two.points.collapsing

keepin’ it quick:

new podcast is out, that’s cool. good episode this time i’d say.

some good shows comin’ up this weekend. frightened rabbit sunday (anyone really want to come? still got an extra ticket…), david cross monday.

probably going to pick me up some beatles: rock band tonight and rock out all weekend like i was actually part of the magical 60’s. that should be fun.

i’m reading pride and prejudice right now and kind of enjoying it. does that make me a sissy or just very classy?

work is going fine too. i think when i invest time and energy in rewarding personal pursuits (like recording editing and publishing a podcast), it improves my state of mind and performance at work. i bet there are studies that prove this is true but i haven’t read them and so i’ll continue believing i am special in this regard.

also: i get to go to boston for work next week. unfortunately gabe just moved away from there. do i know anyone else cool that still lives there? is there anything cool to do in boston by yourself?

FOOTBALL!

two weekends in a row of the glorious routine of saturdays with the guys drinking and eating delicious, terrible food and watching our college football team play well but not as well as we would like. it’s back and it’s wonderful. too bad jessica’s been busy with school and missing out, but really i don’t think she cares much. she doesn’t love football or afternoon drinking as much as i do.

actually this weekend has been a hilarious portrait of our disparity this fall. i spent most of my weekend hanging out with the guys with a beer in my hand, or otherwise at home playing a batman video game. she spent a lot of her time memorizing elements, formulas, human anatomy, etc. i willfully erode my intelligence all weekend, she diligently builds hers up. aren’t we precious.

also, a footnote to the ‘bomb threat’ drama you may have seen in my twitter updates…

[quick recap if you missed it: there was a supposed bomb in our apartment’s garage thursday evening, so i got stuck without access to our place for three and a half hours and sat at a bar patio across the street waiting it out, watching cops close down the street. there was a bomb robot, a guy in a bomb-protecting suit, etc.]

well, though it seemed real enough at the time, what with the big disturbance it caused, we got a letter from our building management that in the end the item in question was in fact only a replica of a bomb, not a real one. some sort of prop, perhaps, that had been discarded carelessly. it’s good to know, i guess, in that there’s no lunatic in our building (perhaps only a replica of one), but part of me is kind of disappointed that all that business was over nothing. either that, or the building management just wants us to THINK it was… conspiracy theories aren’t really my thing though.

what else? oh, i guess it could be about time to change the song over yonder on the left… what’s been great lately? hmm, well, i’m certainly loving this neko case album middle cyclone. it came out way back in march but i only just picked it up and can’t quit listening. such an un-brian album too, very soft and vocalist-centric, but that voice just destroys any resistance. check out ‘the pharoahs‘ and argue she doesn’t have serious power.

oh, and also i’ve been on a strong reading streak so scroll down there to the right if you’re interested in some thoughts on the latest. child 44 ended up being a hell of a read, if you’re in the mood for a good thriller.

life is different now! that doesn’t happen very often so it’s worth noting. and sadly for me perhaps, it’s not really my life that’s different. or rather, mine is, but only by proxy.

see, jessica started school this week. she works and has class, which means she’s simply home less, and when home, now has more stuff to do. it’s already kinda weird. only last week, we had a nice routine of come home, maybe work out, have dinner, hang out, watch tv, whatever. now she doesn’t even get home until late some nights. tuesday i came home to an empty house and no food, so i had to go grocery shopping by myself for the first time in two years. (no, not like i haven’t been to the grocery store, but as in i got a whole cart full of food for both of us without her being there.) that was odd. then, there’s the actually being home alone at night, which is quiet and strange. or, doing things on my own while she has homework (homework! remember that? ha!).

