Did

~ Got some more to-do‘s done before getting to my to-didn’t list. Well, at least by by-passing the to-do list  they never made it on the to-didn’t list. That’s something. Got the The Urbane Decay Has Never Kissed a Girl CDs printed, cut, stuffed and shoved in a box. 

~ Got mail yesterday! Unexpected surprise mail. The best kind.

~ I think I’ve been fighting my instincts lately and that’s been making me act a little wacky. What would Lao Tze have to say about that? Probably something like, “Wading in the river is pleasant until we try to change the direction of its flow.” And Chuang Tze might say, “The Fool tries to hold back the typhoon with his hands. The Wise lets the wind blow him where it will.”

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of February 1, 2007

 
Even though it’s illegal, marijuana is now America’s biggest cash crop, generating more revenue than corn and soybeans. Official government sources won’t acknowledge this fact, of course, and the major media would prefer to ignore it. Let’s use this situation as a metaphor for your personal life, Sagittarius. Meditate on the following three questions. (1) Is there a valuable asset that you neglect to account for when you take inventory of your total resources? (2) Is there a Big Important Thing that you don’t fully acknowledge? (3) Do you play down the power of a transformational agent that’s taboo or not fully accepted? 
www.freewillastrology.com

Do’s and Didn’ts

~ Lately I’ve been feeling a bit better about Urbane Decay’s live incarnation. By the 9th, we’ll be smooth as the Nashville skyline covered in melted processed cheese topping. Chord organ didn’t work out though.

~ Tonight is a night of productivity. That to-didn’t list is getting the whoop-ass. Main points to conquer: Changes to VISFF programme for second screening; design Flatbed t-shirt; print, cut, fold Urbane Decay CDs; the dishes; design NALT poster; master Elisha’s album… the didn’ts go on and on…

~ Oh… I think tonight Bentley‘s going home… that’s going to interfere with the productivity.

~ This week Babel is #26 on the Lethbridge Top 30 and #5 on the Electronic charts.

1. Height?
5’3″/5’4″ ish

2. Have you ever smoked heroine?
What the hell? Ease in with a nice general question then BLAM! Anyway, no. But a bunch of my highschool friends did. One jumped off a bridge in Vancouver.

3. Do you own a gun?
I guess when my pa dies, I inherit his several boomsticks.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
That time I was going in for the CAT scan results was pretty intense. Other than that I find the waiting-room boredom vaguely irritating, but not nervous.

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
I think dogs are kind of ugly. Cats are way sexier.

7. What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Bring a Torch Jeanette Isobella (or whatever it’s called)

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Tripple americano

9. Can you do push ups?
Can. Will is another matter.

10. Is your bathroom clean?
Please, close your eyes before entering.

11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?
This pendant made out of a lock of my own hair.

12. Do you like painkillers?
If I’m in extreme pain, yes.

13. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
My parents’ estate.

14. Do you have A.D.D.?
I’m thinking of developing it. Then I can get a greater variety of tasks accomplished during the day.

16. Middle Name?
Neil

17. Name 4 thoughts at this exact moment?
1. My middle name is boring. Gotta change that.
2. I should be doing some work.
3. I wonder if there’s coffee still in the maker.
4. I wonder if the coffee’s still hot.

18. Name the last 3 things you have bought?
1. Stamps from the really snarly girl at the Co-op gas station THAT WERE THE OLD 51CENT STAMPS ISNTEAD OF 52 CENT STAMPS! Fuggaround.
2. Hi-lighter pens, yellow.
3. Groceries, general.

Name 3 drinks you regularly drink:
1. Coffee
2. Juice
3. Pinot Noir

22. Current worry?
Pentti’s never coming back to work and I’ll have the work of three men to complete. That’ll cut into my blogging time.

23. Current hate?
Not living closer to my BFF.

24. Favorite place to be?
In the red room in the thrawls of the muse and my looping pedal.

25. How did you bring in the New Year?
Hanging with the hippie jazzbos and driving kids home from parties.

26. Where would you like to go?
Home. Maybe Victoria. Iceland.

27. Do you own slippers?
Some very unwarm leather ones and some very warm ruttabegga shaped mongloid socks things I can’t locate.

