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November 29, 2003
thanksgiving's came and went
it was a nice holiday, went and hung out with my mother in the morning, then had a great dinner at pop's house. i gave notice at changs but they asked me to stay on a week or two more. all this work has left me without even time to read, which was for a while one of the best things about not being in school. the fall is neearly over, no leaves left, i got my snowboard out but not sure if my heart's in it to get myself up there much this year.
drew's down visiting right now, he sounds like he's doing superwell up there, keeps saying i should move up, the thought of days on end with only grey skies then dark keeps me away for now.
aaron and matt sound to be doing rather well in s.f., found jobs and are still looking for housing, hope they encounter it soon, if they haven't already.
soon i will pick something else to do with my life. still thinking.
Posted by bendan at 11:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 17, 2003
all hope is pretty much lost
so i was reading the reno gazette journal, the extemely mediocre local paper yesterday, and happened upon a little article on the back page stating that the provisional authority has dramatically changed plans and will have the majority of u.s. troops out of iraq by july. this goes against most of what bush has been braying recently, about not letting the terrorists cow us and other crap.
i thought about it as i bussed tables at p.f. changs superexpensive chinese food restaurant, and came to feel that the timing will coincide nicely with the upcoming presidential elections. if our withdrawl is covered at all like afghanistan was covered in the mainstream press, which is to say, dropped like a drying turd, then i see little chance of a democrat stepping up and taking the president's office. which amazes me, because the country seems so much worse then it was 4 years ago. i never begrudged clinton his infidelities so much, it's not like more then half of married couples have similar "activities," but now i do cause it helped the republicans get into office, riding a way of fakey morality.
listened to howard dean on the radio, man i would like to have him as president. several friends around here in reno are gonna make a big effort to try and get apathetic mofos to vote, and probably some will, but still we will be disappointed and 4 more years of bush and canada is sounding better and better.
ok, enough politics, other things in my life: working 4 jobs, that's nutz. saving well though. going to a.k. with shannen the 26th through the 30 of december, it's gonna be nice up there, and cold as hell. also tryin to confirm that i'll be able to go to israel in february, that should be a good trip, i'll see ran and go scuba diving and lots of good stuff.
ok, be well.
Posted by bendan at 09:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 09, 2003
making fun of abercrombie
check out this link making fun of those shirts.
i'm at 4 jobs, working on 5. crazyness.
Posted by bendan at 08:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 05, 2003
dropped aaron and Matt of in S.F., then read this funny interview
we headed out at 12, stopped in berkeley and got long life veggie house, the long life veggie pork was so good, though matt thought it weird, the whole fake meat phenomenon. then we cruised into s.f., aaron navigated and matt called out when it was clear to change lanes, and we made it to the fillmore. they unloaded their bikes, shouldered their packs, and headed over to try and sneak into the show. i'm jealous in a way, they're making a go of living in that city starting from nothing, cold call style. brave.
then i drove back and steve had stitches in his head from a bike crash, his first stitches, how cute. like brother, like brother, damn spazzes both. i haven't had stitches in almost a year, knock on wood!
steve pointed me to this modest mouse interview from '96, funny shit, back before they were rockstars, just drunken druggie lamers. read it, it's funny as hell.
Posted by bendan at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 02, 2003
on having favorite things, and a link to one of my favorite pomes as a reward for reading the former
actually decided to just post the poem, letter to the dead by Affonso Romano DeSant'Anna, portuguese.
if you want look at the extended entry, it was inspired i guess you could say from a conversation last night in which we were talking about favorite music and stuff like that and i got to questioning how i think about music.
it's a little nerdy.
i'm a qualifier, that is, when it comes to what i like, i.e. music, books, films, i like to order them, determine which is the best one. for some reason i think this is more a boy thing then a girl thing.
i'm not questioning the practice now, these mental top ten lists are a joy in some ways, but i do wonder about my "running count," which is a term used in blackjack when you are counting cards and attempting to the beat the house, but it fits here and sounds cool to me as well.
in ranking, i have a current favorite band, a favorite band of this year, and an all time favorite band. these are by no means all that makes up my music category, and in saying that i hear myself starting to sound geeky, so let me remind that i am but a minor player compared to folks i know that could rattle off their desert island top 20 without a pause. though i'm not sure this digression warrants it's own paragraph, i will gift it with one.
because want i was going to say is about how much this music means to me, and how when a new record comes out i feel almost a disloyalty if it supercedes a previous one, and about my theory that the first record you love by a band new to you will always be your favorite, and i know this is goofy sounding and prayer to culture but then, it does matter, much.
Posted by bendan at 09:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack