stuff.

100 Greatest Internet Moments

Blue Ball Machine (who has this much time??)

What the crap is going on in France??



for that fact, what's going on here?

...i can't even write about it.

the new 'stang

my dad got a new car this weekend. a brand new Mustang GT (2005 or 2006; i cant remember). and it is incredible. 300hp - 0 to 60 in 5.2 sec. it is a blast. you can probably hit almost 50 mph in 1st gear. as you can see, it's bright yellow and a convertible. the best convertible i've ever sat in. really comfortable and and an awesome exhaust sound. theres just something spectacular about driving around in a car that you know can take off like nothing you've ever seen at the drop of a hat. man, when you hit the gas, it responds. fast. your insides just shift to the back of your body. oh and talk about adrenaline rush.

(i think he needs to get some black stripes put on it.)








and you can change the LEDs behind the gauges to many different colors.

just thought this was funny

look how condescending he is!

"Seems like it always seems, where I go I want to leave"

that's a line from the Matt Pond PA song Halloween. i thought it was a interesting way of describing how i feel sometimes (fairly often?). i tell you, i'm not feelin' it today. i feel tired and rather down. i know why i'm tired, but not exactly why i'm down. i think it's the same old thing. i dont have enough time in the day to relax and accomplish the things i want and need to accomplish. am i the only one who has the monthly reoccuring thought of "is this what i'm supposed to be doing with my life"? i hope not.

dang. and our gig posters havent come in and it's been almost 2 weeks. i'm beginning to think they may have gotten lost. 2 out of the 3 were the last ones they had. man, this isn't making it any better.

okay, jess and i went to Memphis this past weekend. in your mind you think "well that's in TN so, i mean, it cant be that far away, right?" wrong, in reality it's only 35 miles closer than Atlanta. good night. anywho, it was a fun trip. like a tiny vacation. and it was cool to see the school it seems like scott's been going to for 5 yrs (in reality, of course, it's only his 2nd year). and i hadn't been to Memphis in a while. it's nicer than i remember. and the weather was just fantastic. and scott lives in a frat house, but it's really cool. he has the 3rd floor all to himself...




...which isn't necessarily good for his bursitis. but he makes it look easy (and i totally think he's faking it).


here's what part of his downstairs looks like...





here's the vietnamese restaurant where scott told us about Koreans eating live squid (here's a video) (ughhhhh gosh)...





look who's squintin' now. is it the guy with the blue blockers? i dont think so.





i think scott has about 3 cubic feet of freezer space lost to ice.





the official scott ToM (that's Tour of Memphis)...





Memphis... in BB-D! (that's Blue Blocker Dimension)




anywho, it was fun. but this weekend is the Octoberween party! it should be fun.

perhaps The Flying Saucer tonight? i dont know.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

this was the coolest musical performance i've ever been to (and paid for). i got these guys' CD back in June or so and have just thoroughly enjoyed their music ever since, so i was tremendously excited to see Nashville on their tour schedule. so i made sure to jesse plenty ahead of time (because she needs to know things like that) and that we wouldnt have anything else that friday. (i even made up a flyer with direction for her. she likes things like that.) well, it turned out my office as providing pizza and beer earlier that afternoon, but that only sweetened the friday deal. anyway, we got down there way ahead of time and sat around looking for garage sales in the paper (in which one we actually got our new dining room table; it's sweet). as soon as we walked in the place we realized what this was going to be like: close. you couldnt have fit more than 100 people in there, the stage was 6" off the ground, and you could stand close enough to the stage to... well, it was really close. but i just enjoyed it so much. until i went to Sufjan Stevens, i had never really been to a concert starring a band i really really liked. like we went to some back in high school, but i was mostly just going to go with the group. honestly, my ears are pretty sensitive to highs, so unless it's music i just love, i'd rather just sit in the back or listen to the cd. but i've come to realize why people actually enjoy concerts... because you get to hear the music you love played really loudly. but on top of that! if you can watch it up close it's WAY better. it's so cool to put a face to music. it totally changes the way you listen and see the music. when you see that an actual person plays and sings this music (and well), it's like opening your eyes when watching tv (i guess that's a pretty literal metaphor. ah who cares. it makes sense. maybe it wouldnt even be considered a metaphor. whatever.)




