This blog is coming back

I can't believe it's been so long. It will return this week with new adventures!

Snoozy Monday

Uggghh. I have two days off and nothing to do. I want to head out of the house today and maybe just go to the bookstore or something. I haven't seen George in forever and I'd really like to see him if he's there.

The past two days here have been rainy and pretty dreary. I worked yesterday and that was cool. Then I went out to say Bon Voyage to a friend that is headed to Europe. I hope she has a great trip!

Last night I stayed up too late and was doing a little art on the computer. i have no cellphone right now. Again. I got it wet this time and it totally died. It turned on long enough for me to call one person and then died again. This is after I dried it out for a day. Oh well, the phone only cost $9 anyway.

This weekend was alright. I had fun at work on Friday and then went to a pretty decent party. Saturday I chilled at Pete's for way too long and am definitely going to avoid that today and tomorrow. I really need to start putting more money in the bank. Saving up is something I'm great at, but lately haven't really thought much about it.

Kiss of death

Never write that you're going to post more. I've gone almost a month without an update, but some stuff has gone on. I've been spending too much time at Pete's lately. Way too much time. It's not even that I'm really drinking that much I just go there to hang out with the crew really. Some cool kids there that I'm glad I've become friends with over the course of the last few months. Now is the time though where I'm realizing I need to knock it off.

This past weekend I went to VA to be a witness to the baptism of my new Goddaughter, which makes me a Godfather, which is cool. I got to ride in a helicopter and that was the thrill of a lifetime as well. The drive down there was five hours of sheer enjoyment. Just cranking tunes and speeding down the highway. I listened to Animal Collective, the new Dan Deacon album called 'Bromst', which I really like, and some metal. My friend got me into this band called All Shall Perish whose latest album 'Awaken The Dreamers' definitely made it easier to hit the gas and avoid the wackos on the DC beltway. I also listened to the last Vetiver album. I've had it forever, but never bothered to listen to it until this weekend. It's pretty good, but I haven't bothered to track down any other stuff by them.

I've been so tired since I got back though. When I came back Monday evening I didn't even stop home, I just went straight to Pete's. That was boring, so I went home only to find plumbers there and no running water. So I went back to Pete's and tried to text people to find something to do. I ended up going and hanging out with my friends in their backyard. They have a sweet pond back there where there are frogs and all sorts of stuff. They're having a party there on Friday, so that should definitely be fun.

Yesterday I worked, but made the worst money ever. Work was fun though and I worked with all cool people. I have a weird thing going on right now, but that's nothing new. I don't feel like writing about it here, but it's kind of consuming my mind. I've been spending too much time on Facebook, which is lame as fuck too. Blaaaaaaaaaah. I'll write more soon.

A little lost...

Heard this on Uhh Yeah Dude (ep 163. see links) and was instantly in love with it. Got the album but have yet to really go through it. I'll update soon.

For knowledge and defense. Never for attack.

Today was a pretty good day! I got up early and took care of a bunch of stuff that I'd been putting off. My registration had expired on my car, so I went and got that renewed. Now I just need to get it inspected. I still have to get my taxes done, but that'll happen soon. I went to B&N looking for the book on Thom Yorke, but ended up buying Malcolm Gladwell's 'Blink' instead. Holy shit, I was in Borders yesterday for like 3 hours looking for Blink or The Hero With a Thousand Faces and couldn't find either one. I almost bought Eugene Mirman's 'The Will to Whatevs', but changed my mind at the last second.

When I was in the store this older customer comes up to this guy working there and is like "Yeah, in the '80s I read an autobiography of Lee Iacocca (Talking Straight, 1988), and I really liked it.... do you have any books like that?" How awesome is that? And the guy wasn't even like "Yeah, so, um..." He started off strong like he was going to have a question that any normal person would ask. Wait, maybe that is normal at a bookstore. Wackjobs! I've heard tale of B&N nuttiness. I don't know it just made me laugh at the time.

