Nothing to say really. I want to go see Spider-Man 2 today but I'll wait until Saturday. That's about as exciting as it gets.

Also I bought a used copy of Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh during lunch.

It's been raining off and on for a couple of weeks. While I'm not a particular fan of being caught in the rain, it has kept the temperature down to a tolerable level. Three cheers for tolerable temperature levels!

site link

It has been suggested or perhaps insinuated that I was less than kind in my remarks about the dog's eye popping out. Of course I wish said pup a speedy and two-normal-eye-having recovery. I was just recounting my drunken thoughts. Eyepatches are cool, though.

I found out friday that I won't be able to go to grad school until the spring. For some crazy reason they want to have my GRE scores before they admit me. Jeez, there's just no pleasing some people.

Also, during lunch I bought Exile on Main St. Yum!

Also, my allergies are so bad I can't see straight and I am in danger of puking on my computer keyboard due to allergy induced motion sickness. Yay!

Yeah yeah long weekend. Friday night I went to a party Amanda's company threw. There was free pool, bacon wrapped shrimp (genius idea) and an open bar. Thanks Photodex! Long, long night.

Saturday Joe and I went to James' parents' house for party for a double b-day. Every time I hang out with those folks is gets weirder and weirder because despite having moved to Austin years ago, the maintain much closer ties to our collective hometown of Temple. What this translates into in practical terms is a abundance of small town near-white trash and wanna-be ghetto thugs hanging around. Oh well. I got in a good drunken game of dominoes before it degenerated into a Jerry Springer show.

Sunday I sat around all day. I mean all day. 5 hours of Bravo in a row. Three for Primary Colors then two more for Celebrity Poker which I only watched because Maura Tierney was playing. After the TV marathon Amanda and I went to the Dog & Duck Pub for a couple of beers and pool.

I had plans to go to Beerland to see The Arm play and Keiron dj but before I left I got a call from Kevin saying they (the arm) weren't playing because their bass player's dog's eye popped out and they had to rush him to the vet (understandably). We ended up going to beerland anyway to hear Keiron and watch The Vain (winner of the most inept New York Dolls rip-off band ever - and that's saying something - plus a couple of them had Nikki Sixx hair.) Anyway, all night (especially the more I had to drink) I kept thinking about the dog and it's eyeball. Obviously I want to pup to be ok but I was thinking how it'd be kinda cool to have a dog with an eyepatch. Or if you gave it a glass eye that never shut so even when the dog was sleeping it would have a big open eye staring at you. Then I started wondering if the dog could see out of the popped out eye. As I understand it, the eye was still connected by nerves/blood vessels, etc, so could it see? Was its regular eye looking forward but could it also see the floor? Like I said, I spent too much time thinking about it. So if anyone who reads this knows the outcome of the poor dog's eye, give me an update.

Went out for a bit last night. This whole coming in to work 1 1/2 hours later makes life much easier. I met up with Amanda and SB at Barfly's for a few drinks. That place has great/stiff drinks but the clientele leaves something to be desired. It was worse than usual because it was pool tournament night.

Then I was off to pick Holly, Hope and Matt and get over to the Red Fez. Go, I really, really dislike the Red Fez. It's been a festering dislike under the radar for a bit but, yeah, I hate it. Expensive drinks. Crappy people. Good DJ. Nice friends. Maybe I will never go there again. Maybe.

Is the Zombies' Odessey & Oracle the greatest albums every? Yes, I think it is.

Followed by (in no particular order), Something Else by the Kinks, Forever Changes by Love and (inexplicably) Different Class by Pulp.

For today anyway.

Late post for a slow as hell day. I am going to the red fez tonight. I haven't been back since sxsw when Hope and Holly started a fight with some college girl and her boyfriend. I always kinda hated that place anyway and after that it had a weird feeling to it. But I wanna go out. And drink. And maybe dance. Or maybe get really damn bored and go home.

Tomorrow I'm going to 710 to see The Sword and also Camp X-Ray. I really dislike Room 710. I can see bands I really like there and still have the worst time. Something about it bugs me. But I'll give it a try. Boy, I sound whiny today.

Really, I just want to go home from work. I have 70 minutes left.

I've noticed people tend to write about their jobs on their blogs fairly often. Well, for those of you who might not be in the know, I work for a particularly unpopular branch of the federal government. My job means next to nothing to me. I do a spectacular job of forgetting about it the moment I walk out the door. They pay me decently and I get health insurance. I get a few months off each year in a weird arrangement but, really, I couldn't give a shit what happens in these four walls. It's all ass-backwards, bureaucratic, paper-shuffling BS.

That's why I finally sent in my application for grad school yesterday. I just can't stand the thought that this will be my life from now on. I've been here 4 1/2 years. Thankfully, I'll probably be able to keep this job while in school but being in school means I can at least see another life for myself somewhere down the line.

