For love of the game

As I stated in a previous post, I finally got GTA: SA. It really is the coolest game ever. I have absolutely no idea how they are able to cram so much game into a single disc but I’ll go with it. The map is at least four or five times bigger than the previous game, Vice City and Vice City is gigantic. It’s almost as if the creators of the game sat around and said, "Okay, what would be cool to see in a game?" And then they just did it. I even went home during my lunch break just to play it for a while. I seriously cannot stop and I love it.

In case some of you have never played it before I’ll tell you some cool stuff you can do. I’ve won $1.8 million so far on video horse racing. I made a couple more thousand pool sharking at local bars. I starting dating some crack-whore I saved from a building I torched. I made $2000 in one night after I sold some stuff I’d robbed from peoples’ homes. I started my own gang. I broke into a major recording studio and killed the guards who had my homie’s rhyme book. I robbed six crates of weapons and ammunition from the National Guard. I own two homes so far. I’ve started working for a crooked cop who closely resembles Mace Windu. I’ve done all of this in the time since Christmas.

I’m still in the town called Los Santos (Los Angeles) but eventually I’ll get to San Fierro (San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). I have a feeling that this game is going to be in my PS2 for quite a while. I can’t believe how much more game there is to play.

Sorry for the small post (again) but I’ve really just been to busy to think about anything else, as you can tell. If I ever break through this haze of "videocy" I’ll try and remember to blog something but until then go buy this game.

Movie: The Godfather Part 3

Better to give than to receive a ton

This has to have been one of the best Christmases ever. I gave my fiancé a list of stuff and she gave me a list. Well let me tell you I got everything I wanted, from her and also from both our families. Here’s what I’ve gotten so far-

• the new Incubus DVD, Incubus Alive at Red Rocks, from my parents
  
• Ann Coulter’s book, How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter, from my parents
  
• $200 cash from my grandparents
  
• a $500 check from my parents
  
• tons of food gift certificates, including some for my true love; Quiznos
  
• a stocking full of candy and stuff
  
• Napoleon Dynamite DVD from my fiancé
  
• The Godfather Collection (Special Edition) from my fiancé
  
• Diary by Chuck Palahniuk, from my fiancé
  
• an American Eagle track jacket from my future in-laws
  
• a pair of pajama pants from my parents
  
• a pair of pajama pants and a pajama shirt from my fiancé’s grandma
  
• a new sweater from my grandparents
  
• $20 + an ASB Discount Card (very cool), from my aunt, uncle, and cousin
  
• a basket containing a bottle of sparkling pear, sparkling raspberry, and spiced punch drinks, two regular wine/champagne glasses and two heart shaped wine/champagne glasses that will have our (my fiancé and I) name’s and the date we get married inscribed on them
  
• and last but not least I finally got Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from my wonderful fiancé
  

Not to shabby, huh? I couldn’t believe it either. It’s a ton off stuff, but I know I’ll put it all to good use. And don’t start thinking I’m a jerk now because I got people some pretty good things too. For my fiance I got a new Melie Bianco purse, a bottle of Dessert Creamy, a $75 gift certificate to Forever 21, a new pair of sun glasses from Tilly's, and three new bras from Victoria’s Secret (she’s a 30D if you can believe it. They don’t even make that size!). For my parents I got a new cordless phone (the old one was dead). For my sister’s family I got (mostly for the kids) the Veggie Tales: Ultimate Silly Songs Countdown. And for my brother I got a $25 gift Certificate to Best Buy.

I spent most of Christmas with my fiancé and her family, although I did hang out with my family for a few hours on Christmas Eve. I watched some great Christmas movies too, including Home Alone, Prancer, A Christmas Story, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (which I was a little disappointed in). If you’ve read this far, let me know how you made out this Christmas, now, before you change your mind.

Movie: Napoleon Dynamite

It's beggining to look a lot like Quansa!

Believe it or not, not too much has happened since I last posted. I actually had time to post yesterday and chose not to because I had nothing good to say. But I know that you figure I’m just being lazy. There was a rumor that the coveted meeting would happen today but we still have heard no official word yet. But don’t worry, it’s gonna happen. Maybe after the show on the 15th.

I finished all my Christmas shopping last night and I did it all at Best Buy. I love that place. I normally would have had to wait in a line that practically went around the store, BUT I was smart and paid for one of my gifts online. Then I walked in found the rest of my stuff, got in the customer service line (to pick up my online purchase) and paid for everything right there. I was in and out in less than 15 minutes.

I can’t believe how fast this month is going by. There’s only three days until Christmas. As much as I want Christmas to come, I know that soon it will be gone and that part sucks. I love the whole holiday season. All the lights and all the presents (giving & receiving of course) make everything feel so nice. I’m just happy that I actually had enough money to pay for presents and still be able to pay all my bills. I even have money left over. This whole two/three jobs thing really pays off. I hope things don’t change in that respect. In the next couple weeks I have to pay for car insurance, rent, car registration and cell phones. All together it’s about $600 so I have to start saving now.

I know that this update isn’t that interesting but hopefully, very soon, I will have a great announcement to make. The only one I have right now is that my intern job at my friend’s studio is going to turn into an actual job. I just talked to him and he’s thinking that after he moves to his nicer house (within the next couple months) he’s gonna slightly up his rates and start paying me like $10 an hour. That would be awesome. Anyways, check back soon and Merry Christmas, you filthy animal. And a Happy New Year.

Movie: Casino

Holidazed

I know, I know I suck at posting. Sorry. Lots has happened since my last real post so let’s begin with the most important news (because you really care).

Universal Records wants to have a sit down meeting with us sometime in the near future. This news comes through our contact lady with them. When I first heard this I didn’t know what to think but the more I think about it, it seems like it could be a very good thing. Let me give to opposed possibilities.

#1 – They heard our demo and liked it. Then the lady that we know saw our battle of the bands show and really liked us. She reports back to work with a glowing review and admonishes an A&R guy to come and check us out at our next show. She also reports that a tentative meeting may be in store (as is customary?) if the A&R guy also likes what he sees.

#2 – They heard our demo and liked it. Then the lady that we know saw our battle of the bands show and really liked us. She reports back to work with a glowing review and admonishes an A&R guy to come and check us out at our next show. As the A&R man looks at his schedule, he decides to not only see us live, but (depending on how he likes us) bring us in for a meeting to talk about our futures together. He reports this to our connected friend and she in turn tells us.

I really hope that something promising comes from this meeting because I’m getting tired of the daily grind. As you may know I have three jobs. A morning job from 6-8am, babysitting/getting to school three kids. A daytime job from 8:30am-5:00pm, office work. A night job from 5:30-10:30pm, bussing at a restaurant. As of this week the kids have three weeks off. So that’s $300 dollars a month I’m not making. Then my office job told me they were going to be doing some "restructuring" which included cutting me back to two days a week in the office and two days a week back at my old position as a janitor. This will possibly be the same amount of money in the end but it really messes with my schedule. Luckily the restaurant wants to give me more hours but that dramatically cuts into band practices. It works for now but this is definitely gonna be temporary.

