Here we go again...

Well, it's booked. I'm heading to Israel on January 3rd.

Guess it's time for me to start updating this thing again.

Round two!

Finished.

IT IS WRITTEN.

Bye!

This is a love story,

This is a love story, not a fairy tale! LOVE! Do it right, people!

Drunk is different than psycho.

Drunk is different than psycho. - Kelsey

One full liter of beer!

Soundtrack

Removed: "Free at Last" - no longer needed.

Added: "Dance Inside" (All American Rejects), "Praise Chorus" and "Dizzy" (Jimmy Eat World), because they've been playing non-stop in my brain. For the same reason, "Are You Ok?" by Oval Opus.

It's crunch time, people.



edit: Also added "Lay Down" from O.A.R. Should've been on there before.

Fisher! Get it!

Fisher! Get it!

It's amazing... Probably the only place i could go in silver spring tonight and not see someone i know. I did run into andrew sonntag on the street.

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Life!

Life...is good!

.

Step up to me
..I know that you've got something buried,
I'll set you free,
You set conditions,
But I've had enough,

I can't take it.

This welcome is gone,
And I've waited long enough...
...to make it.
And if you're so strong,
You might as well just do it alone.

And I'll watch you go.

(Come back home, won't you come back home?)


- All-American Rejects

Awesome Week, 2...and 3?

I...have no idea where to begin this. I've lost track of most days of the last week and a half.. needless to say, they've been filled with good friends and great times. A few random tidbits:

Project is extended to August, thank God. I really need to start bearing down on myself to get it done.

Looking to move, lease is up in August, kinda want to have the new place a little bit before then so I can move leisurely rather than in a frantic panic. Any leads gladly accepted.

My roommate was entranced by the DC Metro synod, which is good news not only for her, but for any of us who'd like to think our church is moving in a more progressive, embracing direction. To my peoples out in Chicago: be nice to her, or else Credo will get you.

I'm going to miss that triped.

Saw Meghan tonight, for the first time in forever. Woo!

And got home just as an email arrived that non-bindingly confirms what I'll be doing come the beginning of next year. Not posting it here, I'd rather tell people in person. There are some folks' reactions which I absolutely must see in person.

And now...sleep.

Awesome Week.

So, let's recap last week, shall we?!

Friday night....lasted until 7am. New friends are always awesome..drinking with them at Adega until all hours is even better. Bonus: Meeting up with the Quarry House crew at 7am, as they left their establishment.

Saturday night... more fun with new people. New employees at work, a new vibe, heading into the summer. Got to drink with Mike after work for the first time in a while.

Sunday night... got to hang out and wander around DC with Stef, which doesn't happen nearly as often as it should. Bonus: Indiana Jones was better than it should've been.

Monday .... randomly decided to go up to Philadelphia to help Megan move in/build furniture. We did neither, but a few hours at an awesome Belgian beer bar later, and I didn't care one bit that I was sleeping on a hard-wood floor.

Tuesday .... the pinnacle! Wandering around Philadelphia, met up with Colin! Came back, played open mic with a band I'm in love with. Bonus: Finding out that Jon from open mic is also Jon from Bicycle Thieves, and getting him to play "Monuments" live!

Wednesday .... more new friends, and hanging out, drinking some amazing wine.

Thursday .... FILTER. Filterfilterfilterfilterfilterfilterfilterfilter. Bonus: Randomly meeting up with/hanging out with Clint for the first part of the concert.

and that leads us to.....

Friday .... Another great night at work, followed by Garden State, and waking then next morning in good company on a strange couch. The start of Awesome Week 2?

That'll be sore in the morning.

Home!

Ok...so. If you haven't heard the band "Ours," do so. They're brilliant, and Jimmy Gnecco's voice is ridiculous.

Filter was great...new band (save Rich, of course); a much, much heavier sound. An older crowd, judging by how much goading the band had to do to get a mosh pit going, and by how relatively tame said pit was once started.

A few highlights...played "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do," which is the song that got me hooked on them in the first place. Which was awesome.

Saw the show from the middle of the first row, same position I had last time, in 2002.

Rich's voice sounds perfect still.

I am going to be tremendously sore. Yikes.

Played only two songs from the new album, and didn't even mention it..which strikes me as odd for an album-support tour. They played "Soldiers of Misfortune," through the duration of which I bawled my eyes out. Justin would've loved it.

As much as I love drinking, concerts aren't the place to do it, I think. (I remained sober.) Or, maybe, the normal type of personality who attends a hard rock concert is just the kind of person I'd rather not meet drunk. So much Type A, so little inhibition. Yeesh.

So..not the same rush as I had at the 2002 concert. I'm not sure if that's because my musical tastes are evolving, or if I'm just getting older, or if it was just Rich handing me his glasses during 'Jurrassitol' the last time around that threw me from 'ecstatic' to 'adrenaline overload.'

