!@#$%^&*()!!!!!

Yeah, the title, if you look closely, is every symbol from 1-0 with some extra exclamation points thrown in for good measure. Yeah, I've had a pretty high-stress last couple of weeks, and am only looking forward to more at work. Yay. Can I have another vacation, please? I just need to get away from all this bullshit and clear my head.

On another note, I need to get one of my electric guitars down to my apartment so I can start playing late at night. I have some songs to work on, and I can't play my acoustic when I get home from work. It'll also help when I finally get a USB interface that allows me to plug my guitar (or whatever instrument I deem necessary that can use a 1/4" plug) into my computer. Then comes some good recording software (probably Cubase) so I can record my music/vocal ideas and multitrack them. Paolo's been raving about being able to do so on his Macbook, and I really think being able to track along with my initial rhythm parts will help me write better and more well-prepared vocal melodies and lead licks (though I usually leave the latter up to Jeremy). Just a little longer....

K, I'm done. I can't really focus tonight, my mind's a mess. Another time.

Bye.

Auto-tune is ruining music.

So I'm sure that all of you that listen to radio stations that play "R&B/Hip-Hop/Rap" have noticed the overwhelming glut of music featuring the 'auto-tune' effect (for the musically retarded, that's the computer-sounding effect on the vocals). Simpler variations hit the scene in the '80s in such hits as "Computer Love" and were reintroduced by Cher in the mid-to-late '90s, but are probably most popularized by the 'crunk' rap "artists" like Lil Jon and the Ying-Yang Twins during the early-to-mid '00s.

I used to make jokes in the studio to Scot about hooking up the auto-tune to my vocals so I could take less vocal takes. Read: jokes. Yeah, he made a comment then that I've modified and assimilated into my musical views:

Auto-tune is for completely talentless idiots. Anyone who jumps on the bandwagon is shamelessly exploiting the current fascination with what could be described as the music industry's Game Genie: an easy way to cheat your way into singing in correct pitch/tune, much as the Game Genie allowed early cartridge-run system video gamers to cheat their way into winning games they couldn't have otherwise, or were too lazy to work through the old-fashioned way.

Don't get me wrong, I have an NES Game Genie, and for a brief time had a Game Boy one as well when I was a pre-teen. I have used lots of cheat codes in my video game travels (as I play and have played much more than I care to admit). Some would compare Auto-tune to effects pedals that people use for their instruments. I'd agree with them, if the artists using them (and if it were conservatively) were actually playing instruments too. Panic at the Disco used it sparingly in "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks," and I'm not gonna dog on them because they're not artists solely relying on their vocals (and sometimes minimal instrumental talent) to make music, as almost the entirety of the artists in the aforementioned genres do.

It's getting much later than I want to be awake for, and I'd love to rant further on this topic, but I'm sure I've exhausted all my relevant piss and vinegar and don't wanna devolve into shit-talking. Thanks for listening, and let's boycott all Auto-tune music so this shit goes away.

K bye.

I'm stuck in 1999!

Yeah, so I'm creating compilation CDs (remember those? They're easier and much cheaper than iPod/mp3 player docks!) on the new Lappy. I am tracking through my 300-some-odd collection (ok, the 100 that I have ripped onto said Lappy) and am creating comps to listen to cause the 'next track' button on my car's CD player is much easier than finding "Music/Artist/Album/Song" on my mp3 player. While creating the "No Cheap Shots, Sucka" comp, I considered 'Crawling in the Dark' by Hoobastank. Yeah, it's old. Yeah, none of you have it any more. Yeah, that is the most seamless intro next to fp's 'Learning Curve' I've ever heard. Give it a listen. Or give me a blank and I'll burn the comp for you :).

K bye.

New lappy.

Yep, got a new laptop. Allie and I had gone earlier in the week to Best Buy just to kind of price compare and loved the one we ended up getting. It's fast enough to do the things we want to do (blog, surf the internet, store/play music, and I'd like to get some music recording software and use it to produce music and record demos/ideas. This thing is pretty damn sweet. All the computers I've owned have been secondhand - you know, your parents/uncle/whatever gets a new computer and offer you the old one, which of course you accept because it's better than the old old one you are milking the last few drops out of. So to be the proud owner of a brand new machine is pretty cool. Getting used to the HD screen.

