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.