Anyway, so back to today... I rented Role Models, but haven't watched it yet. I wrote to my dad and that was alright. I'm trying to get back on the horse with writing lately. Since I got back from Austin I've just wanted to hang out and I worked a ton, so I haven't been online much at all. I'm actually two episodes behind on The Best Show and that's rare for me.

Right now, what I'm really psyched on is starting this skateboard venture at my buddy's art space/ restaurant/ coffee shop/ venue. I just need a little area in there to put ten decks on the wall. I'm looking into working with Eastern Skateboard Supply, since they seem to have a kickass selection. I figure I'll order 20 decks initially and see how it goes from there. I have to call them to see if there's a minimum number of decks I have to order and what pricing is.

If things go well I know we want to do a small independent company out of there and I'd be down for that too once we get to know the kids and what they're into. The place he's running is so diversified with everything he's doing out of one spot, that even if one of the area's bigger, more established shops opens up in the area, I don't think it'll hurt our skateboard business, because we're not a skateshop, we're just selling boards for the fuck of it. I think it'll definitely bring in more foot traffic and parents who bring the kids in and then go "Oh wow! This is actually a sweet little tapas place where I can get coffee, check out some art..... oh they have bands? It's BYOB?! I am so fucking going to make this place my chillzone!" I'm hoping those are the momshells (thanks, Jonathan and Seth) I'm told that the art sales have been going really well and the place is getting a ton of local press. It's a great place!

I'm trying to make my posts more frequent and just better overall, but tonight I keep searching for oldies collections. They're a a secret obsession of mine lately and tonight I almost got the Doo-Wop Box. If I didn't have 45 podcasts that I haven't listened to yet, I'd probably be listening to oldies right now. I'm kind of burned out on the music in my collection right now, but that's just because I've been listening to it and enjoying it so much. My one buddy at work got me into The Felice Brothers and I was listening to them a bit tonight. Their new album is good! I've got to give it some more time.

Right now I'm listening to and getting Timelife's Ultimate Oldies and it's pretty great. It's been in the last six months or so that whenever I can't think of what to listen to I just go into the radio feature in iTunes and find some oldies. Certain songs I've really begun to like, so that's why I'm hunting down collections. I had this awesome 15 cd box set I was getting a few weeks back but it was a pain in the ass getting all the discs so I kind of stopped. The good thing about that set was that it had the Monkees and I don't see them on this collection.

Here's a tip though, don't try to write while listening to spoken word podcasts. That's what I always do and my writing really comes out like hell as a result, I think. Some stuff is just typos, but there are usually whole chunks of things that get screwed up. Anyway, it's a mistake I make all the time because there aren't enough hours in the day. I guess it doesn't help that I listen to about 11 podcasts weekly. I gotta cut down on that shit.

What else? I tried to watch Larry Clark's Wassup Rockers the other night, but couldn't get into it. I did watch Gummo on Saturday morning though and that was alright.

These oldies are rockin!

All there's left to do is run

Hell yeah! Being back in the area is pretty great. Money could be better at work, but I'm still having fun there. More on that to follow. This will probably be a big post.


South By Southwest ROCKED! I will never miss that again as long as I can help it. I saw a ton of bands and great comics too. I don't think I could ever do something like Bonaroo, just because it would be annoying to camp, I think, but SXSW was great because we could go back to a nice apartment each night. We got to make a ton of Whataburger runs and take our time getting up each morning. We caught the bus downtown to 6th street there everyday and it was really easy getting around. The layout of Austin isn't really that much different than Harrisburg. We're one owl shaped building short's about all, really. Frost Bank Tower... good album title.