Thankfully my Saturday morning intern hours/recording work with Joel have remained a possibility. He is in the works to move to a nicer part of town. His new house would be much more "recording friendly". He has also talked about starting to pay me when my hours are done, because he has a number of clients lined up. This is the real direction I would want my non-rockstar career to go in and it looks like that could be a possibility in the future. We’ll see.

With Christmas right around the corner, I’ve turned to online shopping. It really is the way to go when you have zero free time. So far I’ve only gotten my fiancé’s stuff but I’ll soon get the rest and hopefully I’ll do it all without stepping foot in a real store. As for myself, I should be getting most of the stuff I asked for this Christmas including San Andreas (please oh please oh please oh please!). Look for my next post to hit sometime next year. Just kidding I think.

Movie: A Beautiful Mind

Pin the Tail on the Stem Cell

First, I'd like to apologize to my faithful reader (No, that's not a typo. I really only have one.) for the non-posting period. The holidays and all, I guess. This is not really a post however but I just wanted to show you something.

I read an article today on The Drudge Report and found it very intriguing. So I memorized it, verbatim. To prove my memorization skills I've typed it up for you.

OF MICE, MEN & IN BETWEEN
Scientists debate blending of human, animal forms

By Rick Weiss
Updated: 1:14 a.m. ET Nov. 20, 2004

In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their veins.

In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely human.

In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells firing inside their skulls.

These are not outcasts from "The Island of Dr. Moreau," the 1896 novel by H.G. Wells in which a rogue doctor develops creatures that are part animal and part human. They are real creations of real scientists, stretching the boundaries of stem cell research.

Biologists call these hybrid animals chimeras, after the mythical Greek creature with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail. They are the products of experiments in which human stem cells were added to developing animal fetuses.

Living test beds
Chimeras are allowing scientists to watch, for the first time, how nascent human cells and organs mature and interact — not in the cold isolation of laboratory dishes but inside the bodies of living creatures. Some are already revealing deep secrets of human biology and pointing the way toward new medical treatments.

But with no federal guidelines in place, an awkward question hovers above the work: How human must a chimera be before more stringent research rules should kick in?

The National Academy of Sciences, which advises the federal government, has been studying the issue and hopes to make recommendations by February. Yet the range of opinions it has received so far suggests that reaching consensus may be difficult.

During one recent meeting, scientists disagreed on such basic issues as whether it would be unethical for a human embryo to begin its development in an animal's womb, and whether a mouse would be better or worse off with a brain made of human neurons.

"This is an area where we really need to come to a reasonable consensus," said James Battey, chairman of the National Institutes of Health's Stem Cell Task Force. "We need to establish some kind of guidelines as to what the scientific community ought to do and ought not to do."

Beyond twins and moms
Chimeras (ki-MER-ahs) — meaning mixtures of two or more individuals in a single body — are not inherently unnatural. Most twins carry at least a few cells from the sibling with whom they shared a womb, and most mothers carry in their blood at least a few cells from each child they have born.

Recipients of organ transplants are also chimeras, as are the many people whose defective heart valves have been replaced with those from pigs or cows. And scientists for years have added human genes to bacteria and even to farm animals — feats of genetic engineering that allow those critters to make human proteins such as insulin for use as medicines.

"Chimeras are not as strange and alien as at first blush they seem," said Henry Greely, a law professor and ethicist at Stanford University who has reviewed proposals to create human-mouse chimeras there.

But chimerism becomes a more sensitive topic when it involves growing entire human organs inside animals. And it becomes especially sensitive when it deals in brain cells, the building blocks of the organ credited with making humans human.

In experiments like those, Greely told the academy last month, "there is a nontrivial risk of conferring some significant aspects of humanity" on the animal.

Greely and his colleagues did not conclude that such experiments should never be done. Indeed, he and many other philosophers have been wrestling with the question of why so many people believe it is wrong to breach the species barrier.

Does the repugnance reflect an understanding of an important natural law? Or is it just another cultural bias, like the once widespread rejection of interracial marriage?

Many turn to the Bible's repeated invocation that animals should multiply "after their kind" as evidence that such experiments are wrong. Others, however, have concluded that the core problem is not necessarily the creation of chimeras but rather the way they are likely to be treated.

Imagine, said Robert Streiffer, a professor of philosophy and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, a human-chimpanzee chimera endowed with speech and an enhanced potential to learn — what some have called a "humanzee."

"There's a knee-jerk reaction that enhancing the moral status of an animal is bad," Streiffer said. "But if you did it, and you gave it the protections it deserves, how could the animal complain?"

Unfortunately, said Harvard political philosopher Michael J. Sandel, speaking last fall at a meeting of the President's Council on Bioethics, such protections are unlikely.

"Chances are we would make them perform menial jobs or dangerous jobs," Sandel said. "That would be an objection."

A research breakthrough
The potential power of chimeras as research tools became clear about a decade ago in a series of dramatic experiments by Evan Balaban, now at McGill University in Montreal. Balaban took small sections of brain from developing quails and transplanted them into the developing brains of chickens.

The resulting chickens exhibited vocal trills and head bobs unique to quails, proving that the transplanted parts of the brain contained the neural circuitry for quail calls. It also offered astonishing proof that complex behaviors could be transferred across species.

No one has proposed similar experiments between, say, humans and apes. But the discovery of human embryonic stem cells in 1998 allowed researchers to envision related experiments that might reveal a lot about how embryos grow.

The cells, found in 5-day-old human embryos, multiply prolifically and — unlike adult cells — have the potential to turn into any of the body's 200 or so cell types.

Scientists hope to cultivate them in laboratory dishes and grow replacement tissues for patients. But with those applications years away, the cells are gaining in popularity for basic research.

The most radical experiment, still not conducted, would be to inject human stem cells into an animal embryo and then transfer that chimeric embryo into an animal's womb. Scientists suspect the proliferating human cells would spread throughout the animal embryo as it matured into a fetus and integrate themselves into every organ.

Such "humanized" animals could have countless uses. They would almost certainly provide better ways to test a new drug's efficacy and toxicity, for example, than the ordinary mice typically used today.

But few scientists are eager to do that experiment. The risk, they say, is that some human cells will find their way to the developing testes or ovaries, where they might grow into human sperm and eggs. If two such chimeras — say, mice — were to mate, a human embryo might form, trapped in a mouse.

Not everyone agrees that this would be a terrible result.

"What would be so dreadful?" asked Ann McLaren, a renowned developmental biologist at the University of Cambridge in England. After all, she said, no human embryo could develop successfully in a mouse womb. It would simply die, she told the academy. No harm done.

