October 20th, 2005 -- You...ASS REGULATOR

Alright. Explanacion para el...title-o.

So last Saturday, me and ol' Corey are driving in his new-ish Pontiac Grand Am (really nice nice car.). So anyways, we're speedin' down (well, up technically, since we were northbound) on "La Grange Road" (Manheim Road, for all you non-freaks). We were speeding up, because there was no one in front of us. Corey's car lets out a nice growl, and we kick forward instantly. Aaaaaall of a sudden, for no apparent reason except just to piss us off, a guy in the left lane switches over to our lane, forcing us to instantly slow down. A conversation ensues, much along the lines to...

Me -- Damnit! That guy is totally stopping us from being bad-ass.
Corey -- Definitely. He's the exact opposite of a bad-ass...like a good-ass.
Me -- Gaw...he's just interfering with our bad-assery.
Corey -- Yeah...he like...regulates the asses.
Me -- Like...an ass regulator.

So the guy switches back into his own lane, Corey speeds up quickly, and as we pass him to the side, Corey sticks his head out the window, and yells "ASS REGULATOR!!" at the guy.

Pure hilarity. And that's my story.

I forgot what I was gonna update with. Oh right...well as most of you know, last Friday I had to fast for 24 hours. I was gonna bore you with a journal, but I forgot and now it's no longer timely. Oh well. I'll just draw a depiction of how my stomach was...tomorrow...I don't much feel like doing it today. Yeah.

And last Tuesday, my HON102 class was cancelled (hooray!). It's so wonderful when classes are cancelled, except for the fact that you pay several hundreds of dollars per class. That part sucks, but otherwise...it rocks. So I took a nice pleasant relaxing stroll through Millenium Park and along ze lake for like an hour and a half. But, even more relaxing than that, is what I figured out in class today.

So the class I worried the most about was definitely my HON102 class. It's a lecture/seminar class, where we basically discuss the readings and write papers and stuff. It's Latin American history and stuff, so we're covering the Guautemalan, Cuban, Chilean, and Nicaraguan revolutions. That is a lot of reading. And we have to write critical reviews on each film we watch. I was shitting my pants basically, because there was no way I could remember everything about the readings, and we haven't gotten any of our papers back.

Alright, well today we got our papers back...and basically, he grades them on a Pass/Fail basis. Effing. Win. If the papers are half decent, we get full credit. My papers, obviously, are textual orgasms, since they're written by yours truly (he even put "Este es el orgasmo textuál" on my papers. OK, maybe not, but I thought it was funny). And our final will be "analytical," meaning we'll only need a general grasp of the material. Phew.

That does it for the bulk of the entry...and now for the music, which I'm sure most of you come here for. A few days ago, I was listening to the Final Straw album by Snow Patrol...and their first song, How to be Dead, seemed really familiar to me. As if I've heard it before...and then, I started listening to the Weakerthans. And I found the answer. Listen to the intro of This is a Fire Door, Never Leave Open by the Weakerthans, and then about 25 seconds into How to be Dead. Ridiculous.

Alright. Done.

This is the first time in a while I've udpated not under duress or nagging! Amazing, no? This is gonna be quite a mixed entry of sorts.

Let me start off on how last Thursday and Friday were two of the best days I've had in a while. Last Thursday was the secret acoustic Queens of the Stone Age set at Belmont Army Surplus. Though it was free, I ended up paying $18.50 total for their newest album (Lullabies to Paralyze) at Tower effing Records so I could get a special "All-Access" wristband thing, which basically guaranteed entrance into the show. Before the show, me and a few of my college chaps went to the Bacci's near Wrigley Field. And let me tell you...they charge $4 for a smaller slice (not that much smaller) than they charge $3.50 for at the Bacci's at Irving Park. And the crust was horrid. Sure, the pizza was good...but it wasn't Bacci's good. The difference between the two was shocking...it's amazing how much difference of quality there is in between two restaurants of the same chain.

Anyways, back on topic, the acoustic show was amazing. I was 10 or so feet from the band, sitting down (which, by the way, was an absolute bitch. I had to make the decision of having my ass hurt or my feet hurt.). The view was great, aside from some whore wearing a butterfly clip in the very front who was being totally inconsiderate of everyone and kneeling instead of sitting. Stupid whore. Well afterwards, me and my friend Matt wanted to go meet the lead singer Josh, but as he was bombarded with people, we opted to meet the bassist (Alain Johannes) instead. And by the way, their bassist is one of the most amazing guitarists I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in person. He could finger pluck literally as fast as I can tremelo pick (that means nothing to anyone but a few people.) So anyways, we got our picture taken, and Alain asked me and my friend if we were going to the show tomorrow...err, Friday. We both replied no, we're poor college kids, or something to that extent. Well, the bassist tells us to hold on a second, as he busts out a small piece of paper with people's names written on it. He takes down my friend Matt's name, as well as his cell phone number, explaining that Nine Inch Nails gives them 30 tickets to hand out. I was...I was suspended in disbelief. It was fucking amazing.

