September 30th, 2002 23:10 hours CST currently listening to: "He Took Her To A Movie" by Ladytron

I've finished my first day of corporate sponsored class. So far Active Directory is looking bad ass. My instructor is really nice and does a very good job. I'm asking the most amount of questions in the class, which I think he likes. He realizes that we're (Dave and I) are installing 2 new AD servers this weekend. The timing for this is perfect. He gives us lots of breaks which is nice. I get to check my email much more often than I thought I would.

September 26th, 2002 13:45 hours CST currently listening to: "Moonchild" by Cibo Matto

I just took down a really ridiculous guestbook entree. If the person had been brave enough to put their name or contact info in there, I would have left it up. But since they're a big coward that apparently thinks I'm a big racist, then screw you. Your anonymous rant has been denied. The point I was trying to make was that there was a communication problem and that I felt that paying that much money to have my old beat up coat fixed was ridiculous. I'll fully admit that I probably didn't explain myself well. But whatever. If you don't leave your name, then you don't really deserve an explanation.

On to things that matter. I got my boss hooked on Cibo Matto's first album, Viva! La Woman. He went out and bought the second album, Stereo Type A the other day and I listened to it this morning. Miho Hatori's singing voice has really improved! I mean, I loved her to death on the first one and I think she and Yuka Honda are two of the coolest girls in music today, but wow. Listen to Moonchild and you have to do a double take to make sure you're actually listening to Cibo Matto. And that's not to suggest it in a Stone Roses "Second Coming", wow this band is still great but they sound nothing like they used to, kind of way. They've just gotten better, that's all.

I miss emailing Lisa back and forth all day. Her boss is brandishing the iron fist of discipline and she can't email as much anymore. *pout* Luckily Ben has stepped in to take up the slack. *happy dance*

My friend Jenn is coming to visit me this weekend. I've been wanting her to get up here and have some fun for a long time now. She's just in time to go to Neo tonight. Gonna get me set up with some new shirts this weekend. I'm in need of new clothes. Fall is in the air. Time to break out the polyester.

September 24th, 2002 08:30 hours CST currently listening to: "1985" by Lanterna

Time to suck it up and think about what's more important. I know what my priorities are. I just hate having to admit it. I didn't eat dinner last night and I worked late. I came home shaky and exhausted. I chewed the right side of my cheek all last night in my sleep. It wasn't enough I guess, because I skipped breakfast too. I may go over to the nearest government office and change my name to Icarus. Please don't pay much attention to this. I'm feeling horribly selfish and immature. I'm going to walk around with a shirt on today saying "Please disregard the first 10 things that come out of my mouth".

In other news, I took my old-as-the-hills corduroy jacket to Carson Priere Scott's dry cleaning/alteration desk yesterday. I want to get the button holes fixed. I had to wait while they called someone up to help me. This woman, who spoke close to zero English, wanted seven fucking dollars per hole, and only after I had it dry cleaned, which was an extra $8 and a 5 day turn around time. Can you believe that? Hell, I'm better off losing a few pints and fixing them myself. Jesus.

September 23rd, 2002 14:40 hours CST currently listening to: "I Wanna Be Adored" by The Stone Roses

I can't stop smiling. I had such a good time this weekend. Friday, I went with Lisa to the "Hello World" show at the Heaven art gallery in Wicker Park. We made it in time to see Some Of The Quiet. I've known Christian Ryan since I moved up here, and had never seen him play until now. It was a great show. His new material is a lot more electronic than the older stuff. I used to describe him as an keyboard version of the Red House Painters. I didn't know anybody in the crowd apart from Linsey. Afterwards, Lisa and I went to Square One and got some food, then moved on to Rain-blo for a drink. We were so tired from the night before. We both kept zoning out when we weren't talking.

Saturday I cleaned house. They finally installed the windows in my building, and they look great. I can actually open and close them with only one hand. As opposed to the double fisted, sledge hammer technique I've had to use in the past. I wanted so badly to sleep in, but the guys were working on the apartment directly below mine. At 8:30 in the morning I was awakened by the sound of hammering. Hooray. I put my curtains back up and the rest of the blinds. Then I decided to finally move my computers and my desk out of the bedroom and into the old dinning room. That room has been empty since all my gear has been at the rehearsal space. It looks great. There seems to be a foot of dust covering everything. The guys had some pretty seriously dirty boots when they were in my place. Plus, the old windows were filthy. I even ran out of Swiffer sheets and hadn't done any rooms besides the new office room. I'd been walking around barefoot all day and the bottoms of my feet were jet black. The bedroom is going to end up being very cool. I moved the dresser and pulled the bed out a bit and it's not coming out of the corner. I want to get a bed frame now in a big way.

Sunday's band practice was funny. I kept screwing up. There was a lot of laughing involved. There usually is at almost all of the practices we've had. We met up later and went to Lula for dinner, then back to my place for a few gin & tonics and cd listening. We made it up to the roof too. The Chicago skyline and the sky itself were perfect.

September 20th, 2002 08:40 hours CST currently listening to: "Don't Talk To Me" by Butterfly Child

I'm guessing that by the end of the day today, I won't be able to lift my head all the way up. Advil can only do so much to recover from what I was doing to my head last night. I was dancing like a fiend. However a fiend might dance, I guess. I had a wonderful time. Lisa, Emily, Michael, Ben, Josh, Krissy, Juan and Eddie were there with me at Neo last night. Almost too much fun. We met up at Lakeview Links around 10:00 to partake in some $1 beers, then went down to Neo an hour later.

Right now, I'm not sure how I feel. Physically and emotionally. I came home last night feeling fantastic. Well, I felt drunk and my neck hurt like the dickens, but you know what I mean. I had put the AC units back in my windows because they had not been replaced yet, so the place was nice and cool compared to last night. That should all be happening today. It better. Anyway, I read an email this morning that sort of shocked me and now I'm questioning my role right now. I'm already walking on a tightrope here, and now I may be holding a tray of bricks while having to do it. I suck at metaphors and some of you will already know what I'm talking about. While I type this, I realize now that I did a really terrible job on my nails last night. But then, black nail polish should look a bit trashy on a guy. Only time will tell how this all plays out. I know what I want. But I think I know that it's the wrong thing.

Lisa danced with me during "I Wanna Be Adored" by the Stone Roses last night. That may have been one of the greatest moments ever.

**updated @ 10:20 hours CST**
You know, Advil gel caps have to be one the most horrible tasting things ever. I seriously keep checking the bottle to see if it doesn't say the word "suppository" somewhere on it.

September 18th, 2002 12:33 hours CST currently listening to: "Jaw Breaker" by Astrobrite

Wow, I'm stuffed. I just downed a carnitas and pinto beans burrito from Chipotle. Damn, that's good stuff. I just thought I'd share with you the thought for the day on my George Carlin desktop calendar:

"I don't mind leaving my house as long as I don't have to look at a lot of unattractive Americans in the process. Visors, logo hats, fat thighs, beer bellies, bad haircuts, halter tops, cheap sneakers, camcorders and unattractive children wearing black expressions. God, these people are ugly. I stay home a lot."

You tell em', George. Had a great practice last night. I can't wait until Halo gets all ironed out. I love that song. Everything sounded really good. The drums, the vocals, the mix of everything. I can't wait to play a show. Tomorrow night I'm going to Neo with a whole bunch of people. Rock the hell on. I need to shake a tail feather to some Psychedelic Furs or some Jesus and Mary Chain.

September 16th, 2002 10:07 hours CST currently listening to: "Left Of Mother" by Curve

Let's see. Friday, Lisa and I went to Lisa's sister Jennifer's birthday party with Ben. It was at this weird little joint close to our Apartments (mine and Lisa's). Not a lot going on there. We wound up at Rachel's 21st birthday party. After the hand-cuffing and arrest that happened the night before, this paled in comparison. It was nice though. We showed up to find several people on the steps, but apparently neither Rachel nor Matt (her roommate) knew any of them, so they stayed out there. Strange. Nice little gathering. Rachel was in high sprits. By which I mean Stoley's. It was nice. She was all lovey with me on the couch. Katie and Josh showed up as well. Lisa actually knew Rachel's friend Kristen from a long time ago. Kristen saw Lisa and yelled "you were the one with the kick-ass spinach dip!" Kind of an odd way to be recognized, but hey. Katie and I cuddled on the couch and talked about how cute Rachel was. Rachel joined in for a bit as well. I walked home around 1 or so and promptly broke out the astroglide. Twice. Heh.

Saturday was pretty low key. I tried working out, but was really short of breath and was having chest pains. No shit. Hopefully I won't have a heart attack. Usually I just work through the chest stuff and it goes away. But I wasn't motivated enough to keep going. Christian and I went to Around The Coyote, which is the event in Wicker Park where all the Art Galleries are open for free. Some of it was cool. Some of it wasn't. We went to Nicks for a beer and talked about setting up a show at the Viaduct. I'm nervous as hell about it. We went back to my place and kicked some Operations Mayhem then got sleepy and I drove him home.

Sunday I played Resident Evil a lot and did laundry. They start replacing the windows in my building today and I was moving stuff away from the windows and taking down the curtains, blinds and all the billions of fixtures left by the previous tenants that were never taken down. Mauve blinds? Fucking gross. Anyway, the weather was spankingly wonderful and I had all the windows open. Lisa came over around 6:30 and we played video games, ate pizza (I have to stop that) and then went to the Fashion Show that Rachel was going to be in. It was really pretty cool and the DJ was spinning some great music. Harper was there and Katie and Josh showed up a few minutes before it started. The first half was the uber pretentious stuff. Some of the outfits were honestly cool, but I was so weirded out by how the models walk down the runway. Some stick their pelvises straight out. Some clomp like they're a horse. One actually looked at me and Harper and smiled. He and I looked at each other completely aghast. We didn't know what to do so we smiled back.

The second half was the coolest. This guy, Matt, who was at Rachel's' party but I didn't meet him, was putting on this part. His clothes were honestly very cool. There were fire handlers and gothiness everywhere. The pictures came out about 40/60. Here are the pictures I took. Afterwards Krissy showed up and we all sort of hung around at the back of the event. Everyone (including me) drooled over the tall, skinny guy with the jet black dreads. Lisa and I were gonna go drive around, but decided to spend the last of our cash on a $6 pitcher of Bass over at Holiday. We got nice and buzzed and blabbed about everything from doctors exams, video components, massages and puking. Good times.

September 13th, 2002 07:30 hours CST currently listening to: "Never Click" by Medicine

Recap of the last couple days. Rachel came over on Wednesday night. I made us dinner, we caught up on things and then cuddled on the couch for 2 hours. I missed her so much. She's one of my greatest friends and we kind of vanished from each others life for a bit there. She turns 21 today and it's Friday the 13th. That should scare the piss out of me, but being her in my undies in my bedroom, I feel pretty oblivious. Unfortunately I'm really broke until this Thursday, so I can't take her out until then. I know precisely what I'm going to get her. Bwah ha ha ha.

Things at work have been pretty cool. I finished the rollout and I've kind of been searching for things to keep me busy. So, I've started to tackle our inventory reorganization. This is making Dave really happy, since he loves to be organized. I'm so proud of him. He's already cracking Project Mayhem jokes.

Had a great practice with Lisa last night. I'm letting her tryout my Fender Bass VI to see if she can play Sharron Apple on it. Her hands are really small, so she has trouble shaping the chords. I think it will work. Everything seems to just be falling into place. I love it. Out of all the songs she's learning, we have at least 4 that are rock solid. I can't wait to play out.

Went to DJ's last night for Project Mayhem. Eric was there and he's lost 25 pounds. Rock on for Eric. Mayhem was great. It became a competition to see who could get the feds and the army after us the fastest. Not sure who came out on top with that, but I did manage to wow them with my mad driving skills, what.

September 11th, 2002 08:30 hours CST currently listening to: "Untitled" by Interpol

I can't stop listening to Interpol!!!

Anyway, last night was one of the best times I've had in a long while. DJ drove me home, and traffic sucked, but we made up for it by shouting "fuck off!" Eddie Izard style out the windows. Well, the windows were up, cuz we're pussies, but it's the thought that counts. After all, we were saving ourselves for "Operation Mayhem." We ordered a pizza after we got confirmation that Dave (my boss) and Cornelia (my boss's girlfriend) were indeed coming over. DJ broke out the GTA3 and I cleaned up my place a little. I had originally thought that we'd be doing this later in the evening, so my place was a little dumpy. Whatever.

The buzzer rings (well, it doesn't ring. It buzzes.), and I run downstairs to get the pizza. Turns out it's Dave and Cornelia as well as the pizza guy. I motion them upstairs and pay for the pizza. I hear DJ unpause his game and in all the excitement of bullets flying, people screaming, cars crashing, I run upstairs. AND DROP THE PIZZA ON THE FLOOR. The box opens, and then fucking thing slides out onto my foot! I just stand there, 5 feet from my apartment door laughing my clumsy ass off. All three of them come to see what's up. DJ rolled his eyes and went back to Project Mayhem, but Dave and Cornelia sprang into action. Dave used two of my large dinner plates to scoop up the pizza, Cornelia takes my shoe off and starts to clean it in the bathroom. I (now missing my right shoe) grab the box, with the still-intact crust inside and place it on the stove next to this enormous mass of pizza topping. Dave grabs the paper towels and goes at the stairs, while I grab a pot and my pancake spatula and scrape off the rest of the bits and pieces. I'm laughing uncontrollably, and luckily, so is everyone else.

Here's the cool part: we salvaged the pizza completely. Well, 90% of it. 10% is now stuck to the spatula in my sink and also in the stain on the steps. Woops. But still! We had pizza! It was good stuff too. Now, I don't even have the sense to give Dave and Cornelia a tour, but Cornelia starts snooping around anyway. When they grabbed some beer from the fridge, Cornelia asks "what is this, a big bag of puke?" Upon closer inspection, the bag of puke was actually a chicken breast that I was marinating for tomorrow night, but what you see, is what you got. Cornelia also pointed out my stockpile of vanilla candles in the pantry and was passively questioning my manliness for the rest of the evening. Especially when she found the bottle of nair on the side of the bathtub. Luckily with all the screaming and explosions, I was able to dodge that topic pretty smoothly.

Now, on to Project Mayhem. I'd been telling Dave about GTA3 for so long now, that he was destined to see it first hand. After all, this one game inspired DJ to make a impulse $300 purchase one night to get a PS2 just so he could play it again. We were a little concerned about how Cornelia would react to it, but oh my fucking god, she started laughing the moment she saw it. DJ was at the helm and he wasn't even doing anything major. He stole a cop car and ran some people over and this set Cornelia off on a laughing spree that didn't stop for an hour and a half. Dave as well. The two of them were red faced and could hardly eat or drink anything in fear that they would spit what ever it was in their mouths at the time onto my rug or even on the damn walls. It was a hit. We even got them both playing it. Not just driving, but whipping out the weapons and waxing what ever motherfuckers came into view. It was fantastic. They left around 11:00, I think and I warned DJ to drive them home safely. Because after you play that game you DO want to drive like a maniac and use the sidewalks as a way to avoid traffic.

My kitchen now looks like a dorm room nightmare. There's pizza sauce all over the stove that looks like someone horked all over it. The dishes are now in the sink, but I've got over a dozen beer bottles lying around. I woke up late this morning so I didn't get to clean it all up. Good grief. I realized that Dave had made impromptu artwork by making hand prints in the paper towel he was using to blot the grease with on the stairs. Not sure if I'll be keeping that on my fridge.

In other news, they're finally going to replace the windows in my building. I'm so glad. My apartment is so damn drafty. This means I'll have to yank the AC units out and move all my stuff away from the windows. Even take down my curtains and blinds and take the hooks out. It's supposed to take 5 days. Now that the bulk of my gear is at the rehearsal space, I was thinking of moving my computers and desk into what is now formerly the gear room. I want to get a new dresser and a frame for my bed and rearrange the bedroom. Having my computers in their tends to make that room a bit messy. Maybe I'll get all cool and put the bed at an angle and then get some triangle bedside tables. Shut up. I know what you're thinking.

September 9th, 2002 08:30 hours CST currently listening to: "Birthday Cake" by Cibo Matto

I feel great today. I feel skinny. In a good way. Not like a stretched thin, kind of way. I guess eating only 2 real meals a day can do that to a person. That aint good though. Dave is taking me to Heaven on Seven today for some Cajun goodness. It's an appreciation lunch for me hitting my biggest milestone since working here. Awww yeah. My back is still really fucked up and I'm out of muscle relaxers. Oh well. Christ! it's like 8:20 and Dave is actually here. *makes whip noise*

I'm so proud of Lisa. We busted ass on learning Halo yesterday at practice. We brought the rugs that we'd bought at Ikea the day before and along with the giant pillows we were sitting on, it was wonderful. So wonderful that in my low blood sugar state, I was almost falling asleep as I strummed through that song. She wore the cutest outfit I've seen on her yet. Life is good.

Friday was the Interpol show. God damn, that was a great show. Lisa picked me up and the original plan was to meet with my work friends at the Black Beetle for burgers and beers, but Mark called me on the way down there saying that it was going to sell out. So Lisa and I stopped at the Empty Bottle and got in line for tickets. They were only selling 30 tickets at the door and the rest were "will call" tickets, which for the Empty Bottle is a weird thing. I called Jeff and the others and they settled up at the Beetle and made it over there to get in line. We all got in. Sheba, the girl who cuts my hair was there as well. It was nice to see her in a setting outside of chopping my hair off. Interpol, despite their technical flubs, had a great set. I'm going out to finally buy that bloody CD today. My only 2 complaints were these: 1) why do you use 9 volt batteries in your pedals when you could be using plug-in power supplies? and 2) where was that cool extra guitar part on the first song?!?!? Their drummer was utterly beautiful, but Lisa had her eye on the bass player.