But others disagree — if for no other reason than nothing else out of fear of a public backlash.

"Certainly you'd get a negative response from people to have a human embryo trying to grow in the wrong place," said Cynthia B. Cohen, a senior research fellow at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics and a member of Canada's Stem Cell Oversight Committee, which supported a ban on such experiments there.

How human?
But what about experiments in which scientists add human stem cells not to an animal embryo but to an animal fetus, which has already made its eggs and sperm? Then the only question is how human a creature one dares to make.

In one ongoing set of experiments, Jeffrey L. Platt at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., has created human-pig chimeras by adding human-blood-forming stem cells to pig fetuses. The resulting pigs have both pig and human blood in their vessels. And it's not just pig blood cells being swept along with human blood cells; some of the cells themselves have merged, creating hybrids.

It is important to have learned that human and pig cells can fuse, Platt said, because he and others have been considering transplanting modified pig organs into people and have been wondering if that might pose a risk of pig viruses getting into patient's cells. Now scientists know the risk is real, he said, because the viruses may gain access when the two cells fuse.

In other experiments led by Esmail Zanjani, chairman of animal biotechnology at the University of Nevada at Reno, scientists have been adding human stem cells to sheep fetuses. The team now has sheep whose livers are up to 80 percent human — and make all the compounds human livers make.

Zanjani's goal is to make the humanized livers available to people who need transplants. The sheep portions will be rejected by the immune system, he predicted, while the human part will take root.

"I don't see why anyone would raise objections to our work," Zanjani said in an interview.

Mice and men
Perhaps the most ambitious efforts to make use of chimeras come from Irving Weissman, director of Stanford University's Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine. Weissman helped make the first mouse with a nearly complete human immune system — an animal that has proved invaluable for tests of new drugs against the AIDS virus, which does not infect conventional mice.

More recently his team injected human neural stem cells into mouse fetuses, creating mice whose brains are about 1 percent human. By dissecting the mice at various stages, the researchers were able to see how the added brain cells moved about as they multiplied and made connections with mouse cells.

Already, he said, they have learned things they "never would have learned had there been a bioethical ban."

Now he wants to add human brain stem cells that have the defects that cause Parkinson's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease and other brain ailments — and study how those cells make connections.

Scientists suspect that these diseases, though they manifest themselves in adulthood, begin when something goes wrong early in development. If those errors can be found, researchers would have a much better chance of designing useful drugs, Weissman said. And those drugs could be tested in the chimeras in ways not possible in patients.

Now Weissman says he is thinking about making chimeric mice whose brains are 100 percent human. He proposes keeping tabs on the mice as they develop. If the brains look as if they are taking on a distinctly human architecture — a development that could hint at a glimmer of humanness — they could be killed, he said. If they look as if they are organizing themselves in a mouse brain architecture, they could be used for research.

So far this is just a "thought experiment," Weissman said, but he asked the university's ethics group for an opinion anyway.

"Everyone said the mice would be useful," he said. "But no one was sure if it should be done."
© 2004 The Washington Post Company

Crazy, huh?

Movie: The Virgin Suicides

Learning to Disappoint

It had to happen and last night it finally did. Over the past couple months Band A has become less and less a priority in my life for a number of reasons. With the recent achievements of Band B and my recent relocation to the other side of town, practices were turning into more of a hassle than fun. I wish I could have continued to be a part of two bands but I had to make a choice and I went with my instincts. I want to make music my career and with Band B that is more likely to happen. Some of my longest friendships are due to Band A and even my own brother is in it but I knew this was the right thing to do. On Friday I called the guys and told them that instead of practice the next morning as usual I wanted to have a band meeting to talk about my future with them. We were finally able to meet last night. I told them that I needed a break for an indefinite amount of time due to a number of things including my hectic schedule. I’m not really sure what kind of reaction I expected but I told them whatever they wanted to do from this point was up to them. After questioning my motives and reassuring me this was a bad idea, it sounds like they are pretty much done with me and will move on. I feel bad but at the same time this is what I want. It just sucks that I feel like I may also be losing some friends because of this. I hope that won’t be the case.

In more uplifting news, my new residence is great. I went shopping for all the necessities last night (TV dinners!) and also learned the important use of the coupon. Amazing! I saved 20% thanks to the little clippings. I can now prepare and consume food all without the help of a fast food chain. Tonight’s meal: Enchiladas.


Something I’m still getting used to is another thing I got new last week; my new cell phone. After paying my ridiculous cell phone debt, I decided the best thing to do would be to get another cell phone. Luckily one of my new roommates works at the local Cingular Wireless. He hooked my fiancé and I up with a great plan and couple of cool phones. We each got the Motorola V220. It’s got all the goods including flip action and camera capabilities (I’ve always wanted a camera phone!). Maybe soon I’ll buy the USB cord to upload all my cool pictures. I don’t think it will be too difficult after that. Unlimited mobile to mobile and nights and weekends is always the way to go. Another cool feature is the speaker phone, for those times when you’re just to tired to hold the phone to your head.

Last but not least is something I’m very, secretly excited about. The same roommate who helped with the cell phones also happens to be the proud owner of a little game called GTA: San Andreas. Although there are only small gaps of time when he isn’t playing it, I have begun covertly playing it during his game breaks. I even had to delete some old files from my memory card in order to make room for the saves. I’m not very far along in the game but I can tell it’s going to be a lot of fun. Anyways I have to go. Time spent blogging is time I could be playing.

Movie: Any Given Sunday

Movin' on Out

I moved out! Yes, it’s true and I’m loving it. Like I had planned, I moved in with my fiancé’s brother. He had two roommates, but one moved out and now I’m in. I started packing early Monday morning and didn’t finish unpacking until 7pm. I can’t imagine how much it must suck moving an entire house. I was exhausted after one room. This is the first time I have ever not had a bunk bed. I laid in bed and just looked at the ceiling. Okay, not really, because I fell asleep watching Spiderman, but you get the idea. I think that’s when I knew this was my place, when I laid down and watched a DVD. I do this every night as I fall asleep. I really feel weird if I just lay down without a movie on, or at least the radio. I’m sure there are many psycho-dimensions to what I just typed but I don’t know any of them so… What I do know is that I love being moved out. I was at my fiancé’s last night and I realized I could go home whenever I wanted. I didn’t even have to if I felt so inclined. A lot of my friend’s used to talk about how when they turned 18 there parents would have to let them do what they wanted. This never made sense to me because they still support you. If you go to college, or just live at home and have a job (or not) they still pay for something, whether it’s food, housing, schooling, bills or whatever. So how can they not tell you what to do? I always knew that in my family, until I was completely independent I would have to obey my parents’ rules. Even if I felt I’d grown out of those rules, I knew that until I had grown up enough to take care of myself, I had to follow them. So now at 20 years old, I have complete freedom. It’s pretty cool. I can do whatever I want. Of course Uncle Ben brings up a good point which touches very close to home. "With great power, comes great responsibility." Although the power he was referring to involved beating the crap out of bullies in school it still has real meaning. I think my responsibility level is okay but I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

In keeping up with prior posts, my rockstar dreams are continuing to play out. After bitterly losing our battle of the bands we held on to hope because most (including these guys) thought we I did great. Supposedly we are tentatively scheduled for a sit down meeting with them as well as they are tentatively planning on going to our next show. That’s a lot of tentatives, I know, but I’m hopeful. If you wanna help call up Universal Records and tell them how much you love my band and more importantly, how much you want to pay to hear us. They love that kind of stuff.

