I sat alone, bored, accomplishing nothing...

Tonight will be the first night I get to sleep before 3am in several days. One of my old professors told me to enjoy the single life while I can. I gave a lecture, which went well. Dana talked me into going for dinner and beer with a simple, "Want to go to Hawkeye's?"

For you historians out there, how do you feel about burgeoning American fascism?


Syncing the drum fills and artillery is kind of haunting.

Three days, no happy ending...

It's no fun when you go on a date with a girl you have no attraction to.

It's frustrating when you want to be with a girl and you can't.

It sucks when you meet a pretty girl and let her go because you know it ain't gonna work.

My ankle hurts from too much dancing.

Despite this, life is grand.

Let's get movin' into action.

It's been a while since I posted anything. I've been fucking tired. Emotionally worn. I've been to shows, taken a road trip, and been bruised and abused. I've gotten sick, recovered, and relapsed. I've lost my voice. I've read easy-read books and taken what is probably the last written final exam of my life. Many of these are interrelated.

Right now I'm eating carrots and drinking beer. I haven't been to the grocery store in almost three months. I've got plenty of beer, though, so stop by if you're thirsty. Mind the mess; I've been procrastinating on the cleaning.

I'm giving a lecture to the dental students about integrating orthodontics into a comprehensive treatment plan, and put together what has probably been the first handout ever written at this school on the subject. It took hours, but I did about 95% of it from memory. I guess I'm learning something. I've been invited to give a one-hour lecture at the Chicago Dental Society midwinter meeting in 2009; I don't think I'll have a lot of cases to show, but I can focus well on research and published articles. Whatever, I've got almost two years. I can't turn this down; do things like that often enough and you don't get asked again.

Hey, Ryan K.: my sore shoulder from the Lifetime show? It was better by the time they finished their set. I'm not worn out, I just need to be loosened up before use.

This weekend should kick ass; even though I'm missing Critical Mass - there are several people I know who are planning to make it to May's Mass - I've got Ska Night, scooter school, four shows, and friends I've not seen in a while. Bitchin'.


Checkers means it's ska.

Geraldo, Fred Phelps, Bruce Lee, and Buzz Aldrin.

Geraldo as the reasonable one:


Fucked up (watch all seven parts):


Cool:


Buzz Aldrin kicks ass:

Everyone except the band looks like a rock star. Everyone except for you can go to hell.

Two quotes from the AVClub's SXSW reporting:

We've been at the Noise Pop party for less than 10 minutes, and we've already seen two ironic New Kids On The Block T-shirts.
..............
A sheriff's-department employee moonlighting as a cabbie tells me he's happy not to be at his regular job during SXSW, because arrestees in the music biz all think they're really important and deserve special treatment in the pokey. Self-important assholes? In the music industry? Say it ain't so.

I took my board exam this morning. I'm drinking beer and cleaning my hole - slowly. Last night I saw Bedouin Soundclash. Very nice. I napped this afternoon. I'm in a good groove. We'll see how that changes when I go back to school tomorrow.

See the world. The Easter Bunny hates you.

Do you really fucking get it? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

DeKalb has a shitty-ass punk scene. Oh, the venues are OK, but the crowd at the show on Thursday sucked ass. Frat assholes pushing people around before the band is even on stage, muscle-bound gorillas who only know how to push people around and don't even seem to realize when the song's over. Fuck, they don't even pick each other up. Some kid charged me, so I grabbed him and dragged him in a circle and then just started pushing him through the pit until we both fell over with about ten other people. I'm waiting on the floor for the other kids to get off my legs so I can get up, and then I see some kid just standing next to me. "Help me up, you dummy!" I said to him, trying to pull my leg free. Jeez. Muscle-headed dipshits in collared shirts laughing at me for dancing rather than throwing my fists around with abandon. I told one of them that I take such insults from jocks as compliments.

The good things: Fake Problems put on a really good set. They remind me of the punk bands from ten years ago, as well as incorporating a lot of Americana, and having a really unique sound. Plus two cowbells on the drum kit. Against Me! put on a pretty sweet set as well. I was one of the few dancing to the new songs, even though I didn't know them - I'd heard a few of them when I saw them last fall, but that's it. I did run into this kid Matt I've met at a few shows, and this girl Carly I've met at shows before too. So that at least was fun.

I've still got sore spots on my knees, my voice is still a little rough, and my muscles are finally unknotting. So overall it was a good show. Last night I slept many many hours. Tomorrow I'm going to catch Bedouin Soundclash at the Subterranean and hope I get enough sleep for Monday morning.

Yesterday I was so damn tired I was falling asleep sitting up at the end of the day. I've pretty much given up studying for Monday's board exam. Everyone from the residents who took it last year to one of the guys that wrote a bunch of the questions on it says we really don't have to worry at all.

I've got the radio show tonight. I'll see how the new studio is, and monopolize a bunch of airtime to play the Big D interview Travis and I did a few weeks ago. I haven't been there in two weeks, and I got a little I've got to get of my system.

You're coming off kind of contrived and pretentious. You're not saying anything we haven't heard before.

Did Critical Mass last Friday. Fun. Dental students came too. Danny showed up later.

I stopped and took pics of people who were taking pics of us, but they all came out crappy. Best Mass in a long time. From downtown to Old Town, Streeterville, to Chinatown, back downtown, the West Loop, and then Danny and I peeled off in Wicker Park to head to the Handlebar for dinner after about four hours and 25 miles.

Fucking cops thought it'd be fun to harass us. So there were five squad cars at the end of the Mass with their sonic blasters going for no good reason. At the front you couldn't hear it, but when we stopped at a liquor store we got back right in front of them, and it hurt. I was talking with some mom who had her kids with her; she'd tried talking to the cops but they just gave a sarcastic thumbs up. I commented that someone somewhere was getting mugged or raped at the moment, and the cops decided to harass a bunch of bicyclists and make themselves look bad in front of grade-school kids. Someone else commented that since the front of the Mass couldn't even hear the sirens, it was like pushing string. Cops are good for something, just count on them being assholes when you don't need them.

I obviously got my bike back from the shop, finally, after I figured out what was wrong. In less than seven months, I completely wore out the chainwheel. I pretty much wore out the whole drivetrain. It was about $300 worth of stuff including the tune-up, but I figure even a new bike would rack up at least $200 worth of wear and tear after next winter.

I'm burnt out on studying. I don't care anymore. I spent all last weekend at school, pulling late nights going over board-review shit. Plus I'm pretty confident in my ability to pass my board exam on Monday. So I've been reading crappy novels - not "crappy," but actually crappy - and letting shit go to hell in a handbasket.

Tomorrow I'm going to see Against Me! I need it. Almost as much as I need sleep. And a shower.

Irony is For Suckers

There are apparently 32 surveilance cameras surrounding George Orwell's home.