The rest of the night panned out as normal...and let me tell you how eventful it is to walk into a Dominick's at 4 AM to ask for free bread ("So that means I have to pay for this?" "Yes." "I don't like that.").

So anyways, we got the free tickets (unfortunately, only 2 instead of 5). The show was...was fucking amazing. 'Twas my first time seeing both QotSA and NIN, and unfortunately, due to money, may have been my last. The show was definitely the loudest and brightest and most flashy show I've ever been to in my life, but it was great. Our seats were pretty kickin' rad too.

Unfortunately, the only pictures I took were from my cameraphone. That means they were of utmost suckage.

Since we're following the music theme for this entry (it'll break, I assure you...unfortunately.), let's talk about more music. Thrice's new album, Vheissu, is set to be released on October 18th. Me, being the person I am, have gotten my hands on it a tad bit earlier (read: now.). I've listened to it many many times, and it is absolutely posititely fantastic. If you also want to get your hands on it, inquire and such. I'd be ready to help. Also...unfortunately...Saturday I got the news that Tsunami Bomb has broken up. TB has been one of my favoritest bands for a while, so I took the news quite hard. It's doubly bad, since now I can never ever replace the dollar bill that my gracious friends accidentally spent. Pah. Pah to them!

So I've been thinking...(most of you should already realize that what's about to come next isn't going to be upbeat)...that I really don't want to be here anymore. By "here," I mean in my house. Every passing day makes me want to leave more and more. Now it's nothing against my parents or my actual house itself...it's just...it's just so hard. It's so hard not to feel lonely when all you can do is sit at home and play guitar (I almost lost my ability to, too...more on that later) and whatnot. I mean...all my high-school friends are too busy with high-school business. Not to mention that next year, they all (well, all except two or three) leave for college. All my pre-college friends (anyone in the class of '05.) are too busy with college business. I hardly ever get to talk to most of them now, even with the glories of AIM. They're all...not there. Thank God for the two or three that still have enough time to talk on a consistent, every day basis (and like, actual talking...not small talk.). And my college friends? They're fantastic. The problem is, I'm too far away to hang out with them nonchalantly. It can't just be pick-up-and-go...everything has to be planned out days in advance.

And let me tell you. It sucks.

I need to dorm...or get an apartment near/on-campus. Something. I don't know. I also don't know what spurred this sudden spur of negativity. Oh...about my hand. Well today, there was some kind of leak in our refridgerator, so I had to help my dad move it and find the problem and such. All's well and such, but we had to tilt the refridgerator a bit. As we were letting it drop back down, I wasn't paying attention to the position of my hand. Luckily I saw it, and my left hand was millimeters from being smashed by a large refridgerator. That would've put me out of guitar business for a long time. I wouldn't know what I would do with myself if that happened.

Meh...this negativity is a phase, undoubtedly. I don't know...maybe it's due to the fact that it's been very very long since I've met my 12-daily-hug quota (you know...the amount needed for healthy emotional growth. Eight being the minimum for any emotional growth. Four being the minimum for sustaining.) In fact, come to think of it...my last hug was last Saturday night. Le sigh.

This entry's new song is the antithesis of last entry's song. Instead of a nice soft song, let's put up some harder stuff. I'm sure many of you will be turned off by the vocals (it's not really yeller-yellers...it's just raspy). The song is Belly Full of Hell, by my newfound loves, Planes Mistaken For Stars. This song should be the actual replacement for Konstantine; last entry I miscounted and unnecessarily deleted it. So instead of a song that piano rocks, we have a song that just rocks.

That's it for this entry. No drawing today...I'm not much into the drawing mood right now (that's nothing bad, it just means I'm lazy.).

What's the deal with today's title? I don't know...but accents are funny.

I have just realized that I have not updated this site since before school started...whoops! So this is my very very first entry as a college boy. And let me tell you...I love college. I don't love that all my friends are gone (well...all you non-graduatin' peeps are still there, and let me attempt to express my undying gratitude on how much I appreciate you folk being younger than me...), but whatevas.

Writing a "Wahey! I'm in college!" entry wouldn't be too timely, or interesting, so I'll probably save you the hassle and the time and whatnot. The problem is, I don't know what to write now. It'd be so much easier if I just wrote this as a traditional blog...and maybe I should. I dunno...maybe if I can reach a general consensus or something by my two constant readers. What am I even talking about...gah babbling.

See? This is why I don't update. i can't think of anything to talk about and I end up with some nonfunny, nonsensical, nonsense. Let me just mention a little thing that irks me just a tad while I'm downtown.

