well drugs and rock and roll anyway. it's weird to live in the same neighborhood (generally) as someone who influenced you so much and was so a part of your life but you didn't know them. i am talking specifically of they might be giants, half of whom live near me. i just held the door for him a few minutes ago at the health food store. i didn't say anything though. he probably doesn't remember me from when he came into where i worked at the time (a cafe) and was like, 'you are why i play music'. he probably gets that stuff alot. and it was a long time ago. but regardless, that i could have such a mundane interaction (holding the door) with someone who, in all honesty, is part of why i play music, which is such a huge part of my life at this point is pretty weird. for a few years i was obsessed with they might be giants. you should read the stories i wrote in my senior creative writing class. but we're talking senior in highschool so i don't want you to read those. but there are so many tmbg references you could almost vomit. i think i may have mentioned how i've been online almost everyday since i was about 11. well generally, at any given time, there was a message board i would frequent. an 'online community' if you will. and for a few years that was the tmbg folder on aol. we also had a weekly aol chatroom (which i named cowtown, thank you very much) which may still exist, i'm not sure. i thought i would be obsessed forever but now i don't even like going to tmbg shows and i haven't listened to their records in a while. except flood. which was my first tmbg record. i haven't heard a lot of their new stuff (though i heard they wrote a kid's book which i am going to get for my neice for christmas). i didn't like factory showroom much and i think it all waned after that. and i can't go to their shows. their other fans annoy me. i do'nt know why. i used to be one of them. but while my obsession may have been a 'phase' i can't ignore the huge impact they had on who i am. i don't know that i would have started listening to music seriously at all if it wasn't for them. i'm not embarrassed to have liked them or anything. actually i'm more embarrassed that i don't like them as much anymore. i'm not sure i can convey in writing how intensely obsessed I was. um, anyway, i saw john flansburgh today and you (probably) didn't. so ha.
in other rock news, max quit the band. i guess i'm not surprised. i'm just disapointed. and i'm scared about the next step. drummers are so hard to find. and we were gonna record and shit and now i know i don't really want to record with max, so i don't know how put off the whole thing is going to be. ya know? ya know.
i just read fierce and was in awe of a very short article about being high in amsterdam. and while i dont' think it's a good idea to be high all the time (they were on vacation so it's ok), it would be nice if it wasn't illegal here. you could just get high at a bar and go out to a movie. on a date. to dinner. you could be high whenever you wanted during the day without worrying if people can tell. obviously there are bigger issues than convenience (hello rockefeller drug laws) but man i bet people in amsterdam are no worse for the legalisation.
i was in an elevator last week (which is rare) and i was pacing in a circle (i do'nt know why i do this but i do it often the rare times i'm in an elevator) and i started thinking "i do coke so i can work harder so i can earn more so i can do more coke so i can work harder so i can earn more so i can do more coke..." and so i was thinking, again, about how tehre are no drug psa's anymore about drugs other than pot. is this because other drugs aren't a problem anymore? ha. I rarely even notice MADD or SADD ads. and i watch enough tv aimed at teens that i should see them. but i was also thinking about how they don't aim these ads towards yuppies anymore and not at adults at all. that 'work more' ad was to yuppie adults and i'd never even thought about that before. i don't really know where i'm going with this. but it's something to think about. my dad thinks the aggressive anti-pot stuff is because it's close to being legalised. i don't know if believe that. think of all the low cost prison labor that would be lost. but there is definitely something going on when ALL the drug psa's are aimed towards kids and they are all about pot. did i write about that growing pains episode before? on growing pains there was an episode where kirk cameron almost does coke. but he leaves his friends behind and says no, and eventually his friends say no too. but think about it. would a sitcom today ever have that as a temptation? no, it would be pot. if anything. and it would be a big deal. like on that seventh heaven episode where that girl lit up that fucking monster spliff. but it wasn't enough that they smoked pot. they had a baby. and then they got arrested for drug posession. it wasn't just some kids doing coke in the bathroom and the 'good kid' says no. the bad kids have to be seen as real bad. "smoking pot will get you arrested". worst argument against drug use ever. some people think the law should be based on morals. some people think morals should be based on laws.
