Eight

Eight.

That's how many offensive boards Al Jefferson got tonight.

I saw the score of the Suns-TWolves game tonight and wondered "How the fuck did they beat us again?"

Then I saw the box score.

WTF Amare? He got more offensive rebounds than you did for the whole game.

No wonder we lost.

Another reason why I'm glad I don't have cable anymore.

Coachella Or Bust? I Choose Bust.

It's been an interesting week or so. Perhaps I'll divulge an explanation behind that statement one day or another, but that's a post that I'm just not ready or willing to write yet. If that statement causes you concern, just know that everything is OK, and it's not as ominous as all that sounds.

So yesterday, the Coachella lineup got announced. As many of you know, I've made the trek to Indio, CA twice, which is really two more times then ever needed in a lifetime, to sweat it out for two days (now three days) with 60,000 other people to listen to music. Sounds fun, right? Well, if you know what you're getting into, and you're prepared, and you enjoy live music, it can be. The first year, probably the end-all, be-all of festival lineups for my taste, I wasn't, and spent half the second day wandering around in a daze when I wasn't in the ER tent vomiting from some combination of heat exhaustion\dehydration\sleep deprivation. The last time I went, 2006, I was much better prepared and had a much better time. I look forward to this festival each year, and was supremely bummed when I couldn't afford tickets in time last year (which, in retrospect, turned out to be for the best).

I've known for some time now that I wouldn't be able to attend this year's festival. The tax man calleth this year, and even though it looks like I'll be getting most of that money back later in the year, I have to give it to receive it first apparently. Besides, that money would be better used elsewhere, like towards paying off credit cards or going to someplace I haven't been before, like Chicago or Paris.

The one thing I feared though was that this year, the lineup would beat even 2004's lineup (which included, among others: Radiohead, Pixies, The Cure, Air, Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, Death Cab For Cutie, ...Trail Of Dead, The Flaming Lips, and that's not to mention others I didn't get to see like Stereolab, Muse, etc.) With Radiohead just putting out a new album, Portishead's return, and the reunion of My Bloody Valentine, plus the prior confirmation of bands I haven't seen yet like The Breeders, AND the rumor that the recently reunited Led Zeppelin could be there, I was already preparing myself for the worst.

So yesterday, Coachella finally announced it's 2008 lineup. I take a look, and the first thought that pops into my head is:

"Jack Fucking Johnson"?

Yes, Jack Johnson is one of the three headliners announced, along with Portishead & Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. The second tier acts include the aforementioned Breeders, The Raconteurs, The Verve, Death Cab For Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Kraftwerk, and Love & Rockets. And to that, I say "whew". Not that I wouldn't mind seeing half of those acts (the others, eh, not so much) but the overall lineup is very underwhelming to me. It's very electronic-heavy this year, and most you know that I'm not much into dancing. One thing I've always wanted to do at Coachella is spend a lot of time checking out bands I've never heard, and this year would be that opportunity, but I still need that big-name draw to get me to spend about $800 to go, and even though I would love love LOVE to see Portishead, it's just not enough. It's the first time I can recall seeing a bad Coachella lineup and having it be good news.

The aftereffect of all this is that most of these bands should be touring Seattle around the same time and\or playing at our Sasquatch festival Memorial Day weekend (which is much cooler, weather-wise, much closer, and much cheaper!) Last year, instead of Coachella, I was able to spend the money on our road trip + seeing The Shins, Bloc Party, Explosions In The Sky, and many of the same artists at Sasquatch (Bjork, Arcade Fire, Interpol + other acts like The Beastie Boys). This year I've got less money but it's easier to budget $300 for concerts than it is $800.

I'll try to get another post up later this week, although it's a busy time at work this month so no promises.

A Dim Bulb I Am

How to become OCD:

1. In the course of a week, do the following:

- Send out an email with instructions to do something by the wrong date

- Send out another email showing paycheck information for a completely different date than what was requested

- Send out a report to your boss missing the specific information she requested in her email

2. Revise mistakes

3. Save your report three times before sending out new report

4. Add report as attachment to email for boss.

5. Delete attachment, open up report, double check, then resave

6. Add report at attachment again

7. Double check recipients to make sure that your email system didn't magically replace all those that were on the email originally with names of other people in the company

8. Wait 10 seconds & take deep breath

9. Click "send"

10. Spend rest of day worrying that you still made another mistake somehow.

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I'm posting this from Google documents, so I apologize in advance if this looks all weird. I have less control over the formatting since my job forces me to bypass Blogger now.

I was getting close to panic mode last week. After we got back from our Christmas "vacation" (quotes used to identify slight sarcasm), we spent most of our free time the next week or so glued to the couch playing Guitar Hero 3. I had played it just a little bit before Christmas, and a lot at Wac's parents house after Christmas (courtesy of her brother-in-law), and in the span of a couple of days I had improved from struggling on Medium to almost ready to start trying Hard.

Then, the pointer finger on my left hand started losing some feeling. Not enough to have an impact on anything important, like picking my nose, but just a bit. I googled this and, apparently, I'm not the only one who's experience something similar from playing GH3 too much. So, I supressed my inner hypochondriac and decided to wait it out.

A week passed, and still, things felt funny. Not worse, but not really better either. So, I figured there was only one solution.

More GH3.

My finger now has feeling again, and I'm back to getting 3 stars on DragonForce. Life is good.

