I've decided that one of my least favorite words that have found their way into the English language is oeuvre. One can't say it without sounding like a twit (as I found out yesterday.)

Deep throat revealed. World shrugs. Women, Minorities most indifferent.

I would only have been interested had it turned out to be Al Haig.

Before anyone gets mad at my headline, it's a play on the old joke about the liberal bias of newspapers that says when the world ends, the new york times headline will read "World Ends. Women, Minorities Worst Hit"

Am now listening to Nick Drake. Contemplation of suicide imminent.

This past weekend I've had the strange sensation of my dreams and reality blending into each other. There have been several times when I've been thinking about something that happened only to realize I dreamt it. Odd.

I fell asleep at 8pm last night. I had just started F for Fake then I was out. I was up a bit later, woken up by the phone, finished the movie, and then passed right back out again. I think my body was catching up for tuesday night when I went to the bar to watch the spurs/suns game. I was home by midnight but I was gone, gone, gone.

Kickball is tonight and I'm on the fence about playing. I'm still the slightest bit sore. Also I want to go out later and I hate having to come home and clean up before going back out. Life is full of these difficult choices. We'll see.

Losing to the San Antonio Spurs is like a death by a thousand cuts.

One of the things I'm enjoying about the ipod whole thing is that I'm listening to stuff that I haven't heard in a while. Right now it's All Hail West Texas by the Mountain Goats. The first three songs on here are perfect. The rest is good but, damn, right off it's amazing. Other rediscoveries include Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, Perfect Teeth by Unrest and Me, Me, Me by Air Miami. Can you guess when I went to college?

Does anyone feel like burning me copies of any beatles cds and/or the junior/senior cd?

Just asking.

Since I know everyone was dreadfully worried, I'm glad to be able to tell you that "the great kickball injury of 2005" is doing much better. It still hurts a bit but after limping around all weekend I can now walk normally. I'm planning on making a triumphant return to the field this thursday.

In other news I saw the new star wars yesterday. I'm happy to say that it was pretty much exactly what I expected. Pretty good with some cringe-worthy moments but entertaining in the extreme. I was near tears at the end. As I've explained to people who could care less about these movies, there is no rational explanation for being compelled to watch these movies over and over. Joe and I came up with the idea that the closest thing to approximate how it influenced our childhood is what it was like for people in 1964 with the beatles. Just a huge social phenomenon that exerts irrational influence over people of a certain age. All I really have to say is, whatever, I'll go see it again (this time at the digital theatre!)

So like a total retard, I fucked up my leg playing kickball. My right thigh muscle is killing me. It's not sore either, I pulled/tore the muscle. There was much stretching before the game but it didn't make any difference. I can't really bend my leg too well because that pulls on the thigh muscle which makes it throb with pain. Ug.

right now: sitting at my desk trying to will the clock on the wall to move faster.

in a bit: kickball at pease park.

after that: jackalope for burgers and drinks

perhaps later than that: whisky bar for $1 well drinks til midnight.

I forgot to relate the best part of the night. During the band I managed to get a bit soused, so I naturally though it would be a good idea to make things more fun. I leaned over to Amy and said something like, "Watch this. It'll be funny." I then turned to Angie do that thing where you hit the top of someone's beer bottle with the bottom if yours and it makes theirs foam over everywhere. Well, something went wrong because as my beer hit hers, the bottom of mine broke. Beer gushed all over me. So now the floor is covered in beer and glass and Angie holds up her unbroken foamy beer and says, "Should I finish this one?" So I was right, it was funny.

Also, over at jackalope they have these gigantic girly drinks that come in oversized martini glasses with oversized straws. I told Amy about these and she had to have one. I have no idea what they're called, I was calling it the big gay drink. So Amy finally gets the attention of the bartender and orders the "big gay drink" and the bartender, to her credit, didn't blink an eye and started to make the exact drink I was talking about.

gee golly wow I'm tired this morning.

I went to see the ravonettes last night. A friend had an extra ticket. While getting drunk and watching them, I came up with a list of three reasons that I really didn't like them.

