Truesday.

The Week, The Weekend, The Real.

So...
Friday (2/22/08) kinda sucked. Firstly, the powers that be who make my writing gig financially viable have decided that they are going to take all the time they have alloted to send out checks. Instead of getting them within two weeks of billing, I will probably get it just on the cusp of exactly two weeks. Very annoying, but it was the final straw for me. I finally decided to go with their Direct Deposit set-up, which I was hemming and hawing about -- mainly because it isn't a 'regular' job situation. It's freelance, and I like seeing the check in my hand. But oh well. Then...

Yes, kids, that is one sharp-ass piece of glass. That I found in my Vegetarian Roll that I bought for dinner. (Although I feel it necessary out of safety's sake to say that it was purchased at Whole Foods here in the loop, I must say that I don't want to disparage the store as it is. They were extremely helpful and understanding.) Yup. What a day. I went to the comic shop, got a few titles, and decided it was time to get some veggie rolls for me and the Dr. to enjoy over Friday night TV -- which for us is centered around E!'s The Soup. Home I go with for boxes of lovely veggie/sushi enjoyment (and dog food -- the dog eats the good shit here) and while Amanda is getting washed up, I just go ahead and dig in. Roll section #2, chew, chew, CRUNCH! Urgh. So I go over to the trash, spit it out, wash out my mouth, and go back to eating. I figured it was a rock, or uncooked something or other. No biggie. Then section of the roll #5 (I'm guessing)... Chew, chew, CRUNCH. URRGHHH! So, this time, I decide that a closer inspection is due. And the picture above is what I pulled out. Great. Rinse out again, pack up all the food (Amanda hadn't eaten any of hers) and back to the store. They were surprisingly concerned -- which was great -- and refunded us our money AND gave us a gift card so we could get food for the night. Which Amanda would prepare, and it was friggin' amazing. Carrot/Broccoli/Tofu Noodle stir fry. My god, she's just so good with flavor. I can cook sustenance type things, filling meals, but she has a skill with mixing flavor and taste that just eludes me.

So...That sucked. For the last couple of days I've been watching all my...uh...you know...for any sign that I missed any glass. No such luck so far. Thank god.
And then Saturday. Sheesh. Went to the local Randall's (downtown) to take in some change to cash in to avoid putting more money on the cards and halfway through the process, the machine jams. No biggie, right? Call the manager! Wrong. The MOD doesn't have a key. So we have to wait until today (very early this morning) to call and get our print outs and put the rest of the change in.
I think god is telling me to keep my shopping trips limited to the Fiesta down the street.

Running was good, however. I've sorta upped my standard run. I noticed that I could just keep going and going the longer I ran, so I've upped to a 60 minute standard. Three of those a week, M-W-Sa, with Friday being a 30 minute recovery run. Sorta. Still gotta get 'slow' on that one. So I ended up running a grand total of 23.74 miles. Jeez. Wow. The funny part is that during yesterday's run, at about mile 6.2, I just felt like I could go another lap around Rice (making it three) and... I finally felt that a marathon is, well, doable. A very realistic goal, really. Honestly, I didn't really feel like I hit my stride on the run until I was over 6 miles. It just felt good at that point. I didn't really want to stop. Does that make me a weirdo?

Probably.

Now, let's get all deep.

No! Wait. I want to take a moment and bitch a moment about Ralph Nader entering the election today.

Okay, I am just as aware as any left-leaning that the current system is controlled by the corporate world, that money rules all, blah blah blah...

But I am also aware that we have two courses to take here if the system is to change. First is total unabashed revolution. Scrap the system. Start over. I would love to be in a world where the intelligent fringe could be in a position of power, but there are too many stupid people out there to trust in Libertarianism (the very pure kind) and there are just too many people, period, to have some one like Nader be effective. Which brings us to the second point, if we are to make changes, they have to be gradual. I would rather have a Obama or an Edwards in office than a third party crackpot (Yes, I said it. I think Nader -- outside of his reputation and such -- isn't the guy you'd really want in office, and he's just getting old. I think he's more driven by his ego than anything) or loon from the far right being kicked around Washington for four years.