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Speaking of Christmas, it was great to see everyone again. Nights like Thursday Night Drinking Night serve as a good reminder that, no matter how far away I am, or how much or little I keep in contact with friends, that anytime I go back home it feels like I never left. (Side note; I forget the name of the bar we went to, I'm sure someone will remind me, but it used to be the old Dos Gringos on University. Thursday Night $2 U-Call-Its. Anything! Even Patron shots! I would KILL to have a bar like that up here. You people are crazy if you don't make that a constant stop on your Thursday nights...well, at least until all the frat boys & sluts find out about it, although it will take a lot to pry them away from their precious Dos. But I digress.) Even spending nearly a week there wasn't enough to spend all of the time I'd like to with friends & family, but I'm glad we made the trip.

That said, I doubt we'll be doing it again.

The next time we spend 2 weeks away from home, it's going to be a "real" vacation. We love you all, but 2 weeks away from our home, making three flights, lugging around all of our & presents (and in some cases, yours too), being unable to resist all of the good but very unhealthy food, is just too much. That doesn't mean we won't return for holidays. It just means some of you will get Thanksgiving, some of you will get Christmas, and in some years, some of you will get neither (unless you come to us, which will always be welcome). And trips won't last more than 5 days. This trip was worth it, especially in my case because it had been over a year since I'd seen many of you, but I think we've learned our lesson this time.

Taking Back The Blog

My first blog post, several years ago on Myspace, was a quick blurb about strippers. I only wrote it because I felt compelled to have something on my Myspace blog. It wasn't anything insightful or even interesting. Just a quick little story, if anything, to be able to say that I wrote a blog.

Back then, my audience was small. This was late 2003, and Myspace was still several months away from becoming the phenomenon we now know it as. My "friends" only consisted of a couple real life friends that were as geeky as I was to have a Myspace page. Of my first 20 friends, I think about 75% of them were people I didn't even know. It seems so long ago, but in the early days of Myspace, you used your account to meet new strange people and collect them as friends. Some people took this as a way of adding importance to their lives, using the number of friends they have to bestow some sort of coolness status upon them. It may still be that way today; I haven't cared about Myspace in so long I don't even know what goes on there anymore.

Early on in my Myspacing days, I used it as a way to meet girls. Not in the creepy, pick-up on 13-year-olds, AOL chatroom kind of way. Like in an eHarmony dating service kind of way. I had a couple encounters (one with a bisexual, another with a Republican) that never amounted to anything. Not all of my friends were prospective partners - I really did make some platonic friends as well. The point being, the majority of my friends were relative strangers to me. They knew nothing about me other than emails we sent and what they saw about me on my Myspace page, including my blogs. And, although it was never a conscious decision, that affected what I wrote in my blogs.

I started writing blogs more frequently, using a sense of anonymity to write about whatever I wanted. Most of my posts were about nonsense, but I did write some deeply personal posts as well. It wasn't that I was writing things about people because I had the freedom that they wouldn't read it. But knowing that certain people weren't reading my blog, I was able to write about things in the same way that I would if I was keeping a journal or a diary. I know it may sound weird, but sometimes, if I'm going to get commentary about something I write, I'd rather it come from a complete stranger than someone I know. So I used my blog as either a way to present my humourous & creative side to possible ladyfriends, or a means of writing about something in an honest way that I wouldn't be able to do if I knew certain people were reading it.

As Myspace grew, it was inevitable that many of my real-life friends opened up accounts as well, so my friend list started consisting of more & more people that I actually knew. First, it was casual friends, then best friends, and finally, my family. Somewhere during this time, I also jumped into a relationship. So, not only did my readership consist of people who actually knew me, I was also no longer in the market for a ladyfriend. This affected my blog posting drastically. I started posting less & less, and when I did post, I found myself often asking "do I want so-and-so to read this?"

On this blog, my readership consists of my girlfriend, my family, and a handful of friends. I've gone from some stranger on the internet writing random stories about random topics to writing solely to people I personally know. Even though I started blogging as a way to help me meet girls, I really didn't get into blogging until I embraced how therapeudic blogging became. In my opinion, my blog posts are best when I'm not using them as a way to meet people or a way to communicate to people I know, but as a way to just let my thoughts go, whoever sees them be damned.

Because of who my audience is, I'm no longer able to write blog posts the same way I used to. This isn't a slight on you personally. It's just that, the fact that I know who might potentially read this blog causes me to often edit what I'm saying, and that doesn't fulfill my creative side. It's my problem, and I haven't found a way to work around it yet, and so, my blog has suffered.

But this post is the first step towards finding enjoyment in keeping a blog. I guess this is sort of a warning announcement to you, my reader. Somedays, you might find me writing some scathing editorial on how much of the argument against illegal immigration stems from racism towards the Hispanic community. Other days, you might find me talking about how I've become addicted to Jalapeno Beef Jerky, to the point that I'm spending almost $20 a week on it. Maybe you'll find me talking about boring topics like the Suns or poker. Or, perhaps I might even be talking about something that has to do with you. You might find what I write humorous, or maybe you'll find it offensive. It might be too personal or it just may end up being really boring & pointless. But I just can't concern myself with how my posts are interpreted. I'm taking back this blog as my creative outlet, and you just have to decide if you want to go along for the ride.

I should note that I won't be using my blog as a place to say something about someone that I wouldn't say to them in person. I'm not going to use it as a passive-aggressive way to resolve a personal issue, and I won't use it to make public an issue that should stay private. Of course, it will be me who decides what that will be, but rest assured that this blog won't be used to air grievances or resolve conflicts. I've been down that road before, and it's not the right thing to do. Otherwise, consider this my way of starting this blog anew.