Ah, Life Decisions

So not even 3 weeks ago, my feelings for my future went exactly like this:

Graduate from school in October, use my internship experience and knowledge of the industry to get a job at a smaller station back home, work up some credibility in the business (hopefully), and then after 2-3 years at MOST living at home, and hopefully having paid off most of my student loans and debt to my parents, I'd be able to move away, nearly or completely debt free, and at the humble age of 25 or 26, start my life on my total own. Looks pretty reasonable, doesn't it? I mean, living at home until you're 25 isn't ideal, but I wouldn't hate myself for it, especially with my dad's condition, and the fact that I'm not even a little bit close to a relationship.

Well, since then, a few things have happened that have made me consider other options.

1. I suddenly don't feel like I want to go home. It's not a feeling that I want to stay in Cincinnati (even though I probably would), but I'm just not totally ready to move back home yet. Granted, I've got a few months, so that could change again.
2. I suddenly have 2 other job opportunities for part time jobs that I would LOVE to work at, especially full time after school ends and then I'd maybe continue interning or work weekends at a radio station, or something like that, but I've applied at Spin Again (a music, movies, and video games store) and I have an interview Saturday, and I've applied at the Lego store in the mall, and I'm going to be getting a call when kids start leaving for school. Both those places are PERFECT places for me to part-time or full-time until radio is something I can officially land a gig in. However, with 3 months left until I leave, this puts me in a pickle as far as working there for an extended pickle. That brings me to number 3.
3. I suddenly want to live somewhere with roommates. I want the experience of moving in with 1-4 people who I've never met but would potentially have a blast with, specifically people my age (college students immediately come to mind), and just having a great time, and living it up, but still doing my business stuff, too, because since I never went to college, I never got that experience, and I really want it, even for a year or a semester.
4. I suddenly am planning on creating a sports podcast with Jeremy (The Lance & T-Funk Show), and if that actually GOES somewhere, what happens in 3 months when my lease ends and I'm done with school? Does it suddenly END? Do we Skype our podcasts? What happens? I feel like if the podcast actually catches on, it's going to need more than 3 months to establish a fanbase outside of our friends and family, and by leaving Cincinnati, I kill that, and I would love to see the potential for this actually go somewhere.
5. I suddenly like a girl from down here. Sort of. Not really, though. It's one of those puppy love type things, where it doesn't feel like anything more than on the surface attraction, but who knows, it could actually make some leaps and bounds, but it's nothing I'm going to push on the off chance I don't stay here.

I don't know how all of these things will materialize, but I'm hoping I can make more sense of them in the next month or 2 and figure out the difference between what I really WANT to do and what I really NEED to do.

Remember This?

So I haven't blogged in a good month and a half or so, and I'm not sure if I have a good reason, but I'll just say I do and move on. For those of you who are NOT aware, or if I just haven't talked to you since you last read my blog, which I don't think is anyone to be honest, I have been "busy". Now, sure, I have my internship at Cumulus Radio, I have my job at the Limited, and I've got class 3 nights a week. However, with each of those there are nice little * beside them.

With Cumulus, I haven't really gotten 'on board' so to speak, so I pretty much go in when I call in and ask if they need me, not the other way around, which stinks. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's spectacular to have an internship. I just hate not knowing when I am needed and when I'm not as a result of not being notified of anything outside of concerts.

With the Limited, we've hit a slower spot in the selling rotation, and we're over hours a lot, so I'm getting my shifts cut, which is fine, because I get annoyed with that job fairly quickly sometimes. I still need money, though, as was very evident with this last paycheck. Almost exactly 2/3 of it went to bills and I got stuck with $40 for 2 weeks. Blech. Thank goodness for FYE and their promotions.

Finally, with school, it seems like we've hit that wonderful point where everything is becoming a lot more of a breeze and we can basically phone it in and call it a day sooner than we probably can afford. I'm still learning a TON and loving it a TON, but it feels so routine. Which I actually think is great. It's not a boring routine, it's a fun routine that I don't mind. I'm just waiting for an absurd curve ball.

That's not all that's happened, however. Since my last blog, I've been to good friends get married and then attended the best wedding reception I've ever been at. Whenever a wedding reception houses an IMPROMPTU rock opera presentation of Bohemian Rhapsody, and you partake in it, it automatically makes it the best one you've ever been to. I've also attended a Coldplay concert with 2 of my good girl friends, and that was a hoot. Plus, my 22nd birthday has come and gone, and with that birthday came a visit home to see a TON of people. In fact, on my birthday was one of the first Jesus Parties in I'm not sure how long, and let me tell you, it was a different one. It felt so different I actually came home and saved a VERY rough draft of how the night progressed. How I'm going to work this is I'm going to leave the rough draft notes as what I put them at and I'm going to elaborate, okay? Here we go.

• "feeling out of place" - Alright, this one is awfully touchy, because almost everyone who was there has access to this, and I do not in any way want to offend. When I showed up to the Jesus Party, I was walking there expecting it to be a social gathering of extravagant success and for everyone to be talking to each other, about whatever, and then later on worship would start and it would transform into the actual Jesus Party element of it. This was not to be, however, as I was greeted by a slightly intense Q & A type session and it caught me so off guard that I almost left before I had the chance to talk to anyone. I mean, I would have come back, obviously, but it was so uncomfortable for me, because if you KNOW me at all, you know that while I'm a Christian.........well, we're gonna get into that right now on the second point.
  
• "wondering how we're loved if we are just content, and why it's so awful that we ARE" - So yes, this where I'm pointing to. I am a content Christian. I have been for quite sometime. All my life I have been taught that God's Love is everlasting and is such a thing of beauty that it needs to be shared with everyone and shouted from the mountain tops, and look, I GET THAT. I am not disagreeing with that as a form of getting people to learn about God, and quite honestly, people that can do that are so high on my respect meter that it's almost scary. Whether or not you're a Christian, just knowing that people go into hostile areas of the world and talk about God to people that think he doesn't exist, or go so far as to HATE God is admirable in an incredible light. My problem arises as this. That is NOT me. Look, I love God. He sent Jesus to die for my sins as well as the rest of the world, and for that, I owe him my life. It's just not something I'm comfortable discussing with anyone, unless they're on the same page as me, and believe me, I go to class with quite a few of them, and it has done plenty to help me officially mold this as my position. So to my original thing, does God love me any less because I don't share His Love to strangers who don't know him? Or does God love me because I believe in Him, I love Him, and I can talk to other believers about Him? All I know is that anyone who thinks that God loves me any less because I don't share my knowledge of Him to strangers DESPITE my love and admiration for Him is someone who I personally wouldn't want leading the Christian charge. PHEW that was a rant that I didn't want to seem like a rant, and now I feel like I've turned some people off. Sorry.
  
• "going to get coffee" - Yeah, so I'm alright with worshipping. For a little bit. I'm not knocking it at all. It's great, especially when lead by people who excel at it. However, I can't go on these marathon worship sessions when I don't know the songs. I feel uncomfortable just sitting and humming, and it ends up getting the best of me. So at this point I left to go get some coffee, digest all of this that I had been thinking about, because believe me, everything you just read was going through my head on this night.
  
• "coming back totally different and remembering why i love everyone" - By the time I get back, it has become the social experience I had PRAYED it would be just hours earlier, and all that potential feeling of being out of place disappeared in an instant because from talking to everyone for no longer than a minute the whole friendship and reasons why I loved all these people came flooding back and I was briefly angry at myself for feeling that I was out of place amongst them.
  
• "PANERA BREAD" - I have no idea how this started. WAIT! I do remember. Whitney was talking about how she needed a job, and I think Juliya said to try Panera Bread, because it seems like they're always hiring. Then Ryan and I started saying Panera Bread in really funny voices, mostly Randy 'Macho Man' Savage type voices, and hilarity ensued.
  
• "brendan's songs" - Apparently Brendan wrote love songs to Jill, and they were some of the most excruciating songs I've ever heard, but the thing about them is that I could FEEL the love in the lyrics and the emotion in his voice was there. There was a SEVEN MINUTE BALLAD, folks. That's dedication, if nothing else. Oh yeah, it's also undying love. Jill. Undying love, right there.
  
• "the amazing conversation with tasha"- Oh, wow. As some of you may know, and many others I'm sure do not, Tasha Shrock and I have one of the most interesting friendships I've ever had with anyone, and for the past 2-3 years it has focused STRICTLY on how awkward we are around each other. Before that, whenever we would hang, it seemed like we never talked about a whole lot unless it was a group conversation, but there was never that one on one. Well, eventually that changed when we realized how awkward we were around each other. Not in an 'I like you, you like me, and we both know it' awkward, but more like a 'I have no effing clue what to talk with you about' awkward, and up until this conversation, I wouldn't have had it any other way, but as fate would have it, this Jesus Party had something interesting in store for us. I had not seen Tasha in a solid 10 months as she was in Mexico doing mission work, and I talked to her on Facebook maybe 3 times for very short periods of time. So, if this was a normal friendship, you would expect a good conversation catching up on everything that's been going on in each other's lives. With TASHA, however, I was expecting to talk about nothing, make awkward signs, give awkward looks, and just milk the awkward bug for all it's worth, because it's not fun with anyone more than it is with her. We had a conversation. It was not that slow awkward, it was not even normal friendship conversation. It was like an advanced stage of awkward that is only obtainable by the elite. We talked like two valley girls who just had a pound of caffeine, and we talked like that for almost TEN MINUTES. Whoever was with Tash tried to end the convo twice, and it DIDN'T WORK! WE JUST KEPT GOING! It was so beautiful, and the fact that we covered so much ground, while reaching a whole new fun level of awkward was one of those moments in life that I would not trade for anything. It was fantastic, and it suddenly makes me miss Tasha more than ever.