Oh, and in an odd sidenote, I saw Clint, who has a new band, to which I will link as soon as I remember where I put the card. We decided our bands have to play a show together..his being 'The B-Movie Extras,' and ours, of course, 'The Understudies.' Even if we were the only ones who got the joke.

Going to sleep now. Goodnight.

Almost.......

Just heard sound check through

Just heard sound check through a cracked-open door. Rich's voice sounds good, haven't heard a good scream yet. There's a fantastic breeze.

Been here half an hour.

Been here half an hour. May have already seen the back of rich. Eating a steak and cheese from a random chinese food place. First in line.

And I'm off!

After much internal debate -- metro, parking, driving, cab ride? --- how early do I want to be there, am I too old to be in the front row at a rock show, do I care about long-term hearing loss --- etc et al and so forth,

I've decided fuck all, I'm going. Doors at 7:30, Filter's on at 10, I'm heading down to 9:30 as of now, 3:04pm.

Don't wait up.

Week of Good Continues.

So, the week of Awesome is continuing..tonight was a lot of laid back fun, and , oh, by the way,

TOMORROW I SEE FILTER AT THE 930 CLUB.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

What a great couple of days..

Ok... this picture will be much more awesome by the end of this post.

Monday, Memorial Day, all plans kind of fell through, and I was talking (texting) with a now-former coworker from Adega, who was trying to build furniture in her new apartment in Philadelphia. I jokingly asked if she needed help. One giant "what the hell" later, and I was on the road.

We spent Monday night drinking delicious Belgian and American beers, staying up far too late, and somehow managing to make it back to her place, where I pulled off the feat of sleeping on a hardwood floor.

Today, after some much-needed water and Aleve, we wandered the streets of Philadelphia for hours. It was fantastic. Spent a lot of time in a record shop (she does vinyl), where I convinced her that, especially for 99 cents in the budget bin, Chicago's "Chicago Transit Authority" was something she absolutely had to own.

We eventually made it back to her place, to find that her newly-installed deadbolt had failed. We then discovered that you can climb into her place via the window on the fire escape. City living.

We put Chicago on the record player, and good lord, if you haven't heard this album, you must. Go. Now. Just do it.

Sidenote: about a month ago, Megan (the coworker) and I agreed to trade mix cds, after a Belgian-beer inspired conversation about music at the Quarry House. On one of the ones I made her, I included a song by a local DC rock band called "The Bicycle Thieves," the lead singer of which, Jon Kaplan, I had heard play an accoustic set as the opening act for a then-unknown Blue October at IOTA back in...good lord..2003? I think it was 2003. /end sidenote

Leaving there, I met up with Colin, one of my friends from college and a member of the Colonel's Men from day 1. We had a few beers in a bar that has won "Worst Service" awards a few years running. It fit their M.O.

I drove back from Philly in time to catch a quick shower and meet the band at Austin Grill for a few songs. The band before us, who are also regulars at Austin Grill, invite the guy who runs open mike, Jon, up to play guitar on a few songs. At one point, he says he's going to play one of his own songs.

And I'll be damned if it isn't "Loser of the Year," the first track on the Bicycle Thieves' album I bought five years ago at the Blue October concert.

So, the picture above, my friends, is Jon playing "Monuments" (from the same CD) after I requested it from him.

And my world shrinks just a little more.

What a fantastic couple of days.

...

Dear Christ, it's 7:19 am, and I'm just now getting home.

I.

LOVE.

THIS.

..

Just in case that was too heavy..

http://graphjam.com/2008/04/22/song-chart-memes-where-yall-gonna-make-me-lose-my-mind/

Opinions?

Something that's been bothering me as of late...

I've become a pacifist. A non-violent person. To, what some have called, the extreme.

Here's the deal. I refuse to make the decision that someone should die rather than myself, or that my causing physical harm to someone else is less of an ethical wrong than them doing the same to me.

I, a perfectly normal (in my own opinion), heterosexual male, would rather allow myself to be killed, my lover raped, and my children taken from me, than for me to strike another human being.

I've had conversations with some whom that opinion sickens to the point of physical illness. I, however, feel that it's perfectly normal. In some ways, I think it might even be what the Gospel calls for us to do.

Yet, it goes against our popular notion in such a drastic way that I'm forced to seek a second opinion. Is this just a clear reading of the Gospel, or an enlightened sense of going against our own animalistic, barbarian natures, or have I gone too far to the extreme, and lost even that sense of self-preservation that is supposed to separate the Darwin-accepted from the Darwin-rejected? Am I still within nature, or reached that point where I'm alive solely by the good graces of those who are better fit for survival?

I claim no moral high ground. This isn't about being a 'better person." I just honestly can't bring myself to hurt another human being, no matter the consequences to myself or anyone whom I love. Have I gone to far?

I'm really only posting because I feel like I have to :-\

Week's going well... friends are having a shitty time of it, I'm having an awesome one, I figure it averages out to "shmeh" ?

Hopefully I'll get to spend time with newly-returned Washingtonians this week.

I believe in god the father almighty..

When was the last night you yelled at God?