Hmmm. I forgot that the Decemberists are playing tonight. I may very well have to go to that.

I've been good. I didn't go out last night. Dinner + drinks w/Amanda and Joe then home. That's two nights in a row. I should be fine tonight, also. Tuesdays are always boring.

I've been reading some Raymond Carver. He was someone I kind of avoided just because I always associated him w/Bukowski and Miller - people you should not read unless you are a college sophomore. I am liking Carver, though. Eloquent and not nearly and drunk/depressing as I thought he'd be. I finished Fires and am starting What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Fires had some really good essays on writing and inspiration. The poetry I'm not so big on but, then again, I don't like poetry anyway (once again, the whole college thing + all those beat poet/slam poet people are so awful they make me cringe upon hearing the word poetry.)

Chris Hitchens opines on the new Michael Moore film, Fahrenheit 9/11, in today's Slate.

money quote: "To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of "dissenting" bravery."

This is not to say that I endorse all of Hitch's ideas, but I am a fan of his brand of loud-mouthed intellectualism. Moore, on the other hand, single-handedly does more to quiet real political debate than anyone else I can think of and moves us very close to the place where all you can have is discussions on the level of Michael Moore v. Rush Limbaugh. Pedantic and played for cheap laughs and cheap shots. That having been said, I haven't decided if I'll see this film yet. I'm pretty sure I won't pay money for it.

Hooray for me! I applied to grad school today. True my application was a week late and I don't have GRE scores on record yet but it's Texas State (formerly SWT) and I don't think they exactly have people beating down their doors to get political science graduate degrees from there. I feel confident that I'll get in. All I ask is that I start grad school before I'm 30.

So last week I was asked would I mind terribly not playing in The Soft Set anymore. I have rather mixed feelings about this. I had almost decided to leave the band anyway after the cd release show but I just hate getting beat to the punch. Oh well, whatever. I need to focus my attention elsewhere anyway.

I went to big parties friday and saturday night. The friday night one was close to my house but actually rather boring. I kept trying to get drunk and have fun but instead was mostly sober and standing around talking about wanting to get drunk and have fun. The one on saturday was considerably better. Those Peabodys played in the steam bath like living room. Beer was flying. Fists were pumping in the air. I love, love, love a good house show. The friday night party was a house show, too, but I wasn't too into any of the bands. The saturday party was pretty out of control. The whole street was filled. There was double-dutch in the dark. It got a little too anarchic for me so I went home around 2:30am with it still going strong.

Joe bought a washing machine for the house on saturday. It was delivered on sunday. I did a load of wash then put it on hangers on the front porch to dry since I can't figure out how to hook up the gas dryer someone gave us.

They were showing Band of Brothers all weekend on the history channel. I love that show. It's quite possibly the best thing ever made for television.

I went to bed last night instead of going out. I feel much better this morning than I usually do on mondays.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Third Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	High
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Low
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

I'm sure that posting this is some kind of personality disorder in and of itself.

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	High
Antisocial:	Moderate
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Moderate
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Very High
Dependent:	High
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Moderate
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

Today was my first later-start-time work day. It has really thrown me off. First of all, despite being minorly hungover, I woke up at the exact minute that my alarm usually goes off (6:41am if you need to know.) How did I manage that? Thankfully, I remembered that I didn't need to get up until 8:15 so I rolled over and slept some more. Traffic was heavier at 8:45 than it is at 7:15. I just know that this afternoon is going to never end. The extra 1 1/2 hours of sleep was great, though. Normally I would be dead today but I'm not doing to bad.

I going to go to the doctor next week about my hearing. I wear my earplugs religiously at shows but it doesn't seem to help. I noticed last night that I had to ask Choo to repeat herself like fifty times. It happened with someone else a couple of weeks ago also. It's just getting to be bad enough to affect everyday life.

I went to the gym last night. I feel like a new man. A really sore, stiff and slightly gay man. It really wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated but I did feel very self-conscious the whole time I was there but then again, really, where don't I feel self-conscious.

Also, I'm rather hungry.

I write this in a state of absolute morning grogginess. The clock in my car said 7:34 when I left my house this morning. I'm supposed to be at work at 7:30.

Last night I went to bookpeople to see/hear Adrian Tomine, author/illustrator/comic guy who does Optic Nerve. The only other time I've been to a book signing/q&a was when Ian Mclagan was giving a reading and we went to see if Kim Moon (Keith Moon's widow/ex-wife) was there since she's married to Mclagan now (she was there).