28. What shirt are you wearing right now?
U2 Rattle and Hum.

29. Do you burn or tan?
I would tan nicely if I went anywhere enar a beam of sunlight.

30. Favorite color(s)?
C10 M100 Y100 K0; C50 M0 Y0 K5; C0 M100 Y0 K0; C60 M40 Y25 K100

31. Would you be a pirate?
I’d be a π-rate

33. What songs do you sing in the shower?
“The Bentley Bounce” b/w “Not Quite Slut”

34. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?
The atomic bomb — I seriously had no doubt we were all going up in a mushroom cloud before my 21st birthday.

35. What’s in your pockets right now?
I got a pocket of soul

36. Last thing that made you laugh?
My boss, having just gotten back from assassinating people in Cuba (his other job), not knowing what the hell was going on in the office.

37. Best bed sheets as a child?
Star Wars!

38. Worst injury you’ve ever had?
Broken heart / nervous breakdown

40. How many TVs do you have in your house?
Just one.

41. Who is your loudest friend?
Elmhurst? Makito? Carissa?

42. Who is your most silent friend?
Stephen? Matt? Marie? Jenn? I know some silent folks.

43. Does someone have a crush on you?
I sure as hell hope so.

44. Do u wish on shooting stars?
Seems wrong to wish on something that burning away into oblivion.

45. What is your favorite book?
Again? Yesterday it was A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch. Sure, why not?

46. What is your favorite candy?
Really expensive chocolate is the only candy I like

47. What song do/did you want played at your wedding?
Not Quite Slut.

48. What song do you want played at your funeral?
I’d like an elementary school orchestral and choir to sing a medley of my greatest hits.

49. What were you doing @ 12 AM last night?
Saying “Bentley, settle down, yo! Trying to sleep here.”

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
“What the fuck is Bentely doing?” {Running around the apartment like a crazyman.}

Á morgun segir sá lati

~ I saw a bit of a story on one of those american news shows last night about this savant who learned Icelandic in a week. I figure if he can do it in a week, it should only take me about a year. 18 months, tops. I think I’ll start… tomorrow.

3 WORD ANSWERS: Not as easy as you might think…

1. Where is your cell phone?
In the store

2. Boyfriend/girlfriend
Oh, yes please

3. Your hair?
is falling out

4. Your mother?:
going to ireland

5. Your father?:
staying at home

6. Your favorite item?
aura of awesomeness

7. Your dream last night?
all about you

8. Your favorite drink?
red red wine

9. Your dream car?
my parents matrix

10. The room you are in?
full of magazines

11. Your ex?
keeping her cat

12. Your fears?
fucking shit up

13. What do you want to be in 10 years?
harmonious with tao

14. Who did you hang out with last?
kai and makito

15. What you’re not?
harmonious with tao

16. Muffins:
are crap food

17: One of your wishlist items?
huge megapixel camera

18: time?
almost home go

19. The last thing you did ?
typed these words

20. What are you wearing?
black except socks

22. Your favorite book?
a severed head

23. The last thing you ate?:
cold cold apple

24. Your life?
not half bad

25. Your mood?
anxious and serene

26. Your friends?
two hand count

27. What are you thinking about right now?
fucking shit up

28. Your car?
grandpa pimp ride

29. What are you doing at the moment?
filling out survey

30. Your summer?
a drunken mess

31. Your relationship status?
you tell me

32. What is on your tv?
photo of buddha

33. When is the last time you laughed?
picture of blackie

34. Last time you cried?:
perhaps last monday

When the cat’s away… ya bonedoggle the airwaves

~ Somewhat concerned about how Pins of Light turned out this evening. Only came home to one angry phone message {out of a possible five} though.  Apparently legal action is being pursued. Oops.

~ This morning in the shower I had this song called “N.Q.S.” stuck in my head.  For those who haven’t heard that jam yet, I suggest you avoid it or it will take over your subconscious.

~ I just found my neglected to-do list. There’s a whole pile of to-do’s I completely to-didn’t.  It’s getting ridiculous.

“Bloody and Raw”

~ So Ramshackle 2007 is kind of up in the air at this point as the headliners have pulled out. Thinking cap is being dusted off.

~ Marie and I had a nice day of silent reading that was obliterated by going to Pan’s Labyrinth with Jenn. Going to a movie with Jenn was great, and Pan’s Labyrinth was really quite an excellent movie. But around the time the Capitan schlick-schlicks the poacher’s eye socket repeatedly with a broken wine bottle, you begin to suspect this movie isn’t  the nice fluffy magical Burton-esque fairytale it’s marketed as here in North America. There are at least two sequences which I might put in my top five most disturbing film experiences ever.

~ Heard a hit song today. About a certain dapper cat. Somewhat blew my mind.

Zero interest in work today. Zero interest in interest.

~ At The Palace I forgot that I’m not drinking beer anymore. I only had a couple last night. Then kind of randomly went home. I left the smoking room to talk to Nate and/or Erin and/or Jamie and/or Sean and ended up walking right out the door. I think I’m becoming more like some kind of Andrew / Stephen hybrid each day. Or maybe that was just my reaction to someone suggesting “We should make this our hang-out” and no one categorically kiboshing this idea. I have to say that The Palace is more pleasant to be in than The Vault which, though it’s great they have live music there, is actually kind of a terrible place to be in. I’ve never enjoyed myself there. There’s just something icky and terribly wrong about it.

~ I woke up last night with the cat sitting on my chest staring at me.

~ My backlog of unreleased Babel recordings is getting ridiculous. As is the mode in which I’ve been recording them. I decided Jimmy Somerville is my greatest inspiration as a vocalist. In fact, he may even be my favourite singer. I dare anyone to top that.

Nate-dawg

~ First Urbane Decay practice with Nate bongoing last night. I’m thinking of making a last minute change to chord-organ as my instrument. Good plan.

~ This weekend promises to be awesome. There’s talk of a raspberry gluttony fest. How could that not be radical?

~ I haven’t found a good blog survey in ages. This one blows. I may have done it before too…

Q: Kissed someone on your friends page (even on the cheek counts)?
A: Yes, actually. Huh. I was going to say “no” but that’s not actually true, it turns out.

Q: Have you seen someone on your friends page naked?
A: Again, yes.

Q: Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back?
A: I’m the king of that.

Q: Kissed someone you didn’t like?
A: Yes. I’m a peach. A PEACH.

Q: Slept in until 5 PM?
A: For sure.

Q: Held a snake?
A: When I was a kid. They make your hands stanky.

Q: Been suspended from school?
A: Yes. For “lewd gestures” in an air-band contest.

Q: Been fired from a job?
A: More like demoted {VideoWorks}. Also, an agreement was made to have me “layed off” once {Oceanside Photo}.

Q: Sang karaoke?
A: “Tainted Love” at the Lighthouse.

Q: Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t?
A: It used to be a daily routine. But these days I stick by my resolutions a bit better.

Q: Laughed until you started crying?
A: And vice versa.

Q: Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
A: I doubt it.

Q: Kissed in the rain?
A: Maybe, I dunno. In a car in the rain, for sure.

Q: Sang in the shower?
A: I tried once. It wasn’t a good experience.

Q: Sat on a roof top?
A: We used to have a ladder to get on the roof and watch the fireworks. I think Helen got rid of it because it kept making her roof leak.

Q: Been pushed into a pool/lake with all your clothes on?
A: No. I don’t associate with assholes.

Q: Broken a bone?
A: Pinky toe.

Q: Shaved your head?
A: Yeah. I looked like Uncle Fester if I wore a hoodie.

Q: Played a prank on someone?
A: I imagine so. Nothing comes to mind. I do work in an office though.

Q: Felt like killing someone?
A: Figuratively, of course.

Q: Made a girlfriend/boyfriend cry?
A: I am the king of this also. Or, I like to think, was the king of this. Past tense. If I ever have a girlfriend again.

Q: Cried over someone you liked?
A: King of this.

Q: Shot a BBgun or paintball gun?
A: Uh-huh.

Q: Slipped on mushrooms?
A: Supermarkets are dangerzones.

Q: Donated Blood?
A: No.

Q: Still like someone you shouldn’t?
A: I think the people I like I’m allowed to like.

Q: Is there someone that gives you butterflies?
A: Of course. Also, night terrors.

Q: Woke up and not known where you were for at least a whole minute?
A: Just the other morning. But it was because I was facing the other way than I normally do when I wake up.