When you see a set of escalators downtown (namely coming in and out of the subways) and don't feel like walking up/down them, for everyone's sake please stand on the RIGHT SIDE! Yes, sir with the huge effing cello, that meant you. Leave the left portion of the escalator open for us folks that need to get places. And when someone says "excuse me" in attempt to move past you on the escalator, save your bitchy looks and snide comments. Yes, mid-30's ma'am with the excess of full shopping bags who can't grasp the concept of timely obligation in a place as busy as downtown Chicago, that meant you.

Ahh yes, the joys of commuting to school. It's so rewarding when the total commute to and from school is actually longer than the class you have that day (Haww...one class, 1:10-2:10 on Fridays.)

So actually...

So the new song is Overdue (much like this entry! Haww...) by the Get Up Kids. I'm keeping the limit of the songs on the player to 35...so that means Konstantine is off. Forever. Oh well...a song that piano rocks for a song that soft rocks. Fair trade.

Well, that's it.

Hey folks! Here's a mini-entry of sorts. I don't think it'll be too long, unless I magically come up with something to write aboot.

So anyways...the main purpose of this entry is to keep a few of you folks out of suspense. As some of you know, sometime in early July, I successfully captured and trapped a spider 'neath a cup. I did this as some kind of experiment, to see how long it would last.

I gave it less than a week.

However, this "spider" met my expectations, and far exceeded them. But unfortunately...earth to earth...ashes to ashes...dust to dust. Sometime in between the period of 1:30 AM and 10:45 AM on Saturday, the 27th of August of the year 2005, our beloved science experiment passed away.

This death brings mixed feelings. On one hand, I'm glad to see this experiment is finally over, with the final result being "a month and a half or something." The exact time cannot be calculated, as I did not keep any record whatsoever of the initial capture. On the other hand, the spider was a brother to me. Not...blood brothers or anything...I mean he was a spider and such. Not really a metaphorical brother either...I don't know. He's dead. Our arachnid friend has passed through this mortal phase and crossed the river Styx.

I guess that sums it all up. And with this mini-entry, comes a mini-comic, to aids it (you'll find that much funnier after you read the comic, hopefully).

Yep.

Well, the song I've chosen for today is a nice little acoustic song by the likes of a man named Erik Petersen. It's a good song. It's kinda sad though...well, I think so at least.

And that does it for this entry.

Woah, sorry about that kiddies. It seems like it's been nearly a month since my last update (a little less if you've been a faithful follower of my Xanga). I...I...I don't know what happened! I guess I just let it slip. Or I don't have anything to write about. Or I've been busy letting go of my friends as they move away to college.

But before I move on, the title is a line from one of my favorite books of all time. Catch-22. It is a very good book.

But yeah...everyone's leaving for college. Le sigh. They're all having a devil of a time, as well. I wanna get out of this place. Some parts of me want to get away from here as far as I can...but then I get back to my senses and go "What? And leave everything you've built up here?" But...I at least want to get out of this house. Ya know? Just...get me the freedom to fuck up on my own. Or at least drive. I don't care if it's expensive...they pay upwards of $6.21 in the Netherlands. OK, maybe I'd care eventually.

Man...this summer was pretty much a blast. Endless amounts of fun...it may be possible that, aside from sleep, I've spent more time out of my house than in it. That's a very nice feeling, I think. Maybe I should move in with Raul. I'm really really contemplating it...but I don't know if I'd be able to support myself financially. But anyways, as I was saying. This summer was fantastic...much better than last year's, aside from the twenty one best days of my life that happened last year.

It's a shame how this summer's ending though...as each one of my friends leave for college...or start school (haha...why don't you graduate already, you non-graduaters). Every day dwindles down...every day with less outrospect and more retro and introspect. Quite possibly the best summer ever, ending with not a bang, but a whimper.

Whatevas though. I'm really looking forward to college. I'm fairly sure it'll rock my socks off. I mean, literally. The first day, I'll settle in for class (I don't even know what my first class will be yet...gotta have orientation this Thursday and Friday.) and my socks will literally just...fly off. It'll be "Oh! Hello DePaul! Oh shit, there go my socks."

Speaking of which...incoming freshman get to go on this fantastic voyage called Premiere DePaul. It's a two-day orientation, where you get to stay overnight at one of the DePaul dorms. And what the fuck, I don't get to do that. Instead, I get to go home at 9 PM on Thursday, and be back at DePaul at 7:45 AM on Friday. I have no idea why my session (out of all the sessions...there's about a dozen of them) doesn't have it. Ergh.

This is turning out to be a fairly long entry. Too bad you'll all be disappointed when you don't find a drawing at the end of the entry. Haw, sorry. I have an unfinished drawing sitting in front of me (not physically...I mean it's in a file and stuff). I'll finish it sometime.

Oh! The music! This song would've been much timelier when Wedding Crashers first came out. It's Aside by The Weakerthans. If you've seen the Wedding Crashers, or even spent upwards of $60 on seeing it in theatres, you'd know that this song plays at the ending credits. It's a very good song by a very good band. Anyways, I guess I owe a second song to you guys. So by random choice, here's Methadone by Frenzal Rhomb. Good band. They're Australian.

