our own typing

well, i'm not gonna kid anyone - this whole blog thing is beginning to be played out here in my world. i do more reading than writing out here in the public domain. maybe i will get back to posting when i feel like i have something more intelligent to say than "yet again i found myself having a long day involving work and music, and by the way here is some good lefty/'reality-based community' writing, and here is what is stuck on repeat in my stereo." for now, though, i'll fall silent as has already been happening... after a year or two, posting inanities every day seems less interesting than fiddling with video-editing software and reading the comments on eschaton, so i'ma get back to that, posthaste. nighty-night!

current listening: "on the sunny side of the ocean" by john fahey. nothin' wrong with that, ya? (CP)

proving once again that most of the useful information in the new york times comes from the op-ed page, both bob herbert and paul krugman are driven, as brad delong would say, to "shrill unholy madness" - check out bob:

How in the world did we become a country in which gays' getting married is considered an abomination, but torture is O.K.?

or perhaps check out paul:

The question is whether the relentless mean-spiritedness of this budget finally awakens the public to the true cost of Mr. Bush's tax policy.

boom-bip! and we're ready to flip!

meanwhile, back at the ranch, we're a little hung over today. last night's gig at the makeout room was reasonably well-attended and lots of fun, and was followed up by some substantial beer consumption by me and brent from continental. ow. but it's okay - it's mercifully slow here today.

current listening: some loopdrop which is always a good thing. (CP)

despite some problems, the gray lady can still occasionally tell the truth. (CP)

of course there's always required reading... today it's personal favorite james wolcott on juan cole and his smackdown of a right-wing warmonger who (surprise, surprise) decided to talk before thinking. read it here. juan's original post is right here. sometimes there's nothing more entertaining than watching a well-informed academic get worked up over someone else's idiocy.

i am still beating back a cold, and that's not at all entertaining. and of course in "dumb crap done while drinking" news, i managed to not only enjoy a day at the driving range on saturday (thanks to d's birthday as interpereted by me and a ton of the rest of his friends) but managed to continue drinking afterwards until being dropped off at my local watering hole by my pal chad and... well, what happened after that i don't remember. so there's that. i did, however, get a migraine the next day. so, um, that's not so great. i guess it was one-up (found a new hobby, i think, what with the joy of golfing) and one-down (missing a party-brunch the next day). life's like that sometimes.

now i think i need to get over to the gym, because i'm not getting any younger.

current listening: brokeback, featuring the fender-6 stylings of one doug mccombs. quite a bassist, that one. (CP)

back again, again, again.

today's a lot about phlegm. and blowing my nose. yeah, the wacky bay-area weather found another victim right here, sitting at my desk. like it or not, i have to take it easy, and that's none too easy when you've got lots to do and not much time in which to do it. so here i sit, sniffling and snuffling, treasuring the few minutes of silence (er, well, few minutes of stereolab, anyway) before stumbling off to practice. after all, b and i have to marshal the troops and mosey over to the makeout room next thursday, and that takes some doing.

so, there's that. not much else to say, besides noting that this past wednesday crime in choir made their way to my sound-workplace and played a fine show, and also allowed for a re-meet with phil of trans am, who's newly relocated to these parts. so, a good show plus that... not a terrible evening, despite feeling as if my head were twice its actual size. here's hoping my head shrinks and the sniffling departs, eh?

current listening: the usual suspects... seems like stereolab is a good tonic for the sick. maybe they should do a tour of hospitals! hah. (CP)

# posted by our own @ 3:03 PM ===

sweet fancy moses hasn't it been a while?

the fact that as i was returning to my office from the gym just a few minutes ago i noticed that, ye gods, there was still a little light in the sky says to me that spring is just around the corner. days are getting longer. things are, dare i say, lookin' up.

tomorrow is my court date for my lawyer guy. hopefully he can get the appropriate stuff done such that i won't end up being an outlaw in my home state. that remains to be seen - more on that on wednesday, a.k.a. "the day after".

i dunno if anyone has noticed, but digby is basically the best poli-sci blogger around, these days. him and wolcott (who is somewhat less "poli-sci" and more "poli-snark" but hey - that's my bag too). let jackasses beware.

um, i don't have much other intelligent commentary to offer today, so i'm just going to sign off. i have been (marginally) guilty about my lack of posting due to excessive busy-ness, so lest anyone worry, i pledge to post more. a little.