so after we were done rockin' (and it really was an awesome performance) i went around (after a bit of encouragement from jesse (you always think you'll be so calm and cool approaching someone in this nature, but i was a bit nervous. i have a natural fear people wanting to leave while i'm talking to them or something like that, and when you know that the person might be needing to do something else it makes it even worse. so i was sort of nervous)(uh, where was i?)(oh right) to get each of the band member's autographs on my cd cover. they were really nice and very happy to do it. and the coolest part was when i was getting the last guy's autograph (Lee) i was telling him how this was all i had left from my cd after it had gotten stolen in Costa Rica and he was like, "seriously? it was stolen?" and i said "yeah, from my rental car". so he said " well hang on a sec. let me see if i can get you another one." sweet!! and he did. it was awesome. i also got some posters and stuff (including a gig poster for $10 which i wouldve kicked myself big time had i not gotten it to accompany us in our abode)

man, i would've loved to have talked to them longer, but again, we get back to that wierd fear. i mean, honestly, i didnt know if they needed to put their stuff up and get on the road or what. plus jesse didnt feel so hot (and my stomach hurt too (but i wouldve stayed till they closed or cyhsy left)(but i'm very thankful jesse came to share in the occasion with me. she knew how excited i was and i appreciated her attendence very much)). but in the end i suppose they are just people and it is just music, so, not the end of the world. i just feel so lucky to have gotten to experience such an incredible band in such an intimate atmosphere and of course, to have had jess by my side. i really think that it was a bit of a once in a lifetime opportunity. i dont think i'll ever see them in that small of a concert again. i'm glad we were there.

in conclusion, ticketmaster sucks big time. i'm sorry, but $8 is not a very convenient fee. i can drive to Cookeville for $8. what kind of convenience are we paying $8 for?! (luckily, we didnt have to use ticketmaster for this)

this girl also went to the concert. her pictures are a bit better, but she was right in front of the band (as you can see). i think that would be a bit awkward at times. who knows. she's also a radio dj for WRVU, so her description of the event is a bit more professional; much fewer "( )".

oh, and here are my pictures

i loooove gig posters!

so i've really been into gig posters as of late. i've always thought they were neat, but recently i've just really been excited about getting some and putting them up. the only downsound to collecting them is that they're a bit expensive. but perhaps they're not. when you think of them in terms of "art" rather than "posters", i suppose $20 isn't that bad. and some of them just look so cool. and for a lot of them, they'll only make around 50 or so prints. so we got 3 (for now)...










we felt that they nicely represented both our musical tastes and our style. there were many many more that i would've loved to have gotten, but alas $70 will do for now.

and tonight! we're going to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! i'm so excited. i hope it works out and we get in. it's a really small place and there were no advance tickets so i'm sort of worried. but i think we'll get over to it in plenty of time to get in. i hope they're cool. i hate hearing awesome music only to find out that the band members dont represent things i value or do represent things i find offensive. that's so tough for me because i REALLY like music. like, i was telling jesse the other day, i'd rather not know anything about a band's religious belief's or lack there of than find out that they not only dont believe in God, but also make light of Him. does that make sense? for example, the new Wolf Parade CD. it's an incredible CD. just really great. but in one song they use God's name in vain in a way i found particularly displeasing. and that was all. no more mentions of it or anything. but that one little thing just really bugs me and wont stop. and i know it's not there job to please whoever and i'm not making any judgements or anything, it's just rubs me the wrong way when i hear stuff like that. like it was really cool to see Sufjan Stevens and enjoy the music and come away with the feeling that the band members are great people. anyway, i just hope CYHSY is cool.

pictures posted

i just posted more Costa Rican pics on Flickr.

have at 'em.

(see also: pura vida and JEH)

sufjan and gastritis... an exciting combination!

so i have gastritis. and i must say, it's rather uncomfortable. in fact, it's downright painful. my whole stomach just hurts. i highly disrecommend it.

however, jesse and i did have a sweet friday night adventure! early friday morning it occured to me to check to see if Sufjan Stevens (a favorite of mine right now) was going to be playing in nashville any time soon. as luck would have it, he was. and it just so happened to be that night at 9pm. unfortunately, it was sold out. so i tried my best to find any left over tickets, but it was to no avail. i even emailed some people at the Mercy Lounge. i did however come to the conclusion that i dislike the Mercy Lounge employees and/or anyone affiliated with said Mercy Lounge. after i sent out my email inquiring as to the "solidity" of the term "sold out", i recieved a response. it was as follows:

Sold out really means sold out jackass

to which i thanked him for his kindness and understanding. (jesse also had an unfriendly encounter with some ticket taker.) anywho, long story short, sold out does not really mean sold out. at least not for a couple sneak artists (yeah, you like it? dont steal it.) such as jess and myself. we go there and the line must've been upwards of 1000 people. it looked pretty hopeless. so we took a seat on the upper patio. there we slowly gained the trust of those around us THUS gaining us entry inTO the Mercy Lounge... upstairs.

well, this was better, but not great. anyway, after a little slight of hand from yours truly (we walked down some stairs and wandered around), we managed to make our way into the downstairs stage room. in truth, all of this was sort of inadvertantly done (jesse might disagree... for good reasons). ANYway, once we realized we were IN, we slinked off to the dark corner to hide away for the show (plus there was a stool (the non poo kind) back there). and what a show! it was a really fun show. they were all dressed up as cheerleaders and stuff. it was just great. i was so excited i left my own stool (the poo kind) back there. not really, but i was really excited.

and on top of it all, (and i'm not sure if He really wants to take credit for this or not, but..) i'm pretty sure God provided this opportunity to us. we both prayed so hard beforehand that we would be able to to get in and watch the show. i think jesse actually prayed for free entrance (she's so brazen!). seriously, i KNOW He helped us. all you naysayers (todd) can say what you want, but this was a miracle. jesse and i arent this lucky.

on a side note, i think Sufjan Stevens and his band would be a really great bunch of guys to hang out with. they seem really nice. (i actually think they may be Christian.)


on an even more side note, jesse's and my new pirate names are as follows (respectively):


Black Death Quinn

&

Cap'n Jake Yellowbeard





i've also been known to go by:

Cheeky Delinquent


...which of course is my wu-tang name.

pura vida

well, jess and i are back. i talked her into driving back from atlanta 12:30am sunday morning. not the most fun thing to do, but we made good time. 3.5 hrs i believe.

we had a blast on our honeymoon vacation. Costa Rica is so pretty and the people there are so nice and helpful. we stayed at an all-inclusive hotel on the beach (as seen below). we ate so much. i dont even remember being hungry after the first day. i felt like every time i went to eat, my stomach was half full already. and there's nothing like a solid week of carb loading. big time.

let's see... we:

-went on a small walk through the rainforest
-went to some hot springs (where the water was heated by the local volcano)
-(jesse) got sick and threw up on a short un-air-conditioned bus ride
-spent a few hours at a secluded beach full of howler monkeys and with dead blowfish strewn about the beach (must've seen at least 15 or so)
-rode through the treetops and over waterfalls via the Canopy Tour
-ate
-rented a small 4x4 daihatsu and drove to Rincon de la Vieja to walk through the jungle and see lots of creatures and volcano vents (fumorals) AND a sweet waterfall!
-then continued our rent-a-car day with a trip to a nearby beach town, where i was lifted of the burden of carrying around my CDs
-sulked
-lounged around, ate more, and then ate so more (only this was nicer food)

and all the while getting to stir up the old espanol memory bank.

i'm also pretty amazed that niether of us got burned. i think it's because it was so hot we tried to avoid any direct sun contact most of the time.

the past 2 weeks have just gone off as good as i possibly couldve imagined. the wedding and reception was just wonderful. i dont think i couldve had much more fun. i hope everyone else did too. i also cant thank everyone enough for not only showing up to support us, but also for the inpouring of gifts. it's just an wonderful feeling to know that so many people love you so much. so thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

and now for some pictures...


jesse poses hardcore on the beach


the view from our hotel (this was before the crowds came)


this little fellow was quick to reject jesse's friendship


someone's looking suspicious


lots o moss


those are some sweet lense flares


those are some sweet fumorals


ah yes, this is the absolutely gorgeous beach where some douche bag jacked my CDs


here comes medicine man jesse!


i'll try and put more up.

no time!

goin' to Costa Rica. be back next saturday.

wedding was perfect. that's about the best description: perfect.

todd (and scott) gave a good description of the weekend. i'll give more later (when i'm not going to Costa Rica).

time to go get burned by the central american sun.

so brilliant, that central american sun is.