May 17th, 2005 -- Image dump.

I figured I might as well update, seeing how it's been two months.

So this entry's just gonna be what its title says...an image dump. For some reason my camera phone was tarding it up and not letting me transfer pictures over. I got it fixed a few days ago and I figure a good way to celebrate was to take all the recent pictures I've taken with it and dumping them over here.

Yeah, so basically this entry won't be too friendly to the readers who have yet to get a connection that isn't from the year 1998. I'm sorry, but it's true. Sucks to your assmar.

The pictures are small though, so yeah. If that counts for anything. And we begin...

These first few pictures are from that huge immigration rally that happened like two weeks ago. It was insane. I wish I had done this entry on that day, since I'd have been able to remember all that happened. Alas, I can't. Lots of patriotism (American and Un-American (not Anti-American, just patriotism for countries that aren't America)). The amount of non-Mexicans (and non-Hispanics, for that matter) was surprising...err...not to sound incredibly racist or anything. It was truly a day of the Mexican...and other nationalities. I guess that pun doesn't work too well.

Here's a picture I took of the Cumberland Blue Line stop like two weeks ago. It completely wigged out the other day. Usually it displays relevant information (actually, not really...last I remember it was telling CTA passengers to be prepared for cold weather), but since then, it has decided to display random words and garble. You can't really make it out, but the left part says "Train arriving shortly" and the right hand part is "Train arriving shortly" but with random lights and messed up letters and such.

Oh, and there was no train arriving shortly. At all. But I guess I'm putting this picture up here because I will always have a small spot in my heart for Guy-in-Blue-Shirt-and-Grey-Beard-but-Brown-Hair. Here's to you, sir. Here's to you.

Onto more recent events...

Fuckin' kids.

Some douchehole decided it would be keen to shoot a hole or somehow otherwise break my car window on the red Subaru. I don't know how or if I'll even replace that win'der. Man. That was a bad day.

This next one however, was a great day.

It's Late Night, with Conan O'Brien! Ba-da-bap-ba-na, ba-da-bap-ba-na-na-na!

Yeah, I got tickets for it last Friday. Well...I didn't get tickets, but Kara did, and being such the nice person she is, brought me along. Well it's not like that mattered anyways, because the people who waited early enough in the standby line got tickets as well (exempli gratia Justin M. and Sooze).

It was drizzlin' and balls cold that day, so as a nice surprise, Conan came out...

...and gave us all free Uno's pizza. Sure it wasn't the best pizza ever (Nancy's makes a better deep dish), but it was warm...and free...and handed out by Conan O'Brien. He went along the line and shook a lot of people's hands. My hand was not shaken, but I did lay a hand on his shoulder.

I couldn't take any mid-show pictures due to their "No photography allowed" rule, so I got a quick one beforehand. Yeah...the Max Weinberg 7 are pretty frickin' rad. Like...really. They're really really good. They play pre-show, during the commercials, and post-show. Before the show, their trumpet player held out a beautiful note for about 2-ish minutes. Ahh, circular breathing. It was sweet. Also, if you notice, our seats were pretty damned good. Ninth-row center. It was glorious, if I may say so.

Two very blurry pics. Yeah. I didn't get anything autographed, but eh. Whatevas.

Here's a fun one. Lord Douchington over here made the great decision of parking in front of my frickin' driveway in order to establish his powerful reign of douchery over the land of Douchester (pronounced Doo-shess-tur, not Doosh-stur).

I stood near the car, eyeing it, thinking, "What fucking idiot does this?" Funnily enough, my next-door neighbor's friend/relative/whatever came out, and issued me an apology from Lord Douchington himself.

Last one!

This one's from today (taken with my Canon A75, so the quality's a tad bit better). Literally like 10 seconds prior to this picture, the sky was clear. These dark-ass clouds (dark ass clouds?? Groooss!) just came swirling in like nobody's business. In retrospect, I should've taken a video of it, but I was driving at the time so I didn't have the time to switch over to the video mode. Yeah but then it started hailing. That was insane. I was all like "Aww, hail naw!" (man, I am so funny.)

Yeah but seriously, hail was a trip.

Mmmhmm, that's about it.

Song for the day...maybe two? Yeah, sure, why not.

The first is The Fuzz by The Bloody Hollies. I really like The Bloody Hollies. And I hope they like me too. The next song is another new band I've been getting into recently. It's Miner at the Dial-A-View by Grandaddy. It's sooooo good. Give it a listen.

And you'll notice that I haven't removed Vincent by Don McLean. Yeah, that song's never leaving. In fact, I'm moving it up to the third song. I love it too much to delete it.

Yeah...sorry about not updating. I'm making a big change to the site, though. Some of you know what it is, because I had to test it out. The rest of you will have to wait.

Dear Chicago Police Department,

I would like to applaud you on your wonderous efforts to contain and prevent all sorts of crime on the wild streets of Chicago. As we all know, in this day and age, it is often deemed necessary to take whatever preventative measures in order to deter crime or other bad events to occur. It's nice to know that I no longer see youngster troublemakers, smoking on the El train, while harassing innocent do-good people just to get a kick. I can finally take solace in the fact that I will no longer see that man on the train, soliciting his card game, conning all the unknowing passers-by. It's just great knowing that Montana Street on DePaul University's Lincoln Park Campus is a safe street to walk on at night.

Oh wait, what is that? Just last week, I was harassed by young "thugs," who were smoking on the train in addition to harassing two young couples who were minding their own business. Oh, but it's OK cops. I fended for myself and came out fine. Oh...wait...so you mean there's still that card-dealing con artist on the train? Where are you guys then? I mean, his schedule is like clock-work. Same place. Same time. Every day. Huh? Montana Street isn't a safe street to walk down at night? Oh, that's right...in these past few years there have been several instances of rape and mugging. Where were you guys then?

Hm, that's right. Wasting your time, fining individuals for eating on the train.

Yeah, apparently it's a crime. Despite, in all my years of riding the train, the fact that I've seen countless numbers of people eating various fast food meals on the train. And not just french fries or something small, but entire meals. And all those times, I've seen CTA Authority Police turn the shoulder and look the other way.

Not this time, however.

So let's backtrack...what went down, exactly? Weeeell...Ol' Raul and I were headin' up to Guitar Center (of course) and decided to take the train. Along the way, we got Subway (Thursdays are Italian BMT day. It is not right to pass that up). Waiting for the train, we eat our Subway. Of course, he finishes before I do. Next to us, and I mean literally right next to us, not a few feet away or on the other side of the platform, but standing almost shoulder to shoulder, were two well-to-do officers. They both see that I am eating, and say not a word.

So I step onto the train, finishing up whatever was in my mouth...I had a mustard-soaked cucumber slice on my bottom lip that I wasn't planning to let dangle the entire time. The very instant I sit down, one of the two officers asks me for ID. Of course, unbeknownst to my maldoings (is that even a word?), I ask why. The officer points to a small sign that's no more than a foot wide, tucked away in the upper corner of the train car, covered by grimy train grime, informing of the "NO SMOKING, RADIO PLAYING, LITTERING, OR EATING" policies on the train. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know..." I reply. "Well now you do," said the officer in a smug, pseudo-authoritative voice.