So unfortunately, I guess that'll do it for this entry. Maybe a drawing or something next time. Next month, probably (haww...I won't make you wait that long...or will I...?)

It's true.

As most of you should know, Warped Tour was this past Saturday. Now, I was planning to do this update relatively close to that date, but alas, things don't always go the way you want them to. And I'm lazy. Very, very lazy.

It was so damn hot Saturday...sweating balls the entire day, though I still remained relatively dry, with the exception of standing in the misters...those felt nice. Also...supposedly Warped Tour was sold out this year. I guess by "sold out," they meant "not sold out." Katie, Lindsay, and Sean arrived at the Tweeter Center and they bought 3 tickets from the Will Call, despite the sign that said "WARPED TOUR IS SOLD OUT, TICKETS WILL NOT BE SOLD."

So here's basically a list of all the bands I saw (well...not all. Just the ones I took pictures of.) Also, I've added one song from each band in the list.

The main lineup...it's frickin' impossible to read though. Oh well. If you could read it, you'd notice the lack of "Tsunami Bomb," "Strike Anywhere," or "The Dillinger Escape Plan" anywhere in that lineup. Gah.

The first band up...Strung Out. These guys are...effing amazing. I just love them, oh so much. It may be unhealthy how much I like them. They put on quite a show...Jason (the lead singer) was sweating quite profusely midway through the set. Like it was literally cascading off of his face...it was pretty damn hot out there, and I'm sure the all-black didn't help. Jake is missing in this picture, and unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of him (the one I took with him in it was blurry and horribly overexposed). It's a shame, because he's a pretty kick-ass guitarist. The other guitarist is in there, however, and he's equally as awesome. Plus he plays a Viper (my guitar (he wasn't using it in this picture)). The song I uploaded by them is one of my favorites, Never Speak Again. They didn't play it, though. Oh well.

This next band is Opiate for the Masses. Really good band. The guy on the left with the bass guitar is Allison's cousin. Me and Cezary (Cezary and I, whatever...I'm not here for grammar) only caught one and a half of their songs, sadly. This was because I stayed for one song at Relient K, and spent a minute or so trying to get out of the crowd. It was densely packed with teenage lads and lassies who were angry because I was pushing through. I then went through two songs of Hopesfall (they weren't my...cup of tea) and wrongfully thinking they were OftM, while thinking all along how I was going to break to Allison that I didn't enjoy her cousin's band. THEN me and Cez finally got to OftM...and they were pretty kickin' rad. Shame I missed most of their set. Unfortunately I don't have any of their songs, but check out their myspace.

Next band was the HorrorPops. These guys were a pleasant surprise. I mean really, they were awesome. I've never heard of them previous to Warped. When I saw them, I thought their one guitarist (the guy on the left) looked frightfully familiar...and when I got home, I did a little research, and it turns out that he was Kim Nekroman, the lead singer/bassist for Nekromantix. It's not that much of a surprise, either...their styles are very similar. Oh, psychobilly...always a good time. Well the HorrorPops had two dancers/backup vocalists (one of them is pictured...the one in the white) that I thought added a nice touch. However, Cezary disagrees. The song I've uploaded for them is Where They Wander. It's good skanking music (Woah, oh, oh, oh, oh.).

MxPx. This is one of the first "punk" bands I started listening to, a loooong time ago. They're just really awesome. Horrible picture of them though, I was pretty far away. Anyways, it was super keen of the lead singer/bassist to stop in the middle of their set to get everyone's attention to a guy who got injured in the pit. He just stopped mid-song and made sure everyone cleared a path for the paramedics. To take up time, he told a Michael Jackson joke.

What do Michael Jackson and cavier have in common?
They both come on white crackers.

Hilaaaaaaarious. Midway through one of their songs, the bassist took off his bass and threw it up in the air like 20 feet and caught it. It was very good. The song I've uploaded for them happened to be their closing song and the song that I first heard by them, ever. The song's "Punk Rawk Show" and was on the Teenage Politics album, released in 1995. So if you do your math correctly, it's been about 10 years since i've first heard MxPx. That made eight years of age.

This next band is No Use for a Name. Though some of you may not enjoy their music, Kevin Brody, I think they are quite good. Their bassist dedicated a song to "the most popular Chicago band...Spitalfield." I thought it was frickin' hilarious. That joke may be lost on some of you, though. No Use for a Name's always a pleasure...and I really don't know what else to say about them. The song I chose for them was the song they closed with AND the first song I've heard by them (much like MxPx! Noooo way!), Not Your Savior. It's off the album More Betterness, released in 1999...making me an eigth grader when I first heard them. Good times.