Q: Have you ever put more into a relationship, and felt like you weren’t appreciated?
A: For about 7 years.

Driving song

~ Funny thing. I accidentally put this song on the new Urbane Decay CD. Which is okay since it’s the one I made a video for. The audio compression is brutal. I think maybe I should actually buy a real video editing program instead of using windows movie maker. This is a nice little song about driving home after a long day of stalking your unrequited love. Romance!

Wasn’t it just monday like yesterday?

~ Makito is certainly the most energetic Pins of Light regular guest we’ve ever had. I think we should exchange him for Kai one week. Just because that would be more calming. Makito makes me nervous. Though he did abide by the obscenity laws this time.

~ Last night I was visited by a cat. I could tell by the way it jumped on the bed that it wasn’t Gert so I said, “Hey, Bentley.” Then I patted his head and thought, “Huh, Bentley’s head seems awfully small.” I didn’t think about it until I heard Bentley come in through the window. If Bentley’s on the bed, how can he be coming in through the window? So I turned on the light and it was the Russian Spy {neighbor’s cat} sleeping at the foot of my bed. I guess she heard Bentley was back in town and came for a visit. Later Gertie kicked her out {and woke me up doing it}.

~ I have some hat-making plans for this weekend which I am perhaps a little too excited about. 

VISFF 2007

~ The Vancouver Island Short Film Festival last night was fun.  Sara won a special honorable mention award for Best Performance in her film How to Get a Man to Love You Forever, which we joked, she was not “performing” in so much as making a documentary about herself. She was basically playing a mildly psychotic, hilghly manipulative stalker. It was Makito‘s favourite movie due to the the bleeding vagina footage. The big winner  was Android 207 [see below] which took Best Film, People’s Choice and Best Technical. Overall, the quality of all the entries was at least 75% better than last year.  Last year  had a good/bad ratio of about 1:1. This year it was more like 1:0.25.

Best Writing: How To Talk Like a Pirate.

That’s all I could find on YouTube.

~ Bentley is beginning to settle down. When I let him out his carrier on friday night, he walked around hissing at everything for about half an hour. Lamp: hiss. Chair: hiss.  Jakob: HISS. Wall: hiss. Then he changed over to yowling. Then Gertrude came in throught the window and that was some exciting drama. Later they had a tussle which seemed to sort out the dominance/power issues. Now he’s reclaimed his spot on the top of the fridge and has decided my alpaca scarf is his now best friend.

~  I might be going crazy, but I think the 7-Eleven coffee has gotten slightly better. Though I’m scared to try their Xtreme Power Blend [or whatever it is] which has ginseng and guarana and other Redbull type nonsense in it.

see_dot_rant, the bastard, tagged me with writing five damn things people don’t know about me. Which is a trouble because for the past two weeks, Marie and I have been writing these lists back and forth to each other. And so my five things have to be “five things [most] people, other than Marie, don’t know about me.”

1) In grade 12 drama I had to direct a play and it was a disaster. I couldn’t get the two leads to rehearse at all. It had a line in it that was “It isn’t even garbage intrinsic to this household” and now whenever I hear the word intrinsic I still see the Monique Spielman’s face and shiver with a slight feeling a dread.

2) My first love was Alicia Yakabowski [sp] in grade 7. She was perfection. Then she moved to San Diego. Then she came back to visit in grade 8 and was suddenly two feet taller than me. Then she moved back in grade 12, but went to the other highschool, and was a total ho bag.

3) My first “real” job was working for a portable sawmill operator named Bruce. We’d go to people’s houses and saw the trees they’d cut down down into boards for them. Due to the noise of the saw, we only could talk for 5 minutes before and after shift, and three fifteen minute breaks during the day. In one day he used the word “fuck” 36 times. That’s on top of his usage of the words “shit”, “pussy”, “bitch” and “cunt.” Also, once we were driving to a job and these two 10-12 year old girl walked in front of the truck at a stop light and he said, “Some nice teets growin’ on them young heffers.” True story.

4) I loved dodge ball with an intense passion.

5)  My mom had owl figurines  when i was a kid. We thought she liked them. She didn’t, really. But we thought she did and I bought her more every birthday and mothers’ day. Then she threw them out one year.