So, there's been alot going on. I woke up this morning at 8:45 to the sound of the screaming neighbor kids two houses down. Their idea of playing in the backyard is to play the "run around screaming pointlessly" game. I hate that game. I have yet to figure out the point of their behavior, except to annoy their sleeping neighbors. After groggy jokes about various ways to rid ourselves of the pesky children, I decided I needed extra cash, so I went out to deliver some medicine (my weekend career).

It's was a beautiful day today, probably the nicest of the year so far. We drove up north, over the longest bridge around here that allows us to see the entire area from above. After awhile we ventured into the mall, and as we usually do, commented on how everyone looks completely trashy. We also went to a horrible part of town, where I had to call the recipient of the delivery to come outside since there were wild dogs walking around and barking everywhere. Everything turned out OK in the end.

Side link-note: I really like the payphone project and men who look like kenny rogers. The former has some great photos of things I find beautiful, like urban decay and ghetto wreckage. The latter's name says it all. I'm convinced that they've stuck a guy in there who is Kenny Rogers, just to throw people like me off.

Last night, Miss Rodeo America, ch, and myself went up to see the movie Yi-Yi. Before it started, we went to dinner across the street at the best Italian food I've ever had. It feels good to feel so confident about this decision. So, I've been going through this whole "roots" music fetish thing. Not roots as in country, but roots as in "the first indie music i listened to." Needless to say, my recent selections have strayed from my entire indie-rock persona to the Bad Religion/J Church/Jawbreaker, and yes, Green Day side. So, I've had that song "Church On Sunday" from the newest Green Day album stuck in my head for days. As we're sitting on the bench waiting for our table I started singing aloud, yet quietly, "If I promise to go to church on Sunday, will you go with me on Friday night? If you live with me I'll die for you and this compromise."

As I was singing this, Billie Joe from said band and his wife walked out of the restaurant, held hands, and continued walking down the street. I'm not one for rock-star swooning, but because I was singing the song at that exact moment, it totally tripped me out. Whoah.

Anyway, Yi-Yi was really good. Simply, it made me realize that American films, especially Hollywood ones, are fucking horrible.

Ah, quickness. The sky has turned into this fog of pale orange, and it's starting to drizzle. Very beautiful. We're dressing quickly to go do dinner and then out to see Yi-Yi. It's a long movie, but I'm sure I'll make it. I'm a toughie.

I think I've found my favorite Smog album with Red Apple Falls. He lets the quirky go for a bit and brings the softness on, lets the lo-fi flow nicely, and brings on Jim O'Rourke to help out with some absolutely gorgeous instrumentation. "To be of use" may be his best song ever, and there's really not much to it. Just some guitar picking, some slide guitar on the second chorus to give thigns a twist, and of course, Bill Callahan's unmistakable groggy voice. My only regret is that I waited this long to hear this album, I kept wasting my time with his other releases, which are good, but not Red Apple Falls good.

Miss Rodeo America has gone to the store to buy items to make a pudding pie. It's the first evening of Spring, at least it is in my mind, and I'm going to enjoy it.

So I finally got a bit of time to give things an ever-so-slightly different look. It's all changes I've been meaning to make, but I had to take some time to do them correctly. For this, I thank the cancellation of tonight's band practice. I also have Billy Joel's Piano Man and Slowdive's Just For a Day to thank for the un-obtrusive background music. I'm contemplating the idea of doing a weekly radio show in addition to the MP3 of the week. That will, like most things, come someday. Now my main job is to get the archives up. It's something I really don't want to think about.

Today's drive was excellent, sunny, and highly paced. The yellow flowers were everywhere, like Crayola weeds in the wine fields. The view was sensational, I drove up highway 128 with my hand out the window like it was the wing of an airplane, coasting it in the wind and feeling small bugs hit my hand with a sharp poke. I listened to lots of stuff I've had since high school, stuff like Green Day and Jawbreaker. It was nice to sing along at the top of my lungs with the windows down. Without roads I doubt I'd ever get much thinking done.

Oooh, Ooh. This site has started showing up on Google searches. Showing up on search engine results has always been a strange fantasty of mine, not for the publicity, but for the silly things people type in to find your site. My two favs so far are blood pumping hockey song and tattooed on my mind. Needless to say, I'm quite proud.

Something this morning went horribly wrong. I didn't have my coffee, and work was busy so I couldn't get any. My head started to pound and my stomach began to turn. Dizziness set in, so I down a highly caffeinated soda in minutes to try and ease the pain. Nothing really worked, so after work I prepared a coctail of 4 Advils and then high-tailed it down the street to Peet's to get the strongest coffee allowed. The therapy worked, on my walk back through the warehouse district I jacked up Green Day's Warning and it started to rain. Huge drops fell on my head, ran down the headphone cord and onto my minidisc player, soaking my shirt and changing its color to a dark orange. I didn't care, I smiled and walked a little more slowly. Getting rained on unexpectedly in mid-afternoon is much better than being at work.

I think it's going to be one of those inside days. Ate my standard bacon/hashbrowns for breakfast, have probably consumed too much coffee already. It's raining like hell, the wind is blowing the tiny drops up against the window making that "pitter-pat" sound on one side of the house, and then when the wind changes it switches to the other. Windstorms in stereo.

We got Bruce (our lizard named after a kid in the hall), a new Terrarium. His world has become three times larger, and he's quite confused about the entire situation. I think we kept him in a cage that was too small for too long, I don't think he walks correctly. His long hind legs flop around uncontrollably when he chases his little crickets around. Perhaps now he'll get the hang of it.

Good news: lost for life seems to still be functioning, albeit in a different capacity. It's more of a Creepsville format, separate stories laid out with photos. I like it, it's going back on the links section.

Had dinner the other night with a couple friends. Things seemed to go rather well, I cooked sausage rather badly (and twice as long as The Joy of Coolking suggested), and then proceeded to launch a spicy pork link across the table. It landed halfway on our guest's plate and the other half planted a little grease stain on our tablecloth. We bought organic hippie icecream that stuck in little droplets to our spoons. Vanilla with coffee poured over top, Miss Rodeo America brought the recipe back from England.

Played show #2 with my new band last night. It wasn't really a good experience, I was lacking any sort of confidence that one needs while playing live. I was pretty afraid to touch the keys other than on the parts I knew like the back of my hand. An altogether nasty experience, really. The venue was horrible (I think that was the 5th time I've played there, I wouldn't mind not going back), and nothing seemed to click. These things happen, I guess. I did play alot of pinball, which was fun. It rained again, keeping the tradition of damp shows intact.

Before we headed out to the venue we went to Walgreens to get batteries and saw some guy all beat-up on the sidewalk and then three guys getting arrested down the street. They looked really embarrased, kneeling there on the wet grown as the cops cuffed them and the rain dripped on their head from the shabby store overhangs. Life in the big city, eh?