At this point, I've drank almost an entire cup of tea, listened to My Morning Jacket's 'Z' in it's entirety, I've stared Animal Collective's 'Merriweather Post Pavilion', and I'm still quite awake. So I feel it would be a crime not to at least touch on what happened the day after the Jesus Party.

The next night there was a gathering at Sarah's house since she was going to YWAM (which, at this point, she actually has gone). That was fun, there was volleyball, we swam in her pool, it was nifty. This was almost rendered completely moot, however, by the Denny's trip that would occur shortly after. Now, usually when a Denny's run is called for, you expect a good breakfast meal at midnight, a little social fun, and then you go home. We got that and more on this trip. Myself, Maynard Miller, Ryan Troyer, Matt Yoder, and Jared Schlabach go to the Denny's in New Phila, and of ALL THE NIGHTS, on this night they are cleaning the carpet and Denny's is CLOSED! ARGH! WHAT? WHY? So when we ask about a reopen time, and we are informed it'll be about 12:45-1:00, we must make a decision. Do we wait? Go B.S. at Wal-Mart? Or say screw it. We waited it out! We walked over to Wal-Mart, were over there for quite a while. Ryan played some Mario Tennis on the Wii they had set up, and we were somehow able to waste enough time to get back over there and go in and eat. I'll be honest with you here. It was a really late night that night, and I don't remember everything that was hilarious about that meal, but believe me when I say it was one of the 3 best Denny's runs I've made ever. It might even be the best. One of the highlights was digging through Maynard, mine, and Jared's cars to get enough money for Jared and Ryan to eat. We managed to scrape up $7 for them to split for dinner! They each got some Pancake Puppies (I think that's what they were called). Man, I really wish I could remember what made that such an epic Denny's trip, but trust me when I say it was. It was basically the definition of the phrase 'you had to be there', because it's just something that won't be replicated.

By now, you're probably thinking that I can't possibly have anything else in store for you. WELL YOU WOULD BE WRONG! Remember WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY back at the top how I told you about that wedding? Well, at that wedding I talked to Tina Marye, my BFF (haha), and we talked about me coming down and being "summertime friends" (her words) since I live a respectable distance away. Well, this past July 4th weekend, I did just that. I traveled down to Lexington, and it was as great as I hoped it would be. I was just excited to hang with Tina, but then I meet her friends. While everyone (Shannon, Erin, Nikki, Abe, Derek, everyone else) was great, really kind, and very welcoming to the point that I didn't feel awkward or like a newcomer at all, which is tremendous, I feel that Shanna deserves special mention, and here's why. Within 5 minutes, FIVE MINUTES, we were arguing about Michael Jackson songs like we'd known each other for years. Then we go to pick out a movie to watch with the group, we both want Taken (because who DOESN'T want to see Liam Neeson beat people up for almost an entire movie?), and then, here's the kicker, she has the final song from Gladiator on her iPod, and does what I DO, which is mildly interpretive dance to it. I almost feel bad that I didn't sing it, but it's a woman singing the part, and that would be intense for me to ball DOWN and sing that. So that was like the super fantastic Shanna and Tyler bonding time that made this weekend gravy. It got so much better, though. From the multitude of fireworks shows (despite the fact that I consider fireworks overrated), to being SERENADED by Shanna and Shannon (which was fantastic on illogical levels despite the song choices), and just hanging out and feeling like I've known these people forever. Son of a...........now I want to go back again. I haven't met anyone from Kentucky that I don't like up to this point in my life. Kentucky is batting 1.000, .950 at worst. Good job, Kentucky.

Which brings me up until right now. I'm still awake because I had floor set until 4 a.m. last night, and that thing always messes with my sleep schedule for a week or 2 afterwards. Clearly. I think I'll stop, though, because it's asking a LOT to read through all this, and I know that nobody will, because who has that kind of time?


Until the next time I feel guilty for not writing in this ever.


Listenings during the typing of this blog entry
My Morning Jacket's 'Z'
Animal Collective's 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'

So Here's the Deal

I'm writing this blog entry fueled on hatred and rage right now, so if I swear, too bad.

So this series is over, and here's why. It's not because the Cavs have been mercilessly outplayed in this entire series, although that's true. It's not even because they're down 3 games to 1, because as brutal as that seems, it's been bounced back from a FEW times, so it's a proven possibility. No, the reason that this series is over is because the Cavs are going to go back to Cleveland for Game 5, and it's just not going to be the same, and if it is, they managed to snag the most 20,000 most optimistic Cleveland fans in the entire WORLD and jampack them into the Q, because pretty much any Cleveland fan with a pulse knows this series is over based on Cleveland's brutal sports championship history (or lack thereof). I can absolutely see a Magic first quarter runaway that the crowd AND the Cavs just can't recover from, and it'll end right there. If Cleveland somehow does manage to pull out a miracle from those completely unrealistic and naive fans, then they'll go back to Orlando and get drive-by murdered. This series does not go 7 games, and it'll miraculously go 6. I have no faith in the Cavs fan because the first part of their name is 'Cleveland'. I have faith in LBJ, and I have faith in Mo Williams, and I even have faith in Mike Brown. The problem comes about as soon as you attach that Cleveland to the name of anyone. I will bet you anything that when Lebron jumps ship in 2010 (which he will now, and I'm going to follow him to that team), within 3 years they will win a championship, for no other reason than that the word Cleveland isn't holding him back.

It disgusts me that I have to write this, and it disgusts me that I've lost all faith in Cleveland sports, and it disgusts me to an even further extent that I DEFENDED Cleveland sports for so long, only to have this disappointment heaped on the following that happened in my sports following lifetime

- 1995 World Series
- 1997 World Series
- The new Browns blowing a huge halftime lead in Pittsburgh in their only playoff game since becoming the new Browns
- The 10-6 Browns not making the playoffs because they lost to 2 BAD teams in their last 2 very winable games.
- 2006-2007 Cavs overcoming the odds, beating the Pistons, only to get swept by the Spurs.
- Now, most likely the 2008-2009 Cavs being the best team in the league, losing in (probably) 5 games to the Orlando Magic.

That last one is easily the most spirit crushing for me since it happened at the time I care the most about any sport. Just as I believe that the 1997 World Series and Jose Mesa's meltdown was the most spirit crushing for Matt Flinner (as we've had the discussion and relived that pain quite a few times, always making Jose Mesa even MORE of a douchebag than the last time).

So, in conclusion, I would say my Cleveland fanship contract is coming to an end. The Indians get me through this year, the Browns get me through this year, and the Cavs get me through next year (or as long as they have Lebron, because he WILL retire with a championship, and you can quote me on that).

I will never cheer for the following teams, though.

MLB: New York Yankess. Boston Red Sox. Florida Marlins. Atlanta Braves. New York Mets. Los Angeles Dodgers.
NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers. Cincinnati Bengals. Baltimore Ravens. New England Patriots. Dallas Cowboys. Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
NBA: Boston Celtics. Orlando Magic. L.A. Lakers. San Antonio Spurs. Dallas Mavericks. Detroit Pistons.

Done.

1 A.M. Showers. How Often Do Those Happen?

Seriously? When was the last time you took a shower at 1 in the morning and were TOTALLY with it? So basically, no drunken 1 a.m. showers with your clothes on, or no sexual showers, either. I just took one, for no real reason, and it was great. I considered just sitting in there for a good 20 minutes, and just being soothed in the hot water. In retrospect (Can you be in retrospect of something that happened literally 10 minutes before you started thinking about it in retrospect? I think after re-reading that the universe just asploded.), I kinda wish I had. Oh well. Don't want to ruin a good thing.

Wow. That's not a very intense blog entry after a 3 week absence. That's really all I've got, though. I'll probably post something more thorough and entertaining in......6 weeks or so. Since that seems to be my pattern. Until then, stay in school, and listen to the CD 'Nowhere' by the band Ride. It's the blue part of the Shoegazing Holy Trinity. The red is My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless'. I'm going to listen to the yellow soon. I hope it's good.

Radio Is For Me

So there's that eternal blistering question of WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU GROW UP that seemingly never gets answered until all of a sudden you stumble into a job and think 'Hey, why not make a career of this?' That's all well and good. However, it's still possible to learn this and have it put in motion before you even have a job.

Case in point.

Today: I woke up at 7:45 to get ready to go to my job at The Limited. Which I hate, and I have no secret about saying that I don't enjoy it. It might beat Guggisberg as the worst job I've ever had. In fact, I think it does, because I was at Guggisberg for a year, and if I'm at The Limited in October (when I leave Cincy), it'll be strictly because I need the money. I've honestly considered just quitting, dropping my cable and maybe internet, and just slowly pawning my stuff to pay bills and buy groceries. That's how much I don't enjoy this job. Anyways, I got off topic. I woke up at 7:45, and my shift started at 9. Now, today, I got called in just from 9 until 11 to do a little bit of stuff in the back, no big deal, I don't really mind that much. I'd had 3 days off and was starting to feel quite hermit-y. I was there for TWO HOURS and it felt like a freaking eternity. 10-11 dragged balls. Fortunately, 3 of my 4 favorite people that work there WERE there today, but I was in the back, and only 1 of them was back there on a fairly consistent basis so I could feel like I wasn't alone in the world. Needless to say, a 2 hour shift that feels like an eternity is NOT the ideal location for a future. I already knew this, but what would happen later in the day reinforced the everloving crap right out of it.

