May 29th, 2003 08:42 hours CST currently listening to: "Kiss Me Slowly" by airiel

Ugh. This cold is almost gone. I took yesterday off to get better and I'm so glad I did. I left work on Tuesday around 3 and also decided to not go see the Raveonette's that night. At least Jeff got to buy my tickets off me and Ben and I got to see him for 15 seconds. I miss him a lot. I spent the entire day on the couch. Had myself a Lethal Weapon marathon of sorts. I don't own the 4th one because I didn't like it that much. (If you judged it by the amount of tissues on the floor by my couch, you'd think I was having a porn marathon though.) Watched Scream as well. Then I finally gave "Enter The Matrix" the attention it deserves. I played that game for nearly 8 hours, I think. The "focus" effect is so damn fun; running on walls, flying spin kicks and breaking people's necks. Good times. Scooterworks is supposed to finally call me this morning about the price of the 1975 Rally 200 that I put a deposit on. I guess they're going back and forth on the price. Not sure why. I'm wondering if it's in way better condition than they thought and it's over the budget I told them I had. Who knows. I'll find out in a couple hours, hopefully. Vrooooooooooom. "Ciao!"

May 27th, 2003 08:50 hours CST currently listening to: "Don't Talk To Me" by Butterfly Child

I had a wonderful weekend that has left me feeling very, very depressed. My apartment felt very empty and very quiet when I woke up this morning. I didn't sleep well at all. I got up around 1:30 and read for a while, then just got up and watched the MST3K viewing of "Angels Revenge". My cold is really pissing me off. I'm gonna be sucking down tea all day. I might even duck out early if Dave doesn't have much for me to do.

I put a deposit down on a silver, Vespa Rally 200 on Saturday. I'm very excited. She's in pretty good condition, but I don't know yet if she runs at all. Scooterworks hasn't even had a chance to price her yet and they're going to call me today to tell me. If it's within my budget, then I'll get it. Otherwise, I'll get my deposit back and look at a different bike.

Polaroid's are so much fun. I have 6 or 7 sprawled all over my desk right now. Hilary is gonna send me the scans of the others we took this weekend. We got some great ones of Mischa, Rachel, Krissy, Mark, Ben and Hope on Saturday night. Oh, and just FYI, Chicago's pizza is only good for delivery. Eating in their restaurant is a waste of time. Got to check out Inn Joy for the first time. I like the atmosphere but I hated the clientele that was there. Why a guy would strike up a conversation with me about summer and softball while we're both taking a piss is beyond me.

May 23rd, 2003 08:27 hours CST currently listening to: "In A Big Country" by Big Country

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've actually been really busy while Dave has been in Seattle. I got the cutest haircut last night! I love it. Sheba gets an A+ for the day. I've got a head cold brewing, which I'm super pissed about. Hillary is arriving in a few hours, and that I'm oh so excited about. Why do I have to be sick though?!?! She's got a sore throat too, so that makes me a feel a bit better. I think tonight we're gonna hit Lula. I haven't been there in months and Rachel tells me that they opened a bar. Saturday, we're gonna meet up with Rachel and Mishca at Scooter Works to possibly get me a scooter. The project bikes arrived and PJ and Forest said there are some real gems in there. Saturday night is the pub crawl. Danny's, then Club Foot and then ending up at the California Clipper. Should be fun I just hope my cold will hold off until Sunday or Monday. Hell, if wish it would plain fuck off. Sunday, we're seeing the Matrix: Reloaded again and then doing dinner at Club Lucky. Ugh. I can just tell that this is gonna get nasty. Damnit all.

Harper and I had a cool conversation yesterday about being able to quit your job because your band is taking off and becoming sucesful.
linuxKILLa: the only good thing is that they don't goto a job

linuxKILLa: but in the end. we probably make more money.. and they obviously spend more money

linuxKILLa: and get more chicks

reverbboy1: yeah, I rememebr when David quit his job once they got signed to Arista

reverbboy1: VERY true, that

linuxKILLa: that would be incredible. quiting due to band rocking

reverbboy1: I know

linuxKILLa: hi boss, my band rules.. peace

reverbboy1: I'm still keeping my fingers crossed about that

reverbboy1: hahahahahah
May 19th, 2003 08:50 hours CST currently listening to: "Choke & Slip" by airiel

