Dead horse + Stick =

I came across the following post on the Noise board today. It was in a thread based around one girl saying her life was feeling a bit stale and how she needed some sort of change.

I've been stuck in a rut for years now- financially, socially, physically, and i don't know wht to do about it at all. actually, I do know what I want to do, but every day that goes by turns into a year and it never happens. i'm desperate to live in another part of the country, and honestly, all i dream of doing, and have for like 10 years now is that i'd like to experience living in another country, even if it's only for a summer. I wish and wish every day to do this, and it kills me that it'll never happen, and if it does, it won't be till i'm like 55 and way to old and creaky to enjoy it. No kids here to tie me down, yet it won't happen. Sometimes, it makes me want to scream.

I read this and thought to myself, "Hahahaha, that sounds like me."

Then after a second I realized, "Oh.....that sounds like me."

Not so funny.

But I'm hoping that little things like that add additionl pounds per square inch to the pressure of the boot upon my ass to do something about it. Something other than lament. I feel I keep inching closer towards a decision to try someplace new. Honestly, at some level, it feels almost like there is an inexorable movement of my desire towards moving, of trying someplace new. The fact that it is such a big decision is what makes it hard for me. I'm impulsive in some ways, but this is not one of them.

But other than just talking about how I could/would/should do this some day, let's take another tack. Here's a list of the places I have been or am considering:

Los Angeles - Still in the pack. Los Angeles, however, has always been one of those cities where I feel it'd be very lonely if you didn't know anyone. Sure, my sister and her boyfriend live there but they've been talking about leaving for a while and it's probably only a matter of time. I wouldn't be headed out there with any dreams of "making it" (hopes can still stick around though), but I do like playing music and there would be plenty of opportunity there.

San Diego - This came into consideration last year, when Keith mentioned possibly moving there. The idea of moving someplace with a friend is infinitely more appealing than moving somewhere alone. In that way you get a major life change, but still maintain some comfortable familiarity. However, from what I've heard the cost of living in San Diego is rising at a quicker rate than salaries. Despite the perfect weather, it'd be a tough city to live in just because of that.

Austin - My brief trip to Austin back in February was partly a "fact-finding" trip. Or, perhaps a "vibe-finding" trip. You can't tell a lot from a city in a long weekend, but you can probably decide whether or not you want to know more. This was a hard call, because the area where I stayed (downtown) seemed kind of stagnant, with the exception of the 6th Street nightlife. But that would be akin to me hanging out in downtown Boston all weekend. I never do that, and I would probably be bored if I did. The sections of the city I like are elsewhere. Austin could be the same way. And, also, Austin is another place with a large music scene.

Atlanta - I went there a couple of summers ago now. It was cool, especially the section I was staying in, but the vibe didn't really grab me. On that same trip, I much preferred...

Nashville - A new consideration. Another music mecca. More known for it's country scene, but supposedly there's a good amount of a lot of different types of music going on there. And besides, the one (local, I think) country band I saw there was smoking, damn good! Other than that, I don't really know that much. I'd have to revisit.

New York City - A real dark horse. It's probably lowest on my list, and probably not a real consideration. But it's probably America's most exciting city. Any hour of the day or night, there's something to do. That's intruiging. And they say that if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. But all those people, that claustrophobic city, that not so appealing smell of garbage that seemed to pervade the last time I was there. And it's not really any warmer than my current home, which is one thing I'm looking for. Every now and then, I do have those "What if?..." thoughts, but ultimately I think it'd be a place better to visit than to live.

Portland, OR - I've never been. But everyone who has that I've heard talk about it loved it. I don't think I've heard anyone ever say a bad word about it. That intruiges me. But as much as I know now, pros: I already know someone that lives there, so I'd be one friend up in the game; cons: all that rain.

Raleigh/Durham - The only reason this gets mentioned is because my brother-in-law always offers me jobs. Probably half-jokingly, but if I took him up on it, I'm sure he'd oblige. That would be one less worry, and maybe some of his entrepreneurial spirit would rub off on me. Supposedly that area is really up and coming, but visiting my sister's family, it also seems a little more laid back (read: boring) than I'd like at this point in my life. And besides, do I really want to drive dump trucks for a living?

