Mar 24, 2004

np: "float on" - modest mouse

yeah, i'd think i would be all on some hyped up good mood shit tonight, what with the dramacity of a an all new OC tonight and brand new Modest Mouse spinning on the player - but no. one of those long weeks that you can literally feel sucking the life right out of you. work is crazy as hell right now, which isn't really a bad thing, it just leaves me drained as fuck at the end of the day. i was hoping this whole new running program of mine would help increase my energy and just help ease some of these shitty days, but i suppose that doesn't happen on the days you don't actually do it. and yeah, apparently getting all excited about the six month mark with the girlfriend jinxed it or something. i'll spare y'all the boring details, but let me just offer a word of advice. don't try to squeeze someone out of your life on that whole "passive" tip. just because it's easier for you to sit back and let things go without saying anything about it, that doesn't make it any better for the other person. you may think you're "letting them down easy", but you aren't in the least. maybe i'm misreading things lately and she's just stressed as fuck - but i'd like to think that after 6 months i'd at least deserve to know something's up. so, i guess my words of wisdom for the night are to make sure that person you love knows that you do love them. and if you don't, let them know something. don't just leave them hanging.

Mar 19, 2004

np: "he-war" - cat power

no witty insights on this one tonight, just happens to be what's crankin' out of the ol' 100-disc changer at the moment. nothing much exciting going on this friday, so i'm just relaxing and recovering from the week. just got back from Tower where, thanks to the new batch of Matador Mid-Price Classics, i picked up Yo La Tengo's I Can Heat the Heart Beating as One and Mogwai's Come On Die Young for 20 bucks. yeah, i know i should already have both of those - but actually the YLT was a replacement for one that got jacked from me back in college. it's currently in the hands of an evil ex or one of my old roommate's not sure which. although if it was the ex who had it, it's most likely been recycled back into another collection via some used shop somewhere.

so Kid Rock, huh? it was a fucking excellent show. he pulled out every single rock and roll cliche in the book, but managed to pull most of them off. it was quite the interesting crowd, i'd estimate the average age to have been about 30-35. i've never seen so many West Coast Choppers t-shirts in one building at one time. apparently there's few concert options for the Harley riding crowd these days, so Rock's recent turn towards Southern Rock has gathered them up by their collective mullets. i knew we were in for an exciting night when that song about "play me... mountain music" came on and 85% of the crowd started drunkenly singing along. Kid Rock was in excellent form though, working the crowd for all they were worth - yelling "Chicago!" at every chance he had to grab the cheap pops (copyright Mick Foley). no surprises, he played all the hits and a couple new tunes - one was a downhome blues jam finding Rock listing what he would do if he were president (turn the churches into strip clubs and play Skynyrd on every station, for those that wondered). minus points from me for the "fuck Clay Aiken and a Radiohead" line though. don't compare the two, please, but it did get huge cheers from the crowd. including the drunken "woo-hoo" guy behind me that added his commentary, "yeah... fuck Radiohead! Woooooooo!". two things really grabbed my attention during the course of the show - Rock's instrumental prowess and Steffanie Eulenberg's vocal skills. Steff is the moster drummer behind the kit, who was bashing away like a motherfuck the entire night. but the big shock was when it came time for Rock to slow things down for the baby mammas and sing his mega-hit, "Picture". since Sheryl Crow was nowhere near the Allstate Arena, the female vocals were turned over to Eulenberg - and she sang the fuck out of that song. much, much better than the Crow version methinks. during an extended jam, Mr. Ritchie did the rock star trick of taking a turn at every instrument on the stage for a solo. but this wasn't your typical "watch me fumble a few chords out of this thing" solo, he actually played each one very well - particularly the slide guitar and the keys. he followed this up by kicking it old school and hopping behind Uncle Kracker's turntables to rock the steel wheels. overall, it was a fun experience. pure unadulterated, visceral, aimed at the groin, redneck, loud as fuck, rock and roll fun. note to hipsters: the irony level was off the fucking heazie at this show.

Mar 9, 2004

np: "no distance left to run" - blur

shit, this song comes close to choking me up every single time i hear it. its not one of those tracks that i associate with a certain time or event in my life, but somehow this song almost always makes me a little sad. speaking of sad, sorry to neglect you my poor little blog, i swear there's not another. it's just that sometimes i need a break. it's not that i don't love you anymore, i just need to concentrate on some "me" time now and then. i think it only makes us stronger, dig?

this month's excuse is my new training program, if it can be called that. one of my (belated) new year's resolutions was to run a 5K sometime before the summer is over. i needed some strong goal in mind to get my lazy ass up off the couch and working out again on a more frequent basis. so i found this "Couch Potato to 5K" running program and i dove right in. three times a week i run/walk for 30 minutes, with each successive week increasing the amount of time spent actually running. it must be working rather well, since i've not grown sick of it yet nor have i given up in frustration. granted its only been 4 weeks so far, but thats longer than i've lasted in a lot of other "programs". in fact, i downright look forward to my workouts - it really is a stress-reliever.

and stress relief is something i've really been needing lately, as work is gearing up to go all hectic stylee in the next couple of weeks. its good though, because i'm getting put in charge of a decent sized project. i've been involved in the design from the very start and i'm looking forward to seeing it through to completion. i hope i don't jinx it though, as its not exactly a done deal at this point. but not to worry, there are several more good projects coming down the pipeline.

i'm looking forward to Friday night, as it will see me rocking the fuck out to that long-haired son of Detroit, Kid Rock. laugh if you must, but i have a feeling he's going to put on one hell of a motherfucking show. i'll let y'all know, so you don't lose any sleep wondering. heh.

in other semi-big news, the girlfriend and i hit the six month mark last week. that may not be much to most people, but given my dating history, its a pretty significant landmark for me. and i couldn't be happier.