9.28.2006

Torturiffic

clinton tells it like it is.

Transit Center Redux

saw science of sleep yesterday evening. loved it. nothing more can be said. rode the metro through the beautifully seedy underworld of los angeles with my girl out to laemmle's on sunset (yea, girl, relax, don't get all excited, breathe, move on). not really seedy though. something else. don't want to say impecunious. pseudo-impecunious, maybe, with a dollop of semi-tragic. ended up at the same transit center that my roommate and i were stranded at a few years ago, waiting for a bus that never showed on a late-sunday, early-monday venture to the grove to see sideways. not really a transit center. more a scattered collection of buses in a fenced off parking lot and a few benches under the 10 freeway on fairfax. it would've been absurdly romantic had it been pouring rain, but it was only slightly chilly and an evil poster squirrel ruined the gritty, netherworldly effect.

9.27.2006

Flip Flip

i can't stand this. releasing information proving that you are a facist pig, bush, is going to have political motivations behind it. but it still needs to be known. shouldn't the people know that all your bullshit about "making the world a safer place" is, essentially, bullshit? and how are you even dragging clinton into this issue? is he running in '08? did he ignore "bin laden determined to attack within united states?" face it. you're going down. all the buck passing and karl roving in the world can't help you now.

9.26.2006

Morning Lament

why do i torture myself by staying up until 2 in the morning, doing absolutely nothing of any consequence?

9.25.2006

You Have Derailed

i swear, every time i go into l.a. bicycles, located in the luxurious and swank mecca more commonly known as university village, there is a different person in charge. it might be extended-family-owned and operated. that's my theory anyway. but here's the anecdote that goes along with that random opening thought: as i previously mentioned, my rear derailer came detached from the bike frame, so i took it in for repairs. i expected to be handed a bike-check and told to come back tomorrow sometime to pick it up, but luckily they weren't too busy. one of the guys working in the repair area, who i actually recognized from earlier visits, came out and took a gander. the person in charge had to translate, but the basic gist of what he was saying seemed to be that the hole for the nut that held the derailer to the frame was stripped, and it was unlikely that they would be able to fix it. now, the derailer attaches to the main frame of the bike, which is oddly perplexing. so if that little part goes, the whole frame is useless. which is essentially what was going through my head at that point (i briefly had visions of myself breaking into an auto body shop and spot welding the derailer to the frame). then the guy went in the back and came out with a box of bolts, the first of which he tried worked. $3 for the bolt. out the door. a completely unnecessary amount of stress.

umm, that was longer than i had originally intended, so if you are actually still reading this, i apologize. i get very long-winded about my bicycle adventures, apparently. thanks for sticking through it. i killed time at the bookstore today (after the bike shop trip, which left me with too much time due to the unexpected ease of the transaction) and ended up buying another book. so i'm back to four. better get to work. maybe i'll squeeze in a little homework if i feel like it. we'll see how things progress.

ps. leave a comment if you know to what my post title refers. think of it as a pop culture quiz. and no cheating with google.

9.24.2006

Song About a Broken Bike

i knocked out one of those books i mentioned a few posts back. now i have 'a heartbreaking work of staggering genius,' 'conversations with tom petty,' and 'the children's hospital.' i think that may also be the order in which i'm reading them.

my bike fell apart on friday. i was riding it home and at the corner of expo and fig, the rear derailer fell off of the frame. just fell off. so now it's just hanging on the chain. that bike is going to end up costing me at least $400 by the time i get rid of it. and it's hard to decide if it's worth it.

i just returned paul zollo's 'songwriters on songwriting' book to doheny library. it's basically a collection of his interviews with some of the great songwriters. carole king, simon and garfunkel, david crosby, graham nash, etc. etc. i kind of realized that it would be difficult for me to be a songwriter, at least one of any moderate success. i just don't like what i write. it will sound good for a while, and then i can't stand to read it anymore. it just seems so contrived and cliche. maybe i just need some practice.

9.23.2006

Thoughts on Thoughts

the concept of free will is a little tricky for me. quantum mechanics tells us that the path and location of electrons are completely unpredictable. so if thought is the exchange of electrons between neurons at synapses in our brain, and that exchange is determined by an unordered system of chaos, how can our decisions, our thoughts, our motor movements, be controlled? what is controlling the uncertain and unknowable movements of these subatomic particles, allowing us to recall past events, access data, to formulate theories or consider questions such as the one i am discussing now? science tells us there must be a practical, a technical solution. what is the sum of the whole? what is the great combining force that can manage such a complex system of firing synapses and unpredictable exchange of electrons?

9.22.2006

No Vacancy

i have four new books to read. holy crap. shouldn't i be doing school work? you ask. bah, i say. that's all i got for now. beat the wildcats!