I dropped by Paolo and Amanda's to join up with their Halloween festivities last night and had a fun time. We went to Engine House No. 9 on 6th in Tacoma and ogled the costumes (sadly, as I had come from work, I was not dressed up). Some people were pretty daring - there was a chick sporting some big feathery angel wings aaaaaand that was pretty much it, besides her lacy bra and panties. And for some reason her boyfriend was getting irked at all the attention she was receiving - hey, buddy, if your girlfriend is gonna sport her underthings in public, especially in a bar, she's gonna get some attention. Paolo was a nattily-dressed skeleton, Wes was a Top Gun pilot, Scott and Courtney Chaffee dressed as Bill Murray and the gopher from Caddyshack, and I'm not quite sure what their friend Sarah was aiming for. I guess she was just dressing nicely. She is from Australia so of course after a few beers I try my accent on. I'm sure people love it when you mimic their accent....meh, she took it in stride. I have a habit of doing that - some of my friends know that I love to impersonate and take pride in nailing accents and voices, so....yeah, it's fun. We went back to Paolo's and he, this guy Julian, and I busted out the instruments and jammed it out for a while, and had some great conversation. This guy Julian kinda reminds me of a cross between Jack Johnson and Bob Dylan - I don't care for the former, but was intrigued by Julian's musical style, and I'm sure I made that quite clear with the beer on my side :). We rocked out until about 4am and I decided to head on home. That was a very fun night.

I'm intrigued with the way our music is going. I'm ashamed to say that I really haven't been able to come up with any good guitar parts or riffs lately, but Paolo has been hard at work and we are working on two new songs and a remix of an old faceplant (as in old 'us' faceplant, not those jagoffs from Texas) song called Stumble. I've had no shortage of lyric ideas though, and am still working off and on on the Johnny 'saga' (I hate that word, really) as well as a few other ideas. Paolo and I were talking while at E9 last night about how we need to create more separation between the two guitars, rather than the 'wall of sound' approach that Jeremy and I have grown accustomed to. I like the idea of toning down his distortion a bit to create more differentiation for his lead riffs, and I don't think this will be too hard of a bridge to cross seeing as he's really been tweaking with his tone lately anyway.

I've been looking through CDs of pictures that people have taken at past shows, and have found some real gems that my mom took at our Lost in the Sound release at Valhalla in June of '07. However, Blogger seems to not want to let me upload any of them, so another time then.

Well, I'm getting tired, and I've got a long day of hanging out with the family, going shooting, and general relaxation-intensive minutiae that I won't bother boring you with.

K bye.

Ummmm...

K, so I seem to have made a gross underestimation.

Yeah, Fall Out Boy is good = gets my stamp of newfanboy. Patrick Stump's voice is amazing (yeah, knew that all along), the music is awesome (watch Stump's guitar work WHILE singing, JEEEESUS), but I still fail Pete Wentz for several reasons. If he wants to know why, he can contact me. Otherwise, sans Pete, this band got on my top 20 in the space of an hour.

Fucking love that guy's voice.

My last 12 hours in AZ, FP Youtubes, and fishsticks.

So, during the five and a half glorious days I've spent in Arizona, I've:

-discovered the joys of Hulu
-gotten (something resembling) a tan
-managed to waste one day with a crippling migraine
-watched the Huskies Coug it
-watched a Seahawk game I'd rather have had the Huskies play
-not seen one fucking scorpion, or snake, but DID see a wasp a good 2+ inches long
-watched my 2 year old son improve on his 'game' (more on that in a minute)
-upgraded my wardrobe (but, sadly, not with the CK jacket I was looking at)
-gotten up before 9 am just about every day
-realized that the lady at HairMasters gave me a horrible haircut
-regrown my chinstrap
-drank a lot of tequila (and rum)
-wasted a lot of time on my phone/the computer surfing the internets

And besides all the other shit I've blogged about in my last two entries, thaaaaat's pretty much all the semi-noteworthy news of late. To be honest, I've been ready to go home since Saturday. I love it down here, but when you're living the life of a teenager - no car to drive (we was too poor to rent one), and with the subsequent homebodiness that that entails, the 'best foot forward' mentality one feels the need to adopt when living in someone else's (not to mention your father-in-law's) house just doesn't work when you're 27. I can't spend the better part of a week not truly being myself. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I've not had the chance to drink (see above and last entry). smoke my cigarettes, and watch sports....but the desires to do the other things one does (or two do, hint) in private cannot be quelled for long. I appreciate the extremely generous hospitality that my father-in-law extends to us each time we come down, but I think next time we may opt for a hotel. I wanna be able to argue with my wife (ahem, his daughter) without having to worry about what he thinks about it as he stands within earshot. I wanna be able to 'have relations' without our son sleeping at the foot of our bed in a Pack 'n' Play. I want our own car to drive, and I'd like to pay for it. Dammit, I understand his desire to provide for his daughter and grandson, and I sincerely, SINCERELY appreciate the fact that he pays for 90% of everything down here, but yes, sometimes my pride gets in the way and I get butthurt about not being able to make it rain.