In Austin I also totally forgot how awesome Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' is because, of course, I was hearing 9,000 other things. Now that I'm back though it's like "Yes! OMG, I forgot about this!!" Also, since I left my buddies who were already into it are even more into it. My one friend said it made her cry once she really listened to the lyrics. This is someone who once chose to play all of Kid A for our Friday night dinner crowd. Anyway, since Sunday we've really been dissecting Swift's work. Every drum fill and quiet moment. None of us can get over the first time she says "Juliette!" That is so sweet. I like the change up in the drums before the first two choruses. TIK -- RIKATIKATIKATOUJ!!
I theorize that it's about this dude and he turns 18 when Taylor is still jailbait and they're both bummed. See, they were both young when they first met, but then the guy had to wait for Julliette, after being seriously chided by her dad to stay away. Then she waits around for ever and gets tired of it. Her faith in the dude fades too. She doesn't even care about her birthday because she's so forlorn, but Romeo knows exactly when it is and I think he shows up that morning like having already covered his bases with the dad and he's just like "go pick out a dress!!!" This is their big day. And it's here we fucking go, 2009!! That's what I've come up with so far.

I hope everyone in America will got on board with this and off board with Beyonce's horrible Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it). That is the worst thing I've ever heard. What is that damn noise that keeps happening? I always wanted to take a sample of someone making making a baloon animal, add lyrics that are like listening to a one sided cell phone conversation at a nail salon, throw in some cello and see what happens.
Worst Song Ever...................................



Best Song on Radio right now!!



Look how many different charts it's on!! Only ever hitting No. 1 on the Hot Counrty Chart in 2008. I hope it tops Adult Contemporary. I already closed that window though, so I don't know if it's up or down this week. Check the chart. This is not about me thinking that Taylor Swift is hot, so get right outta town with that theory.

Blogger's being glitchy, so I'm going to publish this and then I'll come back and add to it in a sec.

Alright everything seems better now.
So what else has been going on? I haven't had a cell phone in about a week and that's been just fine. Having a landline helps I guess, but so far I've only had one call that was important.

I'll write more later.

Damn, do these guys have me in a trance lately. I've seen them live and just thought whatever, but Merriweather Post Pavilion is amazing. I have to admit though, that I only like the first six tracks and I keep playing those over and over. Anyway, I'm sure I'll get into the rest of the album sooner or later.

Hey now!

Alright, so I haven't updated in a while, but there hasn't been much to write about really. I came back from Austin on Monday and that whole trip was just super amazing. I honestly can't describe what a great city Austin is and how superb my first SXSW experience was. I'll write more on that later. Bye now.

Yo, VIP, Let's kick it!

Let's see, this weekend was semi-lame. I worked Friday, which was great, but Saturday sucked bad. I only had one table all night, this trashy bridal shower that was beyond belief bad. Not only did they arrive two hours before their reservation to hang two streamers and place a cake on a table, but they were annoying the ENTIRE time they were there and they shorted me $40! I knew there was trouble right away because they all wanted separate checks (for 15 when I'm pretty sure that normally the maid of honor picks up the tab normally. Am I right?) but when I came back with all the checks there were only about 5 of them still there. That sucked. So Saturday was a total wash. I made $37 and was there for 9 hours! If I didn't have those skanks and had just taken regular tables I would have made at least double that.

So basically because I made no money on Saturday I had to go directly to Pete's and tell them I couldn't do the special dinner we were supposed to have tonight. More on that later. Anyway, at Pete's I chilled with a girl I work with and told her about my nightmare evening. She told me that she was the one who booked the reservation and that two of the women had been at the restaurant to check it out and she knew they were going to be trouble. Anyway, then I left without getting a sixpack for the first time since they restocked. Since February began I emptied that thing out. Then there were just crappy six packs left and I was like "Whaaaaaaaat?" So it got restocked, but without Sam Winter, which is a bummer.

Sunday I helped my Mom go over her bills and figured out exactly how much money she owes to, well, everything. Really it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be, so that was cool. So we felt very relieved. I was so relieved, because this had been on miy mind for a very long time. Nobody hates money problems more than me and I'm pretty good at avoiding them because I'm constantly looking forward. Anyway, then I went to Borders to get the Tim & Eric season 2 DVD. That's really good. I'm not sure if I mentioned borrowing season 1 from Ryan, but I did and that's awesome too. Great job! I've also been watching more Mr. Show lately too. I'm trying to get one of my friends into it and tonight she texted me asking about it. What I want to say is "Hey, want to watch some eps sometime?" But right now that's not cool. Man do I want to burn through some episodes with my friend though............................ Holy smokes.

