Stuff/Things

It's been at least 15 years since I've been in a fight. However, last night I got punched in the face by a crackhead. It was a lady crackhead, too. I'm really glad that I didn't make a big deal of it. I don't want to get arrested, or knifed, or whatever. It was just a show full of skids, so I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised.

Cory called me last night at 5 am, after he had 5 cop cars, a paddy wagon, and a helicopter chasing him. He climbed on the roof of the IGA. What a menace, that guy.

Oh, and I wrote my first song in almost a year. It's called "I Wanna Live To Be 100". Actually, it's not completely finished. It's pretty much just 3 good lines. But I'm really excited about it. Even though it's another song that ponders mortality, and I've got way too many of those.

I bought a $150 gift card for myself for futureshop. Another gift card next check, and I should have enough to buy a 360 in a month. Then I can stop having so many of these $100 drinking nights, and waste my life on some Grand Theft Auto.

We all need to aspire to something.

Escalator Riders

I saw something pretty cool today. Nothing too outrageous, but I dug it anyway.

A little old woman with a cane in hand, walking, that's right, fucking walking up the stairs of the escalator. She was holding a fucking cane, and still walked! Nobody walks on the fucking escalator anymore. But I think that's sort of symbolic of this generation's attitude, and why all the slow girls slouched over on the escalator at Metrotown every day are either obese or anorexic.

That little old lady is going to live to 100. Awesome. I wanted to high five, or fist-punch or something, but that's just what would happen in the movie version.

"That fucking kid... is back... on that goddamn escalator!"

Catching Up

Hey, internet! It's been a while since I rapped at ya.

So, my job has gone almost entirely to shit. Essentially, I'm being harassed for stupid, insignificant things, and constantly threatened that I may soon be fired. Oh well. It's not as though landscaping jobs are hard to come by in this city. However, my new plan is to wait another week or so until my benefits kick in, use them for all they're worth (I NEED contacts... and a year supply of anti-stomach-hurty pills that I've taken forever now would be nice too, given that they're damn expensive...) So yeah, once I reap the benefits of having, uh, benefits, then I'll decide if the shitty atmosphere is worth the extra $1 or $2 an hour over what I'd earn elsewhere.

Other news, Iron Man is awesome. Like, holy fuck. For true.

I might be getting a new apartment around Main and Broadway, which is awesome. My goal was to get a place anywhere within a $10 or so cab ride from downtown Vancouver, and this would definitely accomplish that. There comes a point where you simply can't live with your parents anymore, as cool as your parents may be. I think that point for me is 25 years.

Tons of good music, books, movies that I could talk to you about. But you're the internet, I'm sure you've kept up with all the message boards. (This is a not-so-subtle allusion to the fact that nobody reads my blog, I don't think, since I've only told a handful of people about it, and I never write in it... but it's just subtle enough that you might not get it. Whoever you are.)

April 27th

Well, it's 2 am on april 27th. April 27th used to be my anniversary, and this one would be the 9 year mark. (If you want to get technical, it is still the 9 year anniversary of when I started dating Jen, we just aren't together anymore, so there won't be any celebrating, I don't think.)

I guess it's just one less thing to worry about. No valentine's, girlfriend's birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

But that's not the whole story, and it's not even close to the truth. I liked buying things for Jen. I wanted her to feel the way I did when I read amazing books, or listened to mind-shatteringly great albums. I miss these things.

But I think back to when we started dating, and how Jen told me that she preferred to be called "Jennifer". I did that for years, spending the time to add those extra syllables thousands of times in conversation with her, or with other people. At some point, I stopped doing that, and went with "Jen" instead.

Now, today isn't an anniversary anymore. And I'm still too much of an asshole to add those 2 extra syllables to her name. This isn't self-loathing, or any great revelation. It's just a microcosm of how relationships disintegrate right in front of you.

A bunch of other things have happened in the 3 weeks since I wrote.

I got a raise.

I went on dates with a bunch of terrible women, and one good one.

I'm sure there's some music that's completely taking over my life.

But it's april 27th. I'll write about all that typical shit on some other non-anniversary.

Ministry's last show, and my $1000 mistake

Well, it's been a while since I last wrote, and a lot has happened.

First, I went to see Ministry's final show. Despite the fact that they only played 3 songs written before 1998, it was really good. I also caught a guitar pick at the very end of the show, so that makes for a nice little souvenir.

Aside from that, the theme of the night was karma, and how ignoring karma can really fuck you over.

If you read a few posts before Ministry, I say that I lost my ipod. Well, I got my ipod back, and I had it for about 8 hours. Fate swept it away again, when I left my backpack under a table at the bourbon, along with my digital camera. So, replacing my camera, ipod, headphones, and backpack is probably going to set me back about $1000.

But the good thing is that I've come to see that I needed something like that to happen if I was ever going to be smart about what I do with my stuff when I'm drinking.

Trying to stay positive. I get to read on the bus now.

Ministry ruled my formative years

This friday, Ministry are playing the commodore, and the show is sold out. Tickets are going for $100 right now, based largely on the fact that this is the "last" Ministry tour ever.

I am going to great lengths to acquire the $100 that might be necessary to attend. Here is why:

In 1996, I was in 8th grade. My step dad made me a tape of Ministry's album "Filth Pig", and it blew me away. I then got into the previous album, with their one hit, "Jesus Built My Hotrod", and finally fell in love with their 3 key 80's industrial masterpieces, plus the shredding mini-live album, "In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up".

From the age of 12 to around 16, I would have called them my favourite band, based largely on their incredible transformation from a creepy electro-rock thing, into the sludgy beast of the late 90's, with all periods sounding equally as impressive. Ministry's history of stylistic reformation is on par with Bob Dylan, whom they covered "Lay Lady Lay", one of the songs that actually turned me onto Ministry so madly at 12 years old in the first place. It's mad cyclical.

Anyway, I have $25 in cash. $44 in US funds to transfer over. I'm harassing a friend to pay me back $15. I'm bringing in 10 months of liquor bottles piled up in my closet. I'm taking in my jar of change to the safeway for sorting, and hopefully $10-$15.

The reason is, my heroes are playing their final tour. I intend to say goodbye.

Wise Words 2

Paul, getting dressed to head out to a show, putting on a pair of socks.

"Oh... I think this is a cum sock."

Heads back to his room.

I feel its brilliance lies in its simplicity.