decided to go because I didn't want to think about all the stuff I had to do. Cam, out of the goodness of his heart, not wanting me to go alone, came along. So thanks Cam, you're all right. Anyway, the first band to play wasn't that good, it had some good guitar solos but the singer's voice would have killed a lesser man. But then, sweet Jesus, the next band blew my ass clear across the room. Matson Jones, we'd come to find was their name, and they were absolutely amazing. It's a rock/punk/alternative/something band that features two cellos, a bowed standup bass, and drums, fronted by two gorgeous female cellists. We had no idea what to expect when they brought their instruments out, but by the end, all we could say was "That was awesome." It's really like nothing I'd ever heard or seen before, and it was the hilight of my weekend. Then Drag the River came on and played 30 or 40 minutes, a good mix of new and old stuff, and I can say with certainty that their next album will be amazing if those songs are on there. Good stuff.

Then this band called Sack came on, and they were like a harder version of the Ramones or the Nobodys but not as good. It was getting on 2:30 in the morning with the damn time change, and I had to work, so I was tempted to go anyway. But also, there was this 50 year old guy down in the crowd swaying stupidly to the music, some kid kept jumping up on stage and jumping off into nobody and just landing on the ground, and some weird ass guy was like raising his hands to the sky like it was Woodstock and we were watching Jimi Hendrix. It was time to go.

So work on Sunday sucked. Then I came home and did jack shit because I didn't want to, plus I only had like an hour before we left to go see the Mad Caddies. We met up with John and Josh down there. And... yes, I still owe Eric 10 bucks for the ticket. Don't let me forget that. So Eric and I had a series of good conversations, I thought, compared to the conversations I usually have. I remember talking about how dumb people are, aliens, world peace, Area 51, politics, the decline of the United States, and probably a lot more. I hadn't had a good conversation with anyone in a while, I was due, I guess. I talked a lot more than I usually do, sorry about that. Anyway, I figured out why I always feel like the oldest person when I go to shows. People who are older than me are 21, and they're sitting up in the elevated section avoiding all the dumb kids, and in 9 months or so, that's what I'll be doing too. Plus I'll be getting into shows for free up here. Speaking of which, Matson Jones are playing two shows in a couple weeks, one at the Starlight, and one in Denver, and if anyone wants to go to those, I'm definitely down. Anyway, Action Shot was first, nobody knew who they were, but they played some above average ska/punk. I wasn't into them at first, then I got into them, then I fell out of them. Then Throw Rag came on, and they're a bunch of odd looking fellows from who knows where. They have a fat, disgusting washboard player who likes getting naked, and a skinny singer who struts around stage doing really slow poses. I was so engaged watching their antics that I didn't really notice the music, but it seemed alright. Then the Caddies came on, and they put on a good show. Didn't seem as into it as the last time I saw them, but they were still good. So the weekend ended, work sucked, concerts were good. Busy weekend.

Monday I worked, didn't get shit done.

Today I went to school, got advised, since I forgot I was supposed to register for classes yesterday, and then I ran to the library and signed up for classes, kind of. I got 4 in, 3 of which I want to take. I need to go ask about a Spanish minor to see if I should take spanish, in which case that'll be 5 classes. I'll look at it sometime. I kind of deleted the honors program emails with the codes for the seminars I need to take, so... on any other day I might care, but today, I don't. If they kick me out of there, that's just another bump in the road. So I came home, looked at registration a little more, and then sat down to work. First I read 20 pages for Theory, wrote a 2 page response to it, and wrote a one page self analysis for the class. Then I did a tiny bit of research and wrote a paper proposal for Development of English. Then I read all of Shakespeare's Henry IV part 1 (120 pages, maybe?). And then I studied for a test I may or may not be having tomorrow for Development of english. In total I did school related stuff from 11 to about 10:30. My head is full. I never want to go to school again. I don't want to know anything else. I want to drop out and work at Taco Bell for the rest of my life. But that should pass with sleep.

Also, I bought Smoking Popes "Born to Quit" and Even in Blackouts "Myths and Imaginary Magicians." They're good. I haven't had time to listen to them much, but they sound good. And the internet says they're good.

There's a friend I want to catch up with but doesn't want to talk to me. Oh well. I guess it ain't meant to be, even as friends. Can't blame her, really. Alright, I'll let you stop reading. Just remember this. As Chuck from the Mad Caddies said when two girls from our high school jumped up on stage and kissed each other, "There's only two things that are always, always good: Farts, and two girls kissing." Amen.