"Oh, but I'm SNACKING!" replied the man in the pair of seats to my left, in a mocking, indignant voice. Sir, you are not helping out our cases by counter-douching these two officers. It's obvious that their combined douchery has saturated all possible realms of douchitude in the current situation. A third douche, according to popular belief, creates a douche crowd. Well he gets fined. As do I. As, do, I.

Like I'd even eat on the train. The stench of urine emanated throughout the train car. Whoever eats on the train must...

I was not fortunate enough to fit any of these aforementioned categories.

Irregardless, this is just ridiculous. On the "Ordinance Violation" ticket, there are several pre-written offenses...Drinking alcohol on the public way. Public urination. Drinking alcohol on CTA. Trespassing on CTA - Nonpayment of fare. Unsafe conduct on CTA - Crossing between cars. Smoking on the CTA. After hours on park district property. Alcohol on park district property. Animal under restraint on park district property (that doesn't even make sense...).

Oh, look what's not on that list. EATING. On the back of the ticket, there's a list of ordinance codes, and the code he wrote on my ticket, (either 10-18-26 #1.3 or 98-126 #1.3 or a various combination of these numbers, or any numbers) is nowhere to be found on the back. Nowhere. The closest thing, 98-126 #1.4 (Drinking Alcohol on the CTA) is $150. 98-126 #1.8 (Smoking on the CTA) is $35. The cheapest fine on the back of the ordinance violations is $25, 9-52-020. I looked it up, and it's apparently a fine for riding your bicycle on the sidewalk on certain streets in downtown Chicago.

The cops themselves weren't sure of the code. One of them had to radio in and ask for the ordinance code for eating on the train. "Err, uh, I think it's nine-eight something..." I heard. Ridiculous.

The officer didn't even have the decency to put on the correct date of the crime I had committed. He had written down 3/15 (Ahh, the Ides of March...how I loathe thee), when today is the 16th. What. A. Jerk.

Anyways, my court date is 4/26 at 10:30 AM. I am for sure contesting this. I'm keeping my resigned sense of indignation. I'm not paying a dime unless there is no way out of it. Sorry, CPD, you're not getting my money that easily.

The songs for today are the same songs, done by two (kinda) different bands. The song is Anchorless, by Propagandhi and the Weakerthans. Little known fact -- The Weakerthans used to be a side project by the bassist of Propagandhi. Eventually they split off and The Weakerthans became a full time band. Heck, the Weakerthans' first album, Fallow, was distributed under Propagandhi's own record company, G7 Welcoming Committee Records. Just a little musical history lesson. Anyways, Anchorless is a good song, regardless of which band plays it.

Haha, and not like it matters, but the instant the officer asked for my ID, I thought to myself "This is going to be an update." I'm sure Raul thought the same thing too.

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Guest Entry! Real Quick.

To briefly contribute to Mr. Nadonga's rant about the douche-baggery of police and various officials, I present to you an unsolicited, yet highly relevant short anecdote about a certain run in with the law had by certain individuals who are certainly NOT named Kevin Brody, Raul Cotaquispe, and Dan (I don't know his last name).

Last night, upon returning from his relatively impromptu trip to Georgia , Raul and Dan summoned me from my dwelling at around midnight (Indian time) to say hello. Upon greeting them, I noticed that the SUV, still packed with necessities for their cross-country trip, left very little room for yours truly to sit. That being said, I was forced to half lie/sit on the folded over seat behind the driver. Such negative circumstance was washed away, however, by the presence of some sweet sweet, highly illegal fireworks that Raul and Dan had brought back from their trip.

EXCELLENT.

Naturally, the newly formed trio decided it was a good idea to light said fireworks from the car and shoot (or throw, we had variety!) said explosives at our friends' houses. At one point, comically enough, our trio even made a stop at Derrick's house and attempted to shoot him with bottle rockets (failed, but a good attempt).

Anyhoo, after our shenanigans had run their course, we decided to make the drive back home...at which point (having already halted our pyrotechnics) we were pulled over.

Now, again, let me set this scene. I am laying/sitting in the back of a fully packed SUV, next to literally PILES of illegal fireworks.

I (very half-assedly) try to cover the fireworks with my body as the police officer looks directly at me through the window (flashlight in hand) and asks Raul for his license. The officer then asked where we were going, if we were drinking, and let us go.

LET US GO.

WITH FIREWORKS.

(And one of us wasn't even white!)

Seriously, I wasn't even doing a very good job of covering the contraband. So, in essence, the moral of the story here is.

Fireworks–no biggie.............half eaten cucumber–watch out.

Sorry Derrick.

Err...well...ahh...mmm...it's just...you see...ahaherr...uhh...Sorry.

The break in between entries is just absolutely ludicrous. I don't know what happened. I can't even give a good reason why I haven't updated either...things just...didn't go. Yeesh, I've let an entire quarter of school go by without updating! That was a pretty good quarter too.

Oh! Well you see, one of my classes was an intro to The Internet and the Web. The class was basic basic programming in javascript, with a little HTML and CSS thrown in. At first, I thought I was gonna finally learn how to frickin' set up a guestbook page, but alas, no. That may or may not be next quarter. But anyways, I was planning to redesign the site completely...well, not completely, but make it a teensy bit better. Most of you folks wouldn't notice, but it would help me out in the long run.

But, alas, laziness. Ha.

So in these past few days, I've asked people to nag me constantly to update my site. Two people have been very fervent about this, and one of them even put up a ridiculous ultimatum. A RIDICULOUS ULTIMATUM. So under such duress, I've no choice but to up-date.

But what to update with? Not so sure...hmm...! Let's see, I guess I can talk about what I gave up for Lent this year. Unfortunately, it holds not a candle to what I gave up last year (see: February 9th, 2005. Located in the first archive page.). I can't swear. That's what I gave up. Swearing. It's...been alright so far. There have been times that really really warranted an F-Bomb or six, but I have held out. Also, I never realized how nonchalantly I swear. Like it just leaks out, similar to the uncontrollable anal (anal isn't a swear word) leakage one may get from eating too many of those WOW potato chips. Gross.

What else, what else, what else...

Umm...for the sake of mentioning it (read: filler material), I got henna done on my left forearm on Wednesday by ol' Kara.

It's sposeda be an eye. Well...it's not sposeda be an eye, but I guess that was the "inspiration" for it. I don't know. It's an eye with embellishments. Eye (HA. I am so clever.) I think it looks pretty frickin rad. I mean, I'd never get it tattooed, but it looks nice.

Off-topic (what isn't?), but I've been spending a looot of time at DePaul lately, and it's absolutely wonderful. I just wish I had dormed there...eeeagh.

OH...and...haaa...errr...weeeell you seeeee...There's this entry I have that is unfinished. The original date on it was December 8th (yikes.), and I haven't touched it since apparently December 11th (yikes.). It's about 1/2 to 3/4ths completed (yikes.), but I never bothered to complete it... (yikes.). So um...I'll get on that...sometime in the future...It's a good entry though. I really enjoy it. I'll try to finish it over this next week (SPRIIIING BREAAAAAK!) but I can't make any promises...I can't drop any "P-Bombs" over it. So...we'll see.