I mean, stood at the top of a seven-story open-air parking garage and screamed your doubts at God for the world to hear?

Me? Tonight.

At least I finished with the creed. Broadcasted for all Silver Spring to hear.

O Brother Thelonius, Where Art Thou?

Oh, north coast. You make good things.

mmm....Scottish.

Interesting. No hops. Just heather.

ooo

So, daily posting as a discipline = failed.

I guess it comes down to concern for anyone who actually reads this drivel. Really..how long has it been since I've posted something interesting?

Mebbe I'll change that tomorrow. Day off, determined to spend it doing something useful. Or useless, but at least interesting.

First gig

...just got back from Philly.

I don't have words yet... but life-affirming might begin to describe tonight.

Wow.

A query..

Dear God,

Were you mad at us because we ate of the forbidden fruit and saw our own nakedness,

..................or because we saw our nakedness and were ashamed?

Love,
Me

Weeeeeeeee.

So, parts of the play came to me two nights ago, as I lay sleeping.

And it continued through today. Maybe being back on campus helped, seeing old friends, staying out way too long at the Parrot, drinking far too much with Shank and Beers (and Other Shank.)

Something clicked. Hopefully it's back on now.

This weekend should rock...work tomorrow, band all day Saturday! First plugged-in, scheduled gig! Then maybe seeing a very old friend Saturday night. Seeing a close friend on Sunday... all things point towards awesome.

First time out.

So, the band played together, in public, for the first time tonight. We hit up an open mic at Austin Grill, played about six songs. It was a ton of fun, and I think we sound good. Saturday should be awesome.

Might go visit the ol' G'burg tomorrow. We shall see.

Tudor's Undies

You know you're in a good thing when you're daydreaming, and you realize the music that is playing the background of the happy-sentimental scenes is one of your band's songs.

Saturday is going to rock.

Back to life.

Back to reality?


4:15 a.m. : sleep
7:30 a.m. : wake
8:30 a.m. : band practice
noon : work


I love this. I'll hate it at 7:30, but in all...I love it. It's during times like these when I truly feel alive.

Sweet.

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Bemish?

Bemish?

Note to self.. Figure out

Note to self.. Figure out Silver Spring's deal with penguins. Seriously. Also, fix gmail so that it doesn't show up eight times on my phone.

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Genius

"When I let loose wit this Uzi and just shoot through your Isuzu."
- Em

No person should be this good with the English language.

Like a helicopter.

North Carolina was relaxing and life affirming.. I'd forgotten what it's like to have a friend around for more than an hour or two a week.

Back to work!

Deloughter!

Good lord, I just made the connection.

Polyphonic Spree = Tim DeLaughter = Tripping Daisy

"Follow the day and reach for the sun!" = "I got a girl who blames it on her period."

Weird.

!

I think I might know what it is!

Avoidance.

My brain uses writing the script as an avoidance technique from actually dealing with the subject matter in person. My writer's block is a way of avoiding dealing with the question altogether. I'm not in a TV/movie mood, or sleeping mood, or going out mood. I'm in a writing mood, and my brain does not want to write. Therefore I have to assume it's the subject material that I'm running from.

The end.

So, while on a quest for custom drum sticks (because yes, like my clothes, sticks are also something not made for short people)*, I veered off into searching for something I'd seen as a teenager.... this.

Then I got to wondering...is this just what I do normally with life, manifesting in drums?

I collect and diversify and expand until I reach a breaking point, at which I simplify drastically. This is what's gone on in most of the other areas in my life. Perhaps it's this, too. Maybe I should just learn to play my damn bass pedal faster. If Dave Groehl can do it, so can I.

Still, technology's fun.


( * : With apologies to Pro-Mark, whose Phil Collins custom sticks I've been using for years.)

Everyday Visuals

Alright, this song is really getting me re-interested in writing. I'm never sure what the trigger will be, but this seems to be it. Now all I need is a free day and some energy.

Structure? Hah! I've lost it all in the mix, but still we press on!

Tomorrow.

When was the last time you lived into tomorrow?

It's 6am, and I'm still awake...just now, about to go to sleep; and it's light out. Not barely, but light out.

I can look out my window and see people on the street, starting their day.

When you claimed that what happened 'last night' made your day...did it? Was it just until 2am? Did anything change the day after?

Have you tried living from yesterday into today, lately?

It's easy to make sweeping statements as the day draws short...much harder to make them and remain awake until the morning dawns on their promises.

I urge you to try it sometime.

China.

So, the Olympic torch had to be doused at least three times during its run across France.

Part of me thinks "Can't we just can it for the sake of the games?"

Part of me thinks "Thank God someone's speaking out."

I'm not sure which side is winning.

National portrait gallery. These fascinate me!

Edit: So, this was supposed to have sent before the other one, yesterday. Also, this nice little tag that Verizon is adding to the end of the messages is disconcerting. And by disconcerting, I mean a real pain in the ass. We're paying for this service, no? Then leave your goddamn hands off of my texts. If I feel like advertising your service, I'll do so on my own time. Otherwise, fuck off.