Someplace overseas: That's pretty much just a pipe dream. I have no idead how to ever make that happen. The idea of moving somewhere in this country is daunting enough, so one thing at a time.

Quick hits: A litany

So far this summer has been less than impressive. Man, am I glad I bought that grill, because apparently I'll never be able to use it. I wasn't aware the Boston had been transplanted with Seattle.
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Nothing is more exciting than being woken up at 8:30 on a Saturday morning by the police and fire department banging on your door. As it happens there was a 911 hang up from the apartment upstairs from me. The interesting part? The couple that lives upstairs was out of town for the weekend. Personally, I'm hoping it's ghosts. That would be interesting.
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I'm at that excellent part of having a cold now where it's all but gone. You feel better, you're not blowing your nose every 20 seconds. But that remaining phegm feels like a little waddle of chicken gristle sitting in the back of your throat.

Speaking of phlegm, isn't it awesome when you cough/spit some of that stuff out and think, "Wow, that putrid, yellow gunk was in my lungs"?
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Half the time, I'm subconsciously feeling that no one really wants to talk to me. That's a nice insecurity to have. (Note: my self-diagnosis for this is that it is an extension of the fact that I never feel I have anything interesting to say, as evidinced by the fact that I always draw a complete blank whenever someone asks me what I've been up to.)
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As a addendum to the above, maybe I need more hobbies. (And no, watching TV and surfing the internet doesn't count.) Or perhaps I should really just buckle down and get working on some stuff I should be working on.
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Inspiration is a fickle bitch.
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I really need to find some new musical obsessions. I'm looking at all my CDs and just saying, "Meh." Well, at least the new Butch Walker and Slayer albums come out soon. Hopefully they should be good.
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I may have to revise my aforementioned opinion on Tom Waits' "The Heart of Saturday Night" album. I'm re-listening to it now, and am about half way through, and it's pretty awesome. I could do without the jazzy, spoken-word, poetry stuff, but everything else so far has been aces.
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Superman Returns opens this week. My inner (and outer) nerd is excited.
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OK, back to work.

Keepers

When I buy an album, I intend that it's going to stay in my collection for at least a little while. Every now and then I'll go in and cull the collection, so to speak. Gather up those CDs I don't listen to anymore, and have no intention of listening to in the forseeable future, and sell them off to buy more CDs.

(A prime example just today of something making its way to the sell pile. "Girlfriend" by Matthew Sweet. I've had this album for close to 15 years. Every now and then I bust it out and listen to it. Everytime I listen to it I think to myself, "This is kind of boring, but I feel like I might like it someday." I'm the same way with Peter Straub novels. I feel eventually I will grow into them, once I matured past a certain point. But after 15 years, I should probably admit I'm probably not going to into "Girlfriend".)

But when buying an album, especially nowadays, there's a lot of research that can go on beforehand. It's extremely rare that I buy an album sight unseen. Occasionally I might buy something I hadn't heard based on a reccomendation, (Marvelous 3's "Hey! Album" being an example of when that worked out well; Lewis Taylor's "Stoned" an example of when that worked out not as well, although I'm still going to give that one a chance; and Tom Waits' "Heart of Saturday Night" an example of although it didn't work out great--I only really dig about half the album--it did at least lead me to his "Closing Time" record, which is spectcacular.)

But more often's the case where I at least have some inkling going in of what I'm buying. I hear a song on the radio, at a party, from a friend, on a website, Myspace, from MTV (hahahaha! just kidding), etc. and so forth. Maybe it's a new album from a band I already like. Maybe it's a side project from someone in a band I like. I have some kind of expectation. I expect to like it. I expect the CD to hang around in my collection for a while.

It's not the same with books. Aside from authors I already know and like, I usually have very little idea what I'm going to be getting. How do I decide what books to buy? Reccomendations. Word of mouth. Buzz. Independent research. Browsing in a bookstore. No matter how it comes about, you really have no idea if what you're buying is going to be any good. So when I'm reading a book, it's usually with no idea whether or not when I finish it if it will go in my bookcase or in the bag of books getting donated to the library.

Millions of people would reccomend Dan Brown, but he's not a very good writer who built a huge fanbase on an interesting premise that the general public was apparently unaware of although it's been around far longer than "The Davinci Code." Millions of people would also reccomend Harry Potter, which for the assumed stigma of being a children's book, is excellent. So any reccomendation/word of mouth/buzz you get you must take with a grain of salt. I ran into a fellow horror buff online who agreed with my lament that most of the new school of horror writers after the King's and Koontz's and Barker's just weren't very good. He then reccomended I check out Tom Picirilli. So I did. Great vibe in that book....but terrible story. So, even with some similar background, we're still seeing different things.

I suppose I could browse through a few pages of something in a bookstore before I buy it. But what can you tell from a few pages? A writing style, that's pretty much it. Not very much about the story. Now granted, a good writing style can hook you in, but if the story is no good, not even the most perfect pen can save it. I know I have plenty of examples of this, but I tend to forget these types of books, so I can't quote any off the top of my head.

However, as I meanderingly get to my point, there are those extremely rare case where you can tell just from the first few pages that, "Yes, I am going to keep this book."

Case in point: "Farewell My Lovely" by Raymond Chandler. On page 3 (actually the first page)I read the following: "He was a big man but not more than six feet five inches tall and not wider than a beer truck." I thought to myself, "Yeah! Great start."

Then on page 5: "I walked along to the double doors and stood in front of them. They were motionless now. It wasn't any of my business. So I pushed them open and looked in." At that point I immediately started making room on my bookshelf.

This isn't my first experience with Chandler and his creation, private eye Philip Marlowe. I'd read two other books of Chandler's, The Big Sleep and.....ummm, maybe The High Window. I don't remember. It was in an anthology I borrowed from the library, and I only had time to read a couple of the stories before I had to return it. So I already had a predisposition to like this going in. But you never know, even authors you like don't knock it out of the park every time. That's why you read the book, I guess.

Anyway, this was just my longwinded way of saying that Raymond Chandler is badass. If you're down for some detective noir, check him out.

Litigation: The Fast Track to the American Dream

Let's face it, the idea of the American Dream has changed. Originally it was more along the lines of someone could come here, work hard, make a good life for themselves, and anyone had the chance to become rich.

Nowadays, take out everything except the getting rich part. That's the dream. And admittedly it's not exactly a bad dream to have. But it's in the going about of acquiring that dream that people can be real fools.

This is not exaclt a "new" practice, but it always annoys me when a new instance of it shows up. I'm talking about the frivilous lawsuit. This new offender is a Texas woman and her 14 year old daughter suing Myspace for $30 million dollars because the daughter was sexually assaulted by a 19 year old man, misrepresenting his age.

OK, so maybe you're thinking I'm a bit callous to be calling this frivilous, but it is. That would be like someone suing Hersheys because their child took candy from someone they didn't know.

Their lawsuit is maintaining that Myspace should take more stringent measures to verify people's ages. I think Myspace should countersue maintaining that parents should take more stringent measures not to be dumbasses and to perhaps teach their children something I knew when I was probably 4 years old: don't take candy from strangers.

Now I realize that situations have changed since I was younger. A sketchy van driving slowly down your street is a much more obvious sign than a Myspcae profile, which can be easily doctored. But the essential teaching is the same, and is exactly that: essential. It feels to me that this lady wants to be rewarded for being a lacksidasical parent.

And that's her American Dream.

7 Songs a Rockin'

I should be mad. In fact, I am mad. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Last night was again iPod DJ night. So after rehearsal I texted Krista to see if she was up for a night of "iPods, beer, and responsible drinking." (And let's just say 2 out of 3 ain't bad.)

Let's get the drama out of the way before my seven tunes.

(WARNING! WARNING! EXTREMELY ADULT LANGUAGE WILL BE OCCURING.)

So, some cocksucker calle my friend Laura a "stupid cunt." This jerk was somehow mad about iPod DJ night because someone (oddly enough Laura again) had picked a playlist that was pretty metal heavy. We're talking AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Hammerfall, Manowar, Van Halen, etc. Actually it was a pretty awesome playlist. But this prick didn't think so. I believe he called it white trash music. He actually complained to the bartender who came over and said something to Rob (the guy running the night.) So Rob went over to talk to the guy who first accused Rob of shortchanging his playlist last week (or actually two weeks ago, since iPod DJ night didn't happen last week.) Which, if you know Rob, wouldn't happen. Then he accused Rob of only playing his friends' iPods, which there might a little truth to, but only because currently, for the most part, it's only his friends that are regularly bringing iPods. Then when Laura, who was unfortunately sitting next to the guy (by way of one empty seat) said that if he made another playlist it would get played, that's when he told her to, if I heard it right "shut up you stupid cunt."

