Racing Lemon

I've come to terms with the fact that my car is a piece of shit. I'm done repairing it. I'm gonna try one last eight-buck fix at the suggestion of a coworker (He pointed out that since the fuel system is under pressure, a faulty gas cap could cause vapor lock in the engine when the tank is filled.) and then I'm just gonna keep it drivable.

I'm gonna buy a new bike, with a new warranty. Used cars haven't worked for me in the past. They don't get another chance.
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Now playing on iTunes: Streetlight Manifesto - What A Wicked Gang Are We
via FoxyTunes

Time Dilation

I've been running through this week knowing the activity started today and somehow managed to convince myself I was a day ahead. I'm not going to enjoy tomorrow much, since my subconscious expects a Saturday and we got some fresh orders to finish out the week.

Cleaned the basement. I found unspeakable horrors.

I guess I'm hanging out with Emily today, but as my car is in the shop I don't see me doing a lot of driving. I'm stuck with the F-150. I hate the F-150. This is gonna be the last repair on the Jetta whether it needs more or not. This car is financially ruining me and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if I counted up the receipts and have paid more in repairs, oil, and tires than I did buying the car. In two months I'll have another vehicle anyway. I won't be able to take the bike out in the snow, but the car never has issues then. It's generally very cold-friendly. I love the Volkswagen, I really do. It's a joy to drive and it's arguably the prettiest thing I've ever owned. I've just finally reached the point where the sheer unreliability is unacceptable. I would prefer a car that's comfortable and ritzy and fun to drive, but if I have to take this thing out back and shoot it in favor of an old Toyota, I'll do it. Japanese subcompacts from the nineties are about as reliable as you get, and the fact that this car is making me miss the reliability of my old Sentra is downright deplorable. I am fucking tired of being stressed-out because I drive a lemon. I'm gonna need that car this weekend for a good, solid five hundred miles. If it doesn't function, you can reasonably expect me to be outright pissed for the next two months, when I have something else to drive.
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Now playing on XM 29 U-POP: Keane - "With Or Without You"
via XM Radio Online

Changing Things Up

I think I'm gonna modify my sleep schedule next week. For the past month or two it's been sleep 3 AM to 11 or noon. Now that my reason for staying up to three has school during the day, she won't be up so late, so I have nothing to do at night. Planned new schedule: Sleep 1 AM to 9 or 10.

In other news, I am still bloody sunburned from Emily's party on Saturday.
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Now playing on iTunes: Against Me! - Thrash Unreal
via FoxyTunes

Audible Insanity

I forgot one major detail of autumn! It involves expanding my music library!

Stuff to do:
-Find a way to reinstall XM in car.
-Explore Sarah's music.
-Fuck it. Give Country a try, subsequently explore Alicia's music.

XM is key, though. It provided me with The Format, The Lashes, Rise Against, Jack's Mannequin, and dozens of others. It got me to love ska and electro and indie rock. XM has done more to expose me to music and keep me happy through two years of college than any other non-human factor.
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Now playing on iTunes: Jack's Mannequin - The Mixed Tape
via FoxyTunes

Take Your Time

Work's been really slow recently. I got sent home half a shift early on Friday because we literally ran out of work. We almost ran out today and it's Monday. Money says I don't work Friday this week. It's all a balance, too. I make good use of my off days. This one will get me to Megan's party at a reasonable hour or allow me to leave it a little early to invade Louisville. The downside is that they don't pay me for hours I don't work and the slow season is about to begin. If this is the workload before orders drop off, I see my chances of getting laid off increasing. I really kinda need to have a job. Maybe I should start searching for another temporary stop-gap job.
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Now playing on iTunes: Sublime - Santeria
via FoxyTunes

Missing the Cause

Went to yell at the VW people for not fixing my car today. Showed them, actually showed them the problem instead of leaving them the car and letting them find it based on my description. Turns out it's been consuming more oil than a Mack truck. It doesn't leak out of the pan, so I have no puddle under my car and it doesn't get low enough to set off alarms, but that clicking I've been complaining about is the valve lifters running dry. All these repairs have probably treated the symptoms of the oil system failure without revealing the true disease.

I take it in Thursday. Hopefully I'll have my baby back Friday. I gotta have it Saturday. The Volkswagen is the symbol of my social life. It allows me to have a job, to make use of the high demand for caring bastards, to see Sarah. I carry my mind in my head, but my soul is wrapped in two tons of black steel.
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Now playing on iTunes: The Wombats - Let's Dance To Joy Division
via FoxyTunes

A Bit Lost

A few people have asked if it felt weird to see everyone else going back to school, knowing I wasn't with them. No, it didn't. UC starts so late I was entirely used to people going back and leaving me with a month of summer. It just hit me today that it's a feeling that I'm missing. Specifically, one of Tamra's omnipresent MySpace bulletins about the weird stuff she does with her NKU friends. It's that feeling that's weird. The knowledge that everyone else is returning to school, planning for the coming year, cracking down to study or party.