1) they used way too much in the way of pre-recorded backing tracks - vocal parts, keyboards, percussion, guitar. I'm not an absolute purist in this regard but, really, that kind of stuff for a "rock" band should add to the sound not make your crappy noise worse.

2) they seemed like they should be the band in a early 1990's movie or tv show. you know when the characters go into a bar or club and there's, like, 5 seconds of a band playing. they're that band.

3) I know they're going for a girl group kinda schitck, but, really, their vocals make them sound like a more rocking version of timbuk 3. I know you're thinking "ha, that dumbass knows what timbuk 3 sounds like!" but with their being from austin, enough of it has crept into my brain to recognize it.

in conclusion, I'd like to offer this review of the show: bleh.

I've still got the itch to move but I think I'll stay put for now. Too much money. Not enough benefits. Instead I'm going to try to make my room new again. I'm going to paint, rearrange, throw away, store stuff in an organized fashion, and perhaps buy some throw rugs for my floor as it is a nasty beige color that was stained with who-knows-what long before I moved in.

quickie consumerist life update:

I got an ipod! It's good!
I saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! It's good, too!
I'm excited about watching 24 tonight!

Also, I'm still a bit sore from playing kickball last thursday. (just a bit)

Good God in Heaven, I'm at work this morning. And only one hour late. Was out late last night - didn't get much sleep. Now for the saddest part, I'm super sore and achey from a mean game of kickball last night. It takes a lot more out of you than you'd think.

Later we went to see the guy from coachwhips play all solo-style. It was pretty good. Kinda weird mix of old-timey country and blues with lots of echo and delay on his voice and guitar. The plan had been to go for just a little while but it didn't turn out that way. That's one of the ways those dastardly bars trick you, they give you cheap drinks til midnight and by then you're somewhat tipsy and you decide that staying out til 2:30am is a good idea. Eh. Not so much. It was fun, though.

check out this email exchange. I may have to frame it.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Hi, Dave: Thanks for taking the time to express your very positive opinion of our retro packaging. The plan at the present time is to only use this label until Labor Day but I'm hoping Management will take a good look at the many great responses I've gotten and keep it around for say...another 65 years!

We appreciate your continued support of our fine product, Lone Star, The National Beer of Texas.

LONG LIVE LONGNECKS!

Dottie Huckle

Admin. Asst.
Pabst Brewing Co./Lone Star
San Antonio, TX

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Morgan
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 9:11 PM
To: lonestar
Subject: old logo

thanks for bringing back the old logo/design for lone star's 65th. you guys should stick with it!

dave morgan

"Smoking ordinance passes Updated: 5/7/2005 10:20 PM By: News 8 Austin Staff

The results are in, and Austin smokers will soon have to butt out in restaurants and bars.
A smoking ordinance passed with 52 percent of the vote.

The referendum bans smoking in all bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and billiard halls on Sept. 1.It also prohibits smoking within 15 feet of any public building entrance.

A penalty of $2,000 would be charged against anyone breaking the law."

The absurdity of the world never ceases to amaze me. I knew this would pass but I don't think I was fully aware it would pass. What is wrong with people?

It was a good weekend for the most part despite my being tired as hell for most of it. Friday I went to emo's to see the ponys and only watched two songs before I pooped out and went home to bed. I just couldn't hang. For what it's worth, those two songs were very good.

Saturday I woke up super early and decided to go to work for some overtime. This part of the year we are offered nearly unlimited overtime so on occasion when I wake up early on a weekend I'll go in for a few hours. I'm not missing anything because if I stayed home all I'd do is lay in bed not sleeping and watching saturday morning tv. Bleh. I lasted 2.5 hours at the desk on sat before I got outta there. To reward myself for being such an enterprising little employee, I went straight out and bought myself an unnecessary and expensive piece of computer recording equipment. I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how it works (and didn't make much progress in that regard.)

That night I went to a party at Andrea and Amanda's which was nice and chill and almost dead when a bit after two, everyone who was out downtown at bars or emos or beerland showed up to the party. It went from 6-8 people to 50-60 in about 20 minutes. Kinda funny. Stayed there until some ungodly hour.

