Res ipsa loquitur It's funny how once you reach a certain point you just look back and things seem so clear and inevitable. Like my leaving Litmus Green. It just seems like my heart hasn't been in it for a while now. The only thing keeping me going was the prospect of a new album. I love recording, and making up new songs; the whole creative process. Gigs can be fun, but just doing gigs isn't enough for me to be happy, and since there is no way we could put out a new CD ourselves, let alone record one for someone else to put out, I just don't feel the need to go on with the band anymore. It's no fun anymore. And not just because of the fact that we can't put an album out. I'm also tired of the whole 'punk rock' scene, the same old stale whiney Politically Correct shit. The back biting, the lame attitudes. Then there's the problems of some other band members getting in the way and making everyone's lives misserable. Not to mention all my own problems. It all seems to speak for itself: I'm quitting the band. The September gig with the Partisans will be the last gig I do with Litmus Green. It's been a fun ride, but enough is enough.
Posted at 17:23 # G
Hints Why is it that people just don't want to hear what you are telling them? Last night was a washout simply because some people don't want to give up on something regardless of the fact that it is, for all intents and purposes, dead, stale, and no longer fun.
Posted at 11:26 # G
Go girl! Lysa is right on.
Posted at 13:45 # G
Ha! Lare comes up with some of the funniest stuff. The sad thing is that I'm pretty sure he wrote his latest blog entry while pissed off. The truth sometimes comes out best as humor, though. Too bad no one ever seems to get the joke.
Posted at 11:27 # G
Apathy I'm having a real hard time caring even a little bit about things that used to be a big deal for me. It seems like now I can just as easily give up things that I once cared about just because they have become a pain in the ass or too much of a soap opera. I always believed that when something was no longer enjoyable and no longer making me happy, that I'd give it up. It seems that I was right. Now I just have to find out if all the joy is truly gone, or if there is some fun to be had yet. You would think that I'd be somewhat more emotional and distraught by all this, but I'm not. A touch saddened, maybe, but to all things there must be an end. It's just a matter of when... Besides, often from the ashes of one thing comes another.
Posted at 21:16 # G
Christian Porn I had to drive out to Palm Springs today (long story, don't ask) and on the way back I saw a funny billboard advertising a 'Christan Porn' web site. What do you suppose that is? Bland girls in sensible clothing?
Posted at 15:17 # G
Nuke the Middle-East for Buddha You know what? Fuck them all. Religious people (all of them; buddhists, hindus, christians, muslims, pagans, satanists...), atheists, agnostics, vegetarians, carnivores, nihilists, democrats, republicans, monarchists, anarchists, communists (especially them), socialists, hippies, technocrats, luddites. Fuck them all. And that includes Gay Whales for Jesus. I am sick of all of it. Everyone should just shut the fuck up about what they want everyone else to do and stick to their own problems. Just mind their own fucking business. Sheesh.
Posted at 23:08 # G
Locks I got to spend the day changing all the dead bolt locks on my mom's house and replacing the shitty door to the garage. It struck me as funny that if you go to Home Depot to get new locks all you have to do to get all matching keys is look at the number on the back of the lock package and grab locks with the same number. Does that mean that there are a bunch of other people out there somewhere with keys to my house because they just happen to have the same number on the locks to their own homes? Kinda creepy. You know that wouldn't have bothered me nearly as much in Huntley, Illinois as it does here.
Posted at 18:16 # G
Home again... I'm home from my trip. The sad thing is that I don't want to be here; I didn't want to leave. Maybe I'm just getting burnt out on the left coast, and SoCal/OC/LA in general. Maybe it's because the whole time I was there complete strangers were polite and friendly and I never heard a single gunshot (five minutes after I got home I could hear small arms fire coming from a mile or so away). Maybe it's because I found a damn fine reason for wanting to stay. It's nice to have my Mac and DSL line, but there are more important things in life and I guess I prefer being in someone else's world to being in my own. It's funny, usually I can't wait to get home after a vacation. Now I can't wait to go back.
