Best Albums of 1993

After a looooooong break, I have revived my "Best albums of every year" project. Only 18 more years to get caught up!!

Click the picture to go to the blog I'm using for the list. It's weird, I kind of hate doing this, but decided I was going to do it, and am super psyched for the later years. Maybe I just have to suffer a little through the super old stuff to get to the stuff I'm excited about. Maybe I shouldn't have started 20 years ago. hmm...

Wrestling at a Legion Hall

Last Friday, I went to a local wrestling show at a Legion Hall in Lowell. Have you ever been to a local wrestling show? This was actually my 3rd or 4th local wrestling show I've been to, but my first with a blog, and figured it was a world worth introducing to some of my thousands of readers who may not even know this world exists. 

Most people at least know of the WWE (formerly WWF). Or they watched it in the days of Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. But did you all wonder where all those stars came from? Small wrestling leagues. They're everywhere, and waaaaay more people wrestle than you could ever imagine. I'm solid friends with one, play COD with another, live with 2 guys who used to do it, and know/am friends with a few others who have, at one point in their life, walked into a ring wearing a silly costume and fake-fought strangers or people they met an hour earlier for a small crowd in the middle of nowhere. And they all loved it. 

We showed up in Lowell and stood in the rain for a solid 5 minutes, completely soaking all of our clothes (nice organization, Chaotic Wrestling). We then walked in to the most overcrowded room I've ever been in. Apparently the fire chief approved the room for 250 seats and they sold 260. 

I would estimate that 160 people could have fit in that room comfortably, 180 if they wanted to really jam them in. And they had 260. I've never seen a more horrible seating arrangement in my life.

Look at this "row" of chairs next to Josh. Did the organizers think that people would stand on the seats? That nobody had legs? I sat between Rich and Josh and had to have my arms crossed the entire time. Josh couldn't move a millimeter to his left, Rich couldn't to his right. People tried to sit in front of me, but we had stacked chairs up just to make enough floor space for our legs and anyone attempting to walk through. 

SO THEY GOT MORE CHAIRS.

sweet rat tail dude

Ughk. No aisles, no walkway in front of the seats either. Just a billion chairs jammed into a small space with a wrestling ring plopped down into the middle of it. And everyone there was soaking wet. And the place wreaked of piss. AWESOME. 

I also got the joy of being around people like this: 

That kid with the stupid hat took his shirt off for the first match, then put it on and took it off again during the women's title match. Class act. I wanted to throw every chair near me at him then beat him to death with whatever chair didn't hit him. I'm pretty sure the guy with the II COOL shirt is a Juggalo I used to see at the Burlington Mall every day. 

Once everything started though, it was a good time. The opening guys were insane, jumping right out of the ring immediately. Some of these guys are really good at what they do, and their characters were funny, they were good on the mic, etc. Local shows do everything the same as on TV- there are storylines, good guys and bad guys, managers everyone hates, announcers everyone boos, etc. It's fun. 

Look at this "athlete," who started a 20 man Royal Rumble:

That's a big boy.

Here's a guy in a clown costume with Johnny Vegas next to him. Johnny Vegas has apparently been doing this forever (he's probably 50+). He was even on TV a few weeks ago playing the part of John Cena's childhood little league coach.

Here's someone doing a sweet move on someone else. My camera doesn't capture movement all that well:

Scotty Slade, the guy I play Call of Duty with was there too. He didn't last long in the Rumble though.

The main reason we were there was because our friend had the headlining match. In fact, the event was named after him- Cold Fury (he's Brian Fury). I've always known him as Brian Fury, and actually completely forgot his actual last name. I've known him since college, and it's pretty awesome seeing him be the star of an entire show.