So tonight I found out the dinner thing ended up getting cancelled because in the last two weeks 4 people dropped out. So anyway, that blows, but the thing was supposed happen twice already and if it had happened two weeks ago as it was first supposed to, I would totally have done it. By the time it rolled around to actually end up being this week, everything was just fucked up. Relationships had broken down, tensions were high, money was low. Some participants weren't or aren't on speaking terms. I can't wait to go to Austin right now. I love being here right now, but in another sense I'd rather be anywhere else. Things could break good or bad and it could take a long time to know. I'm thinking things are going to break bad and I'll be very sad about that. In a way I'm already sad about it and it hasn't even gotten crummy yet. In fact right now things are great. However, clouds loom and I want to run away.

Harsh economic times

So since I last wrote everything has been cool. Saw the Disco Biscuits on Sunday night and they were awesome! Went to a party on Saturday and that was cool too. In the past two weeks I've started to pay more attention to Facebook, which is just alright. I hate that people send the drinks and Green Patches and all that other BS. It's always the people you'd kind of expect sending this or that. I don't know, I can't really be bothered.

Well, it's official that the party times and chilling at work is over. That sucks because it takes the fun level down ten fold. We had such a good thing going too. It was like Scatland, if you've ever heard the song by Scatman John, which you haven't unless your SINH. You're not.

I work for the next few days and that should be cool. I need to make money right now. The crunch is on for Austin. Honestly, the crunch is so on that if I could get my ticket refunded, I wouldn't even go. Hopefully, I can get my income tax return and use that for the trip. That would be nice, but I can just see SXSW being a spending disaster. Will I ever get it right? Hell yeah I will!
I told my friend about Hell Yeah by Neil Diamond and she actually checked it out and got back to me. Friends like these.......................

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get up in the morning.




Actually I'll throw in two more videos of crazy but entertaining songs!





Thanks to Scharpling for introducing me to Hell Yeah! Mad props to Evil E and Cool K for the other two!

Weird, wild stuff

Despite there being all kinds of crazy stuff happening at work this week, we actually had a good night on Friday. Or at least I did. I think I was the only one who made any money. I got a big tip off this girl who I thought was pretty hot and that made my night. Practically every night this week I went to Pete's after work. The one night I didn't stuff broke bad and it totally fucked the coworkers up for days. Some longer.

Right now I listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion, which has really been wearing on to me over the past week. I saw Animal Collective this summer and even though I like the Panda Bear album alright, I just couldn't get into the performance.

Other than BS going down at work, nothing much has really been happening. I went out Friday night and that was cool enough, but I wanted to get home early so I left about 12:30. It was weird to not still be at work at that time. It was weirder to work all night without having our normal routine or even the normal people. It was new and different, but we made the best of it and I think everybody had a good time. I learned that when my friend was 8 and OK Computer came out her dad was all into it and she actually had the rad experience of liking Radiohead since right before she turned 9. That kind of makes RH like no band that I liked at that age because... well, let's see: The Fat Boys, GNR, and Living Colour. They've all had a different career arc than the groundbreaking quintet from Oxford.

Yesterday, I tried to call my friends in Boulder to no avail. Talked to my dad a bit and that was cool. Then last night I went to Pete's and it was the biggest douchefest ever. The cigar room actually had people smoking cigars in it. If you're white and under 45 and you're smoking a cigar, you're either a father or someone who should just blow their brains out and do me and the rest of the world a favor.

Anyway, so I left there and came home at like 11:00 just hoping to catch something cool or catch up on podcasts or whatever. I watched this movie Paranoid Park, which is a Gus Van Sant movie. I gotta say after Elephant and this, I'm really starting to like Van Sant. The use of music just makes everything awesome. I sort of fell asleep near the very end so by rights I should rewatch it, but probably won't.

Quick update

I haven't really been spending too much time in front of the computer lately which is a good thing. I've been going out more but that has been taxing as far as drinking way too much and spending too much money. SSDD.

So the past few weeks I've pretty much had a set schedule at work. It looks like unless I want to change it I'm mostly working Tues-Fri every week. Last night I covered for a friend and it was Valentines Day, so everybody made decent money. At work in the lobby there was a Bull Mastiff who showed up no collar, no leash in the hotel. Then the owner showed up and everybody was like, "Whoa!!" because this dog was HUGE.

Friday night I was off this week so I headed to the grand opening of this coffee shop/art space/venue that my friend is doing. The show on Friday night was a band from NY, NY called The Whispering Tree. They were really good and I thank them for coming to New Cumberland. Once again just like the preopening a few weeks ago, it was great to see everyone that came to the event. Joe, the owner, gave a great speech before the music got underway and it will be really interesting to see what happens to the place now that it's up and running. I can see myself spending a lot of time there because they have killer food. Friday night I had carnitas and this really amazing spicy baked macaroni they do. It was phenomenal! I think if you take a girl there and she's never been there before, you're definitely crushing it.

I'm a huge dork because I got my two friends candy rings for Valentines day. I never ended up giving the rings to them though, so I guess I'm not that bad.

So anyway, like I said I worked Saturday night, that was dece obvi.

Today I just kind of laid around. I finally listened to this week's Best Show with Jon Glaser and Google as in studio guests. Tonight I watched the Delocated pilot on Adult Swim and that was top notch too.

Hey here's something entertaining you might enjoy. Never Not Funny live at the SF Sketchfest! This episode is great because there are two guests, Pat Francis (maybe the best guest the show has ever had) and Jon Hamm. Great episode. I've actually gotten behind on NNF, but will have tomorrow to catch up.

See ya.

They have never gone wrong

Man, Radiohead ripped the Grammys last night, though I wish that all five of them had been onstage. I thought that Jay Z rapping with Coldplay sucked and I hated the MIA thing with Lil Wayne and the rest of those guys. Anyway...

Since I last posted I've just been working and chilling mostly. Strange things are afoot at work, I think but I'll have to wait until later in the week to find out. I hung out with a bunch of coworkers Friday night and that was cool. Saturday I went out, yesterday I went out and tonight I am definitely not going out, decidedly. I've been spending way too much money, but it's because I've been drinking all these great beers instead of Miller Lite, which held my hand for years. Whatever, moving up, I guess. One good thing is that I don't drink Whiskey anymore and that's a big improvement.

#1 on the list

Sleep little darling

Well, since I last posted I've had some very cool times. Too many to recount here actually. Friday night I worked and then went out with the crew and had a great time. I actually ended up at the home of two of my coworkers and we had a great little party, which was surprisingly good for not starting until after 2am. They were playing all kinds of music that I hadn't really ever heard and it was awesome. I'm not ashamed to admit that at 31 I'd never heard Abbey Road in its entirety until three days ago. What a great album! They also introduced me to a great bay area metal band called All Shall Perish, who rip shit for real.

So I spent all day Saturday downloading and it paid off well. Then I went and bought an external hard drive, which is a purchase that was way overdue. I spent Saturday night drinking Sam Adams' Winter Lager and transferring all my files which took a while, but nowhere near as long as I expected.

Sunday my mom and I went to the restaurant for dinner and watched the Superbowl. They had a big screen set up in one of the rooms. So that was really fun and I'm glad the Steelers won. I'll probably write more later and maybe post some songs.

I can return emails

Eeegads what has been going on the past few days. Hoo boy! Let's see, I worked and that was pretty cool. I've really been staying there pretty late this week and I might need to cut that out. But it's more fun than just coming home, so I don't know. Everything is going good maybe I shouldn't mess with it.

So I dropped off the mixes for my friend today and I should see her tomorrow, but I don't know if she will have heard any of them by then. No big either way, really.

Today was a pretty good day as I got to chill with Ryan for the first time in ever. We watched a thing OnDemand of the Disco Biscuits doing their song Therapy. I had never heard them before today and I've got to say they rock. And they're from Philly! I'm trying to track down what album the song is on because I'd really like to get it. Ryan wants to go see them at the beginning of March and that would be really cool. It would be cool to start the month off in some kind of cool way and then cap it off with SXSW. I finally emailed my friend Scott today after spending like an hour looking at all the bands. I don't even think I have an updated list either. I also emailed my brother because he sent me a kickass email about getting picked to help Rob Huebel with a bit at Largo I think. Very cool. I work a ton this week starting tomorrow, so that should be cool. We'll talk soon!

The First Thom Yorke Book!

From At Ease:

“Thom Yorke: Radiohead & Trading Solo” is the title of the forthcoming biography of Thom Yorke. The book will hit the shelves next month.
There are already many Radiohead books out there, but publisher Independent Music Press announced this first ever biography of the Radiohead frontman. The press release claims that the 208 page book, written by Trevor Baker, is “a tale of the extraordinary drive, ambition and perfectionism of just one man. Thom Yorke’s story has never been told and this biography goes further and deeper than ever before with the help of in-depth interviews from former classmates, producers, video makers and other key players in his life.”
Thom Yorke: Radiohead & Trading Solo will be out on February 26th. Pre-order the book at Amazon.

Here We Go

Alright, so it's day 3 of Obama's administration and things seem to be going well. I worked the past two nights and that was alright. Nothing to write home about moneywise, but I had fun and did get to hang with my coworkers after hours which is always fantastic. Last night it was a particularly good crew (although it lacked my favorite person) and we had all this cleaning to do, which we knocked out in about a half hour.
I came home and tried to listen to this week's Best Show, but wasn't able to finish it. So I'm listening now. I don't know if I'll have time to finish it in this sitting either. It is good to have on though as I have like 50 emails to send out to people. I've got to email my friend Scott in Austin because he sent me a link to a site that keeps track of the ever growing SXSW roster. Looks to be a mindblowing couple days and I can't wait to go down. A friend at work was saying that her friend goes to Texas A&M and was raving about Southby last year. I'll write more later.

Susan Van Tassel once again.

Oh yeah quick sidebar: I'm getting a lot of hits from people searching for Bruce McCulloch's Shame-Based Man album. I had it up for a while and once it hit a certain number of downloads, I figured that was enough and deleted the link. So that's what happened with that. It's kind of a jip that nobody who downloaded it seems to want to reup it anywhere, but that's the way things go. Recently I found things online that I'd been looking for for almost ten years so be patient. Or go here and purchase the album. It's $2.16!!!!

Sunday and Monday

I don't think I did anything Saturday. Sunday I was late to work, but it was no big deal. All anyone cared about was nem Eagles, who sadly will not play Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. Anyway, we had a pretty good night, me and the girls and Adam. We had buses bringing people to the hotel who were in town for the inauguration and we thought we were going to get slammed but it never happened. I think I stopped taking tables around 8:30 and hung out til close. Then I went to Coakley's and hung out with my friend Ryan from open mic. That was cool. When I got home he pulled up behind me and was like "I got Genny Cream Ales at the house!" He only lives a block away so that was cool. I got home at like 5:30 this morning, but for some reason was up at like 11 this morning.

My mom has total inauguration fever! She's way too into it for my liking. I'm trying to get into it, I mean I voted for Obama, but I don't know, I just can't get into the spirit. I try not to rain on her parade though.

Oh, so I finished making the mix CDs for my homegirl AG. I ended up making two, one that I took way too seriously and then one that's just for kicks to kind of say "Yo, sorry it took so long." I also gave her Bee Thousand by Guided By Voices and Radiohead's I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings because I could fit both on one disc. Yippeeee! Here are the mix tracklists.

Who Cares Mix:
Bruises - Chairlift (that song from the iPod Nano commercial)
Los Angeles - Frank Black
Linoleum - NOFX
Rock and Roll Dreams'll Come Through - Ted Leo
Crushin' - The Fat Boys
Jesus Etc. - Wilco
No Bad News - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Arpeggi - Radiohead ('06 live version, much better than In Rainbows version IMO)
Needle In The Hay - Elliot Smith
Bottle of Blues - Beck
Strawberry Letter 23 - Shuggie Otis
One Night in Bangkok - Murray Head
Lift Me Up - Bruce McCulloch
The Grand Finale - The D.O.C. (ft. Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and MC Ren)
Lift Me Lord - Bill Hicks (This is about a thirty second track that I didn't list on the insert)
Everyone's A VIP To Someone - The Go! Team (also an unlisted bonus trizzack, sucka!)