Movie: Almost Famous

Good News and Bad News

We lost to a crappy punker band, supposedly by one vote. I honestly have no idea what this band has on us but it was enough to lose. I thought (and so did many others) that we played one of our best shows. Much of this was due to the fact that a rep from Universal Records was sitting in the audience. Stage presence, the one area our band can sometimes be weak, was actually great that night. Robert and Steven are usually very mellow on stage but knowing that Universal was watching got even them to rock out. Let me just state that by saying the following I don’t mean to sound arrogant but the general consensus after all four bands played was that we would be the winner. So much so that when the winners were announced a silence fell over the room for a few seconds and was finally broken only by the winners saying, "Are you serious?" Disappointing as losing was there still was a sense of accomplishment because the one person we wanted to impress, The Rep, absolutely loved us.

Having listened to the demo, she new what we sounded like but demo recordings are only so good. Before we played we talked to her and she seemed mildly interested. We talked about the industry and it’s difficulties and how she liked our sound but she wasn’t kissing our butts or anything. But after we played she talked to Ferocious and said she was definitely gonna bring a big shot next week. Since we didn’t win I guess they’ll have to wait until our next show but things are really looking good. I try not to get to excited because I know that the likelihood of something happening is pretty slim BUT you never know.

All of this is even more exciting when someone you know is going through it. Our friends’ band, Dizmas, just got signed to Sparrow Records (Switchfoot, Lifehouse, Newsboys). They spent a lot of time negotiating and touring to get where they are, and now they are recording a full length, major label debut. When they are done I can go to Best Buy and pick it up. These are guys I went to high school with! It’s nuts and I’m so happy for them. They have been doing the band thing for about 8 years now so they deserve it. I think I’m gonna go take a nap and dream of being a rockstar…some more.

Movie: Se7en

How Conceded

Somehow, beyond all hope, the pres pulled out a victory. John Kerry recently made the "I promise I won't try to win by suing" call to Bush. This was surely not a landslide win, but it wasn't as close as I thought it would be (about 3 million votes). Could it be that some of the polls leading up to last night were…INACCURATE!! Maybe, but at this point it doesn’t really matter. Being in California means a vote for Bush has pretty much no use and I’m sure that can be disheartening to some but I did see some Republican power. The main demonstration of this came from The Governor of Hollyw-- I mean California. Schwarzenegger, aside from campaigning alongside Bush for a number of days, also backed/fought some controversial props and measures in the state. As far as I know, everything he endorsed was passed and everything he fought, lost. All except for two. I really don’t see what could stop him from running for President. Just watch, next election’s candidates will be Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Republicans and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats. I can’t wait.

Along with my electoral prerogative, I also partook in another one of my civic duties. The jury kind. Yes the much feared Jury Duty. I got the notice over a month ago and nearly forgot to go but I did and apparently the system is nowhere near as problematic as it used to be. I showed up the first day, a Monday, which I luckily had off from work and sat around for a few hours. When they called the 50 or so potential jurors to the court room I was one of the lucky first twelve to be scrutinized by the defense and prosecution. The next day I was also the first to be excused for whatever reason. I had no complaints, although it would’ve been interesting to check out the whole thing. But I did need to keep working so all’s well.

Last but not least, Band B has a battle of the bands show this weekend that I’m very excited about. Not only do I think we have a fairly good chance of winning but supposedly a couple of people who work for Universal Records are planning on checking us out. Apparently DJ Ferocious goes to school with the daughter of one of our Universal friends. She gave her mom the demo and now they want to see us live. This could potentially be a big deal so we want to do our best. Or at least blow the other bands out of the running. I’ll let you know if we get signed. Seriously.

Movie: The Ghost and the Darkness

No Good Wthout It

Yesterday, my internet was down all day so I wasn’t able to post anything. But that wasn’t the biggest problem. Since the internet was down, my email was down also. All day I had this feeling of confinement. I could have left work and gone outside or actually done some non-modem related work, but no. I sat there feeling trapped like a zoo animal. I sat at my desk all day, pathetically re-trying and re-trying to start the internet. When I got to work today I was relieved to see that the problem had been fixed. I hate to say this but if it wasn’t fixed I probably would’ve wasted another day waiting for it to work instead of doing something else. Is this kind of thing my fault or societies? Since I don’t like taking responsibility I’ll assume its society’s. Yeah, that’s what it is.

Tomorrow I have an interview at Albertson’s. I applied only a couple days ago but I wasn’t too surprised by the quick response. Not because they’re desperate for employees or because I’m such a hot commodity, but because on the application I told them I would work all hours at any position. I know grocery workers make more money than I do but I’m still a little worried. I'm worried because about four or five months ago the Grocery Union went on strike for like three months or something. I don’t know how they compensate for picketing but I would almost rather be a "scab" and get paid than march around a store at $2 an hour. Before I decide what job I’ll take I want to check out a few more places including the local school district. With the district I’d get weekends off, twice the pay of my church job, 9-5 regularity, and hopefully I can get a better-than-average starting position because my grandma worked their for 30 years and was the most loved person in the building. The relation couldn’t hurt, right? Of course whatever job I get would always be my plan B, fallback job. My main aspirations are still being a recording engineer/producer or [knocking on wood] being a part of a successful band. Aside from that all I want to do is start a family and support it. I don’t care how I do it, just as long as I can pay the bills. And I know they’ll be plenty.

Movie: Gattaca

A Begger and A Chooser

So it’s official. I’m moving into an apartment with a couple other guys in late November. As part of my "don’t pay rent" plan, I’m still looking for a place to stay for the next month though. There are a couple of options including either my fiancé’s house or the guitar player of Band B’s house. Both would probably be rent free, but even if they’re not it should be cheaper than living at home. It’s starting to get exciting, all this moving out stuff but I’m still waiting to get totally ready and psyched until I find a place to stay for now. It seems like now that I’m trying to move out everything is getting so expensive. Gas is more expensive now than ever before. Housing costs (including apartment rents) are up. Car insurance costs way more than when any other generation paid for it and nowadays, in CA at least, it’s mandatory! Considering these things as well as a number of other increased costs, I’m looking for a new job.

