24/11/04(930pm)- im watching the u2 documentary in the special collectors edition of the new album how to dismantle an atomic bomb. fantastic album of combined artistry and politik. the edge still remains one of my top 3 guitarists of all time. spongebob movie: i had lower expectations, so i had a problem when 30 min cartoon characters made the jump to a 90 min plot. boston was fantastic. rainy weather up the hour 10 drive. we got to prashants and then went to dinner at middle east. interesting middle eastern food and then went to prashant's friend for part of the evening. went to bed, woke up and went for a nice irish breakfast at the thirsty scholar. mmm corned beef hash. then judi and me took the t downtown and ended up walking around a little bit at quincy market before finally settling on going to the aquarium as something to do. awesome jellyfish exhibit and i got some really cool pictures, although none of us :-( went for dinner at quincy market and then headed home. this week has had me opening twice, which drives me crazy cause its been a mad busy week. the more i think about it, the more i lean towards the masters in communications. i need to use my creative drive, thats the only way i dont get burnt out, thats the only way i enjoy life, thats the only way i enjoy my job. i see things through other eyes. elise came home yesterday, but i havent seen her much since, although she stopped in the bank. i forgot even what else i wanted to say. ive had lot to say over the past week since i updated last, but ive been so exhausted that my updates keep getting pushed back and back til i forget. tomorrows the road race and tgiving dinner at the douglas's. waiting for the cowboys fringants cd to come to me. seems more piano based. random thoughts, too tired to think coherent. once soon ill update with relevant information. beep. boop. [discuss]

16/11/04(1215am)-
walmart=evil corporation
disney=evil corporation
nike=evil corporation
For more information, read No Logo [discuss]

14/11/04(740pm)- thursday was pretty cool. went to see rane with judi at c.o. jones. another good set, they played even stronger than at uhart (setlist: shark, rambler, on better days, niagara, everybody wants to rule the world, weakness, cat stevens, from the vine, wanderer, goomba). starting to think that rane is falling into their groove of songwriting. their songs since the hope seed project have started to gel in a more cohesive and tightened style with jams that arent as extensive and tunes that are just as catchy. ask mel, who hates shark but cant get it out of her head ;-). i was gonna stay for zox, but jen and her new boyfriend (a boyfriend she told me she never had time for; the dumping she still refuses to take blame for) were going to see them, so basically me and judi left right after the rane set.

friday went to work early in the morning and paid for having thursday off. worked 9-6 and was completely burnt out at the end of the day because it was insanely busy. met andrew for lunch at reins though, so thats good. im glad i get to see him sometimes since we dont get to get together much otherwise. but it was the kind of day that made me miss montreal. hopefully im looking forward to going there in march with judi. friday evening, we went to see jekyll and hyde at little theatre of manchester. it wasnt bad, nicely done for amateur theatre. the only problem was that i was so exhausted that i started nodding off in the second act. we came home and basically fell asleep.

yesterday was work in the morning (working til 12 was okay but working til 1 makes me feel like the day was wasted). got home and then we finally went to the bar mitzvah in ridgefield. i mean im obviously not the most religious person, but i still consider myself traditional and there was stuff that bothered me: 1. too much english 2. service was disjointed 3. i have no problems with egalitarian services, but that was a little over the edge 4. the aliyot were preceded by a whole schpeil in english 5. the torah readings were literally like 2 lines a piece, i swore they just abridged the torah and then he read it in english after 6. the cantor played guitar and there was a piano. i thought i was at a james taylor concert and was supposed to clap for her after the songs. and last but not least.... they said they didnt want to do bnai mitzvot but instead have two services a day... so they did the morning service at night on saturday night! you dont have saturday morning services that lead into havdalah! (which also again made me wonder about the guitar, if that was done in the morning because saturday morning services just arent supposed to have musical accompaniment unless by choir). like, you dont take the torah on saturday night to do a bar mitzvah... i had major problems with that. and it was kinda like, okay i dont go to services every week or do everything according to torah, but theres some traditions that are just that and i was like, i may believe in the same beliefs, but i just dont believe that some things are to be done in that way and i dont know if i could bring my kids up reform just because its the current trend in modern judaism.