We Care A Lot Mix:
Wolf Like Me - TV On The Radio
The Laws Have Changed - New Pornographers
Where Is My Mind - Pixies
What Difference Does It Make? - The Smiths
Roland - Interpol
Cellphone's Dead - Beck
Funky Days Are Back Again - Cornershop
Almost Crimes - Broken Social Scene
Was It You? - Spoon
Caring Is Creepy - The Shins
Another Person - Jay Reatard
The Youth - MGMT
Sleepwalk - The Ventures (bonus trizzle, y'all)

So I finished up burning the discs and I just wanted to get out of the house. I was going to get McNuggets because they're pretty much the only thing I'll get at McDonald's that's not a breakfast thing. Fuck McDonald's though, last time I got breakfast there they totally screwed it up. I will never use the drive-thru again. How do you forget the egg in a Steak, Egg and Cheese Bagel? Twice! UGGGGGH!
Anyway, I ended up stopping by the restaurant to give this girl the CDs but she wasn't there. Whatev, I'll see her eventually, I'm sure. The restaurant was cool, but super dead. Still didn't get crazy busy from the inauguration people yet, so that kind of blows. I ate a burger and it was delicious and filling. I ate a killer steak on Sunday too. Food overload and I love it. Speaking of food overload I took some candy and stuff to the restaurant. One girl there had never had a dried banana before, she's 21. That seems crazy to me, I gotta say. I also got these candies made by Tootsie called Crows, which are like Dots but instead of being fruit flavored they're black licorice, which everyone at work was like "Gag me!" but I love black licorice, it tastes like Jager sort of.
After leaving the restaurant I didn't know what to do. I think it was like 9:30 so I thought that I could get to Border's to spend my bad ass gift card on John Hodgman's 'More Information Than You Require'. No dice though because I thought they closed at 11, but they close at 10. Wah - wah.

Used to be alright

What an awesome week it's been! I worked Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and made killer money. Especially on Wednesday when I covered someone else's shift and made $200. The great thing about that is that I didn't even feel like I was busy at any point. I just had awesome customers who got it. Fucking rad!

Anyway, so right now I'm just chilling. I can't figure out what to do with my Friday night right now. I should go out, but there's no real reason to at all. I just walked my pep peps and I think it's about two degrees outside right now. I do need to go to the store to get CD-Rs but I'll do that later. I'm so glad that I got my transmission fluid level topped off and my car's running smooth again. What a relief to know that that's all it was. I hate having car troubles of any kind and as much as I might bitch, in my personal life about how bad VWs are, I'm very thankful that mine is still going strong. Knock on wood.

My friend in Colorado wrote and said that she has secured a stint substitute teaching, which could lead to a long term job in the future, so that's exciting.

Great Best Show this week with the hotdog vendor guy and Paul F. Tompkins. Jeers to my dad for calling in after listening to the show for only zero weeks. That was fucking stupid and his cold open was something that Tom could have really messed with, but he left it alone.

Other things control me

So, I'm trying to get back into posting more but have been spending way too much time screwing around on the net. It's gotten really bad in the past two weeks and I think that I'm going to have to place restrictions on my internet usage, because what I'm currently doing is, I think, making me depressed in some way. I read that being on the net, and specifically, looking at porn can make you really depressed, so that's always in the back of my mind.

So anyway, a lot of cool shit has actually happened in the past three weeks. My dad and brother came to PA for the holidays and that was cool even though I think I was a crab 90% of the time. I basically just didn't feel like doing anything. Even the parties I went to should have been really fun for me but somehow weren't. At all. I liked seeing all my friends, but I would just want to leave after 45 minutes, so then I would deal with that by drinking too much and stuff would just devolve. Horrible. I told my friends who live in other parts of the country that I'd keep in touch more, in fact I owe them emails right now. Anyway, I'll try to be more on that in '09.

