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4.27.2004sometimes people just suck
let's see... 27-17=10.
ten. as in "days since i last wrote anything." as in "jon is a lazy fucking motherfucker." ok, not entirely. i got a new computer on tuesday, courtesy of my friend marcello. ultimately, i waited about three months for the computer, so as you can imagine, when it arrived, i pretty much tore into the box so i could open it up and start playing. sadly, i ripped open the box and discovered that the dvd/cd-rw drive was pretty much wrecked. so, rather than do the smart thing and put in a claim with fedex, i said "fuck it" and drove to a computer store and bought a new disc drive. there was no way i was going to have fedex come pick up the box, take it back to their shipping plant, examine it, and send it back to marcello in colorado, just to have fedex tell me they weren't going to pay for the damage. plus, then marcello would've had to fix it and send it back to me, and there's no reason to believe that the same exact thing (or worse) wouldn't happen a second time. so, here i am on my new kick-ass computer, and i'm a happy guy. after being out all day and night looking for the replacement drive, i finally got back home and fixed the computer. there were a couple of minor glitches here and there over the 24 hours that followed, but by thursday the computer was in fine shape. the only thing that i had left to do was to take all the files off of my old computer and put them on my new one. that only took like four days. what a frigging pain in the ass that was. since then i haven't been doing too much except working. so, i really don't have any good excuse for not blogging yesterday. oh well, it wasn't the first time and i'm sure it wont be the last. i got my first non-college article published last week. it's in lofimag.com, a philly-based indie rock mag. i highly recommend checking it out. not only to read my interview with jonah matranga, but also to check out all the other cool articles and band info listed on the site. there is a lot of hard work that goes into that mag, and it's definitely worth a few minutes of your time. hopefully, i will be doing more of this sort of thing. i really enjoyed it and had a ton of fun. as a direct result of doing that article, i got free tickets to the onelinedrawing show in new york city last monday night (the 19th). i met up with this girl, delia, who i was introduced to through a friend. now, don't jump to conclusions ("it's a JUMP to CONCLUSIONS mat!!" ....... sorry). it was totally innocent. we just hung out and went to the show. but it was definitely fun, and i have a new friend who i can visit in new york, so that's cool. the show was really amazing. if any of you ever get a chance to see onelinedrawing, or jonah's new band, gratitude, in person, you've got to go. i've never been at any kind of event where i felt such an overwhelming emotional connection with everyone else in the room. there was definitely a strong vibe going on, and it was incredible. i'm sure i sound gay right now, but, i mean, you really should just experience it for yourself and then you'll know what i'm talking about. i've been hanging out a lot with some old friends from high school (and even junior high and grade school) recently. my friend dan and i became reacquainted with each other through friendster.com. that's pretty freaking weird, because the thought never even crossed my mind, when i signed up for that site, that i would meet an old friend who i haven't seen or talked to in years. strangely enough, i did, and it's been nice to have someone from my home town that i can go out with every now and again. i also ran into a couple friends, mike and adam, from junior high and high school, respectively, when i was out one night. about a month later i called them up to see if they wanted to hang out. we went out to a few bars and a party or two, and before i knew it, i was in "the loop." it's just strange how this has all worked out. i mean, i wasn't even that close with these guys when i was younger. i grew up with dan, so i knew him, but never spent time with him outside of school. the same is true with adam. i hung out with mike a few times in junior high and high school, but i was never great friends with any of them. now we're hanging out all the time. it's just funny how people change over time. i think that i probably changed more than any of those three, considering who i was at 16 and who i am now. but still, if you had told me a few months ago that this is how things would work out, i would've thought you were so crazy that i probably would've whacked you in the head with something blunt and heavy to try and make you sane again. speaking of insanity, what the hell is wrong with the yankees? they lost six out of seven to the red sux, er, i mean sox. then they get their asses whipped tonight by oakland. this team is really starting to piss me off now. i can't even watch them. i trying to prevent myself from even being reminded that it's baseball season right now. that's how upset i am. i wouldn't care as much if the red sox sucked like they usually do. but they actually have a good team, so i'm even more perturbed than normal. anyway, back to non-baseball matters... i can now burn my own cd's. it's only taken me about five years to get a computer with a cd burner. congratulations to me. so, i don't know if this blog entry is interesting or funny, but, hey, i'm just happy i'm back into the swing of it. more soon... p.s. - apparently, the yankees ended up winning tonight. i just found out that they scored six runs in the eighth inning to win 10-8. i could've just edited what i wrote earlier, but it would've ruined the flow of my disgust. 4.17.2004now more whaler-friendly than ever
hi, i'm a dork. you know this by now. if, somehow, this fact has escaped you until now, i think the addition of the hartford whaler photos should make it uncomfortably obvious.
really, i don't even know why i named my blog what i did, or what it has to do with the whalers. in fact, this blog has extremely little or no connection at all with the whalers, other than the blog belonging to me and my continuing fantasy that the whalers will make a grand return to the nhl. i'd like to say that this blog has meaning and purpose, that there is a common theme developing here. truthfully, the only theme seems to be that i'm pretty messed up. hey, and that's cool with me. it sure beats the hell out of being boring. anyway, time to change the topic completely. i went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor today. i've had a perpetual cold all my life, and lately the right side of my throat hasn't felt too awesome. i was expecting the doctor to tell me that my throat was in really bad shape, and to ask me if i had, at any point in time, tried to swallow an exacto knife (which i haven't, just for the record). instead, it was his comment about my ears that cracked me up the most. especially because i warned him ahead of time that when i was a child my pediatrician commented in amazement about the volume of wax in my ears. gross, i know... i don't think the doctor believed me. he looked into my ears and started sucking out the wax with some type of vacuum thingy. he got a bunch out and was like, "wow, it just keeps coming!" soon after, he pulled the hose out of my ear and shut the machine off. "it's like trying to suck out cement," he commented. we had a good laugh about it, then he told me to put baby oil in my ears, and gave me a shitload of allergy medication. so, i'm actually breathing through my nose right now. it's a very odd experience. it's been a long time since i haven't had a stuffy nose. now i'm hoping that the yankees will go see a proctologist. someone needs to take those bats out of their asses so they can start hitting the damn baseball. 4.14.2004life's a piece of shit, when you look at it...
life is pretty cruel. when you're a kid you have all the time in the world, but none of the priviliges. when you're an adult you have all the priviliges and not enough time. when you're retired, you have all the priviliges and tons of time, but, of course, you're old.
whatever. i'm not trying to depress anyone, nor am i depressed myself. i'm just setting up my reasoning for why i am still living my life in a particular manner. i mean, i'm 26. i guess i'm supposed to have started a career by now, right? that's what everyone tells me anyway. i'm not stupid. i understand. i know why my parents are concerned. i know why they want me to seriously think about my future. it's just that, well, i can't see myself settling for some office job just so i can have health insurance and a 401k. i tried it when i worked for enterprise rent-a-car. it was depressing as hell. there was this guy in my office who was there for two years. most people with any kind of talent move up to assistant manager within a year. yet, there he was, two years later, still unable to pass the test for his promotion. he took it four times. every attempt a failed one. not that i would have been him. i was good at the job, but i hated it. i just couldn't see myself committing the rest of my twenties to a company i didn't give a rat's ass about. one of the corporate office higher-ups was a woman who had worked for enterprise for ten years. in the last five years of her employment, she took roughly two weeks of total vacation time. two weeks in five years? that's what was expected of me in order to move up in the company? fuck that. i also worked for a marketing company. i was at the office or with my co-workers monday through friday from seven in the morning until at least eight at night. my entire week was bullshit. i was working between seventy and eighty hours a week. i had absolutely no life. i was miserable. now, to be fair, i didn't hate the job itself. i enjoyed being out all day long and not stuck in an office. i enjoyed being out on my own without the constant observation and subsequent reprimands that ocurred every time i did something that he/she disapproved of. the problem is that i wasn't very good at the job. i wasn't horrible at it either, but i wasn't going to be that guy who hung on for two years and couldn't get promoted. nor was i going to be the guy who did get promoted, but was stuck managing an office somewhere in omaha, nebraska... if i was lucky. basically, what this shows about me is that i'm a fighter. that may seem weird, since i didn't put up much of a fight when i was working those shitty jobs i hated. what i mean is that i'm not going to be young for too much longer. now, of course i'm not implying that thirty is old. but i've reached a point where i can't say to myself anymore, "it's cool, in four years i'll still only be..." now it's, "shit, in four years i'll be thirty." that's a scary thought. i mean, i feel like i just left chicago. then it occurs to me that it's been almost four years since i came back east. so, how do i deal with this? by not giving up. if i keep going the same way i am now, i'll be on a collision course. turning thirty will probably mess with me pretty hard, and, seeing no reason to believe i am capable of anything otherwise, i'll regretfully but willingly settle for one of those types of jobs that, at age 24, made me want to scream. well, i don't want to sit here and let that happen. if i have to take some shitty office job at 31 or 32, it won't be because i was too apathetic to do anything else. instead of getting bummed out about being a short time away from thirty, i am going to get excited about the fact that i'm still only 26. sure, it sounds gay, but i don't want to sit around and be miserable all the time, so i am going to do my best monty python imitation, and look on the bright side of life. look, of all the people i know, i am the least likely to be motivated to do anything worthwhile, but i don't want to move to a new city just so i can have a good time. i want an opportunity to be around young people who are doing things they enjoy, instead of just talking about them. at least, this way, if i have to wait tables or bartend, the restaurant will not be my life. i will be doing other things that are much more meaningful to me. as it stands right now, working in a restaurant is totally depressing. but, a funny thing happened to me the other day. i mentioned to a friend of mine that i was planning on seeing a show in new york. he suggested i write an article about the band. with his guidance, i set up an interview and arranged for a magazine to publish my story. it's strange, but i feel so much lighter right now. i know it's just one interview, and it's just one article, and all of these words i've written are just that. i'm trying not to get too excited about this. after all, my track record isn't so great. but, i'm starting to make a believer out of the one person that matters most. myself. 4.11.2004this is what happens when i don't blog for six days
yes. i have a lot to talk about. where should i begin?
what's that? sports? i really shoul... OK... phil mickelson finally won his first major golf tournament. that's a nice story. i'm happy the guy finally won a major event after 43 tries. mickelson's victory was pretty stunning, but not as surprising as the fact that i actually sat in front of the television for a good ninety minutes and watched the masters. i'm not a big fan of watching golf, but, i was actually interested in what was unfolding in this tournament. there were several tense moments, and i found myself really into it. this scares me tremendously. i watched golf on television and enjoyed it. the way i see it, that can mean only one of two things. either it was a freak occurrance and i will wake up tomorrow fully cleansed of this experience, or i am turning into an old man who sits at home watching golf, looking at twenty year old porn mags, and soaking his feet... simultaneously. one more sports item... the nhl playoffs began recently. due to my complete lack of initiative, i did not get a chance to give my picks for the playoffs, which i'm sure is bothering the four people who read this. unfortunately, forecasting all the first round matchups after they're about halfway done is pointless, so i will simply say that, ultimately, detroit will beat tampa bay in the finals. now it's time for the shit that is pissing me off. i think i should be allowed to run over stupid people with my car. i don't mean i should be able to hit all stupid people with my car. that's not special. i just want to hit the moronic asshole pedestrians that blatantly disregard traffic signals, and then get mad at you when you honk your horn or yell at them. allow me to present exhibit "A": two days ago i was on my way home from picking up a pizza. i stopped at a red light. the road i was on was a major six lane boulevard without an island in the center. just as the light was about to turn green, these four dumb bitches began to cross the street. they began to cross the fucking street. now, i would have understood if they weren't paying attention, and started to cross, and then realized they were retarded and ran across the street. but these whores knew what they were doing. they took their sweet ass time getting their big fat asses from one corner to the other. once they passed me and got halfway across, i started to go. as i pulled away, i saw the girls stop in front of the other cars to yell back at the drivers they aggravated, as if the drivers had no right to be annoyed. those people should've been legally allowed to run the girls over, or at least tap them lightly. sixty seconds later, after the light at which i was waiting turned green, i continued down the street. i went around a slight corner, at which time i noticed a human dung sausage trying to pop wheelies on his two-dollar flea market bmx bicycle in the middle of the fucking road. i repeat, this is on one of the busiest streets in new haven. holy shit. so, anyway, the jerk almost fell off his bike, and i almost hit him. i wasn't even speeding. of course, if i hit him, it would have been my fault, according to the law. that is just pure idiocy. if i hit that shit-for-brains cocksicle, the DMV should've put points back on my license, just for performing a public service. i mean, imagine if the driver of a car actually had the right of way in certain situations. i think people would respect crossing the road a little more, don't you? accidents would be prevented. traffic jams would cease to exist. priests would stop molesting children! the red sox would win the world series!! um... okay, maybe i got a little carried away there. obviously, the red sox will never, ever win the world series. enough about stupid pedestrians. i want to talk about 9/11. anyone else had enough? i don't care anymore if bush ignored certain information, or if the cia fucked up, or if richard clarke is not credible, or if michael moore was only able to eat seven out of the twelve krispy kremes he bought that day because debris flew by and got stuck in the honey glaze. i am tired of hearing about it. you wanna know who fucked up? try everyone who's been in the federal government in the past fifteen years. that's pretty much it. everybody fucked up. it's time for us to stop being so paranoid, and to stop worrying incessantly about national security. we are never, ever going to be one hundred percent, undeniably safe. no matter what we do, if some terrorists want to mess us up, they will find a way. that's just how it is; and the more we take away peoples' rights, the more screwed up this country is going to get. i mean, take privacy in the workplace, for example. more and more employers are stripping employees of any sort of privacy. small video cameras are hidden throughout offices to secretly monitor workers' production. computer networks tell the company what websites you look at and what applications you run. some corporations even read your e-mails and instant messenger conversations. all because they want to know if you're being as productive as you can be. america needs to wake up, because big brother is checking you out in the rear view mirror while you're trying to get head in the backseat. the last thing i have to complain about is pretty simple. what is the exact age at which people cease using instant messenger? i've met quite a few people who are like, "oh, i don't use that anymore. that was just when i was in college." i don't get it. i mean, instant messenger is a great way to stay in contact with people who you wouldn't be able to stay in touch with otherwise. why do many of you stop using it as soon as college is over? do people stop having parties after college? do people stop playing video games? do girls stop giving blow jobs? no. and thank goodness for that. then there are the people who use instant messenger, but have decided that the generic "i am away from my computer right now" is an acceptable away message. c'mon, that's just lame, dude. oh well, so is the end of this blog entry. 4.05.2004in memoriam
r.i.p. kurt cobain
ok, i lied. i'm writing about sports
sue me.
it's opening day for baseball, how can i not be excited? actually, i just want to have my pre-season predictions in writing so i can laugh at everyone when the brewers beat the devil rays in the world series... or not. here are my real predictions: AL EAST the yankees will win. of course. like i'm ever going to pick the red sox to win anything. AL CENTRAL i'm going with kansas city. the royals look like the twins from a couple years ago. they're young, energetic, and the steroids that they take are organic and low in carbs. AL WEST all the "experts" are picking the angels. screw the experts. just because they watch more baseball than me, know more about baseball than me, and talk to all the players, coaches, and upper management type people, they think that's supposed to mean something. it probably does. which is why i'm picking oakland. AL WILD CARD fine, i'll suck it up and pick the red sox. but i'm not happy about it!! NL EAST ok, i'm picking the phillies, so this better not come back to bite me in the wee wee. YOU HEAR THAT PAT BURRELL? NL CENTRAL the cubs. yes, i'm picking the cubs, the team who hasn't won a world series since 1908. sure, i could pick the astros or the cardinals, but i'm not. i'm picking the cubs! YOU GOTTA PROBLEM WITH THAT?!?!? sorry... NL WEST this division really sucks. arizona sucks. los angeles sucks. san francisco sucks. colorado really sucks. however, san diego merely stinks, so i'll pick them to win the division. NL WILD CARD houston. the astros will make the playoffs because of their strong starting pitching, and solid bullpen. their downfall will be a typically unproductive post-season from their offense. jeff bagwell and craig biggio, once superstars, are in the twilights of their careers and will no longer be able to carry the load. lance berkman and company are capable of putting up big numbers, but, ultimately, philadelphia or chicago will prove to be too strong. how's that for some real baseball insight? maybe i do know something about baseball. take that, peter gammons... AL PENNANT yankees, motherfucker. who else? (so much for insight...) NL PENNANT my heart says the phillies. my brain which is beating the crap out of my heart says the cubs. alas, cubs it is. WORLD SERIES the yankees are the unpopular favorite to win it all this year. which is exactly why i am picking them. well, not exactly. i'm picking them because they are the best team in baseball, and they're ninjas. and we all know how cool ninjas are. 4.04.2004next stop: the rest of my life
i could sit here and bitch about uconn winning and pretty much ruining my chances to win $1200 (unless georgia tech can pull a miracle out of its ass), but i'm not going to. even though i really really really hate uconn, i'm done talking about sports for a while. the last week or so of college basketball has been getting me pissed off lately, and sports is a dumbass thing to be pissed off about. so, i'm trying to forget about it and move on to more important things.