So, to all you who think that Nader is the only answer: Third parties in this country have not risen to the top by running for the executive. Start at the local level. Get Greenies or Libs or whatever on your city, county and township ballots. Then work to state. Then national. Then take majority. Then... You get the idea. You want a government that can't get anything done? Or an executive who has NO power? Put a third party guy/gal in there now.

Remember: ALL politics is local.

Ok, depth.

For those of you who are around my age...
Remember REAL? Remember how back in the early 1990s, it was all gonna get 'real?' MTV put a bunch of strangers in a house... and they got 'real?' Or how about music? Suddenly bands like Rush and Kiss were putting out albums that were 'real!' (I am speaking of Counterparts and Revenge, respectively) So, what happened? When I look back, shows like Friends and such were there to push aside the Huxtable formula of televisual entertainment, and we were all gonna act and be...well, REAL. But the truth was, it didn't get real, it just got a nicer sheen. The fashions changed, and we weren't gonna be fooled by poodle metal bands with big hair anymore. Or acid washed jeans. No way, man. Warrant had to cut their hair, and guys started wearing flannel shirts with work boots and faded jeans. Funny. Everyone tends to look on the eighties as a 'polished' decade, but the nineties (outside of the fantastically drug ridden bands that did get some attention -- drug riddled idiots, sure, but it was more real than what we were being fed -- thank you Gin Blossoms) were way too shiny. Perhaps I'm finally getting jaded about the decade I once worshipped. Truth be told, I'm not fooled anymore. The years there have a special place in my heart, but in my mind, I know better. It was a wonderful, foolish haze to be a part of, but I think we had a lot of work to do -- which, for the most part, got looked over in the end. So that's that. I'm off.

Friday Morning Observations

- I am 34, and in cultural terms, I am a relic. This obviously needs more explaining, but I'll have to sculpt that one very carefully, and I have work to do.

- If you don't own the deluxe edition of Rick James' Street Songs, I suggest -- no, I insist -- you go out and get a copy. I know that I have spent a great deal of time and energy listening to extreme European metal as of late, but starting your day with the live disc that comes in the re-release of Street Songs (recorded in California in July of 1981) is doing a favor to yourself and your soul. It makes the sun shine just that much brighter, brutha. And in my opinion it may be the best goddamn show ever performed by anyone. The horns, the riffs, the bass, the Rick, and the songs with Teena Marie are fucking amazing. Start your day with THAT.

- There is something quite beautiful in the garbage truck blasting "You Are The Sunshine In My Life" by Stevie Wonder as the dudes take the trash. Poignant.

- Sheffield Wednesday is going to get relegated. I can feel it.

- The record stores in Houston suck. All of the metal I want to get as of late (usually found in the new reviews or best of 2007 lists in the prominent metal magazines I read) isn't in stock. Crap!

- I have been reading a lot of comics lately. Getting caught up on nearly 20 years of development in the Marvel Universe ain't gonna be easy. Why, though? Why do I care suddenly about Avengers Disassembled, or House of M, or Marvel Civil War? Is it, as my wife so bluntly put it, that I'm a 12 year old? Or am I just jaded with the book world (working in a big box bookstore will do that to you) that it's all I've got? Whatever it may be, I'm enjoying it and I don't really care that much. To happiness!

- I used to try so damn hard. I used to wear the uniform and listen and say and take and drink and smoke the right things just to fit in with a certain element of the social fabric. And while I regret nothing, and I miss so many of those involved a lot, I wish I could have been more honest with myself and with them. They were very good friends to me and they deserved more from me as a person. Granted, this was when I was 16-25, so it's pretty hard to expect me to act with any sort of tact or class.

That's it. I got biographies to write.

Stuff and Recap

(I wish to note that I have yet to figure out how to configure the pics in this stupid blog to work with the text. I apologize in advance for the jarring nature of the photos to narrative. The first pic is my favorite shirt. The second is the example of how shitty it is, the third photo is the selection of shirts, and the fourth is me being crafty and destructive. Thanks for your patience.)

Oof! 'Tis been a while, no?

Well, since it is (at least in my worldview) the end of the week, seems like getting back to this blog on a Sunday is a good excuse to do a recap of the week. I had to check to find out the last post. Tuesday! Sheesh.
Ok, here we go:

Jan 23 -- Wednesday:
Run? You betcha! 30 minutes for a 3.31 mile run. Not bad.
Work? Oh yeah!
Anything else? I have NO idea.
Jan 24 -- Thursday:
Run? Nope.
Work? A nearly 800 word review of the early Abruptum collection! Pulitzer work for sure.
Jan 25 -- Friday:
Run? Once again, back is the incredible! Uh... 30 minute run for 3.29 miles. I seem to remember it being okay.
Work? Just in the morning, really. I had to get out of the damn house. My GOD. I like working at home. I can listen to all my annoying music, I have tons of coffee and bread, and it's, well, home. But man, at the end of the day, I really don't want to hang around the office anymore. So I got through all but one of my reviews, so allmusic now has reviews for Battle of Mice, Made Out of Babies, Red Sparowes, and the second Joe Lally record.
Jan 26 -- Saturday:
Run? Yuppers! 3.38 miles for a 30 minute run.
And...Crafting! Yes, that's right. I had to force myself not to work on Saturday. Amanda has been offering me some lessons in how to make a quilt, and I finally got around to assembling the meat and potatoes (as it were) for the job.
So, I have an irritatingly large collection of T-shirts. Some are just going in a bag destined for the Goodwill, but others were a bit too near and dear to my heart for that to happen. For instance this one

is probably my favorite shirt of all time. No joke.

But, as you can see here

said shirt is a bit, well, it's a bit on the unwearable side.

And no, I do not have some sort of bug problem. Those holes just appeared.
So, with Amanda's guidance, I'm giving it another chance at life. Truth be told, if she hadn't turned me on to the idea of the quilt, that shirt (especially that shirt) would just sit in a drawer. Forever. Seriously. I love that holey rag so much I wouldn't even give it away. (By the by, if anyone ever finds another one of those exact Lush tour shirts in wearable shapes, and happens to get it for me, I'll be your friend forever. Whatever that means.)

After the culling was finished, this is the selection (at least the fronts anyhow, some have usable back pieces) that will make up my quilt of T's:

So, here I am.

Uh... Crafting. Weird, eh. So that was my Saturday. I wish it had been a completely happy experience, but our little dog Wednesday (Yes, named after that football club...) had the squirts something fierce, so that required a lot of cleaning up of little accidents around the house. And after going to bed, it required taking her out every time she emerged from under the blankets (which is where she normally sleeps -- not a lot of undercoat on her). Not fun, let me tell you.

Jan 27 -- To-dizz-ay!
Run? Oh hells yeah. While performing my new daily task of filling the rear passenger tire with air (I noticed a slice in the tire by the valve stem, and have been procrastinating getting it fixed, but as you will see, that may not be the problemo.) because it loses about half its pressure overnight, I noticed a nice big ol' wood screw sticking out of the tire! Awesome! Now I know you're asking yourself, "Chris. What in the name of all that is Iron Maiden does this have to do with your run today?" Well, I'll tell you. Ahem.
It meant that I couldn't go to Rice to run today, as I didn't want to be stranded or have to change a tire. I had a year in college where I had to do that almost weekly. I'm done with all that shit. So, I ran 'from home.' I did 40 minutes, down Caroline to Hermann Park, over to Rice, up Main, and then back into the park, up Caroline and home. 4.49 miles. It felt really good. I need to get on the road a bit more.
No work, but crafts! After a lovely egg and toast breakfast, I got to ironing on this stuff to the backs of the cut shirts I'm using for the quilt. It basically adds a structural layer, giving the fabric some added (and in some cases desperately needed and hole filling) strength. It also, so sayeth my instructor in the process, the lovely Dr. Olson, will prevent the knit fabric from stretching. She informed me today that knit fabrics stretch, while woven (which is how the adjoining pieces are constructed) ones don't. Far out.
But tomorrow is a day of work and tires and not running. So no crafty time. Maybe. I could always iron the other stuff and take some pix. I'm such a tease.

On a side note, today -- before my run -- I was stretching to the usual rocking tunes (Kansas -- Carry On Wayward Son), and just didn't feel like letting the iTunes go into Kasabian, which is much better for getting pumped to play a bit of footy, really. Instead, I went for an all time favorite:
which of course snowballed, and now I can't stop listening.

I've moved onto

and it's really making me miss Brave New World, and I wish I had bought the last two. Sometimes Maiden just hits the spot. And yeah, I know that some consider Somewhere In Time to be a weak record, but I love it. Always have. Come on, man. Sea of Madness ROCKS.

Okay. Well, I guess that is about it.
Ta.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

Firstly, nuts to penalty shootouts in football. Seriously. The games that I so want one side in particular to win (England v. Argentina 1998 World Cup, Italy v. France 2006 World Cup Final, England v. Portugal 2006 World Cup -- to name a few international matches that have not gone in the direction I had hoped) never work out in a penalty shoot out -- for preferred team -- after extra time. (Except once. Liverpool v. AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League Final. That was just one glorious match.) Granted, I could add Euro 1996 when England went out to Germany in the semi-final, but I wasn't paying attention at that time, so, I will just stick with what I've got. Damn it. They lost to Derby, for god's sake. Sure, it's a Premiership team, and the games are tougher, but we're talking about a team who has managed 7 points. All season! You know, I think idiots like me only get involved as we do in football for the grief. (Oh, I should point out, if you managed to skip the initial link up there, I'm whining about Sheffield Wednesday.)

On the bright side, I went and rediscovered a couple of albums that really blow my mind. Now, I know to many in my circle and those who may share many of my tastes, these two particular records never leave the consciousness, but my tastes rotate so often, things sometimes slip through the cracks. So let me just say that

View this photo

may be one of the most brilliant records ever made. It used to remind me of autumn, but now it just takes me to another world entirely. If you've never heard it, do so immediately.

And this album

View this photo

is a close second. Granted, three of the four in this band were in the first band, and that may have a lot to do with the brilliance, but Van Halen changed one member and kinda sucked ass, remember?

Rites of Spring's End on End may be the only album in my iTunes that has 5 stars for every track. Sheer magic. This platter sure don't feel more than twenty years old. Wanna find either of these little gems? Go HERE.

So, back to the point of all this typing!
Running!
I seem to have some catching up to do. Sunday was good, but I think I overdid it a bit. Funny, I want to go out easy and end up slicing off a minute on my pace. And...I end up hurting myself a bit. What a pleasant (not) surprise (not). But today was great. I decided to just do a 30 minute run. Set a good pace, and see what it brought me. By the 20th minute or so I was just on cruise. Perfect.

Let's get 'statty!'

I want to keep up on post by post basis as to the numbers I'm posting, so first a little catch-up, and then this will (hopefully) stay a regular feature, and maybe I will even do some graphs! Hot!

(Note: My 'running week' is Monday through Sunday)
January Stats:
Week 1 (12.31.2007-01.06.2008):
# Runs: 3
Week Mileage: 8.05
Monthly Total: 8.05
Week 2 (01.07.2008-01.13.2008):
# Runs: 4
Week Mileage: 10.08
Monthly Total: 18.13
Week 3 (01.14.2008-01.20.2008):
# Runs: 5
Week Mileage: 17.99
Monthly Total: 36.12

And there we are.

So far this week there's only been one run, so no need to get all fussy. Actually, I never even looked to see how far I went. Huh. 3.19. Not too shabby. Felt great.

Anything else? Ooh! I got other stats. 4288 words this week as well. I love my job.

I feel like some tea. Bye.

Second Things First

Yes, I ran this weekend. But I feel like writing about something else this brisk evening.

So, Wednesday beat Sheffield United 2-0 at Hillsborough. Thank god. Granted, they're still only one place above relegation, so it's still tetchy at best. On the bright side, there is a game in hand, and they have a good shot at beating Derby this week in the FA Cup replay at home. Just think, though. I could be rooting for a League One side next season. Sheesh.

