conquest! (best jack white voice)

so far, it's a great day. woke up actually feeling worse than yesterday, even after doping myself up on nyquil (yeah hangover from sleep meds!). plus, i cannot go to the josh ritter show now. things didn't work out for me to be able to find someone to pick up my folks from the airport. this sucks. blah blah blah. i feel like all i have done lately is complain. to make it up to you listen to ((sounder)). pretty good folk/experimental group i found.

specTACKles

phantom planet is officially a "no go".

last week i worked my normal amount of hours (24) and got paid $88

i found this out at the bank when i was trying to put it in my account.

i showed my boss today and received the correct amount:

$173.48

big fucking difference asshole.

now go ask hkd how much she made this week.

oh and i didn't do so great on my lit test today.

a fucking lit test ...

what is wrong with me?

question:

does anyone know any good resale sites for tickets?

all that i've come across are spammers.

so basically . . .

HELP ME!

this will not be worth your while

fiction isn't true, but it does tell the truth.

Wilco was amazing, but I left my camera at the house. Very, very good live though.
And I was the most kickass brother in the world and took E, my lil bro, to his first concert and bought him a t-shirt (no one else could go; plans, work, money, etc.). He liked it a lot but it ran a little long for him.

Today is Spanish test day. I'm not really excited.

Tomorrow is apartment hunting day. I am excited. And am getting prepared to be bummed out by the prices. So it's possible that you see a drunk post sometime tomorrow.

oh and hkd just burned me something like 350 songs. which of course i am completely UNHAPPY about.

yeh right.

meh.

set yourself on fire

Last night hkd and i rocked out with our cocks out at the WE ARE SCIENTISTS show. good shit. she doubted my judgement at first, but when she heard them play she understood the full potenial of my powers. they were really funny too, but the bassist shaved his pornstar 'stache (as can be seen in many photos and videos they have out) which made me kind of sad. Oh and by the way, the color pink tends to look a bit like copper or bronze in the dark, so be wary when buying concert t's.

today is lazy. it's 1:00pm and we're still at the house. we're gonna do a little shopping (ie model citizen) and meet up with a guy that wants to buy erin's ticket to vfest since she can't go anymore (i repeat, erin, i'm not mad/angry/?, only disappointed that i came all this way and didn't get to see you). and i think we are gonna try to eat at the drake tonight. good times.

tomorrow = first day of vfest = INTERPOL.

found out that they (vfest higher-ups) are supergay and put a lot of good bands at the same time (surprise, surprise). The only major decision thus far is THE KILLERS over SMASHING PUMPKINS. it wasn't all that hard since it's just a billy corgan show now . . . wow.

photos still haven't been downloaded.
i'll deprive you until i finally get around to it, which could be next year or tomorrow.
and that lads is what i call a cliffhanger.
see, now you'll keep coming back to this site in drooling anticipation.

fuck off.
but only if you wanna.

you can pat my benetar

so yeah, i saw her last night at riverfest. it was cool. there was nothing else to do there really, especially after experiencing coachella. saw some fish. met up with asha. nathanial, jessica, plus some more were with me too. i haven't blogged for nearly a month. it's been kinda weird. i'm literally having to force myself to write this right now. i bought Rant. the new palahniuk. not finished yet. it's good. funny as always. but the style is completely changed. the whole book is written as an interview. so it doesn't read as fast. i also bought the stanger by camus and a clockwork orange. i had spinach ravioli, lasagna, and manicotti from a new italian place called Roma in J'ville today for lunch. really cheap. everything is homemade. awesome. seriously the 2 of us (nathanial and I) ate for $13. oh and last night nathanial and i drank vodka and mango nectar while we watched Fight Club (he had never seen it -- poor sheltered, uncultured child). tonight some more will be consumed. plus i think i'm getting some vanilla rum to go with some coke. should be good. i think i'm developing a nack for this style of writing. it's probably hard to follow. sucks for you. oh and sunshine i haven't forgotten you. and katie: i like my doorknob. that house no longer exists though. it was completely demolished yesterday. it looks a lot better without it there. i'm broke and guitar center is having a huge sale on monday. josh and i are going to go drool over stuff. i want a new guitar and that vox board i posted a pic of a while back. went and saw the hourly radio and shiny toy guns the other night. the lead singer from h. radio had the exact white and off white stratocaster i want to buy. damn him. by the way check them out. they have a myspace page, but i don't want to link em. too lazy i guess. but seriously they are good. bought their cd. actually they are better live. i put in my 2 weeks at the p. a.'s office too. got a new job lined up as a graphic designer at KD Graphics. should be more fun.