The story went that he was the champ, and then was banned from wrestling for a while because he attacked a ref in a match. He then broke in during a match and stole the belt from the champ. He was being brought in for one final time to compete for the belt he stole. Or something like that.

he used to be clean cut, now he has a Grizzly Adams beard and long hair and looks BRUTAL

His match was fantastic- a little sloppy at the beginning, but it ended with completely over the top moves including a powerbomb from the top rope, and Brian getting sent through a table outside of the ring, also from the top rope.

this was pretty rad

Here's a progress shot (stolen from FatDan) of Fury's opponent sending him through a table. It was such a devastating hit that they disappeared and took fans with them:

When it was all said and done, Fury was once again the champ. 

He put on a hell of a show. A few matches in the middle were boring, but there were highlights in all of them (and an awesome appearance by former TNA star Nikki Roxx (who I have also sort of known for years)) and the show started and ended well. It was a bit long and obviously uncomfortable, but it was fun to go. Afterwards, we went out with Scotty and the champ to Denny's to gorge ourselves on garbage. 

It used to weird me out that this world existed, but I guess it really makes sense if you think about it- not all bands are playing huge arena shows. Most are playing in tiny shitty clubs or legion halls, YMCAs, basements, barns, etc. I've seen shows in some of the smallest, weirdest places, and when I first saw that, I thought it was weird too. Now it blows my mind even more how much of the youth of America only know about concerts in enormous stadiums. You gotta start somewhere, and those bands playing those dumps take it seriously- that's their lives and their passions. So while it's weird to see wrestlers acting out stories and pulling wrestling moves for kids at legion halls- going so far as to go through tables and get cut and covered in blood, it really makes sense. Just like concerts, there's different levels of everything, and this is just a smaller level of what we see on TV. And this is their lives too- Fury wrestles every weekend at least- Scotty too. And to these kids and local fans, they're huge stars. What they do is incredibly real, and maybe I'm even cool for being friends with the champ. You want some culture? Go to a local wrestling show. 

currently listening to: Foxy Shazam- The Church Of Rock And Roll

First Hike of the Year in February?!

6 more weeks of winter my ass!

And with that, it's supposed to snow 5 inches tomorrow and not go above the low 40s over the next few weeks. But for a week or so, it started to look a lot like spring, and not just because of the complete lack of snow. It was warmer, it was sunny, and the air just had that special feeling of spring. I started to feel alive again. So, I decided to get an early start on hiking this year by going for my first hike in February.

I did Blue Job, which is small enough that it doesn't even really count as a hike to most people, but I'm counting it. The severe hatred my lungs have for cold, dry air means that I usually don't do anything outside until April, so anything uphill at this point was very good.

I got out there, reminded my legs what it felt like to go uphill, and reminded my lungs what it felt like to breathe hard after a few months of not doing a whole lot. Last summer, my goal was to hike 4 4,000 footers and I only did 2. I went on more hikes than I ever have, but I started late and out of shape, so I wasn't ready for anything serious until probably around August. I've set a much higher goal for this summer. I won't say it for now so Kevin won't make fun of me, but it's written down, and I believe I can do it. This year, not only am I getting my legs ready earlier, but I now have the experience of last summer and remembering/realizing how much I like hiking to keep me going.

The trail started out as pure mud, and I felt sorry for the ground that I was further destroying. Half way up, it became a mix of ice, snow, and pine needles,

which looked pretty.

Towards the top of the small climb, right before the only real elevation gain of the mountain, things got real wintery, real fast. 

It was quite odd to leave spring and go out in the woods to a trail that I figured would have gotten so much use/exposure that it wouldn't have an ounce of snow on it, and see this:

This was looking down- I had to go up and down this, and almost ate it a few times. This was glare ice. 

I survived though, and made it up the "hard" part feeling good. I honestly felt very happy to be out there doing it again. My legs burned a little, I breathed hard, and it was a solid 10 degrees colder at the top (not to mention ridiculous winds), but I was smiling the whole way. Maybe the fact that I was listening to Immanu El (absurdly over the top beautiful post rock stuff with a guy whisper singing over it- perfect for majestic views) helped, but most of it was just me happy to be outside doing something I loved again.

ahhh... the trail

I took an awkward picture of myself at the top while my hands froze to death, 

took some cool artsy shots for instagram, 

saw a pretty gorgeous sunset, 

attempted a 360 panorama with a program that never works, 

(this one kind of worked, click it for the huge version)

and headed down. 