It's a feeling that I won't experience this year for the first time since I was six. September will come and go and I'll remain unchanged as the people around me get a new spring in their steps, get used to the sights and sounds and smells of college or high school. They'll reconnect with old friends and teammates, repopulate old hangouts, retrace the steps they once walked on breezy autumn days.

I didn't miss the mass return of college because I thought of it in terms of my friends going away. It's a little weirder knowing I won't experience the same old emotions they will. Maybe if Wesley has a lot of empty spots, I'll wander up to UC once a week or so and go for a walk around campus, just to remind myself what I gave up and steel myself for a return of sorts. The life I've chosen now is not sustainable. I need a job that I can learn to love or at least will pay the bills and get me out of this house. I need a place that will allow me to host friends and more under my own terms.

I am twenty years young, and I am a bit lost.
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Now playing on iTunes: Fall Out Boy - Golden
via FoxyTunes

Life in Chorus

So these two song flakes have been continuously rotating through my head for the past two weeks, along with a few others. These in particular are fitting:
From "Let's Dance to Joy Division" by The Wombats:
"Let's dance to Joy Division and celebrate the irony;
everything is going wrong but we're so happy!
Let's dance to Joy Division and raise our glass to the ceiling!
'Cause this could all go so wrong but we're so happy!"


From "Blankest Year" by Nada Surf:
"Oh, fuck it; I'm gonna have a party!
Oh, fuck it; I'm gonna have a party!
I had the blankest year! I saw life turn into a TV show.
It was totally weird! The person I knew, I didn't really know."

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Now playing on iTunes: Panic At The Disco - She's A Handsome Woman
via FoxyTunes

Micro-Blog 38

I've been setting myself up for failure for so long I've no idea what to do when it actually works. There's always the hard way. I like the hard way. [shrug] At least I'm popular with the family.

... the fuck?

[Edit: Added my own comment as a response to the typical interpretation of this post.]
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Now playing on iTunes: Manic Street Preachers - Indian Summer
via FoxyTunes

Out of the Green

This has definitely been one of the best weekends of 2008. Maybe it's been topped, but nothing comes to mind. The recap:

Friday after work I drove to Louisville to visit Sarah. I wasn't in the house five minutes before I was chatting up internet with her older brother Aaron and corrupting the 14-year-old Jon. Apparently it's odd for her siblings to get along so well with one of her guys, but I've passed some test or other. Anyway, I chilled out there, surprised Sarah a few times (Yeah, I do the human contact thing; I just don't do it in public. I have a reputation to uphold, after all.). Saturday morning we ran Jon to the airport, I regrew my fondness for my car's comfortable suspension (The 'stang is a little rough.). Almost three hours of stalling later and I was on the road again. It's rare for me to fight myself so hard to leave a place.

My return Saturday involved a quick shower and a drive to Indian Hill, all the while chatting with Alicia like she was a sibling. I went, with less than a two-hour delay, from girlfriend to best friend. Emily's was as it normally is: way fucked-up. Bouncy silicone tits and gleaming golden cocks greeted me in her back yard. The burgers were both monstrous and delicious and the neighbor's cat traveled the premises, cheering up the crowd by being cute and fuzzy. I left around 2:30 because I kept nodding off. Apparently I missed rampant nudity by about half an hour. God damn it. :D

Sunday was Meagan's. It was the usual chill and chat, with the golden cock lighter as a conversation piece. Ronnie, a friend of her brother's, used it and some bug spray to light his pubes on fire. Yeah. This is the same kid that snorted curry powder and let Meagan mace him. Dumb as a brick of shit, but it was like having a member of the Jackass crew perform live. Just an hour ago things were slowing down and Meagan was cooking some of her wonderful pesto, so I (like the dick I am) ate and ran, knowing I was leaving the best weekend in months behind me. The highlight of it all was definitely Saturday, when I saw Sarah, Alicia, Emily, Kaitlin, and Meagan. My favorite girls in one day. All it was missing was Nikki and Brandon.