Shitty picture ahoy! This band is Gogol Bordello. And, wow. They were fucking amazing. Quite possibly the most entertaining band there. This was the first time I've ever seen them. They're a lot different from the standard Warped band. Gogol Bordello is...let's say that they're to eastern European music as Flogging Molly is to Irish music. Their lead singer is Ukranian, and has an awesome moustache. Dustin Hoffman in Hook moustache. Like I was saying...these guys know how to put on a show. Nine members on one stage. Like Slipknot but less pointless. You may say that the two extra members used solely to play crash cymbals and bass drum are overkill, but I would disagree. They bring a lot to the show...all of them do. It's hard to describe, I don't know. You'd have to see them in person to understand. The song I've chosen is Start Wearing Purple. It was a very hard choice...they have a lot of really good songs, but I'm choosing this based purely on the fact that they played it. I'm sure they played a lot of other songs that I like, but I can't remember right now.

The last band I caught a full set of was The Offspring. I forewent Fallout Boy for this band, and it was a good choice, I think. The picture's super crappy though...I was like a million feet away. The crowd for The Offspring was nearly twice as big as the crowd for Fallout Boy, no joke. I've never really listened super hardcore to the Offspring, but in their set they played basically all of their popular songs, so I ended up knowing 90% of their set. During the set, the lead singer stopped and did some little thing where he explained the "fire hose trick," where he'd offer mosh water (just normal canned water) to the audience, then say something like "Is that not enough water?" then bring out a fire hose.

And he did.

The Offspring song I chose was Genocide, one of the songs I knew and they played.

I caught a lot of bits and pieces from other bands' sets. At the moment, I can think of only a few. I heard Mae, Hopesfall (ugh), and two songs of Fallout Boy. And Tweeter Center sucks at having cheap food and cold functional water fountains. The only real disappointment I have with Warped Tour this year is the scheduling. Whoever scheduled those bands should be hurt...they put Thrice, No Use for a Name, and Gogol Bordello 15 minutes from each other. That basically meant I had to miss Thrice completely so I could catch No Use for a Name and Gogol Bordello. Grr. All in all, it was a long and tiring day.

That was a long and tiring entry.

Catch Phrase goodness. The first "fucking" clue was pate by the way. You know. That French meat paste that everyone is an absolute fan of.

Moving on, it appears that I haven't updated in a while. This update would've been done on July 6th...but situations occured that drove me off from completing my entry. It was absolute shit anyways, no one would've wanted to read it.

Hell, even I didn't like reading it.

It was just a bunch of incoherent, very unfunny ramblings. So instead of putting it up, I chose to save face and save an update for another day. And that day, my friends, is today.

I really had to update for several reasons. The first being the ode. It's had its spotlight, and I can no longer to see it at the top. KC's ode to moi was equally as good, despite what she says. I can't be bothered to find it now, however. It's on her xanga.

But today! I started my job at Dialogue Direct. Oh wait...first things first.

Shout out to my "boys" Raul Cotaquispe and Chris Alaimo. Haw. I did it. Your names are now immortalized in a widely distirbuted website read by six entire people. Also, an extra special "shout out" or "little blurb" about the coolest gal around, the one I can proudly and happily call my very own arm candy, the beautiful and talented Miss Allison Kriauciunas. I don't know how much exactly you want me to write about you in here, but I figure this should be enough. Even after the sandal throwing fiasco and the breaking-up and re-uniting.

But today! I started my job at Dialogue Direct. That is a hard job. Very rewarding, though. I guess. I couldn't get anyone to sponsor a kid today...I feel so bad. People didn't like to stop for a moment. It's saddening how many people don't care. Well I guess it's not that they don't care...I understand that they do have their own agendas...their time is their time and whatnot. But I'm sure they'd stop if they knew that they could be saving the life of 10 year-old Moises from Ecuador. Actually, maybe not...I'm too cynical. Boo...it's just like, "I want to help, but I also do not wish to give anything! If only there was a way to get something from nothing."

Oh well though...I got to make dozens upon dozens of people smile today. Even if they were fake smiles, or smiles that really meant, "Ugh, get the fuck away from me," smiles are smiles, and that made me happy. You can't eat smiles though! And smiles don't vaccinate kids from polio! Unless...

Oh wait! EDIT!!! I forgot about a very important thing that happened today at work. Like we're supposed to act happy and stuff, so I go up to this guy and ask for a moment of his time, and he tells me that "he doesn't need my cult" or something. He goes "Get away from me you Moody (Moodie? Moonie?) Who are you working for? Reverend Moody (Moodie? Moonie?)" I go "I have no idea what you're talking about. I work for DialogueDirect on behalf of Children International...it's a nonprofit organization." And he just goes "Stop spewing your bullshit." I found it hilarious. So, seeing as I lost him, as he walked away, I said to him, "Sir, can I interest you in a cup of Kool-Aid?" But I was laughing at the time, so I don't know if he caught it. Anyways, it was preeeeeeetty oddball.