Thanks,
The Management.

Needed that.

Today...

Wandering around DC. Playing in the water-floors of the National Portrait Gallery. RFD, and McGinty's, with friends.

A good day.

Edit: Deleted: Verizon's bullshit.

Soundtrack

Tentatively added to the show/playlist:

The Everyday Visuals - Watertown Yard


Will/would create a nice bookend to DCfC.

Another day,

Another dollar? Dunno.

So, I'm promoted now. Manager-type. Woo!

I need to go out sometime this week. Really out. Like in, crash on the couch because I can't drive out. With friends out. With strangers out. 'A wild night is calling' out.

Bonus points for getting that reference.

I love the press.

/end sarcasm

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/04/nader_registers.html

Buried in all the thinly-veiled hate, you'll see that Nader's pulling larger numbers than he ever has before...

Surreal.

Snippets from tonight's conversations:

On relationships and art,
"One often drives the other."

"How many songs based on heartbreak are there?"
"All of them."

And, the lyric of the night:

"My name is just another word."
- Ben Cunis

....and all the while, "So Far Away" kept playing in my head, from band practice earlier; the poetic beauty of that is that the song I wrote yesterday is largely indebted to "So Far Away" from Stabbing Westward. Today has been a day of the world shrinking even farther. Soon, I fear, there will just be you and I left. And I don't know who you are.

Woops.

So, failed to post yesterday. Ah well. It's not like I'm writing anything exciting in these things anyhow :)

Just got off of a fifteen-hour day. If it was anywhere else but Adega, I'd want to quit work forever. As it is, I'm feeling pretty good. Except my feet. Oh lord, my feet.

Saw Cindy for the first time in forever, and that was awesome. More people should come visit me at work.

Very excited for Saturday.

So...the future? Maybe I'll know in the next two weeks? I've tossed two major-sized serves over the net, waiting to see which one God sends back my way.

Wine?

So...had a sip of the wine today...it's still a bit yeasty, I think..but it shouldn't be, given that it's been weeks since it started fermenting. I'm capping it to see if it explodes.

Woo.

It's hard to write this project out, when it seems that getting in the mode and mood to write the script requires sending myself into a certain kind of depression.

In other news, it's a different kind of nerve-wracking, living your life day-to-day, wondering if and/or when the email will come that might change your life forever, or at least determine your plans for the next twelve months of the same.

I've never felt so in control and so out of control at the same instant.

O, little town of Bethlehem...

I want to be over there.

I know...I know...I should write.

Carry You.

I'm still carryin' a little hope,
That maybe, things could be different now;
Is that so wrong?
Is that so wrong?
Is that so
wrong?

I wanna see you tonight,
At a place we'll go;
Could going through the motions,
Lead to real emotion?
I wanna make things right,
Before time runs out.
It was like you said,
The taste don't taste like it should..
Roll down the windows,
Let the cold air come in,
Yeah,
Slap my face just to feel,
to feel you somehow again,
again.

I could never be the one that you want,
Don't ask.
Well, here's to living in the moment
'Cause it passed.
It passed.
- Jimmy Eat World

...

So, does this scare anyone besides me?

Revolvolution

Restart the cycle.

I can always tell when I'm coming out of it, because I stop listening to CDs in my car. I switch back to radio, and let Roche help me through..a day or two, and I start channel surfing. I know I'm alright when WHUR starts to make sense again.

Now comes a few weeks of radio and/or familiar CDs (Jimmy's going with me for today's trek to work.)

When I start talking about the "new CD" that I can't stop playing, then start to look for the signs. Last time, I went through a few cycles before I crashed, but it's almost always after a "new cd" phase.

I'm actually kinda scared at how much sense this is all making. I think I'm insane.

Wee

Ok, so whatever funk I've been in seems to have passed, and back to normalcy now.

Someday, I'm gonna have my head checked for depression/bi-polar disorder. Maybe.

Hopefully this means I can write again. We'll see.

December

Why follow me to higher ground?
Lost as you swear I am.
- Collective Soul

!

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.

-Dom Hélder Câmara

Kirby!

Kirby! Kirby! Kirby!

Title!

Met with the people from Firebelly... fall's still up in the air, I should know more on/around April 22nd.

Preaching went well, it was great to have a go at it again. Up again this week.

Going to sleep. Out way too late Saturday night. Also, I love my job, and my boss is amazing.

The end.

GCH

I know I'm young but if I had to choose her or the sun
I'd be one nocturnal son of a gun

...

If that ain't love,
Then I don't know what love is.


I'm coming to believe that might be the case.

More of the same, Or,

Same as it ever was.

...

It seems like forever since I've had something worth posting.

Erf.

Eisbock

So, in the middle of winter, Mike and I decided it'd be fun to order some Eisbock for the store. You know, it's cold out, this beer is frozen during production, it made sense, right?

MONTHS later, on the first day to hit 70 degrees, it finally comes in.

Montgomery County, I hate your alcohol-governing ways. That, and the ridiculous 25% markup that we have to pay. And you wonder why people just go to DC to buy their wine?

Also: wow. That's all I got for now.

Sober Me vs. Drunken Me

I wonder what question I answered for myself the other night.

I should leave myself clues..

Debates?

So, Zogby shows Nader polling 5%-6%.

Now, let me start by saying that Obama still impresses me in many ways. But it does say something about the "coalition" feel of his campaign; two self-professed independent-friendly candidates (McCain and Obama) still lose enough of their support base to give Nader the kinds of numbers he needs to qualify for the debates and be considered a factor in the election.

Shouldn't Obama be winning this one easily?

In a sidenote, the same polls show McCain trouncing Clinton in all scenarios. In the past, this is when people start muttering about "electibility" in order to deep-six campaigns by interesting candidates (Dean, et al.) Why aren't we hearing this tossed around more now, when it clearly applies to Clinton? She can't even unify her own party, and she sure as hell isn't going to be crossing any aisles. And McCain isn't the same kind of specter that Bush was...I think you'll find your third party supporters feeling secure enough to vote their ideologies this time around.

So, Democrats, an unrequested opinion from an independent: If you want any chance of winning this, Obama is your candidate. You know it. We know it. Someone explain it to Senator Clinton?

......5%! If this keeps up, he's in the debates....here's to hoping.

Kerosene Hat

Here comes ol',
Kerosene hat,
With his ear-flaps waxed,
A'courtin' his girl..
- Cracker

I can promise you,
You'll stay as beautiful,
With dark hair...
And dark skin...
Forever..

Make up your mind..
Make up your mind!
And I'll promise you,
I will treat you well,
My sweet angel,
So help me, Jesus...
- Toadies

I'm a realist
I'm a romantic
I'm an indecisive piece of shit
- The Cribs

It's easterish

Assisting at Divinity last night through Sunday morning, then two straight days off to work on project/ getting life back together.

In other news, rent is expensive in Silver Spring. I need a higher-paying job, or possible roommates come August. Or both.

A quick question.

..actually, I just answered it myself.

G'night.

Beauty in the Breakdown

Oy...this "post every day regardless of progress" thing is hard. I hate disciplining myself.

HATE IT.

This may/may not have something to do with my relative lack of achievement thus far in life.

Yeesh.

So, suffered a mental breakdown at work on Monday, nearly kirked out on a customer for no fault of their own. Tuesday was restful. I think it mostly had to do with refusing to take time off while I was sick, that, and other plotlines finally overwhelmed me. I just wish they'd done it an hour later after we'd closed.

I still have my job, so far. Grace exists in many forms.

Moulin Rouge

"While the celebration party raged upstairs, I tried to write, but all I could think about was her.

Was she thinking about me?"

Why didn't this movie win the Oscar?

In Bruges

.....'In Bruges' is fantastic. Colin Farrell can, in fact, act; I'm not saying this is some huge stretch character wherein he plays an eighty-year-old overly-emo former ballerina turned pro wrestler, but in his element, he's quite enjoyable to watch. I think we, as an artistic community as a whole, overlook that sometimes, that sometimes people don't have to be versatile to be brilliant... it's in finding the nuances in their own comfort zone that they show their true talent.

Also, if Martin McDonagh wrote and directed his own damn movie, and decided Colin Farrell was just the man to play the lead, that has to count for something, right?

In other news, tonight was the first time in a while I can remember beer making me paranoid. Isn't the common conception that beer makes you invincible, and pot makes you paranoid?

Perhaps it was just that, at 10:45, after settling into an ABSOLUTELY EMPTY theatre, the appearance of a drunk man who demanded to know what had happened for the first fifteen minutes of the show might have unsettled me.

I later spotted him riding up and down the escalators heading out of the theatre.

Also, I want to go to Belgium. Tomorrow. Any takers?

Weeee

So, McGinty's was great last night; a modified and augmented DoaM crew. One of us certainly had an interesting night of it, for whom I'm very happy.

What was left of us retired to Laura's for drunk and exhausted jam session. It's so great to have music back in my life. I've missed it.

Project has been stalled, not for art's sake, but because of sickness + need to resolve some financial matters, such as the fact that I have no loans this semester. Hopefully I have fixed that today. We shall see.

I have just fixed my printer using some help from the interwebs, which essentially advised me to move this thing over there and poke at that thing with my fingers until it worked again.

It worked again.

I think it's over now.

So, I think I'm healthy again. Got some crazy blue pills to take for the next few days still, but I think they may be superfluous. Still, can't hurt, right?

Which is good news, because today is St. Drinking's Day.

And that is really all I have to report.

Hi!

So, sorry about not updating yesterday..I was busy spending seven hours in Holy Cross' emergency room. (Don't worry, I'm fine...ANTIBIOTICS ARE AWESOME.) The end.