Music music music...there's so many songs that I'd love to put up right now, considering I haven't in like 10 weeks. Perhaps I'll upload more than one song. Yeah. That sounds good.

This first one is a track by Latterman...one of my most recent new "digs." I really really really like these guys. Some of you may not. Anyways, the song's "This Project is Stagnant (Get it Out of My Face)." It's...it's really happy.

The second track is a lot more "listenable," I guess. It's "Under the Weather" by KT Tunstall. It's basically a polar opposite of the Latterman song. KT Tunstall is like...wowza. She's got a really calming voice and she plays guitar. And she's half-Asian. Yikes. Marry me. Anyways, enough of her. I get this song stuck in my head often, so here. Listen. It's good.

Looks like I'm done for this entry, which means I get to live. Everyone's happy!

Yeah I can't really explain the title. I just felt like it. Yeesh...I've neglected this site for like a month now. I apologize to all two of you who frequently check the site and leave utterly disappointed. So, to make up for it, here's two entries mixed into one!! Now before all of you cream your pantalones, I'm sorry to let you down, but only one of the two is written by Kevin Brody. The other one is done by me. So in case you don't feel like trudging through my entry, I'll put Kevin Brody's first so you don't have to scroll past mine to get it. It just makes it easier that way. Don't blame me, it's just science.

Without further adieu-dieu...

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"Untitled" by Kevin Brody
(seriously, he didn't title it...what a jerk)

So, at the end of the year it seems pretty commonplace to make a huge retrospective of major or memorable events. Whether it be MTV's top 100 videos, or someone's best movie list, there always seems to be an excess of lists and re-caps as New Year's Eve approaches.

This will be none of that. :)

Well, I take that back actually–this is some of that. Not much though.

Since this is clearly a guest entry on Mr. Nadonga's sweet sweet forum for writings extrodanaire...I figure it should be pretty obvious that I at least had something in mind when I asked him if I could do another guest spot.

But truthfully–I really don't. Or didn't.....whatever.

All I remember is that last year, or maybe two years ago, Mike Yarnell made a big list of all the things he was thankful for that happened during that particular year, and I thought it was really pretty neat. I, however, just really don't possess that kind of cognitive capacity–meaning I just would never be able to remember all the really awesome things I would want to put down. Invariably I would forget and leave something out, and that, of course, would blow.

So, as a way around all of that I figure I'll just sum it up by saying “it's probably all of those little things that I can't remember that, in the end, are the things I never want to forget.” All the specific instances where my friends made me laugh, made me feel really good, or just offered their support. All the times when I felt really alive and vibrant. All the times I took for granted.

Of course there are countless unbelievably awesome things that happened this year that I'm incredibly thankful for...but truthfully....

In the end, all of those big things are really just made up of the little moments you rarely ever remember. And then of course, sometimes you do remember those little things, and they're absolutely as clear in your head as all of the big stuff ever was.

And I guess in a way this is all pretty cheesy...and to some degree, pretty unoriginal. But...I'm okay with that. Over the course of the year I thanked numerous people in numerous ways and at numerous times...so I feel like I've thanked myself out for all the specifics this year.

But just as note, to everyone who I never mentioned specifically, to everyone I care about, to everyone that (maybe even without knowing it) helped me learn to be a better person, to everyone who made me laugh, to everyone that taught me something, to everyone that shared my passion for music (shitty though it may be :)), to everyone who was ever excited to see me, or excited I was coming home or sad to see me go or who hugged me like I was never going to see them again, and finally, to everyone that I think are really wonderful people. Thanks.

You're all awesome.

For all the moments I can never forget, for all the moments I will most likely forget, and for all the times when even though nothing memorable even occurred...

Thanks. I appreciate all of them.

I spent a lot of time this year thinking about who I was...and I think that at the end of it, I'm really happy with where I'm going...so to everyone who had absolutely anything to do with that, whether you know it or not...

Seriously, thanks. I was kind of a freak-show nut-job for a while, thanks for not bailing on me :)

I guess that pretty much wraps it up...cliches and all. Most of that up there is pretty sappy, and like I said, pretty cliche, but it's all good in the end. I guess maybe the whole point of all this is just to add another little reminder to myself that I'm really really lucky in a lot of ways, and I want everyone to know how appreciative I am of you. You guys really are pretty fantastic...and I hope you all try to remember it once and a while :).

Now, I told myself that I wasn't going to end this with a crappy lyric...but I mean, some of them are just written SO well. Okay.....well maybe not so well, but I mean, good, right?

SO, I picked two which I think are pretty self-explanatory and pretty good. The first one as an ode to what I said and listened to last year at New Year's, and the second one for one of my best friends who, somehow, managed to stumble across this new track before I got a chance to. Plus, it's pretty fitting for the New Year. SO:

“It's been a long December and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.”

“Cause tonight's the night the world begins again...just a chance that maybe we'll find better days.”

Thanks a lot.

The best of everything to everyone.

Love,

Not Derrick :-)

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What a nice sappy-face entry. Here's the part of the entry where you can leave to do other more worthwhile, important things (such as 'marching up and down the square' (if you can name that reference...that would just be amazing)).

And now for something entirely monotonous...

Hiya, folks. Basically, I sit here, facing my monitor at 3:39 PM on Saturday, December 31st, 2005, with absolutely no idea on what I should write. In all honesty, I wasn't planning to do a New Years entry...I mean I didn't do one last year (the entries jumped from November 15th to frickin' January 10th!!), and no one seemed to complain, and I doubt I'll get much praise from this entry, either. I mean, apparently I'm not ridiculously funny, despite how many people tell me so.

But then again, since when did I do anything for praise from others? Especially not for this site.

No more stalling! Alright, here's the bulk of the entry, I guess. Last year, I did a miniature "2004, a Year in Review" for my January 10th entry. If you don't remember it...let's run the ol' nostalgia machine and bring it back...

Sweet-ass. Also, apparently, Veenter Break 2004 was the best break I had. I have no idea what I did, but I bet it was awesome. Considering I've been off since Thanksgiving, and this is my last weekend, and I've spend about 3/4ths of my break crying alone in my room (laugh it up. Yeah. You know who you are.), perhaps this one wasn't as great? I don't know. This one was good enough for me to get by.

But anyways, let's do a little dissect-age. "WHO KNOWS WHAT 2005 WILL BRING." And we know the answer to that. Lots and lots of rockage. There's way too much to recapture in such a small limited text area. But basically, this summer was leaps and bounds better than that of 2004, for many reasons. Sadly, though, I think I've broken more bonds than I've made this year compared to last year...I don't exactly want to blame college, but that might just be me. I'm not sure yet. But all's well...I've broken the bonds that weren't integral and held onto and "fortified" the bonds that actually mean something to me. I've become super sweet awesome friends with a few people this year (if I've met you during the course of 2005, this means YOU), so that's sahweet. I've also trusted a couple of people far past the borders of conventional trustiness, and I really really really 'ppreciate it. More than you know. More than you know. Funny how I base my year on the quality of friends I have...I don't know. How else would I measure it? How exactly does one measure, measure a year? In daylights? In sunsets?...

Hahaha...call me a fuckin' nerd (I know some of you will, irregardless) but I seriously started laughing oot lood when I was typing that out.

