March 31st, 2005 10:00 hours CST
Currently listening to: the 25 seriously loud fans in the new file server
Feeling: bored

Terri Schiavo finally died. Now if only the Pope would follow suit. Get on with your lives, and finally get her face off of CNN.com for fuck sake. I'm tired of this damn story.

On an actually sad note, Bass Wolf died today as well. I had an interesting thought when I found out about this. Wouldn't it be sort of cool if the guy who played the character "Ace" in "Wild Zero" became the new Bass Wolf? they could even do a sequel to the movie.

March 28th, 2005 08:30 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Don't Dream, It's Over" by Crowded House
Feeling: excited.

I have the coolest girlfriend in the world.

March 23rd, 2005 11:07 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Window Display" by Enon
Feeling: happy

Ok, so I was a big crybaby yesterday. I got the $610 tickets for May 12th to Tokyo. ^_^ Yuka made me feel better in about 5 seconds when she told me that the other dates would work out. Awesome.

Recorded vocals at Dave and Jaime's apartment last night. My throat was NOT ready for this. I got better as I got warmed up, but I was not 100% by any means. People are either going to love this cover or hate it. The music sounds rad. The vocal part that Cory wrote for the verse is just plain freaky. Hahaha. I think we even screwed up some of the lyrics, but whatever.

I actually have a free weekend coming up, so I'm going to clean the hell out of my apartment. Cat fur and computer parts have taken over and it's time I dealt with it.

March 22nd, 2005 16:17 hours CST
Currently listening to: nothing
Feeling: angry, frustrated and sad

I was 5 minutes away from buying plane tickets to Tokyo for April 28th-May 4th. Looking at my schedule, I realized that my boss had the 2nd and 3rd of May off. He then tells me an hour later that it's because of his dad's retirement party and he won't allow the two of us to be out of the office at the same time, let alone 2 whole days, so he won't let me go to Japan. These tickets would only cost me $610. Yuka has the whole first week of May off because it's Golden Week and there are 3 holidays. We would have 5 1/2 straight days together, which is more than we've ever had. Because of her job situation, she doesn't get any paid time off, so this is a rare event that she has time off. I can go for the same amount of money on May 12th to May 18th, but that would mean that she would have to take a couple days off. Taking a couple days off means that she doesn't get paid. And money is something that's really sensitive right now because she's trying to move here to live with me. I'm so frustrated right now, I could scream.

And it's our 6 month anniversary today.

Part of me wants to say to my boss "yes, I understand that it's an important event. Your dad will be retired on May 2nd and will also be retired every day after that for the rest of his life. What's the difference?"

March 21st, 2005 10:30 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Gin & Tonic & Red Red Roses" by Ado Mizumori
Feeling: getting better

The studio session on Saturday was a lot of fun. "Studio" is actually a rather suspect phrase. David's makeshift control room resembled a studio. The room that houses the Assassins rehearsal spot resembled a studio. We, however, were in a dirty, empty, freezing cold warehouse. It was pretty awesome. As soon as we all started playing, Cory and I got right next to John's drum kit because hearing his snare amidst all of that noise and reverb was impossible. It was fun finally doing takes with all of us together. Mark this moment people: I wasn't using any reverb. I wanted to get the sound of this enormous room all on it's own, and even though the amps were close-mic'd, there is this halo of ambience there that's so cool. I did turn on the effects during my over-dubs, but for the main tracks all I had on was an overdrive. \m/ I'm having a hard time believing it.

My chest cold thing was driving me nuts. I had coughing fits all day, bringing up lots of junk. I guess this is what smokers deal with all the time. I don't know how they put up with it. Dave gave us a tour of the place. It was a bit creepy. There were rooms filled floor to ceiling with debris and junk. Once we got into the main rehearsal area, we were like "oh, this is kinda nice. hahahaha". We set up our gear and I went hunting for Mexican food. We devoured burrito's in one of the cleaner rooms and then got to work. Dave had setup a makeshift control room in what might have been the only room with heat. Hahaha. We wore coats all day long and I wished I'd brought gloves. As always with us, the tracking didn't take very long. We nailed the drums in about 3 takes. John added a tambourine to the chorus and it sounds awesome. Note: the tambourine was rusted and broken in 4 places. Cory called up Marnie and we had her record some French horn for the ending. Yes, airiel has a motherfucking French horn track. I was too sick to do vocals and even though it was only 6 PM, it felt like 3 AM.

studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic, studio X pic

Sunday was super lazy. My chest felt like it was filled with concrete, so I took it easy. Played some custom Halo 2 games on Live. We did one called "horror movie" that, when executed properly, can honestly scare you. When Fock was the monster, he had the microphone for his headset actually in his mouth, so he sounded freaky as hell when he got close to you. I screamed like a little girl. Well, I screamed like a little girl with throat cancer, because this cold has wiped out my high range.