I found out that what I do at work would normally pay about twice as much anywhere else, but because I work for a church it doesn’t. So I’ve started looking around for new jobs and second jobs but haven’t had any luck yet. If anyone knows someone or is someone who wants to hire a hard working, punctual, very professional office assistant let me know. Preferably, a Southern California job offering full time positions with benefits. What!? I’m not being picky, I’m getting married! I need this more than Ben Affleck needs a hit movie. Yes, that bad.

Another thing I really want is a video game that came out yesterday. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I do kinda feel like a loser for still playing video games but I feel like even more of a loser because I don’t have this one yet and it’s probably gonna be one of the most popular games this year (aside from Halo 2, maybe). You know when you play a video game and you think to yourself that some parts of the game are cool but other parts suck? Well the GTA series has been making games for many years and each new addition consistently replaces the crappy aspects with awesome aspects. This latest game seems like it’s gonna be about perfect. And I can’t play it. Not yet at least.

I guess I’ll stop short of putting up my entire Christmas List, but sadly these are only a few of the MANY things I wish I had. I hope everyone can feel my pain. If you do please feel free to donate money to me and my cause. You can contribute by cash, check, or any major credit card. For only $200 a day can sponser a poor boy like Travis and keep him rolling in cash, the way he was meant to live. Just click here and ask for more details. It's that easy.

Movie: Minority Report

Not in Time for Anaheim

After all my jabbering about my love of doing live shows yesterday, guess what happened last night? Yeah, I missed the show. This was do to a number of factors. The first; I live 90 miles from Anaheim, the town where we were supposed to play at. On a traffic free day, that’s about and hour and half drive. On a traffic-ridden day, 2-3 hours drive. On a rainy night in a state where drivers don’t see much rain, an eternity. These nut jobs’ brains must be solar powered because as soon as the sun is covered up they disengage all common sense, and drive like 80 year old grannies. Everyone either drives 20 mph or 90mph. There is no medium. On my way down I witnessed 3 hydroplane accidents. Statistically, collisions were up 100% in the last 24 hours. So aside from trying to survive the I-5 Demolition Derby, I was already late because I didn’t get out of work until 5pm and the show started at 7:30pm. Once I was out of work I had to pick up my fiancé, stop by my house, get gas, get in a fight with my fiancé (a whole other story), drop her back off and go to the bank. As much as the freeway was a mess, the city streets are even worse so I wasn’t even on the road until 6pm. I drove all the way there and then the fun began. I finally got there at 8:30. Not bad considering. As I pulled into the parking lot I thought it was strange that none of my surely anxious band mates were outside waiting for me. When I got out of the car I heard the sound of a band playing and in my stupidity was relieved because I thought that meant some other band was playing. I walked up to the box office and explained my situation to the green haired man.
"Hey, I’m in one of the bands. I’m the singer but I’m kinda late."
"Your band just got done playing!"
I assumed he was doing one of those things were you trick someone at first and then when they believe you, you tell them your kidding.
"You’re kidding, right?"
"No, man. They just finished their last song of an instrumental set."
"Oh my gosh…"
"I’ll give you a wrist band if you want."

Thankfully my gracious band was not to pissed off. In trying to make up for it in anyway I could I helped them dismantle the equipment and pack up. I’m an idiot. Oh well. I hear it was a good show. And I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

Movie: Big Daddy

It's Raining Rock & Roll

The main event for tonight is that Band B has a show in Anaheim. I’m excited to see how many people show up that only know us from MySpace.com (or maybe because of this site). I’m still not sure how I’m gonna get down there since I have no gas or gas money, but something will happen I’m sure. I usually take three of the amps in my truck when we have shows but since amps are not waterproof, I will not be in charge of that this time. A huge storm is supposed to hit us sometime tonight. It’s kinda weird because although we live in the desert about half of our shows are on rainy nights. We even thought about changing our band’s name due to this incredible fact. I think Cats & Dogs would’ve been a good band name, maybe in the 80’s. Anyway, playing live shows is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Even practice is fun when you love the songs you’re playing. It’s so awesome performing songs that are 100% original. Just hearing the music all come together behind you and standing there, completely immersed in the moment. I suggest that everyone be in a band. There is nothing like it. If anyone reads this today and wants to go to the show tonight, let me know and I’ll give you the details.

Speaking of readers, I finally have some! Yes, it’s true. Thanks so much to all of you who have left me comments. I guess that all my begging and pandering really paid off. I know this site isn’t the most exciting blog around but I find it very interesting and relate-able. One of my new favorite blogs is Virtual Nations. It’s by this novelist who’s revealing a chapter per blog of this story he wrote a while ago. Check it out. I’ve said this in the past but now that people may read it I’ll say it again. If anyone knows of a cool site I should visit let me know. If it’s good I’ll mention it and then you’re really on your way aren’t you?

Movie: The Godfather

I was Used

Last night I saw The Used in Ventura. They played great. The opening bands were pretty bad though. I couldn’t even understand the singer of the first band when he said who they were a few times, but they sucked anyway. The second band, Head Automatica were a little better. They all dressed up for the night and played through their 80’s music as best as they could I guess. The third band, Atreyu were loud, but other than that they just sounded like what Story of the Year would sound like if they wrote bad songs. Finally at about 10:45pm The Used came on. They played a great set with an equal balance of new and old songs. My only complaint would be that their set wasn’t long enough (only about 30-45 min., 11 songs + 1 encore song). On the bright side, Bert has really found his voice’s comfort level. He rarely sounded too strained and always went for the high notes. When I finally got home and ate some pizza I only slept for about an hour, but it was well worth it. I strongly suggest you see a date of this tour because The Used is awesome live.


Sorry about the small update today, but I’m tired and I have to get back to work. Check out some of the band’s sites. Maybe you’ll like the opening bands and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. It just means you have lousy taste in music. How about a comment telling me what music you do like.

Movie: Snatch

Ticket to Nowhere

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think no one even reads this stuff. I have even requested readers’ responses to certain topics but not a word. The last time I said this I got three responses so I thought I maybe had a small audience, but never since. I want to try and get anyone to say anything in the response section, anything at all. Just prove that you’re out there. This may seem like a desperate attempt, and that’s because it is. If you have a blog/website of your own, tell me where it is. If there is a particular web site you like, tell me about it. If there is a certain movie that you love/hate/think I should see, tell me what it is. If you think I suck balls, tell me. Don’t be confused, however. These are only a few of the infinite reasons you could comment on this update. The only thing I’m asking is that you comment. Please!