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Well, how-dee everyone. It's been a yon long time since I've written in here, but I'm sure no one has really missed me. And I don't know if I used "yon" correctly in that sentence, but I don't really care. So what have I been up to? I can sum it up in one word: MACRoCk.

The fun began Wednesday night at 9 when a ton of radio station kids came together to stuff the promo bags that we hand out to everyone who comes to MACRoCk. Papercuts aplenty, that's all I have to say. And back and leg pains aplenty, too.

The bagging fun continued into Thursday night, but actually finished early. Of course, "early" is a relative term. Midnight is not nearly as bad as, say, 2:45AM.

Friday marked the beginning of the fun. I signed up to work PC Ballroom from 4-8 in the evening, and it was lots of fun. Not hard work, but I got to hang out with some fun kids and enjoy the music. VCR put on a good show, I liked them. True, they've very synth/moog heavy, but it was tolerable. At 8 I took a short break and headed over to Godwin to check out the hardcore/metal show. Man, let me tell you what, those kids know how to have fun. I was scared shitless doing crowd control for an hour, since being on the outskirts of those mosh pits is only a fraction less dangerous than actually being in the mosh pit, but it was still cool to see those kids do all their weird kicks and punches and stuff. I just can't get that angry, myself. The best I can do is lightly kick a wall when I'm angry. However, these kids know angry. Anyway, after that, I went back to the much more sedated Ballroom at around 10. Let's just say that doing crowd control is pointless during an indie rock show. But I got to hear Mates of State sing about how happy they are, which is cool and all, but there's only so much of that I can handle. Pedro the Lion wrapped up the show at the Ballroom, and they played a good set, I enjoyed it. However, my night was nowhere near being done. For some reason, I decided to stick around and help load out equipment. Pedro finished their set at around 12:20 or so, but the truck to hold all the sound equipment wasn't supposed to arrive until 1. So we get everything packed up and stuff, but it turns out the truck's late and doesn't show up until like 1:20. We then spend close to half an hour loading equipment into the truck, and then, finally, my night is over.

Saturday is part 2 of MACRoCk, and I start my work at noon at College Center. I stayed there until 6:30ish, but the only really good band was some French or French/Canadian band called Robotnicka. And the only reason they were so awesome was because they dressed up in ridiculously silly costumes and the singer ended every one of the songs with "Merci!" It was fun. I then had a short break until 8, when I had to show up at The Pub to work my last shift. A few decent bands played there, Beauty Pill being my favorite. However, Books On Tape is just about the worst act I've ever seen. It was a stupid drunk guy prancing around the stage and hitting buttons on his turn-table or mixer or whatever it was he had with him. It required no talent whatsoever, I swear. As one person pointed out in his defense, "Well, it's all that one guy does in Radiohead, he just has the rest of the band with him." And therein lies the difference: Radiohead is a complete band, this guy was just a loser. Then I had to do my radio show from 12-2AM, and that was the end of my crazy fun MACRoCk weekend.

In other news, I still don't get why people oppose gay marriage. During my break Friday night, I was reading some newspaper, and one article dealt with San Francisco validating gay marriages, and how couples all across the country came just to get an official license. There was an awesome quote by Stephanie Finnegan, one of the women who was finally able to wed her partner, and it went like this: "To finally have concrete examples of true commitment, honest love, and steadfast fidelity was such a relief and a joy. Instead of speaking in the hypothetical, I was finally able to point to these men and women, standing together for hours in the rain, and tell my children that this is what it's all about."

That segues well into my next point: In my Ethics class, we just wrapped up our sexual morality block. The basis of the sexual morality question is: under what conditions are sexual relations permissible? On a side note, I just want to say that, only in an Ethics class that discusses sexual morality will you ever find a guy raise his hand and state: "I have a question about masturbation." Priceless. Anyway, the best article we read about sexual morality dealt with homosexual sex, and it was written by John Corvino. I'm going to lay it out for you real fast, since it's a great argument. So the next time some dweeb wants to oppose homosexual sex or anything, you can have a fancy retort all planned out. So, with no further ado...

John Corvino's Homosexual Sex Argument
Corvino begins by saying that the burden of proof that homosexual sex is impermissible is on the opponents. Why? Because, Corvino says, sex is good. It's pleasurable, but it also entails certain benefits (such as a deeper commitment, or psychological connectedness). So the opponents must provide a pretty good reason to deprive people of what is so obviously a pleasurable thing.