I'm still sequencing this damn mixtape , but I now have a more positive outlook on that because I don't care. Making a mix is something I did maybe once in high school, yet for some reason I just think it's the most high school thing you can possibly do. I mean you have to pick songs that you think the person will like, but you don't want to get too personal either and it's just BLAARRG.

So anyway I'm listening to the mix right now and I think it's totally fine. And it rocks to boot. I'll post the playlist when it's totally finished.

So what else has been going on? I do want to give a quick mention of two things that totally rock real quick. First off the amazing Fredericks of New Port Ritchey (it's Florida!) soundboard created by Regular Joe and posted on the message board over at Friendsoftom.com. Fantastic job. Fredericks is certainly the new year's most exciting character and if Tom can get him to quit smoking that would be another in the annals of Best Show triumphs. The other thing is an interview with Seth and Jonathan of Uhh Yeah Dude fame. I watched and read this last night despite the fact that it's probably five or six weeks old. Anyway, good stuff, check it out.

So now that the holidays are long behind us I need to get back to normalcy of some kind. My dad and brother left for their respective homes last week. I was glad they came down and it didn't end up being as crazy stressful as I thought it was going to be. Probably because I mostly just did my own thing, which isn't much. I worked a few of the days that they were here but not many. I'm just starting to work more now and that's been pretty cool. I need to find another job soon and that's going to suck. I just keep thinking how soon I won't have any free time at all, which might not be a bad thing necessarily. I just really need to hit the pavement and look for work. I get such a panicked feeling when I think about looking though. To even think of cracking the newspaper makes me want to totally throw up.

I've got to get back in contact with my doctor soon. I missed an appointment with him back in November and have not yet done anything about that. Isn't that terrible? I still have a decent supply of meds though, mostly because I've been slacking on taking them. I really need to start taking them everyday to avoid shit becoming overwhelming again. But I just don't want to be a flat, monotone person like I was this entire spring. To talk to the people I work with now about when I first started is really crazy because there's been such a marked change in my personality and the way I interact with people. I'm so glad to be back to my old self, but I also know what is at stake as far as not taking my medication and thinking that everything will be cool. I have to look at the night on a curve.

This past Saturday night I went to an awesome opening reception for a new restaurant/ artspace that a friend just opened up. It's in New Cumberland and it looks like it's going to be totally sweet. There were bands playing and more cute art girls than I could shake a drawing of a stick at. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to just go out solo and see everyone there. I ran onto friends right away and we talked and had wine, which I haven't had in a while. Then I went to Pete's and watched Boston Legal with the bouncer, who's a huge fan of Monk. Then some of my friends from work showed up and that was cool. I ended up sleeping at my friend's house and watching Pineapple Express with her. The next day I realized that I maybe could have hooked up, but the previous night the thought never entered my mind.

I came home yesterday from her house and immediately started reading Klosterman IV after putting it off for the holidays. What a great book! Even the stuff that I don't really care about reading (Val Kilmer and Steve Nash come to mind) are really great and I just love Klosterman's style and the questions he poses both to his subjects and to the reader. Great stuff. I wish I could write, but I have long since chucked that idea out the window. Even here on this blog I'll see things that aren't even really sentences, just two half thoughts crazy glued together somehow. Maybe I just need to write more. Maybe I'll post again later.

holiday recap

Thank God the holidays are over. I had a good Christmas and an OK New Year's Eve, but there's really not too much more to say. At work we had our gift exchange and my friend Rachel hooked me up awesomely with Chuck Klosterman IV and Pablo Honey on vinyl! I have no idea how she knew that I liked Klosterman, but was really happy that I liked my gifts.

Anyway, then we went to Coakley's and we had a good time.
I know that I should write a more detailed summary of the events of the last two weeks but I just don't care to right now. I'm basically just posting to get back into the habit of posting. OK, bye.