Snap, where was I? Oh right. Err, uhh...I don't want this one sounding too much like Ol' Kevin's, or even my Thanksgiving entry, so I'll stop with all that crapola.

What else to write about...hmm...hmmmmmmm...right. I got it. Well, with every New Years comes the ol' New Years Resolutions. Yeah, most of you probably don't keep yours, you will-less jerks, and I know a lot of you are all up on that "Why wait until New Years to improve yourself? That's something that should be done year-round!" BS. This isn't for you. You can't spoil my Christmas magic.

Last year, my New Years resolution was to turn down the shyness level. I'm not sure about you, but I think it worked for the most part. I bet that clarifies a lot of you who are all like, "How come I didn't notice you existed until senior year?" Yeah. I stick to my resolutions.

Mmm...this year...I haven't put too much thought into it, so I don't know if this'll be a good thing. We'll find out in my entry on December 31st, 2006. But anyways...my main resolution for the year two thousand and six...is to stop avoiding doing things from fear of shame, judgement, anxiety, or anything else. Basically...just...try to be a bit more open to things. I guess. Sounds good in theory, but so did Communism. We all know how that one turned out (haha, I'm a liberal.). Another resolution! I'm seriously gonna try to stop being down all the time. Most of you don't notice it...but there's a select few of you who can tell. Tcha, and I hate it. So I'll cut down on it. And...here's...a resolution that won't really matter to anyone but me. Maybe you would if you knew what I was talking about, it would matter, but not so much anyways unless you're the person I'm talking about. And I sincerely doubt that the person this refers to reads this site. Guh, no more beating around the bush.

Well...it seems that I have a large amount tolerance and patience towards some people, a nearly infinite patience towards others, and a beyond infinite patience for a small handful of people. But...there's one person who always seems to get the butt end of it. With all my patience for everyone else, I guess there's gotta be some pull somewhere else, and unfortunately this person is the only one getting that pull. I mean, for no rational or definable reason at all, I'll get frustrated and on occasion even snap at this person when they really don't deserve it. There's an old proverb that goes, "A person who is outwardly calm has anger raging inside." I guess that's kind of what it is...I don't know. But really, it's an ass move on my part to treat this person the way I do. So, I apologize for that. This year, I'm gonna really make an effort to cut down on that...extend some of my infinite patience along to this person. So where will that "pull" go? No idea. Is this even healthy for me? Even lesser of an idea. What I do know, however, is that there's a large chance this will improve our relationship, and even if it's tough and perhaps unhealthy for me, it'll be great for him. And, at some points, that's what matters to me.

Well! Now that's entirely too personal, haha. So I'll wrap it up. Song for the day? This one's New Years related...One Hundred Resolutions by the Lawrence Arms. Good band. Good Chicago band. Give it a listen and enjoy.

Happy New Years!

So in my endless string of boredom, due to lack-of-school-and-other-obligations, I stumbled upon this site. With the obscene excess amount of time I had, I went for it, because hey...why not? Ya know?

So I did it, and yielded this result.

It's dubbed The Awesome House and it's on Sweet-Ass Rd. (no, not sweet ass road). You can see me frolicking in my mini circle garden on the front lawn. I even drewed the sun. So anyways, after you draw your house, it asks you ten questions about how you drew your house. Apparently, the way you drew your house is supposed to reflect your personality somehow...personally I think that's complete bullshit. I mean it's just a simple house and whatever. I was bored.

But anyways, for the sake of entertainment...this is what it told me...

Well I dunno...it's kinda sorta right. Leader? Me? Maybe. I guess I'm good at making friends...and I do make the most out of it. But that last statement's stupid. Of course I'm gonna try to enjoy my friends as much as I can. Love my house and family, blah blah...gifted artist? I guess you could say that. I mean...I do rock all over your face. I don't think you can tell that from the drawing, but whatever. Then there's some more general bullshits...blah blah and such. That kind of stuff can apply to most anyone.

IIIII don't know, whatever. It was good for a few minutes of entertainment.

But! Now YOU can own real estate on Sweet-Ass Rd. as well!By following this link and drawing a house of your own, I guess it adds it to my street. Sweet-Ass Road. So...effin' go for it. It'd be neat, I guess.

Right now, my creative mind's workin' on an entry that maybe you'll like. It'll be...different. One of you knows what it is already. I'm trying to make this at least half-decent. I haven't really done it in writing, only through spoken word. So we'll see how it turns out.

WHAT COULD IT BE?! I bet'cher'all wonderin' 'n' such. In due time. In duuueee tiiime.

The song for the day? We'll...try something different. Much different. Today's song is Sweet Charity, by Mr. Bungle. Mr. Bungle is a band by Mike Patton, who's done a lot of other stuff. I'm not sure if you guys would know it though. In addition to work with The Dillinger Escape Plan (he was the singer in the Irony is a Dead Scene EP), Mike Patton also fronts a few other bands such as The Fantomas, and most famously (famously?) Faith No More. It's hard to describe Mr. Bungle, since all their songs sound different, basically. Funk...Jazz...Metal? Not sure. Just give it a listen.

So that about does it for today.

So it's Friday...and thus, the end of my five-part-update-extravaganza. I've been lit'rally bizzay all day, and so I'm really effing tired right now. I don't have much energy to write an entry, and of course, no energy to draw a drawring. Even if my name was Simon (Simon? Drawrings? Catch the reference and win points!).

But never fear! Here's Kevin Brody with a FANTASTIC guest entry!

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“A Guest Post? That's almost as honorable as Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners”

I'm not sure that honored is the right word....HOWEVER, seeing as I am an avid reader of this periodically updated non-xanga, xanga page, I feel almost special writing a guest entry for it. It seems so....honorable? Full of honor? Uh......cool?

Cool, that's it.

So right, the guest entry. Truth be told I imagined I'd have a little more time to think this whole thing out, but you know, when the D-Rock asks me to jump, I say how high. (Did anyone ever see that movie? The one with Method Man and Redman at Harvard...getting high? How was it? Good?)

Speaking of rappers in movies, I thought Ludacris was damn good in Crash, no? And Method Man does a respectable job in Garden State. I haven't seen Crossroads (the Britney Spears flick) but I'm pretty sure Method Man could've done a better job.

Wow, three pseudo paragraphs and I haven't said anything of value. Score!

Ah, and my seemingly irrelevant (irreverant?) observations have lead me to my point. Things are kinda funny around here (home) now. I say that because, for example, in the vein of scoring, it seems, among other things, that my parents have become very interested in conversing about my sex life.

Awwwwwwwkward.

Oh, and that's just one example of my parents seeming betrayal of parental responsibilites. Yesterday during the Thanksgiving festivites (after feasting on Wok-prepared turkey), Big Al* prompted me to go get a drink, which is something that prior, was absolutley unheard of from Big Al. And, as such, I proceeded to take a shot of Jager with the family. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Things like that are just on the short list of things that are comically different since leaving for school. There of course are a lot of things which are not so hot, but I'm going to steer clear from getting too emo in this entry. After all, this is almost like an audition. Like, maybe if Derrick stops posting for a while, I can just write and throw something up on here so everyone can say:

“Well, it's updated, but I mean, it's just not the same. Suuuure, the punctuation is there, but it's kind of overused and out of place...and it's really not quite as funny. And where are the italics ? And what the hell is with all those ellipses, try a freakin semicolon or something.”

