Reluctantly crouched at the starting line,

Engines pumping and thumping in time.
The green light flashes, the flags go up.
Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup.
They deftly maneuver and muscle for rank,
Fuel burning fast on an empty tank.
Reckless and wild, they pour through the turns.
Their prowess is potent and secretly stearn.
As they speed through the finish, the flags go down.
The fans get up and they get out of town.
The arena is empty except for one man,
Still driving and striving as fast as he can.
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup.
But he's driving and striving and hugging the turns.
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns.


The downside to a long weekend is that I can not fall asleep afterwards. I really wanted to go to bed early tonight, but I just can't sleep. I'm actually a little tired, but staring at my ceiling just isn't working. I'm not worried about waking up tomorrow, I just wish I could go to sleep tonight.


Currently Listening to
Fashion Nugget
by Cake

So you can’t hold a star in your hand though

at least you can hold on to another plan

rusted wheel planted still

i can tell it's summer from the
size of the bugs that fly through my window
flying through my window

rusted wheel planted still
rusted wheel can't move on

i can tell it's winter from the
size of the lump in my throat
got a lump in my throat

rusted wheel planted still
rusted wheel can't move on

and it feels just like the ground
but trapped in another way
just still in the ground


This is kind of creepy

Talk about an amazing weekend. An amazing LOOONNNGG weekend at that.
Thursday Band practice then we go out for drinks. We end up at Bunkers where I re-meet some people I had met the week before. This leads to a long night of existentialist discussion, which I always enjoy. I arrive home sometime around 4 am, but it doesn't matter, because I don't work this week.
Friday I go downtown for happy hour/friends going away party. See some people I used to work with, eventually we get bored and a different friend and I decide to go to the casino. I've never been to a casino before, so I'm excited. It takes us close to 3 hours to get to a casino that is 45 minutes away, because we got very bad directions. We play blackjack. I end up $15 up for the night. Then we decided to go to Perkins on the way home. Perkins was very busy and we ended up being there for close to 3 hours. It was worth it for the Tremendous Twelve and discussing Al Gore's true motivation along with who are the real viable democratic cadidates for 2008. So, I end up getting home even later, 5:30.
Saturday Fashion Show! I've never been to a fashion show, and I have no idea what to expect, although I am excited to hear my music in the big hall. Well, the fashion show turns out to be very interesting, and the music sounds amazing. I still have the sound of the kick drum in my head. My video turned out to be the perfect intro to a very powerful fashion line. It was really interesting to see some elevate it to something bigger than clothing. Anyways, following the fashion show was the after-party, which was a blast. Some of my best friends bouncing from place to place having a great time. The perfect ending to a very long weekend. When your early night is 2:30, you know that you are still young!


Currently listening to
Carnavas
by Silversun Pickups

These are my friends

This is who they have been for always
These are my day
This is how they stay

I watched this dude each night
Same table
Who creates and crumples up
His eyes are wide from sipping endlessly his endless coffee cup
He feeds me quotes, that lonely goat
I watch him grazing by himself
I will not stop him when he rambles, I’m becoming one myself

These are my friends
This is who they have been for always
These are my days
This is how they stay
These are my friends, this is who they'll remain forever
This is how we stay


This is the best news I've heard in a while. Pitchers and catchers report next weekend, and from there we are only a couple months away from the temporary end of boredom.

I went to an 80's party last night. Everyone else had gone to thrift stores to get stuff. I just wore the skinny pink tie I took from my dad. The party ended up being kind of lame (a bunch of no shows), so we all left and went to a bar. I learned that, regardless of whether you are having a theme party or not, if you are going out with a group of single guys, you might as well dress up as a theme. Guaranteed conversation starter. Very little effort.