Now I didn't actually find out about this until later. I knew the guy was mad, but the actually insulting I didn't hear until I was told about it after the fact. But that's uncalled for because 1) She's not a stupid cunt. In fact quite the opposite. And 2) How is that any way to speak to someone who's trying to placate a situation? You kiss your mother with that mouth, buddy? I'm pissed enough about the sitatuion now, that had I actually heard this at the time, he would have been kissing the bottom of my boot with that mouth. But, hey, I guess let's cut him a little slack, since he's apprently the kind of loser asshole that goes to the Middle East and drinks alone and complains about the rock music people are playing. In a rock club!!! Way to be unintentionally ironic, jerkass.

Now, I had heard the white trash music comment earlier than the other, and I found myself oddly fascinated by this fucko. To the point that I wanted to go sit down in the empty seat next to him, because I happened to be wearing my John Corabi shirt last night, which is a picture of a confederate flag with the slogan "My Dixie Wrecked." I thought that would have been hilarious because you don't get more white trash than that.

(By the way, I found out what that slogan meant last night. I never knew before. I just thought the shirt looked cool. But my buddy Brian explained it to me. "My Dixie Wrecked." Never mind the spelling, just think of it phonetically. I now think that shirt is about 100 times more awesome.)

Anyway, after Laura it was time for either Krista or me to play our playlist. We debated as such:

Krista: "I don't know, I'm a little afraid to play mine now."

Me: "I'm not. My playlist is wicked white trash. Play this."

We actually ended up going with Krista's but here's my list:

1) Where the Devil Don't Stay - Drive By Truckers. You don't get more white T than the Truckers. This was the last song I put on my playlist. I debated between this and Aces High by Iron Maiden (which will be on a future list) and decided on this because I thought it would be more fitting for the Middle East crowd. Apparently not for one person.

2) Shout at the Devil - Motley Crue. Continuing with the devil theme to start off. What exactly is shouting at the devil anyway? Do you really think it makes Satan mad? Maybe if you call him a stupid cunt.

3) Salt of the Earth - Rolling Stones. I can't really work this song into my ire of the evening. It's just a great tune. Originally I was going to close my playlist with this, but with the songs chosen, it just didn't work out.

4) Suffragette City - David Bowie. Another song picked because I figured it would play well to the crowd. Let's be honest: if I picked a playlist that I was like, "Fuck, yeah!" then it would probably begin with Warrant and end with an empty room. But at any rate, David Bowie's awesome. At least the Ziggy Stardust album is.

5) Indie Queen - Marvelous 3. I tought about making a brit-rock playlist, but the problem with that is that I only have like 3 brit-rock bands in my collection. So it wouldn't work. And the Marvelous 3 aren't even one. But when I first got "Hey! Album" (which everyone should own, by the way), I thought these guys were definitely a brit-rock band. But they're actually from Atlanta. Whoops.

6) Rock and Roll Damnation - AC/DC. Back to the white trash. It's always hard to pick an AC/DC song for my playlist, simply beacuse they have so many great ones. Oddly enough, three people had AC/DC songs on their playlist last night.

7) Viva Las Vegas - Elvis Presley. The king! This one made it on simply by the virtue of the fact that I was listening to my iTunes on shuffle last weekend and it came on, and I thought, "Yeah! Totally on the next playlist!" It would have been a great song to end the night on, but I got played earlier than that.

For next time I'm working on a couple of theme playlists I think. I've got my "Summer" playlist in the works. All songs that have the word "summer" in them. The Door Into Summer. Sumemr of '69. Cruel Summer. Sumemrtime Girls. #1 Summer Jam. There were a couple more but I forget them off the top of my head. But you get the picture. My Acousticovers playlist. People doing acoustic covers of other songs. I still need one or two more tunes for that. And my power metal playlist. Iron Maiden. Helloween. Maybe some Priest. Stuff like that. The real hook being that it will be kicked off by the least power metal tune of all: the theme from the Muppet Show!

