I am not fond of your winters.
Please tell summer to hurry.
love,
jimi.
This is our friend nate, in his project Gull performing at last years best friends day.
Due to lack of employment, I have no 'whites' to wash. score.
during this post, i was listening to the song 'bigmouth strikes again' by the smiths.
I realized that i have no idea what the lyrics are, and they can't be what i sing along.
without looking them up here's what i seriously think they are:
Sweetness, sweetness i was only joking when said i'd like to mash a green tooth in your hair
Sweetness, sweetness i was only joking when said i'd write 'you should be bludgeoned in your bed'
now i know how joan of arc felt
and the flames rose to the romans nose and the walkman started to melt.
so then i just looked them up, and then i laughed at how close i really was.
ok, i'm going to go on a bike ride to watch the sunset at chimborazo park.
The bombing of Khan al Khalili is pretty crazy and apparently not done by any 'known groups.' Thus proving that there's no way to know everyone who might bomb you, even with us funding, so don't sell your civil rights for a false sense of security. The motivation was apparently the fact that egypt recognizes israel and is one of the only places in the region that shows support for israel over palestine. I generally support action over talk in provoking political change, but someone died and many were injured, none of which had anything to do with anything other than trying to buy stuff at a market. I went there pretty often during my stay and I hated it every time, but you shouldn't kill innocent people, that should go without saying. unfortunately, i guess you have to say it, Don't kill innocent people. ever. regardless of what god you believe in, that can't be acceptable. assuming human beings or their 'souls' are eternal by nature and there is any form of 'hell' you will spend it there. guess who doesn't have good jokes. henry kissenger. what is funny is picturing whoever did the bombing in a pit of black fire rubbing skeletal elbows with henry kissenger, someone who is of the jewish faith and outranks you in hell. i guess my idea of hell is more of a mel brooks/army of darkness scenario...
In positive news, one of the good friends i made while in cairo is an artist named nader. you might remember him from pictures of the 'white desert' where we went to get footage for some project he was doing. anyway, if you like art/metal, check this out:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=114798
If you need a reason to add a new blog to your list, this is it.
From Jenny Miller's Heck's Kitchen:
The Internet's First Obama SOTU Drinking Game
Bob: There's NO Obama SOTU drinking game on the entire internet. Strange.
Jenny: Hm. I guess he's not quite ready to be parodied yet.
Bob: I guess not. Take one shot bathtub gin everytime President says 'Since the Great Depression.'
Jenny: That'd be one
Bob: Everytime he says 'failed banking system' put a round of shots on your credit card.
Then there are there's the other low-hanging fruit, 'hope,' 'change'
Jenny: I think maybe just no one's really watching it when you address the union every week, it kind of makes it less special/ridiculous.
Bob: That's crazytalk. I mean, did we only watch Bush's because Bush was a douchebag and we loved to hate him?
I'm excited.
Perhaps it's DC nostalgia, but Rebecca and I have picked out a place to go and I've invited a former (and now unemployed) Obama staffer to come along with us.
Every time the President refers to propping up the failing auto industry, drink a Boilermaker!
Jenny: Haha
Ashby: When he mentions the Japanese '90s decade of recession — Saki Bombers?
Bob: Perfect.
Japan's lost decade = Saki Bomber
Ashby: Housing requires a turpentine...something about termites seems fitting for that industry unable to carry water, full of holes.
How about a shot of Redbull and vodka for each peek of Ram Emanuel we get?
Man he is hot.
Bob: Every time the President uses the word 'sacrifice' — a Kamikazi
Refers to 'making tough choices' — don't. Take a shot of both the brown and the clear liquor.
Jenny: I love Kamakazi
Bob: Ashby's correct: This is a significant cultural void. Just because we like the current President does not mean that this time-honored tradition should be shunned.
I like Red Bull and vodka, actually, for any time 'stimulus plan' is uttered
Afghanistan — Jägerbomb
Nationalization — PBR, America's beer
Jenny: Really?
Bob: Really which?
Can you think of a beer that's more American? It was NAMED at the 1873 world's fair after it won the blue ribbon for best beer!
Any time we hear the term 'bank takeover' steal a sip of your neighbor's drink.