So, catching up on things. Had our first full rehearsal as a band, with all four of us present. Finally got to meet Ryan, the bassist, who is, of course, awesome. We sound good, we play well together, and most of all, we're really having fun. When discussing carpooling to practice, Laura scoffed at the idea that practice would last five and a half hours. It lasted six, and I'm pretty sure we would've kept going had time allowed.

This is the most fun I've had since Fringe; it's great to play again, to be involved in an organic songwriting process again, to be part of everything that goes into being a band again.

And now, an abrupt end. My antibiotics want me to sleep so they can have a chance to work.

NP: "Eurotrash Girl" by Cracker. Remember this song? If not, you're missing out. Honestly.

This supplement contains some substance either extracted or made from bull testicles. Take two daily.

Inspiration

The hardest part about a project's inspiration being a particular person can be writing when contact with said inspiration isn't readily available.

Today will hopefully have helped..more script coming soon, assuming the icicle-wielding manta rays don't kill me in my sleep.

Word of the day: non-sequitortarian.

Word of the day: non-sequitortarian.

Wee.

Kentucky wants to make Cornholeing their state game.

In other news, nothing happened today. Tomorrow should be awesome.

Whoosh.

So, yesterday was an awesome day of wanderings and random interactions with people in the city. Saw "10,000 B.C.", which was good for what it was. If it looks interesting to you, then by all means see it. If it doesn't, then don't go out of your way.

So, the Dancing Crab was magnificent. After that, I stumbled into the CD/Game Exchange. Finally (FINALLY!) bought the Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Also picked up the Cardigans, Cracker's Kerosene Hat, and also the reason for my stop in, Los Lonely Boys. (Only because the band is covering them in May, so I need to listen to "How Far is Heaven" repeatedly.)

.......the things we do for our art.

Nothing to report from today. This is, after all, a project blog, and not "my daily life" blog. Although the latter feeds the former..but still, today was boring from a "viewers at home" standpoint.

G'night.

America, our education system sucks.

Must see Righteous Kill. Remind

Must see Righteous Kill. Remind me.


Edit: When you see randomness like this, most likely I've sent it from my cell phone. Same with the pictures. That's why subjects might be missing, words are misspelled, et al. Forgive me and my moblogging ways.

Dropped off the laptop to be restored, found b great local spot in tenleytown. The dancing crab. Good group of regulars who all know each other.. I've had two communal shots on the house since i've been here, and been treated like i've been here for years. 'how far is heaven' is on the radio, which probably means nothing to anyone who's not in the band. Days like this restore my faith in mankind. And it's only just begun..

Ralph

It's no great revelation to suggest that one of three obvious names is going to be the next president of the United States. Some cynics may suggest that there will be no fundamental change no matter who is elected president. So let's not begrudge Ralph Nader an opportunity to let us know what we are going to be missing.

- Gary Weiss, here

Hrm.

This world will never be,
What I expected,
And if I don't belong,
Who would have guessed it?
I will not leave alone,
Everything that I own;
To make you feel like it's not too late,
It's never too late...

Even if I say
It'll be alright,
Still I hear you say,
You want to end your life?
Now and again we try,
To just stay alive...
Maybe we'll turn it around...
'Cause it's not too late,
It's never too late.
- Three Days Grace


I don't want to take what you can give,
I would rather starve than eat your breast..
All the things that others want for me,
Can't buy what I want because it's free...
Can't buy what I want because it's free...
Can't be what you want because I'm...
- Pearl Jam

Saturday in the Park

Where Park = Adega.

This post has nothing to do with Chicago, save for the fact that I desperately need to go there to visit people. First, I need the money for a plane ticket.

Erg.

The end.

Grr!

It's March...way too early to be depressing myself with how much rent is in Silver Spring, but I am.
I need somewhere to live come August! Raar!

The band is gonna be fun, I think. Played for three hours or so tonight, and it sounds good. Fun music, good people. We'll see how things go!

Woops.

Ack! Missed a day. Oops.

Anyway, not much to report...worked a double. Got to spend some time catching up with a good friend, which was amazing. Watched Saved..it's always good to remind yourself that you're not the only one fighting the good fight against those fighting the good fight.

Er..yesh.

Running almost late for work now, then FIRST BAND PRACTICE later on. Well, first practice with three of the four of us, at least. I still don't know if I've ever met the fourth person in this thing. I did, however, find out that our band name is The Understudies.

Film at eleven.


p.s. I think my sermon for the week after Easter came to me in the shower. I must find and purchase a waterproof voice recorder for times such as these.

Whew.

So...it's started. At least that!

Comments.

Ok, I disabled the thing that required you to sign up for an account to post comments.

Post away!

IT HAS BEGUN.

1400 words, about 7 or 8 pages (it's really hard to tell, since it's all monologue).

It's a start.

God, it feels good coming out.

I was beginning to wonder if it ever would.

Appalachian!

You probably can't tell from the bad lighting, but this is one of my four favorite beers ever. I miss having it on tap.

Evil Baptists!

This van is stalking me!