what i'm trying to figure out now is my next move. i mean that quite literally. i have now accomplished the three major goals i set for myself when i moved home. i bought a car, i went to europe, and i will have my totally kick-ass computer in the next week or two. so, now i need to move somewhere. the problem is that i don't know where to go. austin? philly? denver? chicago? they are all good options, and all places i would like to live. but, i can't figure out which one of those cities offers me the most. hell, i don't even know what that means. i can't determine what is important and what is not so important. let's take a look at the positive things that each place has to offer. AUSTIN --warm almost the entire year --the job market is very good --consistently ranked as one of the best places to live by many publications --college town extraordinaire/tons of young people --one of the best nightlife scenes in the country --great indie music/movie scene --not terribly expensive for such a lively city --never lived there before, new experiences CHICAGO --huge city with tons of diversity and variety --awesome public transportation, almost no need for a car --great nightlife, restaurants --i have friends who live there --already familiar with city and it's environs --hard to ever really be bored, there's always something going on --i could see myself living there indefinitely DENVER --"hi, we're the rocky mountains..." --i've never lived there and would have new experiences --i have many friends there --did i mention the rocky mountains? --great weather, lots of sun --perfect for a one year excursion before moving back east PHILADELPHIA --i know it well --i could see myself living there a long time --lots of friends there --on the east coast --far enough away from family to be away from them --close enough to family to be nearby --reasonably priced --cheesesteaks (yes, this is enough of a reason to list it seperately) now, how about if we look at the negatives for each place. AUSTIN --it's in freaking texas --i pretty much dont know anyone --it's such a fun place, i may not do anything worthwhile --most of the jobs are in industries that i know nothing about/have no interest in --i only plan on living here a year or two, but i may not want to leave CHICAGO --and i think the weather in connecticut sucks? --oh, and the pizza... awful (with a few exceptions) --my good friend who lives here may be moving away soon --if i move there it will be for a long time, not sure i'm ready to settle down yet --all the neighborhoods i like are overcrowded and overpriced DENVER --i think i might get bored quickly --only real reasons for going would be rocky mountains and friends --the worst nightlife of the four cities i'm considering PHILADELPHIA --not the nicest/cleanest city --if i moved there it would probably be for a while, not sure if i want to do that yet --job opportunities are not as plentiful as in chicago or austin --last time i lived there i couldn't wait to leave (although that might've had more to do with other things...) i'm sure there are many more positives and negatives that i can't think of right now. if you happen to know of anything that i can add to this list, or want to take a defensive position as to why i should remove something from the list, please let me know. i'm always open to suggestions. as of right now, i think i'm still leaning more towards austin than anywhere else, but it's too early to be certain. i mean, who knows? when i visit austin this summer i may take one look around and be like, "screw you guys... i'm going home." seriously, i must be crazy. after all, i have a hard enough time figuring out what i want on my pizza, let alone what i'm going to do with my life. oh well, that pesky "life" thing is at least a couple more months away, no reason to worry about that, right? now, let's see, pepperoni and bacon? or ham and pineapple? |
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