Jenny: Heehee
Ashby: Or 'bank subsidy' just get yourself a bonus extra round on the house
Steal from the bar
Ashby: 40 oz
down it
Bob: hells yeah
Ashby: And try to spell ur name in pee
So today, the court heard from 2 witnesses who tried to prove that people can download copyrighted material from the pirate bay. To put what happened in layman's terms, basically they just showed pictures of themselves downloading copyrighted material from the pirate bay. so that's funny, just right off the top. then it turns out that they didn't have a specific program running which made it impossible to prove that the information was coming from the pirate bay at all. apparently, there's not one single nerd on the prosecution's side. Either that, or it's being led by Ted Stevens. Then the court took a recess for the day, after only 2 hours, and that's a workday we can all get behind. Go Sweden!
my opinion:
I love how this is all playing out. There has been a series of technological advances that have 'threatened' the bottom line of corporations (radio, recordable media, television, video, etc). The fact is that copyrights should never supersede human rights, and grandma should not be taken to court because her 11 yr old granddaughter downloaded a britney spears song she heard on the radio. She should also not be forced to settle out of court with money she doesn't have, simply because the prosecution can afford an entire team of highly paid lawyers and she has to use legal aide.
To me, this is simply lazy, (hopefully) dying corporations crying about their archaic business models in a public forum. There is less of a need for a distribution channel, thanks to technology. So we remove the middleman who has been trying to economically take a dump on both the consumer and the artists for years. awesome.
what does this mean for you? well, this means that a lot more executives will be out of work. Then when oil hits 400 dollars a barrel in the next 5 years and we plunge into a mad max style dystopian future they will be unable to survive since they have no real skills. They will in turn, die off and human evolution will be able to start up again.
just kidding. they'll come up with a new business model, make tons of money at the expense of others and technology will advance creating more of a gataca/brave new world future. At the very least, it'll meet in the middle and be johnny mnemonic.
----------------
Now playing: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dragon Queen
via FoxyTunes
Nigerian Dwarf Goat Nanny
Reply to: job-1041207564@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2009-02-19, 10:23AM EST
Looking for live-in nanny for my Nigerian Dwarf Goat. No experience necessary. Just need nice person to play with my goat.
----------------
Now playing: the velvet underground - i found a reason
via FoxyTunes
I can't say enough great things about the creators of the pirate bay. Every move they make seems to be pure gold and its hilarious. For those of you that don't know, The Pirate Bay is a bittorrent site that supposedly over 10 million people use. They moved everything to sweden a long time ago because of more lax copyright laws, but when the swedish government started cracking down on them, TPB moved their offices into the same building as the Swedish copyright organization and then had the servers distributed all over the world so that even they don't know where they are. i'm also certain they have hidden all of their money very well because no one can seem to link them to any money, despite the fact that they have to be millionaires 10x's over at this point. they also tried to buy a manmade island in international waters, but that didnt pan out. Then they found out who was heading up the case against them and posted all of that person's contact info so that their 10 million users could share their opinions about p2p file transfers. The Prince declared war against them and had private detectives follow around the founders, in real life, proving that Prince has no idea how the internet works.
anyway, now they are officially on trial and on day 2 half the charges were dropped.The mixup came when the prosecution attempted to tie several .torrent files to the Pirate Bay's tracking servers, which called for Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij to point out that, hey, that's not quite how it works. All of that evidence linking actual torrents to the Pirate Bay has now been thrown out, leaving only the charges related to "assisting in making available" copyrighted works.
The prosecution is shrugging this off, saying that it in fact "simplifies the prosecutor's case by allowing him to focus on the main issue, which is the making available of copyrighted works." Of course the defense is taking quite the opposite stance: On Twitter, the message from Bay honcho Peter Sunde is, appropriately: EPIC WINNING LOL.
then on day 3 they dropped the 'king kong' defense:
"EU directive 2000/31/EG says that he who provides an information service is not responsible for the information that is being transferred. In order to be responsible, the service provider must initiate the transfer. But the admins of The Pirate Bay don't initiate transfers. It's the users that do and they are physically identifiable people. They call themselves names like King Kong," Samuelsson told the court.
"According to legal procedure, the accusations must be against an individual and there must be a close tie between the perpetrators of a crime and those who are assisting. This tie has not been shown. The prosecutor must show that Carl Lundström personally has interacted with the user King Kong, who may very well be found in the jungles of Cambodia," the lawyer added. from gizmodo
LAWYERED!
also, the bus above is what TPB is using to travel to court everyday.
