Cartoon: Big dog. Little people. What am I thinking of? I'm thinkin' Nickelodeon, but not Blue's Clues.


Nevermind......Clifford the Big Red Dog.

stop!

Whew! Done in record time! wow. today is definitely shaping up. I finished the paper and have found someone to cover my shift at work tomorrow. I'll be busy studying for/taking an exam for my Child Psychology class and moving all of our gear into the brand new shiny practice space. It has a lot more room and vending machines! rock. I may actually have enough room to get behind my kit without tripping over various items lying around. yeah! Now I must email my paper and go downstairs to see if the Jawbreaker Unfun has arrived yet.

go!

I have to write a paper describing mise-en-scene on a film I haven't seen yet and have it turned in at just under three hours time. From right now.
I accept your challenge Mr.... I accept your challenge.

This is in reality my way of catching up on severe procrastination.

I heart rekids...

Yesterday I received my Dag Nasty Field Day LP. The vinyl is is in extremely good condition and so is the sleeve. I can't stop grinning whenever I look at it. I almost want to frame it. Or buy it a little shirt and a little pair of pants and take it for walks and buy it some ice cream.

just blabbering

So in addition to trying to quit smoking, which hasn't been very successful, although I have cut down, I've been eating a lot healthier. I figure If I'm going to workout and all I might as well go for the whole 9. What's with this self-improvement kick I've been on lately? It sort of came out of nowhere. Well, that's not completely true, I guess. I think it's an off shoot from my New Years resolutions that became embedded in my brain and manifested themselves on their own. Which is good because I would have let myself slide. Hold on...I gotta go make some more coffee...
ok. I also want to get new specs 'cause I'm sick of the one I'm wearing. I could break out the ol' birth control glasses. But they worked way too well. Yeah. New ones, definitely. I like going to the eye doctor. The machine that shoots air into you eyes always freaks me out though. I think it's the anticipation of the short jolt of air, like someone is holding a non-loaded bb gun to your optical cavity that's the worst. I just tense up and say "do it. do it to it!"
As far as smoking goes, there's a guy who comes into the store everyday who has been off cigarettes for over three weeks. The patch. He says he's tried the gum, which I've been using sometimes, and says it's a joke.hmmmm. He smoked for 15 years. Then I spoke with the landlord of the Starbucks, who must be 65+. He said he smoked for 50 years then quit. Just like that. Just stopped. I admire those old men who are just cut and dry like that. They see a problem, choose a solution, and that is that. Move on. I need to be more like that. Then there's my friend Ralph Macchio, who is going to a hypnotist to become a non smoker. $175 and supposedly you never want to smoke again. Supposedly you even feel like you never ever smoked. If it works for her, I just may fork over the bread myself.
I'm so glad the gym is only a block from my apartment. I'm going to go and sit in the sauna for a while because my body hurts. And I have to close tonight.

untitled

My arms, legs, teeth, and hair are sore. I'm not used to working out. ugh.
I'm just about to leave for Kinko's because I didn't do it yesterday. I'm thinking of maybe getting them printed on a light greenish paper. Maybe. Just a thought.
I can't wait for the 10th. So far a lot of friends are coming, some whom I haven't seen in quite awhile. Rock+beerxfriends=a superfun time. If you don't come for the rock, at least show up for the gigantic Homer Simpson beers the Mutiny serves for a mere $3.50. There's some love for ya.

On a side note: I can't stop petting my Meatloaf cat and uttering the phrase (complete with Italian accent) "That's a spicy meatball. Who's a spicy meatball?"

check out the flyers I made...

Would you like a flyer?
Would you like another flyer?