Anyway for some reason I was pretty nervous about the whole thing - social anxiety and all. I turned out really great, though. They have a small "events" room up on the third floor and Tomine was seated there with the book editor of the statesman. The statesman guy conducted a little interview and then opened up the floor for questions. I had been wondering how they were gonna do a "reading" for a comic book. So after that was over we all lined up with our freshly purchased copies of his Sketchbook to have them doodled on personally. It was surprisingly natural and not at all awkward (well, ok a bit awkward). I also had a nice chat with a cool girl while waiting in line. I shoulda asked for her number or something cause how often do you meet a cute girl as geeky (or more) than yourself. We were talking about comics, blah blah, but she really killed me when she lamented the closing on Adventures In Crime & Space a great, little sci-fi bookstore that closed a year or two ago.

So I got my book signed/doodled and went out to casino w/Amanda hence the grogginess this morning.

take the nerd test.


and go to mewing.net. a nerd utopia.


I would never, ever, even think of being an English Major.

I've been seriously considering visiting the doctor to ask for some happy pills. Nothing long term, mind you, but something to give me a break for a little while. I'm not a big fan of these kinds of things but I figure perhaps beer isn't the best way to medicate yourself, although to be honest, it really seems to work at the moment. It's just that I can't have that nice, mild beer-buzz going 24/7 nor do I want to. Eventually I'll get drunk, then tired, then sleepless and finally just plain wore out.

Also, I'm thinking of joining a gym. I've never bought into the whole exercise-gives-you-energy idea but what the hell? I may as well give it a try. The worst that will happen is that I'll be really sore and irritable and I'm like that a lot of the time anyway.

Last night Joe and I went to Casino, split two pitchers, watched A Fish Called Wanda on the bar tv and I had a casino burger. Then I went home and fell asleep after catching the last half of the new Six Feet Under. That show has really, really gone downhill after the first season. There is no black comedy in it anymore. It's just a really depressing soap opera now. Oh well, I'll anxiously await a new episode each sunday. I just can't wait until Carnivale starts up again.

Which Rock Chick Are You?


Of course I am.

I feel like the wind has gone outta my sails. I'm exhausted and bored. Over the past year I've started to figure out what most people understand around age 23-24... being soused and/or medicated all the time doesn't make things better. Hell, I don't know.

I'm going to meet my mom and my neice, Morgan, for lunch today. That's nice. Morgan's the most sullen, artistic and fun of my five neices & newphews - in short, the most like me, I think. I can never remember how old she is. 7? 8? I'll find out at lunch.

update: she's 8.

I had an extra long weekend again. Govt employees got friday off and I figured since I had friday, that I may as well take thursday also. So wednesday Amanda and I went out and ran around all night ending up at Jackalope to watch Tia Carrera play. Good shit.

Thursday I took my car in to get the a/c looked at. Guess what? It'll cost $1300 to fix it. That's more than I paid for my last car! So, needless to say, I won't be getting the a/c fixed. While I might be able to afford it (I'd be broke as hell for awhile) I refuse to pay that much money for a car a/c. At least I got one summer of coolness out of it. What the hell, before last year I hadn't had an a/c since 1997 anyway but, goddamn, those Texas Summers are killer. That night Holly and went to Emo's to catch Tim's band, the Cutaway, then over to the Whisky Bar where we met up with Choo, Rand, Kevin etc... It was quite a nice evening. It ended with everyone coming over to our house after last call to finish what beer could be scrounged and listening to Reign in Blood for some reason.

Then it rained on friday. What did I do friday night? I don't remember. Oh yeah, went to Lovejoy's and Casino w/ Tom and Amanda. Early evening.

Saturday Joe and I went to see the Chronicles of Riddick which I enjoyed to no end. There was no shortage of deadpan one-liners but, hey, it is Vin Diesel. What do you want? It was a great mix of David Lynch's Dune and Conan the Barbarian (the comic, not the movie). That night I went to a couple of lame parties one of which ended with someone knocking my beer all over my chest. Thanks!

Sunday morning I picked up Amanda and we had "brunch" at Curra's then hit Waterloo (didn't get anything) and Buffalo Exchange where I got a couple of overpriced "vintage" shirts and some nicely priced shoes.

That night (last night, I guess) after watching Detroit beat the Lakers (only LA could make me like Detroit) I went to Emo's to watch the Arm play. Despite my snide link joke, they were pretty good. The great part was that in the other area of Emo's they were having some kinda break dancing competition which led to an inordinate amount of "You Got Served!" jokes (though just a moment ago I misspelled that so that it said "You Got Severed!" which I kinda like better).

My head hurts and is all swirly but I'll be leaving work soon enough. Then I get to look forward to traffic (and not the steve winwood band). I am going to try to make it to the shins instore at waterloo later. It's going to be crowded as hell but I've got the inside hook-up so instead of standing in the rain trying to get in I can just go to the back door.

I had so much I was gonna do last night but it was raining. I was gonna go have drinks for Holly's b-day but it was raining. Then I was gonna go to Emo's to see the New Year (and Tortoise, too, I guess) but it was raining. And I was tired. So instead I watched those chump-ass Detroit Pistons blow a six point lead in the last minute and go on to overtime only to lose to the Lakers. That'll teach me to root for the underdog.