My valentines day was spent going to the river with jonnie bluejeans and exploring the old abandoned power plant. We realized, about halfway through, that it was valentines day and we were basically on a gay date. Then it was off to a duckpin bowling party with friends, while drinking the new 'joose' flavor - Jungle. Not to be confused with Dragon, this anti freeze with caffeine is best described by aeb as "different than getting tipsy or even drunk because it's more like coming down with food poisoning." The bowling thing could have been more fun if there were more dancing or organized events throughout the night, but i guess richmond is still 'too cool' for certain types of fun. I think rollerskating would have been a better choice b/c you can byob, its cheaper, and there's always couples skate/falling.
the night ended with a fire in the backyard and a cuddle puddle on the fold out bed. I think there were 10 people and kiki on a fold out double bed at one point. The next day we went to empire for brunch, where i watched brooks drink a 'manmosa' (a pitcher of mimosa). The rest of the day was basically spent recovering. It may not have been the craziest or most fun weekend ever, but i think it was all a sign of things to come when the summer gets here. By summer, i mean the last weekend in march.
----------------
Now playing: Irepress - Diaspora
via FoxyTunes
When you roll out of bed, which is a mattress on the floor, and eat 2 of the gummy bear vitamins that were intended for your 4 yr old nephew, you start to wonder if adulthood will ever happen again.
I'm always on craigslist camping for new job postings, so while i wait i check out the missed connections. everyday.
So my favorite today is a missed connection about graffiti that talks trash on other graffiti.
Richmond - A dark, dirty city with a sense of humor.
http://richmond.craigslist.org/mis/1029289957.html
I was just sitting here thinking about how great tony and eva's dog, kiki, is. She was just lying by my feet as I responded to emails, made posts, etc. I was thinking about its adorable Cutthroats bandana around its neck and how well she listens. Then she farted. Hard. I actually had to leave my room so i wouldn't throw up. Speaking of vomit, Sunday I was at holly st park for bike polo/friends and there was a table of kids taking the gallon of milk 'challenge', and subsequently throwing up lots of milk. Kiki was determined to eat it all, despite the fact that no one bet her money to do it. Each time she licks me now I think of that. Dogs will be dogs i guess.
It's my first official week living in Richmond again. One of the more difficult things about being terribly unemployed is structuring your day. Most of it is spent searching for jobs online, going around to different areas you want to work in and filling out applications or trying to find help wanted signs. Since the time to apply to a lot of places is between 2-4pm its not a great idea to structure your day around that, otherwise you'll wake up at noon and feel gross. So i'm back in the routine of going to the gym every day. In the spirit of this '25 things' list that the kids are into, one of the things a lot of people don't know about me is that i started working out when i was 17. I was working at a surf and skate shop with a bunch of firefighters and I was so weak I had a hard time paddling out on a surfboard. So I started going to the gym regularly and I honestly love it.
I know it's not 'cool' to go the the gym and that the body type you're supposed to have is strong legs from biking and a gut from pbr, but i'm just not into that. I hate cardio. Unless there is a friends house, drink special, taco night, or cookies waiting at the end of a bike ride i generally see it as a chore. Fortunately, in richmond, riding bikes is almost always about fun or destinations. Anarobic excercise is vastly superior, in my opinion, and if you do it right you dont have to look like a meathead, nor do you have to be into mma fighting. Unfortunately, after 6 months of inactivity I am at my heaviest/weakest so i'm in no risk of looking like anything other than mashed potatoes.
On the way home today I was thinking about the drastic mood change between pre/post workout and it made me think of an article I read years ago. I could go on for days about how I feel about pushing your body to its physical limits, but i couldn't match words already written by everyone's favorite aging punk icon, Henry Rollins. It looks long, but i promise it's worth the read. To prove that fact, i highlighted the best lines.
From the article "TheIron"
| I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. Completely. When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn't run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy. I hated myself all the time. |  Henry Rollins(Portrait by Timothy Greenfield-Banders) |
Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.
Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn't looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn't want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.
Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn't know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.
Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn't say shit to me.
It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.
It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can't be as bad as that workout.
I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.
I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr.Pepperman.
Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.
Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.
Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.
I prefer to work out alone.
It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.
I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.
Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.
The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.
The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go, but two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.
I'm looking to rework this drawing and hopefully get it embroidered on my bag through the kindness of John U.
There was a 'missed connection' from a guy complaining about how his roommate eats his chips, etc. It was weird, like a personal ad about how much this person sucks, but from his roommate, to him, via craigslist.
