Sentimental Valium

Thanks to those of you who came by to watch/listen to @M and I last night. We were talking afterwards about how much fun we had--even if we wished that we played and sang a little better in spots. We were encouraged and hope to keep finding places to play. We'd love your suggestions for what to play or where.

Read a great story online today:

Michigantown, IN.

Could it be... Satan? A central Indiana pet shop owner says a turtle that was the only animal to survive an October fire has developed an image of Satan's face on its shell.

Bryan Dora says it looks like the devil wants us to know that he was there.

Dora says he can see a goatee and a pair of pointy horns on the shell of the palm-sized red-eared slider turtle named Lucky.

He says Lucky is healthy and its behavior hasn't changed.

Investigators could not determine the cause of the fire, which destroyed the A-Dora-ble Pet Shop and several other businesses in Frankfort, about 40 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

Dora has produced a DVD of the turtle's story that he plans to auction on the Internet. He will also offer the winning bidder the chance to buy Lucky off-line.

I spilled a blender full of stuff today. I was making a healthy afternoon snack and went to grab a plate and knocked the blender to the floor. Bananas, cranberries, yogurt, milk, ice--all found a home on my kitchen floor. Turned out that today was the day to mop and not Monday, my typical mopping day.

posted by -tr0y- @ 8:21 PM

Happy belated St. Patty's day. I didn't do anything. I did stop by Yesterdog and Morning Star last night for a bedtime cheddardog and coffee. I saw all the lines for people trying to get into a couple of the bars and kind of laughed. It was a strange combo of "Those poor, silly people standing in line just so they can be seen by other people on this drinking holiday" and "I wish I was standing in some line somewhere being seen by people on this drinking holiday." Instead I gave some homeless guy a dollar and went home to consume that healthy late-night snack.

I had to clean off my car windows again this morning. I'm really getting sick of this. I know c@it and my dad would start telling me how they get tired of the humidity and heat of the south and all that. I understand that we could all find something to complain about where we live. Even so, I need to see this snow leave as soon as possible!!

I actually feel a little nervous about playing music tonight. It's weird--I rarely get nervous....

I've been reading "The Time Traveller's Wife" this week and I'm loving it. I rarely read female authors (not sure why), but this has me thinking about that. I recommed it if you are wanting a creative novel with plenty of twists (be forewarned--it will take some work to follow...).

Oh yeah c@it--I read "Gastby" again about six months ago. I agree--it's better as you get older. I've read it probably five times since high school. It's outstanding!

Been listening to jazz the past couple days. Bitches Brew is pretty breath-taking!

posted by -tr0y- @ 8:49 AM

Spent some time cleaning up my iPod. Trimming the fat some might say.

7,188 songs

I've had a couple emails and questions about the show this Friday night with @M.

Urban Mill/It's A Grind
235 W Fulton St
Grand Rapids
7-10ish

posted by -tr0y- @ 4:01 PM

The sun is out again this morning. That's two days in a row. Who wouldn't LOVE to live in Michigan?

I'm afraid I'm a push-over. I asked my friend Erin and she said that I'm just too nice. jvk said "No, you're just a push-over." I gotta learn to say "No" more often.

Indie playlist this morning:
Built Like Alaska--Does Your Mother Feel Sick
Beatifics--In The Meantime
Belle and Sebastian--She's Losing It
Stars--Heart
Harry Hunks--Ugliest Surfer
Rhesus--Sugar Kid
Clinic--August
The Color Bars--We're A Tag Team
Cosigner--Would I Miss You
Aluminum Group--Motorcycles

posted by -tr0y- @ 10:22 AM

For those in the GR area, @M and I have a show this Friday night. 7pm downtown. Ask me if you want info. Should be good--we're thinking about doing a couple new songs and maybe even playing a bunch of unfinished music.

Went to see "Be Cool" this past week. Two words: Be Better.

So I saw this guy in the bar the other night with a bunch of his "buddies." They were all loud, unshaven, wearing Carhart jackets and drunk. They were being kinda rude to one of the girls bartending and I was getting pretty frustrated. Then I noticed that his name was on the jacket: Catfish. It changed everything. I just can't get mad at someone named Catfish. You also can't be afraid of someone with that moniker. They left pretty soon after that. I wonder if strangers call him Catfish. I mean, if you have your name on your jacket, isn't it a free license to use your name? I should have tried....