Also, I came up last night with the idea of "iPod Russian Roulette". The idea behind this is that everyone has some stuff on their iPod that they like, but they probably wouldn't play in front of anyone else. Guilty pleasures. So, for iPod DJ night everyone has to put their iPod on shuffle for 7 songs and let the chips fall where they may. I think this could yield some interesting results.

In closing, I should get back to work. Everyone go rent Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang if you haven't seen it already. And vote Quimby.

The More Things Break....

Concerning a litany of recent ills, both to my personage and to my possessions where,

1)My computer virus, which becoming more known over the weekend, has yielded more solutions by way of a Yahoo search. Solutions apparently less necessary as said virus mysteriously stopped hijacking my browser at such a frantic pace of its own accord and,

2)My car, the battery of which, slowly dying over the past fortnight, finally gave up its tenuous hold on life on Sunday evening. The gods of chance saw fit not to honor my prayers of holding out until Monday afternoon, so that said car could be transported to one skilled in the repairs of such things, so that said battery might be deposed from duty and replaced. The noble men of AAA so kindly jumped said battery, but twas only to be a short term solutions as said battery once again recused itself of life on the morn of the next day, hampering efforts to report myself to my chosen occupation. Once again those noble men already mentioned offered aid, this time in the form of replacement of said battery to no small expense and,

3)My back, typically sturdy and upright of construction, having lifted incorrectly no small amount the weight of musical equipment on Sunday, offered is protest in form of aches and pains, growing with time not less but more pointed and severe, to which the application of Advil appears to offer little ease.

Just checking in

Got home last night after work to find that my computer had been KO'd by a massive spyware infection. I'm not sure how. Googling the error message that came along with it, it seemed that it had to do with some sort of incomplete install, but I haven't tried to install anything in a while, so that doesn't make sense. Also, my browser home page has been taken over and I can't reset it. The great thing, and awonderful new trick of these malware designers is that they direct you to a page that says you have spyware and to "Click here" to scan for and remove it.

Don't believe that hype, kiddies.

Anyway, Ad Aware, which usually kicks ass all over spyware couldn't remove it. I tried a number of times. Yahoo Antispy couldn't remove it. I tried a system restore to get rid of it and wasn't allowed to. This thing's kung-fu is strong.

At any rate, aside from being incredibly annoying with numerous error messages and antispy warning pop-ups, everything seemed to still work, so I stopped working on it for a while. I figured maybe it was a new piece of malware and maybe Ad Aware didn't have the fix for it yet. I decided to wait a day to update my Ad Aware and see if it helped.

However....

Later I go out, over to the Middle East for a few drinks with Krista. And when I get home, all of a sudden I can't get to the internet. Now, to be fair, I don't know if this is related to the spyware, because my laptop (which is not infected) couldn't get there either, and neither could my roomate's computer. So that might just be a router issue. But if so, it lasted to this morning, because when I woke up the internet was still unavailable.

So, I had Brian download me the new antispy tools I need (Spybot and HackThis) put them on a disk. I'm going to grab them on the way home and round two goes tonight.

I am resigned to the fact that if this doesn't work that I might have to reinstall my operating system, which would suck because it would involve a good amount of backing up to disk beforehand, and finding all the necessary reinstall disks for my software, which are in a pile in my messiest drawer.

Balls.
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So, I saw The Proposition last weekend. The Proposition is a cowboy movie set in Australia that seems to be garnering a lot of hype simply based upon two facts. 1) It's very good, and 2) It's written by Nick Cave (the musician who is best known from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). Let's address these two facts, starting with the second.

2) OK, whatever.

1) It is good. Very good, actually. From what I've seen of westerns, it's ahrd to convey depth of character in a cowboy, since they're usually quiet types of individuals. Nevertheless, there was good depth and moral ambiguity to at least two of the main characters. A third character, who was not exactly a main character but the reason for the story, could have used a bit more, but 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

The story revolves around two brothers who, known for running with a vicious gang led by a third brother, are captured. The sherriff offers a deal to one of the brothers. He has 9 days to find and kill his older brother (the one not captured). If he does this then he and his younger brother go free. If not, his younger brother hangs.

Good moral dilemna, especially since the older brother (the 3rd character) is supposedly the "evil" mastermind of the gang. I was a little grey on his true nature, but that seemed to be the intent.