It was great to be out there again, and I look forward to many hikes this summer, including doing the entire Belknap Range, and knocking a small chunk of the 4,000 footers off the list. Just seeing stuff like this again felt right:

Afterwards, I parked my car down the road and ran through the woods to try and get a shot of what was left of the sunset from the view of a swamp I'd always wanted to take pictures by. My left foot went completely underwater, but I like the pictures, so I guess it was worth it. 

Blue Job is a tiny hill to most people, but it was where I hiked first last summer, where I hiked last this November, and where I am starting my 2012 hiking journey. Psyched to start it so early. Bring on spring!

currently listening to: Gantz- "La Chambre Des Morts"

Partying With Ron Paul

Well, sort of.

After going to the Rick Santorum rally, we wondered why we hadn't gone to Ron Paul's, since we actually like him. He had been in Nashua and Manchester, and Josh had considered trying to go to the Primary party, but figured we couldn't get in. After looking into it, he decided to go for it, and, after debating a little, I decided to join him. After all, I had never been to a primary party- you know, the stuff you always see on TV where the candidate makes a speech to their supporters or decides to throw in the towel. I always thought it was weird how many people went to the "celebrations" of the people who didn't stand a chance. What are they celebrating? 

Well, now I'm one of those people, and I get it.

Josh and I amidst a LOT of people

Here's the view I saw when I walked in- just tables of people sitting on laptops, watching numbers, tweeting, etc, in the middle of fans/supporters fighting through more fans/supporters. To my left was a bar, which weirded me out until I remembered that this was a "party." What better thing to get people riled up and in the mood to cheer than booze?

We got about as close as we could get to the stage, and to my left was a billion cameras- just a wall of media all taking the same video and the same pictures. We stood next to what we decided were Swedish supermodel sisters. They were super into us.

"I want the fat one with the beard"

It was quite the atmosphere in there- chants would suddenly burst out of nowhere, such as "President Paul!" and my favorite, "END THE FED." It was odd at first, but then quickly awesome. It was hard to not get caught up in it- just people waiving flags and chanting to destroy the federal reserve. A DJ played the songs you'd expect at something like this, including several plays of this, which is apparently Ron Paul's unofficial anthem. I hadn't heard it, but Josh was super into it. 

It was all pretty neat.

I wanted to punch the obnoxious hipster with the blue glasses so bad

Obnoxious media kept pushing their way through us- you couldn't move anywhere and these people were carrying ridiculously huge cameras and trying to get that hot interview. They approached a guy behind me because he was tall, and after joking about how he was easy to find and him saying he didn't want to be interviewed, the idiot reporter just started asking him questions with the camera on. After he made a mean face and turned away, she got a guy wearing a Veterans For Paul shirt. I felt pretty weird taking a picture of myself while a TV interview was happening right behind me. Such is the world of primary parties.

Eventually, after some waiting (we got there too early), Ron's whole entourage got on stage and this guy talked:

I'm not sure who he was, but he was great. He made jokes, was very laid back and real, and just talked about the campaign and Ron Paul. It was all what you'd expect- that they hadn't slept in forever, that it was a long road, that we're gonna show them, etc. Then someone else important spoke and was a bit boring. Then ole' Ronnie himself came out to insane cheers. 