To which, theoretically I would reply:

“Well geez, you're being a little harsh don't you think? I mean, I was just trying to have some fun and update since Derrick never does. And seriously, are the ellipses really that bad? I mean what, do you like, get off on grammar or something?”

To which....

“Harsh? No, not really...I mean, Derrick has set a standard here, and this shit's just not cutting it. Secondly, yes, they really are that bad, and yes, I do get off on grammar.”

“You know, you just used an ellipses. Ha ”

Thank you, thank you. Again, I've managed to ramble about absolutley nothing and still fill up a bunch of space. I don't even know why I'm going to school, this blogging thing is easy!

OH, okay, one more quick thing. So, I'm watching this MTV True Life special called “I'm Dead Broke” where they're following around these people who are, naturally, dead broke. In the episode there's all sorts of really crappy situations where people have no money to pay rent and are evicted, some dude has to walk 18 miles for his parole hearing cause he has no money, some girl is $20 shy of buying a car she needs to go back to school...

And while watching this show it occurred to me...there's cameramen and a video crew there the entire time . Like, I can't imagine, were I cameraman, not giving that poor girl twenty bucks for the car, or not just giving the dude a ride. I mean, I understand this whole thing about documenting the truth and real situations, but that just seems kinda shady. Like, are you really ruining the show if you give the dude a ride in your van to his parole hearing ? Do you really think you'd be fucking anything up by doing that?

This observation is just one of many reasons why MTV is, simultaneously, the best/worst/tooliest filled station in the world, and usually just a load of shit. (AND YES, tool-iest is a word.)

And that concludes my guest entry. To re-cap:

Honor is: Good
Method Man, Ludacris, Red Man as actors is: Good
Britney Spears is: Bad
Sex life is: Awkward if your parents ask about it
Ellipses are: Bad
MTV Doucmentaries are: MTV DOCUMENTARIES. C'MON.

*Big Al, the man, the myth, the legend.

Big Al is my dad. Big Al Brody, to be exact, and he's cooler than you. Here's why: he likes Eminem and the Beegees, he once covered his car in USA stickers and painted the hubcaps red white and blue, he frequently enjoys talking baby-talk to our dog, AND, at the tender age of 59 years young, he still gets it on with my mom ALL the time.

Yeah, that's right, I said it.

You're grossed out, I'm not.

(It's true too).

OH, and check out the song, and ask Derrick for the story. It's good. It's called Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners by Against Me!

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And so that's it! Fantastic, no? I told you the guest entries would've been a great idea. Now if you effers only participated...

All in all, I think the "Quantity over quality" series was pretty swell. Depending on requests, perhaps it'll happen...again...?

For Kevin Brody and I, this entry is over.

Let me preface this by warning you that this entry'll be pretty sappy. It's only once in a while, so I think it's ok. Ol' Derrick hasn't lost his touch of bad-assery (or what little he has of it).

So here are the guidelines and shit...

Today is Thanksgiving, and so I thought to myself "What better way to give thanks than by individually thanking those whom are most important to me?" Now to save me the hassle of telling everyone individually, I'll utilize my site. So basically, each little "Thanks..." is to a person or a group of people. Each person is only mentioned once, so you can't be two entries...well, except for the very very last thanking and the very very first thanking. The size of the "Thanks..." doesn't mean that that person is more important than everyone else (in most cases...), it's just I have better memory or something. Yeah, so don't take it personally that someone else has more than you. Order of the thanks also doesn't matter. Also, I won't tell you outright who you are. You'll have to guess who you are, and I'll confirm it. Maybe I'll tell you if after the 4th failed try or something. It'll be a Thanks-Game-ing!

First and foremost...Thanks to 42 kids who helped give me quite possibly the best fucking 21 days of my life. This one's prety self explanatory. You know who you are.

Thanks for pushing me...for making me run that extra lap...for making me lift that extra rep. Thanks for giving me the motivation to push myself past what I normally would've without your help. Now, while at the time I really fucking hated it, looking back, I'm definitely a better person from it.

Thanks for serving as my model for what a guitarist should be, haha. Thanks for the musical encouragement, through guitar and through trumpet. Thanks for having a fantastic taste in music. Thanks for the many jam sessions we've had...we need to have a few more in the near future.

Thanks for being just a good friend. I never really had much trouble getting along with you and everything pretty much clicks. You're one of the few people that appreciates a majority of my humor, mainly the nonsensical annoying shit.

Thanks for being a much needed male, haha. Though there have been fall outs in the past, I really appreciate it whenever you're around. I mean, there aren't that many other people who'll catch a majority of my references and even embellish on them.

Thanks for being such a great fucking chum, there. You're one of the few males who understands me completely without having to explain my feelings. Thanks for being the guy who shares many of the female situations that I do. Thanks for being a fellow minority and being one of the few people that I can crack racist jokes with without any hesitation, haha. Despite you being states away, it feels like you're still so close...and that really means a lot to me at this point in my life...so thanks.

Thanks for trusting me with all your shit. Thanks for letting me be an output for your angst, and as of recent, spite, haha. Thanks for all those stories...thanks for letting me in on all your drama. Thanks for telling me that I've helped you feel better. Thanks for being one of the few females that I don't have to act differently around...without having to bite my tongue at things I might say.

Thanks for...everything. Thanks for anything and everything you've ever done, and ever will do for me. Thanks for putting up with all my shit--for listening to all my problems. Thanks for trusting me as much as you do. Thanks for laughing at all my stupid jokes--be it laughing with me or laughing at me. Thanks for being so nice and at times, so mean. Thanks for all one of your bedtime stories. Thanks for not practicing the removal of band-aids, though I'm pretty sure you are. Thanks for your musical encouragement. Thanks for singing. Thanks for all your hugs, which really are some of the best ever...especially the ones where you try to fulfill my quota single-handedly. Thanks for being one of the few people who can change my mood instantly just by shooting a look or saying a phrase. Just thanks for...everything. Thanks for telling me I've helped you feel better, even though at times I'm skeptical. Thanks for being so fucking ridiculously awesome that I can't be thankful enough. Thanks for not forgetting about me despite of how much of a Ms. Popular you've become.

Thanks for...I hate bringing it up each time, because I know you're sick of it...coming with me to that one event that one night. You know what I'm talking about. Thanks for being so kickin' rad. You pick up almost all my references, and I don't think you know how much I appreciate that. Thanks for having one of the best tastes in music I've seen in a female. Thanks for being such a great person to hug and be hugged by. Thanks for laughing at my stupid shit and scorning me for my stupider shit. Thanks for trusting me and letting me trust you as much as I do. Thanks for every single compliment you've ever given me, and just making me feel wanted.

Thanks for being overall a cool effing guy. You're one of the sincerely nicest guys around, which I think is a great quality in this world of douches. Thanks for that one game of tennis, haha. Sorry I lost those balls.

Thanks for arguing with me all those times. Thanks for sticking to your guns and forcing me to stick to mine, regardless of how stupid our arguments were. Despite our constant bickering, we've never ceased to be friends. Thanks for letting me in on all your shit and your problems, regardless of how unable I am to help. Thanks for making me laugh so god-damned hard. You'll never read this.