I'm off to go pretend that I know how to workout at the gym, then shoot over to Kinko's so I can get a deal on these photocopies.
I hope that little naked guy from yesterday isn't at the gym today. Yesterday I was at my locker and he turned the corner, naked, and gave me a weird munchkinland grin. I was strangely a bit startled. I thought he was going to sell me some cookies. He looks very similar to the cartoon guy on The Critic...3 foot tall, no hair and all. I guess I was just startled. Or attracted. Kidding....

it was movie night

Last night I decided to get some movies and tune out the drama going on in my own life. I figured I could watch someone else's and do the whole relating to characters thing. The one movie I wanted was out. ON VHS and DVD. Lost in Translation. I've seen the first 20 minutes three times and the DVD player in the front room freezes, skips, and mumbles something in Yiddish. So I walked the store and picked up VHS copies of American Splendor, which I liked. Paul Giamatti has some freakish charm that I just like. I also picked up Owning Mahowny starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I was pretty good, apparently based on a true story about a banker embezzling funds to feed a gambling addiction. Then a film called Dummy with Milla Jovovich. She has always been incredible but the fact she played a rock and roll chick made her even more ....amazing. Her character was far right on the tomboy and not enough left of the sweetheart. Still she gets away with it.

life is craptastic

As soon as the camp became cozy, someone let a bee into the tent.
That someone is yours truly.
It was the fault of beer and yours truly.
I don't like drama, yet I keep opening the freaking book. Actually, as friendships go, I'm only looking out for my long-time friend. My roommate.
Let's just say, Ralph Macchio is my roommate's girlfriend, with "is" being very tentative.
Maybe that new office job idea wasn't such a terrible plan after all. I don't see how this situation could possibly correct itself.

Check it out. I'm going to go work out. Yep. I've decided to take the money I spend on cigarettes and use it to pay for a membership to a gym. The two birds with one stone idea is great. If only I could find a way to apply it to the above statement/situation. hmmmm....

all good

Just as I thought. I freaked out for nothing. The money was there in the safe when I arrived at work. And it's a good thing too, because much to my chagrin I didn't, repeat, didn't win the lottery. I had plans for that money, too. I suppose my choreographed water ballet classes will have to be put on hold.

I'm not sorry for the drunken post.

I'm tired. And I still hate being poor.

all good

Just as I thought. I freaked out for nothing. The money was there in the safe when I arrived at work. And it's a good thing too, because much to my chagrin I didn't, repeat, didn't win the lottery. I had plans for that money, too. I suppose my choreographed water ballet classes will have to be put on hold.

I'm not sorry for the drunken post.

I'm tired. And I still hate being poor.

drunk post: not for the faint of heart

i can't remember what i was going to write. we just had this huge conversation about something funny, and i came in here to blog about it. cause it was funny.
why am i drinkin? see below. am i jumping to conclusions? hopefully. i'm eating a cookie. and you are not. you're probably sitting at your desk/other workplace functionalizer. wishing you were eating a cookie. and drunk like me. dream on, dreamers. you should have planned in advance like me. i knew of now yesterday. and i planned. what the fuck am i talking about? i bet you are wondering why my punctuation is so perfect..'£....you are reading the writing of the ex-spellimg(fuck it...i messed it up and i don't feel like hitting backspace) champion 3 beers..........er......years in a row....6th grade...yeahhhh....i'm gonna go now...

my jokes suck.

I just want 10,000 dollars, lotto controller-person-mafia-fate-or what have you...

I just went to buy some lottery tickets. i hate being poor.

hire me

Fuck. I may have to look for another job...I'll find out tomorrow. It seems my till came up $90 short, and I sure as hell didn't take it. At Starbucks heads roll for shit like this, regardless if I did it or not. So I have approximately 15 hours to await my fate. This fucking sucks...

unfun says it all...

I've been going a wee bit crazy on Ebay lately. So far I have purchased a Jawbreaker (sealed) Unfun cd. I lost mine years ago. I really hate having to replace records and cd's in the collection. I lend them out rarely, but the one time I do I never get them back. Same goes for the Dag Nasty Field Day L.P., only I had it on cassette. Always wanted the vinyl but could never find it. I don't understand why folks bag on this record. I grew up listening to this and it has some of the best stuff I've ever heard. Even to this day. 13 Seconds Underwater? C'mon. It's hands down good. Um what else...a Jawbox Savory e.p. that I've never seen....I think that's it.
I'd better get back to studying. One chapter left to go. I have to split in like 2 hours for the exam. To the ghetto. I've been lucky to not have been stabbed yet. I better start practicing my ....i'll cut you.... again.

now that it's gone, won't you admit it to yourself...