2:45 - I get to OCB for my on air shift, and I do that til around 4:30, and at that point, I go up to ask Gary if he cares if I stay longer. There's someone listed after me, but I'm pretty sure she graduated or just doesn't show up ever, because I have not seen her all the times I've been there. So yeah, I asked him if I could just stay and be the on air personality until whenever. His response? 'I'm not gonna stop you from doing anything like that. Just make sure you write down all the hours so I can give you credit.' Encouragement for something I WANTED to do? Is........is that possible? Really? You're telling me I'm getting encouraged to do something that I not only want to do, but eventually can get paid for in the real world? Are.......are you.......totally serious here? I mean, really? YES! IT EXISTS!

Radio is what I want to do. I don't care what capacity, but I want to talk over the airwaves to the masses. I don't care if I have 5 listeners or 5 million listeners. I want to inject MY personality into people's radio stations at home, in their cars, on their computers. I want T-Funk (who really is no different than Tyler Stutzman) to be known by however many people. If that makes me hated by some and loved by others, I don't care, because I will still be doing what I enjoy, and that's broadcasting myself out into the world.

By the way, I stayed almost an hour and 45 minutes longer than I was scheduled, and the only reason I left at 6:40ish instead of much later is because I was getting HUNGRY. One more round and my stomach's growling could've made a cameo appearance on the air. Which can't be good.

I know what I want to do in life. Plus, to top it all off, I had celebratory Chipotle (because everything I just wrote I realized the INSTANT I left the studio) and then watched a 3 OT Game 6 in an NBA playoff series so good I scream at my TV, and I'm rooting against BOTH of these teams eventually. It doesn't matter, though, because it's so entertaining and well played.

This day was so rewarding.

Why Do All My Blogs Get Written In the A.M.

Seeing as right now I'm totally whacked out on Demerol, I figured I would write a blog entry to capture the madness. Actually, I'm not whacked out on Demerol, and I don't even know what that does, but I just thought it would be a phenomenal opening line, so I ran with it.

So on that off chance that you haven't noticed, I've been SERIOUSLY forgetting that I have this, mostly because I just don't go to Starbucks or anywhere and write in my notebook anymore, thus having ammunition for my blog. Which is sad, yes, I know, but I'm still pretty good at coming up with this junk off the top of my head as well. Not to mention that I've got an audience of probably a whopping 4 people (only because I know at least 4 people who read this because they TOLD me they do), so I feel like I need to milk these absences for as much as I can get to build anticipation of an additional blog entry somewhere down the road, even if it is me just rambling for 19 paragraphs about how I've been gone for a long time and don't ever update and blah dee blah dee blah.

I am still in my full on 'listen to as much music as you can' tear that I have been basically since I started this sucker, and from even before that. I think the reason for that is two-fold.

1. I'm BURNED OUT on movies. I never watch movies anymore. Hence me attempting to sell off a good chunk of my collection so I can get a better TV. It's going to get to a point here soon where I look over all of my flicks and pull off a Top 50 or Top 100 movies to keep, and all the rest are getting sold. I've gone over this in my head for a while, and even though it is painful because I spent SO MUCH time and money (especially money) building up this collection, the fact is, I just download the movies in HD on my computer, and if I get a nicer TV, I can just hook up an HDMI cable from my lappy, and BOOM, HD movies for nothing. Sure, it's HOLY SHIT ILLEGAL, but at this point, I don't have the money to try to buy a new TV AND Blu-Rays AND a Blu-Ray player. The TV itself is about a $400 investment MINIMUM. I'll take that and an HDMI cable and be set for the day, thanks.

2. I have so much free time to sit around before school, after school, when there's no sports on, when I'm at work in the back (although that's not free time, but I do have my iPod), you know, pretty much all the time, and there is NO better way to pass the time for a guy with no friends that he hangs out with than to listen to a hell of a lot of music, and in large chunks.

Music is a time consumer in ways that movies never could be. I can sit down and listen to music for everything, and just have it go in one ear and out the other. I'm sure you know this, but still, it helps what I'm saying here, so just live with it.

Actually, after reading that last sentence, it seems like I'm trying to prove a point, which I'm not. I'm just blogging. Oh well. Music > Movies, at least at this point in my life. That's HUGE.

I need to gain around 15-20 pounds of muscle, and I have NO idea where to start. One of my friends told me to eat and work out. I have to mull that one over.

So how awesome have the NBA playoffs been? We've got a modern day classic series (Bulls/Celts), my favorite team sweeping in the first round and being a near surefire lock for the finals (Cavs), some sick western conference showdowns (Blazers/Rockets, Hornets/Nuggets when the Hornets decide to show up), and the emergence of a great point guard rivalry (back to Bulls/Celts in Rose/Rondo). Seriously, if Chicago can STAY this good, Rose/Rondo is going to be nationally televised every single time they play next season. Bank on it. I hate both those teams, but with those 2 helming, as a Cavs fan, I'm a TEENY bit frightened. The winner of that series is the ONLY team that I can see having the slightest conceivable shot of beating the Cavs. Nobody else seems like they could. Magic. 76ers. Heat. Hawks. All of them have problems that the Cavs can absolutely exploit. The Bulls and Celtics have problems that the Cavs can exploit, but they can work around that, which is what scares me. I hope they get knocked out in the second round.

Speaking of sports, the NFL Draft. Yeah, I didn't enjoy watching and having Mangini keep trading down and trading down. Hopefully everything works out, but while watching, I was getting pissed. My 'mark out moment' was when I saw they drafted Robiskie. That's freaking AWESOME. He can definitely be a credible #2 threat across from Edwards.

So I'm excited for summer because I've got as many as 10 people who I'm at least 80% sure I'll see!

1. Everett (and our dates, if they accept) for Jon and Kate's wedding = 3
2. Brent, Mike, Will, and Ethan who said they will try to make it down = 7
3. My sister, who I'm sure will come down again because she's awesome = 8
4. Leah & Julie who will probably come visit Vanessa and see me as well = 10

Woohoo! Finally visitors! It is about time. Plus, I'm pretty sure some people should come down for the Indians/Reds game. I know it's the second to last weekend in May, and I know I talked to Lyndon about this, so that's possible as well. Here's to it happening, maybe.

Alright, I've had enough writing. So, until my next blog, I'm going to leave you with the following songs that you must listen to in order to be on my 'Hey, you know, this person is really cool' list. Funk out.

My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
Slow Club - Christmas TV
Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
Talking Heads - Big Daddy
Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
The Grand Archives - Sleepdriving
Bon Iver - Blood Bank
Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan
Jane's Addiction - Ocean Size
The Pixies - Alec Eiffel
The Shins - The Past and Pending

I have no idea if there is flow to that or not. Probably not. It's just stuff you should listen to.

Today Is a Mixed Bag

So today has some serious ups and downs going for it. I'll bullet point them.

• Up: Last night at school, we got our FREAKING SWEET 8GB iPod Nanos. I have already jacked mine up with about 4.5 gb of music, and around 70 pictures. The other 3 gigs are going to be school projects. Probably. Either way, this thing is awesome.
• Down: I am getting sick AGAIN. It cost me a lot of sleep last night, and I called off work today and got complained at by my boss. I don't know what has caused this much in the way of sudden and oft-happening sinus infections, but I had never had one in my LIFE until last September, and since then I've had 4, 3 in the past 3 months. I have no idea what is causing this.
• Up: A guy who came into talk last week at OCB left us his contact information, so I sent him an e-mail back a couple days ago, and just now he sent me a response asking if tomorrow or next week I could come in for an internship interview! So unofficially, I have an internship set up at one of the radio stations down here. Excellent!
• Down: Being sick, I also had to call into OCB and tell them I couldn't come in to do my shift. As much as I'd like to, the fact is I can't go in there and do that when I also called off work. I would much rather tough it out and do my shift then actually go to work, but I do seriously feel like crap and I just don't wanna do anything other than drink juice, take Tylenol and, for some reason, blog.
• Up: I have plenty of food and drink in here so I don't need to leave my apartment for something. Score.
• Down: I just realized that I'm hungry, so I'm done with this entry.
  

The Talking Heads Are Taking Over My Life

That is not a metaphor for voices in my head finally telling me things I should be doing. I still have THAT common sense factor working in my favor, and I hope to keep that sucker wrangled until the day I die, with only the very rare happening that it escapes me and only one or two people are around to call me on it. No, when I say the Talking Heads are taking over my life, I am referencing the band circa the late 70's into the early 80's. That list I made a few weeks ago of the best albums I've recently discovered? Well, there's a few new additions, and one of them is Talking Heads - Remain in Light. Just a superior album. Superior to what? I don't honestly care. It just rocks the house. It rocks the apartment. It rocks the condo in Florida. It even rocks the little shanty. It's just GREAT.

I still don't have an internship, but I'm working on it, I promise. It's never cool when the place you've called has a nice bait and switch type attitude to it, and you keep getting voicemails and alternate phone numbers. Screw that noise.

Also great? Soundgarden's Superunknown. Yeah, everyone knew that already, including me, but you know what? It's not like it's suddenly irrelevant. It still owns face. However, what IS new to me in awesomeness off this CD is the title track. I was always obsessed with Black Hole Sun, and never really realized how great the rest of it is, especially Superunknown. Just 5 minutes of awesome rocky grungeness. Nirvana, while the most popular in grunge, can't touch Soundgarden as far as I'm concerned. Hell, thinking back on it, when I compare the Big 4 (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains), Nirvana is at the bottom of that list, and not just because they had the fewest amount of albums. They just weren't as great. Their lyrics were tops, but EVERYTHING else they did was done better by the other 3 bands listed there.

Cincinnati's 'charm' is starting to wear thin on me. Maybe it's because I'm starting to realize just how truly lonely I am down here, or maybe it's that I feel like I'm in a city version of the town I grew up in, or maybe I'm just not finding the right places to make new friends. Irregardless, to break out the old cliche, the honeymoon is over. Time to get down to brass tacks. Whatever else sounds cheesy enough to follow.