A lot of the action, (more than I was expecting, in fact), also takes place with the sherriff, his wife, and the townspeople and the captured younger brother. It added a nice depth of story.

There was one point, an important point, that impels the action that carries us to the end of the movie that made no sense to me. It was a "Why are they doing this?" moment. Now, granted I missed a bit of the conversation immediately preceeding it, because the accents were thick. But it was the one point that had me wondering if I missed something or if was just not as well done. Either way, once I reconciled that a certain action was happening even though I didn't know why, the film jumped back on track.

I realize that all sounds vague, but I'm trying not to give anything away. At any rate, a very good film. Definitely worth seeing.
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I get to listen to music at work. A big plus. When I'm not on the phone, I usually have something playing. And I find that on Friday's when it's slow, (and my next door cubicle neighbor isn't in) the volume keeps getting louder and louder. Sort of like ramping up into the coming weekend. Especially if I have something rocking going on. Like today, with the new Damone CD. Which I found I liked quite a bit better than I was expecting and really have any right to.

Anyway, that's it from here. One hour to go until I'm out. Battling the computer, food shopping, grill accessory shopping, rehearsals, Matt and Fil at the Mystic tonight and tomorrow, and late sleeping all await.

Money Don't Matter 2Night

Sure, it's easy for Prince to say that, he's got plenty of it. But for the rest of us average shmoes, it's a different story. They say money can't buy you happiness, but not having it can certainly cause unhappiness, by way of stress.

Here's the thing: I make enough to live OK. If I live paycheck to paycheck, which is mostly what I do. On what I make I don't go hungry. I can keep myself in beer. I can buy some CDs and such. I can have some nights out.

But I can't save money.

Financial experts say you should have at least six months living expense socked away in case you lose your job. I've got maybe two, and that would decimate any money I have saved if I ever needed to use if for that purpose.

I have two bank accounts, one savings, one checking. My day to day living (bills, spending money, etc.) comes from my checking account. I set myself a double layered "floor" on that account. What I mean by that is that I have an amount that I would prefer not to have it dip below, and since I seem to regularly violate that, I have a slightly lower amount that I strongly insist to myself that I should never go below. (Which, to my credit, I can only remember ever doing once in all the years I've been monitoring it; I forget why, but it was probably due to some unexpected expense.)

My savings account is what I would like to build up. Typically I use that for "special" things. A new guitar, a vacation, moving expenses (last July). I build it up, then drain ot for something or other. Probably not the smartest practice, but while I can do a decent job of budgeting myself, I can also do a decent job of splurging on myself.

For many years I've had this practice: Every day I take $5 out of my wallet and put it in my drawer. I'd miss days here and there, like if I were away on vacation, or if I really couldn't spare it and keep my checking account above the level I wanted (as is happening this week, and is partially responsible for this blog.) I started this as a way to pay off a loan I had. Once a month I'd take that accumulated (approx.) $140 and add it to my loan payment. I didn't make my loan payment with it, I added it to the payment I was already making. It helped me pay it off a year early. And I've been doing it ever since. I then used it to whittle my credit card debt down to $0 almost a year ago (It's back up somehwat higher than that now, but it's still a lot lower now than it used to be.)

But I've been thinking about my $5 plan recently and trying to decide where best to next utilize it. I had thought there were only two real options: put it towards my current credit card bill or perhaps start working on getting my car payments done more qucikly. I had all but decided on the second option as I've pretty much reconciled myself to the fact that there's always going to be credit card debt, and because as of right now I'm in car payments until 2010. If I started putting that extra $5 a day in there I could shave that off by probably at least a year.

But then a new thought hit. I talk a lot (and think a lot more) about moving out of this area, trying some place new. But one of the (many) reasons (excuses) I don't is that I don't have that 6 month cushion. But what if I just started throwing that extra $5 a day in my savings? I could start building that up.

Now, you're probably sayng, "Why don't you just spend $5 less dollars a day? It's easier than taking out the money, hoarding the money, and re-depositing the money later." True, it is, but that's not how my mind works when it comes to finances. I view my two accounts very differently. It's like how Crappa used to say he had separate compartments in his stomach. Sure his Cheez-It compartment might be full, but there was still plenty of room in his ice-cream compartment. Likewise, I take that $5 from my day to day spending account and put it in my "savings" account.

