fullerton, calif.

We had a productive day here in the East Bay, running errands, fixing little things, going on a walk up to Berkeley, and sorting through photos from tour. For awhile there, I wasn't enjoying taking pictures very much, but getting back on the road again reignited that little click click bug. So, I've got The Daily Photo is back up and running after almost a month's abscence, full of pictures from the road between Oakland and Austin.

Our show last night was actually a lot of fun, although it was kinda weird to see people getting in trouble for things like smoking (the venue was on a high school campus). We played a pretty good set though and the kids were into it, so no complaints here. Tonight I think we're going to hit up the town a bit, trying to see if San Francisco can help me ditch this nasty lingering cold I've got.

It's been a stressful, tense week, and I'm really looking forward to our show tomorrow night down near San Jose. Work is pretty nasty these days, the economy is incredibly crappy, the housing market still sucks, the landlord won't fix anything in our house, and the war is making me generally uneasy. Trying to shake things off with a glass of white wine and some soft music and the kitties.

Watched some coverage on the news tonight of the protests in San Francisco, and I was really glad I wasn't there because I honestly think the people in the crowd would have bugged me to no end. Although I'm as liberal as the next indie-rocker, there's something about the yippie-hippie mentality that really turns me off to the whole protest thing. That, and this particular postwar protest seemed to me more about fucking shit up, getting in the way of people who were just trying to go to work and make a decent living, and beating on cops who just wanted to do the same than trying to end a war. The array of "nonviolent" weapons found on arrested protesters: huge bowie knives, multipe slingshots, rocks tied in socks, and blowtorches made me cringe. It just seems as if this particular set of people are going about things the wrong way, not like the honest, actually peaceful protests of recent months.

The whole thing just made sad again, so I turned the TV off and went to practice and found some comfort playing music again.

I'll get to the whole SXSW recap thing when I can get the photos off my camera: my first day back from tour I spent rearranging my room and getting rid of excess junk, including my broken scanner that was only being used to power my card reader. Someday I'll modernize my computer and get out of the 1995 world.

If you're interested in spending part of your paycheck, there are now t-shirts and CDs and badges available on the Communique website. Look fly in your own hometown, kids.

I've had Elvis Costello's "Mystery Dance" stuck in my head for almost a week now. It's too short a song for proper MP3 Of The Week credentials, so instead I picked a song with one of my favorite drum parts ever.

I'm slowly starting to shake the van feeling, that jolting, rolling feeling you get from spending too much time touring and getting used to sleeping that way. I woke up this morning feeling woozy and a little funny from all the time spent on solid land, but by this evening it's starting to slip away.

My first day back started off horribly. Bad traffic, forgotten wallet and no coffee, and then a couple really angry ladies in pajamas yelled at me for seemingly no reason, starting off a string of stress-inducing events that lasted throughout the afternoon. Went down to the rehersal studio and unloaded our trailer full of gear and then braved more traffic to pickup MRA from work.

I had to shake all the built up stress at any cost, so we did what any other red-blooded American would do: went shopping at Ikea. I finally picked up some things I've needed for literally years, including a small set of drawers to go under my desk table so I can could relieve a little desk-clutter, and a little moveable table lamp for late nights listening to records and reading weblogs. A glass of wine and pajams sealed the deal and I've now forgotten all about the bitterness of this afternoon.