I have found the most fortuitous shirt ever. And it's even The Collective green!
I think I'm getting old.
This week found me in the Crystal Ballroom, basking in the delightful caterwauling of Wolf Parade with a couple of good buddies from the graphic design program. While attending a good show seems like a youthful endeavor, I found it to be quite the opposite. As per some internal compass, immediately upon entering the venue I beelined straight for the upstairs bar. Looking down on the stage from above, $6 beer in hand, I foundly recalled my days when going to shows meant driving home with no shirt on.
Now it's about trying to find a ride home.
Perhaps this doesn't make me old; Perhaps it just makes me an alcoholic.
Did I mention I turned 22? Last month, the same night most of you hooligans were in Seattle at the Murder City Devils show, I spent my most anticlimactic of anniversaries at the Portland Brewer's Festival. Sadly, I don't have any Coolio lyrics to celebrate with, but I did end the night with my fiance at the Doug Fir (see also: coolest venue ever) for Pete Yorn's solo acoustic show, which ended up being neither solo nor acoustic:
It was a great time.
Life right now is strange; Simultaneously busy and boring, exciting yet monotonous. I wish I could explain it more eloquently. I'm working two jobs right now - the first is a rather enjoyable graphic design internship for the OSU Alumni Association, where my primary funciton is designing the Oregon Stater alumni magazine - which should be arriving in Eric and Sarah's (anybody else here graduate from OSU?) mailbox any day now. Look at the inside front cover to see the worst photo of me ever, and rejoice in my humiliation. The second job is a soul-crushing tenure at the Corvallis Ruby Tuesday. It's sort of like working at the GAP, only instead of folding jeans I make potato salad. Copious amounts of potato salad.
And the music is (slightly) more tolerable.
While that's keeping me busy, my time away from the office/resturaunt is so boring that I've succumbed to watching soap operas. I've been recording the Young & the Restless, and I wish I was kidding. My special lady has been in California on vacation for the past week, snobbing it up by wine-tasting in Napa Valley with her parents. I figured her extended absence would allow me to do some fun things that I've wanted to do, but for the most part it has illuminated how horribly worthless I am without her around. It did, however, allow me to jump on the nerd bandwagon and go see 'Snakes on a Plane' and 'Little Miss Sunshine,' neither of which I would be able to drag her to, and both of which I highly reccomend for vastly different reasons. She returns tomorrow, and I can't wait.
In other concert news, MusicfestNW is rapidly approaching. Unfortunately, it also falls on my lady-friend and my anniversary getaway weekend. I'm trying to convince her that for our anniversary, she wants to go see the final Swords Project performance at the Doug Fir. We'll see if she goes for it. Any suggestions on how to coerce her?
Anyway, I've been absent for a while, and as a result this post is getting too long. I will leave you now with some albums to muse (and muse them you shall because I have impeccable taste (much more impeccable than that of Eric)):
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther (playing at the Schnitz in October)
Stars of Track and Field - Centuries Before Love and War (also playing at MusicfestNW)
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations (you have to admire their lack of restraint)
The Changes - Today is Tonight
Cassettes Won't Listen - Nobody's Moving (AMAZING.)
Take care, you all.
Love slreck
thursday afternoon, while driving to powell's, i saw a girl who i went to high school with walking down the street. i hadn't realized she was living in portland now, and it sort of surprised me. well saturday night, while sitting and waiting for the concert to start, i turned around only to see that she was sitting just a few rows behind us. she saw me too late for me to turn around, we said hi, i said i hadn't relized she was living here, and, as a courtesy i suppose, suggested we go get drinks sometime. her smile was forced, and her 'yeah, that'd be fun' was less then genuine. i'm not going to say i was bummed that she didn't seem to want to hang out with me; we weren't friends in high school, merely friends with the same people. i always got the feeling she wasn't too fond of me, and she was one of those people who always managed to make me feel like i was somehow inadequate or not quite worthy. and saturday, even though i've lived in this city longer, i know it better, and i have much more established life here, just that brief exchange of words managed to bring back all those same feelings.
i realize that it's ridiculous. that was high school, this is now, years later and after i've built an entirely different life. but i hated it, for that moment, feeling like i used to during high school.
i just ate a big bowl of ice cream, i cream sandwich, and oreo cookies, all mashed together. glorious. time to go to work! fall into the gap, everyone.
always.....