I feel much better today. Tonight I'm having dinner with my friend Mio, who is visiting the US from Tokyo. She's flying into Chicago today from New York. We might be doing the Hancock Observation deck if the weather stays clear. I suspect that tomorrow night I'll be able to do vocals at Dave's place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway.

March 18th, 2005 15:37 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Close To The Fires" by The Samples
Feeling: sick and busy as hell

My voice is beginning to sound like James Earl Jones. This cold is leaving my nose and ears and is setting up shop in my throat and my chest. I have some generic night time cough syrup stuff at home that works wonders. Knocks my ass out cold. I haven't been coughing as much today, though. That's nice. But my voice is noticeably lower. That sucks. I doubt we'll be doing any vocals at the studio tomorrow.

Work these last two days has been so busy. I love it when THREE different managers try to arrange moving 5 employees to different desks, and NEVER tell the IT department. WTF?

I just mailed 3 airiel t-shirts during my lunch break. ^_^

I spent $67 on a New Order ticket. Fucking hell. Normally I would never pay that much to see a band, but when the hell am I going to get to see New Order, you know?

DJ is going straight home to play Halo 2. I think I'll join him. If anyone wants to challenge, you can find me on Xbox Live as S0niqe. Note, that's a zero and not an o.

March 17th, 2005 10:00 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Brakes On" by Air
Feeling: sick and tired

Spent the last two days at home with a lovely head cold that has now moved into my chest, causing me to cough and sound like an old man. Despite being sick, I made it to practice on Monday and Tuesday night to rehearse this cover of Blown' Cool that we're doing. Nobody can say that I don't sacrifice myself for my art.

You can now order airiel t-shirts by going to the apparel page at airiel.com. Paypal is so handy.

March 14th, 2005 10:00 hours CST
Currently listening to: "I Love You" by John Coltrane
Feeling: tiiiiiiiiiired

Busy weekend. The airiel t-shirts arrived on Friday. I was so relieved. And you'll also notice the new domain name there. I finally bought airiel.com that day as well. A bit pricey, but at least I finally own it. I've needed that domain for a long time. I picked up Lisa after work and we went north to see Interpol at the Aragon. I hadn't been to this venue before. I honestly liked it a lot, although the sound is a bit cavernous. The place was filled with people under 21. I even saw a few parents. And people were passing out from the heat! I swear it was not that warm in there, but we witnessed at least 5 people collapse and get carried out. Guys and girls. It was weird. Yuka sent my naughty pics while I was there. She fucking rocks. So glad I have the RoboPanda privacy screen on my cell phone. Hahahaha. Q and not U was the opening act and I liked them quite a bit. Highly energetic. Interpol played a nice combination of new and old material. Good show.

I pretty much stayed in and worked on airiel.com on Saturday. Still need to clean up the spare computer parts in that room too. It's a freaking mess. I didn't have to do much to the site. Just had to go through and update a ton of links. Pretty easy maneuver. I also made Yuka's Japanese curry udon recipe. God that's the bomb. I went to Schubas that night for yet another show. Pas\Cal is a band from Detroit that I think worships Pulp, and I say that in a complimentary way. Their lead singer was highly entertaining and he knew how to work a crowd. Asobi Seksu played a very good show. Honestly, I think their album is a tad mediocre, but their live show was ace. Yuki might be the smallest adult I've ever met. I shook her hand and it felt like I was shaking hands with someone's index finger. She ran straight to the merch booth to sell their stuff the second she got off the stage. I totally identify with that. *cough* I spoke with her a bit about airiel playing in NY this fall. The Ocean Blue played next and...were having a difficult time. The were not very loud and the lead guitar player was playing rather badly. As I said before, they weren't very loud and I got really pissed because everyone around me was talking. I can't stand that. Despite the fact that most of their set was coming from Cerulean, I left after 30 minutes. Couldn't stand the fact that this great band was playing and everyone was talking through it. Grrrrrrrr.