COLBERT FOR PREZ!

doomsday and the echo

Tonight is gonna rock.

Jamie and I are going to see Lovedrug at the Village.

I repeat -- tonight is gonna rock. *Edit: (my socks)



notice orange?



actually recorded in little rock

gimme fiction

Friday night was absolutely amazing. I got to see Spoon at a private concert at Hendrix college. The show was amazing. A couple of my friends from there actually got to go pick them up from the airport. Then they took them to the liquor store, where Spoon bought us beer and vodka. Not a bad bunch of guys if you ask me. This was no problem for them though because they were paid $25,000 to do that show. Lucky bastards.

Saturday I spent $600. Josh spent $350. That makes for $950. But now we have all the other equipment that we need for the band: 3 mics, 3 mic cords, 3 mic clips, 3 mic stands, an amplifier for the mics, and cords for that too. Expensive shit. Then we went back to "The Studio", as its come to be called, and played with everything till around 1:30 this morning. Suddenly we realized that we hadn't eaten anything for a really long time, so we went to Waffle House and got some grub. I finally crashed at around 3:30am.

I thought this was interesting . . . my senior english teacher, Mrs. King, is showing Donnie Darko to her classes. How cool is that? I say that that's pretty effin cool.

I am dead.

taco hell

Today I got a really weird craving for taco bell. So I went. The hot sauce packet told me, "At night the Sporks pick on me." I didn't know non-human objects (redundent?) could be emo. Go figure.

Frankly, things are extremely lame lately. Especially at work. Watching evidence tapes is so much fun. Meh. And these are really a blast because it's 30 individual 24hr surveilance tapes at the police station -- all kinds of excitement.

Oh and I got off on my dates and missed a 50pt quiz in english this week. And yesterday afternoon I realized I had a paper due that night. So yeh that sucked. Hopefully I did good on the paper. And by that I mean I hope I paraphrased some idiot's essay good enough to get the grade I want, while still sounding like I wrote it. Never, I repeat, Never take an online class.

Quick update: everything for Coachella now has the green flag. Well, everything except for Erin's plane ticket.

i present you with a present: part deux

Friday:

I went to Conway to visit Wes (Nathanial) at Hendrix (extremely liberal college -- he's very much so a republican) on Friday. He changed his name to Nathanial after moving there to basically get a whole new face. His parents originally were going to name him Nathanial, but he ended up arriving early and the doctor was sure he'd be retarded (I know, it's not P.C.) so they called him Wes so that he could spell it and say it. He told me that and I laughed, and then I kind of felt bad. Oh well.

We went to a couple of parties. Had a few drinks. Went to a basketball game for all of about 5 seconds (had to watch the dance team). Found the oriental kids' room and played Wii for a while (which was awesome -- I really want one now). Watched some Sopranos. Kicked back a few more beers. Had a couple of really cheap shots of vodka. Finally crashed about 4am or so. I slept horribly on the cold floor (I forgot to bring a sleeping bag -- all I had was a sheet). Woke up about 9 and went to Chik-Fil-A (his job) or whatever it's called and got some breakfast. Then finally I left and went to guitar center.

They had no fuzz pedal. I really wanted to play with one because I've been listening to a lot of Silversun Pickups lately. But they had to be assholes and not have any. But I did get to play a really nice Les Paul I'm thinking about getting after Coachella if I have any money left to my name. I'll post a pic of it soon, if I can find it.

Saturday:

Band practice. Got a couple of new songs down. Things are going good. We'll probably go to an "open mic night" soon to get a little more stage experience. We're hoping that what ever venue we play at will like us and let us come back for an actual show. We're searching for good cover songs too, so if anyone has any suggestions bring 'em on.

Later that night we tried to go see Babel but the show was sold out. So we went to the Rave to try to see something else. Pretty much everyone wanted to see Pan's Labyrinth, but one person didn't want to. So we ended up seeing The Messengers, which quite possibly might have been the worst movie I have ever seen. I mean, I can't even think of an "only if ..." scenario that would make you go to it. It really was that bad. And what made it worse was that it did nothing but rip off other movies, especially The Ring and The Birds.