9.21.2006

Familial Lingo

things are shaping up. i have a copy editing test on wednesday for a dow jones paid (!!!) internship. which is based in santa cruz. heavenly. i'd prefer san fran, but i think i can settle for the santa cruz area. well, i'm speaking like i already have the position. and do i even want the position? getting ahead of myself as usual. at least i have something going for me in terms of what the hell i'll be doing with myself after i graduate.

i'm at work, and i should be making and posting flyers. but...i'm "hurtin' fer certain," as my dad would say, from a particularly vicious weight workout (the pool is closed, again, for repairs) and wine night at a friend's place. nap time has replaced swim time.

9.20.2006

The High Life: It's Willie Time

honestly, so what if willie nelson wants to smoke weed and do shrooms on his tour bus? is that hurting anyone? is the driver baked? no. leave him alone. drug war morons.

(in case you didn't get it, the title of this post is a riff on miller genuine draft's advertising campaign. sorry if this insults your intelligence, but i just can't let a joke get by without recognition...for me...because i'm a raging narcissist).

i just looked at the gum i bought a few days ago. it's a new flavor by orbit called "crystal mint." a little too close to crystal meth, methinks.

9.19.2006

The Irony of Tuscany

i find the state of the bike storage areas at my new apartment complex to be quite demonstrative of the mindset of the average american. here's the layout: bike storage area #1, on level 1 of the parking garage. bike storage area #2, on level 2 of the parking garage. here's the current situation: storage #1, crammed with bikes, overflowing into nearby parking stalls, congested, difficult to maneuver through, fallen bikes everywhere. storage #2, virtually empty, 20 or so bikes locked at easily accessible intervals, no hassle getting in or out. the difference: 30 seconds of walking or 10 seconds on the elevator. the moral: americans are lazy fuckwits.

some people who actually take the time to park their bikes on level 2 are still so lazy they don't want to open the door to the storage area to get their bike, so they lock it outside the gate. unbelievable. i just have to laugh when i see people lifting their bikes over their heads and wading their way into the upper storage area as i ride past and cruise into the lower level. un-freakin-believable. and don't even get me started on the trash situation. the trash chute is 25 feet away. piling trash bags in the hallway makes sense, right? or wait, let's spend even more energy and dump our trash into the courtyard. why move into a new place just to trash it? come on, people. what is going through your heads? air?

9.17.2006

Dispatch From a Trojan Student

alrighty folks, it's football home game weekend recap time. so sit back, grab your hats, and lets get this road on the show. for those not following the highly controversial and much-discussed student section seating debacle, here is a simple breakdown of what happened: 1. athletic department takes away best student section seats, sells them to alumni, gives endzone bleacher crapland seats to students and band, downsizes student section from 12,000 seats to 8,000 seats, cites highest student attendance figures from last year as 7,500 for ucla game. 2. around 9,000 students arrive for nebraska game, panic ensues, eric gets crushed in angry stampede of drunk, obnoxious guys and bitchy, shrieking girls, hops fence in last-ditch effort to escape death and lands best student seats in the house. 3. students turned away at the ticket entrance, then allowed to stand behind endzone, undoubtedly and rightfully pissed. something needs to be done. and if i don't get tickets to the notre dame home game as a senior, i will be comatose with rage. that is all for now.

9.15.2006

Bed Peace

this morning, from 7:12 to 7:43, the fire alarm sounded approximately 38 times. the peals differed in length and timing, so even if they weren't the most hellish, piercing shriek, they would have been fairly impossible to sleep through. this place is cursed. cursed by bad management.

i saw the u.s. vs. john lennon yesterday evening. very enjoyable yet very depressing. because nothing has changed. we still have a criminal president, ordering illegal wiretapping, keeping us in an absurd and attritional war, and calling anyone who is critical of his policies "unpatriotic."

since when is wanting freedom and peace unpatriotic?

9.12.2006

Flake

alright! good day. made myself get up early and go lift weights. then worked for a few hours. then did a moderate swim workout. then hit guitar class and learned a wicked strum pattern. bahahaha. it's not over yet, though. still have investigative reporting, in which we will be discussing the question of moral defensibility of journalists betraying or deceiving their interview subjects. i know i'll be glued to my seat!

i got my first issue of good magazine about a week ago. it's pretty sweet, guys. i strongly recommend you check it out. free stickers! and 100% of your subscription goes to the charity of your choice. that's my shameless plug of the day.

9.11.2006

Ultimate Disaster

because it's a normal thing to happen, my computer restarted all on its own the other night, right when i was in the middle of listening to a great song, kicking some ass in a fake-money online poker tournament, and playing the endless version of a pirated copy of bejeweled 2. i know, i'm a multi-tasking sonuvabitch. p.s. i logged back in and won the tournament for a grand total of 50 play chips...i think my account balance of play chips is somewhere around 3 million.

9.09.2006

Deadication

cheney says:

“I believe in a strong, robust executive authority, and I think that the world we live in demands it,” Mr. Cheney said in December on a flight from Pakistan to Oman. “You know,” he added, “it’s not an accident that we haven’t been hit in four years.”

and what would he say if we were "hit" tomorrow?

