I have four minutes. That is...3.5 minutes until I get booted from this here library computer. My internet at home is temporarily shut off and my cell is just no damn fun for bloggin'. Or anything else. Two minutes. I think I'm going to check out this book on quitting smoking. You know, just to humor myself. 1.5 minutes. I do not like Japanther as much as I thought I would. Right now I'm off to track down a copy of Sugar - Copper Blue. It's a damn necessity.

For the record: My Vision

For the record: My Vision Street Wear shoes make farting noises when I walk.

I'm in a meeting at

I'm in a meeting at Starbucks HQ learning about botulism. Exiting! The drama seems to be subsiding, but I could be wrong...

Dramarama.
This word clearly defines my current life situation. Remember the girl I was "dating" around November of last year? The one I was ring shopping for? The one I was going to propose to? It turns out she was dating 2 or 3 other people at the same time. One of whom was/is a friend of mine in Arizona. We haven't kept in close contact for the past few years, but that is quickly changing. Lies have been told, stories have been spun, with an amazing penchant for accuracy in the alternate universe of which the girl has created for herself. Split personality? Pathological liar? I'm freaked out. My friend is freaked out. We've spent the past few days uncovering massive falsities in the stories she's been telling us as well as many other people. People she doesn't even know that we've come into contact with or have even met. It gets so deep that the Arizona Police Department may have to step in. I'll try and explain more as the dramafest continues. I cannot stand this kind of a situation. I absolutely hate drama. I need to move to Vermont or something.
Common Themes In Keli's Storyland:
1. Death of friends
2. Friends with Cancer
3. Keli with Cancer
4. Abusive ex-husband
5. Her and I never happened
6. "I broke up with Jim, but he just wouldn't stop crying and accept it."
7. "My neighbor is just a friend." i.e. a friend whom you've been romantically involved with and who has been giving you thousands of dollars and paying your mortgage.

Ugh.
This is frightening. I'm glad my door has a buzzer and a peeper.

No, it wasn't fun. In fact, it was dismal. Ah, the Mutiny. Feeding us beers, making us play in the dark, letting us hear nothing. Ugh, fucking brutal. Mallen & Michael were loaded, I was pretty tipsy, and just before we start playing, Mallen asks Girgis, "How does 'Ashtray Monument' start?" He wasn't alone. As I stood, waiting for every to be ready to go, I worried briefly that I would have no idea how to play any of our songs. Of course, I remembered how we played them. I just couldn't see the goddamn fretboard. T-minus like 3 weeks until Schuba's. We have to be musical ninjas by then.

But! I picked up the mastered copy of the record. It sounds awesome...but the songs are in the wrong order. D'oh! We shall listen to it on the way to Great America tomorrow.

Yay! Today I'm taking the big metal peebox to Champaign for a night of grilling with Jason and hanging out with Emily. It's always a good time when friends, a grill, beer, and a nice selection of rockin' cds are within proximity. Then it's back up here tomorrow night for the Mutiny show which promises to be fun. But first I'm off to the DMV, again, to get an ID, and to the drum store, and to the laundromat. Unfun times to have fun times.
Fair enough.
Here is a track from the record if you'd like to hear it.

Hope to see you at the Saturday show!

I...have been obsessing over...horseradish. When I was in Champaign for the Braid show at the High Dive, I went into Cafe Kopi, where Emily and Jason work and had this ruben sandwich that had some really good cheese and a horseradishy cabbagy concoction. And it was good. Too good. I've been thinking about it everyday since I left. This Friday I'm headed down there for one whole day. Friday = good sammich, and Mallenmade bloody marys on the train. I'm not paying another five bucks for something I can make cheaper and better myself. I'll smuggle it aboard in my shiny candy apple red thermos and no one will be the wiser. Except for when they see a short and inebriated rocker attempting keg stands in the back of the train with said thermos. Not too sure how that would work. Just seems funny to attempt. Or stupid to attempt. I'll go with stupid.
I can't wait to play the show on Saturday at the Mutiny. We haven't played out in a month or so. I think we're all a little more excited especially seeing as how the record came out better than expected. As far as all that goes, I think the mastering should be done within the next few weeks and we can begin the last stretch of art and production. I can't wait to tour. This fall. It will be small but fun as h-e-double-hockey-sticks.
I was going to put up an MP3 of a track from the record, but apparently there is going to be a mastered track on the Hirudin site within the next few days so I'll wait for that to happen instead. As far as record titles are concerned, there is debate from within. Either "Neither Created Nor Destroyed" or "Troll's
Orb II: The Magicking". Any votes? Let me guess...