Sunday was nice and lazy. Ate more curry udon. Rock. Met up with Cory at 5 to load our cars. Went to the Bottom Lounge and sound checked. Had fun dinner conversation with Arturo, John and Jaisen. The show last night was bit weird. We didn't realize that all three opening acts were form out of town. Normally this wouldn't worry us but by 10:30 we realized that practically none of our friends were coming. Disappointing, but hey, it was a cold Sunday night. Winter Pageant played a really cool set and I hope we can play with them again some day. We played a pretty rockin set and I loved having Arturo's video treatment on us. Seeing our silhouettes on the screen was cool. Too bad nobody saw it!

March 11th, 2005 09:46 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Tonight" by Supercar
Feeling: like a million bucks

Well, I'm not getting sick. That's awesome. Must have been a false alarm. Tonight, Interpol with Lisa. Tomorrow night, The Ocean blue and Asobi Seksu at Schubas. Sunday night, airiel plays at the Bottom Lounge. I'm so glad I'm not sick. This weekend would have been totally fucked.

I finally bought airiel.com. It's about freaking time I owned that domain.

I watched two new Japanese horror movies this week. First up: Shikaku. Waste of fucking time. Cool back story. Cool over-all story. Then...... it's like they just ran out of money or something and decided to end the movie out of nowhere. Chiaki Kuriyama shows up at the very end and, I'm sorry, BEAR HUGS two people to death?? Pttthppppp most of you will remember her as Go-go Yubari from Kill Bill Vol 1 or as Chigusa from Battle Royale (my fav). I should have rented this one instead of buying it on a whim.

Next up: Dark Water. OMFG. This movie was excellent. There's an American remake coming out this summer, and I will honestly go see it to see how it compares. This story was written by the same folks that brought us Ringu. The similarities are certainly there and that's a GOOD thing, because it works. I don't care if you think that a little Japanese girl with long hair hiding her face is getting overdone. It's a staple that works very well. Rio Kanno plays little Ikuko Matsubara and she's the cutest thing you've ever seen (and a full blown HOTTIE when she's in high school!). When she has to cry, you feel so sad for her, your body almost aches. The tension that builds up in this movie is superb. The climax had me so creeped out that I looked in the mirror to see if I suddenly developed a lock of white hair. A+, 5-stars, two thumbs up, go to ebay right now and buy a copy of this DVD. It's outstanding.

March 8th, 2005 15:42 hours CST
Currently listening to: some dreamy song from the Patlabor 2 soundtrack
Feeling: like I'm getting sick AGAIN

I went to the gym last night. Didn't do much besides run for 30 minutes, but I felt good about it. Came home and devoured a sandwich and passed out watching "A Few Good Men" with Stella on my lap. Woke up this morning with something in my chest, and not in a Ridley Scott kind of way. I'm starting to cough and I'm hoping that his doesn't develop into another head cold. Maybe I was too cocky in thinking that my immune system was in high gear after just having gotten over a bad head cold a few weeks ago. I've been next to some sick friends in the last week or so and I think I may be paying the price. Normally I wouldn't be so concerned, but I've got a lot going on. Supposed to go see Interpol on Friday, then Asobi Seksu and The Ocean Blue on Saturday, then airiel has a show on Sunday, then we have to get this cover of Blowin' Cool rehearsed and recorded. Gahhhhhh.

March 7th, 2005 09:15 hours CST
Currently listening to: some new airiel song that's in my head
Feeling: self-righteous

Weird weekend. Did I go out on Friday? Wait. Yes. I met up with John and we put up airiel posters around Wicker Park. We bumped into Tobias while at Kinko's. He was making flyers for the Darkroom night this month where's Mikey's Cure tribute band will be playing. Then, we bumped into Mikey. Funny how that all got connected. We grabbed some Mexican food and watched some crazy Asian music channel where a quartet of Korean girls were lip syncing some Brittany Spears-esque song. We then met up with Tobias at Rotofugi, which is a store where they sell Oddbabies. Tobias was spinning and he played a great Ulrich Schnauss song while we were there. It was pretty crowded so we left early. I went to Microcenter and bought some stuff for the new compy. I had no idea that bluetooth USB adapters were so small. Cute little thing.

Didn't sleep well that night. Haven't been sleeping well for the past several nights, actually. I think it's too warm in my apartment or something. I talked with Yuka for a while. She's sick with a cold so she went to bed early. I worked on my computer the rest of the day, finally taking down the two older computers and rearranging my desk (and cleaning out lots of dust bunnies). I might be able to take my old computer parts into work for a private donation. That would make me feel better. Besides, I think it's illegal to throw that stuff away. Heheheh I might bring my 4.1 speakers to use at my desk. ROCK.