I was instantly struck with just how old he looked. It shouldn't have surprised me- he's not THAT made up on TV, but still- just seeing him in person was like "wow, he really is a 76 year old man." But as soon as he started talking with that squirrely voice of his, stuttering his way through some jokes (thanking a newspaper for not endorsing him) and getting fired up on the things he gets fired up about, I forgot his age and the fact that he doesn't stand much of a chance of winning. It slowly became clear to me that he probably isn't stupid and knows that he isn't going to win. I started to feel that this was more about sending a message and starting something- that he has already gotten millions of people talking about things that nobody was talking about a decade ago, and that he got young impressionable people to think differently about money, taxes and foreign policy. If anything, he's made a different, less party-oriented way of thinking much more mainstream. 

It was great to listen to him and see how psyched people got about the things he was saying. He's not perfect, and I don't agree with him on everything. I'm not going to even pretend that I know his stance on everything or fully understand some of the things he's talking about. But what I do understand, I can get behind. It was great to listen to a politician speak and actually believe what he was saying, actually trust him, and not see him as "another politician" (see my last post), but more of a revolutionary- someone who is starting something that is much bigger than him and could actually change things in the future. This wasn't a "well, I placed second, that's pretty good!" celebration- this was more of a "there is hope for the future" celebration.

Clearly, I got caught up in it, and soon enough, Josh and my joking, "everyone else is doing it, let's join in!" chants became a lot more real. What was an interesting, "good blog content" event became something that was actually really cool.  

It's fun to imagine the sounds that are coming out of him

The only annoying thing other than being surrounded by 28398 people and it being 23872832 degrees in there was just how many pictures and video were being taken at all times. I was doing it too (and even took some for the super short lady behind me), but this was my view most of the night:

Here's the whole entourage. I thought the chick on the far right was pretty hot.

He's clearly saying "EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

When it was done, most people seemed like they were going to kick around for awhile. Josh and I got the hell out of there as fast as we could. 

ARG! I HATE CROWDS!

This is how crowded it was:

As we left, Josh shook some guy's hand and had a brief chat. I figured he knew him. Josh said that as he was walking out, he saw the guy looking at him, speaking to someone on a walkie, saying stuff like "him? ok, yea, I see him." He then introduced himself as someone from NPR (I guess they like weirdos), and started in with an impromptu interview. He led with the hard-hitting "so what brings you here?" and Josh pretty much immediately declined the interview. I told him he should have said something stupid or something along the lines of "well, did you see that guy who just talked for 20 minutes? His name is Ron Paul and this is his rally/primary party. I like him, so I wanted to hear him speak." He just wanted to get the hell out of there and head to our other destination for the night, a little place called Five Guys Burgers and Fries. 

The closest one we have is an hour away, and we figured if we couldn't get in to the party, we could at least get Five Guys. Turns out the gods were in our favor, and we got both. Soooo good. A perfect ending to an interesting and surprisingly pretty cool night. 

currently listening to: Final Days Society- "Ours Is Not A Caravan Of Despair"

Hanging Out With Rick Santorum

Well, not really. 

The day before the New Hamsphire Republican Primary, Josh came home from wherever he was and said "dude, I think Rick Santorum is next door."

"Huh? Why is Rick Santorum at a crack house?"

He said that he had read earlier that Santorum would be visiting Somersworth on a campaign stop, and after checking online, he had in fact stopped here- not at the crack house, but at the American Legion at the end of the block. Josh asked me if I wanted to go, and after seeing that it was scheduled to start in 15 minutes, I said why the hell not and went. 

Let me just say this right off the bat- while I generally align myself with more conservative viewpoints (at least in terms of size/power of government and anything relating to money and taxes), I wouldn't call myself a fan of Rick Santorum. It was basically a case of "he's on TV, he's running for President and he's a 2 minute walk from where I'm sitting in filth and staring at the internet. Why not?"

Have you ever been to a campaign rally? I hadn't. And now I have. And let me tell you- they're not really much to get excited about. 