did i mention i'm working fulltime for the army now? yeah.... that's thrilling. not really. i made the mistake of breaking down my daily rate to the hour, and it turns out that i'm actually making less than minimum wage right now. hooray for the army. my orders are up on 1 september, though. there's the possibility of picking up other orders which might have a higher payoff (long-term orders include things like covering my rent) or perhaps finding a job on the civilian side. the real perk there is that i don't have to wear the same outfit everyday, nor do i have to have my hair pulled back in a bun everyday. i have a couple of none-too-promising leads of the non-military nature, but i don't have extremely high hopes of either of them panning out.
still at the gap as well, although lately i've only been getting four to nine hours a week. hey, at least i still have the discount!
in an attempt to find some sort of outlet, i've decided to start dancing again. nothing thrilling, just a couple classes a week at one of the dance studios over on the eastside. not gonna lie, i got pretty giddy when i went to buy new dancesneakers. somehow i managed to lose just one of my old ones. which is a shame, really, because they were broken in perfectly. oh well, i get to start the breaking-in process all over again. and i'm ok with that.
hope everyone is doing fabulously!
always.....
Friday rolls around and a subset of the Jumpfighter crew shows up at my house. Lord Bearded, Ian and Jon arrive and we waste lots of time talking, drinking beer and making quesadillas. We catch up, laughing a lot. Just like old times. We figure out plans for tomorrow and all retire.
Before drive
I wake to find Bearded already awake and drinking coffee. I shower, eat a pop tart and we hit the road to Seattle for the Capitol Hill Block Party, where the headlining act will be a reunion of the Murder City (fucking) Devils. epic.
Lord Bearded striking his 'I hate riding with my dad' emotional-teen pose
The drive itself was fairly uneventful. We listened to music and the entire Jerky Boys II disc. That shit always brings me back to seventh grade. Finding such strange humour at that point in my life has warped me, I just know it. I still find myself quoting obscure prank phone calls now and then -- how strange...
After drive
We arrive in Seattle and find the event. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it really was a block party. About 6 blocks were fenced off with three stages spread out between the streets and inside a building. It was a really cool vibe and the weather was superb, which I was thankful for, because I forgot a fucking jacket. Brilliant. We connect with yet another jumpfighter, Jerly.
We show up as Smoosh is just going on stage. I was blown away by these two sisters. Borderline novelty, they actually put on a really good show. Even the salty, callus scenesters in the crowd were bobbing along to the prepubescent pop that these girls so elegantly deliver. The drummer was savage, plus, she was grinning so hard the whole time. Watching musicians smile while playing is something I enjoy, but don't really see all that often.
We then go drink beers at some no-name bar and shoot the shit for a little while. While there were a lot of bands on the setlist, I really wasn't in the mood to check them out, for some reason. I think I'm turning into an old person. Sad.
We then connect with a few more Jumpfighters, Wispy and Eli to watch Minus the Bear, who put on a rock and roll show. Ian and I figured out that we've seen them 5 times in the last few years, which is crazy, as I'm not even that big of a fan these days. The last, well, 4 times that I've seen them, they sucked ass -- they always seem hungover and halfass their way through their sets. This was different, however. Maybe being in their hometown, whatever, they put on a really good set.
Zac, the original sexbeast.
More beers are consumed, more shit is shot.
Using Lord Bearded as a chair before the MCD set.
The Murder City Devils took the stage and performed a pretty amazing set. The crowd was so into it. Rowdy, to say the least. The heart of the 'pit' was so frenzied that they were hosing it down and throwing in bottles of water so people wouldn't overheat. Everyone who came out was dripping wet, with either water or sweat. Crazy stuff. Honestly, their set was a bit of a blur, all I know is that my vocal chords still don't quite feel right, a week after the fact.
What a smelly crowd it was.
After the set, we go to the 'afterparty,' which turned out to be a little more lame than I had expected. I was super tired and really wanted to hit the road, as a fourish-hour drive still stood in front of us.
THE MOTHERFUCKING JUMPFIGHTERS.
We finally hit the road around 1, take a few wrong turns, get caught in traffic, eat at Denny's, get caught behind a train, have to take a detour but finally make it home at 5am. I crash, hard. I haven't slept like that for ages.
Amazing trip.
Other than that, life has been pretty standard. Ms. Kim came to visit during the week and on friday, the roommates and I went to watch the midnight showing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the Bagdad, both of which were wonderful things.
On a side note, I just finished a fun, short novel: "The Contortionist's Handbook" by Craig Clevenger. An entertaining, engagint, quick read.
Life is good, friends, life is good. I love you all. Except the spammers.
THX!
An update on me and my adventures to come soon. As soon as I clean my room.