Yes!! 38 minutes until this is mine! I've been looking for this for years. And soon, lovey, soon, you will be mine!!! Ha Ha HA HA HA!.....I'm out of control.

they're paper lanterns, people!

4 weeks worth of studying shrinky-dinked down into one neatly packaged 24 hour block of time. This will be my preparation for an Anthropology exam tomorrow. (By the way, the money owed to the CCC was their mistake. Whew!)
I'm expecting at least a B. After all, it's multiple choice! Internet school...What would I do without it...?

I've been attempting to watch Lost in Translation but for some retarded reason all three DVD players in the house will not read the freakin' disc. Or any other DVD for that matter. I've been watching Mr. Show consistently because it's the only thing I can get to work.

I was going to start work on the puppet show today until I realized it was study day. I'm anxious to get started on that. I have to figure out a way to put it up on this site when it's done. I'm guessing it will be at least a month before it's finished.

I'm going to go brew a delicious cup of Alterra and ....just kidding, Todd. I heart you. Actually, it's going to be some of the new Komodo Dragon Blend from Starbucks.
Side note: Yesterday while at work I was drawing the new sign for the Komodo Dragon Blend. On which I was attempting to recreate some paper lanterns. The feedback I have so far received is that the paper lanterns look more like:
a) hand grenades
b) bugs
c) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
d) an origami Deathstar (??? ok...)

Bring on the Rock

Hirudin @ The Mutiny March 10th. Be there or be a nerd. A stupid, stupid nerd.
Tonight I went around dropping off demos to various bars/booking shows (via the always untimely CTA) and somehow ended up semi-drunk in the process. I like promoting...

a little help

This is terrible. These guys have had so many freakin' van problems, it's just not fair. Situations like these tend to ruin great bands and if this ends up being the case with Hey Mercedes....I don't even want to think about it. And why doesn't Vagrant get them a van? I'm sure Mr. Egan can afford to help them out...c'mon.

boo. hiss.

anti-valentine's day

Wow. When I said I was tired, I meant it. I went to sleep right after my last post and woke up just 2 hours ago. Anyway, I thought I'd put up some pictures of the show on friday. I think I'll put them here, here, here, and here.

Like I said, I worked and slept through Valentine's Day. I have no Valentine. I think this is the fourth year in a row that I haven't had one. No big deal though. Actually I do miss having a counterpart sometimes. What I don't miss is my delicate little heart being ripped from my chest. It's regenerated a few times, but this time I think my heart replacement generator is on stand by or is completely malfunctioning all together. Together...to-get-her...together...no, it still works. Damn it, I am the incarnation of a John Hughes film.

I'm going to start a brand new holiday for single folks like myself. It will be an Anti-Valentine's Day of sorts. A celebration of being single. We could get together and have a huge party with some bands and some beer. Maybe I'll meet a nice and intelligent girl there. Ha.

sleep and roll

Home at last. I'm so tired I may fall into a coma while typing thi..............Har. Hee. Ha.
Oh...
Last night was such a freakin' blast that I'm still reeling. We all had so much fun.
I think we're going to make some buttons, and possibly an e.p. in the very near future. Very exciting.

