You are lost

After discovering such treasures as Sebastien Tellier or Verka Serduchka, and maybe even some non treasures as Pirates Of The Sea or Azerbaijan’s Elnur & Samir, I’m excited to see what this year’s Eurovision crop will turn up.  Only a couple of weeks to go.

Gatas Parlament has a new album out!  I’ve only heard a little bit of it, but I’m hooked.  I’ve never paid for anything in Kroner before.

Since I’m kind of on an international music theme here, I’ve also been digging the music of Belanova and Fobia.  Makes me wish I had put more effort into learning spanish.

Mien gott, that’s quite a few links!  I just got so carried away!  So…. much… to….. share….

The boy introduced me to the awesomeness of Ronald Jenkees.  I thought I’d share that experience.

Thanks to the loving patience of Sara my site works again.  Woohoo!  I’ve got a little tinkering around still to do, but it’s nice to have it working proper again.

We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.  But that’ll have to wait for another day.

So here’s what I’ve been doing for the past month.  I’ve played/beat Professor Layton and The Curious Village (DS), Portal (XBox) and Army Of Two (XBox).  I am still currently playing Beautiful Katamari (XBox), Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring Of Fates (DS)  and Every Extend Extra (PSP).

I’ve also been doing some reading.  I finished “Hello, I’m Special” by Hal Niedzviecki, an interesting analysis of the promises and realities of western pop culture and the rise of the conforming non-conformist.

I’ve also finished Disinformation’s “Book Of Lists” by Russ Kick, “The Stranger” by Albert Camus and am currently engaged in a re-read of Brave New World.  I’d really like to read Lord Of The Flies again, but I no longer have a copy of it, and I’ve got plenty of other things to read without picking up more things at the library.

In the way of music, it’s been a little of this and that.  New stuff from KMFDM, 16Volt, Juno Reactor and a few others.  Some Katamari Damacy tunes, some Calexico, Iron & Wine, my playlist has been all over the place.

Not much else is new or really going on.  Reading, playing video games, listening to music; this is what you do when you don’t have everyone to hang out with.  Play with my cats, work on the yard.  I quit smoking for 2 weeks in there somewhere, but that failed.

I think I’m going to organize some kind of yard sale or something.  Sara and I have a bit of clutter going on and selling it off wouldn’t be a bad idea.  I think the Pirates could do with something like that too.

I am way too excited to be up at this hour.  It’s 2:30 a.m., I haven’t even finished my first cup of coffee and I feel so… gleeful.  Not precisely energized, I’m getting there though.  I’m training on an opening shift today.  I feel sorry for the tired hungover soul who has to deal with me today.

Of course, starting your day with Ministry, Slayer and Paul Oakenfold kinda gets you going…

I am a weapon of mass destruction.

More coffee.

I’ve been listening to M.I.A.‘s latest album. There’s a track called “Paper Planes” that has lodged itself in my head. It’s so damn catchy, at least the chorus is anyway. It’s not quite your average hip hop (which is probably why I like it), but it’s so odd and damned catchy and all around a good album. I’m not recommending you get it, but if I could I would subject you to it, just once.

…and take your money.

I’m about ready to start taking somebody’s damn money. I’m getting impatient with unemployment. I’m tired of strapping myself to that damned cell-phone from dawn till dusk waiting for the corporate HR bastards to get their shit together and call me. A couple of places we checked back on haven’t even gotten around to going through the applications they’ve received.

Which brings about an observation I’ve made. People down here bust their asses. None of that stupid stoney-slacker bullshit like in Missoula. If you fuck up/around on the job they’ll replace your ass with a Mexican in a heartbeat. Everyone piss tests, everyone does felony/criminal record/credit checks. The pay is decent and most everything comes with benefits, but you’re in constant competition. Unless you’re management. Once you’re management you can be the most inefficient brain dead fucktard you want to be, so long as you’re a legal citizen and smart enough to keep your job. Imagine counting out the day’s deposit using your fingers and toes instead of a calculator. Then keeping 9 extra people on the floor to watch the store while you’re doing it. That kind of inefficient brain dead fucktardery. Not truly stupid, just incredibly stupid. I can’t wait to be unleashed on these people. All I wanna do is *blam blam blam blam*…. and take your money.

Now gimme the damn job.

Aside from observing the local wildlife I’ve been doing some work on the yard.  It’s been a while since I’ve had a garden so I’m enjoying getting my hands dirty.  I’ve been tiling and composting the soil, watering the grapes and rose bushes, clearing out the debris and putting up some lattice work.

I’ve been taking a little time to find some new tunes to listen to.  Currently I’m listening to some ohGr, M.I.A. and  M.C. Frontalot.  It’s an odd mix for the playlist, but enjoyable.

I’m thinking on trying to pick up spanish.  As you would imagine a lot of people here speak it.  Aside from wanting to understand what I’m hearing, jobs pay extra if you’re bilingual.  It’s just a good idea.

I find myself staring at the sky a lot.  You feel so close to the clouds and the weather is so strange.  One side of the sky will be sunny and clear and the other side will have lightning storms with no rain and where you’re standing one cloud will decide to rain.  Lightning comes without thunder, thunder without lightning, and when you get both it’s tremendous.  My porch faces west so I get to watch the sunset over the barren hillside.

My house is designed for late day sun, which is nice.  Despite my slow adaptation to daylight living I’m still late to wake if my alarm isn’t set, so it’s good not to be blinded first thing in the morn, er, afternoon.  Forcing myself to go to bed early hasn’t really been working, it’s more of a best intentions type thing.  I mean to go to bed around 1 a.m., I actually go to bed around 3 or 4 a.m., which is still early for me.

As it may reflect in my writing, day to day life is relatively uneventful.  Drink coffee, take care of the paperwork, clean the house or yard, play with my cats, make dinner, maybe play a game with the house-mates.  I’m happy with it though.  It’s very relaxing.   Now I just need to win the lottery.   I want a bicycle.

I’d like to thank the person responsible for inventing dishwashers.  They’re fucking wonderful.  My sink is (almost) always clean.

It’s hard to believe it’s September already.  I think of all my college chidlins, going back to school.  Best wishes, slap Gaeb.

Please.