it may sound like i’m a big wimp, or that i’m complaining, but neither is true. i’m impressed she’s doing this. i’m proud of her for going for it. i’m a little jealous she’s starting something new and interesting while i’m at the same job i’ve been at for almost seven years (SEVEN!? i’m in danger of going stale…). however, we’ve been living together for two years and had a pretty steady routine going, and now it’s gone in an instant. life is exciting! or rather, hers is, and i now have more time alone to play video games, watch movies, and read books, then write nerdy blog articles about said games, movies and books.

i’m sure this will be a growth period for both of us.

we have these things called summer days at work, where in the independence-to-labor day span, we get some bonus vacation days to take if things are slow and we can squeeze in some extra time to enjoy the summer. since i took a long real vacation in july, i’d been saving these extra days, and this weekend i cashed in two of them for a nice four day break. during that time, i squeezed in a lot of fun.

thursday night i made the slightly heinous after-work drive out to rancho cucamonga to record a podcast with spencer, which is up now if you haven’t got it yet. we talked about some cool movies (like in the loop, go see it!), interesting books (i maintain netherland is great, he disagreed, but world war z is outright good, i promise), along with flaming lips, some video game stuff, etc.

friday we hit up a new bar called darkroom on melrose for jen’s birthday, which i really liked. it got pretty crowded as the night went on (we arrived around 9:30), but the crowd was young and hip and the prices were decent and the decor was low key, dark, and leathery. worth a visit.

saturday was just fantastic. after some afternoon battlefield (if you’re still not playing this yet, get on your xbox and get it, it’s the best thing ever), we went to a super-delicious and fairly expensive/fancy dinner at the bazaar on la cienega at the SLS hotel for spencer and john’s birthdays. one of those super-gourmet places that use a bunch of interesting processes and interesting ingredients to make creative dishes. we ate foie gras wrapped in cotton candy. the most tender little lamb cutlets i’ve ever had. a crazy little mini-philly cheesesteak that blew our minds, which i’m not even sure how they pulled off. guacamole dumplings. caprese salad where the mozzarella came in little spheres of liquid that dissolve in your mouth… it was pretty spectacular. if you ever feeling like dropping a sizable chunk on an LA dinner, i’d put this on the short list. delicious fun. i even rallied in time to drive down to playa afterward for mike and haley’s birthdays. man, i’m a party animal.

sunday, afternoon baseball game with justin and a few others, at which i got to rub in jessica’s face a cubs victory, with bonus post-game pizza at masa bakery, another good spot. it’s been a sweet weekend of new LA eat-and-drink-eries, apparently. i love living in a city of endless delights.

then monday… basically nothing. i’d already spent a fortune and eaten a boatload, so i mostly sat around reading other than a much-needed gym trip. man, with all the goodness we crammed in, i am only more convinced that my life would be at least 20% better with permanent four-day work weeks. let’s do it, america!

dammit.

so last night, neil and i went to see the flaming lips, but due to some misjudgments on the set times, we showed up right in the middle of their first song. not terrible, right? we heard ‘race for the prize’ as we were walking up, so it wasn’t like we missed a huge part of the show. i felt bad, but not awful. but then i read this spin recap this morning:

The concert began, naturally enough, with the Flaming Lips being born. For drummer Kliph Scurlock, bassist Michael Ivins, and multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd that meant walking through an elevated door in the middle of a multimedia screen onto which a huge, digital vagina had been projected. For lead singer Wayne Coyne it meant appearing on stage curled up in what initially looked like an adult-sized placenta.

Thankfully, it turned out to be the frontman’s patented inflatable plastic bubble, a crowd-surfing apparatus he immediately put to good use while canons shot confetti into the air, dozens of giant balloons were released into the audience, and a phalanx of backup dancers hit the stage dressed as mini-skirted white mice or shag-carpeted abominable snowmen.

when else in my life will i get to see a band climb out of a giant digital vagina!?! for once in my life i show up late enough to miss most of the opening band waiting period, and miss that? the world is truly cruel.

