the nautical mile

i'm quite sure that whatever the max amount of happiness one can have in their based on their friends is the amount i have.  this weekend was great, and umm... enlightening?  sure.

i wonder how long it can all last. 

the new iphone is nice.  compared to the original it is night and day awesome.  not such a huge change from the 3g, but noticeably faster.

i have an urge to go to a driving school.  ever since going to the audi driving experience in october i've been wishing i could do that kind of driving again.  it's frighteningly expensive though.  i do think it helps improve everday driving skills significantly though.  one of these days.  there are so many things to buy... cars, houses, studio time (assuming i can ever finish some new songs), who knows what else.  all stuff to look forward to i suppose.

alrighty, off to enjoy some tunes then some top gear.

new iphone was announced today! and i think it sounds really cool, and yeah i'll probably be getting one.  i mean, i can't stay on first gen forever.
it's funny to me that i'm so excited because lately i have spent much time thinking about the downside of all this technology and instant gratification, communication, information.
it's incredible how far technology has come just in my lifetime... from cds to ipods.  from pay phones, to pagers, to cell phones, to iphones.  from AOL, to aim, to blogs, to facebook, to twitter.  everything is so much more immediate and connected.  and i'm not really sure it's a good thing.  truehoop has actually been discussing some of the ramifications of this in the basketball world lately, and it's interesting.  to think how it has affected the way players interact with the media, and how every minor incident gets analyzed and spread like crazy.  i think it's hurting basketball in that sense.  but it's also hard to deny how much more engaging the sport is with so much rich information available.
i'm sensing the same give and take with personal relationships.  it's awesome to find old friends on facebook and be able to keep up, but it also seems to precede the need to actually talk to people to see what is up with them.  i think it's getting to the point where we're all so used to being so connected that it's easy to take each other for granted.  to put it the easiest possible way... i think it's good to miss somebody sometimes.  while i have no concrete evidence, it is my theory that constant connection makes relationships harder.  you can spend all day texting, emailing... even when the other person is in another city, country, wherever.  but then when you're back together there are no more stories.  it's just picking up from the last skype conversation.  you never really feel that pang of being apart. and for me, this is where technology has gone too far (one place anyway).  i just like missing people... not because i don't want to see them, but because it gives me a chance to appreciate how much better life is when they are there.  my sister makes a perfect example here.  i love hanging out with her, she's the best sister in the world.  when i get to see her it's really special, cause i spend a lot of time missing her.  i think if i talked to her everyday it probably would diminish that in some way.
i dunno... i'm just feeling a little invaded by technology sometimes.  and yes i recognize the irony of bitching about it in a blog.  i just wonder if some day there will be a backlash... and it will become cooler to NOT have a laptop and 300 social networking accounts.  maybe i'll start that movement... but who am i kidding... just get me that new iphone.

tonight i started painting my new music room.  i'm so excited about it, cause it's gonna be great.  and i was pretty tired and about to fall asleep and then

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

happened and now i'm not really tired.  could that look any cooler?  don't even bother answering cause the answer is no.  and even if you tried to argue i would be so far from caring that i wouldn't even care.  and then i will just happily pay whatever amount of money it takes for beatles rock band and the complete remastered catalog on cd to come home with me.  and we will live happily ever after in my music room.  and i will never see you again and then it won't matter that you thought it could be cooler cause you will have ended up hating me for being an asshole. 

umm, but for real... don't plan on seeing me on 09-09-09 unless you want to play beatles rock band, listen to the beatles, and generally revel in the awesomeness that is the beatles.

man what a brutal weekend, or lack thereof.  glad it is over.

been an interesting week, my first week living alone in almost 4 years.  it's not bad, just different.  i miss the friendly faces, but i suppose eventually it was time to grow up.  well, not for me just yet.  i can still sit in my underwear playing video games on the couch.  one last semi-bachelor pad before real life starts. 

went to DC over memorial day weekend and had a great time.  took me way too long to get up there, but if that's what it took to have such an awesome trip then it was worth it.  of course saw jason, but also got to meet some new friends (his friends) and some old ones (erin and kirsten).  it was very cool.  and being in DC on memorial day was pretty special.  lots of people there for obvious reasons.  the touristy stuff was packed with people, kids, veterans, soldiers.  some there to remember, some to mourn, and some just to hang out.  for me, the WWII and FDR memorials were really moving.  both are new since the last time i visited in 8th grade.  the WWII memorial is just great, and the fact that my grandpa was in the war made it special.  and i love me some FDR.  best president there ever will be... probably...

so yeah, it was great.  probably need to make sure another 13 years don't pass before i go again.

well... pretty tired.  but i think i'll be trying to update a little more often.  peace out...

man it's been a while.  in my head i have been mulling what to write for weeks, choosing instead to keep things rolling in the tumbler.  then matt got back and wrote his post on his traveling and search for inspiration, and then it sort of clicked.  the thing is i'd been thinking along the same lines for months now... trying to find inspiration.  particularly for me it's music.  i hear these songs.  i have these thoughts and ideas.  and the process of transferring them from brain to paper to song is just not happening.  why?  does being inspired really require soul crushing loss?  i have tried everything... yoga, reading, laying in the beautiful sun, listening to more music than ever... still nothing.  my assumption is that if i could just trade places with matt my problem would be solved.  turns out we're both just approaching the same problem from totally different sides.  i'm so happy and comfortable with life right now, that i'm almost unhappy.  weird huh?  
must just be part of aspiring to make life as meaningful as possible... something is always missing. 
anyway, i hope my upcoming trip to DC and an increased investment of time with my music machines will help get my record unstuck... cause the creative side of my brain feels like it's dead and i hate it.  i should start a band.

on another note... my new favorite thing on earth is that pitchfork added a lala player to their album reviews.  so now i can listen to a ton more music without having to buy everything.  it's just swell.  someday soon i'll catch up on new music reviews...

and if you live in my town and want to play some music, by all means let's do it!

happened upon this quote over at 48 minutes of hell, a spurs blog, and it could not have more accurately described what i was feeling last night.

in fact, he looked so determined i wasn't even considering that we might lose until the final minutes.  i love me some tim duncan.

poor spurs, and by spurs i mean tim and tony and pop.  everyone else apparently decided the season ended a few months ago.  but it's all good, we still got another good year or two to make it happen before timmy rides off into the sunset as the greatest PF of all time (suck it karl malone). 

aside from that i'm just trying to avoid swine flu, and by swine flu i mean all the people yapping about it nonstop.  i'm still recovering from all that SARs and bird flu i got so it's gonna be hard.

not much else goin down. just workin away and enjoying the last month of being a kid before tt moves out and we're officially old.  it's not so bad i guess. there's some stuff i'm excited to do when i have a whole house to use, like play more music and do some projects around the house.  maybe i'll even buy one of these teeter hang up chairs on tv and hang around the house like batman.  or maybe i'll turn the extra space into a mini fantasy factory.  the possibilities are endless.

do you think tom hanks is done making great movies?  he used to be my favorite, but it's been a while since he made a movie i really cared about.  although charlie wilson's war was pretty damn good. 

marymary got me a subscription to vegetarian times, and it's really neat.  the last one had all these recipes for vegan cheese.  i need to make that and see how it goes. i bet it would be pretty kick ass.

is it time to go to DC yet?