Posted at 21:53 # G
Cheeseheads I went to Wisconsin for party while I was up at my sisters place in Illinois. What the fuck is up with all the Herringbone necklaces? That has to be the second strangest thing I have seen (fireflies being the first). People wear those silly ass necklaces like status rankings or something, sort of like ancient tribal peoples. Apparently the bigger the necklace the higher your status. I kid you not. I felt like an anthropologist, visiting a strange tribe for the first time. It was a very different culture. Nothing to be afraid of unless they start swapping hunting stories, then it's best to get while the getting is good, least you be bored to death, unless you're into that sort of thing... The coolest thing about going to Cheesehead land was that I finally got to see a shit load of fireflies outside. They were all over. It was one of the strangest and most beautiful things I have ever seen.
Posted at 21:39 # G
Firefly I saw a firefly yesterday. I think I saw one a few days earlier, but is was such a brief sighting that I couldn't be sure. I was sitting on my sister's back porch in the evening when a light flew in front of my face. I was quite startled by it at the time, as I had never seen a firefly before. I didn't get a chance to see it again, as it just disappeared. Last night, however, my nephew caught one and brought it inside to show me. I must admit, they are pretty cool. I can't wait to see it when there are more out. My sister says they are everywhere, like a big, glowing cloud. That should be cool...
Posted at 10:30 # G
Happy Birthday to me... At 1:55AM on June 19th, 1971, I was born in Athens, Ohio. Yup, I'm officially thirtysomething...
Posted at 05:18 # G
Ouch... I went to Six Flags Great America yesterday. Whatever you do DON'T go on Shockwave!!! That ride fucked all of our necks up. The harness is hard and it jolts from side to side hard enough to slam your head around in a most unpleasent way. It felt like someone was punching me in the jaw. The worst part is that I wanted to go on a lot of the new rides, but my neck and back were so messed up after Shockwave that I didn't feel up to riding anything else. It put a damper on the rest of the day. We had fun anyway, though.
Posted at 13:18 # G
Animals There are four animals in my sisters house; two dogs, Jack and Brandy, and two cats, Mork and Mindy. The cats are long hairs, and they were getting a bit mangy looking, so my sister got them hair cuts. The style is called the 'lion cut'. I am convinced it's part of an experiment to discover weather or not cats have shame. Until now I had always thought that there was nothing more pathetic looking than a wet cat, but I think this god awful 'lion cut' is worse. I just about bust a gut when I saw the cats after they got home.
Posted at 07:22 # G
Weather Being a So Cal boy, I don't know shit about weather. Most people in So Cal define cold as anything < 60(F) and light drizzle as a torrential downpour. I can now say I have seen real, honest to goodness, weather. There was a thunderstorm the other day. A real thunderstorm. The LOUDEST thing I have ever experienced, and I've been playing in a punk band for 11 years. *FLASH*BOOM!* No delay between the lightning and the thunder. One of the new houses being built across the park from my sister's place caught fire after getting struck. The funny thing was that while there is all this rain and thunder and lightning going on some little girls were running around in the park in their bathing suits, playing in the rain. They didn't even flinch at the deafening thunder claps. Yesterday it was raining in the morning. I mean RAINING. As my sister's husband puts it: Like a cow pissing on a flat rock. I didn't know you could get that much water in the air and still be able to breathe it. The funny thing about all this is that in So Cal, if it's raining, it's "cold", but it's been 80+(F) here the whole time. Weird.
Posted at 06:59 # G
Longitude Something has been bugging the shit out of me every morning and every evening since I got to the Chicago area. Here it is:
My sister's house faces due south. Now, I've been getting up early because her dogs will just decide that I really should get up and pet them, so I see the sky at around 7:00AM from her back porch and notice, in the back of my mind where silly random stuff is noted down for no good reason, that the house doesn't cast a shadow on the porch. Later on while I'm drinking linies and reading I notice that the house is casting a shadow. But at dusk, the shadow is gone again. Now this has been gnawing at the back of my mind for a few days, when it suddenly occurs to me: I am a LOT further north than I am used to. The shadows are longer, as is the amount of daylight. Duh. Yup, I'm the kind of guy that thinks of shit like this on vacation. P.S. Go Chiefs!! Good luck, Lare!
Posted at 19:56 # G
Too nice People in the mid-west are just too damn nice. It's like they are up to something...
Posted at 08:07 # G
The Force will be with you... Go see Star Wars on a digital screen. It is SOOO much better. Amazing, really.