American Legion Post 69, with quite the crowd and anticipation

I noticed immediately that a good 25% of the room was media- either people with enormous cameras or nerdy looking kids with notebooks and press passes. The rest of the crowd was middle-aged people, the front half generally interested in Santorum, and the back half quite possibly there for the same reason we were. A woman sat on the floor behind me, with her kids crawling all over my feet. She paid pretty much zero attention to anything and aggravated the hell out of me for having her stupid kids an inch from getting stepped on for the entirety of the event.

Rick was of course late (only 10 minutes though) and walked in to cheers and a lot of camera flashes. He launched into a speech about what he stood for, what he would do, how he was going to change the world, how it all starts in small towns like this one, blah blah blah. At one point I asked Josh (who I consider the expert on politics in my life) if anything he was saying was different from any of the other GOP candidates. Nope- all generic stuff.

He got some laughs and a few cheers. He spoke well but didn't really inspire me to change my opinion of him. After 5 minutes of him saying what he wanted and ending with "why can't we have that?" I said "because it's not possible" slightly too loudly. But I got a laugh from a stranger, so I felt good. 

blurface! Look at how miserable his kids are!

Something I noticed that's worth mentioning- it's 2011 (it was when this happened at least), and people still haven't learned to silence their phones in public places. You're in a political rally with a presidential hopeful in a room full of media and you don't silence your phone? Seriously? The best part was that one of the people who didn't turn off their phone was standing in front of me. When he turned around to leave, I saw that he had a media pass from the freaking BBC. Way to be professional pal!

My pal Rick then said he would be accepting questions. The first question was something along the lines of "if you were elected, what would you do about No Child Left Behind?" He launched into a solid 8 minutes of talking, all saying what it was, how it came about, his thoughts on it, etc. I asked Josh why the hell he was talking so long, and he responded with what should have been an absurdly obvious answer- he's talking super long so he doesn't have to answer any more questions. So... he's filibustering himself? Yup!

Sure enough, after 8 minutes of talking to get to "I'd repeal it," he said he could only take a few more. Some stupid kid next to us asked that since it appeared that the government was working hard to help kids who struggled in school, what type of incentives would they give to kids who did really well in school? 

......huh?

At this point I got to see something awesome- people are ASSHOLES. So many people grunted and talked amongst themselves, saying how stupid of a question it was, it was a waste of time, etc. Some people flat out shouted from across the room what a stupid question it was. "How about a real question! HARUMF!" It was awesome. Rick just said "well, if you're in the top of your class, what more incentive do you need?" to lots of cheers and angry looks at the punk in the back of the room. Clearly this dirtbag kid just wanted the government to give him free ipods or something for getting good grades (wouldn't be surprised if it happened!). Piece of garbage.

The next question went to some stupid old lady who stuttered her way through a 3 minute "question," starting by saying Santorum wasn't her first choice and babbled her way through talking about him taking money from people blah blah and how much money did he take from blah blah blah. I don't even know what the hell she was talking about, and the room HATED her. "GET TO THE QUESTION!" "RIDICULOUS!" Some real mob mentality. But hey, I can't blame them- they probably had real questions and Mr. 10-minute answer only allowed for like 4 in the entire 45 minute meeting that he was 10 minutes late too. Oh well.

He gave a last little speech to get people psyched and headed out. Josh and I were quite sick of standing, but figured if we were this close to the possible president (haha), we should get a picture or a handshake if possible. So, we battled through the horde, and I got this sweet shot of him giving the politician HEY THERE PAL point. Josh even got a handshake and pretended he was a big fan. Josh said he had very rough hands.

We headed out among the crowds and saw people being stopped left and right to get interviewed for the local news. SHOCKINGLY, Josh and I were ignored (thank god).

Santorum won 9.4% of the votes. I wonder how many came from good ole Somersworth? I do appreciate the stop Rick, but I'm sure you very quickly saw why nobody else bothered coming. 

I can now say I've been to a campaign rally/stop. It was interesting in many ways, but not really caring about the candidate definitely made it more of an experience than anything I actually cared about. 