I seriously did not mean that to take up a paragraph, so I'm gonna change tack.

Is it bad to enjoy watching YouTube videos of yourself? Ok, specifically, your band performing? I was watching the focuspoint videos that Tabi so graciously uploaded from our Showbox Market show and feeling rather good about the performances as a whole. And yes, I even watched "Danny's Raging Clue," the video of me and Danny being drunk at Pel Meni in Bellingham. Wow, we got flamed for that in the comments people left, but I guess that's to be expected when your drummer licks your face and it's posted for the world to see.

Ok, so about Tristan and his stepping up his game: So today we were at the outlet mall in Anthem, AZ, buying random shit. I got an Etnies hat, Tristan got a sweet Emerica hat, Allie bought a few things, and we went to the Gap Outlet cause I needed a few pairs of 'nice' pants (read: not baggy jeans that need to be rolled up at the ankles to fit properly). So I picked out a few pairs of nice khakis, Allie got a nice pair of cords, and I went up to the register to check out. As the cashier (admittedly, a cute little teenager) rang up our stuff, Tristan wanted to be picked up, so I indulged him. I paid for the goods, thanked the cashier, and wished her a good day. She says, "Have a nice day," and Tristan follows that up with, "Your number?" My jaw hits the floor, because now it looks like creepy late-20's dad has coached his son into trying to score said teenage cashier's digits.

I ASSURE YOU, THIS WAS NOT THE CASE, NOR HAVE I EVER TAUGHT HIM THIS PHRASE OR ANYTHING APPROPRIATING IT IN ANY WAY. Which makes the story even funnier!

I nod at the cashier, and scoot out of the store with Tristan still in my arms. Allie and Paul (dad-in-law) hang back to buy a few last-minute items that Allie wants. Tristan and I get outside and I look at him and say, "Dude, what was THAT? You little player!" He smiles at me and laughs a little. I chide him a little more, and as if my surprise-o-meter were not already at full tilt, he looks at me and says (and I kid you not, again, not ever coached or suggested):

"I get number."

This kid is TWO. YEARS. OLD. I had no idea what to say. I had nothing. My kid just pulled the trump card on me and all I could do was "hurr durr uhhhh what?" Of course, as soon as Allie comes out I blurt all this out to her as fast as I can and she doesn't believe me. She still doesn't believe me. And it's not like I'm approximating what he said because I want to make up a story. He said these things as clear as you or I would have, and with the expectation that it was actually going to happen. You should have seen the look on his face after he said it!

Ok, so last event of the evening: I watched the South Park "Fishsticks" episode on Hulu right before I started typing this entry. I had caught up on the last two episodes I hadn't seen, and decided to revisit this epic piece of hilarity. I'm still rolling, especially since the online episodes are uncut and uncensored (fuck censorship). Kanye, Kanye, Kanye. You must have forgotten that a few people were still laughing openly at you for the SP episode when you made an ass of yourself at an MTV awards show for what, the fourth or fifth time? You are not a genius, the world does not hinge on your opinions NOR your music NOR your misguided fashion statements, and yes, you are, in fact, a gay fish. I totally believe that Kanye would have held a press conference about the 'accusations' against him.....and here was where I was going to upload a picture from said episode of Kanye standing in front of the flowchart he created on the whiteboard, but the internets are being superextraghey right now and I can't upload it. Oh well, I probably would have credited the screencap wrong and been sued. Speaking of sued, on with the Kanye flaming! I'm so tired with his antics and his attitude, but I guess people speaking ill of him is still people talking about him. After all, "bad press is still press."

Oh, and though I was a fan early on, yes, I am glad that Carlos Mencia's one-trick pony has flatlined and he has been relegated to performing at the Emerald Queen Casino, also referred to in a subcircle of our circle of friends as the "Where Are They Now?" venue or the "Hey, If You Guys Ever Decide to Milk the Reunion Tour Idea....." venue. You know, cause there once was this guy named Carlos Mencia, and he had a show on Comedy Central, and he was on that episode of South Park called "Fishsticks".....yeah.
K, I've really got to go to bed. See you nonexistent readers later.
And thanks for checking my blog for interesting vacation info. I put some work into that.
And thanks.

K bye.

Abuelo's, Target, and my current state.