Posted at 20:24 # G
Huh... I didn't know that the weather could be nice out here. The only times I've been to see my sister it was fucking freezing. I grew up in SoCal, so I don't know cold. I thought I was going to die, it was so cold. It's actually really nice out today (yesterday it was rain and lightning). My sister has introduced me to a good beer, brewed in Wisconsin by a family brewery; the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company. It's good shit. Make a note Lare. I've never heard of this stuff, but it's good. Too good. I just can't stop drinking it. But you know what? I like it.
Posted at 12:23 # G
I made it to Chicago... I almost didn't make it, though. I flew stand by, which means I get a seat on the plane only if there is one available. Well, O'Hare Airport was shut down for a bit due to really bad thunderstorms, so all flights into Chicago got delayed. People were getting placed on different flights to make up for the delays and as a consequence all the flights were packed. I got the very last seat on my plane. I swear, if our ansestors had knows that they'd be strapping themselves into steel tubes and hurtling through the skys I'm sure they'd have stayed in the trees. Don't get me wrong, I love flying, but being packed like sardines into tiny seats, and in bad weather, can make for a long fucking day. And my sister does this for a living. Blech...
Posted at 12:11 # G
Packing, part 2... I haven't done a lot of traveling since, well, you know... Just a quick weekend trip to Vegas with Mateo to get a tattoo. One thing that pisses me off about the changes since then is the fact that as I'm packing for my trip, I keep thinking about the things I'm packing in terms of how the security people will look at it. For instance; I have a toiletry bag, you know, those funny little bags you put your toothbrush and razor and crap like that in. But, as I'm packing my stuff it strikes me that the person looking at the X-Ray will probably also root through my shit, and if I use the toiletry bag they will have to open it and dig around, then close it and put it back. I don't give a damn about some random jackass digging around in my underwear, or anything, I just hate the hassle, and using the toiletry bag will be a hassle because it adds yet another enclosed space they have to paw through. So rather than be able to use a piece of luggage SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to hold toiletries, I'm packing my shit in a Ziploc baggie. Of course, I didn't pack a razor, least I try and shave the flight crew (shock! horror!), and I didn't bring my electric razor, either, as they would see that on the X-Ray and get curious. Yet another hassle. So I'm going to be scruffy until I buy a disposable razor, no big deal for me as I'm usually sporting a few days worth of beard anyway, it's just annoying. I also won't be packing my little pill box, since that will be yet another hassle. So I have to put all my Melatonin (I have trouble sleeping) and aspirin in another baggie. I might as well just put all my stuff in a transparent plastic bag. All that and the fact that I have to get up at 5:30AM and be at the airport at 6:30AM for a flight that leaves at 8:00AM just bugs the shit out of me. But, then again, I always hated getting up early, so maybe it's just the thought of how incredibly long tomorrow is going to be that is bugging me. I don't know how my sister does it (she's a flight attendant).
Posted at 14:04 # G
Go Chiefs Go! Girls and hockey, two of my three favorite things. I'll leave figuring out the third as an exercise for the reader.
Posted at 12:15 # G
Packing... I have to pack for my trip to Chicago tomorrow. I'm always forgetting something lame, like a toothbrush, when I pack for a trip. Hopefully having written this, I'll remember my toothbrush this time. I'll probably just forget something equally lame. I have to get to the airport at 6:30AM for an 8:00AM flight. And I have to remember not to habitually put on my Victorinox, least I try and take over the plane with some needle-nose pliers. I just hope my iPod doesn't get fucked up going through the X-Ray machine. It should be fine, but I can just see some jackass doing the searches trying to pry it open or something stupid like that.
Posted at 12:11 # G
So far so good... I talked with the Associate Director of Admission for Chapman University for about a half hour this morning. She said I was a 'risk' due to my previous academic record (that's putting it mildly!), but that my professional experience (as evident in my resume) made me a good candidate. She says she will recommend my acceptance, and I should find out what's up in a couple of weeks. Woohoo! I'm looking at 2 to 2.5 years of school. If all goes well I'll have a degree in Computer Science by the time I'm 33 years old.
Posted at 12:11 # G
Chapman, take #2... Once again I have to go plead my case with Chapman University. Hopefully this will work out.
Posted at 07:45 # G
Paaaattriiick!!! I'd talk shit on Lysa's favorite team, but it'd be too easy.
Posted at 02:10 # G
