Spinning in Infinity
I’m not really much of a fan of American Idol. Though, my roommate Ricky loves it. Each time I’ve seen the constestant Nathaniel Marshall, I’ve been subtly reminded of the Little Britain character Daffyd, the self-pronounced “Only Gay in the Village.” Nathaniel just seems to be trying way too hard. Piercings, odd clothing, ear-studs, headbands, tattoos and a downright boisterous personality. I’m just saying there’s a resemblance between the two.
So, I picked my guitar last night after probably over a year. It was nice to realize that I still have very aspect of “Say it Ain’t So” and “Everlong” memorized. I even took the time to learn a new song. Oh, I’ve missed my guitar.
Perhaps more interesting was my distant, nostalgia about “Everlong.” I hope to be there someday about… honestly… so many things. It gave me hope. I am also reminded of “The Longest Winter” every other day or so and how I felt after Melissa broke me down and ended me emotionally for about a year or so. I hopt that’s not where I am, though, here it is 7 months later and I’m still a mess.  Time will heal all things, I suppose. Waiting on hope…
My mother, predictably, seems to like the pictures I take with my iPhone. Apparently I set up her picasaweb / google email address to notify her when I upload new pictures automatically. So, now, every time I upload a new one, I get an email from her talking about them. I can’t even remember what I uploaded last, most times. Anyway, this is one of the cooler ones I took the other day. I thought I’d share it here.
I attended the Andrew Bird show on Wednesday evening. It was a really great time. Their opener was a ban
d called Lonely, Dear who was also awesome. I’m not quite sure how to describe the opener. They are from Sweden and used strange noises in harmony to great effect. I couldn’t tell much about the lyrics, but they sounded very cool and original. I am beginning to appreciate hip, original music all the more lately. The classic four-man rock band seeming a bit overdone, if that makes sense.
The crowd was…excellent. I saw more girls that I was attracted to in one location than I think I have ever seen. Basically, they were hip without overdoing it and cute without trying types. Curly hair, thoughtful eyes, many pairs of horn-rim glasses. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself in that context. I sat next to this terribly cute couple. They were probably five years older than me or so. The woman was pregnant and the guy looked like a more athletic version of me…predictably, in five years. Anyway, we chatted a good chunk of the time music wasn’t being played. Seems her brother-in-law is considering becoming a patent attorney, so we chatted about that a bit.
The Orpheum Theatre was also impressive. The venue is, obviously, very old. Though, the interior appears to have been completely redone in the last several years. It was a small, acoustically-pleasing venue. There are at least two bars, the original from the 30s or so and a newer bar upstairs that included a huge wall-projection of the stage along with suitable sound system so if you step out for a drink you don’t miss a minute of the show or music. I look forward to the chance to return to the venue for other shows in the future!
Andrew was predictably amazing. I always appreciate watching and listening to a musician who is good at his craft. Andrew is that and creates interesting music as well. Often, the “best” music is also the most predictable, boring or… overstated, shall we say. He is an excellent lyricist, whistler and violinist. It makes for an unusual (see above) combination. He brings it all together so well. He used a serious amount of looping his own whistling, violin and voice. He also used a strange spinning speaker-system (seen in the picture below) to add a Doppler effect to much of the looped sound. All this showmanship came off with appropriate humility and aplomb. Anyway, it was one of the more fun shows for me in a while.
So, someone purchased me a wonderful skateboard for my birthday last year. It was the first skateboard I’ve had since Tony Hawk signed mine sometime during junior year (1997) of high school and I quit riding it… cause it had a Tony Hawk signature on it! Anyway, I had some good fun last summer cruising around on my little board. I had some jumbo wheels and crazy-fast bearings.
Deep inside, I wanted a longboard. So, in a fit of desperation… while somewhat depressed about things I cannot disclose for fear of violating my ethical duties to my clients… I purchased a new longboard from Arbor Skateboards in Venice. Local boys make good sorta dealio. Basically, I gather this company started with a theme of “green” renewable resource boards and has now grown much larger than they expected. As an added bonus, I got a sweet, super-soft bamboo fabric shirt. Here’s a sweet picture of me (not really) in the shirt:
Anyway, I haven’t gotten to ride it much yet, but I have tried it out… Hopefully this weekend I’ll have a little time to play.
I’ve been running again. Its been about 4 or 5 years since I really ran with any regularity. I bought some new shoes, I downloaded some new music. It has been nice to get back into it again. Just tonight, I ran 4 miles without stopping. I’ve only been running about 2 months and, for me, thats not small feat. The uphill fight back up from the “beach” in Santa Monica is tough. Its not much of a hill, but its steady and I run the many blocks up to my home at the same pace I ran down the hill.
Anyway, something got a hold of me tonight and I just decided to take my run down to the ocean and, unusually, all along Ocean Avenue to Channel and back in Palisades Park. The moon was the tiniest, orange sliver of a smile. When I was a kid (OK, I lie, I did, tonight), I would have called it a “Cheshire Cat Smile” moon. Except it was crazy, orange ish, hovering just over the Pacific Ocean. It actually kinda looked like the cover of the new music I bought (see below), only orange. It made me happy. On the way back, I watched the new Santa Monica Ferris Wheel spinning and lighting. That was nice too. Sort of the comparison between one of my favorite God-made things with a very pretty man-made thing. One North, one South just above Pacific Coast Highway. I wish I had pictures of both to post, but I only had my iPod. Anyway, I think those beautiful things helped keep me going.
Now, I’m going to go downstairs and watch Venture Bros. on Adult Swim. Woo!
So, I had my high school reunion last weekend. Yes, I realize that’s almost a week ago. Summation: it was really fun!
Somehow once you are out of all of that angst and hormonalness… Those people you once knew really are pretty great people. I know, for me at least, the reunion was much better than the average day at high school.
I stashed what few pics I have on Picasweb.
So yeah, I had a slow month for billables. That made work seem quite a bit better than I felt a few weeks ago. Though, I’m sure I’ll regret it later. We had a nice shin-dig at a partners house a week or so ago. That was a good time. I find that I tend to hate social situations until I am in them at which point I absolutely love them. I gotta figure that out someday. Anyway, here’s a pretty picture I took outside work one night late ish.
In other news, I had to take a trip home (hence the billables issue) this month. I got to visit a Sonic (only in the airport). I was, nonetheless, pleased. I miss home. Its always good to see my parents and say hey. It was also a bit odd to “meet” my uncle’s children. I don’t recall ever meeting them before, at least the vast majority of them.
Anyway, it was as pleasant a trip home as such trips can be.
I had a nice sailing trip on Saturday. My small album may be found below. I love my iPhone.
I feel like Long Beach is a cool area and I’ve only been about twice since I’ve lived here. Its high-time I went down there a bit more. I miss the aquarium and I’ve never been to the Queen Mary or the Spruce Goose. Yet, I sailed right past them both on Saturday. I saw some wedding pictures from the Queen Mary once and they were great.
In other news, while I was sailing:
