Monday, March 30, 2009

No, Mr. Sushi place worker.


No, I will NOT stop singing Styx at the top of my lungs. I am the renegade who had it made. (Breaks into face-melting (air) guitar solo!)

In what I claim to be a fair "you buy, I fly" tradeoff, I got myself an ice cream cone while getting my manager's El Pollo Loco. I don't think Mad Cow would be as good of a name for a competitor.

Agressively Mediocre in Every Single Way

"Digital Editions: The Fastest Growing Format in Magazines." Fucking DUH. With print collapsing on itself in the current model, and with DVD-based mags nearly extinct, Digital seems to be one of the only ones still around, Racket included. I don't know where I was going with this, I was just annoyed.

This weekend was productive.

FRIDAY = 
  • Woke up early to work at the Cabazon store. Prank called the staff. Something about pissing off the wife and looking for chocolates big enough to put midol in.
  • Got drunk with Mike and found ourselves drunkenly walking to several sushi places before settling on the party platter of super-shitty pre-made stuff at Vons. Ate that on the way to CVS where we got our standard chips and spicy bean dip. I have a bruise where Mike hit me in the elbow. I don't want to know how his nuts felt after getting kicked.
  • Lots of Top Gear. Jeremy LOVES the Ford GT!

SATURDAY =
  • Woke up, got post-booze burger.
  • Yelled at some cyclists to put on a shirt.
  • Paid Dues, where I told everyone to get their head in the game and got a hi-five from B-Real for "All my help." I never talked to B-Real. But I appreciated it. Atmosphere, money and a free shirt.
  • Talked to Karlo and Veronica about a print Racket. If there is anyone I want on my team, it's them.
  • On-stage is cool, sound booth is better.

Sunday =
  • Scared some shoplifter who ripped us off. On the other side of the mall. I rule.
  • Arrested a shoplifter family. Mom was teaching the 14 year old how to steal. What a bitch.
  • I think I have a date. In San Diego. So far, my feet have remained firmly on the floor and not in my mouth. I swear, if some women weren't so damned gorgeous, I wouldn't make an ass out of myself nearly as much. I turn into Lenny from Of Mice and Men and pet their head and tell them they're pretty. TIl their neck breaks.
  • Drank two Hangar 24 Pale Ales. Delish.
  • Write in this thing.
  • SLEEEEEEP

Sunday, March 29, 2009

An actual conversation

Caitlin: What is Don't Stop Believing About anyways?

The Emperor: The Tooth Fairy

Caitlin: Figures. I thought it was about prostitutes. Gay ones.

The Emperor: It's ACTUALLY about the Cabazon Dinosaurs.

Caitlin: Gay ones?

The Emperor: Yes.

Caitlin: I knew it! You know how I know you're gay? You like gay dinosaurs.

The Emperor: I don't like them like them, but I respect their love. Do you know the divorce rate for straight dinos?

Sunday, March 22, 2009

the lion's claws are sharpened for war

Oh, blog, I'm sorry to have ignored you. I try to write more to be able to, you know, write more, and I end up writing a bunch of shit for racket, but ignore you. Let's see what I have been up to:

Car was finally diagnosed as having a clogged catalytic convertor. I guess by catalysts were not being converted properly, causing high temperature exhaust gases to back up in the exhaust manifold, both cracking it and damaging the head gasket enough to allow hydro-carbons (water carbons?) to leak into the cooling system. As I know that the crack in the manifold was there two years ago when Honda "fixed" my car, I know that Honda in Victorville is going to be ass-reamed on the next business day.

- Thank you for calling ValleyHi Honda, how can I help you?

- Yes, you can start off by determining which service technician was the most substandard and ass-rape him with a splintered broom handle. Or give me $5000 that I have paid to fix this problem over the course of two years. Plus interest.

Rather than replace the parts, it was only slightly more costly to replace the entire engine to one that had 120,000 miles less on it. All over it and my car runs/sounds fantastic. Of course I didn't have nearly enough money to pay for it, so my grandpa paid for it, and I will be paying him back over the course of the next three months. Suck-tastic. To help do so, I have picked up some part time gigs with Guerilla Union flyering for/working Paid Dues on the 28th. Plus, Rock the Bells gets announced on April 7th, so I'll start flyering for that then. If anybody needs odd jobs done, lemme know.

I am still particularly over my day job, and have expanded my job search to Southern California from within 25 miles of San Dimas. If by the end of summer I am still dissatisfied, I expand it to the whole country, as I am not loyal to the West coast as much as I am to Southern California. If I betray her, I might as well go big. This was partially inspired by Josh Sullivan and his Fifty Two Friends project. Seeing someone my own age, and in a very similar position as I am in go balls to the wall on scoping out the country, I can suck it up and move away to something new. We'll see if I have the balls to do it.

I picked up Josh for week 9 of Fifty Two Friends, from Amanda of all people. I was definitely stressing out on the drive there trying to imagine how that would go down, as the last thing she said to me was that she was happier without me in her life and to not try to talk to her again. So, imagine my surprise when, upon meeting at the Mira Mesa In N Out, we all sat down and had a delicious meal with a side of pleasant and civil conversation! Patrick and I agreed, In N Out is hallowed ground, no arguements are to be had! She's doing well, which was nice to hear, and it was nice to talk to her, as even during heated arguements, we would get sidetracked telling of adventures, misadventures and inane details of mundane events. Though it did sting a bit when, after saying goodbye to Josh, she didn't even make eye contact with me or say goodbye. I expected less than what i got, so whatever. It made me feel a bit less like San Diego was her turf, so I may head down more often again.

I had an amazing time with Josh, as it's always nice to spend a week being absolutely ridiculous while getting drunk and walking to the bowling alley, bowling itself, Los Angeles for an interview with Amber Benson of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hollywood for Pink's and Amoeba and random mountain hikes.

I went and visited Shannon in Sacramento taking Josh to the tenth leg of his 52-part adventure, and it was solid. The light rail seemed legit and on time, smog free, and the "ghetto peeps" were not particularly ghetto. I could bring all types of Pomona street cred with me! Shannon's always a blast to hang out with and is one of the few veggies that doesn't give me shit for being an omnivore. Josh was kind enough to let me have the couch for two nights and The Watchmen was standard. I was pleased with it, even if I did have to pee most of the time.

I may very well take the CBEST and try to become a substitute teacher, solid way to make some extra cash, Wes has been doing it for a while now, and enjoys it. There's tons more going on, but the more I think about it, the more overwhelming it is. I will try to chip away at anything that's eating me while still attempting to simply practice writing on a more regular basis.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Some have the bomb lyrics, my lyrics just bomb.

I burn through music like a molotov in a fireworks stand. I listen to the melodies, the harmonies, the rhythms, the lyrics and everything that weaves itself throughout. I don't have the power to attach words to notes that can cause lovers to intertwine their fingers a bit harder, nor do I have the power to help someone move past the misguided attempts at "staying strong" and just letting out the pain in a flood of tears. Not only do I desire to wield such powers, I find myself horribly susceptible to them. Whether it's a young troubadour crooning about lost love or a group of musicians forming a tapestry of emotions that wraps around you. There are songs that, in the message of being all alone, console you and there are songs that make you laugh and dance uncontrollably. 

There are songs in which I pump my fists and scream and there are songs which cause me to shut down my perceptions and face the mistakes and regrets I have, wondering what I could have done differently, and there are songs which make me feel stupid for having ever second guessing myself. Can I one day take the reigns of language and direct it towards my purpose? What is my purpose. I write and write and write, and yet, I don't feel like I have anything to say anymore. Did I ever?