Sunday:

To quote Brandon: "More Rock for Little Rock"

At 8pm Augustana took the stage at a sold out Robinson Auditorium and at 9ish Goo Goo Dolls tried to put on a better show but failed in their attempt. Augustana played all of my favorites off their album, plus a new one or two. These guys ... I don't know what to say ... they just make great music. Goo Goo Dolls were decent. The playing was fine and good, but the lead singer didn't really sing most of the time. It was like he would "sing" monotone pitches instead. And the guy can sing good, he did a few times, he just didn't keep it up. Light show wasn't bad either. I really love it when I go to a show and I know every single word to every single song. I just wish Augustana could've played longer ...

extra! extra!

My friend Lacy let me borrow her 2005 Coachella DVD today (the year that the lead singer of the Flaming Lips crowd surfed in a giant "rubber space ball"). I came home, popped it in, and got even more excited. It looks like so much fun.

She and her fiance have decided to go to Coachella this year too. They are actually gonna try to get married on stage, which is pretty crazy if you ask me, but it would be fun. And you would definetely never forget that. As of right now, they are trying for The Decemberists.

I also rented The Science of Sleep (by the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). I can't wait to watch it too.


In crappy news: I had 3 tests today.

1. US Govt. (lots of dates on test -- really sucked)
2. Concepts of Fitness (lots of stats on test -- really sucked)
3. Espanol (pie)

Also, it appears that there has been a slight schedule change. Finals are now April 26 - May 1. Guess when Coachella is. Right in the middle of finals. Hopefully all of my teachers will be cool about letting me take them early (they better). This better work out or I'll be really, really pissed.

one step closer ...

Erin and I both now have tickets and camping passes.

Erin I know I'm an ass but you have to love me. That really was good though. I mean you bought it from the very beginning. Awesome.

...

Rock.

the countdown begins

So yeah ... it's definite.

I AM GOING TO COACHELLA.

And you really have no idea how excited that makes me. I mean, I feel like I'm leaving tomorrow-excited.

If anyone knows where I can find a countdown timer, would you please send me the link?

And the fact that Travis is playing makes it even better. Frans Healy is one of my biggest
inspirations and really helped make me want to learn how to play guitar.

(image = floral carpet)

This is who I would like to see:

Friday

Bjork

Interpol

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Artic Monkeys

Stephen Marley

Silversun Pickups

Saturday

Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Arcade Fire

The Decemberists

The Good, the Bad, and the Queen

Travis

Kings of Leon

Andrew Bird

The Frames

Sunday

Rage Against the Machine

Crowded House

Placebo

Kaiser Chiefs

Damien Rice

Placebo

Explosions in the Sky

The Feeling

The Kooks

Amos Lee

Isn't it funny how easy it is to feel on top of things?

What is even greater is realizing that you just fell back down.

====+====

Sunshine...you should never have posted this.
It makes me (insert negative emotion here).

====+====

Tomorrow night it looks like Brandon and I are going to see the Sister Hazel show. I hope it's good. I've almost gotten to the point that I don't even care who I go see -- I just want to go hear music.
Let me RE-emphasize: ALMOST.

====+====

I read a very interesting, very short story yesterday;
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin.
It's about how a wife reacts to losing her husband in 1870-something.
Chopin is a big women's rights activist. This story touches on those principles and then flees from them (kind of).
Check it out. It may not be what you expect.

the exchange

+ I passed all of my finals, including the trecherous math course that nearly
killed me.

+ School is finished until January 8.

+ I'm working a lot more right now (4-5 days a week compared to 2 and a half).

+ I got a bonus check for $75. I know it's not much, but I didn't expect it
considering I've only worked there for about 4 months.

+ It's just a few days till Christmas, and I only have 2 people to buy for.

+ If it doesn't rain like it's suppose to, I am going to get the top on my car fixed (part of it wasn't sealed properly when the new one was put on, so I get to listen to an awesome wind tunnel-like noise, especially at higher speeds) tomorrow.

+ Thursday night I am taking my dad to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra for Christmas. I think we're going to eat at Benihana's beforehand.

Tonight I went with a few friends to get a little more shopping finshed. One of the last stops we made was at Target. When I was in line with about 2 or 3 things, the lady ahead of me offered to give me her place because she had a whole cart load. Obviously, I took her up on the offer. As she was backing up, her porcelain snow-man collectable went crashing to the floor, shattering into bits. Being the kind soul that I am, I helped her pick up the pieces to the $40 item she was still going to have to pay for (that has to be depressing). Then as she was getting all of her things situated, she rammed her cart into the candy wall and knocked all sorts of chocolate bars and sour candies all over the floor. I thought, "Man, this lady is having a really shitty night."