Here's to making Labor Day Weekend better!
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Now playing on iTunes: Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life
via FoxyTunes

Simon's Cat

Alicia showed me these. They're pretty sweet.----------------
Now playing on iTunes: Jens Lekman - Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig
via FoxyTunes

Back to Basics

Everyone hears the same generic messages as they grow up. "Treat people how you want to be treated." "Think before you speak." "Enjoy life now; you'll never be young again." I, like the rest of us, ignored most of them, but I took one to heart. "Take nothing for granted." That's always in my mind and is actually why I'm often so happy and so stable. I don't take shit for granted. Not a thing. I'm the kind of guy who walks into a grocery store and thinks, "Without this, I'd have to hunt for my food." I finally rendered this down into something that I think can get people out of bad moods.

First, you have to really understand that life is not fair. The universe has no karma or sense of justice. No good deed is ever guaranteed to be rewarded, nor is any bad deed guaranteed to be punished. Life can and will fuck you over at every turn. You have to keep in mind that all you get is life. That's what you can take for granted. You are alive right now. Everything else is a bonus on top of that. Start the bonuses small, so you never lose track of them. Always be willing to accept the worst that could happen.

My bonuses start at health. I'm very healthy. From there, I have a family that cares and keeps a roof over my head and food in my gut. I drive a rolling work of art. I have wonderful friends and, for once, a girlfriend. Keep going and you get into stranger stuff. Just ponder wireless internet for a second. With no physical connection to the outside world, I'm writing a blog that you all will read. I am literally transmitting data through open air to the rest of the world. It seems mundane because I'm always doing it, but I never let regularity convince me that it isn't absolutely incredible.

Yeah, life blows. Always has, always will. It's also the best thing that will ever happen to you. You just have to think small and be happy about what you've got. Forget about the stuff that goes wrong; you saw it coming. You knew it would happen. You're pleasantly surprised when it doesn't. Life's not fair, but some wind is always blowing in my favor. Get back to basics and you'll see what you really have going for you.
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Now playing on iTunes: Gomez - Moon And Sun
via FoxyTunes

The Red Terror

Oh, god... Russia has fucking lost it. First Georgia, now Poland. McCarthy's ghost is laughing its ass off about now.
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Now playing on iTunes: Federal Moguls - Vicarious
via FoxyTunes

Guh

Work was singularly unpleasant. Fuck the Dock. I'm gonna watch a little DVRed Science Channel, buy some car insurance, and get some sleep, content at least with the fact that I'm gonna see my girl tomorrow.
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Now playing on iTunes: The Format - Snails
via FoxyTunes

Captcha

Dear people whose blogs I read:
Nobody's gonna spam your comments box. I think it's happened to me twice in the year I've had this thing. Word verification is completely unnecessary.
Thank you, that is all.
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Now playing on iTunes: Rammstein - Sonne
via FoxyTunes

Full Steam Ahead!

Got a busy weekend ahead.

Thursday I'll be Docking. I wouldn't normally, but I ran into HazMatt and Alex at Crystal's party and was convinced to go.
Friday after work I run to Louisville to visit Sarah.
Sometime Saturday afternoon I return, only to head out to Indian Hill for the poop larty.
I imagine Sunday I'll recover from the insanity.

Should be epic.

Update: Got the final iteration of the road album from a few posts back. Now all that remains is getting what songs I don't have.
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Now playing on iTunes: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - I-Spy
via FoxyTunes

It Can't All Be Perfect

I'm not particularly tired, but for the last two days I've been plagued with giant, jaw-popping yawns about twice a minute. I have no idea why.

Also, the Volkswagen drives wonderfully, but the engine still floods every time I put gas in the tank. Beyond blaming the fuel pump, I have no clue what could possibly be causing this, but it looks like I get to call the shop again.

Isaac Hayes died today. Go on, kids. Get some. Do it for Isaac. It's what he would have wanted.
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Now playing on iTunes: The Twilight Sad - Mapped By What Surrounded Them
via FoxyTunes

Stalked!

I don't know why I bother trying to keep secrets from some of you. You're gonna find out anyway. Sarah'll be in town for the fireworks at the end of the month. Just, future reference.
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Now playing on iTunes: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Call Me Ishmael
via FoxyTunes

Twelve Months of Bad Journalism

I started this thing a year ago as an escape from work and life and stoicism. I had a mission statement and a plan. I had a few posts a day. Things have changed. I have changed, and a full year of it has been logged for all to read.

The blog for me has been a learning experience. I've learned how much I'm willing to reveal about myself and how to say just what I want without telling too much or too little. I've started trends and reported on the daily grind of my life. It became an extension of the fact that I will talk continuously, whether you are listening or not. It has been one year.