not news to most culturally current people, but we have recently discovered that lost is indeed a terribly engrossing show. frustrating in its incessant not-answering of questions, probably. even more so in its characters’ baffling tendency to not ask seemingly obvious questions in the heat of the moment, which would easily untangle the latest mystery if asked, certainly. but at the very least, you always want to see more.

one scene a few episodes into season two had us laughing uncontrollably at its sheer sloppiness though. either someone didn’t read the script correctly, or characters were transposed and never fixed, or they said fuck it, it’s more convenient this way, let’s just go for it, and i have to share. i’ll do it in code though to not spoil anything big for non-viewers.

so, there is a couple, ms A and mr B, and another dude, mr C. at one point, mr B and mr C go on a trip to try to get help. they’re not expected back any time soon.

things don’t quite turn out, so B and C end up heading back to camp. in this scene, mr C is the first to arrive, and he’s in a lot of stress, and appears very suddenly to ms A, the first person to see him and realize they’ve returned. he’s worked up, but reassures ms A that mr B is fine, and goes on to do some other things in a very rushed, tense manor.

later in the episode, mr B finally makes it back to the camp, and the whole crowd welcomes him back from his dangerous journey. they’re so happy to see him, and it’s one of those swelling music moments. but where is ms A? she’s on the beach doing laundry. not following mr C around asking about mr A. not waiting patiently at the edge of the jungle to see him return. calmly doing her chores, and suddenly pleasantly surprised to see her man return. tearful romantic reunion, etc.

what the fuck happened with this scene? if anyone else out of the dozen main characters could have been that first person to see mr C come back, and it would have made sense that ms A was on the beach for that surprise reunion with mr B. and if it had to be ms A who first saw mr C return, how could she possibly be the absolute last person in the camp to see mr B finally come back too?

once i pointed this out to jessica we laughed our way through the rest of the slow-motion, circling-camera embrace that followed, it was so absurd. it’s extra funny that a show entirely about intricacies could have missed such a glaring detail, but i guess when you’re mapping out a whole crazy 7-year mystery, some of the minor points are bound to get glossed over.

my current theory is that the butler did it, and it turns out the butler was a palm tree someone made angry way back in the pilot episode, and the palm tree only exists in the dream of baby jesus, but hey, we’re barely getting started, so who knows.

i’m generally an easy-going person. it’s pretty hard to ruffle my feathers, because most things are easy to laugh off if you don’t take them too seriously. not easily insulted, not often that frustrated or angry at the world, etc.

last night though, spencer and i sat down after weeks of down time to finally record another podcast. a couple minutes of test audio led me to believe everything was sounding great, and we were off on an almost 90-minute episode. it was a great show. covered some really cool stuff i think people would’ve liked to hear about. had great conversation, were appropriately funny and insightful. good podcast.

then afterward, i went back to listen/edit, and for the entire duration (minus the couple minutes of test at the beginning), the audio was all distorted and fuzzy. it sounded like spencer was talking into a makeshift walkie talkie on the planet hoth. for some reason, my voice was fine the whole way, but he was not just fuzzy but mostly indecipherable. a total loss of show.

like i said, i take most things in stride, but i was fucking pissed. more so, because there was nothing to be pissed at. the equipment just failed us despite working fine in a test, and there was absolutely nothing to be done. i think that was the difference that drove me nuts, really. most things are out of my control, so i don’t feel injured when they aren’t perfect. but most things can also be corrected, or at least tolerated. this was a freak incident that was irreparable. and it’s actual creative work that’s just totally lost. i could have punched a baby, i was so mad. especially now that he lives farther away, and it takes a decent amount of drive time just to get together in the first place.

lessons for the future: maybe invest in better microphones? don’t trust audio software that comes free with a mac? i’m not even sure. definitely going to be checking the recording as we go in the future, instead of assuming it works at the end because it worked at the beginning. but goddammit, that would have been a solid episode.