So just yesterday I decided that this is what I would do. I plan to (for at least the next few months) just try throwing that money into my savaings account and start building it up and see how that goes. Maybe that's the first step (well, second, as thinking about it is probably the first) to shuffling out of New England to LosAngelesAustinAtlantaNashvilleNewYorkSanDiegoPortland or any other place I have or could consider. Maybe. maybe not. At least it'll be one less reason (excuse) I'll have not to.
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But it won't be easy. With the same amount of money coming in, I'll soon have more demands on it.

("What?" you're saing. "This blog is still gong?" Well, when I said I wanted to do something impressive for my 100th blog, you probably thought I meant something impressively witty or philosphical. Honestly, so did I, but apparently I only meant impressively long.....sort of like me. See, there's some witty for you. No, apparently I have a lot of thoughts today on the [Marq Torien voice] mean, mean, mean, MEAN GREEN!!!! [/Marq Torien voice])

But back to the subject at hand...

August 1st my rent is going up by $50, which is not terrible considering I'm not paying for heat and this more than covers that. But it's an extra $50 I won't have a month.

Matt and myself found ourselves a second guitar player to play with last night. Good news. But the subject came up that eventually now we're going to have to get a place to rehearse that's not our apartments. Which means a rehearsal space. Which means more money out of pocket.

These thoughts carry more weight this particular week, where I'm running short on cash and haven't been able to do my $5 a day. Not until Friday when I get paid. Will I be able to maintain it when these extra added expenses get added on.

I go through a few of these "hard times" a year. They're usually short-lived and then everything seems to equalize again. But during those times I start thinking options. I should joina cover band in my spare time. Make some money that way. (I actually put a feeler ad out for that last night, as it's not a bad idea.) What about a second night job? (Probably won't happen. I like my free time too much.) How about Craigslist for some one off jobs, day labor type stuff. (Not a bad thing to keep an eye on, but I probably won't go too far out of my way.) What about that offhand remark my uncle made about paying someone to paint his house? (Could bear following up on, even though I hate painting.)

That raise at work I've been working on by updating our job descriptions? That would definitely help, but after 9-10 months with what feel like very little support in getting it accomplished on any level above mine, I've lost faith that it will ever happen. While this may sound whiny, I feel justified in that I've put a LOT of work and time into this and for all this is supposedly embraced by my supervisor, I don't see him making any significant strides to take it to the next level. I'm on the verge of just saying, "Fuck it," and walking away from this project. There's a decision point coming in the next week or so, based on the work we will have completed by possibly the end of this week.

And that could herald a larger decision, whether or not I stay at the 'B. If I find I can get paid better somewhere else, then I'd be foolish not to try for it. I'm discovering that my loyalty is very much tempered by my ability to further myself.

Depending on how our next meeting goes tomorrow, there could be more news on this soon.
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Whew, this turned into quite the diatribe about money. At the end of the day, while as it was so succintly put on Veronica Mars last night, "Money matters," some days it seems to matter more than others. This week is a tougher one for me, so it's more on my mind. Next week might be smooth sailing.

And none of this, good or bad, will preclude spending some of this currently hard found money on a possible weekend trip to Montreal sometime this summer (for which some discussions have already began.) Because in the long run, there's always a way to make it work.

Anyway, enough is enough. Don't forget to tip your waitresses.

Goodbye to stuff

Over the past 6-9 months I've been involved in two house cleaning "projects" of a sort. When my parents sold their house, I had to take everything I ahd stored in the attic and either get rid of it or take it with me to Medford. Two of those things were my boxes of comics and tapes.

Since then I've been listening to the old tapes one last time and either throwing them out (mostly) or deciding to keep them (not so much.) There's no market for selling them, so that wasn't an option.

I finished yesterday, listening to the last one, Slayer's Decade of Aggression Live, part 2 (which I kept). I probably ended up keeping between 25-50, and got rid of the rest, which was about maybe 600-700. That's a lot of albums to listen to. I'd been going through a lot of them at work, which was handy for knowcking off a few a day at least.