It's been a while since I've updated. Friday was the Adult show at the Empty Bottle. I picked Ben up around 9:00 and he gave me this fucking amazing magazine that was a compilation of all these Manchester band articles. It's swimming with Stone Roses and Happy Mondays stuff. I forgot to bring the damn thing to work. Anyway, the Adult show was pretty cool. I didn't care much for the first band at all. Magus was up 2nd. That guy knows how to have fun. Seriously, love handles on a guy never looked so attractive. Not sure how to explain it, but if you've seen him perform, you know what I'm talking about. During the Adult set, these three socialites pushed there way next to me and Rachel. Rachel got a beer spilled on her and I got stabbed in the hand by a cigarette. I yelled at the bitch responsible and she apologized, and then asked me for a light! I nearly throttled her right there on the floor. Eventually they shoved their way further towards the stage to, you guessed it, stand there and smoke and talk. How the fuck do you think it's appropriate to move around a packed crowd of dancing people to just stand there and be in the way so you can shout at each other about trivial bullshit? Pissed me off. Anyway, after the show Ben and I went over to Clarks to say goodbye to Katie and meet her new girlfriend. We grabbed Shannon and went to Pick Me Up. Shannon crashed on my couch and that was the end of the night.

I managed to wake both Shannon and Rachel up around 9:30 to go get food. Today was a big day. Today was the Stella debut at Scooter Works and I was determined to get there early. I have no idea why now, but whatever. We went to the Golden Nugget and I pounded down some strawberry pancakes and bacon. We dropped Shannon off at the L and then went up Damen to the Vespa headquarters of the U.S.A.. The Stella's looked wonderful and we put our entree forms in for the raffle. I guess that doesn't get drawn for another month. I got to meet PJ and Micha, who are friends of Rachel's. Nicest guys ever. PJ works there and answered all of my questions. He would even grab me from time to time to show me different models. He knows exactly what I want to buy. There are a bunch of project bikes coming in in about a week and a half, so he's going to call me if they have a Super, Sprint or VBB. I can't wait! Micha was getting his scooter repaired and once it was finished I drove his car behind him up to his place in Evanston and he gave me a ride back on his scooter. I met his roommate, Katia, who was throwing a party later that night to which I was now invited. Mitcha was great. We blabbed about all sorts of stuff from dating, Baltimore, Futurama and Dune. He's nicely geeky.

Rachel and I split around 3:00 and I came home to have one of the coolest phone conversations with Hilary to date. Hehehe. I'm still sore. Anyway. *cough* I took a nap and then got ready for this party. Rachel and I drove around for nearly 40 minutes to find a parking spot. Boystown sucks if you have a car. The place was really swanky. Tons of great food and some crazy fucking people. There was a lot of awkward conversation as Rachel and I knew none of these people until Mitcha showed up. Steve was hilarious. He and I ended up going over lines of dialog from King of the Hill, Futurama and The Young Ones. We're a bunch of grade-A dorks, we are.

Sunday was errand running day. I finally made it up to the recycling center with three bins that were overflowing. I took a new route which was sort of fun, though that trip always seems to take forever. I stopped by Home Depot for some 2x4's and a new toilet seat. I came back and installed the air conditioners and the new seat. That's so easy, by the way. I immediately remembered how annoyingly loud the living room air conditioner is. I hate having to turn up my stereo when I watch movies now. Remember The Others? That entire movie is spoken in whispers and it's a bitch when it's 95 degrees out and you have to turn off the AC just to hear all the creepy footsteps and whatnot. I ended up going over to DJ's for pizza and Eddie Izzard later on that evening. He showed me the new Matrix game for the PS2. I can't believe I haven't seen Reloaded yet! Once I do, I'm buying that game.

May 14th, 2003 08:30 hours CST currently listening to: "Sinking" by The Cure May 14th, 2003 08:30 hours CST

Time for a proper update. Ugh, why don't I have mp3's of Disintegration when I need them? Anyway. I'm wildly depressed right now. One of my best friends got laid off yesterday afternoon and nobody saw it coming. He was the one who got me my job here and was instrumental in helping me move to Chicago. It's like being away at summer camp and getting a letter telling you that your cat died. That never happened to me, but that's what it feels like. Then this morning, I get in to find a voicemail telling me to lock down another persons computer. This woman is one my favorite people at this office. I have three of her Eddie Izzard tapes at my apartment right now. I even watched the end of one this morning before I got in the shower. Now I'm going to have to mail them to her? This sucks. I feel like the I.T. angel of death when these things happen. I have to lock down their accounts and then go confiscate their computers. It's fucking surreal and I don't like it.

On the brighter side of things (and I do mean very very very bright), I had the most wonderful time in Baltimore over the weekend. I'm not going to go into detail, because some things are just better kept in your heart and in your head. I met some wonderfully nice people and can't wait to see them all again. I got to see D.C. again as well. Haven't been there since I was a freshman in high school, I think. Met two of the most adorable cats ever. Saw X2. Loved it. Even saw it again last night with Hope. Chicago feels very, very strange to me right now. I feel like I'm on vacation or that I haven't been here in months. Plus, within the three days that I've been back, two of my favorite people in this city have just been laid off, so that's a shock to the system. I can't wait for memorial day weekend. I have a lot to do. I'm trying to keep myself distracted so that I don't think about all the waiting. I might be buying a friggn scooter this weekend. Rachel is taking me to the Stella debut this Saturday. I guess the plan is to get all gussied up and ride in on hers. I'm looking to find a project bike that's in running condition but hasn't been restored, so it will be cheaper. Cross your fingers for me or something. If I have this by memorial day weekend, I'll freak out.

Ok, I'm going to go listen to the Cure all day and be a big crybaby.

May 12th, 2003 10:00 hours CST currently listening to: "Katy Song" by Red House Painters May 12th, 2003 10:00 hours CST

I may write more about this weekend if I have time. I had such a perfect time. I have a lump in my throat and Chicago seems amazingly huge to me at the moment.

May 5th, 2003 10:00 hours CST currently listening to: "Obscurity Knocks" by The Trash Can Sinatras May 5th, 2003 10:00 hours CST

I had such a good time last night. I have the best friends in the whole world. I refuse to surround myself with anyone who isn't just a joy to be with.

Thursday's game night was kind of lackluster. We didn't do a whole lot. Watched Dancing Outlaw and played some Defender and Vice City. We need to spice this up somehow. Friday, I decided to simply hit the video store and couch camp the whole evening. Watched 8 Legged Freaks, which was actually kinda fun. The CGI wasn't too bad either. After that came Darkness Falls, which was honestly pretty cool. No actors that I recognized at all, but the acting was alright, for a horror movie anyway. This movie was seriously designed for surround sound. It sounded great. The Tooth Fairy would be breathing in one speaker after the next. Very cool.

Then I watched Neon Genesis: The End of Evangelion. This was the first of 2 fucking remakes of the ending of the Neon Genesis: Evangelion anime series. The series was doing so well; lots of robots, some good battles, pretty good characters and a heavy plot line. Then, they turn into this existential mind fuck for the last two episodes and leave you sitting there feeling like a jackass for having just purchased the box set, without seeing these last two episodes beforehand. It's seriously disappointing to the point that I don't enjoy watching the series anymore. So anyway, they made this "movie" called The End of Evangelion, which is 2 episodes, designed to give you a better ending to the series. But once again, they start off great, and then they go down this ridiculous head trip of what it means to exist in the world and blah blah blah. SO, since even this remake was a big fat disappointment, they made Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. The first half is a recap of everything that occurred in the whole series. Then the second half starts out like the remade last two episodes, but once I got to the point where it veered off, the fucking PS2 wouldn't read the damn disc! I was so mad. I sat though all of this again just to be denied what is supposed to be the proper ending of this whole damn saga. If anyone knows how it ends, let me know, ok?

Ok, it's fucking hot as hell in this office. They better get the AC going, or I'm gonna be pissed all day. *sigh* So Saturday morning I got up and watched Donnie Darko. This movie had been recommended to me so many times. I'm glad I finally got to watch it. It's so good! I can't even really describe it, other tan that it stands out on it's own and that I need to own the DVD. I met up with Hope around 2:30 to go to a wedding of her coworkers'. It was way out in the 'burbs. Arlington Heights, I think, which is where I worked when I was contracting at Motorola. Oh, what fun THAT was. Anyway, the wedding was pretty tacky. I dunno. I don't ever see myself getting married in such a way. I'll probably elope, if anything. I like the idea of some sort of commitment ceremony and an exchange of vows, but all the tuxedos and gowns and other crap is just pretentious fluff. In-between the ceremony and the reception, we went to this crazy little Japanese shopping mall. The toy shop was amazingly cool. I found the perfect present for Kristen. She's gonna freak out. The reception itself was alright. I met more of Hope's coworkers, most of whom were actually rather pleasant to talk to. There was a lot of cleavage going on all over the place. Not sure what that's about or why I'm mentioning it. I feel like writing more about it, but I'm just not inspired right now. We came back and took some pics of me doing some 007 type poses to compete with Hilary and Gina. I'm just realizing that I forgot the damn pics at home too. Crap.