Thanks for your support in helping me deal with him. You're the voice of reason between us two when we argue. Thanks for keeping my head straight and not letting me get too out of control. You understand the situation more than anyone else, mainly because you're in the same one, haha. Thanks for all your advice, especially regarding school, and more specifically, college.

Thanks for having the most vulgar fucking mouth ever. It's comic relief.

Thanks for being practically the first non-Rhodes person that I met at Leyden. Thanks for sticking it out those four years. Thanks for your crude sense of humor and being one of the most chauvinistic guys around your male friends and one of the most courteous around the female ones. It's really fuckin' hilarious to see you turn that around. We've never really hung out outside of school, except for maybe two or three times, and because we're so different I can see why. It's cool though. Maybe in the future.

Thanks for being...well...so fucking cute, I guess. From your loud mouth to your loud laugh, I can never be mad around you. Thanks for being one of the best people to hug. Thanks for the little stress lemon you gave me so long ago...I still have it, even though I've used it so much it has a hole in it. Thanks for having the uncanny ability to make me smile, whatever you're doing. You'll never read this.

Thanks for being a fellow nerd. You're like my only real-life output for all my nerd-related shit, whether it be computers, science, or even TV shows we watched. Thanks for being open to musical suggestions. Thanks for being one of my best male compadres. Also, thanks for proorfeading my site.

Thanks for...well, you know. I had it all listed in a long and drawn out note para tu cumpleaños. So you know how it goes. Thanks for those late night chats. Thanks for listening to all my shit, and giving me some of yours as well. Thanks for being one of the few people who truly trusts me with everything. Thanks for being one of the few people I can confide in with anything. You're just...awesome. Thanks.

Thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for making the effort to talk to me every day. It's such a great fucking feeling to know that I can still be such great friends with someone who used to be several blocks away, but is now several states away. Thanks for making me do that musical band endeavor thing that never worked out. Thanks for trusting me with all that stuff. Just...I don't know. Thanks for being a real great guy. For some reason you think that sometimes I hate you, or sometimes I give you more shit than other people, but really I don't. You know...when all those college kids came to talk to us before about how you lose your friends even after the first summer, I thought they were insane. And knowing that I've got friends like you, I still think they are.

Thanks for having the most similar sense of humor as I do. Our inside jokes are lost on everyone else but us. It's real comforting to know that someone else in this world of 6.5 billion has the exact same messed up mind that I do. Thanks for picking on me sophomore year. Though I didn't like it at the time, it was character building. That was good times. Thanks.

Thanks for having the most similar taste in music that I do. I mean it's really fucking great. Thanks for appreciating my online grammar more than anyone else. It's comforting to know that someone appreciates that little extra effort. Thanks for being such an easy going guy--someone I never have to feel awkward around. Thanks for your sense of humor. Thanks for those times where you've lightened the "load" of that one other person whom you know I'm talking about.

Thanks for being practically my first friend on the trip. Though I've never really heard you play guitar, it's really great that I can just pick up and talk to you about it. Thanks for having such a laid-back personality...and especially that self-pitying sense of humor. It's fantastic to see someone, like myself, who isn't afraid to take a jab at oneself for the entertainment of others.

Thanks for being one of the most personable guys I know, and my other source of ouput for nerdage. Thanks for those few jam sessions we've had, and thanks for looking at my guitar playing in awe, haha. I still don't see why you did that, it wasn't even that great. But...come back from the army in one piece, man. Thanks.

Thanks for being such an emokid. Thanks for letting me thrash on you for all those years...it was such stress catharsis. Thanks for not letting it affect you personally now, either, haha. I mean, I'm sure you did back then, though. But it's character building.

Thanks for being a fucking riot. Thanks for being able to level with me in terms of photography and whatnot. Your humor is a lot different from mine, but I think they complement each other nicely. Thanks for those times in sophomore Chem and junior English. Way too many memories.

Thanks for coming into my life, albeit quite late. I just can't fathom why we've been friends for such a short period of time, despite us having the same exact friends for the longest time. Thanks for being so kickin' rad. I mean, really. If I didn't already have supposedly five people I had to marry, I'd add you to the list. And thanks especially for your patience regarding this thanks, even in all its shittiness.

Thanks to you guys who've made my transition to college much better than it would've been. Thanks for reminding me that I still have the capacity to make friends with complete strangers. Thanks for providing me a home away from my own. Thanks for letting me feel not so alone in an environment where I'm still completely lost. Most of you will never read this.

Thanks for telling me that I grew up to be everything you expected me to. Thanks for being proud of me. But sometimes...sometimes it just hurts. Sometimes you just piss the fuck out of me. But thanks, anyways.

Thanks to you, guitar, for all those hours of stress relief and emotional output.

Thanks to any and every person I've ever made social contact with. Thanks for liking me. Thanks for hating me. Thanks for laughing with me, and thanks for laughing at me. Thanks for making the effort to humor me. Thanks for not making the effort and making me feel awkward as fuck. Thanks for making fun of me and giving me a taste of humility. It keeps my head small. Thanks for just making me feel wanted, and even sometimes needed. I'm only the person I am today because of all of you. Sadly, only a select few of you will ever know that.

So basically...thanks to all my friends, all my acquaintances, and all my enemies. Thanks for giving me reasons not to be a misanthrope, cut away from all social contact.

There's so much more I'm thankful for, but I'm sure I've bored the crap out of most of you already. I tried to cover everyone, but I'm sure I forgot a lot of people. So I'm sorry, I guess...and I don't mean to. It's just I have a lot of ground to cover.

Songs for the day...two songs that fit the motif of this entry. Thank You by the Descendents and Satellite by Strung Out.

Thanks for reading all of this, or even just parts of it.

FUCK! I forgot a few of you! It seems my foolproof method was not as fool proof as I had hoped. I'll add the ones I've forgotten later on, but for now! I'm sorry to all those I forgot, and 'specially to Laura P. I'm sorry Laura P.

You know, going back go school really is a lot better when you don't go to it anymore.

Now you know me, I'm not the type to go around summarizing my day through my site (like I said...God forbid I actually use this as a blog), but today just might be an exception. As I've stated earlier, me, Julio, and Kavit (Julio, Kavit, and I...whatever--the grammar on this site is lightyears ahead of most anyways) took a little trip down to Leyden to talk to Mandler's class about college.

Things...are different at Leyden. Security's a lot tighter now; one must have a pre-arranged appointment to visit the school. That Access/Phase II bullscheisse doesn't help much either. Anyways, where was I...right, so me and Julio meet Mandler down by the schoolyard (yeah, I bet you like that reference.) and she tells us to go down to lunch, since we were early.

I recognize not a face in the cafeteria, excepting a few familiar ones.

'Twas really strange. There's now five lunch periods, so seniors in that one was very scarce. Ol' Mr. Rickert gave me guff 'bout my overcoat, jokingly, and said that since we weren't really students, but visiting guests, we were allowed to go to the teacher's cafeteria. Yes. The teacher's cafeteria...the place that for twelve long years, is strictly off-limits to students like I. But no more.