Less talky...More sleepy.
I'll drop back in a little later and try to put up some pictures from last night.

note to self:

Write, direct, and produce puppet show. This shall be done. I'm gonna need some materials...

yesterday: a focus

1. Ate a doughnut on a bus
2. Blurted out a "sentence" that made absolutely no sense, only to receive the all too familiar blank stare. I have no clue what a martillian is. It's only fiction, folks.
3. Dropped my cd player, for the third time yesterday, while getting off the bus. My attention was split between analyzing a Wrens song and the delicious previously mentioned doughnut.
4. Completely finished a five page essay in under an hour. I heart double-spacing.
*5. Became alarmingly convinced that after half an hour waiting for the Ashland bus, that the only explanation for the almost daily 20+ minute waiting period is that the #9er must lift off with rocket boosters, travel directly over my stop, descend and then land at the very next one. These new bus routes are for the birds. he he.
6. Made and sipped a raspberry latte. I knew only then that I was having a very off day. What was I doing? Raspberry latte?
7. Became very intrigued by Explosions in the Sky.
8. Found out that Kyle got to interview Sleater-Kinney yesterday before practice. I am very jealous seeing as how I've had a crush on Carrie Brownstein for some time now. Too bad she doesn't like boys. Which reminds me, a certain Ms. Kristen needs to return One Beat and All Hands on the Bad One...I miss them.
9. Found out that J Church is coming to town. I'm seriously freaking out over this. I haven't seen them since '94. I love love love J Church. Now that Adam Pfahler from Jawbreaker is the drummer...Let's just say Lance Hahn + Adam make Mikey happy. Don't get me wrong, I still dig the other thirty some-odd drummers J Church has had. Can't wait.

* After a great deal of thought on the subject, I may have been inaccurate in my determination that rocket boosters are being used in the "skip-my-bus-stop" agenda of the CTA. I'm now suspecting they might be employing the use of a very large spring...capable of slinging a bus over three stops at a time. This way I won't catch even a glimpse of the bus coming or going. Paranoid, what?

argh.

As of last night, Buffalo Stance has been finished. That's going to be fun to play at the show on friday. argh. So much to do in so little time. Now you'll excuse me while I write an essay in a cool 3 hours. Shouldn't be that big of a deal. And what's up, Chicago Community Colleges? Why did I get a letter stating that I owe you $300 bucks, to be paid no less in 4 days time or I'll be withdrawn from class? Um, this is the first I've heard about this and secondly, Bush and his inept cronies are picking up the tab. Stick that in your pipe and eat it. (ha.) Would you accept empty matchbooks or maybe cat fur by the pound as payment? I seem to have plenty of that. No? Only U.S. currency, huh? How about "No" because I seem to have misplaced my magical regenerating hundred dollar bill. Not to mention that sustenance is of some importance. By the way Mr./Ms. Chairperson, how's that new Lexus workin' out for ya? Now I'm just getting upset. I have a paper to write...for a class I may not be enrolled in...see how it works?

museums are fun-knee, but this title isn't.

So I went to the Field Museum yesterday morning to check out a few exhibits for my anthropology class. I saw a a very dead mummy, a huge totem pole of a mystical grizzly bear which was really interesting not only because it is over 500 years old, but they also had a picture of it at the Chicago World's Fair in 1892 with some puppety-looking old man standing next to it. I know it's old but for some reason the visual proof documentation was what kind of awe struck me. I'm kind of a history nerd. I also made a dinosaur, which was nearly stolen by a rampant lil' rugrat while I was photographing the T Rex exhibit. I stopped by my old Starbucks and dropped it off as a present. The one I made, not the T Rex exhibit. The poor little guy almost didn't survive a picture I unsuccessfully attempted to take which required a very low crouch. It was in the back zipper of my back pack. When I leaned too far back as my knees were touching my ears, I took a tumble backwards right on my dinosaur. I wish someone had seen that. It really deserved a laugh other than just my own. And this just speaks for itself.

I had a series of very strange dreams last night. I'll have to tell you about them later though. I have to go to work in... , now. I'll catch up on the blog action later today. Now I must go to where the muffins are.

p.s.

Later I'll let you in on my fun packed day at the Field Museum. It was a blast.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye,

Come one, come all! Hirudin is alive!
We shall be playing our first show this friday night at Subterranean, 2011 W. North Ave.

Door is at 9:30 pm and it's a measly $8. Some other band fell through and we got plugged in just a few hours ago.
We'll be covering Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry. I hope I don't laugh in the middle of it.

yay.