Went to Elbow Room later that night to see A New January, Flutter and Comasoft. It was a really good time. I saw some people that I have missed. Marcos shouted my name the moment I walked downstairs. It was funny. I finally got to see Arturo do live video, so now I'm extra excited about our upcoming shows. I came home drunk and after a conversation with hope, I committed and act of utter self-righteousness in that I basically ended a friendship with someone. I started writing an email, but realizing that I was drunk and probably going over the top, I deleted it. What I did do, however, was delete him from my Friendster list. This seems so childish and stupid, but it's the world we live in. I went to bed almost forgetting about the whole thing, until....

He sent me an email and and instant message about it. This guy is fast. I thought about what to say and decided to explain myself over email, rather than getting him on the phone. It's not every day that I tell someone that they're a sexist pig and that I don't wish to have any further contact with them. We had some good times and some laughs, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized that he needs serious help because he treats women incredibly poorly. I can think of at least 10 women in my circle of friends that he's either had sex with and cheated on, or tried to sleep with and then talked shit about because he can't get then into bed. He says the same things about the people he's had sex with too. This is not the kind of thing I deal with on a normal basis, and I realize that's because I choose to surround my self with honest and caring people who give a damn about each other and aren't so self-involved. I talked to a few people after I sent the email so I could get some sort of counseling out of it and they all agreed that I did that right thing and that I should just wash my hands of it. So, I have. It's done. Goodbye.

Moving on to other things, my friend Jennifer who I stayed with in London, will be in town on April 2nd to see Airiel play at the Double Door. She moved her flight one day earlier so she could finally see us play. That's awesome.

March 3rd, 2005 14:15 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Move Your Feet" by Junior Senior
Feeling: bouncy

I'm glad I don't have to censor this thing because JUNIOR SENIOR IS THE GOD DAMN FUCKING BOMB!!! Cory has been playing "Move Your Feet" for me for weeks and I finally bought the disc. This will be in my CD player alarm clock for about a year, I bet.

Got my new compy. She purrs like a kitten. I didn't think I was going to have time to mess with it last night before going out, but who am I kidding? Within 1 hour I had the thing unpacked, on the network, iTunes installed, Office installed, email set up and all the extra bullshit that came with the computer uninstalled. Now I get to sit back and copy my files and tweak this baby out right.

Went out and put up posters on the way to Metro and Smartbar. I wanted to see Kasabian, but it just didn't happen. But Cory and John met with me and we shoved a flyer down every persons throat that came out of Metro. Then we went down to Smartbar and I pee'd next to one of the Kasabian guys. Good times.

March 2nd, 2005 10:40 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Test Transmission" by Kasabian
Feeling: excited

I think I'm finally weaning myself of my Pikmin addiction. I didn't play it at all last night. Maybe that's what I didn't sleep well.

I just posted a massive airiel update. If you want to read it, go here. Looks like all 4 of us will be hanging out at Smartbar tonight. Kasabian is playing with The Music at Metro and the after party will be at Smartbar. That's going to be a perfect time to flyer for our upcoming shows. Wish I could see Kasabian, but I'm not going to make it over there in time. My new computer is supposed to arrive today. \m/ Wish I didn't have to go out and flyer so I could stay home and play. ;p

Saw the most random thing this morning. I drove to work and parked under Millennium Park. I was walking west on Monroe towards Michigan Ave when I noticed a car honking like crazy. The other pedestrians and I couldn't see what was going on because the cars were between us and the sun. Then we realized that the guy honking his horn was trying to attract attention to the car in front of him. The two people in the front seat of that car were beating the shit out of each other. Hahahaha. The car slipped into neutral and started costing into the intersection of Monroe and Michigan. It took the traffic cop a while to figure out what was going on and she finally called the real cops when their car stopped at the sidewalk. Crazy morning.

Monday night was awesome. I went with Maria and Chris to see the Kodo Drummers at the Chicago Symphony Music Hall. This blew me away. The sound was fantastic in there. Our seats were a little far away, but close enough to where we could see every single perfectly developed muscle on these drummers. OMFG. I will never have a body like that. They looked like they were carved out of stone. They really enjoyed performing. They had 3 standing ovations and an encore that got the audience clapping along with them. This was the first time Ever that I was in an audience that started clapping along and the audience didn't speed up the tempo. Very cool.