So ol' Ju' and I get down there and find two tables full of teachers. I instantly gravitated to the table full of English teachers + Mr. Vail. And...wow...sometimes you forget teachers are still actually people. Their lunch table was literally like any other high school lunch table. Admittedly, they're much more mature in that the terms "fag," "gay," "retard," "fuck," and most other obscenities are absent from lunch table vernacular. However, it's still the exact same. Rossi and Ms. Lausch and Mr. Vail were caught up in Thanksgiving plans while Berliant and Narter were engaged in a heavy back-and-forth bickering regarding something about the English department--I'm not sure, but it was probably unimportant. I just thought it was really interesting to see these people who are supposed to be much higher than the normal student acting just as any normal high schooler would. It's pretty cool, I guess.

So yeah, I talked about scheisse off the top of my head regarding college. I had to speak to two classes...and the first class was much better than the second, quite honestly. It was just an easier atmosphere to "work" in. Talking to kiddies is fun.

But speaking of which, Ms. (soon to be Mrs. if you haven't heard) Mandler's younger brother was there today...in from California or something, I don't know...I'll ask her or something maybe. But anyways, after school while in Narter's room (who told us some pretty rad...and interesting...stories), Ms. Mandler came up to me and was like, "My brother wants to talk to you." And apparently, he was all like "Have you ever tried acting classes? You really should...I think you'd do really well at some kind of improv class or something." Then there was a lot of noise going on and he was kind of quiet and he said something about getting in contact with him if I was interested...something about L.A....something about Second City...some other stuff about acting. It was interesting and shit, but I just couldn't understand. I don't know...I've never thought about acting, but apparently I have some kind of knack for it...? Improv class does sound enticing...It's nice that I get to add one more thing to my list of "Things That I Possibly Want to Do With my Life" list. If it isn't long enough...but shit, imagine if I became some kind of super insane improv actor! Or even a real actor! Wouldn't that be a fucking trip (trip? wow...welcome to 1970s lingo)?

I saw most of the teachers I wanted to see today...Mandler, Narter, Callister, Vail, Darth Russell, Hopp, Rossi, and Reeves. Yeah, so they're basically all the same...no new ground there. Teachers are a lot easier to talk to when they don't teach you anymore.

Yeah, that's about it. I can't remember much else, but it was cool going back. School is great when you don't have to do shit.

Song for today...I think Bliss by Muse would be good. I think I might've had one other Muse song on here, but I don't remember. But here it is anyways.

Out.

Julio was supposed to pull through with a guest entry, but I don't know where he is...still coming back from MUOhio, probably. It'll be up tomorrow I guess.

Or, someone else should volunteer to do a guest entry. It's not fun to have guest entries when no one wants to do it. Yeah, thanks for that people.

To make up for the extreme lack of content,

Content tomorrow, I swears it.

Song of the day...we haven't had a Dresden Dolls song, have we? No, I don't think so...so, for today, I bring you The Perfect Fit by the Dresden Dolls. And remember to press play on the player...located directly above this text and below the site's buttons.

Alright, done for today.

Yeah, so I said I was gonna do this, and as per obligation, I will. I can't promise you that it'll be a good entry, but that's wy it's quantity over quality, right? Right.

Well anyways...I am bone dry of ideas. I made a solid attempt to study for my Latin American History final today yesterday (whaaaat?). I swear I did. I tried asbestos I can to study, but it just didn't work out. I went over my notes for about ten minutes, but I got nothing out of it.

I think there's something wrong with me. I mean...I can't do it, even when the motivation is there. Yeah, so whatevas. I didn't study. I made another attempt on the train this morning, but it still didn't work out. I stared blankly at the class reader for about 10 minutes, but then I decided to look outside the window for the remaining time on the bus.

So basically, the Good Neighbor Policy is now the Alliance for Progress and vice versa. And Carlos Castillo Armas is Jose Arevalo. But I think the actual essay part was solid. I'm not sure. I stil stand by my point that studying does nothing for me. Especially not making flashcards--that's just complete weaksauce.

Anyways, apparently on Wednesday, I have to take a trip back to ol' Mandler's (I wonder if she still reads this...?) and talk to the high school kiddies about ze college life along with Julio and Kavit. It'll be a riot and a half. I don't know what I'll be talking about. I'm a frickin' loser bum who lives at home, so I can't speak too much about the social aspect.

But ooh, I sure regret living at home, every single minute I'm here. Gawwaghh.

I think I'm supposed to talk about...foozeball? No one else bothered to suggest anything, or volunteer for a guest entry (Julio did, and some others pending maybe) So foozeball it is. I had a hard time lookin' up foozeball on da internets, because apparently it's foosball.

I did not know that.

That's a little piece of info for all youse to take home with you, perhaps in a little doggie bag of useless information. So anyways, foosball, or "table football (not our football, it's the world's football, aka soccer), is a umm...fun game to play. It really is. But, on the history of foosball. Apparently, the word "foosball" is a derivation of the German word for soccer, Fußball. It was invented by a Spaniard named Alejandro Finisterre, who came up with the game after he was hospitalized by a bombing in Madrid! Wow...I bet none of you knew that.

Umm...what else about foosball...apparently, you're not supposed to spin at all. I always go by the 1-spin, or "bicycle kick," rule. But your hand is supposed to remain in contact with the handle at all times. Heh. Wow, this entry blows. I'm sorry. Foosball was a pretty good topic, as well. I'm sorry I couldn't deliver.

I'm gonna mercy kill this one, much like the mercy killing I should've given something else earlier this summer. I don't like thinking about it.

Quantity over quality, Part II tomorrow. Maybe a guest entry? I don't know.

Song for the day...let's replace a None More Black song with another None More Black song, to the dismay of Kevin Brody. This one's called "Oh, There's Legwork." I like it, I don't know. Does anyone actually listen to the music aside from the occasional Cezary and Steve Zablocki? Ehhh.

No drawing. I gave you three last time. Maybe sometime else this week.

Oh, wait! Before I go...last minute edit.

EclecticEargasm (11:06:02 PM): what are the demographics of your website's audience?
EclecticEargasm (11:06:14 PM): age, gender, ethnic background, financial status?
oLiLFLiP522o (11:06:44 PM): whoever my friends are
oLiLFLiP522o (11:06:51 PM): and whoever decides to stumble upon my page
oLiLFLiP522o (11:06:55 PM): so age, around ours
oLiLFLiP522o (11:06:58 PM): 16-20
oLiLFLiP522o (11:07:03 PM): gender, both
oLiLFLiP522o (11:07:10 PM): ethnic background, none in particular
oLiLFLiP522o (11:07:15 PM): financial status, fuckin' loaded
EclecticEargasm (11:07:20 PM): lmao
EclecticEargasm (11:07:23 PM): fuckin' LT kids

Haha. Fuckin' Julio. He shouldn't be saying anything about people who are loaded. Loaded effer.

So I decided to update today for a few reasons. The main one being that I've done jack-effing-shit the entire day, so why the hell not? Also, if you look back to this time last year, the updates went September 23rd, November 15th, and then January 10th. We don't want any o' them long intervals of no updateage now, do we? So no, I'm updating.

