ahhh…the three day weekend. it's a beautiful thing, really. beautiful, indeed. they do have a horrible side-effect, though…they make you not want to go back to work. ever.

then again, i never want to come into this place. i hate it. it sucks my life out through my very pores. it makes me something less than human. it turns me into a machine that clicks and clacks and types and spits out falsely cheery "hellos."

it's all just clicks and whistles.

anyhowways, practice went well, last night. i'm working on finalizing the lyrics for the show on saturday. once again, we'll be playing saturday, july 17th in tyler park, here in louisville. we play at 6:30pm on the east stage. be there or be square, dude. like…totally.

i just finished up three more reviews for 75 or less. jon is, apparently, a bastard, as he hasn't started running the ones i already have backed up with him. i suppose i will have to kill him.

in other news: danny and ellyn both had birthdays over the weekend, which were celebrated by many (including myself). our drummer had a run in with johnny law. and i'm going to get $.20 hot wings tonight.

life is…something.

not much today, as it's the first day of my three day weekend. i'm about to get to cleaning up the house a bit. other than that, i plan to do as much relaxation as possible. probably won't end up getting a chance to, though. always busy doing something stupid that amounts to nothing.

just grabbed a couple new records. i'll be reviewing them over the weekend for 75 or less to post next week. so with the two reviews in the pipeline already and 3 more i'm writing this weekend, it looks like next week may be nothing but reviews by me. funny how that works out.

here's my initial thoughts on today's new records:

neurosis – the eye of every storm : mellow. intense. beautiful.

rocket from the crypt – circa: now! : remastered. it's a lot louder. i like the new songs.

both great records. highly recommended. but i'll wait until my full reviews to completely convince you.

now i gotta run downstairs and scrub the bathroom…

tuesday night, before band practice, i decided to stop and get a burrito. when i got to band practice and started eating that burrito, i discovered that the rice in said burrito was incredibly undercooked, therefore ruining my dining experience. as we were at band practice, i couldn't exactly bolt out and go back to q'doba to complain. so…i paid for a burrito that i didn't eat. i've been contemplating going back to that q'doba and complaining about it, but i don't know how much good it'll do, after the fact. fucking uncooked rice…

we got the schedule for the forecastle festival. we'll be playing on the "east" stage from 6:30 – 6:45pm. a quick look at the entire schedule shows that we've been given the shortest time out of any band playing the event. hrm. good thing we have a short set.

last night i went out with a friend to do some drinking. it was a good time out. always a pleasure to just sit around over beers and shoot the shit.

the other night, when we went to the bar to hang out with kevin before he left for japan, there was a mexican guy sitting at the bar, drinking away. when i walked up to the bar to get a beer, it became apparent that this guy was incredibly enthusiastic about two things: drinking beer (which i understand completely) and talking to me in spanish (which i didn't understand at all). i caught a few words, had to stop him from beating me in my back on the side with the spider bite, and just generally stood there looking confused. when i came back to get another drink later, he was sleeping with his head slumped on the bar. he seemed like a good enough guy, even if he was smiling and calling me a gringo.

about that spider bite…i'm paranoid that it was poisonous and it's now eating my flesh.

i need to get more sleep.

three days, three posts. will wonders ever cease?

just wanted to drop a line and mention that i just got a copy of the poster for the show next weekend (july 17th) in the email, so i figured i'd pass it along:

(click for larger version)

we're on there. we still have no clue what time we're playing, but we're on there.

last night i went over to the your black star practice space to pick up an amp and their pa to use while they're in japan. after that, brooksie and i went out with kevin and drank for a while before he had to go catch the plane. their flight was scheduled to leave at 6:30am, this morning, so by my calculations, as of this writing…they're still not in "the pan." i imagine they're somewhere over the ocean. jeremy is probably annoying someone. drew is probably asleep. i hope they all have a great time.

i may get to spend my pending three day weekend in town. i'm excited about this prospect.

matt has set me straight on the gallery scripts, so the pictures from yesterday have been properly added. you can find them here:

braid

minus the bear

i didn't do much for the 4th. we usually have band practice on sundays, but since everyone was busy doing whatever, i just sat around the house and messed with the computer until i got hungry. i set out, intending to walk to q'doba for a burrito, then had a change of heart as i walked past za's. one calzone and a 22oz whitbread later, billy got off work and we drove around, looking for something to do. the lebowskifest guys were having a party at their office, so we decided to head down there for some beer and karaoke. after that, i just went home and went to bed.

wow. two days, two posts. is this the start of a new trend?

i doubt it.

today is my last sunday, here at work. i got a new schedule which has me (finally) working a monday through friday week. it's about time.