Anyway, the verdict is in. Total cost to live at home: $300 a month!!!!!! Oh well. What can you do? I’m trying not to care because it won’t change a thing. I’m just glad that I make an extra $300 a month now by babysitting those kids. This just means I won’t be able to save as much as I had hoped. It’s retarded because my parents are so incapable of handling my getting married that they are trying to dump all this "maturity" on me that they think I don’t understand. "How can I ever support a family when I’m so terrible at being responsible?" I guess this is what happens when you out stay your welcome at home. I always knew this would happen, I just was hoping they would wait a couple more months. When they told me they didn’t even know how to do it like normal people so the tone was, "Your in trouble," and (as all my family talks go) was followed by a life lesson. Thanks guys. I’ll remember this lesson all my life, especially when it’s my turn to take care of you. Bastards.

Before I start crying I guess I’ll tell you about something else. Yesterday I had traffic school. This day of school was all started long ago in May when I got my very first ticket. Band B had just finished playing a show down in L.A.. The show went pretty well and we were all packed up and ready to head home. As I pulled out of the parking lot of the club I "Failed to Yield" to an oncoming car. Fortunately both of our vehicles were not moving very fast so as soon as I realized what I had done I quickly reversed out of the other car’s way. No harm, no foul, right? Nope. Because the car directly behind the first one carried a couple of L.A.’s finest Peace Officers. They immediately pulled me over and began the long and drawn out process of ticket writing. The good cop/bad cop team surrounded my car and Mr. Hard Ass gave me the low down.
"License and registration and proof of insurance?"
"I only have my license because I just bought this car. I have this temporary registration until my real one comes from the DMV."
Apparently his dumb ass had never seen this kind of thing before.
"I don’t know what this is. You’ll have to take that up with the judge. What about your insurance?"
"I have insurance but I don’t have the insurance card. They haven’t mailed it to me yet."
"What do you mean?" he said with an empty expression on his face, "They give it to you when you get insurance."
This went on for a minute or two until he just gave up trying to understand this complex idea and handed me a ticket for failure to yield, driving without current registration, and driving without insurance. When the ticket came in the mail it added up to over $1000 worth of criminality. Five months later I am finally free of this headache and traffic school was the easiest part. Yes, this is my life.

Movie: Identity

Indecision 2004

Well, it’s been another busy week at work, hence the lack of updates. There have been, however, a few interesting developments in my life recently. Yesterday I started helping this lady with her kids in the mornings. Monday through Friday I get to their house around 6:15am, wake them up, feed them breakfast, make their lunches and take them to school. I’m done by 8:00am and get paid $75 a week. Not to bad, especially since the kids are real cool. The money may come in handy when I have to start paying for rent to live at home. I still can’t believe my parents are gonna do that but whatever. I should be moving out soon anyway.

Something else that gets annoying is the constant barrage of commercials on TV reminding me to vote. They don’t care whom I vote for, as long as I vote. Every 15 seconds some celebrity with a catchy election phrase is telling me not to let my rights go to waste. They say I shouldn’t let someone else make decisions for me. Like my voting for Kerry is gonna change a single thing in the world. Wether Kerry wins or Bush wins, I can guarantee you that nothing will change. We will still be in an economic slump, gas prices will continue to rise, soldiers will continue to die, and my life will still be the same. The only one who can change my life, regardless of what person is president, is myself. If I want to be rich and succesful, that’s up to me. If I wanna shoot heroin and be a bum, that’s my choice too. No president is gonna save me.

If I ever get rich and famous enough, and have a "podium" to tell people about the election I would tell them the truth. This country is the best you’re gonna find anywhere in the world. That is a fact. But if you don’t like how much prescription drugs cost there’s only one thing to do, make more money. Do you really think that voting "makes your voice heard" or "let’s you speak your mind"? Of course not. It just gets some guy in the white house who already has his own agenda and no matter what he told you on the campaign trail about health care reform, he’s gonna do what he wants cause he’s in charge now, not you.

Sorry about the cynical rant but it just pisses me off. The point; Don’t vote. Exercise your right to not be heard, because the truth is no one’s listening. You know who does care? I do, really. So tell me about it.

Movie: Phenomenon

When Rights are Wrong

In the office today the topic of stem cell research came up. It’s gonna be on the ballot in November so it’s important to know were you stand. The problem I have is that most people connect SCR with fetal SCR. The deal is that if someone gets an abortion then we can use the dead fetus for good by cloning stem cells, which could potentially cure some diseases. I think this would greatly increase the acceptability of abortions. Abortion is wrong. Yes it’s still a fetus, but that doesn’t mean it’s not alive. "A woman’s choice" is a lame excuse for erasing a mistake from your past at the expense of a child’s life. If a woman is raped and gets pregnant then I still think that abortion is the wrong answer. I think it makes a bad situation worse. You don’t want the kid, fine. That’s perfectly understandable. Don’t keep the kid, but don’t kill it! I think adoption is the answer to a lot of abortion issues. The ONLY time I think it is at all acceptable is when the mother will die due to the pregnancy/delivery. At that point it is a choice, one life or another. This world is a messed up place and there are bad things that happen with or without our doing but I don’t think that just because life gets the better of us we should take the easy road. What do you think?

It’s some serious stuff so now it’s time to talk about the complete opposite. Movies. Is it just me or is there absolutely nothing good in theaters this week. It’s all stuff I’ve already seen or stuff I don’t want to see. I know I talk about movies a lot here but I really enjoy a good movie just like everyone else. They can be so good that they make you see and/or think things differently than before. Sometimes they just hit a spot in you and become a part of your life. Whatever it is a movie does for you it’s all about entertainment and that is the main problem I have with the movies out now. They don’t seem at all entertaining. One thing that gives me hope is to look into coming attractions. Sometimes they are so undeveloped that no one even knows much about the story or its cast but it’s still fun to read about them. It’s a sign that someone out there is still coming up with good ideas. At least some better ideas then Alien Vs. Predator or First Daughter.

The genre I’m really getting into is the guerilla style, low budget, documentary. Ferenhiet 9/11 and Super Size Me are the two that I’ve seen and I think it’s great. Moore has a new one coming out called Sicko. and it’s about the health care industry. This guy is out to get everyone so watch out! I’d love a comment or 10.

