Yellowcard

I saw Yellowcard tonight with Rachel at Rose Arena (CMU). It was a good show! The two opening bands went on a bit long, and some of the "kiddies" in front of us were trying a bit too hard to prove what a crazy time they were having, but Yellowcard made up for it when they took the stage. It was the first and only time I've ever seen a violinist do a back-flip off of a stage monitor. [Of course the only other rock band I've seen with a violinist is Kansas.] Surprisingly tonight they even played my favorite Yellowcard song ("Back Home"), which I didn't expect, because it wasn't a popular song of theirs. Rose Arena is excellent as a concert venue, because it's so damn small. You can get close to the bands without really trying.

The concert was cool, but I must admit I'm feeling a bit confused about some things tonight. Of course that is definitely NOT new territory for me! I think too damn much about things. I suppose it's better than being shallow, vapid, and unthinking... But sometimes I envy those types of people just a little bit, even though I shouldn't.

Echo Luna on iTunes

Time for some blatant self-promotion. Music from my ambient/chill/electronica project
Echo Luna is now available on iTunes!

Click HERE to check it out.

Drag

With all the insults that have been hurled my way over the years (by friends and enemies alike---most in jest), I thought I'd pretty much heard them all... until today. A friend of mine just called me "a drag" via AOL Instant Messenger. That is a new one for me. I thought people stopped using that term in 1979? I feel so special!

Lover Style Profile Test

The Surprising Lover 63% partner focus, 47% aggressiveness, 70% adventurousness

Based on the results of this test, it is highly likely that: You prefer your romance and love to be wild and daring rather than typical or boring, you would rather be pursued than do the pursuing and, when it comes to physical love, your satisfaction comes more from providing a wonderful time to your partner than simply seeking your own. This places you in the Lover Style of: The Surprising Lover. The Surprising Lover is a wonderful Lover Style, and, like the name implies, is often filled with hidden delights and talents that might not be apparent from a surface knowledge of the person. The Surprising Lover is rather like a geode--sometimes rough on the exterior, but filled with beauty and wonder. The Surprising Lover is thus a gem to find, though it can sometimes be difficult to do so because they often tend to be humble and unwilling to reveal their inner greatness unless they're in a rewarding relationship. In terms of physical love, the Surprising Lover really shines, often highly imaginative and utterly devoted to bringing the heights of pleasure to the one that they truly love. Given a rewarding, reciprocative relationship, and the right lover, the Surprising Lover can be a delight in bed. Best Compatibility can probably be found with: The Carnal Lover (most of all) or the Exotic Lover, or the Suave Lover. Congratulations! Thanks Again! -- THE LOVER STYLE PROFILE TEST

Bon Voyage, MA

Here's a quick shout-out to my very good friend Mary Ann (aka "Lunch Lady" aka "MA"). She's leaving her job at our Alma Mater (CMU/Aramark) today for the greener pastures of commercial restaurant management. She'll be working much closer to her home (goodbye crazy long commute!), and $he'll be making more money... But I'll still miss having her around Mount Pleasant. Congrats, MA! You're the hardest working woman I know. You deserve all the success in the world.

Truth

Have you ever suspected someone was misleading you, so you pushed them into revealing the truth, even though you knew damn well it was a truth you really didn't want to hear? Why can't we be satisfied sometimes with just accepting a happier falsehood? What is it about "knowing the truth" that is so attractive anyhow... Especially in situations where we're almost certain ahead of time someone is hiding a truth we don't want to hear?? I don't know, but for some reason I always push for the truth. And sometimes the truth sucks.

A New Hope

Sometimes I feel a bit trapped inside the apartment, especially late at night when Scott is asleep, and things are quiet. Sometimes I go outside for a while, to clear my head, and to just breathe. Looking up at the stars helps me feel less trapped, and more connected to life beyond this sleepy rural college town.

I guess I've had a lot on my mind lately. OK, probably for longer than just "lately"... more like weeks. I've definitely been letting some things stack up in my mind, without making an honest attempt to deal with them. Tonight I could feel the walls closing in on me with a bit of extra force, so around 2AM... outside I went. It's been raining off-and-on tonight, but fortunately I chose a non-rainy moment to venture out into the back yard. I guess most people would consider the sky pretty gloomy tonight. It was very dark. At first the only lights I could see were the red blinkers on a distant radio tower. After a few minutes of taking in the darkness, I had decided to head back inside. As I turned to go, my eye caught sight of a white light. I looked up, and I could see a single star shining through a small opening in the thick cloud cover. I stood in silence, watching this star.