I've started running/walking/moving around outside in an attempt to get back into a healthy state. It's absolutely PITIFUL how truly out of shape I am. I can't make it half a mile without getting winded. That's so awful I mildly hate myself. However, I am working on changing that. I want to be able to run a good 2 miles at least without anything happening. That's my current goal, and that will probably take me about 6 years. Plus, this cold isn't helping at all, either. I was in a groove, I'd ran for the past 2 or 3 days, and then it's suddenly 40 degrees and raining/sleeting. I'm NOT running in that. So now my running momentum will be gone by the time it warms up again, and I'll be like 'meh'.

Alright, blog update done. Sleepy time is imminent.

I Can't Really Sleep Right Now

So I've been up since 5:55 a.m. today (yesterday, whatever) and last night (again, however you decipher that) I went to a bar where one of my friends was being the dj because he called me and said it was boring, and I'm a good friend, so I went and didn't get to sleep til about 11:45. So yay. I'm tired, and here I am. Not exactly wide awake, but too entranced by music and my near empty bottle of V8 Splash to be able to go to sleep. For the last 2 hours, I have listened to BOTH of My Bloody Valentine's studio albums AND an EP, and I just started an M83 disc, which means it's likely gonna be another 45 minutes before I go to bed, simply because I don't like enjoy stopping albums in the middle of them, especially if they're good, and double especially if I have never listened to them before, and TRIPLE especially if I like the band. So this falls under the triple category, so naturally, I'm awake and (actually and surprisingly) really liking it.

I found out what the exact word/genre is for My Bloody Valentine's style of music. It's called Shoegazing. That's a WEIRD effing name for a genre of music, but hey, it's better than my classification of 'Noise', so props to the Shoegazing genre. In fact, it set in motion me checking on some other 'Shoegazing' or amazon.com recommendations for MBV fans. As far as bands I've heard of but don't have much/any of there stuff, I came up with Fugazi, Whirlpool, Ride, The Cure, and This Mortal Coil. Quite an extraordinary list of bands, if I do say so myself, so of course, I'm currently in the process of grabbing some of that tunage.

So for those of you on Facebook, you will have noticed that I have finally come out VERY public about my massive crush on Kristen Bell. Yeah, it's there, and no, it's not going away anytime soon. She is just so damn cute in every aspect, and she's fun sized, at a mere 5' 1". That's insane. Even more so than that, she's from DETROIT MICHIGAN. Alright, if you thought there was anything in this world that I could really really like that came from the state of Michigan, raise your hand. Cars, only sort of count, but not really, so put your hands down. Don't question my logic.

You wanna know how big my crush on Kristen Bell is? I'm half considering watching the movie Pulse, simply because she was in it. And I have it on authority from every review I've read and even friends who have seen it that the movie is pure garbage.........and I'm STILL willing to watch it just for frightened Kristen Bell cuteness. I have friends who LOVE terrible scary movies (When a Stranger Calls remake, Boogeyman) who hated this movie. Look at me, still willing to take the bullet. At least she was also in a great comedy (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), so I can just watch that instead. Yay!

Today (again, yesterday, whatever), I decided, with a girl from work, that anyone who uses 'stupid cute' to describe anything ever needs to get hit with a bucket of plaster, followed swiftly by a bucket of cement. This may seem harsh, but that is a stupid (proper use!) way to describe something. You wouldn't say 'OMG, that is retarded pretty'. That is actually worse, and if you ever say that, guess what. No plaster, but an extra bucket of cement for my trouble.

I'm half tempted to walk outside in my underwear, but the only thing stopping me is the prospect of some ruffian seeing me and deciding to mug/kill me, and then BOOM, dying or dead in my underwear. That should be enough to stop nearly anyone from doing that.

I found out tonight(you should be understanding this yourself by now) that Colorado Springs is the number 117 (or in that area) market for radio and tv in the nation. I think that sounds like a pretty solid place to try to start.

Alright, I'm gonna wind this down, but to sum up. Here's the abbreviated version

- My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, Isn't Anything, Strawberry Wine EP, and M83's Digital Shades Volume 1 = Good Music. Period.
- Kristen Bell = My desire.
- Stupid Cute = Hit with plaster and cement. In buckets.

T-Crest (see what I did there?) out.

This Isn't a Writing From a Coffee House or Anything

So lately I have kinda neglected my blog and I'm not really sure why. It didn't do anything wrong. It didn't make me peanut butter with grape jelly when i asked for strawberry jelly. Maybe I've just been too busy, but that's only sorta true. I have had a lot going on, sure, what with my job, school, trying to find an internship, hanging out with Tricia when she came down here, and just all around trying to beat boredom, which in Cincinnati is very hard to do. I figured I should update this in some fashion so people don't think I forgot about it and all of a sudden lose complete contact with me, not like there's facebook or anything.

Yeah, lately I've just been too tired to really want to go to my favorite Douchebucks (as Jeremy would call it) and just write, so I haven't. The funny thing is that I actually have 2 Coffee House Writings 'on call' if you will, and I just don't feel like typing them because I just don't.

So the cool things that I've done lately.

- I got a new camera that is purposefully very piece of crap-like. It's a Holga 120N, and after reading about it on the internet, I was sold. It's a film camera, and it is very cheaply made so that potential light leaks and the overall build of the camera can in enhance the final picture taken. I'm really excited to see my pictures from this first roll of film. I've still got a while before the roll will be done, just because I don't get out and go find that many picture opportunities. Plus, I'm debating what I want to take pictures of. Cincinnati settings? Go walking in rural or park areas and just hope that something comes along? I don't know. It's a hard decision and that's made finding great picture opps.

- I've been watching probably 3-5 movies a week, on average, and most of them have been more independent or arty type movies, usually which are pretty good. Every now and then I'll throw in a random funny or action movie to balance it all out. It's nice, though.

- I have become a fiend for Crossroads free coffee. It's delicious, and it's free.

- My sister came down a week ago today, making her the first visitor I've had since my uncle brought stuff down and my 4th visitor overall. Alright, let me just say this right now, I love my sister, and we had a blast, and I'll describe it in a minute. However, she lives in Chicago. She is home for 2 days and she comes down to visit me. I know, she's my sister, she's a relative, she's bound to come down. That might be true, but to all my friends who live 3 hours away all the time, I know that you can come down here. It's not like I don't have stuff planned for when you come down. You're just leaving yourself out of fun.

- Anyways, yeah, my sister came down, and after a fairly brief tour of what's important in my daily life down here, we came back to my apartment, enjoyed some Lonely Island and a nice episode of Flight of the Conchords (her first viewing of the brilliant show). The next day, we had an awesome day. After showing her where I work, we went thrift store shopping, and it was fantastic. We also ate at Sonic (another first for her), I showed her the amazingness that is Half Price Books, and then we chilled for a bit before going to eat at Noodles and Company (a first for both of us). That was some delicious food. A great first date restaurant. It's a different setting, it's not too expensive, and it's FILLING. Overall, it was a blast hanging out with my sister and it was awesome having someone down here.

Really, those are the only things that have really been going on. School's been fun. Victoria, Jeremy, and I have determined that we are the best combination of the 9 people in our class, because when we get together, there is more possibility for comedy gold than any other time. We just have an awesome chemistry and ability to work off of each other and make each other laugh. It's great. In other news, March Madness this Thursday. I think I'm going to Bdub's with a bracket, and just staying there all day. It's 60 cent boneless wings, so I might be there from noon until the end of the last game and just order wings at will. That would be so much fun.

Alright, I'm done for now. Hopefully I won't almost forget this thing exists and not update for another month or whatever. T-Funk out.

Coffee House Writing #5

I'm slowly recognizing the concept of calling this place home. Even if it's temporary. It's not because it's easier to say then 'living arrangements' or 'that place I reside in' but because, despite the fact that I know about a .000001 percentile of the population of this city, the things that make it feel like home are setting in. The familiarity is setting in. I can get a lot of places just looking at street names. I can be completely lost but I see one street sign I recognize and I'll be fine in no time. It's actually kind of exciting when that happens. Sure, in the moment I panic a little bit but I just look for street signs. A few times I've been in scarier sections of town, but they don't last very long. I'm sure one of those experiences is coming where it feels like an eternity, but until then, I'm loving it.

Speaking of that, Hyde Park rocks. My favorite Starbucks is there, they have a Chipotle, a Panera, a Kroger's, Mio's Pizzeria, and a lot more. However, the glaring weak spot for me is the McDonald's (now that segue makes sense). My problem with it is simple. A few other McDonald's I have been to in my life also do this and it's disgusting. I always order 2 doublecheeseb.....McDouble's (GAY). So naturally, you would think being BURGERS, they should be BEEF patties. Well, in this case, you would be wrong. No, this McDonald's puts SAUSAGE patties on instead of normal beef. Um, I'm sorry. That is NOT a cheeseburger. That's a sausage mcmuffin on a hamburger bun instead of a biscuit. It is very noticeable and it just does not taste well combined with ketchup like beef does. I don't care if people find this nitpicky. If you do, then sorry, you're an idiot, because it's gross. The Sugarcreek McDonald's used to do this, but don't anymore, and that's why they're awesome. The Millersburg McDonald's used to do this, but don't anymore, and that's why they too are awesome. Hyde Park McDonald's. Get your shiz together.

I just looked up and saw one of the brightest red cars I have ever seen. It was like staring at a really bright red object.

So one of my least favorite things are zits on the back of my neck. I only say that because it's something that is currently giving me an annoying time and I'm sure when they're (yes, there's more than one) gone I'll be way less mad. Come on, though. How do you suddenly get THREE zits, all 3 on the back of your neck? Nowhere else. Just the neck. It makes zero sense. Actually, I'm sure there's a science to it that makes perfect sense, but I don't know it and researching the placement of zits just screams 'douchebag job'. So I'll just stick with my channeled zits anger and not feel like a complete loser.