current listening: stereolab - "brakhage", yeah that brakhage. stan. good for you for getting that one. nutty labbers. (CP)

seems like things are so busy around here that i actually get around to posting only once a week. i guess that's no surprise to anyone who knows me - i like to be busy, at least in the abstract. the reality is that i do find myself being pretty exhausted some of the time, but it's the kind of exhaustion you get after knowing you worked hard. so it's not too terrible.

the great trick nowadays is finding time to relax, have a drink, and be out of the house while still managing to be ready and able to handle the next day's 15 hours of work and commute time. today seems to be working out thus far. last night i actually went out at a ridiculously late hour - just short of 1am - just to be able to say i did. went over to the elbo room and had a couple of tequilas (don julio, i believe - i let dx pick for me) and a couple of bottles of red stripe and met the roommate of some regular. this girl was pretty nuts but in an entertaining way. included in the entertainment was a free smoke-out, and i'm not one to deny that. at one point she also made the rather provocative statement that "your clothes balled up on my floor is the only thing that's sexy - this metro shit is so done". i wasn't sure what to do with that, particularly coming from a whiskey-swilling, cowboy-hatted pistol like this. i rarely am. i always feel like people who are totally loaded aren't completely on top of things - i know i'm not. but today when i remembered that, i was thinking "well, why didn't i say something equally provocative back? something more interesting than 'well, you'd like it at my house then - plenty of balled up clothes there.'" does that make me a jackass?

anyway, there's not much time for worrying about that today. currently i am on the phone with the north carolina dmv at the behest of my lawyer. trying to get my north carolina driving record so my lawyer can do his lawyering. i will be so glad when this nonsense is over and done - i am sick of sending out massive money orders and faxing forms. court date's less than two weeks away, so wish a guy luck...

also today i start another weekend of mixing with pepito. we work tonight, then tomorrow i have to go deal with a lab over at the audio school after which i'll be attending the going-away party for the people behind the pepito magic, j and a. then sunday and monday will be spent sitting in their living room being a pro tools jockey. it will be fun but grueling, i predict. we have to finish up because the pt rig is getting shipped to spain at the end of the week!

meanwhile i am here at UC, listening to post-rock and thinking about the fact that yesterday i managed to work a full shift over at school, edit drums with b over at the studio, cook for my lunch today, and still went out and had some fun and am not a dead man walking today. i guess i am getting acclimated to this hectic pace...

today's recommended reading is yet another great hendrik hertzberg piece in the new yorker. i just read it this morning on the train. you can find the online version here. another entry in the growing chorus of people trying to debunk the bush administration's attempt at hoodwinking the american people, this time over social security. there's a krugman piece in the ny times as well, but check herzberg first. it's a fine one.

current listening: crime in choir, weighing in with "hot slant". it's a chunky piece of trans am style kraut motorik wedded to the daring analog keyboards of 70's progressive rock, and you'd be silly to sleep on it. (CP)

hey.

yeah, it's been a while since i've posted, and certainly a while since i have managed to post anything of significant length. let me just say it's certainly not because i have lost interest - i've lost time! this month is turning out to be quite a grind, though not always such a terrible one. no grim death march... more like climbing up a long hiking trail. the view at the end of my trail will, i think, include such things as a finished third pepito record, a finished court date (thank goodness my lawyers tell me i won't have to come back to NC for that - whoo!), a newfound respect for steamed vegetables, and a surprisingly curtailed drinking habit. so there's that.

meanwhile the usual sorts of things happen apace. bc has almost finished her house. next tuesday i am gonna go over there and help her put in her garbage disposal and admire the newly installed countertops which i have thus far only seen in digital photo format. also, b and i are in the middle of finishing up song number two off record number four. i figure we'll finally manage to get a new record out only a year after the previous one - a first, i think. thank heavens for little victories.

this weekend? more pepito mixing. all weekend long, yo. well, actually, i do have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go deliver a lecture over at the audio school, but that hardly counts - i'll probably be half-asleep for most of it. the mixing should be grueling but entertaining - just the way we like it, no?

current listening: a bunch of the usual suspects, including the usual batch of chicago post-rock things, and some loopdrop. all good. (CP)