Hello again, friends! This time I am blogging from an honest-to-goodness computer! Yeah, my father-in-law has one, but during the daytime I prefer to blog OUTside on the ShitJack II while smoking and conservatively applying sunlight to my translucent skin. About 30 combined minutes today produced a darker pigment to said skin, what most would call a 'base' tan. Yeah, things are looking good on that front. I absorb sun like....something that does things quickly. I anticipate a bonafide tan by the time I touch down to revisit my wretchedly lovely hometown.



I've been flirting with leaving all you 'lovely' people behind and moving to this heaven-state they call Arizona. I love the 110+degree heat they get during the usual times we visit, and fortunately AZ's Mother Nature caught wind of our arrival and has kicked up the thermometer to 99 tomorrow, versus a balmy 85 that is typical of this time of year. Bring it, my little weather minion, BRING IT. I love the eff out of western Washington, but I LOVE Arizona. focuspoint, let's go.



So the four of us went to Abuelo's, the best Mexican restaurant I've ever had the fortune in which to dine. Read my last blog to get the partic's. We (me, Allie, Tristan, and Paul, Allie's dad) sat down to our anniversary dinner - yeah, everyone was involved, that's how we roll. Service wasn't that great, and I was reminded after perusing the menu that they did NOT offer any lamb dishes (still), but that did not dispel my passion for the venue. I ended up ordering a dish they named 'El Mejor de la Casa,' or 'The Best of the House,' for all you pinche gringos. Yeah, it was $20. Yeah, it was the only menu item that was SLIGHTLY overpriced. But what greeted me and my off-the-tap Dos Equis Amber were two four-ounce bacon-wrapped filets mignon accompanied by three large bacon-wrapped prawns, with (yes) a small side of pork-n-beans and their signature side, papas con chile, which is basically Allie's cheesy potato dish (not knocking it!). There were also two dipping sauces, one which consisted of basically chile con queso (meant for the shrimp, but the steak was the swimmer), and something resembling a hunter sauce/brown sauce.



This is the second time I've visited Abuelo's: La Yadda-Yadda Embassy. I can't remember the first two words, but I noted the full name this time 'round as I was entering the building. I took a picture of the facade as well as the main dining area, and I cannot upload them now, so Paolo, you already saw them, and Jenny, I'll show them to you when we get back. There, that should cover both of my followers.



I'm still very enthused/enthralled by this restaurant. So many of the flavors that SHOULD be prevalent in Mexican cuisine in the PNW (Pacific North West, duh) are in bloom down here, and all the flavors that would fit the temperature AND the scene down here are what is going on up there. A revised commentary: read, hunter/mushroom sauce served with my filets. Potato casserole as a side. Bacon-wrapped meats cooked on a woodfired grill. Are these not considered critical elements of any reputable steakhouse or 'meatery' in the PNW? And the Oaxacans are serving southern-Texicali food up there? What the fuck is wrong with this picture? Yeah, I love pico de gallo and cilantro, but leave that to the taco stands and WOW us with your dark side! Lime-enhanced food should be showcased in warm climates, and pico de gallo, though delicious as a taco topping, needs to head south with its cousin cilantro and meet up with the warmer climes! Let it be a secondary up in more temperate climes, with sauces with more substance and the 'dark side' flowing through them taking over as the fall and winter overtake us.



My food was great. Bill was $80 for 3 plus Tristan, and libations. I am still a whore for this restaurant. I love this place, and salivate at every memory or thought of it.



So after dinner, we went to Target.



Let me interrupt this with a brief rundown of my reading style. I've been reading since I was two. And pretty much voraciously since I was eight. I'd estimate that I've read 1800 books since then, at the very least. If you doubt me: I finished 'Double Cross' by James Patterson in less than 48 hours, then went on to read John Grisham's new 'The Associate' in even less time. That's between 900-1000 pages in 96 hours. When I like a book, I finish it in two days, no matter the heft of the tome. So, being without a libro nuevo, I bought Jeffery Deaver's 'The Bodies Left Behind' this evening at Target. I anticipate being done with it by Saturday night.

Tristan got squirrelly once we stepped in, so the Target visit was cut (somewhat) short. We purchased a few unneeded items, including a box of Franken Berry cereal (yes, friends, Franken Berry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula have all been recently re-released), and headed back home. Which brings me to 'my current state.'

Free Sauza Hornitos, copious amounts of Guinness (which I haven't had in tooooo long, considering my heritage), and the onus of my 4th anniversaire have ended in a quite-libated Watty. I have already typed too much, so more of this well-documented journey to the Sun will be proffered tomorrow, probably in the throes of a well-deserved hangover.

Thanks for tuning in. I'd like to think that SOMEone is lurking over the two hours+ I spent blogging today. Hell, it's even fairly family-friendly.