Then this was posted (censored):
re:to the asshole who lives right in the next room - 24 (the fan ) (Love this city...)
Reply to: pers-1027658234@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2009-02-09, 2:36PM EST
To the asshole who lives in the room next to person who made a missed connection on here yesterday...
You *effing* rule.
Keep doing whatever it is that you need to do to keep pissing off the dude that posted a missed connection about you, instead of saying it to your face. Dude is totally a pussy and deserved to get them chips eaten every time!
Keep sleeping on that *effed* up couch and, if possible, try and get *friendly* with some thick chick in dudes bed. It's the only way to really go full circle with this... especially if you are a chick. Really stick it to the man. Oh yeah... you should call the dude that posted the message... "The Man" because they are clearly trying to authoritatively dictate your life, and diet, via a website, and well... like I said before, that's mad pussy.
Good luck!
-smoke to get high.
I noticed that most of my posts lately have been of the sad/boring type. I apologize.
What have I been doing lately that's awesome?
I danced all night with eva, celia, and her sisters at a release party for new magazine called 'liger beat.' from what i understand its vice magazine meets playgirl, but actually for girls. i dont see much of a market for page after page of glossy weiners with weiner bios, at least not in their desired demographic, but i'm sure they've done their market research.
Last night I ran into old duke dawgs Leigh and Gweneth at dollar enchilada night and got to 'break bread' with them.
My shower seems to be made of dry erase board so i got washable markers that i found on sale so i could write down all my brilliant shower thoughts. The condensation caused the water soluble ink to not work, but i haven't given up yet.
I took kiki out with tony and we threw a frisbee around for a bit and talked about me going to the seminary around the corner. i've never seen a dog so good at catching a frisbee, also i've never really thrown around a frisbee. now i know what all the half assed hippies on the quad in college were so amped about. well, not really, i had an awesome dog catching every time i threw, they just had their unwashed friends.
I drank a lot of sweet tea.
to the cops smoking pot at my resturaunt..... (wont say for my ass' sake)
Reply to: pers-1022064397@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2009-02-05, 1:08PM EST
thanks!, no really! that from what i hear was an interesting lunch! why the hell would you do that in such an open forum!! thanks for making such an example at the place where i work, now i have to keep an eye out for other customers doing it! you lit up to what looked like a rolled cigarette and you know thats cool and all, but then you started passing it around to your coppy friends and then my co workers smelled the oh so familiar smell of ganga. good job, i feel safe....
Right now i'm sitting downstairs in my new home. To the left is a fireplace, to right is an adorable lil scamp of a pup named Kiki. Currently she is enjoying half of a super pretzel that i over cooked while i watch her with my jug of sweet tea i didnt over cook. On the radio is a pandora station i made of quite coalminer jams. This chair is comfortable and I'm just waiting for dollar enchilada/pbr night at lil' mexico. After that, my friends and I will return to house, sit near the fireplace and watch lost in a near imax sized projection and drink boxed wine. Then we'll talk about lost theories, make jokes about things, and eat snacks. I'll go to bed, full, tired, and happy.
Tomorrow i'll wake up with the pain in my stomach caused by the stress of not having a job. It'll be too cold to want to leave the bed so i'll check my email from the comfort of my warm bed. The pain will increase when i see that there are no responses to the six jobs I applied for today and no calls either. I'll wonder what i'm doing with my life, where I'll be in 5 years, and why I haven't gotten a job yet. It's amazing how constant, quiet rejection can cut you to your core.
Then I'll remember how much fun i had the night before, and most nights before that. I'll remember how I only hang out with amazing people, have a great family, and I've seen a lot of things. I'll remember how just now tony sang a red house painters song, that he doesnt know the lyrics to, to kiki. Then explain how eco terrorists dont want you to hurt animals in the virtual world so they hurt you in the real world. I think he was trying to explain the plot to lawnmower man, but there's no way to know.
Then I'll put on the giant robe, maybe drink coffee by the fire, apply to more jobs, maybe run an errand with eva, and basically do whatever I want so long as doesn't cost anything. So i'll stare sit and stare at this fire again, try not to burn another super pretzel, and just be.
Thanks to Wayne and Dustin for preforming this in johnny bluejeans living room the other night. you showed me the true beauty of this song. Note to Dave: don't waste your time, you're gonna hate it. Everyone else enjoy.