afterwards the party was nice, but i really knew no one other than my cousins so we kinda hit the open bar and that was about it. and by the time we left i was already sobered up and we got home around 1am. today ive done not much at all other than hang out on the computer and play guitar. and thats about it. i might put up a different bulletin board, though no one really uses the one i have. tomorrow means back to work, and thats the end of this. [discuss]

11/11/04(215pm)- In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

[discuss]

10/11/04(1105pm)- rest in peace yasir arafat. may your struggle succeed in the afterlife. [discuss]

(615pm)- its been a week since ive updated. between judi and work, ive just kinda run out of time or many interesting things of note to report on. this past weekend we went to penn state to visit elise. it was really fun, even if she didnt get to take me to the frat party like she wanted.

shes in much better shape than she led us to believe and im proud of how much shes grown up in the 2 months shes been there. however, theres still things she'll always be my little dork for. we went out to dinner with her friends sherri, marissa, and tommy and its hilarious to talk to them about her. "sneezing kills brain cells. my head hurts." me: "does she spit her food into napkins?" tommy: "yeah, sometimes we try to ditch her" elise: "no.... wait, what?" then there was the sneeze of my dads that they heard across the quad and yelled out "bless you." northwestern won the game and it was good just to get away from it all for a weekend. really hadnt had time off since i started working.

works been going okay although i dont know that i can do this forever. thats for damn sure. im at uconn now since we dont have work tomorrow and sleeping over here and going to see rane tomorrow night at c.o. jones. that girl is not going to ruin my good time for the band that ive practically dedicated my life to as a fan. and shes not ruining the time with my girlfriend. especially not with the lie she led.

went to the rane show last night, they played 2 new tunes, 2 reworked old tunes, was a solid but short show. recorded it to put up on archive.org, but im waiting to hear back from them. trying to get something better to record with tomorrow except that i cant get my gmail to work. i cant remember whatelse i wanted to say here. a week went by and i had stuff i thought i wanted to say, but i guess things are otherwise uninteresting. til next week..... [discuss]

03/11/04(450pm)- about a month ago, around the first presidential debate, i predicted george w bush would win 53-57% of the popular vote, and around 2 or 3 states worth of electoral votes (figuring that to be around 20 votes). with dead accuracy, i called this election. despite the new bush mandate, the american public does not know what it has gotten itself into. the beginning of the decline and fall of the american empire has just begun...

"Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won't be. Any individual who is able to raise $25 million to be considered presidential is not going to be much use to the people at large. He will represent oil, or aerospace, or banking, or whatever moneyed entities are paying for him. Certainly he will never represent the people of the country, and they know it. Hence, the sense of despair throughout the land as incomes fall, businesses fail and there is no redress." ~Gore Vidal, Decline and Fall of the American Empire [discuss]

(615am)- i went to bed, i woke up, and all i have to say is this: THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN IN CANADA FOR CHRISSAKES [discuss]

01/11/04(1235am)- this mother came in the bank with her little girl who made flags in daycare that said "vote." and the mom's like "now tell him who he should vote for" and the little girl (prolly 3 or 4) says "bush" and then whispers something in the mothers ear. and i had a hard time not doing anything but smile and nod.

things from the last week- namely just a fantastic sunday of the corn maze, halloween, and hanging out with judi all day. work all week. got guitar strings. the new elliot smith album, from a basement on the hill, which is absolutely fanTASTIK. its like badly drawn boy meets the beatles, meets pink floyd. also, the new mighty purple album prefables is good. oh and the apprentice was good this week. cant believe andy made it back to not having to be fired.

met andrew for lunch at d'angelos midweek, didnt go to main pub. election day tomorrow, im still undecided. head frazzled, still dont know anything, big rane month, not sure whats going on with next thursdays show, talk about invasion of territory. watching snl now. random random random, needed to update, planning on recording a 6-7 song EP in early '05. it might be the rebirth of "canned introspection" in new form. 3 1/2 originals are written now. much more fluid than 5 years ago. ha, 5 years ago. democracy plaza on nbc is ridiculous. im on facebook. end transmission. [discuss]