-al
11.26.2003
aaargh
i am wasting my life on these infernal machines.
-al
11.25.2003
more highlander. woo!
it just keeps coming.
today i got up at 8 to see a new shrink. but the appointment i thought was at 9:30 was really at 9. i've been late a lot lately but this time i thought i was on time. fuckin' a. my schedule is still totally fucked. but i didn't take a nap today, so maybe i will go to bed at a reasonable hour. except that i still have all these kits to put together. i don't know why i'm not doing it right this moment except that i was eating. i found something icky in my food though so i stopped. but i'd already had 2 bowls of pastina so it's probably ok.
this episode of highlander has someone in it that i recognize but i can't think of where from.
sorry i don't have anything interesting to write. i thought if i started writing, it would all come to me. but nope. oh well. i guess i should get back to those kits.
-al
11.07.2003
guess what i didn't do today
watch tv! woo! a curse broken? probably not. of course, i also woke up at 3:45. and it's about 3 am now. but tomorrow i actually have to get up for something, so i should be ok.
a few weeks ago, after our show with majority rule, we stayed at kevin rule's house and i hadn't realised that i can still feel that way about someone. i was like super uncomfortable and self conscious because majority rule is so amazing and i was like, um, hey. does that make any sense? i wish i didn't feel that way. it's stupid. it's like having a crush on someone, you know, when you want them to like you but you're not sure what would make them not like you so you're really aware of everything you do. oh, and of course you don't want them to know you have a crush. i mean, come on, this is my favorite band and i'm in his house and he's making me dinner and talking tour shop with osc. anyway, i just found the whole experience embarrassing, because i'm such a loser, and i thought writing it out would help, but now i just seem neurotic. luckily i know all 2 of you who read this and you know i rock. right?
somewhat relatedly 2 different people have made comments to me about how i dance to majority rule when i see them. i find this irritating. i don't need to know you're looking at me, ok? right. that's all i guess. maybe i should go to bed.
-al
oops
down there i said that you could get vegan condoms at pangea but really i was getting 'veganstore' and 'veganessentials' confused. pangea(which is veganstore.com) carried the chocolate bunnies and nutella, but they aren't open right now (anymore?). whereas veganessentials i've never bought anything from, and they carry the condoms.
rock.
-al
11.04.2003
this has really got to stop
first of all, it is not christmas season, i don't care what the nys lottery is trying to tell me. it's fucking november. and it started before this week. second of all, lottery tickets are not a good present, for any occasion. it's basically like giving someone nothing except it's expensive nothing. what the fuck?
-al
vegan condoms
so i guess i'm a little late on the uptake here, but condoms, those lovable little latex*cuties you wrap around your penis when you want to feel the love, use milk protein for something or other. so much for synthetics. but, as soon as i learn this, i also learn that there are vegan condoms! they use cocoa powder instead. why you would use casein when you could use cocoa powder, i do not know. i was also psyched to find out they have many varieties, from thin to thick and flavored and ribbed. so you can still have what you like.
anyway i ordered some from vegan mercantile which also sells lots of other vegan stuffs, but then i found them cheaper (and in a wider assortment) at vegan erotica which also sells vegan bondage gear, mainly it seems out of faux leather (as opposed to nylon, which for instance, my strap is made out of). neat o neat o. and they also have it at veganessentials which is where i got vegan chocolate bunnies last easter and vegan nutella. yum! (speaking of cocoa, ha.) outside of shipping and handling, i think the condomi condoms are maybe even cheaper than regular ones. however, you'll have to wait for a product review since i only just ordered them yesterday.
*i know not all condoms are latex. but lambskin are obviously not vegan (and, let's face it, totally gross, not to mention they don't prevent std's) and polyurethane is probably not vegan either. though i don't know for sure.
-al