I also was reminded of the glaring difference between well-used/placed profanity and vulgarity. These guys were just vulgar--their use of words wasn't intentional nor artistic. They had that impressive ability to use words--one word could function as both an adjective, verb, noun and expression of gratitude and love. Now that I think about it, maybe they were wordsmiths.

Finished two books this past weekend. Broken Music by Sting was so well-written. I almost couldn't believe it. A broad vocabulary and great descriptions are all scattered through the book. My one complaint, shared by @M evidently, is how little of his professionally famous career was covered. It took almost 300 pages to get to "Roxanne"--the first single--and then the book was done 30 pages later. There's nothing about his solo career at all. It's a good picture, however, into the life of a struggling musician--I did appreciate that.

The other book was recommended by Andrew a while ago when I asked for suggestions. A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was outstanding! I can't remember the last book that snuck up on me the way this one did. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this book both brought me great joy and really moved me. I've been telling people about it for a couple days straight. It's really smart and was, at times, over my head, but it didn't end up being distracting. It added to the believability and I actually think I learned a couple things!!

Had some great Chinese food today--Mongolian Beef. It was awesome and I was able to eat 1/4 of it. I always feel like I'm getting a good deal when I'm eating asian food. I can rarely finish an entire meal, so I end up eating two times from one order.

I made spaghetti last night. I wish I knew how to cook more things--I often get tired of the 11 things I know how to make that I will actually eat.

This might make me look like a bad person, but sometimes the sound of people being happy makes me mad. It's not entirely because I don't want people to be happy--though I would have to admit that is the case sometimes. It angers me most often when it sounds fake. It's the times when people are obnoxiously loud about their happiness--laughing a little too loudly at a joke; screaming out someone's name when they walk in a room; the kinds of expressions that are designed mostly to gain attention--not to be an outlet for joy.

I guess maybe volume bothers me.

I am happy sometimes--don't get me wrong. I've just figured out how to be happy in a more subtle way I guess--a way that doesn't force other people to acknowledge my happiness.

Read another book last night. Elie Weisel's book Night has impacted me two times now. I read it once during high school or early college--don't remember when. My friend Nick gave it to me a while ago and I hadn't got around to reading it and giving it back to him. I started it after Fear Factor (I know--I can't believe I watched it either), expecting I would get tired and wander off to sleep. Instead, I finished it all and layed around thinking about that horrible time in our world's history. The book, for those who haven't read it, is a memoir of the Jewish genocide in World War 2. It's haunting and terribly sad, but the book's strength is how it humanizes the event. Too often my feelings towards it are disbelief--it's such a horrible idea, it's often hard to remember that it really happened, to real people. Weisel's book doesn't allow you to forget. It's powerful and gripping and impossible to ignore.

Been reading a ton lately--it's amazing. I've read three books in the past 8 days. Always looking for more suggestions though....

Music of the day: Rufus Wainwright. His approach to songwriting is so unique and I thought for a long time that I couldn't get enough of it. I found out I was wrong--I reached a saturation point a few months ago and couldn't listen to him for a while. I revisited recently and was reminded of how much I like his songs. It's piano-based and sounds more like Broadway/Vaudevillian music more than it does pop/rock, but it's full of emotion and crazy good singing. Be warned--he is unashamedly homosexual and has a tendency to make some people uncomfortable with his lyrical content. All the same, the songs cannot be denied--they are amazing and beautiful.

It's the music of the day because iTunes is offering a live EP today. I downloaded it and think it's outstanding--all Rufus and piano or acoustic guitar. Two songs highlight the EP: "Poses" and "The Art Teacher." If you're not familiar with Rufus, this EP might be a good place to start for a primer on his music.

I'm hoping to write more regularly. I've given up caffeine for Lent, so I'm not hitting the coffee shops as regularly these days.

I get the "e before i" rule wrong all the time--and I think I'm a good speller.

posted by -tr0y- @ 5:26 PM