I woke up at 1:30pm on sunday and it was very dark outside. I couldn't wrap myself around the darkness and the sky. I had to check my phone against the time on my clock to make sure something wasn't amiss. It turns out (oh yeah) I went to bed at 6am and now there was a huge thunderstorm brewing. Didn't do much on sunday. Watched some basketball. Uploaded a bunch of pictures (I'll post a link tonight.) Watched Comedian which I really enjoyed even if it was one of those movies where the subjects aren't very sympathetic.

Oh, life is so fun when I write about avian excrement. Sorry about that. Everyone thought it was a funny story last night at the bar. I think I've discovered something recently, I'm an awful storyteller. My stories meander and have no real point. Maybe I need to practice my chit-chat skills in private before I attempt a full on public display again.

I think I going to emo's tonight but I'm not sure. I might also go tomorrow but maybe not as a friend of mine is having a house warming party. Also, I have access to Andrea and Isaac's cable tv while cat sitting so I may have to spend saturday evening (the early part anyway) watching game 7 of the rockets/mavs series. I'm not a huge sports guy, but I love the playoffs of almost any sport. I'm going for the rockets but, really, I have no dog in this fight. I'm a fan of all the texas teams (in the NBA anyway.) Part of me wants the mavs to win, though, because they might have a chance to go all the way but I can't really say that of the rockets.

I'm not one of those people who is usually outwardly happy about it being friday but, damn, I'm glad it's friday. It's been a hella long week. Went out last night and watched the rockets/mavs game at jackalope (now that I am cable tv-less) and then went over to the whisky bar for a few cheap drinks. Double gin and tonics are nice. Especially when they're uber-cheap and very strong.

So yesterday morning I almost puked in my car on the way to work. First a little background. The night before is a big fuzzy blur. I stopped off after work to buy some booze and didn't stop until 2am. So, needless to say, I wasn't feeling my best when I got in my car to go to work yesterday. I was already fighting some nausea and everything was spinning but I had to go to work. As I'm driving under the interstate to get going in the correct direction, the biggest, nastiest blob of bird shit hit my window. Right in front of my face. I would describe it but the thought still makes me pukey. So the bird shit hits as I'm getting on the highway and I'm covering my mouth because, in my delicate hangover state, I feel like I'm going to lose it all over the inside of my car. The moral of the story? Always keep your wiper fluid filled on your car, that way you can hit it for thirty seconds straight and clean away the bird shit on your windshield that makes you almost lose your cookies.

Not much to say but I'll write something anyway. Slow day. (as opposed to yesterday which went amazingly fast!)

Earlier I called a lady about looking at a house that's for rent but had to leave a message. This place could be good if get it. I've only walked around it. It's a small one bedroom "cottage" - an old converted garage, I think. It's close to where I am now which would be good because I like our neighborhood. Anyway, we'll see. She hasn't called me back yet.

In other news, I am totally in love with netflix. I been watching so much stuff, it's crazy. Also, a nice way to kill some time during the day is to go crazy browsing through everything and adding stuff that I *might* want to see someday. Maybe.

Also, last night I finished a book that I was totally into. I shied away from it at first because it was part of the today show book or some such crap but the time traveler's wife was excellent. I can't recommend it enough.

OK, so never mind what I said about me traveling next month, it ain't gonna happen. For about half a second last thu/fri it looked like I was going to go out with Trail of Dead as a guitar tech next month for a few weeks but it turns out to have been a bit of a case of mixed signals. It would have been fun but sometimes (often, these days, really) shit just doesn't work out. Oh well.

I'm thinking of taking some time off of work this summer anyway just to get outta town. Now I kinda have it in my head to go to the Intonation Festival in Chicago in July. Two days. $10 each day at the gate. The Decemberists, the Fiery Furnaces, the Wrens, Broken Social Scene, Death From Above 1979, Out Hud, A.C. Newman, Magnolia Electric Co., Four Tet, Xiu Xiu, Andrew Bird, the M's, and the Go! Team. Most importantly, Not Central Texas in July! We'll see. Not a hell of a lot of bands I'd die to see but a good excuse to get out of town.