Currently Listening to
. . . Is A Real Boy
by Say Anything

Music is a world within itself

With a language we all understand
With an equal opportunity
For all to sing, dance and clap their hands
But just because a record has a groove
Don't make it in the groove
But you can tell right away at letter A
When the people start to move

They can feel it all over
They can feel it all over people


Earlier today, I reached with my left hand to lock my door at the same time I reached with my right hand to grab my keys from the ignition. My left hand won, and I learned something interesting. My car has been idiot-proofed. The automatic locks don't work to lock the doors while the keys are in the ignition, even if the car is off. While this does ruin my plan of getting a second key so that I can start my car, lock it, and come back inside for a few minutes in the morning, I find it comforting knowing it is that much harder to lock my keys in my car.

On an unrelated note, lately I have been listening to a lot of Motown. Stevie Wonder has emerged as one of my favorites. This music is really the foundation of the majority of American music as we know it. Suddenly, I wish I was playing in a Motown cover band, although I'm honestly not sure if I have the chops for it.


Currently Listening to
Songs in The Key Of Life
by Stevie Wonder

You're the echoes of my everything,

You're the emptiness the whole world sings at night.
You're the laziness of afternoon,
You're the reason why I burst and why I bloomed..
You're the leaky sink of sentiment,
You're the failed attempts I never could forget.
You're the metaphors I can't create to comprehend this curse that I call love..
How will I break the news to you?


So, that is the last straw. I tried to go to Target tonight at about 9:15, and they were closed. They close at 9 on Sunday. Why? So, Target has been downgraded again. What was once Super Target, is, to me, just Disappointing Target from now on.


Currently Listening to
Commit This to Memory
by Motion City Soundtrack

Can you figure out what I want,

pull the trigger with a pop gun
Mindless fools that aggravate it
pick at you in desperation

Oh it's a love pop suicide
Oh I'm in love pop suicide

Pop life living is so real
Midwest farmers' kids are milkfed
Breed and incubate what you see
Ten years later here on t.v.


I don't care if you have a full grocery section with a deli and a coffee shop. If you are going to close at 10:00 you can't call yourself "Super". That's right, I'm talking to you Plymouth Super Target. Sure you offer basically everything I need, including the majority of my wardrobe. Still, when, after 3 years of service, my very cheap DVD player finally bricks out for good, just as I was about to watch Labyrinth, I want to be able to replace it immediately. But you, "Super" Target are closed. Fortunately, the Tanner family traveled to Hawaii tonight, or I would have been completely left out in the cold. I hereby revoke your "Super" privileges. From now on, you are just Target to me.


Currently Listening to
Tiny Music... Songs From The Vatican Giftshop
by Stone Temple Pilots

I know he knocks you off your feet

You're so bitter; you think he's sweet
Well he's wrong for you, I swear

Did you forget to read the script?
There was never a role for him
It was always you and me, just me

Popular mechanics for broken hearts could help me now

I know you never felt romance
And we always lack suspense
I can edit those parts out

I never made you feel complete
I would fall beneath your feet
I would never bring you down, so down

Popular mechanics for broken hearts could help me now

Just because he loves you too
He would never take a bullet for you
Don't believe a word he says
He would never cut his heart out for you

I heard he wrote you a song
But so what
Some guy wrote 69
And one just ain't enough

And there's no sense in trying
I know cuz I've been
Trying all the time to find something that would make you mine
But all I ever find my love
Are cliches that don't rhyme


The cat loves to jump up on to my lap when I am sitting at the computer. Sometimes he'll put his paws right in my hands, as if to say, "I am the only thing you should be paying attention to, right now!" It makes me realize just how small he is . . . and how large I am in comparison. It is strange to realize, no matter how little power we each have as humans, as humans we each have a lot of power to affect the other things around us. The cat has free will, just as I do, but if I choose to place the cat in a different room, there is very little he can do about it.


Currently Listening to
The Coast Is Never Clear
by Beulah

and i don't care as long as you sing

and i don't care as long as we swing
i don't care as long as you sing

so here we go it doesn't pay
it won't protect me no more
when i get up i break it down
i'll double back and for sure
i go back to zero
get up
i swallow a lot if the pressure is up


I can't even begin to express how excited I am that Ilan won Top Chef. They need to have a Season 3 as soon as possible, because there is no way this stupid Top Design show is going to cut it for me.


Currently Listening to
Smack Smash
by Beatsteaks