Movie: Groundhog Day

Once Upon a Cell Phone Nightmare

Wanna hear something kinda funny? It’s actually not funny at all but maybe you can learn a lesson or two. Yeah.
I had a cell phone from Cingular™ for about a year and everything was great. I talked to everyone all the time and text messaged people once and a while even. I was a walking commercial for cell phones. That of course changed when I got a bill for $368. Yep, one month of service. Normally my bill was like, $50 something. So naturally I remained calm and called my friendly Cingular™ Customer Service Representative. Surely they would fix this grievous mistake on their part. Come to find out it was no mistake. And do you know how it happened? Those "blessed" rollover minutes. Minutes that were intended to save people from $368 bills. For the first six months of my plan I stayed well under my allotted minutes, therefore accruing thousands of rollover minutes. But one sinister month I began going over on my minutes as well as every month after. Since I had rollover minutes I had no idea and my bill stayed at about $50. Now technically it is my fault because I should have looked at my bill and seen my minutes but I was duped. Yes duped. I, for some reason thought that my contract was for 1000 anytime minutes. I noticed that I used about 800 or so a month. But actually I had only 600 anytime minutes, SIX HUNDED!!!! So eventually I used up all my rollover minutes and I get a giant bill. What’s worse is that I couldn’t pay it and they would not let me pay installments. So the bill sat there getting larger by the day due to late fees and continued service charges (although my phone mysteriously called the automated bill pay number every time I tried to use it). Grand total; $837.71. At that point they terminated my contract, cut my service completely, and sent out the hounds, affectionately known as Debt Collectors. By then I figured my credit was trashed just in time to get married and that I would forever have this monstrous, looming amount of money hunting me. BUT…the moment I had given up all hope of carrying on a normal, consumer driven life, a light at the end of the tunnel, a silver lining around my giant debt. The debt collection company lets me pay in three monthly installments. I can do that! If I make all three payments the collectors won’t put this little incident on my credit. So now, thanks to Debt Collectors Inc., I’m living the dream…paycheck to paycheck.
MORAL – Read your bills carefully or get legally ripped off.

THE END

Sucks huh? Oh well. At least it didn’t happen to you. I’m sure you, dear reader are much to street smart to let that happen to you. Now, for today’s Rad Ass website (no it’s not a typo, just embrace it). Web Radio. I’m sure this is so 90’s for some people but I just got into it. In case you’re like me and have no idea, it’s a website that lets you listen to real radio stations from around the world on your computer. So if you’re like me and live in a desert with not much radio variety, this is pretty cool. This site may not be the best one for this type of thing but it works fine and it’s free and that fits my requirements for almost everything. Hope you like it. And remember to let me know of your favorite websites you slackers. I love you all, really.

Movie: Fight Club

The Pursuit of Happiness

The next set of marriage road-blocks are coming from non other than my mom. This is really not a big surprise considering every time I get a girlfriend she turns into a nut. But the problem now is that it is actually (a/e)ffecting my relationship with my fiancé. I have to do something about it and it’s probably gonna be a big ol’ deal because the main point is my mom needs to lay off. Another problem is that my parents want to make me pay "rent" if I’m going to continue living at home. Although this seems like an OK thing it isn’t because I would still have to abide by the house rules like curfews and chores. Sucks right? But the good thing is that my fiancé’s brother’s roommate is moving out by the end of the year which would mean I could get a room/place of my own for about $300/month if I want.

On a completely different note, today marks two wonderful things; payday and the release of The Used’s new album, In Love And Death (they go hand in hand). I’m listening to it right now and it is amazing. I love these guys. I love every song I’ve ever heard from them. I think it’s possible that they have 100% good songs. I can’t wait to see them Oct. 13. Unfortunately, now that their CD has come out there are no more I’m looking forward to. I hate when that happens. A lot of the bands I like are not around anymore or don’t even sound the way they did before…ahem. It’s kinda sad.

I guess it’s about time for some new website referrals, but this time I want to do something different. I am gonna list some but I want YOU to list some of your favorites and then in an upcoming post I’ll list them. Just hit the comment button and let ‘em rip. My choice for today is Quizilla. This is a site were you can take or create any quiz you can think of, literally. If you are bored go here and you will easily waste an hour of your life, and isn’t that what the internet is all about? Now start commenting with your picks.

Movie: Memento

Life, Love, Losers and Winners

What's the matter with me? No post in a whole week! I can’t believe it. Well, at least I should have some interesting stuff to tell. Like how my brother has started singing for another band. Yes it’s true, the drummer of Band A, my brother who gave me crap for being in two bands, is now in two bands. It’s cool though because it doesn’t bother me. He played me a tape of the band he’s in. The recording was rough but it wasn’t bad at all. I can’t wait to hear it with vocals. I get nervous for my brother but he’ll do fine.

I’m sure some of you heard about Britney Spears got married again. It’s weird that most people’s problem with me getting married is my lack of financial stability, but someone like Birtney Spears, who has truck loads of money, has just as much, if not more of a chance of getting a divorce than I do. Famous people never stay together. So what is it, you have to have some money but not a lot? I don’t know. I figure if you get married, no matter what tier of success your on, it’s gonna be hard but it’s also gonna be worth it too. Write that down.

To my amazement, people have actually visited my blog. In a previous blog I said that most likely no one was reading it but to my surprise I got some comments stating the opposite. Although it was only three people it was still nice to hear from fellow web roamers (which they MUST be if they found this place). Thanks for the responses and keep them coming. I’d love to read someone else’s blog if you tell me where it’s at.

Movie: Made

Analyze Me

This blog has been around for a couple weeks and I think it's entirely possible that no one except for myself has ever seen it. I guess I’m really just doing this for myself, as a form of unconscious therapy. Spilling my guts to the phantom audience. After seeing Hollywood therapists such as Tony Soprano’s Dr Melfi, it seems like therapy is really just the art of inference. "This could be happening because of this part of your life, caused by this, caused by that," etc. Nothing is essentially your fault because the things you do are byproducts of things done to you. I guess that’s kind of true on some emotional levels but it seems more like a cop out. I think people can change, but only if they want to.

I was originally gonna do a fake blog, like some fictitious diary or whatever, but instead I just did this. Maybe some other time I’ll start up a weird, fake one and link it here. I love writing stories so it would probably be similar to that. For all anyone else knows this blog could be a fake one. I don’t know why anyone would invent something so ordinary but maybe I’m just that tricky!!

I guess this blog could turn into something pretty interesting if one of my bands got signed and became as big as David Hasselhoff or something. Whatever happens I’ll try and keep this place up to date throughout all my fame and fortune. Or I’ll just have my personal assistant do it for me.

On another note, I thought of another interesting web site. It's some European radio station’s site called The Atheist Network. Now, I'm no atheist but it's still fun to get on the message boards and rile up the natives. Don’t worry about hurting feelings on here because these guys are already pissed off just at the fact that there are people in the world that believe in God. If you have a good argument they will eventually give up and start calling you gay, which means you won, because they will never change their minds. But then again that’s what makes it so much fun! So go at it.

Movie: Dogma

Site Seeing

Sometimes the internet can feel like an empty, vast desert of stupid crap, but every once and a while you find a really cool website. These are a few that I have found and enjoyed.

One of the coolest is a site called Metaphilm. This site interprets a ton of recent movies and a few old ones. They search far and wide for anyone willing to write an essay that looks a little deeper at modern cinema. One of my favorites is a great take on Fight Club and Calvin & Hobbes. Awesome.