Watched Cinema Paradiso on Saturday. Not a bad little movie. I hear the director's cut fleshes out other parts of the story. I will pass. Seems to me that the point of the thing was the idea of letting go...hmmm...

Today? Today was a good day. 6 hours of work, and I managed to make double what I did at my last job for a day's work. Sure, there are moments when I wish I were writing with a bit more freedom, about bands that really get me going, but hey! This pays the bills, and I get to work at home or at a cafe or...you get the idea.

The odd thing about most of these bios I'm doing is that they're winners of some sort of pop-idol contest TV reality show thing in their respective nations. Pop Idol Finland, for example. But one of the oddest has to be the contest to determine who would play Maria in a revival of the Sound of Music in London's West End. Weird. Granted, there are tons of reality entertainer shows going on here, it's just that I choose to ignore them. And since American Idol winners are covered for my job by others, I won't have to worry about who wins what or when in domestic competitions.

That all being said, I think my sudden kicking-ass as of late writing-wise has been noticed. I get to write bios and reviews on some of my favorite bands over the next day or so, so I can't complain. Which bands, you ask? Well:

Katatonia
Made Out of Babies
Battle of Mice

and reviews for:

Joe Lally
Red Sparowes
Made Out of Babies
Battle of Mice

It's gonna be a good week. And hell, I may manage to get enough done the next two days that I can not work Thursday and Friday at no loss. Why don't I get on these trips earlier?

It's really not lost on me that I write for a living, and I'm pretty good at keeping up here, but I never respond to emails anymore. I am aware, and I am working on it. Promise.

Vlorg!

Sometimes I Forget

Way back when, I used to sit in the computer lab between my quad of dorms and Smitty and Ang's quad of dorms, using Gopher to search the internet, emailing my friend Brian (who was sitting right next to me) using a DOS-based email system (that CMU didn't update until 1998, I think) and I would dream of the day I could have my own lap-top Mac, that I would have a job writing, and that my desk would feature all the things I happen to want on a chilly, grey day. Sometimes I forget that I have that. I once joked that all I really wanted to do when I grew up was grow a beard. No shit, I think that may have been the only thing I really nailed down as a future goal. But way in the back, and according to the Big Rapids High School Senior Prophecy of the Class of 1992, I was always hopeful I'd end up writing. And here we are. Granted, in high school I was a bad poet. Thank god that didn't pan out. So, whatever it may be -- Karma, the Universe, Physics, Thor, Satan, whatever -- I just wanted to say that sometimes I forget. And sometimes it just hits me square in the face. I'm doing quite alright, I'd say:

So here I am, on a Friday, writing about and listening to music. With a great cup of coffee, a wonderful family, and a great place to live. Things are good. I thank those who have made this all possible. You know who you are.

Overcooked?

So, here we are. Again.
I can't actually remember the last post I gave, so I'll just talk about the last three days. Three days. Funny, I remember telling myself that three straight days of running was too much, and that I was against it. Oops. Today was three days in a row, and it may have been a bit on the 'much' side. This time it was the left leg that was a bit iffy, but not too bad. I kept a much slower pace than on Wednesday, which was really quite stupidly quick, that is to say around 9:01/mile. Not what we're shootin' fer, eh! (To the point, today was around 9:10. Not on target either. F.)

So...I was thinking. During my last spate of running fun, I adhered to the runningtimes.com training program, and while I think it would have worked had I not been overdoing the easier runs, I now think I need my own new set up, and this is what I'm going to do...
Instead of just walk then run then walk, I'm gonna try walk, slow run, run, slow run, walk. I figure it will work out this way:
Walk (14:00-16:00/mile pace) for 5 minutes
Slow Jog (11:00-12:00/mile pace) for 5 minutes
Fast Jog (9:10-9:45/mile pace) for 20-25 minutes, depending
Slow Jog (12:00-13:00/mile pace) for 5 minutes
Slow Walk (20:00-24:00/mile pace) for remainder to car.

We're gonna try in on Saturday. Tomorrow is rest time.

So, the music critic gods have decided to smile on me, and I've actually been assigned the Burn to Shine V. 5 DVD I got. Thank you, AMG!