New Year's Eve + New Year's Resolutions

Growing up, New Year's Eve was a holiday where I got to hang out with the crazy half of my family, dancing, running around and having a blast until super late. The family I visited was a bit of a mess (lots of alcohol was involved), but it always ended with us holding hands in a circle and singing Auld Lang Syne, whether I knew the lyrics or not (still don't). That party kind of stopped happening, and New Years became me watching Dick Clark with my parents. Woo! As I got older, I had a few fantastic years where EVERYONE was there and we partied early into the morning. Sadly, as with most thing, as we all get older, New Year's Eve has kind of become the holiday that people either spread out for, or just don't celebrate at all. I seem to do something different every year, with different people or by myself. Last year I went to Chawdogg's house, and although it was fun seeing 5 or 6 people there I hadn't seen since college, seeing fireworks, and having Chawdogg's mom awkwardly kiss me, there were a ton of people I didn't know and it was a bit blah. Dan, Naro, Sara, Kevin and Gina all partied at some bar last year, and decided to do it again this year. I was pretty set on doing this as soon as they said they were doing it again, and I was happy to know that they'd be going to the same bar they went to last year, which was apparently the Coat of Arms in Portsmouth- the only bar I've been to (and like) in Portsmouth. Dan invited a bunch of people from his work and to the shock of the world, Mysterio and Masha came up all the way from CT to party with us. We had a great time and I took waaaaaay too many pictures. Here are ones I like.

The night started off weird, with Sara getting a tattoo. 

maybe getting another tattoo was on her 2011 resolutions list?

Then we headed to the Coat, where we got the perfect table, way at the end, next to the dart boards. This meant I played a lot of darts against Naro, who brutally kicked my ass. 

he's surprisingly damn good

I like this way of taking pictures.

So did Kevin.

Here's Kevin serving up some goodness.

We played Apples to Apples, which I had never played before. It was super fun. I destroyed everyone the first time, then Naro destroyed everyone twice as bad as me the second. Kevin further proved why Kevin + a camera= hilarity.

This may be my favorite.

Gina and I always take excellent pictures.

Especially when I'm holding the camera.

Here I am being arty:

and giving Kevin enormous nostrils.

I don't think Mysterio was screaming here, I think he was yawning.

I don't know who these people are, but they seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Some dancing happened:

And then, noise. Never, EVER give us things that make noise. Especially Kevin and me. We can't control ourselves.

Here's Gina and me having a noisemaker fight.

We didn't do much. We hung out around our table and just talked and laughed. It was awesome, and for someone who wants to reconnect and spend more time with friends, it was perfect. The Coat was great too- they gave us champagne at 7:30 for Chinese New Years (but not at midnight, which was odd I guess), it was packed but not ridiculously so, the bartenders were insane and somehow friendly and calm the whole night, my cheese fries were delicious, drinks were reasonably priced and tasty, and they had a 90's hip hop DJ who kept things entertaining all night. To be fair, he kind of sucked though, since I was super into rap in the early to mid 90's and I heard like 8 songs I knew-. It's a bunch of drunk white people in a bar in NH on New Years dude- play the hits.  

I kept it pretty reasonable all night, which is even more weird since this was my first New Year's as an ex-straight edger and this is stereotypically the "get destroyed" holiday. Good thing I don't follow stereotypes! After trying a few weird drinks, I rang the New Year in with a very classy and delicious white russian, good friends, some awkward kisses, getting really messy with chips and salsa, and for some reason, Black Sabbath. The DJ decided that after 4 hours of rap, the only thing that made sense at new years was Black Sabbath. I don't know- maybe it was his homage to the upcoming end of the world, but it was odd. 

Naro and Sara headed home, and the rest of us headed back to Dan's apartment. After drawing inappropriate things all over his car, I drove home as I had sobered up and was the only one volunteering to drive. We had a brief stop for Dan on the way back to his apartment,

and then I played Call of Duty under Dan's name, split screened with Kevin, and then Mysterio. We were TERRIBLE, but you're welcome Dan, I still leveled you up some. Everyone headed to bed and I decided I was way too hot and had way too bad of a headache to be able to sleep, so I headed home at 4 in the morning on roads with a billion cops on them. 