Winejack!

I have successfully freeze-distilled five bottles of wine into Winejack.

I started with J&F Lurton Bonarda 2007, partially due to price, partially due to screw-tops (so I can reuse the bottles for the homemade wine experiment), and partially because I'd never had a Bonarda. Lurton makes excellent value wines.

I now have a much smaller amount (maybe 750) of what was left over after everything else froze. I'm left wondering what the ABV is, as I have no real way of checking. Well, apart from the obvious way, at least.

I hadn't thought of that beforehand.

Winejack?

Today's experiments have gone well, so far. After spilling an inordinate amount of cheap vodka all over our kitchen, I have succeeded in proving that Pur water filters do make bad vodka into not-so-bad vodka. Infusion attempt will come at a later date.

Homemade wine is halfway there, have to combine it all yet. Winejack is still in the works.

What does this have to do with my project? Research for a metaphor. If one is going to use fermentation and distillation as a framework, then one had better get an understanding of the processes themselves.

Now, to sleep, for tomorrow I drive insane distances.

The Understudies

So, most of what would've been tonight's blog post has been reserved for possible script-fodder for the play.

So, I'll leave you with this: Apparently, I'm in a band now.

It's about time.

I think we're called "The Understudies." Or "the Protestants." Or possibly just "The Laura Duzer is Awesome Band." Whatever we are, we're playing in Philly on May 10th, and I'm already unable to be at the first rehearsal.

This is off to a rip-roaring start.

Work work work work work.

Today was just that. Work.

I've discovered more hastily-jotted ideas in the backseat of my car.

It's interesting the things that you think are brilliant when you're tired and/or drunk, as I had to have been when I wrote a few of them. Bar napkins and whatnot.

I'll attempt to sort them out on Tuesday. For now, I sleep.

Wonderland!

Today, I made my maiden voyage to "Wonderland," a Korean restaurant with a very sensible name in Annandale. It's been dubbed "Wonderland" by Mike, who finds Asian women very attractive. Without comment on the prevalence of said females, I will say the food there is quite excellent, especially at three in the morning. Easily three steps up from Tastee Diner, and at least two up from the 7-11 on York St.

I'm taking up a new hobby. I'm going to be making wine in my closet, and, while doing so, creating my own cordials (or "flavored vodkas," as is the new fad). As a by-product, I'm also going to attempt to make a wine liquor of intriguing potency, in my freezer. More as I accomplish/fail miserably.

Looks like this week's going to be Tuesday/Wednesday spent writing... I'm forcing myself to have something on paper by the end of those two days. We'll see how things go.

Oofda.

Very little to report.

Salvia divinorum intrigues me. Anyone know anything about it?

10:30 a.m. comes way, way too early most days. This was one of them.

Tomorrow's not Easter, right? This is how disassociated with time I've become.

I found out today that at least two people are reading this. Hi, two people! And sometimes a third, apparently. Part of me wonders if that's the grand total.

Uh, I'm tired. Sleeptime.

Beauty...

Drink up, baby doll,
Are you in or are you out?
Leave your things behind,
'Cause it's all going off without you..
Excuse me,
Too busy,
Writing your tragedy,
These mishaps, you bubble-wrap,
When you have no idea what you're like...

Ok, so I heard those last lyrics as

"When you know I do want your love..."

So, today. I spent the last...fourteen hours wandering Silver Spring, trying desperately to write this play. So far, no good.


I spent a little while discovering Safeway is useless as a drugstore, and that Quarry House isn't open in the afternoons. I spent a few more hours talking to Jerry at McGinty's, and then Mark...then back over to Quarry, after ditching the laptop and spending an hour in Borders buying the world's simplest notebook. Then back over to McGinty's for what started as a bust (no open mic!) but ended as a beautiful night spent with my best friend...time we don't often spend anymore.


Words written? Zero.


Time well spent towards project? All of it.


Things still left unsaid? One.


The ending will write itself.


So let go (let go),
Jump in,
Oh well, what you waiting for?
It's all right,
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown...
-Frou Frou

Note to self: add 'black

Note to self: add 'black sheep' to netflix que.

Garden State

I love that moment when you remember that you're in control of the volume of your car stereo, and turn your music up loud enough so that you're actually listening to it, rather than simply hearing it in the background.

A few hours' worth of "House" episodes -- mingled with some fresh, home-made roommate-made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies -- later, I'm calling it a night.

Tomorrow, let's see if I can't actually start writing a play.

Fruit Loops, the Beer

This tastes like Fruit Loops.

Post-moblog edit: Sending these things from my cell phone, I don't feel like writing up full entries using ITap..so I'll edit them when I get home.

This is Leinenklugel's Sunset Wheat, from Wisconsin. "Doc," one of our regulars at Adega, always special orders this for his poker nights. We were discussing the beer today when he came into pick up his latest shipment, and when he discovered I hadn't had it, he popped open the case and left a bottle behind for me. It's customers like him that make working where I do worth waking up for in the mornings.