What else? Oh, not much. The beard grows, I procrastinate on the important things, I realize more faults, and I try to trudge through the crud. Dum Dee Dum Dee Dum. Do Do Do Do Do...

Songs for the day:
Atom Heart Mother (Suite) - Pink Floyd
I Don't Sleep, I Dream - R.E.M.
Soy Loco Por Ti, America - Caetano Veloso
The Light That Burns The Sun - Watain
Don't Talk - 10,000 Maniacs

End of transmission.

Hmmm...

So, I've managed to be sick a bit longer than I'd hoped. I didn't get a run in yesterday or Sunday, and knew that today was a must-do. Rain aside, I went out and did a fairly mild 3 miler. I find that I am really getting used to that distance. Running around the Rice loop is just a minor thing now. At one point, going around twice was no big whoop.

In other news, I was lucky enough to be promo'd yesterday the new volume of Burn to Shine. For those who don't know, it is a DVD series produced by Brendan Canty & Christoph Green that features a number of local bands (depending on the locale -- Vol. 1 was in DC, so it featured Bob Mould, Evens, French Toast, etc.) each playing a tune in a house that is set for destruction (of some sort.) It is very intimate, very stark, and -- kinda surprisingly -- entertaining. For instance, on the first volume, Ian Svenonius of Weird War just stands there. And he manages to steal the whole show. Brilliant.
Well, the upside is is that I get to watch this lovely film, cost free. The bummer is is that I probably won't get to review it for my job -- the job that is also the reason that I get sent promos of this sort. I will try to beg for the review, but I probably won't get it. So, I guess I'll do it here. Why not? But I will have to watch it, so keep your pants on.

I do get to biograph some cool bands however, and that makes me happy. Katatonia and Made Out of Babies. Nice.

So, that is about it. Finally finished the Genesis book. A little thin on the latter years and the song development as a whole, but still a solid read. It doesn't dissuade me from wanting to meet any of them, or see a show, or listen to an album. Although I don't own Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

And it just keeps raining...

Trudging Along

First things first. Music and running. Or, in this case, running and music. A good day today. I went out for a 20 minute run instead of 15. Sure, I know I'm playing with fire, but after two bike rides totaling just over 14 miles I felt really good. So, the run was fantastic. 2.08 miles at a 9:37/mile pace. The thing is, I don't really remember much of it. I spent then entire run writing a chapter of a story in my head. For years I've been wanting to write a quasi-fictional recount of my twenties -- cliched, I know -- but I've always thought that there was something to say in all that time. So, after the 10 minute warm-up, I just started. Typing out words on the page in my head, seeing mistakes made, sentences changed, the moment told progressing, dialogue back and forth forming a coherent, if detailed few moments that, for me anyway, were really quite important. I've considered just posting it up here, bare bones, no intro, but I'm a real chicken-shit. Too many emotional walls built up over the years. Funny that I was the only (ahem) 'poet' in my group of friends who was free and easy with showing what I'd written to anyone who asked. And so the story went along in my head, and then all of a sudden, I was walking very slowly back to the car. Stretch, drink, and home again. Jiggidy-Jigg.

Did I say music? I sure did. Earlier I'd mentioned that seventies rock is made for getting all jazzed for a run. So, I spent 99 cents from my iTunes credit and got the lead track for this little mix to get my mind in the right gear:

(note: Yes, I know that the Power Station was an eighties band. But it is a seventies tune, and it's freaking Robert Palmer. He's up there with Phil Collins for me. So don't give me no guff.)

Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
Limelight - Rush (Also an eighties recording, but just barely.)
Can't You Hear Me Knocking - Rolling Stones
Tie Your Mother Down - Queen
Get It On (Bang A Gong) - Power Station
Shine On - Peter Frampton
Eminence Front - The Who
Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy - Bad Company
Crazy On You - Heart
We're Gonna Groove - Led Zeppelin

Nice. Made me want to get rid of the beard and just grow a mustache. And I think I've listened to Carry On Wayward Son at least 9 times since I downloaded it.

I wish I did other things rather than just list songs and albums, I really do. There are creative bones in there somewhere, I just seem to have misplaced them. Or perhaps they're buried. I dunno.