So like here are some songs. Since the last update, I've had so many songs that were like "Yeah, that would be pretty kickin' rad to add," but alas, now I've forgotten. I remembered Haven't Tried it by Piebald (Pee-bald? Pye-bald?). It's good. The other song is The End of the Line by Hot Water Music (Cray-yon? Crahn?). It's also good.

That'll do it for today, yo. I'm strapped for time, so there won't be a drawing today...sorry to disappoint. Maybe I'll put one up tomorrow, I don't know. I'm not saying the p-word, because I'm not sure. What I do know, however, is that I'm going to help a child tomorrow. I hope. I really do.

The title is a pure failed attempt at a play on homophonic words.

So yesterday I was searching desperately for ideas for which to update my site with. Our "wonderful" KC decided that it would be best that I write an ode to her. I shot that idea down. Quickly. However, she kept pestering me about it. I remained insistent that I couldn't write an ode to her, for I cannot play favorites on my site, especially considering that KC is not my favorite (favorite what? favorite anything. Actually, that was pretty harsh. I'm sorry.).

She remained headstrong, however, in her attempts to get me to create this "ode." Ol' Smelly finally struck a deal that if I wrote an ode to her, she'd write an ode to me.

This was very interesting. I could not pass it up.

Here I sit, hours before I leave to go on vacation, in front of a blinking cursor, trying to encapsulate all of that is KC in a mere ode. Curiosity ran through my head as to what an ode entails, so of course, I used my good friend Google(TM). Apparently a formal ode is a multi-stanza where the rhyming scheme is uniform throughout each stanza. Ten lines per stanza. ABABCDECDE rhyming structure.

Eff that. I am not doing that. This is a favor, not a homework assignment.

And with that, I'm fairly sure the idea of writing a formal ode is out the window. Hell, if an ode to clocks can lack all structure whatsoever, why not this? Yeah...so basically, here goes.

So yeah. That's my anti-structure ode. You'd best enjoy it, woman. And mine better be godly. OK, maybe not godly...but don't half-ass it. Else I'll be forced to put up my anti-ode.

And with that, I leave you folks for a week.

Oh wait...this isn't important to the entry, but I think it's noteworthy. I offered to fill Cezary's gas tank yesterday (I'd have the money by the time the bill rolled around...), but he declined and instead just accepted $10 of gas. The problem with that was I still had to use my credit card, forcing us to do a Jerry Seinfeld-esque move. We got pretty damned close. Cezary let go of the nozzle handle trigger dealy...and the price read $10.01. I was...I was astounded.

And with that, I leave you folks for a week.

Oh...two new songs. First is Alkaline Trio's Mercy Me, because it's what I'm listening to right now at this very moment. The second is Asleep by Strike Anywhere, just because the song rocks that much.

AND WITH THAT, I LEAVE YOU FOLKS FOR A WEEK.

So I am totally updating out of my own accord. And the title is obviously a reference to that one song about that one guy who leaves on a jetplane. I don't remember what it was called...something along the lines of "Aerial Excursion" I think.

So the new song up is My Best Girl by Lucero. For some reason I like this band. I normally hate singers with that "Arr" factor, but yeah. Exceptions to the rules and whatnot. Like I said, the singer's got a crazy country southern drawl...that may ward some of you away...so here's another song. Chosen at random by a random number generator, here is Sparking Streets by the GC5.

Well apparently, many of you didn't know that I was going on vacation, and many people are upset. So anyways, I'm going to...someplace tomorrow for a week. Where exactly? Not sure. But I'm leaving at like 9 PM. It'll be either Tennessee or Florida or something...well. Anywhere but Oregon. Bad memories from the last time we went to Oregon...

Yeah, so I understand that some of you are upset that I didn't tell youse...but I swear I did...so like...sorry and stuff. You know. Sorry...and stuff. I'll be back though, to the dismay of some of you. So yeah. I'll try to have fun on my "vacash," even without you loverly people.

This is the drawing I promised today...since technically it's part of yesterday's update, no new song today. Plus I gave you three yesterday. That's 300% more than I said I would. In return for this favor, I politely ask for money and illicit drugs. I'll be waiting.

Anways...for today's drawing, it almost happened. Thursday or something, I went to Russell's BBQ with Erik to apply for a job. One of the fields that you had to fill in asked for any special skills. So instead of putting crap down like "Good listener" and "Follows directions well," I wondered what would happen if I had put down something outlandish such as "I can resist temperatures up to 3000°F," or "I have the ability to read minds," and when for an interview I was asked "What are your weaknesses?" I'd reply with something like "Bullets."

Anyways...

I ended up putting "Good listener" and "I follow directions well" in it because I was worried if the interviewer guy ("Roy") had a sense of humor or not. They said they'd call for the interview. I don't know yet. A job wouldn't be too bad...if you have any ideas regarding where I can work, don't hesitate to pitch it to me.