i took a ton of photos at the braid shows i attended and finally got them uploaded to the server. for some reason, matt's gallery script is broke/doesn't like them, so here's the raw directories:

braid: columbus; indianapolis

minus the bear: columbus and indianapolis

i'd email matt about his script not working but a: i'm too lazy and b: he never answers email. i wonder if he even reads it. i'm convinced all email sent to matt gets redirected to a junk mail folder. all of it.

yesterday i went over and helped joe knock some walls out of his new house. "new" is kinda misleading, i guess, as the house is over 100 years old. either way, we got to take sledgehammers and prybars and everything else under the sun to those walls, making a glorious mess. at the end of the day, though, there were lots of empty beers and nice big holes where those walls previously stood. and i was absolutely filthy. when i got home i walked straight into the house and into the shower.

the computer at home is finally fixed. we ended up just putting a new motherboard and processor into the damn thing. so far…no issues. it's nice to have a working computer again.

time to get back to doing as little as possible…

vacation is over. i'm now at work for the first time in nine (9) days and i'm already going nuts. i've only been here for a fucking hour and i want to dig my eyes out with an ink pen.

nevermind the fact that i'm incredibly tired. it feels like i haven't slept in days. shit…i barely have slept in days.

the girl is back out of town for a few days. she'll be back tuesday in time to go see the midnight screening of spider-man 2. so, for now, it's just work and band practice in between me and precious sleep. what's gonna really suck is when i climb into bed tonight and then i won't be able to sleep. i hate when that happens. hate it, hate it, hate it.

we're playing a show in tyler park, here in louisville, on july 17th. we got stuck on a stage full of hippie jambands and poets. it's pretty ludicrous. since we're stuck on that stage, we've decided to turn those lemons into lemonade and just rock everybody out. completely. our friend danny will be playing third guitar. expect mayhem.

the braid shows were really good. it was awesome to see them play the old songs and it was nice to hang out with everyone. oh yeah…and i really like minus the bear. great band.

time to go back to gouging out my eyeballs…

working on sunday sucks the big one. sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. the one day of the week where all you should have to do is sit on your ass in front of the television or computer or whatever, doing nothing. sunday is not a day to be at work, feeling your soul drain out through your fingertips.

this may all change soon, as they've decided to throw all the schedules out the window and make everyone re-bid on schedules. this is cool, as they have finally added some mon-fri shifts. this sucks because my current shift no longer exists. so i have to slug it out with a bunch of other jackasses to get the schedule i actually want, otherwise i'm screwed. the joys of working for "the man."

so i just got back from columbus. well…not "just." i got back last night, but you get the point. i saw a great movie called saved!, which i highly recommend. who knew i'd be able to watch a movie with macaulay culkin in it and not be annoyed?

i'm on vacation, next week. this will work out great, if i get a mon-fri shift in "the great shift bid debacle of 2004," as it kicks in the sunday i'm supposed to come back from vacation. if i get that mon-fri schedule, i'll get an extra day off. sweet.

we were supposed to go to new york on my time off, but that fell through, so i guess i'll just go to a bunch of braid shows. that's a pretty good trade-off, i guess.

time to go back to the mind-numbing, soul-sucking experience that is "work."

i guess it's that time of month…

the first l&n show went pretty well. we were all pretty nervous, but we somehow managed to keep from screwing the whole set up. thanks to the teeth, the debutantes and old man for playing. it was a great time.

tuesday is my birthday. it'll be the 28th time i've celebrated a birthday. we'll be playing a quick set in our practice space and then it's out for a long night of drinking. i'm sure i'll follow my tradition of drinking so much i forget most (if not all) of what happened. my birthdays tend to be a black hole of memory.

derby was a good weekend, here in louisville. unfortunately there were no tara reid sightings. there was lots of vomiting, though. fortunately not by me. never underestimate the fun of shotgunning sterlings on one of your friend's mother's front porch at 4 in the afternoon. that's a good ol' time.

brooksie and i had an art opening for some of our photography, the other night. it went well, but it's weird standing around hearing people you don't know say weird things about your "art." i'm not insulted by the things they say, nor am i thin skinned. i just find it…odd.

i was starting to think i was getting as bad as matt about updating. i'm wrong. i'm like a regular damn poster, compared to him…

new stuff:

* my new band (l&n) will be playing our first show on derby eve (april 30th) here in louisville at the rudyard kipling. the full line-up of bands for the show is still being firmed up, but so far we've got our buddies the debutantes confirmed. it should be a fun evening of rock and roll.

* the pixies finally announced some dates that are close enough that i might be able to attend. i'm planning on seeing them in chicago in november. and i am incredibly stoked.

* i saw hellboy at a preview screening last monday. it was good. i enjoyed it a great deal.

* related to hellboy, the amazing screw-on head is being developed as a half hour animated series by the sci fi network. i'm kinda surprised that the cartoon network didn't get ahold of this one. it would fit right in with adult swim.

* dunkin' stix are good.

* work sucks.

* i am saving the pursesnatcher story for my autobiography.

that is all for now.