For some reason, the whole experience started to have an effect on my emotional state. As I stood staring off into that little sliver of visible space, I started to get the sneaking suspicion that maybe everything is going to be alright after all. Maybe in this universe of chaos, things are actually going to work out for me. Basically, I began to feel... hope. It started to rain lightly, but I didn't care. I kept watching the sky, and the feeling kept growing. Even now, almost two hours later, that feeling has not left me. Maybe Bob Marley was right when he wrote:

"Everything's gonna be alright" (from No Woman No Cry)

You're Going to Lose That Girl

"You’re going to lose that girl, you’re going to lose that girl.
If you don’t take her out tonight, she’s going to change her mind,
And I will take her out tonight, and I will treat her kind.
You’re going to lose that girl, you’re going to lose that girl.
If you don’t treat her right, my friend, you’re going to find her gone,
‘Cos I will treat her right, and then you’ll be the lonely one..."

-The Beatles

Band Name Generator

Your Band Name is:

The Hard-drinkin' Geishas

Band Name Generator

Support

"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."

--Drew Carey

Leaving Las Vegas

So here I sit, watching the movie "Leaving Las Vegas" for like the 600th time. Is it wrong to be border line obsessed with a movie about a guy going to Las Vegas to drink himself to death? Probably.

The Man

Give up, just quit, because in this life, you can't win. Yeah, you can try, but in the end you're just gonna lose, big time, because the world is run by the Man. The Man, oh, you don't know the Man. He's everywhere. In the White House... down the hall... Ms. Mullins, she's the Man. And the Man ruined the ozone, he's burning down the Amazon, and he kidnapped Shamu and put her in a chlorine tank! And there used to be a way to stick it to the Man. It was called rock 'n roll, but guess what, oh no, the Man ruined that, too, with a little thing called MTV! So don't waste your time trying to make anything cool or pure or awesome 'cause the Man is just gonna call you a fat washed up loser and crush your soul. So do yourselves a favor and just GIVE UP!

-- Jack Black as Dewey Finn in "The School of Rock"

(Yeah, Hugh... I know, I know... I totally stole this from your blog.:)

Love My Job....

I missed out on the Friday night fun thanks to my fabulous job. I got out at midnight. Apologies to Michelle and Amber... for missing your show. I'm sure you kicked ass!

Denial

Lately I think I'm getting so good at denial that I'm actually starting to believe my own bullshit. That can't be good.

Thanks

Thanks to April S. for inadvertently cheering me up tonight when I was feeling pretty down.

So over myself

Have you ever just been completely fed up with, and sick of yourself?!? I am totally there lately. I keep making the same mistakes, I keep wasting time in the same exact ways, and I keep using the same half-truths to rationalize my choices.

I am filled with so much confusion lately (about multiple areas of my life), and yet I don't seem to be making any progress towards figuring things out. In truth, I'm only half-trying. This isn't like me. This is like some watered-down version of me. The hours and days of my life are flying by, but I feel as if I'm living in some kind of infinite loop. I keep landing back in the same place, and the loop repeats again.

Garbage Day!

I don't know where this short TV or film (??) clip originated, but I know it's damn funny! It is so random and weird, I can't seem to stop watching it.


(Special thanks to Rach for sending me this clip):

Garbage Day

Time for a new blog

First off, this is NOT an April Fool's Day joke!

My old blog service "Friendster" has added an unwanted advertising banner directly into my blog! It cannot be removed. As such, I have moved to a new blogging service: Blogger.com. Unfortunately I cannot currently import my old blog posts into this new blog, but I have links to my old blog posted on this site.

This is my new blog. Please bookmark it. Blogger.com has some great features:

SEARCH - You can search the contents of my blog by using the "search this blog" button located at the top of the window.

POST YOUR COMMENTS - Like my last blog, you can leave comments about any post by clicking on "comments" (found in blue, at the bottom of each post).

E-MAIL POSTS - You can easily e-mail any post to someone by clicking on the white envelope icon (found at the bottom of each post).

I am still learning the interface, and I'm still tweaking things.



[In case anyone is wondering why I posted a pic of myself today earlier, it's because I had to in order for my new blog profile to have a pic).

Pic - ME