The main reason I'm updating today is so I can upload more music, hurr. It's actually incentive...so today I felt like uploading like three songs. The first one up is Highway Robbery by the Dillinger Escape Plan. It's a bit...harder...than what I normally have up. DEP is one of the few "core" bands that I actually like. I'm fairly sure a large handful of you won't like it...and that's why I'm uploading two more songs. This song is quite possibly one of my favorite songs ever, just because it rocks so much. It's Vincent by Don McLean. I know one other person who agrees with me on the amount of rockitude this song delivers, possibly more. And with that song, I absolutely had to upload NOFX's cover of it. It's just really really good.

Oh...by the way...If you haven't figured it out yet, you can save the current song that's playing by right clicking the bar and clicking on "Download this song." It'll give you a direct link to the file.

So this week was basically the first real week of real summer. The first week where I could wake up and have no obligations to wake up to...and it felt great. Busy as hell though, and I'm fairly sure it's taken its toll in some way or another. Today...I felt...weird, suffice to say. Kind of a "blah" mood...one of those days where I just felt "I wish I could never say anything ever again," in a way. I don't know. Plus my eyes felt heavy all day...but that might just be allergies. And for some reason, since Tuesday-ish, my shoulders (not my shoulders exactly, but the front part where the arms meet the chesticle) have been sore. Eh. I'm sure it'll clear up. So basically yeah...if I seemed colder, meaner, or more disinterested than I am normally, I'm terribly sorry.

Right now I'm reading How to Travel With a Salmon by Umberto Eco. It's a book with like...a lot of little essays in it about random stuff. Umberto Eco's like an Italian journalist that had a frequent column in some newspaper or magazine or something, and this book is basically a collection of it. It's really really entertaining. It's like reading my site, but with a much better writing style, more humor, and more interesting events. Mandler chose this book for me at the end of the year from what she collected about me throughout the year and through my Personal Literary History essay. So that was really really cool of her. She picked a mighty fine book. However there's this one chapter...Stars and Stripes...that seems so much out of style from the book. It's like a sci-fi narrative. It's interesting, sure, but it's immensely longer than his other 2-3 page essays, and it drags like crazy. Oh well...it's still good.

I haven't done a drawing in literally forever (woo-oo, woo-oo, hyperbole police). I promise I'll do one tomorrow. Promise.

Boo, my entries as of late suck. Whatevas.

I'm updating somewhat because Kavit's a little bitch. He won't leave me alone. The title's self-explanatory. Since the inception of my xanga, I've uploaded random (well...usually random) songs as my background music, to let people get a taste or whatever into my music, and maybe find new music that they'd like. But no one looks at/gives two shits about my xanga, so it's somewhat of a failed idea.

Until today.

I found this Flash music player on a site, and I stole it. I modified it a bit and put my music into it. Now you don't have to go to my xanga! Hooray! There's like 16 or something tracks on it right now, and it breaks down as follows...

1. Strung Out - Alien Amplifier
2. Led Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks
3. Wicked - Dancing Through Life
4. The Shins - Mine's Not A High Horse
5. Chase - Get It On
6. Slick Shoes - Darko
7. The Bouncing Souls - Kate is Great
8. AFI - Your Name Here
9. Only Crime - Sedated
10. The Vandals - Count to Ten
11. Dillinger Four - Mosh for Jesus
12. None More Black - Everyday Balloons
13. Rise Against - Black Masks and Gasoline
14. The Teen Idols - Insanity Plea
15. Against Me! - Joy
16. Something Corporate - Konstantine

That's about it for now. I add a new song with each update. I'll probably do another one tomorrow.

Rock on, beaches.

Alright, so a picture is worth a thousand words, right? If so, this will be the longest entry to date. In fact, I've even cleared out the rest of my entries because this one will be so picture heavy. I deleted the rest of the entries to let the page load faster and whatnot. Don't worry though, the rest of the entries are not long gone and forgotten--you can still find them by clicking the Archive button at the top (three out of four working buttons?!). Notice that these pictures have been heavily resized to save physical space and bandwidth.

And so it begins...me and Allison headed over to Alicia's house at 9916 Schiller Blvd. Thanks again Saurabh...though I do somewhat blame myself for completely forgetting what Alicia's house looked like. Then again, I haven't been there since like sophomore year. So here comes the guys' group picture.

Should I name them? Sure, I'll try. In order from left to right...David Garnica, Greg Parkhill, Mike DiMaso, Julio Sañtaña (wahaha), Brian Gordon, Robert Korsch, Erik Hajek, Chris Malicdem, Michael McJoAnnesdaterson, Myself, Dan Garcia, and Saurabh Jain.

Wasn't too hard...but I'll struggle more on the girls' picture.