I parted my hair on the other side. I know, that's not exciting, but it is for me. I've been screwing with my hair a lot lately. I realized that I sort of look like the bass player for Interpol now. How odd. I mean, minus all the black and the perfect cheek bones and stuff.

I now know exactly what I'm getting Rachel for her birthday.

September 5th, 2002 08:05 hours CST currently listening to: "Shake The Disease" by Depeche Mode

I was talking to Lisa the other night on the phone and apparently when we first met at the Beat Kitchen, she thought I was totally gay. How funny.

Didn't end up going to the gym last night. I opted instead to go to Delilah's for some beers with DJ, Jeff, Matt, Josh and this guy that I'd never met who had just returned from a 14 day survival course in southern Arizona. His stories were amazing. At one point they had to kill a sheep. I have no qualms about eating meat, but you have to admit that a group of people holding down a sheep and slicing it's throat would make you reconsider. But the people in the group that were vegetarians were even partaking. That's why it's called survival. Although I'm not in any hurry to sign up for this kind of thing, it does seem appealing in some sort of way.

I think there were other things I was going to talk about, but I can't think of what. So, here's a list of 5 things I firmly believe in:

• Tobacco smoke is one of the most ridiculous things humankind has invented.
• There is no god. Never was.
• Coke tastes better when drunk from a glass. Glass bottled coke is even better.
• "Blood Flowers" is the worst Cure album ever made.
• I can picture myself being married, but I can't picture myself ever having children.

I realize that those are pretty negative (well, except for the Coke part), but I'm not a negative person. It's just what I was thinking about after standing on the L platform with this fat prick smoking a cigar right in front of a no smoking sign.

September 3rd, 2002 15:55 hours CST currently listening to: "Birds" by Swervedriver

today has been strange. We had layoffs today. 5 people got the axe. I felt like the IT angel of death, showing up to collect their computers while they were in their exit interviews. I was reminded of a Dilbert comic where Catbert calls himself the "Grim Downsizer."

Weekend was alright. I played Super Mario Sunshine a LOT. In fact, that's all I did Friday night and Saturday during the day. I went to Karen's birthday party later that night. Tried to get Kim to come out, but she wasn't answering the phone. The party was fun. There was a whole lot of lesbian going on there. I blabbed forever. My brownies were a hit. Got to talk to Courtney again who asked all about why I do my journal on this site, because on-line journals fascinate her. I can't think of anything provocative to put on here though. Sorry, Courtney. I got to talk to Liz too, which is always a good time. We inflated all the balloons we could find. That's a nice drug substitute, if you ask me. But then, i don't do drugs, so I don't really know what I'm saying. I kept hoping that Karen would get topless at some point, but no go.

Sunday I, you guessed it, played more Mario. Thought about going to the gym but realized that I wouldn't have time because I had practice at 2. Lisa and I were on a roll. It was too bad we had to stop. I was showing her the bass parts for "Halo", "Shirley Temple Tidal Wave" and "500 Deep". We both went back home to change and then I picked her up to go to the Metro. Whimsical played a fantastic set and drew in a huge crowd. They now have some serious pull with the Metro now. Which is good. I'm proud of them. Absinthe Blind played a great set as well. I was mesmerized by Mira's lead singer. 6'3" blonde beauty, thin as a rail, and wearing a black slip. If I was a cat, I'd purr. Tracer played a good set too. The crowd thinned out, unfortunately by the time they started playing. I ended up consoling Linsey the rest of the night because she and her boyfriend were fighting after the show. We talked about going to buy some new porn for ourselves once I get paid at the end of the week. Good thing, too. I'm in major need of some new porn. Can anyone tell that I'm single right now? Luckily things with Lisa and airiel are going so well that I don't even notice.

Woke up top a lovely thunderstorm on Monday morning. Sat on the couch and ate cereal while watching the rain from my living room windows. Played Super Mario Sunshine to the point of motion sickness. I realized then that it had been 8 hours since I'd eaten or even moved from the couch. There was this bit on a giant swing that was just making me woozy as hell. Lisa, Andy and I went to Piper's Alley to see "24 Hour Party People", which I absolutely loved. That bit with the guys from the Happy Mondays poisoning the pigeons was utterly hilarious. I was humming "Love Will tear Us Apart" to myself the whole way home in Lisa's back seat. I paused for a short while to decide whether or not to panic panic while we were almost hit by an SUV at Elston and Damen. That woke me up. I came home feeling kind of sad and just sat on my couch playing my Martin. I came up with a neat new song and even got some lyrics down.