Highlights and Trends:
First was the blog itself. A few friends already had them, but they weren't often talked about within the crew until this one hit the scene. Those of us who didn't vent to the internet started doing so and reading the mopes and triumphs of everyone else.
Following were little trends in music and in styles. The biggest of those is the epic End of Year post. That'll continue as long as I have the blog.

The major highlight has been realizing the nature of blogs.

I wanted to write a more spectacular post for the occasion, but the 9th caught me by surprise. Thanks for reading, guys.

Top Gear

I think I'm gonna make the best driving mix CD ever, but I don't have the songs. This is where I ask for your opinion! Songs I currently own are starred.

Stuff that I'm gonna put on it:
*Rush - "Red Barchetta"
The Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica"
*Ben Folds - "Jesusland"
Badly Drawn Boy - "Once Around the Block"
*Sufjan Stevens - "Chicago"
Manfred Mann's Earth Band - "Blinded by the Light"
*Grateful Dead - "Truckin'"
Foghat - "Slow Ride"
Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son"
*Jackson Browne - "Running on Empty"
*Eagles - "Take it Easy"
What else do I need? Not Sammy Hagar. I can drive 55; I just choose not to.

Das Auto!

Car's working again. For now. I've yet to drive a vehicle that's as much fun.

Cameron's soul is back in his driveway, where it belongs. I couldn't be happier.
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Now playing on iTunes: Rise Against - Bricks
via FoxyTunes

Doesn't It Always?

Yes, it involves a girl. No, I'm not going to provide details beyond this post. Not one. After the fiasco that was the Leidy crush, I'm shutting the fuck up about women until I damn well decide to make it public. All you need to know is that I'm in a good mood, finally asked somebody out (kind of), got the reply I was looking for, and will keep to myself until such time as I drive down there to get shit formally going.

Nobody gives a damn about my personal life until I provide a cryptic hint about it. Jesus. Can't a man keep half-secrets?
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Now playing on iTunes: Of Montreal - Cato As A Pun
via FoxyTunes

Micro-Blog 37

I have done the one thing I've always said I was adamantly opposed to doing, and somehow, against all reason, some good came of it. Chalk up another reason for visiting Louisville.

I started this blog on August 9, 2007. Expect a one-year anniversary post on August 9, 2008.
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Now playing on iTunes: Walter The Orange Ocean - Someone Who Loves You
via FoxyTunes

After the Fire

Weekend went pretty well. Saw The Dark Knight. It was pretty sweet. Megan's soirée went well. Played some 40K. Notes from the trenches:

The film was nice. Only a few physics mishaps, and I'm still smiling at the irony of the Joker surviving the film and Harvey Dent dying while the men who played them did the opposite.

Megan's event was nice. I showed up and within two minutes was offered a Cherry Wheat. Good times, good times. The place is massive, too! There was some crazy confusion when getting Meagan home (kind of) but it turned out alright.

Saturday night was wargames. I'm pretty sure I'm done playing games that big. The 2000 point-per-side four-way took four hours. Four hours. Each player got a quarter of it. I'm gonna stick to smaller multiplayer games or colossal duels for the time being.

My car just keeps sounding worse. I drive without AC now because the effort of engaging the compressor almost kills the engine. If I can get this machine to last a few more winters, I'll replace it then. I'm fucking tired of having cars last one year and die.

Also, I used Man Law #4 last night, to the disapproval of many. If something is very obviously wrong, but when we ask you say nothing is wrong, I will act as though nothing is wrong. It's easier to let you deal with it than pry my way into the problem. I'll still be here when you're ready to be honest. :)
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Now playing on iTunes: Kubichek! - Method Acting
via FoxyTunes

News from the Front

Apparently "Jessica" was playing in one of my dreams, because I woke up and it was about two minutes into playing in my head. WTF

Bought Third Eye Blind's first album yesterday or the day before. I've been after it for a while.

Alicia's here again this weekend, so I'll be at Megan's with her and Jimmy and the Greis girls and god knows who else tonight, probably finally seeing Heath Ledger get killed by a batarang-wielding maniac tomorrow, and sleeping a good nugget of Sunday.

Next weekend is Crystal's birthday. Yes, Crystal the stripper. No, I've never felt the need to sleep with her. I've been to every birthday since I met her, so I'll be kinda tied up.

I'm still hoping for a solution to the international hop shortage. This, mixed with the fact that farmers are switching from barley to corn to make biofuels, is driving up the price of beer like crazy. Actually, the demand for ethanol to make biofuels is driving up the price of all grains. [rant on biofuels available on request]
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Now playing on iTunes: The Hoosiers - Goodbye Mr. A
via FoxyTunes