The beer wasn't bad, either. Fruit loopy! I want to acquire some, and use it with actual Fruit Loops, just to check it out. Also, I must give credit to Megan, a co-worker of mine, for naming the taste for me. The Fruit Loop correlation is entirely hers. I just happen to agree with it. She is also the person responsible for removing most of the label.

Fishy.

http://thankgodforevolution.com/

I'm adding this book to the list of things to read in the scope of my project..not that I'm not already an evolutionist...is that a word?...but rather to see the spin that he puts on it.

This is interesting. Of special note is that I've found my idea of having the Darwin fish and the Icthus kissing on the back of my car has already been done. Ah well, there went that million.

In other news, is anyone actually reading this?

Monday

So, the last few hours.

Last night, I spent catching up with Clint, an old friend from CUA who's now playing in a band called The Miles.

I suggest you check them out. Now.

Also, happy birthday, Kelsey! I hope it was wonderful.

Today was twelve hours of work, followed by DoaM, where I was lucky enough to meet up and get to catch up with Mr. Andrew Sonntag, whom I will now be referring to as "Helen Hayes Nominated Actor, Andrew Sonntag." Probably much to his eternal embarrassment.

Well, that's what you get for going out and being awesome.

I apologize, Tom, if I woke you up. I figured the news was worth it.

I spent the last half-hour in my running car, outside of my house, listening to Iron & Wine's cover of "Such Great Heights" and Frou Frou's "Let Go" on loop.

G'night.

Note to Self

Someone remind me to check out the Arctic Mmonkeys. 'Flourescent Adolescent' is the song title.

I....uh.

Found attached to out metro car. Anyone have any ideas?

Day 2

Holy crap, so far I'm posting on this TWO DAYS IN A ROW.

A new record for me + blogs.

Not much of importance today. Work. Not really any time for projecttime.

Had a discussion regarding methods of forcing one's self to write when one doesn't particularly feel like it. She suggested determination and willpower. I think I'm sticking with beer.

Schedule looks like Tuesday and Thursday might be set aside for things of a writing nature. At least one of them. I need to get something down on paper, or I'll lose my mind.

I also need to write up my project objectives..probably sooner than later. Don't let me forget, ok?

Day 1

Today, I woke up; I spent a few hours writing and busying myself with theatre. I went to see "Be Kind, Rewind" -- which is much better than it should be. I went to La Tasca, then RFD.
I came home.

For today, if only for today, life was nearly perfect.

Saku Very Much

Estonian helles lager. It is not good.

Urgh.

Also, Jimmy Eat World, "The World You Love" : Possible opening song for the show.

I promise I won't post eight times a day about music.

Addendum

Already found one I'd forgotten.

Added to playlist: Death Cab for Cutie, The New Year : It's being used in the show.

The Soundtrack

I'm addicted to music, I admit it, and no, I don't want help.

Every time I write, I tend to center on one or two songs to provide a background for my writing. They serve to put me into a similar state of mind when I write, keeping me focused; as well as provide an atmosphere of creativity that is, yet, familiar, and doesn't distract the mind. It's a very similar concept to drinking a beer slowly while writing; never enough to destroy the capacity for artistic expression, but just enough to enable it truly.

So, as we begin, here's the playlist I'm using..it's bigger than the usual one or two songs, because the scope of this play is so much bigger. Also, since the play as I envision it now will have an embedded soundtrack, this will help me write to the music that I will eventually perform along side of, as well as 'audition' tracks for inclusion.

As with any music lover, suggestions are always welcome. This list is subject to change, perhaps often.

Yellowcard, "Only One," and "One Year, Six Months" : Songs selected to provide a certain slide on which I can move freely between now and the past, where this project really begins.

dc Talk, "What If I Stumble?", "Free at Last" and "Jesus Freak" : I figure it's good to have at least two songs with Jesus as the subject....Stumble is selected to remind of the grace I'm trying to write, and Freak is up there as a possible closer to the show. Free is in as a possible inclusion in the show, as well as a backdrop to the MLK scene. "Consume Me" may eventually end up on the list as well, because it'd be a nice bridge between the first and third layer. In fact, it is, as of now.

See? List already changing.

Boyz II Men, "End of the Road" and "Still of the Night" : Overall, great songs to write a love story to. The fact that they serve a double meaning here is just a benefit.

Gary Jules, "Mad World (Alt Remix)" : I've been using this as a backdrop for plays since the disastrous "Boxcar" fiasco for playwriting class senior year of college. Only foreseeable downside: Can't listen to without seeing the Kaiser in my head. No, not that Kaiser.

O.A.R., "Love and Memories" : A holdover from writing "Luther, Reformed." Also mentioned in the play (at least, I think it will be), so maybe then used in the soundtrack.

NP: Consume Me, to celebrate it's addition to the list.

Peace!

We begin!

Project started as of 1pm this afternoon, officially, although the giant box of scraps of ideas has been building for two months or so by now.

I have no idea where to go from here.

Film at eleven.