Yesterday was just too much fun. I went to lunch with Jeff and Kim. We went to Papajin in Wicker Park. I miss hanging out with those two. Kim got me a collection of Futurama comics and a gift certificate. She also made me one of her home made cards and it's so me. I picked up Rachel around 4:15 and we then went to pick up Ben. There was a freaking Cubs game that was just getting out, so we had to deal with all the parking problems that that entails. We hung out at Fuel with all the meat heads simply because the drinks were half off on Sundays. 2 Jack and Cokes later and we were waiting in the line outside to get into the Assassins/Kill Hannah show. The line was full of children and their moms. It was hilarious. You can tell when it's an all ages show because when you get in, the floor is already crowded and there's NOBODY at the bar. Hahahah. We had such a good time! We bumped into several people, including Seth, who lives with David Golitko and also used to play with him and Aaron in Marvelkind. Joe Cassidy's girlfriend Kim, who works at Sine Qua Non Salon (where I get my hair cut) grabbed me and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. Rachel and I totally shook a tail feather or two during the Assassins set. They sounded great. It would have been nice to be a little closer to the stage, but we could see everything where we were. Katie showed up and then she went to grab Krissy, Mark and Shannon and pull them over to us. So we were all in this big, happy group by the bar. Kill Hannah came on and I honestly don't care for them. Their music just doesn't do anything for me. Rachel and Ben and I went downstairs to leave. We stopped to buy a t-shirt and there was Kim again. She gave me a big hug and another kiss on the cheek, but this time I was positive she didn't even recognize me. She was soaked to the bone. She said she puked all over the parking lot. I replied with "well, you don't have puke breath, sweetie, so just keep on truckin". It was raining cats and dogs outside. I bit the bullet and ran 5 blocks to get the car. Nice to know I'm still in shape. I was drenched though. We took Katie with us as well to her car. She gave me the two t-shirts she'd promised me. So, when Ben went in to grab a burrito, I changed into my brand new army green Sigur Ros shirt. Rachel supplied all the "oooooohs" and "ahhhhhs" when I changed. Dork. Somehow we made it down to Watusi, which is where the after party was. That place is beautiful. Very sparse and sterile looking, but with a great mod twist to it. Drinks were pricey though. The DJ was spinning some great 80's tunes and I got to dance with Rachel some more. It's nice that she can now go out and simply have fun without being racked with guilt by an insecure child of a boyfriend. Katie, Krissy, Shannon, Juan (not Ben's Juan) and Mark showed up and we all got to sit together. I love my friends so much. They're just the nicest people on the face of this planet. Oh, and Harper is a social butterfly the size of Mothra. Came home and talked to Hils for a while. Managed to get to bed around 1:30. It felt MUCH later than that.

My neck is killing me from al the dancing. And somehow I really hurt my forearm on Saturday. It's really sore. Dave called in sick, so I'm here by myself. If I can stay awake, I'm gonna get some reading in.

May 1st, 2003 09:16 hours CST currently listening to: "La Ballena Alegria" by Electrogroup May 1st, 2003 09:16 hours CST

VVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Ok, that was supposed to look a lot cooler, but when you keep your tables sized on a percentage based system to accommodate different monitor resolutions, you can't have one long-ass onomatopoeia like that. Heheheheh. I drove Rachel's Vepsa last night! This cool blue 1967 Primavera with white trim and enough sex appeal to make Ron Jeremy blush. I took her to the Twisted Spoke for some biker food, Bloody Mary's with salami in them, and a good dose of therapy, which culminated to the 150 CC, head spinning, experience that I had in the alley behind her apartment. She's a great teacher! I hadn't ever driven a motorized vehicle that had a manual transmission before, so she had to educate me on the whole clutch vs. throttle situation. With all my years of video game experience, I just treated the thing like a game controller and got it on the first try! I made it all the way down the alley (after she started it) and even got up to 2nd gear before I had to turn around and then I killed it because it was idling in 1st and I let go of the clutch. She went through the fucking roof. She was running after me and was as excited as a puppy, yet thankfully she didn't go poopies all over the alley. We started her up again and I made it around the block, this time switching between 2nd and 1st and getting a better feel for things. Her throttle is tight as hell. I'm trying to think of a sex metaphor, but I simply can't bring myself to write what I'm thinking, so there.

I've caught the bug. I've already been looking for scooters online this morning. Her ex-boyfriend Billy had his old Vepsa in her garage as well, since it was sold and being picked up by a guy this weekend. Rachel tried putting in a spark plug so that we could both ride down to Club Foot for a celebratory beer or 5, but it wasn't the right type of plug. I hopped onto the back of hers and we made it down to Milwaukee and Western before the lightning and thunder picked up, the temperature dropped, and the rain started a comin down hard. Well, it's hard when you're on a scooter at least. Not as bad as water skiing through rain, but still. This is worse since you're fully clothed and not prepared to get wet. I had such a good time last night. Got to come home and cap it off with a conversation with Hils and that always makes things even better. Icing on the cake, if you will.

Rachel, I celebrate you.