From left to right...Hosanna McRobertsdaterson (sorry), Charisse Deane, Paulina Radomski, Robyn Cacioppo, Alicia Gutierrez, Sarah Walter, Sylwia Wierzchowic (sic), Anna Jakubowska, Allison Kriauciunas (I didn't even need to look at her xanga for that, hooray), JoAnne Stankiewicz, Sam Wilson, Nahal McSaurabhsdaterson (sorry...I don't even know if I have the first name right...), Sandy Garnica.

This was Ze Lobby of the Donald Stephens ballroom and whatnot. Lots o' people. They had yet to find out that the dance floor that would accomodate all of them was as small as a single bathroom tile (no joke.)

The wonderful Ms. Allison Kriauciunas in a candid shot. She stands like that naturally, I swear it isn't a pose. Oh, and the beautiful earpiece-donning Mr. Mike Rickert standing in the background, assuring the safety of all promenade participants.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap a picture of any of the main meals...however, I did get dessert.

The chocolate ice cream ball, with exactly four blueberries, a kiwi and strawberry slice, and mint leaf thrown in for good measure.

Allison, making sure she gets the full $50 out of her dessert. She and I were the first ones to absolutely devour that thing. It was pretty good, I'm not going to lie. Notice the correctly positioned corsage, after a few minutes of uncertainty, we got it upright. Also, notice how I employed the "Rule of Thirds" to get a near perfect picture composition. Modest, if I say so myself.

The dance floor, cut off due to the limited range of the camera's flash. Notice Mike and Sylwia staring at each other longingly in the left foreground...aww, how cute! Also notice the right midground, with David Garnica and his date, holding onto his neck for dear life. I don't know, I found it amusing.

Where was Allison, you ask? I think in the bathroom. That or ditching me for another man, both the latter and former are both feasible explanations. Anyways, she returned in this picture.

Ms. Kriauciunas in her "pose of content."

Picture taken by Allison. This is my "face of content" after seeing her return.

This is a 4 second long exposure of the inside of the limo. I would've tried a flash shot, but several of the limo's passengers shunned me for such outlandish behavior--apparently that flash had the capacity to blind the limo driver and send us spinning off the road. At least it would've been a fashionable car crash. Aaaanyways, I took a lot of acid during the dance, so I feel that this picture of the limo is an accurate visual representation of what I was seeing.

Afterwards, it was Second City. I didn't take any pictures because my batteries died. For good measure, however, here's a picture of the last day in band class.

Notice the five young lads sleeping/getting ready to sleep/wanting to sleep. In order from left to right, Erik Johnson (he was out from the start of the class to the end of the class), Brian Gordon, Dan Nowak (head visible), Rod Stoilov (hair visible), Kevin Brody, Noah Pligge, Nate Giese.

So after Second City, we were placed in the predicament of how we were getting home. Originally, we were going to take the train to the Rosemont blue line stop, where several cars would've been waiting for us. However, one of our two limo drivers was nice and offered to give a ride home to however many he could fit. Unfortunately, due to insurance policy, eight of us were stuck...marooned on Treasure Island (ahaha, Erik). Thankfully, Mrs. Walter took us all in her Honda CRV, quite comfortably (except for the three of us in the trunk...actually the fetal position wasn't too bad). We were dropped off at the Rosemont blue line station, where then Chris dropped Erik, Allison, and me off at Alicia's house. So I drive Allison home, and we had a nice several minute long embrace (Yes. A simple hug...no more, no less. I swear it. That's for rumor clearance, by the way. You know who you are.), and I went home, arriving at 2:40ish.

That's about it. It was just a pictorial entry, not much word content. If you need specifics, just ask me and I'll tell you eeeverything that happened from start to finish. Or you can go to Allison's xanga, or perhaps even Erik's.

Thank you again, Allison, for giving me the pleasure of your accompaniment. I was ecstatic that you were willing to go with me, instead of running away in a fit of fear and disgust, like most other girls. I hope you had a rockin' time, because I know I did.

The day after...(no pictures!). Basically it was just prom recuperation. Went to Woodfield with Erik, Saurabh, and Chris to return our tuxedos. The sucker at the desk didn't realize I was missing a cuff-link. Though I'm fairly sure he didn't care...then we had to go to the "hip" (it should be him, damnit...it's the harlem-irving mall, not the harlem-irving plaza. Ironically however, it's quite possibly the most un-hip place to be) to drop off Chris's tux. Then Taco Bell with Robert and Kavit. Later, we went to Joe Lukowski's house to formally give our "goodbyes" before he leaves for the Army (good luck, Joe!). I went home, and two or so hours later, I went out again with Chris Sellke and Wallo Villacorta, quite possibly the two coolest East Leyden juniors. We went to Wendy's, and I found out that it's impossible to eat and talk with Saltines in your already dry mouth. Then we drove around for an hour listening to various songs, including but not limited to Uncle Jesse's "Forever".

That's my Friday and Saturday in a nutshell beaches.

Oh snap! Minor name edits.