Mysterio and The Masha

It was a solid New Year, and if they decide to do it again next year, I'm probably in. Let's hope more people want to get together next year too (if the world doesn't end). Here's to not being old farts in 2012.

Sorry Dan and Masha, I guess I didn't get a picture with everyone.

Oh, here's a sweet "Happy New Year" video I made:

"Happy New Year!" from Mike Alexander on Vimeo

2011 was obviously a pretty amazing year for me- one of the better years of my life. How could it not be? I quit a job I wasn't happy at anymore, moved out of a basement I wasn't happy in anymore, and did everything right afterwards. I moved in with 2 of my best friends, dedicated my life to enjoying life for once, and started a blog to document it all. I reignited a lost love for writing, found a love for photography and exploration, have started bringing back a love for art, and am beginning to find music again. I started being less hung up on bullshit, I became more positive, more loving, more honest, more free. Now, I just have to keep it up. Whether 2012 brings a new job or a continuous emptying of savings to live a vacation, and whether it brings yet another move in September, I will keep up the awesome. I want to stay the way I am but get better, and I want to keep this blog going, whatever it may mean in the future. 

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS:

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, and if I do, I certainly don't tell anyone- telling people you've made them is a surefire way to never do them and have people call you on it when you don't. I don't like setting myself up for ridicule and failure to make empty promises because "it's something you do." Or at least that's what I say. But come on, we all make them. 

And if I have a blog that thousands and thousands of people (me) read, why not throw a few up here. 

1. Do more things with, have more fun with, and reconnect with friends that I miss and don't see enough, mainly the blue zoo crew. I'm going to try my best to birth more events this year- the idea being that if it's a huge event, everyone will go, it will become a tradition, and eventually, it will be something we can all look forward to. 

2. Record a song a month. Where to record is a problem, but I have some possibilities. Music is something I need badly in my life, and I finally have everything I need (minus knowledge and drive) to record.

3. Start a "postal service" project with Hilton. He was my musical partner for years, then he moved to San Diego. It's time for us to start mailing each other tracks and making some epic jams.

4. Finish my Dongus Bologna album. 

5. Complete 1 art piece a month. I tend to not do art for long periods of time, get super into something, then leave it sitting there. I want to be able to say "DONE" on 1 a month. That should be a reasonable goal. I'd also like to try and just do more art in general, even if it's just crappy sketches.

6. Get the balls to spend a lot of money on a nice camera. Whether a nice camera means I find a job involving photography or not, I have developed quite a love for photography, and it's time I take it more seriously.

7. Ridiculously organize and drastically cut down my CD collection by at least 200 CDs (I probably have over a thousand). I have started this process, and it is going to be a long one. 

8. Projects: I have a few projects I've been putting off forever. Winter without a job should be the perfect time to do these. They include digitizing VHS tapes of classic stuff (homemade movie type stuff), digitizing cassette tapes (absurdly classic audio recordings), etc. In a time where it's this easy to digitize stuff and hard drives are pretty cheap, there's no reason for me to still own stuff like this in their original dated form. 

9. Get to 2011 by the end of the year on my "best of" lists. I started doing my top 10 best albums for every year awhile ago, and stopped at 1992. I got busy and 1993 kind of sucked, but I need to get through the bad stuff to get to the entertaining stuff. I'd love to be able to start having one every year, but I need to get caught up first.

10. Be more awesome, and live the dream. If I'm gonna call other people on not hanging out and doing cool stuff, I need to make sure to continue being what I want other people to be. And the things I love, I need to do more of. Fuck living a boring, meaningless life. Live a life more awesome.

currently listening to: Stay Ahead Of The Weather- "We Better Get Goin' If We're Gonna"