"It's these damn liberals and their goddamn visions of 'peace and happiness.' It's not our fault. They keep derailing our plan to kill all the terrorists by killing everyone."

Singin' in the Dead of Night

the world seems to be on it's correct axis. usc waterpolo beat irvine in its season-opener, the weather is nice, and texas lost to ohio state. texas losing anything is a good thing. there's not too much to report. i got a nice wife-beater tanline on my left shoulder/chest after sitting in the sun for the waterpolo game, so that's looking pretty white-trasheriffic. i'm also coming pretty close to conquering blackbird by the beatles, but don't ask me to play it for you, because i'll just screw it up in the face of such pressure to perfom. not a good sign, huh?

9.08.2006

The Real Enemy at Home

who, really, are these people? who raised them? wh-wh-why are they doing this? read:

In THE ENEMY AT HOME, bestselling author Dinesh D’Souza makes the startling claim that the 9/11 attacks and other terrorist acts around the world can be directly traced to the ideas and attitudes perpetrated by America’s cultural left.

D’Souza shows that liberals—people like Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank, Bill Moyers, and Michael Moore—are responsible for fostering a culture that angers and repulses not just Muslim countries but also traditional and religious societies around the world. Their outspoken opposition to American foreign policy—including the way the Bush administration is conducting the war on terror—contributes to the growing hostility, encouraging people both at home and abroad to blame America for the problems of the world. He argues that it is not our exercise of freedom that enrages our enemies, but our abuse of that freedom—from the sexual liberty of women to the support of gay marriage, birth control, and no-fault divorce, to the aggressive exportation of our vulgar, licentious popular culture.

The cultural wars at home and the global war on terror are usually viewed as separate problems. In this groundbreaking book, D’Souza shows that they are one and the same. It is only by curtailing the left’s attacks on religion, family, and traditional values that we can persuade moderate Muslims and others around the world to cooperate with us and begin to shun the extremists in their own countries.

It's Alive!

wow. thank fuck. we have internet. and now i have nothing to do online. well, time to piss away a few hours on youtube. but first, i'd like to have a litte congratulatory post, just to revel in the fact that it is now 1 month and 8 days after my apartment should have been completed, and it's finally done...well, except for the missing light fixture in the bathroom. but i'll let that slide for now. and all the retail stores on the first floor. and the pool. and the lounge/study room area. okay, so my apartment is done, i should just be happy with that.

i'm hoping for an increase in posting on this and skp magazine, as i'm sure you are, now that i have my precious gateway to the world back. i'd like not to overwhelm you with the minutiae of my life, so i came up with the idea of a list. everyone likes reading bullets because it doesn't seem like that much reading, right? and if you really want every detail of my life, you can check my mini-news-feed whatever on facebook. actually, they gave us privacy control, so that won't work anymore. haha, stalkers. better luck next time.

1. back in the pool after a 5 day sickness, trying to keep up with this crazy australian girl who keeps kicking my ass and making me look bad.

2. loving my guitar class because it's making me focus on all my weak areas, like finger-picking and 5th string root dominant 7th barre chords.

3. somewhat angry at the stupid people living here who park their bikes like they have diminished mental capacities and dump trash and beer cans all over the place. we're all angry at conquest, and i know the building isn't quite done yet, but making construction crews waste time pulling cardboard boxes and natty ice cans from the courtyard fountains isn't going to get it done any sooner.

4. so pumped that football is starting again, and so pumped that we walked all over arkansas, despite some sports "analysts" who predicted a loss (holtz, go away now, please).

5. looking forward to the first water polo game of the season tomorrow at mcdonald's swim stadium against uc irvine. i know a few guys on the anteater team, and it will be nice to watch them get demolished and humiliated.

more to come soon, because i'm full of creative overflow as a result of only having 3 days of class a week, all after 3 p.m.

9.06.2006

Staredown

why do people (mostly girls, not to be sexist, but to be a little sexist) insist on playing chicken with me when i'm on my bike? especially those people standing still? why move back and forth? are you trying to mess with my mind? i'm not going to run into you. just stand there and i'll find a way around. or i'll stop. i'll do anything besides plowing headlong into your chestplate, so please, stop acting as though i'm about to impale you with my handlebar.

on my way to work today, which is where i sit as i write this post, i saw a middle-aged guy walking in front of me. a girl passed in front of him, and he actually stopped, turned and stared fully at her ass for a good three seconds before continuing on his way. no effort to disguise the move. he had to know there were other people around who could witness him doing this. yet, no shame. i don't think i'd ever noticed anything like that before, although i'm sure it's happened. hopefully i wasn't on the staring end.

9.04.2006

Night Fever

it's labor day, and unsurprisingly, i still don't have internet at my apartment. my four-day weekend, while the football team's rout of arkansas was exciting, has been pretty much blown by a head cold. pretty typical. it'll probably last through this week. being sick is the worst.

i don't really have much to write about. my brain doesn't feel like working. sorry. try again later.