I'm chewing nicotine gum and it's god awful. It tastes like chai. And I hate chai. I would much rather be chewing a cigarette.

I wish I had something exciting to say, but the next 36 hours will be chock-full of anthropology, child psychology, world cinema, and speech. So that's where my mind is and will be for the next day or so. I need fun. I'll have to take some Nintendo ass-whippin' breaks.

Muffer is snoring really loud on the bed. She looks funny. She's basically upside down with her belly in the air and her head is buried somewhere. I can't see her face. What a furball. Maybe I could use a nap...move over Muffy....

muffer calling

this is me thinking about beer.
i'm bored and a bit drunk. did i mention i was bored? does anyone know if it's possible to post short film type things on the blog? let me know. i'll make you pee in your pants.

My roomate: "What do you want on the pizza?"
Me: "Something that's not plutonium."
This is a real conversation that just occured. And I'm listening to Hey Mercedes because I left the Yeah Yeah Yeahs cd at work.
And, yeah, beer is involved. And, no, I will not be giving a speech tomarrow. 2 in march instead.
UPASS in the clear.

Whoa. I just had a crazy "I love you. re-get-to-know-each-other" session with my cat Muffer. She is more emotional than most people that I know.
I love her.

Walker Chicagoland Ranger

So I'm thinkin' about dropping the speech class already. I'm supposed to give the first speech tomarrow and I haven't even started writting it. The part that I'm not liking so much is that if I do drop this class, my UPASS goes bye bye. I need to be enrolled full time in order to keep it. So I emailed my robo-professor to see if I could present the speech on a later date, giving me time to actually DO the assignment. My fingers are kind of crossed. In some way I don't really care all that much. I guess walking to work isn't that big of a deal.

Last night my roomate and I had one of those rather depressing "what the fuck are we doing with our lives" type conversations. We sat and had a few beers and tried to put the current state of events into perspective. Once we came to the realization that we naturally just fuck up all of the time, it was time to turn on the Nintendo and kick each others ass in a new fighting game I purchased with some of the rent money. This is also partly the reason my speech is not written. See what I mean? It's somewhat hilarious. In some screwed up way.

Apparently waving arms frantically at bus driver means speed up and don't stop to pick me up.
This is what happened on the way home from practice tonight.
So I high-tailed it, backpack and all, in my fancy-ass non-snow shoes through the snow running to the next stop in a vain attempt at catching up at the next stop. 10 feet away from the bus, light turns green, bus go.
I hope that bus driver gets the clap.

No Time for Fun: Life's Unfairness

Today is one of those days where I have so much to do, I just don't know where to start. I have a list.
Being a compulsive list maker has its share of advantages as well as disadvantages. Getting things done and crossing them off the list provides a nice feeling of accomplishment. Yet, when I don't finish everything on the list, it tends to drive me crazy. Not to mention the sheer length of my usual lists can be quite intimidating. So much infact, that most of the time I get discouraged and don't accomplish anything. Today I am faced with such a list. And these aren't things that I'd like to get done. They have to get done. Which makes it all the more intimdating. I'd better just get at it.

MISSION OF THE DAY:

Procure 1 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Fever To Tell" CD. Ha ha, I almost typed "Yeah Yeah Yeast Infection".
Sorry, gotta go. There's Mr. Show to be watched. And a crappy Speech speech to write all day today (well, as soon as I wake up). Isn't it funny that I'm taking a speech class over the internet?
I crack myself up.

Cadill-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack!

Ack! That's my new saying. I don't know where it came from but it just started coming out of my mouth a few days ago all by itself.

I was up late last night watching Mtv and I saw a video for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps". I will be purchasing said record in the near future. I don't know how, but I just have to own it.

Speaking of records, I may unfortunately be forced to thin out the vinyl collection via Ebay. I'm horrified just thinking about losing my prized Screeching Weasel -Pervo Devo 7" on pink vinyl. *sniffle*. Or Braid -Rainsnowmatch 7", original release with stickered over title from when they changed it suddenly before the release. *sniffle*

I gotta go serve coffee now.