I've never liked trucks. There, I said it. Come and fight me, hicks! Defend your babies! Seriously, though, I've just never been a fan of trucks and I'm not sure why. It's not because they're bulky or guzzle gas. I just don't enjoy them. To me trucks are like that really douchy muscular guy in shop class who you would love to hit with a 2 x 4 but realize you could use his strength in any situation, so you stay on his good side and put up with him being a total putz.

Want another fun shop class analogy? You got it! Civic's are like that one kid that everyone picked on and he only did one project all semester, but he did it so well he can probably use his shelf or whatever for at least 20 years.

Muscle cars are like the guy who made a WICKED AWESOME poker table but he won't let anyone touch it because it's too perfect.

The Tazo tea here at Starbucks has a little sign that says 'A home without tea is merely a house.' Alright, add that reason to why I can call Cincinnati home. My apartment has tea on the premesis. Man, that is such a terrible slogan. That actually makes me like tea less. A house is a home through family and love. You may think I'm being too serious and I may think you're a banana. We're both wrong, so satch.

I just thought of something I want to do and I am SUPER excited about it. The next time I'm doing one of these writings, I want to sit in a very open area but a spot where if there is a girl I find attractive, I can very sneakily look at her out of the corner of my eye. Then, if she looks at me, I will raise my eyebrows twice in that 'Hey baby' type of motion that EVERYONE knows and then immediately jot down her reaction. I'm hoping it's either laughter or that quick look back where you don't want the other person to know you were looking but you are SO BUSTED and I don't want these reactions so much because they're the best reactions. No, I want them because they're conversation starters. I can even tell you the openers!

If it's a laugh, I walk over and say 'If you thought that was funny, wait 'til you see my Bill Clinton impression' then in my exact normal voice, I say 'Hi, I'm Bill Clinton'. Is that not GOLD? WAIT! No. I'm pulling out the Shaun of the Dead line. How's that for a slice of fried gold? YEAH! YES! I win! My parents would be so proud! I feel like I should get some sort of cash prize for that. I'm so pumped about busting out that line I could care less what the second pick up line was. I know it wasn't NEARLY as good and to say it now completely eliminates the awesomeness high I'm on after the first one AS WELL AS busting out the Shaun of the Dead quote. If you could see me as I write this, you could just tell how happy I am that I did that. I'm writing faster and I have a grin on my face. Well, I did. It's faded because I have ice in my mouth. It was there, though! My big goofy 'I just broke off a movie quote in a perfect situation' smile. My goodness

I'm calling it game, set, match after that. I'm not gonna do any better today, and I am absolutely fine with that. Ah. I'm in a great mood now! Enjoy your day!

And thus concludes Blog 5 from the Coffee House Writings. My soundtrack for this evening has been as follows:

God Put a Smile Upon Your Face - Coldplay
Lose My Breath - My Bloody Valentine
For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is) - Pete Yorn
Upside Down - Jack Johnson
Take - Lush
I'm Amazed - My Morning Jacket
Space Travel is Boring - Sun Kil Moon
Ode to LRC - Band of Horses
Brainy - The National
Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2 - My Morning Jacket
Your Protector - Fleet Foxes
It's Beginning to Get to Me - Snow Patrol

Mall Writing #1

Yes, that's correct. A different public setting. I should just go wherever. Maybe get more corporate sponsorship. Lowe's for the Z.A. is the tip of the spear. Can you imagine how much money would be rolling in if I just went to Panera Bread or something like that? (*EDIT* Did this and you'll see how it turned out *END EDIT*) One time per blog I could shill whatever food and drink I get at a very efficient price. Like, right now even! 'Come check out Kenwood Plaza! They've got...stores!' Could it be better, sure, but you know you want to come to Kenwood Plaza now. If you say no, I'm gonna go ahead and guess that you're lying. Or don't feel like driving 3 or so hours for a mall. Can't really blame you there.

There's a restaurant in the mall that is Chinese food but has the words Cajun Grill in it's name. Does that COMPLETELY not sound right to anyone? It's like 'Welcome to Blibbidy Blobbedie's Steak House, would you like to try our smoothies?' 'No, I want a steak.' 'Oh, all we have are smoothies.' Stupid. Totally stupid.

There are so many old people in the mall. I love the old people cliques in the malls. They have their own tables and everything. I'm pretty sure that when we're 70 or older we get to start reliving high school again. We'll just have a harder time standing and pee 15 times a day. Other than that, bring on the glory days!

SO I always see in movies how almost every male with a pulse gets turned on by or has the fantasy about Catholic school girls in their skirts and matching outfits. Well, being from Holmes County, that concept was just lost on me. Didn't get it. First of all, it's weird. Second, lots of girls wear skirts, what makes these so special? Well, you will be happy to know, I have figured out why guys like it. This is so simple I can't believe nobody noticed before. Catholic school girls ALWAYS walk in groups. There's always 2 or more! If it was just one it would be easy to dismiss. When there's a multiple amount it is SO MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE. That's where I'm not sure why and I lose my train of thought. All I can give you is the reason. I can't explain it. I'm sure it's a hormone thing. It usually is.

I think energy drinks are idiotic. I have never had one work well for me at all. Maybe my body digests sugar faster than anything else. I think it's all in our heads. If you have an energy drink around midnight, have you ever noticed you SAY you had one at least 6 times in the next hour? It is almost like.....GASP! You're telling yourself that you're more hyped up! What an amazing concept! Our brains tricking our bodies into thinking something had a very great effect on us. That doesn't happen ever. Nope, not at all.

I just had a real freak out moment. There were 5 guys and 4 of them were dressed like boofers. Very much alike. I'm still not convinced that they aren't. I'd have to hear them talk and that would be a weird thing to go do. I wonder what the percentage is that it ends in a bloody nose or some kind of punch in the face. I'm gonna say at least 30% chance. Alright, they aren't. If we were 3 hours northeast, though. Wow. It'd be an immediate pegging.

I smell strawberries. I'm pretty sure it's coming from the smoothie place that's in very close proximity to where I am. There's 2 smoothie places! Within 6 stores of each other! I wonder if they compete. Or maybe at Halloween both managers dress up like gunslingers and have a classic 'This food court ain't big enough for the 2 of us' before the business day begins. Oh MAN I'm getting excited just thinking that it could even be a little bit true. I wouldn't be surprised if they are either best friends or would just like to take a straight razor to the other. They HAVE to have met. It just can't be any other way. I mean, it's 2 smoothie places in a single food court! Most food courts don't have any.

Alright, I'm already spent. There's a decent amount to distract me here. Plus now I want a smoothie.

And thus concludes Blog 1 from the Mall Writings. My soundtrack for this evening has been as follows:

Space Travel is Boring - Modest Mouse
Ah Ha - Butthole Surfers
The Battle of Evermore - Led Zeppelin
You Know My Name - Chris Cornell
I Believe In a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
Crossroads - Cream
Oh! Gravity - Switchfoot
The One I Love - R.E.M.

Coffee House Writing #4

Before I get to the actual writing, I should tell you that I did this on the same day as CHW #3. I did it later that night, and it'll be very evident immediately. I just felt like saying it before so you knew and would slightly understand why I didn't feel like typing 2 of these in 1 day. Alright, on to the writing. This is intense and different from everything I've written so far. I feel that way. How you interpret it is all you. That's the beauty of it.

Is it possible to do 2 of these writings in the same day (*See, I told you it would be immediate*)? Apparently I can give it a shot. I am unsure of how many of my better ideas are tapped out. Probably a lot. Although I would be lying if I wasn't of the opinion that my mind is an enigma and I am never out of ideas. I just might have a hard time grabbing onto the better ones. It's like a cash grab. You're in that big glass box and the air is blowing and cash is just going everywhere and in your mind all you can think about is grabbing bills that have more than 1 digit but at the end of the whole thing you count about $43 in singles and you have maybe 10 bills that are $10 or higher. It's an unfair thing when you realize that's how it's set up, but it's a blast while you're doing it.

What was I talking about? I sorta lost my pushcart of though. See what I did there? I changed the unit of thought from train to a slower, older version. I'm running on Windows 2000 as opposed to Vista. Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm running on something more witty and funny. Maybe like.... Curtains Vista. Yeah, I'd say I'm the curtains to the smart guy's windows. Man, I love that analogy, it's just too bad it doesn't make sense at all. That's what happens when you just write.

I'm not sure where this passion for writing suddenly reappeared from, but it is entirely too mystifying for me to even think about understanding. Maybe it's because I have to force myself to go out into public places in order to get these results. If I stay in my apartment and try to type or write, I have a million things to distract me. Xbox, internet, movies, Family Guy, reading a magazine, making lists, reading lists, staring at my DVD's, other unhealthy things like that. Well, the lists are healthy. Really healthy. If I didn't make and read lists, I would have probably spontaneously combusted by my 17th birthday. It's just something that I need. More than most things. I've made it a month and a half unless I go out in public. Lists and things of the like have kept a majority of my sanity in tact. I really don't even know what lists are funnest to make. Top 25 lists, sure, but the subject is what I'm referring to. Top 25 movies. Ok, what category? Horror? Drama? Favorite Actor? Best Performances?

So I'm tired of that because I'm sitting here and I just looked up and the painting hanging right in front of me temporarily caught my complete attention. From the little girl in it who slightly reminds me of my little sister at around that age to the tall grass that seems to surround everything to the word 'school' spelled with the 'h' on the school bus and even the bus driver who has a hat that makes her look like the Creeper in Jeepers Creepers. There's a lot for me to enjoy in that painting. I'm not usually a 'stop and be taken aback by art or paintings' type of person, but this one definitely stopped my forward motion for a few minutes.