Then there's the comics. I've been reading them all one last time and then selling them on Ebay if possible, or just throwing them out if not. With the advent of trade paperbacks, and the fact that I don't have anything considered really collectible, there isn't much of a market for these either. But moreso than old cassettes. I did manage to sell almost everything, as I was selling them in lots, by title. But I didn't get much in the way of cash.

I'm not technically done yet, but I will be done possibly today, but definitely by tomorrow. I'm just reading through the last of my X-Force titles now and have about 10 or so left. Then they'll go up on Ebay and in a week I'll be entirely done.

So, goodbye to those little bits of my past.

Next up will be my books. This will take a lot longer and be more difficult. I'd keep them all if I had the space, but I don't. And I've realized that if I donate them to the library, I should still be able to read them whenever I want; it'll just be like someone else is holding them for me. But, at any rate, right now I've got three full boxes just sitting in my room of books I have to decide whether to keep or not, and the only way to do that is to reread them. (On top of whatever new books I'm also reading. You can see why this may take a while.)
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P.S. My next blog will be my 100th. Oh, the pressure. I feel like I need to come up with something good.
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P.P.S. Today's date: 6/6/06. Happy Satan day!

Dear god in heaven

This hangover. Ouch. If anyone needs me, I'll be over here. Being incoherent.

Last night was iPod DJ night again. The difference, last week I was working 12-8, this week 8-4. Hanging out drinking until 1:30 has vastly different outcomes considering those two time frames.

Anyway, here's last night's list:

1) Too Cold In The Winter - Cry of Love. Best band you've never heard of. On this album they might as well have called themselves Free, because that's who they sound almost exactly like. But it seemed an appropriate way to start, as we're now into the excellently warm weather.

2) Every Page You Turn _ Boy. I first heard these guys last time I was up in Montreal. They were being played on MuchMusic (Canada's MTV). They're kind of garage-y, but with slick production, so they don't sound like crap like a lot of the new wave of garage bands.

3) Marry Me - Drive By Truckers. Truckers do the Stones. I love me some Truckers. Not in a literal, highway rest area sort of way.

4) Machine Gun Man - Pride & Glory. During this song my friend Krista said: "Your musical tastes are definitely you." I don't know what this means, exactly, but I think it was a compliment. I have to also remember that I told Rob (the guy running the night) that I would make him a copy of this disc.

5) Til I Get To You - Nikka Costa. Time to get funky. This is the best song to walk to. The beat is just the right tempo for your pace and you get that funky swagger that makes you look cool.

6) King Contrary Man - The Cult. I totally ripped this song off for a song I wrote in my last band. I didn't realize it when I was writing it, but when I heard this later I was like "Oh, yeah, that's pretty blatant."

7) Piece Of Your Action - Motley Crue. Gotta end it on a high note. Gotta rock.

As a side note, last night I came up with the best possible opening song for one of these nights. I told Rob that next time he would have to play my iPod first. The song? The Muppets theme song!

So....30 minutes to break. If I can make it that far, (and to some breakfast), I just might make it through the day.

Wolfmother last night

I saw Wolfmother over at the Paradise last night. Aside from the $4.50 Sam Adams, I still think the Paradise is a great place to see a show. Usually the sound is great and you can stand almost anywhere and have at least a decent view of the stage.

The opening band, who's name I never learned, were awful stoner-rock, wolf-loving bullshit. (And in case you were wondering, yes there is a difference between wolf-loving and wolf-mothering.) If there were a poster advocating not writing songs when you're high, they would be on it.

However, I have a theory. Wolfmother was sitting around, probably in their Wolfcave, and they realized that if they brought out a really boring opening band on tour with them, then they would seem to rock that much more by comparison. If that's the case, then it worked. Wolfmother rocked.

Actually, let me rephrase: Wolfmother rocked!

They were dense sounding for a three piece, largely in part to the fact that the bass player spent half the show playing not bass, but the most awesome sounding keyboard on earth. For real. It was very organ-esque, with some distortion or something. Mas mucho juevos. Whatever it is, I want one.

The show was a bit on the short side, but that's understandable considering they have only one album. My only complaint, and this is really nitpicky, is that I wished that the bass and guitar sounds were...bigger. Not necessarily louder, but more "there". You could hear them fine, but at the same time they sounded a little underwhelming, whereas on the album you feel like you're being bludgeoned by their awesomeness.

So, yeah, Wolfmother.

I should get back to work.