Right now I'm reading "A Problem from Hell" : America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power. It's a pretty damning indictment of not just the US's habit of ignoring genocide but, really, of the whole civilized world. It's a good book - a very interesting read. Smart and quick. But does make me wonder - everyone knows the US will ignore things until either a)they can't be ignored or b)all of a sudden there is some vital US interest at stake - but it makes me wonder why anyone would put any faith in the likes of the UN or Amnesty Int'l who seem to always make cheap politics and anti-Americanism their priority when in place like, say, Sudan there is a crisis of huge proportions - slavery, mass rape, forced exile and lots of plain old murder. Instead they (the UN/Amnesty, etc) will spend months talking about the US abusing prisoners which was an awful thing, but come on, have a sense of proportion. I would save some outrage for the my own gov't if I hadn't long ago lost faith in their using the power and resources for good.

Ok, sorry. I try my damnedest to keep politics off of this thing because, really, who wants to listen to someone blather on about this shit and also because, most of the time, my politics are so confusing to keep track of, I'd have to write a thesis every time I wanted to explain why I think this way or that.

! <--- this is the new universal symbol for Dave being happy and anxious. more later.

Went to Lovejoy's last night because, well, it was monday. It was a nice evening. Joe and I talked about comic books way too loud. Then I got beat at pool by a very amatuer hustler wannabe guy with a bad mustache. I was winning most of the game then missed the eight and set him up for three straight to win. I really wish I'd have won just so I could give him the table and walk off. Next monday is the lovejoy's ten year anniversary party down by the river someplace. Free beer, bbq and some bands. Nice.

I bought that new Magnetic Fields album yesterday. I've only listened to it once but it pretty good. I really miss the excitement I had when I was younger and I got a new record. I'd rush home and listen to it all the way through while reading along with the lyrics. I have a clear memory of sitting at my grandmother's house listening to Metallica's ...And Just For All on my headphones and reading along over and over.

Oh yeah, and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie on saturday. By far the best of the three. The others were ok but were rather cookie-cutter. It's the difference between having the guy who did Mrs Doubtfire directing and the guy who did Y Tu Mama Tambien directing.

update: cryptonomicon finished. amazingly fun + smart book.

It was a weird weekend. Holly + Josh's b-day party was a booze filled night of fun. I'm sure there were highlights but I'll be damned if I can remember them. Although I coulda probably gone home earlier than 4:30am. At least I made it home unlike some people who passed out on the couch and then had to call a cab to work the next morning.

The season finale of the Sopranos was last night. I'm pretty ambivalent. It was ok. The next-to-last one from a couple of weeks ago was better and more tension filled.

On the radio at lunch I heard a song off the new Magnetic Fields' album called "If There's Such a Thing As Love." It was nice. I need to buy that record.

I'm on the home stretch of Cryptonomicon. I slacked for a bit but am now taking my reading seriously. Filipino Gold!

My late grandfather was a marine in the South Pacific during World War II. So its safe to say he probably spent some time in the Philippines. He also liked to have a drink now and again. Once when we were out to dinner when I was a kid, he stopped our waitress and said something along the lines of, "Hey, what are you? A Filipino?" She was very polite.

Work blows. Did you ever have to sit around and figure people's capital gains taxes all morning?

The longest three day weekend ever - since I managed to stretch it a five day weekend. Last thursaday Danielle was in town so of course the night spiraled out of control. She's just a convenient excuse, though. Went bar hopping and ended up with an impromptu all night party going on at my house. The whole thing was an accident. It was a fun time but one of those that left me the next day saying over and over again to myself, "I'll never do that again, I'll never do that again." Until sat night at least. Friday night I stayed in and recovered my senses.

Saturday - went to casino, then to party blah blah. It was good hanging out with Hope cause I hadn't seen here NYC addled ass for something like three weeks. Sunday night sucked. Too crowded, too hot, way too humid.

During all this time I'd been doing a great job of making myself sick as anything. Monday I was gonna be good but instead Amanda and I went out. First to Lovejoy's to meet up with Victoria who was drunk and telling me all about 9/11 conspiracies - all I remember is something about masons and ex-SF mayor Willie Brown. I dunno. Some hippy shit. So then over to Emo's for camp x-ray and attack formation. Bands were good. So were the friends. Drinks, too. I even made it home at a decent hour so you'd think work the next day (tues) would be no problem except that when my allergies are bad (they are) I get a sinus infection and then I lose balance and get motion sick very easily. Combine that with a slight hangover and... I went into work briefly on tuesday, just long enough to get sick and the go home. Fun! I've learned my lesson. I'll be good. I can't do this shit for days on end like when I was younger. Last night I was in bed by 11pm.