Corvino then tackles the "unnaturalness" arguments. As we've all heard, "homosexual sex is unnatural, therefore immoral." However, what is exactly meant by "unnatural"? We can immediately rule out that it means immoral, since to say that something is immoral, therefore immoral is not a valid argument. It's just a redundancy. Yet, there are a few different meanings that Corvino tackles.

1. Unnatural in the sense that something is unusual or statistically abnormal. Well, Corvino says, just because something is unusual or rare does not make it bad or immoral. Being left handed, for example, seems to be pretty rare, but it's not immoral. Also, being unusual or rare could actually made it good. Artwork, for example, seems to work under these assumptions.

2. Unnatural in the sense that it isn't practiced by other animals. Here Corvino mentions several studies that have found that some animals do in fact engage in homosexual sex. Also, humans do a ton of other things that animals don't (pay bills, wear clothes, etc.), yet none of those acts are considered immoral. Finally, Corvino says, it would seem very silly if we were to adopt our basis of morality from animals.

3. Unnatural in the sense that homosexual sex doesn't proceed from innate desires, but is chosen (or is part of a chosen lifestyle). Corvino mentions that the origin of a desire does not determine its morality (regardless of whether it is innate or chosen), rather, the desire's object or aim is what's crucial. For example, if it's a desire to harm others, that act would be considered immoral, but if it's pleasurable, then it's permissible. As for the choice principle: Everyone can agree that acting on one's sexual orientation is a matter of choice. And most people would agree that acknowledging one's sexual orientation is also a matter of choice. However, whether or not sexual orientation is in itself a choice is up in the air. If opponents of homosexuals want to say, "yes, it is a choice," then that means that they too made a choice. Only, their choice was to be heterosexual. And you don't hear about many guys who say, "oh yeah, I remember that day when I was 8 when I decided to be heterosexual."

4. Unnatural in the sense that homosexual sex doesn't use their sexual organs in accordance with their biological function (procreation). First of all, Corvino says, people often use organs/appendages for purposes other than their main primary function. For instance, people use their feet to nudge objects closer if they're out of arm's reach. Yet, this is not immoral. Also, saying this would imply that any non-procreative sex is immoral, even for heterosexuals.

5. Unnatural because it's offensive or disgusting. Corvino states that we cannot equate things which are disgusting or offensive as immoral. For instance, eating snails is pretty disgusting, but that's not considered immoral. Also, some of these practices which were once considered immoral or wrong (inter-racial marriages, for example), but few people would now consider them immoral.

Having covered the unnaturalness arguments, Corvino then moves on to the harm arguments. These arguments are based around the concept that homosexuality is harmful to the people themselves, others, or society as a whole.

1. Homsexual activity undermines physical and psychological health (harm to the self) Opponents state that homosexuals tend to be more depressed and, therefore, have a higher risk of suicide. They also are at a higher risk of contracting AIDS. However, Corvino responds, as anyone who has taken a statistics course in their life knows, correlation does not equal causation. Perhaps homosexuals are more depressed because of society's condemnation towards them. Also, heterosexual women have just as high of a risk of contracting AIDS if they have sex with an infected partner. And, for that matter, homosexual females very rarely ever contract the virus. Well, some opponents claim, homosexual sex between men can prove harmful since anal sex can clearly cause some physical damage. Yet, heterosexual couples also try anal sex, so that's not a permissible argument, either.

2. Homsexuality threatens kids. Some opponents point out that homosexual males are more likely to molest kids. Or, with an increased presence, more kids will become homosexuals. Corvino first mentions that, while a few homosexuals may be child molesters, the majority of studies have found that kids are molested by heterosexual males whom they know. So it isn't fair to label a whole group based on the actions of a few. As for the second part, it merely assumes there's something wrong with homosexuality, so that ties in to the whole "homosexuality is bad because it's bad" argument that we threw out originally. Also, there's no evidence that mere exposure or acceptance of homosexuality determines sexuality, let alone forces or molds kids to become homosexual.

3. Homosexuality threatens society. If everyone were homosexual, opponents say, society would cease to exist. Procreation would not be possible, and society would eventually become extinct. However, Corvino points out, if everyone were a celibate priest, society would also cease to exist. Yet, it isn't immoral if some people are celibate priests. Also, if people were bisexual, then society could still continue.

To sum up, Corvino suggests that consensual homosexual relationships don't harm anyone and actually benefit homosexuals. He also believes that if society were to accept homosexuality, the society would also benefit, since such relationships will make homosexuals happy, stable, and productive members of society.


So yeah, take that George W.