mmmmm, affordable gourmet is the best. our anniversary dinner at breadbar, temporarily taken over for dinners by a limited-run menu called ‘ludobites’, was a lovely evening of food. heirloom tomatoes with feta mousse was particularly good, grilled tenderloin beef with goat cheese was perfect, and our dessert was a chocolate cupcake with foie gras frosting and bacon syrup topping. that was possibly the most interesting and complex-flavored dessert i’d ever had. that and a couple more dishes that were yummy if not as memorable for only $100 for two, and we brought our own wine. fantastic.

of course, we stopped by sheddy’s for a few drinks beforehand, so by the time we got home we were well under the spell. we didn’t even manage to finish the wine at dinner, and once at home cuddling on the couch trying to enjoy the last glass, we basically passed out. not the wild night of romance one might envision for an anniversary, but honestly, lovely all the same. that girl makes a good date, let me tell you.

oh yeah, a couple other interesting things this week too.

firstly, our four-year anniversary was this week. this is why we’re getting married. even after this many years of spending almost every day together, i still can’t get enough, we still look forward to hanging out with each other, and i for one still get excited every time she kisses me (or more if i’m lucky… yuck! too personal!). now i just have to pick a nice place to celebrate with a fancy dinner this weekend. hmmm. has anyone heard of this ‘olive garden’ place? i hear that when you’re there, you’re family, and that sounds nice.

also, with plane rides and extra vacation days, i’ve finished a few books. netherland is highly recommended, the way through doors, not so much. you can roll over either on the sidebar there for my brief reviews. i’m just now getting into world war z, which seems like it’ll be a whole lot of fun. ZOMBIES!

hey, who’s back from vacation? rather, who has been for days and was too busy being post-vacation lazy he couldn’t even type out his itinerary?

for the record (ie before i forget), here is a quick rundown of the things i did while out of town on vacation.

portland:
burgerville: local joint with crazy-thick milkshakes
kennedy school: an old elementary school that is now like a mini-mall of bars. rad.
voodoo doughnuts: delicious, creative doughnut creations. mind had tang as a topping; tangy doughnuts are genius. some people got maple bars with bacon.
powell’s: most impressive bookstore in the USA. total book-nerd paradise.
deschutes: brewpub with great sandwiches and tasty local brews.
pool party: adam’s family were kind enough to host us, including cooking up the hugest steaks i’ve ever eaten.
saturday market: craft fair. got some neat shirts.
portland international beer fest: basically the best way to spend an afternoon EVER. tons of microbrews arranged around a nice park. hours of chilled out, tasty brew fun.
rogue: another brewpub, definitely on my top 5 small breweries.
screen door: sunday brunch, amazing praline bacon that will blow your mind. also: sausage corn dogs.

seattle:
got in late sunday (awful traffic), ordered pizza and played poker, then…
dubliner: nice little divey place in fremont
fremont: cool artsy neighborhood, forgot the name of the delicious greek place there. also had banana bread gelato and a mini-scoop of strawberry-jalapeno. neat!
city center/duck tour: walked around, saw the needle, rode the tour busses that are also boats. that alone was amazing.
university district/thai thom’s: got more shirts at a buffalo exchange, took home yummy thai food
more fremont bars: with patios. many many drinks outdoors in beautiful weather.
dick’s: ate a bag of them. good burgers.
alki beach: poorly prepared for the heat, we drove out, sat for a while without water, sandals, or adequate beach blankets. sweated, left.
umi sake house: oh. my. god. want to go back to seattle, that sushi was so fresh and delicious
other downtown bars: there were at least four of them. many drinks. too many in one case, but not me (*ahem*jessica*ahem).
roro’s bbq: great sandwiches, also in fremont.
pioneer square, etc: a last stroll through the nice city streets
airplane: took us home.

i’m sure for those interested there will be pictures floating around soon, but damn, it was fun hanging with the guys for almost a whole week just bumming around the northwest, and bravo to my girlfriend for being the only female who could possibly have handled it.