Out of boredom today, I discovered a nice little program called openCanvas, a little drawing program catered to people with drawing tablets (me). It's simple and barebones, and lets ya draw and sketch simple drawings fairly quickly. It's kinda like...MSPaint Advanced. Anyways, I messed around with it for a few minutes, and got this little dealy.

I don't know. It started out with a random curvy line, and I just kept building on it until I got our little finished product here. No, I don't know why I chose to draw an alien, and no, I don't know what he's looking at or why he's surprised. I...I just did it.

These next two drawings weren't made in openCanvas. These were made with Corel Painter (which I use to draw everything on this site). It's a lot more robust, and looks more like the real thing (material (paint, paper, pencils, etc.) wise, not subject wise.). I had a lot of downtime, so I figured why not.

I worked off of my facebook picture, as seen below.

Yeah, it's a tad bit blurry. Don't blame me for that one. I'm not going to name names, Kara, but I wasn't the one who took that picture.

Alright, so first up, I did a rough sketch and shading...

(click on the picture to embiggen)

This took me about...45 minutes-ish. The hair took effing for-ev-vur. I was planning on stopping there, I was somewhat content. But no, boredom came knocking at my feet and I started to wonder how it would look like if I smoothed out the shading.

So...15 minutes more later (making the grand total about an hour on this junkypoo)

(click on the picture to embiggen)

Yeah, I hardly ever do smooth shading, so this was quite an endeavor. This is my first time in the longest time drawing anything fairly realistic, most of my stuff in the recent past (as you can see) is much more cartoony, so it might look a little rough and awkward. I don't know. I think I need classes or something, but I'm too poor. Whatevas.

Wow...I just noticed that the hairline is way too receded in the drawings. My forehead is effing massive. It has a lot of surface area. Oh well, whatever.

So the song today is an oldie (probably not for you folks), but a goodie (maybe not for you folks). It's Bastards of Young, by The Replacements. I like this song. These guys are kind of like a less-countryish Lucero (or, Lucero is a more-countryish Replacements, since The Replacements came first.) I don't know. Some of you will like it, some of you will not.

Alright, I'm done.

Oh wait! Maybe not. I had the great idea (I'll regret it later) that for this coming week (from Monday through Friday), I'll do a daily update. Sacrificing quality for quantity and such. Maybe it'll go well, maybe not. But! I'm gonna need ideas for updates for each of the five days. So, throw whatever you have at me. Nothing too ridiculous though. Hey, maybe even a guest entry by one of you guys! Wouldn't that be frickin' sweet?! I think so. More on that later, I guess.

Now I'm done.

Kudos to whomever gets that reference in the title. Kudos and love. Lovely kudos...lovely...lovely chocolatey Kudos...mmm...Kuuudooos...

Right, well on to business. I'm bored as heck, so I'm updating the schiesse out of this site (not really). In addition, I have deleted everything off the front page. YES! THAT'S RIGHT!! ALL GONE. ALL GONE FOREVER. All gone, that is, to the archive page. So if yer feelerin' nostalgic or whatever the shit, head on over yonder. I won't mind if you leave the front page right now, really, I don't. So go do it if your heart so desires. Had to clear it off for spacial and loading reasons and whatnot. You know the routine. Or...poutine. Poutine is actually a Canadian dish consisting of what us 'Mericans call "french fries" topped with white cheddar cheese curds and turkey or beef gravy. I don't know...doesn't seem too appetizing to me, but I've never tried it. But, given the knowledge of what poutine is, I think "routine" is still more appropriate in this context.

Yeah, well I don't have much to say in terms of entry-caliber stuff, so this'll be mainly a picture entry.

This here, is the Washington stop of the Blue Line facing north, towards O'Hare. I see this basically every day when I come home from school, and I just thought it would be a neat picture. The rest of the pictures won't be boring as fuck like this one, I promise you.

Speaking of the Blue Line, I was treated to this piece of ocular amusement when I sat down. With all this talk of Grease and the Greasers of the Outsiders and whatnot, I thought this would be more than appropriate. Yes. That is someone's greasy hand print on the window. Yes. I sat next to it, staring in awe for about 40 minutes. No. I did not touch it. It looks much nastier in all its full-size, real-life, greasy glory. I can assure you.

More Blue Line shenanigans! This one is to just express my awe for Metra advertising genius. This sign is directly to the right of the Irving Park Blue Line stop. Now, the great thing about this is its location. I mean, not off to the side like that, but where it is along the blue line. If you frequent the Blue Line, you'd realize that around the Irving Park area (namely, between the Jefferson Park, Montrose, and Irving Park stops), there are several designated "slow areas." That's to say, the Blue Line will usually slow down significantly, and often come to a dead stop in these areas. Obviously, this pisses an assload of people off, regardless of how much you get used to it. The constant slowing down and stopping will often give the illusion that the Blue Line is running late (even though it isn't), and people'd give Metra a try. Great, isn't it? Too bad Metra doesn't offer a U-Pass and a $5-something round trip between my house and Union Station doesn't sound too enticing.

Lindsay and I encountered this gem on Friday whilst driving westbound on Roosevelt towards Manheim (La Grange Rd. for...you people...). It's just...frickin' hilarious, is what it is. I had to take this picture to make up for the fact that I didn't have my camera last last Friday, and ended up having to take a shitty cameraphone picture of this gem...

The back of the truck says "Always erect...ing!" Oh...such laughs with that one. What a joker, that driver is. On the side of the truck was the name of the company...I can't remember exactly, but I think it was Custom Erections or something to that innuendous effect.

I just thought this license plate in addition to the USA flag magnet or whatever that is to be quite amusing. Yep, that's it. Speaking of funny license plates, as I was parking cars today (an absolutely wonderful day at work today...everyone parked without hassle!), I noticed that a Honda Odyssey had the license plate of "NUDDER 1". I chuckled to myself a bit, and I brought it up to my working compadres (namely Chris and Kavit) that, "If this car got into an accident or something, do you think the driver would've 'busted a nudder'?" Harr.

Drawn train shenanigans! This happened a couple o' days ago on the wonderful train. So while I was sitting down, minding my own business and rocking out to my music (not drawn), a nice looking man comes aboard the train, and decides to have a seat next to me in the open seat. However, Mr. Suit is too involved in finding out what time it is instead of finding out where his ass is relative to my position. In short, he sat on me. I didn't say anything, the look on his face and the embarrassed "Sorry!!" was reward enough. So thank you, Mr. Suit, for such posterior proximity, such cheeky contact, and other pun alliterations. Mind the drawing, it's quite rough and sketchy and whatnot, but it delivers the message...massage...Well, it is slightly exaggerated. I was completely oblivious to the man before he began his sitting motion, and even while he was about to sit, I wasn't clinging for dear life to the divider thing next to me. And his ass brushed more against my side than my lower back as depicted. But (Butt) whatevas.

New song! Randomly picked by Lindsay (on the basis of 'pick a number 1-3886') is number 3245! Music Box by Thrice, off their (and absolutely fucking fantastic) new album Vheissu. A little note on the song according to their production notes (included with the deluxe version of Vheissu...a version that I bought and got signed by Thrice directly), the music box in the intro is an actual music box bought in Japan, playing the tune of a popular Japanese folk song, Sakura. Nice little bit of information, there.

And that's it! Longer entry than I thought...