This time to just me, music, the paper, and the pen really makes me feel like I'm a completely different person for nearly the entire length of the session that I do. It doesn't matter if what I write seems like something I would say or not. I'm convinced it's all me flowing through something 180 degrees the opposite of myself. Yes, I'm fully on board with the concept that me and a pen are the exact opposite, but when I do this, my pen is my right hand. I don't have fingers. I have one writing utensil and it sprays down whatever needs to be presented. The grooves and dents in my fingers are the absolute proof of this. I am an object with a brain. I am the ink and the blood all in one.

You know, I'm not even listening to morbid stuff and I feel like I'm being evil, but I'm just writing and observing. I am sitting at Starbucks and there are 3 round tables that each sit 2 people. At the first, to my left, sits a gentlemen who is likely in his late 40's. He has a half beard and a fading head of hair. To be honest, I feel like I've seen him in a movie before. I'm fairly certain he is a teacher or a professor of some kind. He just has that look. He's writing on one of those steno notepads, but white instead of yellow, and he writes big and double spaces every line. I should consider doing that. He's wearing a button down shirt that has a box pattern in tan, thanksgiving-y orange/red, dark blue, and a very soft green with a tie that I didn't even notice until I really looked. He has an American flag type pin but it has pinheads to design the flag. It's above his shirt pocket. He has an organizer and something else in his pocket. I'm unsure what. He has a few other items like a trapper keeper-like object with a few business papers and a dictionary of some kind. He picked it up while I was writing the last sentence and I can't see the title of it. I know it wasn't a typical Webster's type dictionary. Ah, it's a compact office dictionary. Neat.

I just swiped a fuzzy off my notebook and it drifted for about 3 seconds before clinging to the back of my hand. So right now, I can't say I know anything like the back of my hand. Now I can. It disappeared in another swift movement. Called breathing.

At the second table is a guy you may know. He's got the table divided into 4 neat quadrants. On the first, at the south part of the table, is the notebook that is currently being written in. On the west side is an iPod, upside down, and tilted slightly. Above the notebook, after the open middle, is a bag that normally keeps a pair of Skull Candy headphones safe, and a straw wrapper is resting on the bag. The fourth and final quadrant is occupied only by a glass of water, almost exactly half full (which is kind of funny at this point in the writing) and the naked straw protruding from the lid's center.

Finally, to my right, is a young woman, either a senior in high school or a college student in her first or second year. She has a plethora of things. A purple binder with the word 'Micro' in small letters up top. Just thinking what that word entails gives me the heebies. She just stood up, giving me ample time to observe her work space. On top of the binder is an open (page folded over) book and what appears to be an assignment sheet on that. The letters near the top of the assignment sheet have the closed off parts of the letters darkened in, which is a trait that I also possess.

The older man just stretched and smiled at me and the girl. I returned it. I'm unsure if she did. It appears that they are both packing up around me, which is slightly disappointing because I will no longer have subjects to write about. Very disappointing, actually. Yes, indeed the girl has left, and the man is about to. Well, I can't say being an observer of my surroundings wasn't a total blast.

A woman in scrubs just walked in. She smiled. I smiled back. I love doing that. Whether it's an impulse or a genuine day brightener, few things are better than a smile.

I just engaged in small talk with the gentleman that was next to me. Just a few sentences, but the fact that it was my first real contact with someone all day is insane. Things like that can just help me realize there is faith in humanity yet. Just a random person wishing you a good night, and you returning it. Most skeptics of this place we call earth would be quick to judge, but between me being an incredibly optimistic type on top of being someone who wants to be in the field of talking to and about people, it's just something that is very welcome.

So I just transferred Starbucks. You couldn't see it for reasons that if they aren't obvious to you, then you might need punched. However, I went to another place simply so I could have more life around me and lightly be able to feed off of it. So far I would say it's an improvement mostly because I saw 2 people I know through Pursuit, which is cool. The fact that I got a longer conversation out of the random guy at the other Starbucks is slightly sad. It'll happen, though. Those 2 seem fairly deep in conversation so it's best to just let them stay at it and let me do what I do; namely write with music feeding me power through headphones.

You know that feeling you get when you hear a song you haven't heard beginning to end in a long time? I'm feeling that right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure I had forgotten this little gem for the Top 25 Song Conclusions (According to Me). I am doing that still, I promise. I'm just currently way more content with going to coffee places and writing. It's something I am suddenly very dedicated. If I don't have work or class and I don't have my lazy clothes on. I will get the itch. Hence me doing this twice today, even though I'm fairly positive this writing isn't going up for at least a day (*EDIT* I was right *END EDIT*).

I can't over load my blog already. Wasting the good stuff all at once is never a good idea, because what happens when you run out of the motivation and the dedication? All of a sudden you haven't updated in nearly 6 months and your friends stop talking to you. Ok, that second part was added for dramatic effect, but you get the idea. I hope.

I feel like a lot of the things I write either shouldn't sound profound and people take them that way or my intent is to blow minds and people don't get it. Typically, I would rather have a laugh than a brain on the wall, but I'll take what I can get.

Bon Iver continues to blow my mind. First of all, the band cannot be listened to in a car the same way it can be with headphones. I just listened to their song 'Woods' for the third time. The first 2 were in my car and it was a big 'flibbity boo who cares', it's another solid indie song. Not anymore. Just from that ONE SINGLE LISTEN in my headphones, up close and personal, I can honestly call it one of the most beautiful heartbreaking songs ever. EVER. Bon Iver commands your respect. You wanna know how much it did to me? I was another minute of the song from shedding a tear here in Starbucks. I'm lucky it's 5 minutes long and not 6. I don't expect a single person to get the same beauty from that song that I did, but I don't care. Everyone has those songs. I've got at least one and it's captivating. My tear ducts reacted favorably. Well, nearly reacted favorably.

So I'm looking around and the two guys leaving right now are helping to eliminate the douchebag factor in here. Honestly, if I ever look as pretentious, uppity, cocky, and just all around douche baggy as these two butt monkeys look to me, please for the love of God punch me in the neck. All douchebags need a good neck punching. Some need a few punches, but they all need hit in the neck with a closed fist.

Well, I think I've touched base nearly every emotion and all around weird thing that you probably could in an entry like this. The ability to keep pushing these little writing babies out of my pen's vaginal cavity (OH YEAH THAT WAS AWESOME!!!) makes me really happy. It's a true fascination to me. I was sure that my ability to write for long periods of time had all but disappeared after Kent Tusc completely defiled and raped my will to write with their constant non-major related classes, but it is clearly here. I know for sure that's where I lost it. I was gung ho about journalism coming out of high school and it took one damn year of college to make me not want to write at all. Well guess what? It never left. It just went to an amazing recession.

I would really like to be able to make a book out of these someday. Like Kurt Cobain's 'Journals' only less evil and way more easy to follow. As great of a read as that book was, the only thing I can really admit that I understood were the pages about lyrics. That was 5 years ago, though. Maybe I should go over it again. Maybe learn about the inner workings of a lyrical genius just a little bit better than a 16 year old mind can. Worth a shot.

By the way, I don't think I've said it before, but while it's not critical to listen to the soundtrack that I put down at the bottom, it can really give you a better look at how I felt while I was writing these. It's a magnificent thing when music can so simply and suddenly change the direction that anything is going, much less someone who is writing about the first thing that comes to his head.

I'm gonna need a new notebook.

And thus concludes Blog 4 from the Coffee House Writings. My soundtrack for this evening has been as follows:

The Killing Floor - The Accidental
Melatonin - Silversun Pickups
Nothing Much to Lose - My Bloody Valentine
Our Swords - Band of Horses
Three of Four - The New Pornographers
I Summon You - Spoon
Next Exit - Interpol
I Turn My Camera On - Spoon
What You Want - My Bloody Valentine
Slow Show - The National
Failsafe - The New Pornographers
What If - Coldplay
The Bleeding Heart Show - The New Pornographers
E-Pro - Beck
Blue Ridge Mountains - Fleet Foxes
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
Feed Me With Your Kiss - My Bloody Valentine
Clocks - Coldplay
Woods - Bon Iver
Black Wave - The Shins
Exit Does Not Exist - Sun Kil Moon
Is There a Ghost - Band of Horses
All I Need - My Bloody Valentine
Paris is Burning - Ladyhawke
One By One All Day - The Shins
Strange Apparition - Beck

Coffee House Writing #3

I might be the most uncomfortable I've been since coming to Cincinnati as I write this. I'm at a nice little cafe called Reality Tuesday Cafe between Cincinnati and Covington, KY. So I'm actually writing this on Kentucky soil. Whoa, trippy! It's not that I don't enjoy what I ordered, either. Quite the opposite. A house coffee and a caramel apple struessel dumpling. Holy wow is it good, and fairly cheap for it's overall goodness and size to price ratio, which is a scale I made up just now. No, I'm uncomfortable because I am CLEARLY the youngest person in here. Sure, it's a Tuesday, but there are still colleges around and you would think that on a Tuesday afternoon there wouldn't be so many business-y types in here. It's made worse by the fact that I'm obviously in 'streets' and not really dressed up in anyway. However, they can stick it, because at least I'm comfortable. In my clothes, at least.

So there's a neat little magnet (oh, and when I say neat, I mean dumb) on the fridge behind the counter that says 'Virginia is for Lovers.' Alright, I'm confused. I have been under the impression for years that, in fact, Ohio is for lovers. Not Virginia. Not Kansas. Not Oregon. Not even Rhode Island. No, Ohio is for lovers. This magnet seriously blows my mind and TOTALLY ruins any and all perception I had of Ohio, lovers, and the fact that Ohio is a house for said lovers. So what happened? Did Ohio pass it's ability for being a loyal housing unit for lovers to Virginia suddenly for no reason? Was there a trade? Like we gave Virginia the exclusive rights to be for lovers and we get their state bird and the rights to a monument of our choosing? Personally, I am a little happy if we DID get rid of 'Ohio is for Lovers' but we should have traded to a better state. I would have traded it STRAIGHT UP to Pennsylvania for Hershey. I might have even thrown in Youngstown since it's right there.