Restless? Beerless? Tired of those boring and beerless evenings sitting in front of the TV, devoid of precious, precious rock, and/or waiting for the next episode of
Perfect Strangers to come on? Then git some!
JUNE 19, 2004
Hirudin
with the Columbine Kids
FREE
@ The Mutiny
10PM ya'll.
Big Big Beers (Anyone need a band name?)
Oh, and I just thought everyone ought to see this and take a special time out in appreciation of the especially talented and much revered work of a star of this caliber. Mark Linn-Baker... where are you?. Seriously. I miss you. Snuggle muffin. Remember that time at the beach with the pancakes. You and Balki were crazy, yo! Right off of the freaking hook! I never thought you'd be able to fit that many flapjacks into your backpack.

And I'm completely sober right now.

I'm out the door. Just droppin'in to say hi. Going to the Shedd Aquarium. It's been a while. Time to go piss off some sharks.

I've been on this site for a bit this morning. It's somewhat theraputic to read the entries given my current attitude towards working at Starbucks. A lot of what's written is true, true, true.

You know those days you have at work every once in a while when it takes every ounce of strength just to keep you from walking out the door and never come back? Yesterday was one of those miserable days. Stupidity redefined itself so many times that I lost count. I'm talking about people like this one guy who came in, his BatCave clearly all the way open, shirt tucked into his cargo shorts to showcase his impressively fat spare tire, and exclaimed,"mmmm...java...chip...." Me:"What!? Him:"mmmm...java...chip...." Me: What! What do you want? Size? Drink? Tree bark? What?!
I just couldn't help it. And it didn't stop there. Six full hours of non-stop der. I don't have that kind of patience. If I did I might be a kindergarten teacher. Once again, I find myself in the same old predicament. Lookin' through the classifieds. I don't think I can keep being a coffee server. It's making me mean.

Last night I got a voice mail from Jason in Champaign. He said he was grillin' and listening to something he really wanted me to check out. Meanwhile, the past few days I've been walking into the livingroom and passing these 2 cds my roommate brought home. Glancing, wondering, and eyeballing again. It turns out that Jason was speaking about the same thing I've been passing up in the livingroom. And this is it. It's...different...yet... soothing. JRocker is really stoked on it. Check it out.

It's my day off which also means list day. Go figure. I'm bound and determined to finish this one though. I'm trying to get back to the level of efficiency that I used to operate at. This means less beer, less lazy time, and more time spent getting things done.

Anyone know of any part time job opportunities? I need to make some extra cash and fast. I'm also going to be doing an eBay/ Craigslist garage sale of sorts. Anyone need a drumkit? Espresso machine? Nintendo GameCube with games? Shoot me an email. Hey, Kyle. There's a song title. "Shoot Me: An Email". Kinda nerdy. Nevermind.

I'm trying to get some money together. It's time to find a new apartment, get hot water, and help put out the record. Oh. And buy a rustbucket of a car. I absolutely refuse to spend yet another winter walking and waiting for a bus that seemingly never shows.

That's right, bitches. We have the first mix of what is tentatively titled Neither Created Nor Destroyed. We're kicking out the jams, baby. Next: small mixing changes. But after that: MASTERING. Then: PRODUCTION! Then: RELEASE! Of course, we haven't practiced in like three weeks, thank you Mr. Girgis. Or, more specifically, thank you, Bike the Drive.

What a great week/vacation! I had so much fun hanging out with my friend Jason, who by the way is getting ready to be a daddy! I never thought I'd see the day. And Emily, of course. Her apartment is really small. I can get a sandwich out of the refrigerator while lying in bed. Things are good with that whole scene.
The Braid show was so so good. Apparently we're the only people with video footage of the first show. And to top that, we're making copies for Bob, Chris, and the Bifocal Media people who were recording audio, which we'll get in return for the footage. Exciting. I'm going to go be a nerd and frame my Braid silkscreen #60 poster.