The next thing that happened made my entire day:

Another lady behind me stepped ahead to talk to the lady with everything going wrong.

She said, "I know it seems like you are having a terrible day, but it'll be okay. It could've been a lot worse -- I promise."

"How is that possible?"

"Well, for instance, my daughter told me that she was a lesbian this morning."

good news vs. bad news

Okay, good news first.

Last night Erin and I actually did make it over to see the Switchfoot concert. Turns out they aren't that bad. Some of the songs sucked, but they played some cool ones too, so I guess it balanced out. Their opening act, Moses Mayfield was actually the highlight of the show. Check them out.

Last time Switchfoot was in town was for Riverfest (a festival if you don't know). Anyway, they were playing one of their hits and then this 10-12 year old kid got invited on stage. He was holding a sign that read "I CAN PLAY ALL OF YOUR SONGS." Well, they gave him his chance and he blew them away.

Last night the same thing happened. It was kinda crazy.

Oh yeh. I bought The Last Kiss Soundtrack too. It's not quite as good as the Garden State Soundtrack, but it's not bad.


And the bad news:

A couple of years ago one of my friends got dianosed with Leuikemia. His family was really poor and couldn't ever afford the hospital bills, but AR Children's Hospital won't turn anyone down. Which is really good, but the family would still have to eventually pay it off just over an extended period of time. A few of my friends and I got together and organized a benefit concert and a dinner to help raise some money for the family. We ended up raising nearly $7,000.


Fast Forward 2 Years:

He's doing fine with only a couple minor flare ups.

Fast Forward to Present:

He's come out of remission. It's spread to his spinal cord. He passes out and goes blind for nearly a day, and then somehow comes out of it. Back in the hospital, the doctor confirms the diagnosis and basically pats him on the back. This afternoon he's suppose to be getting a spinal tap . . .

And suddenly my life looks even better.

If you pray, pray.

stuff

As you might have gathered, Brandon, Ben, Josh, and I went to the fantastic Pete Yorn show last Friday night. Like I said it was great. Towards the end of the show there were a few minor sound glitches, but who's noticing? Brandon got the best seat in the house though. He was sitting next to Barbara Streisand, who, in fact, is a transvestite. Yes, it was kind of scary. I tried to take her/him/its picture, but my camera phone refused. This is what it gave me:

Actually it's probably a good thing that it wouldn't . . . I don't know how long I could actually take looking at that picture.

----------------------------

Erin is down for Thanksgiving this week so tonight we are going to go catch the Switchfoot concert at The Village. I'm not their biggest fan, by all means, but I thought catching a concert would be fun.

----------------------------

Okay, I need your help. I'm trying to decide if I should buy a 35mm camera or everything I need to start recording music on my laptop. I'm going to end up with both, but which should I get first? They'll both end up costing me about the same. It all just depends on what I actually settle for.

the man who told everything

This is James Walsh, lead singer (golden voice) of Starsailor, who, by the way, knows how to rock (sorry no good pictures because of crappy lighting, etc.). The concert was awesome. The only problem was that the sound tech had the volume too high, so sometimes you couldn't really hear anything -- it was just noise and static traveling through the air. The opening act was really good too. Check him and Starsailor out at myspace. The name is Peter Walker. Anyway, I bought Starsailor's new album On the Outside while I was there too (because you can't buy it anywhere it seems) -- phenomenal. This album is a lot more rock than the older two. Actually, it might be my favorite album of theirs now, but that might just be the fact that it is new.

Since I've been back though, I've felt miserable with this sinus infection crap (headaches, runny nose, sneezing, itchy, watery eyes, blah, blah, blah). Why does this always happen to me when I have a lot going on? I have had four big tests this week. So I've been popping pills left and right but nothing seems to really be working. I'm going to go to the doctor soon if this doesn't clear up. Although it did give me an excuse to skip work yesterday.

The saying that should pull you from the pit you have dug for yourself:

I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to.

this is what I felt like last week . . .