Can you imagine how AWESOME state trading would be? Obama likes sports, I think he should implement sports-like rules into the government. If we have a salary cap we might as be the Yankees of the entire world. Technically, we already are since foreigners like to call us 'Yanks.' By the way, that's an absurd nickname. I don't want to be called something that could mean the present tense of pulling. How would the British like it if everyone started calling them 'Shoves?' I bet they would hate it, and rightfully so. It's about as stupid as George W. Bush watching Oliver Stone's movie about him. If that happens, I think it should be nationally televised and it should be uncensored. With cameras Bush doesn't know are there. I have no idea how they could pull that off without a hitch, but I would watch it, download it, save it, and keep it forever.

So when the zombie apocalypse comes, where does everyone think they'll go first? Assuming they're still alive, of course. I have decided that I'm going to Lowe's. That way, if I get famous in any way before the Z.A. (that's how I will be referring to it from here on out) and Lowe's hears that I'm going to them for all my barricading needs (8 x 5 3/4 inch thick plywood only $25! Buy one nail gun, get a year's supply of nails free!) they'll surely give me some sort of sponsorship deal. Maybe not for their commercials, but just to wear those sandwich boards or something. The front could say 'Are you prepared for the zombies?' and the back would just be the Lowe's logo. It's a golden idea, and it should get me some supplies and POSSIBLY cash.

On a mildly similar note, how long do I have to write absolutely bonkers blogs like this before someone famous accidentally swoops in and says 'Hey, this guy has more potential than 100% potential for precipitation!' If a guy says that, I'll wonder why he likes the letter 'P' so much. It can't be healthy.

So apparently, my iPod REALLY wants me to write about Snow Patrol because 3 of the last 4 songs have been by them. I have this thing on shuffle for just under 1100 songs, and I have gotten 3 songs by the same band OFF THE SAME ALBUM in the last 4 songs. I must admit, Apple, you have got the shuffle feature down to an emphatically simple science. Hats off to you!

I'm not gonna talk about Snow Patrol just because 80% of the world will say this exact sentence. You ready? 'Like, omigod Snow Patrol did that song about running after cars or whatever and the radio played it like 75 times an hour so I don't listen to them anymore just because cars are stupid and if you follow them or chase them or whatever then you're just immature and stuff.' Ok, so I channeled an idiot 17 year old girl as 80% of the world. Thankfully, they only make up about 20%, so it's a nice drop.

Dang it, I stopped writing for a second and I lost my train of thought. Isn't that grand? Oh well, I'm done with my food anyways, and I'm ready to leave Uncomfortabletown in Everbodylookattheyoungkid County. Jerks.

And thus concludes Blog 3 from the Coffee House Writings. My soundtrack for this evening has been as follows:

Youthless - Beck
The Funeral - Band of Horses
Light From a Dead Star - Lush
The Devil's Workday - Modest Mouse
Endless Shovel - Rogue Wave
Can I Touch You - My Bloody Valentine
Whatever's Left - Snow Patrol
The Crane Wife #2 - The Decemberists
Grazed Knees - Snow Patrol
Run - Snow Patrol
Lost! (Alternate Version) - Coldplay

I recommend all of them...........and my iPod especially recommends Snow Patrol

The Single Most Depressing Sentence I Have Ever Read On Wikipedia

I know I didn't know who ANY of these 3 bands were back in 2004, and I don't even know where Lollapalooza is located. What I do know is this: what I just read on the Sonic Youth page of Wikipedia is terrifyingly depressing. Here is the sentence

"The band (Sonic Youth) was also slated to perform in 2004's Lollapalooza tour along with acts such as The Pixies and The Flaming Lips, but the concert was canceled due to lackluster ticket sales."

Ummmmmmm, WHAT? Are all 3 of these bands THAT unpopular or THAT irrelevant that they had to CANCEL a show featuring them? Sure, they might not be in their prime at this stage of their careers..........but who gives a cat's nipple? I will bet you anything that HAD this concert gone down, it would have been memorable. Good or bad, it would have been memorable. Seriously, that statement just depresses me.

GAH! YOU CANNOT CANCEL THAT SHOW! YOU JUST DON'T!

Now go listen to Doolittle & Bad Moon Rising. Tell me THAT doesn't mess your junk up.

Coffee House Writing #2

Everyone has earbuds now. Nobody wears ear enveloping headphones anymore. That's unfortunate. Although, I think the reason for earbuds is because they eliminate as much noise as closed ear headphones. I think another reason for earbuds is that they don't mess up your 'do. That is CRITICAL in today's world of being reliant on good hair and everything. Anyways, enough of that. Here is a list of things that I do or do not want to see this year in the MLB season.

1. I don't want anyone new to be named off in a steroid scandal. Ok, we got the best most well recognized player in the game with A-Rod. Stop. The only way it could get worse for baseball at this point is if Jesus Christ came back, played baseball, and Bud Selig immediately had him tested, and it came back positive for a banned substance. The world would implode and Bud Selig would become the face of the devil.

2. I want the Rays to be for real. I don't care if you watch baseball or not, but rooting for the Rays last year was kind of like watching the Bad News Bears, except one season of BNB is about 10 years of Rays-ball. It was perfect up to the final touch in that they didn't win the big one. Which is why they NEED to be real. So they can do it.

3. I want both Ohio teams to best both Chicago teams in their respective divisions and eliminate both from playoff contention. The White Sox have little to no shot in that STACKED division, but the Reds over the Cubs is like a 15 seed over a 2 seed in March Madness. It's unlikely, but if it happened, everyone is in shock. There's no way they would be the betting favorite.

4. I don't want a HR record chase. Sure, Barry's a fraud, but the record is awesome. Leave it alone for at least 40 years.

5. I DO want a formerly untouchable record to be broken. I don't care what record it is and I don't care who does it (Exceptions: BOS and NYY players) as long as it's done. I'd like to see the E.R.A. record broken, personally. It's inhumanly low as is. I want it beat.

6. I want Josh Hamilton to revive the Rangers. He was the feel good story of last year on a team that sucked golf balls through garden hoses. I want them to fight for it's division. They won't win, but I want them scaring the pants off of the A's and the Angels.

7. As an Indians fan, I want Cliff Lee to repeat everything he did last year, and when he plays in inter-league games, I want him to get hits. Basically, I want to be able to say 'C.C. who?'

8. I want there to be a game where at least 4 grand slams are hit. As with the record rule, I don't care who or when, but I want to get on ESPN.com and read something like 'A Grand Old Time in (wherever)'. They should just pay me for that line right now.

9. I don't want any absurdly retarded cross promotions between MLB and anyone. If they can find a damn good partner for commercial making, then more power to them. I just hate watching baseball players trying to act. There is ONE who is even tolerable at it that I've seen, and it's Derek Jeter, and he hardly even talks in his commercials anyways. Speaking of Derek Jeter.....

10. I want the Indians to be the best team in baseball so Grady Sizemore can OFFICIALLY faze out Derek Jeter as the face of MLB. He's a proven commodity when it comes to getting women to watch the game (Grady's Ladies). Let's have a sucky year for the Yankees (4th place finish please?) and a playoff run by the Indians. Boom. Grady, Grady, Grady.

11. I want a World Series who has not won the title a single time since before I was born in 1987. Pretty self explanatory.

12. I want every single player who was signed to a contract entitling him to more than $8 million a year to fail. Miserably. I want every big spender to collectively drop their heads into their hands and sigh, and I want to collect those sighs in a jar that I can open and listen to when I feel sad, just so I can say 'Well, at least I didn't blow $8 million a year for one person to play ball for me.'

13. I don't want another facial hair/hairdo to be blamed/praised for how bad/good someone does. NOTABLE EXCEPTION: Jason Giambi's mantastic mustache of brilliance and light. I feel like clippings from that thing could cure cancer, it's so beautiful.

14. I want a team to wear retro uniforms so bad that they are talked about for years. Teams I feel could pull it off: Oakland A's, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers.

So that's primarily what I want to see out of MLB this season. I'm hoping at least one of these happens so I can reference this later and think about how awesome I am. It doesn't take much.

*Evil Tyler is about to take over this post. Quit reading if you aren't intrigued or don't want to see Evil Tyler*

So right now I've got a song by Sonic Youth playing on the iPod, and I'm really curious to sometime try writing and ONLY listening to Sonic Youth. No skips of songs, just straight Sonic Youth and see what madness I write, because right now even the sounds are grating and it makes me want to write about absolutely insane things that I can't even comprehend off the top of my head. I just envision twisted corpses in a playground setting. Evil teddy bears. Mounds of jelly. Just absolutely asinine things. I'm not sure if Stephen King or Clive Barker write in silence, but I'm sure Sonic Youth helps. A LOT. Anyways, since I'm listening to a happy song I'm gonna quit. You can expect that inner evil writing someday. It IS coming. I actually am excited for it. It's too tempting not to do it. I don't even want to stop writing when I do it. I just want to let whatever comes to the pen be put on paper. Oh my gosh. Sonic Youth is my outer vessel. This must be mildly what Heath Ledger felt like when he played the Joker, or at least what he felt like when he trapped himself in a hotel room, secluding himself from society.

Boy, this sure descended quickly from happy baseball talk to evil Tyler talk. I feel like it's my alternate pen. Like a Thad Beaumont/George Stark type. Actually, no it's not. That's too weird to think about. I'm in a Daydream Nation.