A couple of other cool movie sites are Movies.com and IMDB.
Movies.com is nice because along with movie news, it is fairly up to date on movie buzz as well. The search feature let's you search names of movies or film makers/actors/crew resulting in a complete list of relevant matches. Selecting a movie that is yet to be released will give you all the info available including a "blogish" style buzz update which lets you know how the movie is coming along. They also have a weekly Buzz Bin that lists the top 20 most intriguing upcoming movie news.
IMDB has even more up to date info on upcoming movies but not much in the "how's the movie coming along" section. One nice thing about IMDB is that people-searches result in tons of info, from what movies they've done or will do, to mini-bios and quotes.

The last site for the day is Free Translation. Just try it.

I'll think of some more later.

Movie: Sleepers

Back to Bass-ics

Let me start off by making things a little clearer. I'm gonna refer to the band that I ditched last week as Band A, and the other band as Band B. This will make things easier to explain and understand.

About 8 months ago, in Band A, our original bass player quit and we spent a few months finding a new one. We did and he played real well but his style was a little bit different than ours. Last week he informed us that he would be moving after Christmas and that he was selling all his equipment to do so. Luckily relations with the former bass player were better again and he was quick to volunteer for the newly open position. We discussed it and decided it was a safe move. Today is our first practice with him back in the band.

I’m actually excited about this because he started playing bass when we started a band, which means his style is exactly our band’s style. The same goes for the drummer and other guitar player. I hope that maybe this will put some motivation back in our band and we can take this thing all the way…maybe.

Movie: Training Day

Battle of the Bands

So last night I had to work a little later than normal and because of that, I didn't feel up to driving all the way out to practice then all the way home again. I called the guys after work and told them the deal and they were, to say the least, pissed. They had already driven to practice and set up, but now I wasn't even coming. I apologized and suggested that they practice with just the three of them. Then it turned into; "Maybe you should quit the other band cause it's taking to much of your time, blah blah blah."

This (the band I ditched on) is the band that I'm least interested in because the other has the better chance of turning into something. I still like playing with them just not as much. They always try to pull guilt trips and stuff, while the other band is always pretty laid back. I just got a message from the guitar player in the lesser band to call him back. Who knows what it's about but I'm, really not looking forward to that call, but oh well.

When I started in these bands it was purely for fun but now that I'm getting married I need to re-evaluate my time because bands take up a lot of it. My fiancé has never complained about my being in a band but I don't like not being around her if it's not for a good reason. A band that is really trying to "get big" and realistically has the potential to is not a waste of time, but a band that probably won't make it can be a waste of time.

I’m not sure if I should quit one band for the other (which would have to happen eventually) or stick it out. I’ll keep you posted cause I’m sure you’re dying to know.

Movie: The Sopranos: Season 4, Volume 3

Money, it's a gas...

I have a job that pays well for someone living at home with Mom and Dad but recently I have been battling poverty. That’s not to say that I am penniless but it’s close. Since when did my job seem like it doesn’t pay enough? Maybe since my lifestyle began exceeding my means. I feel like I have so many bills that I didn’t have before. I know I’ve expressed this before, but money sucks. It sucks because every aspect of life centers on money and success.

I think I’m gonna find a way to make more money. I’m not sure if it will be a scheme or more of a plan but I just thought of this so give me some time and I’ll get it.

On a financial plus side, my fiancé has (thanks to her grandpa) two plots of land up in the hills, so when were ready we can build a fairly decent house. It turns out that Southern California is about the most expensive place to live in the country, but with some collateral like land we can get a loan. At least CA’s worth it. It really is the best place to live. Where else can you go surfing and snowboarding in the same day? It actually just started raining outside and it’s the middle of September. Weird.

I’m getting married in exactly 400 days. Now that’s cool.

Movie: 21 Grams

The War on Error

I am a Republican I guess, which means I will be voting for Mr. Bush in November. This does not mean that I agree with everything he does, but compared to the Kerry alternative the choice is obvious. So many Bush-Haters have so much wrong, Michael Moore driven information that they think Bush allowed the terrorist attacks to happen because he had defense based stock options. The problem with trusting a movie is that the main goal of his movie (as with every movie) is entertainment. Moore admittadly had an agenda with the film, not to enlighten the public but to get Bush out of office. He knew that people believe what they are told so much so that if his movie was made right it could go unquestioned by the masses.

To be fair, I loved his movie. It was well made and funny but it didn't change my mind about who should be president. Most people who have dissected the movie know that many of the movie's key points are refutable and that's OK because it's just a movie.

Recently (as of the start of this new war) there seems to be a resurgence of "hippy-dom." WAR IS WRONG!!!!! BUSH LOVES OIL!!!!! It's amazing to heare people saying things like, "This war is about oil!" What's wrong with oil? Our lives are "driven" by oil. This country could not make it an hour without oil. Maybe that is what we need to fix. Maybe we need to stop being so dependent on foreign commodities. But what are you gonna do? That's not something that will change no matter who's in office.

Movie: Three Kings

From My E-mail (Sweeeet!!!!!)

I just found out that I can make posts through my e-mail. This is awesome.
What next, flying cars!?

Music Musings

I know I said I would post the next day but I never got the chance. It's funny how hard it can be to sit down and write for a while.

I've realized that I am probably semi-obsessed with music. I don't know if this is a bad thing or not but whatever. I love writing music. I love listening to music. I love looking for new music. I love playing music. I love music. I want so bad for music to be my job. I wonder what the odds are for a band to get signed. Probably worse than one million to one, but I think I could do it. I recently had a band meeting with one of my bands and we talked about getting ready to take things more seriously. More practice and writing. Hopefully this means that we can start making a living out of this nonsense. Cool, huh? If anyone ever reads this (doubtful) and wants to hear some of our music, e-mail me at audrocker@msn.com and I'll get you some. I like it.

Movie: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Day One

This is the official blog of me. Welcome to it. I hope that you find whatever you're looking for. I figure I'll update this semi-daily. We'll see how it goes. Enjoy.

I am a 20 year old office assistant. My life is good. "Why so good?" you ask. Because I'm exactly where I want to be in life. I'm engaged to an awsome girl. I'm in 2 very talented bands. I'm persuing a career as a recording engineer. I have an extensive DVD collection. My life is moving in the direction that I've always wanted; forward. In a couple years from now, if my life is still in the same place that would be less exciting, but right now it's perfect.

Most of my life (right now) revolves around getting married. With all the plans I have for the future the best thing I can think of happening would be for one of my bands to get a record deal. At present, I am by most standards poor. However, if all goes according to plan I'll be able to make do. But it would be nice if money wasn't an issue. When I think about how money is the reason everyone does almost everything it pisses me off. I figure that the best way to beat the money system is to have so much of it at all times that it never has true value. It sounds weird but that's just what I think.

I don't want this to turn into a place where I promote my bands though. This is just a place where I type whatever I want. More than likely no one will ever read this but myself and that's probably OK, but you never know.

Here's something I just thought of. After every post I'll put what movie I plan on watching that night. What a great idea.

MOVIE: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King