Yeah that's right. Like I was on fire. Oh and let's all take note of Sunshine's brilliant point of how ironic it is that I got burnt in Hot Springs. It started two Sundays ago in the evening when we arrived at our condo/old folks home. Do you know what I'm talking about when I say "bronzed wheat?" These kinds of things are hanging on the walls, along with pictures of Jesus. The furniture is cheap late 70's early 80's. But not cool stuff. Just lumpy and hard (ha). Except for the dining room table. Very modern and black. So basically you could compare this to putting an astronaut in a western. I felt odd and out of place too, like I was living in the funeral home my dad works at (minus the modern).

My favorite part of the trip was Monday at the theme park. They got this awesome new roller coaster this year called The X Coaster, yeah it does have a dumb name. I'd post a picture of it but they don't have any good shots on their site, which is sad because it is a thing of beauty. There are only three coasters of it's kind in the world: one in Germany (where it was first invented), one in some other state, and (most importantly) one in Arkansas. Yes, it is strange that our crappy state would get something like this, and because of that I thought maybe poor design since there are so few, but actually it was probably the nicest riding coaster I have ever ridden.

Describing the X-Coaster experience, Aylward said, "When the riders leave the loading platform, they are taken for a vertical ascent of 150 feet, at which point the car performs a thrillingly slow quarter-loop backwards, which has the riders hanging upside-down. Then the riders are sent on a 360-degree corkscrew roll, followed by a plummeting vertical drop at more than 75 miles an hour."

He continued, "At this point it appears that the riders will return to the starting station, but instead they rocket past the station, stop on the lift hill, drop backwards through the station at high speed, stop upside down and rocket forward through the station again." Aylward said. "Then, just when you think you are ready to return to the station, you are picked up on the lift hill and taken over the top for a second time."

"The unique design of this ride guarantees that each row of seats provides a different ride experience," Aylward said. "The slightly elevated back seats in each car give an excellent view and the backwards motion of the train provides additional thrilling experiences.

All the while you are screaming like a ten year old girl at a backstreet boys concert and cursing like a sailor.

Yeah, it's what I live for.

Tuesday sucked really bad. That was the day that the world's worst tan line was discovered (pictured directly above). The poor camera phone image doesn't give it the credit it deserves. Everything was miserable: taking showers, sleeping, sitting, breathing. But it was fun during the day. We rented a party barge and swam and ate a lot. Oh and appartantly this is the rich people's lake. So once again, I was out of place. Seriously though, mansions were everywhere. I think I even saw a couple relocated Irish castles.

Wednesday we went and saw Michael Buble (hold comments) and the show was awesome. I like a lot of music that is different from many, like jazz and blues, plus some cultural.

Thursday we went to the mall, which is where I bought the cd's from the last post. We also looked in some of the small shops. That day kinda sucked too, because Josh's ac decided to go out in his explorer. But only for that 105 degree day. We found a guitar store and looked around. Nothing special. It was one of those places that wants you to buy everything but not touch a thing. Frankly I don't see how you can really pick out a guitar you want without playing it first. That is unless it's an upper-range Taylor. Then you can bet you will like it no matter what.

Friday we saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 complete with the guy with a starfish on his face and another that had a squid-like creature for a head/face. Not bad. I liked it. But that's all I can remember. I think that night was Tequila night. Loads of margaritas and shots all around. Mixed with tons of ibuprofen and a vicoden rip off. It was a good night. I just don't remember a lot of it.

Saturday it was back to Magic Springs to see Foreigner, just because we were there and bought season passes. Yeah um . . . they sucked (surprise, surprise). On the way there, they lost half of their equipment so they borrowed some from a local guitar store. They borrowed absolute shit. Everything sounded awful. They didn't even have a good show because it was a small ampitheatre. And heaven forbid hot girls sit in front of us. No, we had the girls that thought they were at the backstreet/98 degrees coming out of the closet tour. And they were dumb as hell. The things they said -- even the way they talked. The whole time we wanted to say "shut the hell up already!" But we didn't, so we left instead. Along with everyone else. That's how bad the whole show was.

Sunday we left back for home. In between all those events was countless guitar/keyboard/reason playing and more swimming. Rented a few movies. Team America was never funnier. That whole puppet sex scene -- it kinda creeps me out a little though. Oh yeah and getting lost. Stupid condo was in hot springs village. Everying looks the same and makes giant circles. We didn't know if we were ever going to find it at first.

So that's it. Then End. I hope you enjoyed my novella.

And in the spirit of Pitt:

have a bad day