*Evil Tyler is gone for now.*

Alright, good Tyler is back, I promise. Good happy song is on and I can feel the sweetness filling me again. It scares me that something so small can just completely change my mindset for the length of a song, and don't worry, I fully realize that's what happened. I haven't always been this little evil guy, but I would be lying if I wasn't curious to let him out of his cage for a few pages. I think I'll wait at least a week.

And thus concludes Blog 2 from the Coffee House Writings. My soundtrack for this evening has been as follows:

NYC - Interpol
Heart and Lungs - Beach House
Saltwater - Beach House
Publish My Love - Rogue Wave
The Body Says No - The New Pornographers
No One's Gonna Love You - Band of Horses
The Great Salt Lake - Band of Horses
Your Eyes Open - Keane
Sparks - Coldplay
You - Rogue Wave
The World at Large - Modest Mouse
Squalor Victoria - The National
I'm Insane - Sonic Youth
The Walk - Imogen Heap
Tunic (Song for Karen) - Sonic Youth
Breeze - Lush

I recommend them all.............but only the bold should try the Sonic Youth.

Coffee House Writing #1

I went to Starbucks earlier because I took a 2 hour nap today and realized I was not going to waste my night in my apartment. I took along the following items:

Notebook
Pen
iPod
Skull Candy Headphones

This seemed like it was all I really needed to make a totally sweet writing entry. It worked. I'm only going to write these blog entries at coffee places from here on out and I'm only going to take those 4 items. I might even leave my phone at my apartment next time, just because I don't think I should be disturbed. Anyways, on to the epic writing that you are about to partake in reading. If there are any spelling errors or omissions please let me know, I'm trying to make this as readable as I can......outside of it's absurd length, of course. Read in shifts. My favorite part about this whole thing is you can tell when I stopped caring about building a true story about feelings and the like and just started writing about random crap.

*Note: This is written (with about 2 exceptions) EXACTLY how I wrote down in my notebook, so you are basically reading RAW Tyler writing.*

7:40 - I have arrived at Starbucks and what is the first thing I notice? Including the workers, I am one of 5 people here. Ok, that's a lie. The first thing I noticed actually happened before I walked in the door. There is a fairly cute girl sitting by herself in the front corner of the store by herself, doing homework. It was an immediate 'Well if this isn't just the motivation I need' moment, that I will soon forget. Probably. Because instead of almost instantly striking up conversation like a typical single person to another potentially single person on Valentine's Day, I have instead elected to put on my headphones and seclude myself in my always reliable world of music. Maybe I'm waiting for the perfect song to come on and officially totally jack me up to be like 'LET'S FRICKIN' DO THIS!' and it's not like I haven't already thrown down the Pixies or Oasis on the iPod as a fantastic motivation tool. Actually, truth be told, I'm just trying to think of the perfect icebreaker. Seeing as it's Valentine's Day, the perfect ice breaker IN THEORY would be the absolutely gay and overdone 'So what's a pretty/cute/hot/attractive girl like you doing by yourself on this glorious love holiday?' Well that's retarded.

My logic is that you have GOT to say something that will make a splash. Lasting first impressions are important. Our eyes have met. So the chance is there. I'm writing really fast right now in tempo with the song that I'm listening to that's getting me excited and really jacked up. Not like football jacked up. Like I AM going to talk to this girl jacked up. I can barely read what I'm writing. My letters are all intertwining. I'm making spelling errors. I'm omitting letters. My pen is running into one long autograph like line of writing. Second Pixies song. Slow your roll NOT. Oh my golly, oh my golly. Makes me want to kick something! 8 minutes. How long does it take to think of the perfect ice breaker for someone who is good at this when he's not really freaked out? I'm gonna guess about 45 seconds, but it's never perfect. It's just an iced breaker.

*Between this line and the next, I get up, refill my water, and go to talk to the girl. Take all the time you need to applaud and cheer. Go ahead, I'll wait.*

*Done? Alright, we can continue.*

8:21 - Her name is Emily. It could have gone better because I'm still sitting by myself. I did talk to her, though. She's studying for a history midterm. She doesn't like history which boggles my mind. History is awesome. But then she said she's a biology major and it made a little more sense. Biology is gross times infinity, but to each their own. She seems nice enough from I gathered. Listening to The Doors to slow myself down. Still on a mild adrenaline rush. You know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to most people but this to me is HUGE because I'm not a go up and introduce myself type. I meet through friends or when I'm in a small group where I basically to mingle. So to talk to a total stranger is excellent for me. So overall, it wasn't a great success, but it could have gone much worse. We had a nice chat for a few minutes and that's that. I'm sure she'll have forgotten by tomorrow, and I probably won't, but for different reasons. Emily represents me GETTING OVER THE HUMP of not being able to go up and introduce myself to strangers. Will I still have moments of not doing anything, of course. But that first time you do it is a big time changer. Good grief, look at me. I'm a 21 year old walking vagina.

Ok, so now the night wasn't a loss for TWO reasons. The first I've already gone way over. The second requires a mild back story. So far tonight I've only had water. Well, the barista just came up and offered me a mess up. I'm pretty sure it's an oreo cookie frapp of some kind. It's cookies of some kind and it's a frapp and it's good. That's all that matters. So now I"m gonna juiced up on caffeine and adrenaline. At this rate my heart will explode by 10 p.m. (*Update: It didn't*) and this story will never make it's intended destination, as a blog on Facebook. You know, I should consider an actual blogging site. Not xanga, though. that's too high school-y. Like, get a blog and see if it can have a hit counter, make it semi-professional looking. I'll link it off of Facebook. Man, I'm a freaking genius, and it's not like a bejesus load of people didn't think of this before or anything.

I should try invading UC's cafeteria sometime. Just sit down at a random group of people's table and use the glorious Scrubs line. I AM YOUR NEW FRIEND, SO SUCK IT. Chances are that would work for no other reason than SURELY someone at that table will have seen Scrubs. I mean, really, if you haven't then you're just an idiot.

So how about it would be absolutely awesome to have Jerry Garcia's beard? I WANT THAT BEARD! I wonder how long it took him to grow it. I think the only thing better would be Jerry Garcia in a pouch, but that guy from Half Baked already used it, so I have to settle for the beard.

I'm also curious as to how many girls got to see a chick flick tonight courtesy of a tolerant boyfriend and how many guys got to see Friday the 13th courtesy of a totally awesome girlfriend. If you have a girlfriend who WANTED to see Friday the 13th and you don't owe her with a chick flick next weekend or a romantic dinner or whatever, then you. You can notch one up in the 'W' column.

So the more I listen to the Butthole Surfers, I feel like they could be considered 'Sonic Youth Lite'. A lot of their songs are just loud, noisy, incoherent, and somehow absolutely listenable. Yet they just don't have the same weird appeal as Sonic Youth. Maybe it's the name. Maybe they weren't as good soon enough. Whatever the case, if you want the 2 noisiest bands that are GOOD, you can definitely qualify these 2. I would put the Pixies but they aren't as edgy. They're more punk based than LOUD based. Speaking of loud, my Skull Candy headphones FREAKING RULE. They have more bass than my car with a better sound. Worth EVERY SINGLE CENT I paid for them. Thank you Circuit City for closing. Oh yeah, they look mind-numbingly badass, too. I mean, when they're freaking modeled after Metallica and Death Magnetic, how can they not look super rock awesome. I just listened to a basstastic song and felt my feet pulsing. Now that's how great these headphones are.

So I just viewed a Valentine's Day gift exchanging between a couple and it was really cute. It seemed like the guy mildly took the easy way out and just got her a diary, but she reacted favorably enough that she either really likes that stuff or she's a great faker. But, seriously. A diary? Even if I have a girlfriend who tells me POINT BLANK 'Tyler, I want a cute diary as a Valentine's Day present', I would still debate about getting it. I feel like diary is Number 3 in the Top 5 overbought Valentine's Day items. Actually, maybe 4th. Because it's

1. Chocolate
2. Flowers
3. Cards
4. Diaries
5. Stuffed Animals

Somehow they're still the best received, though, so let's just keep it up guys. They're still digging our absolutely weak ass gifts.

So I'm listening to Audioslave right now and it reminded me that I'm compiling another list I like to entitle 'My Top 25 Favorite Song Conclusions'. It's a fairly straightforward concept that just lists my favorite song conclusions. I can tell you this much since I just mentioned Audioslave. Chris Cornell is on the list at least twice, with 2 different bands. If you don't know who the other band is, start some back cataloging in the GRUNGE section of your iTunes and prepare to have your face melted by my second favorite rock singer's voice of all time behind only the immortal Robert Plant, who is essentially Chris Cornell in a 70's band. So really, I should say Chris Cornell is Robert Plant thrown in a wood chipper, but still awesome. No, not that, either. I can't really compare these 2 nicely like I want to and not have someone COMPLETELY outraged at actually having the balls to compare ANYONE to Robert Plant. Well, I do and I did.

And thus concludes Blog 1 from the Coffee House Writings. My soundtrack for this evening has been as follows:

No. 13 Baby - The Pixies
Champagne Supernova - Oasis
New Way Home - Foo Fighters
Oh My Golly! - The Pixies
La Villa Strangiato - Rush
L.A. Woman - The Doors
The Camera Eye - Rush
Space Cowboy - The Steve Miller Band
Funk #49 - The James Gang
Alabama Getaway - The Grateful Dead
Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
L.A. - The Butthole Surfers
Cure for the Itch - Linkin Park
New World Man - Rush
Show Me How to Live - Audioslave
Pretty Noose - Soundgarden
The Trees - Rush

I recommend all of them.

OUT!