Strange Pulse

I’ve updated the list of shows I’ve seen and posted it finally. I need to get back into keeping track of all the shows I go to—had to hunt around for ticket stubs and reviews and pictures I’ve posted various places to get this thing updated.

Here it is.

I’m sure there’s some I’ve forgotten.

Some favorite live pics I’ve taken over the years…

Opeth:

Low:

M Ward:

Goatsnake (Scott Reeder):

Players Club:

When you move it, it breaks.

We had to clear 3 feet of space in front of all the windows in our apartment today because they’re replacing all the windows in the whole building. Which meant I had to move:

• My computer desk, and the extra desk next to it.
• Elijah’s computer desk, Nathaniel’s computer desk, and their bunk beds
• Catherine’s computer desk and her bed
• Two cabinets in the dining room that our stereo is on
• The tv cabinet in the livingroom with the tv, dvds, records and videogame consoles on it

But I first had to clear everything out of the way—in the kids’ rooms, this meant garbage, clothing, junk.

In my room it meant cameras, spare computers, junk.

In the living room it meant taking all the dvds and vinyl records out of the cabinet and piling them on the table.

So, now everything that was in a heap on the floor of various rooms is now piled in heaps on our beds. And I don’t think they’re actually going to replace the windows today. So I have to move it all back onto the floor before bed tonight, and then pile it all back on in the morning. Ugh.

And oh yeah, the bottom trim on the television cabinet all broke off when I was moving it. IKEA sucks.

We just have too much stuff. Hopefully I can use this as a chance to clear a bunch of stuff out. If I have the energy.

Ugh.

In other news, I think I’m taking Nathaniel to see Tapes’n'Tapes this weekend. Dillun you’re invited. Although I think we might be better off seeing Elbow.

1. I’m home alone.
2. I’m in a hurry to leave–meeting someone outside.
3. The spider isn’t huge. Not small, but not big.
4. It’s in the hallway, where the first shock of seeing it sends me leaping into the nearest room, which was right at hand.
5. A shoe is lying at my feet. A shoe that DOES NOT belong to me.
6. The spider is in the perfect squishing spot—against the wall but on the floor.

I have a huge phobia of spiders. Huge. I’ve been known to pack up the kids (when they were small) and leave the house because there was a spider inside. As soon as the kids were old enough to kill spiders for me, they were. I cannot express how much I hate spiders. I’m considering deleting this post right now because it’s making me think about spiders for so long.

I killed a spider today.

Remember this? An oldie but a goodie. It was really popular when it first appeared, back in the early days of Flash. Partially because not many people had done much of this kind of thing with Flash yet, but mostly because it was just so cheeseball.

When Daniel and I first got married (Feb ‘89), we lived in Hawaii for six months. We were sooooo young.

My favorite beach was Laniloa Beach. It was just down the road from us in Laie. All the BYU college students called it Bikini Beach, because it was secluded and they could wear bikinis there without getting caught. (BYU has a dress code which includes no bikinis.) This is me at Laniloa:

Nice belt, huh? I was 18 or 19. Daniel at Laniloa Beach:

My other favorite beach was Kailua Beach. It was a ways away, but we worked not too far from Kailua, so I went there a lot. Both of these beaches have houses right on the beach—like we’re basically standing in people’s yards. But all of the beaches in Hawaii are public. None are privately owned. So while people can sometimes build houses right on the beach, you can just walk right onto the beach any old time.

This is a picture of Laie Point. Daniel lived in a house out here the year before we got married, when he was attending BYU:

I took this picture from Laniloa Beach, or maybe it was from up on the Point, of a spear fisherman walking out on the reef one day:

I used to walk down to Laniloa after class (I went to BYU in Hawaii for a semester while we were there) and sit on the beach and do homework.

We bought this car, a Plymouth Scamp, for about $200. It was a rust bucket, but all the cars in Hawaii were. It’s so humid there. We had a lot of fun in this car, mainly because there was an exhaust leak and we’d get completely delirious while driving home from work at night. (Our drive was about 45 minutes.)

We rented a basement apartment to Daniel’s right in the picture above. In the picture below, it’s the bottom right part of the house:

My parents came for a visit once. I took this picture of Honolulu when my parents were visiting and we went up to Diamond Head. Actually, I can’t remember going up there, maybe they went without me and I gave them my camera.

Daniel’s parents came to Hawaii on their anniversary, so we got to hang out with them as well. Here I am with my in-laws:

Ah, to be young and in Hawaii…

What would the internet be without it?

I got an email from someone who wanted to correct me on something I commented about on another blog—a song lyric. It was an old comment that linked to my old blog address. On my old blog layout, I had an “email me” link that when you clicked on it, was programmed to automatically make the email subject line say, “I love your blog!” Like this. Neat trick, right?

Here’s part of his email:

By the way– bonus ego points for assuming, in your subject line, that people love your blog. It takes either serious egotism or crushing self-esteem issues to pre-emptively congratulate yourself so others won’t have to.

Hmm. Obviously a fan of hyperbole. He continues:

Your blog, by the way, isn’t bad. It aint great, but it has a great layout and is visually pleasing.

Boring as hell, but good visual appeal.

Don’t bother responding. I just wanted you to know that you were being driven crazy by a song lyric that you were hearing incorrectly to begin with.

Have a nice day.

What’s funny is I forgot that I put the “I love your blog” subject line in there right after I did it. So whenever I get an email from someone via my old blog location, I see an email that says “I love your blog!” and get excited. Hey, someone’s writing to tell me they love my blog! Then I open the email and they always remark about the subject line being programmed in. And I remember, oh yeah, I put that there.

It’s like a little practical joke I played on myself. They love my blog! …Oh wait, no. Actually they don’t.

Good has come of this, though. I realized my current blog layout was breaking in IE, so I fixed it. I also realized I didn’t have an “Email me” link on this layout, so I added it. (Top right under the radio.blog.) Do you think the subject line I stuck in there on this layout will generate any hate mail? Maybe I should change it.

Suggestions? Maybe one of these:

Email me
Email me
Email me
Email me
Email me

Elijah and I were in a Subway and apparently he didn’t like the music they were playing. He told me he hates ballads, and only likes the anti-ballads, such as Metallica’s “Fade to Black.”

I asked what he meant and he said, “Ballads are all about hope, and holding on, and…pushing through.” He sounded disgusted.

“I like the anti-ballads. They’re about depression, and darkness, and just wanting to die.”

Like so often when he renders me speechless, I stuck my fist out for a pound.

Chuck Dukowski, bassist of Black Flag, has a band called the Chuck Dukowski Sextet. His wife does vocals; Tony Tornay of Fatso Jetson plays drums; and they have a very young-looking guitarist.

A Sextet of four people.

The show was in a little art gallery in San Pedro. Just a small room with the walls covered in old Black Flag show flyers.

Before the show, the TVs on the table in the pic above were showing videos. One had clips from some band playing in what looked like an auditorium or something. The other was footage of a band playing a skate contest at the Basic Pool a few years ago. Nathaniel and I were tripping out because we were at that contest.

Tony’s a friend of mine, but I haven’t seen him in a few years. He was telling me about how every time he goes snowboarding he thinks of Daniel because he rides an old Lib Tech board. Daniel used to work for Lib Tech. The board Tony has is a Dave Lee pro model. Daniel most likely built the board. Dave Lee is now Daniel’s boss, the owner of Signal Snowboards. I can’t believe a board that old is still rideable.

The guitarist looks like he’s about 13.

Chuck was having fun.

They closed with “My War,” which I then had stuck in my head the rest of the night. Funny how it’s such a catchy song. I’ll post it to the radio.blog.

Nathaniel and the one armed man came along.

I have a post up over at Kulturblog.com about why today’s popular rock music sucks. Go check it out if you want.

We have a giant whiteboard on our wall between our living room and dining room. We use it as a calendar. The kids put stuff on it, their activities or plans. I put shows on it.

Next show: tonight in San Pedro, my friend’s side project band is playing at an art gallery. The band is called the Chuck Dukowski Sextet. Chuck Dukowski is the bassist from Black Flag, and he plays bass in the CD6; his wife does vocals; my friend Tony, drummer from Fatso Jetson, plays drums. I can’t remember who else is in the band. Should be fun, I’m taking Nathaniel, and trying to talk Daniel into going. Dillun, you can come too.

I know it’s hard to read—so other notable notes on our calendar are:

May 2 - Cat’s friend Jenn is having a masquerade party
May 3 - Cultural night at church (yummy food)
May 10 - Bono’s birthday
May 14 - a cartoon face Cat drew, excited about having a blue pen
May 17 - Brant Bjork at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach!

I’ve never posted on my blog about American Idol, but I thought this conversation I had with my best friend from high school was kinda funny. We email each other back and forth almost everyday, and we always talk about American Idol on Wednesdays. Sometimes it reminds me of when we were in psychology class together and would write notes on the same piece of paper, passing it back and forth. (Daniel was in that class with us.)

Forwarded conversation
Subject: AI
————————

From: JM
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 7:56 AM
To: Susan M

How funny was Paula?!?!

———-
From: Susan M
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:03 AM
To: JM

“This is really hard!”

She does so well under pressure.

———-
From: JM
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:00 AM
To: Susan M

Yeah, Michael and I were cracking up because no one corrected her right away.

———-
From: Susan M
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:05 AM
To: JM

No one could believe their ears.

———-
From: JM
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:02 AM
To: Susan M

So who do you think will go?

———-
From: Susan M
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:18 AM
To: JM

Dial Idol actually has Syesha and David Cook at the top. I was hoping she’d leave. They’ve got Brooke at the bottom. I think at this point it’s anyone who could leave. I think the final will be David Cook and David Archuleta, either one could take it. I think David A has gotten a little old and David Cook is more relevant to today’s radio, so David Cook will probably win.

I wish you could’ve heard Daniel’s comments after David Cook performed. He went off about Simon thinking he was “brilliant” because he’s just like all the other schlock on the radio for the last 10 years.

———-
From: JM
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:16 AM
To: Susan M

I told Michael after David Cook sang, here’s the next Goo Goo Dolls.

Yeah, I think Syesha needs to just go to broadway. She’s a much better singer/actor than pop singer. I think Jason and Brooke did terribly last night. And David A. is starting to sound like a 1 trick pony.

———-
From: Susan M
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:25 AM
To: JM

Daniel said David Cook must be a big fan of the Goo Goo Dolls, too.

I liked Jason’s first song. I like that he doesn’t seem to care. I really think he’s just going through the motions at this point, though. I’m wondering if he’s just overwhelmed by it all and wants it to end or something.

I liked Brooke’s second song.

“America” was the best number, I thought, but it’s just such a great song. Daniel was saying it’s like “Bohemian Rhapsody”—so cheesy, but it’s just constructed so well, the chord progression, the way it builds—you can’t help but start feeling like “Yeah! AMERICA!”

———-
From: JM
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:25 AM
To: Susan M

America is one of my favorite Neil Diamond songs and both Dylan and Michael were like “I hate this song”. I was like “WHAT?!” yeah, I didn’t like either Jason or Brooke’s songs last night. Actually, I’m getting quite bored by the whole thing. There’s really no one I like, you know?

———-
From: Susan M
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:31 AM
To: JM

Well the problem is I don’t like them on *American Idol.* I think I’d like Jason and Brooke’s albums when they come out, if they’re allowed to do their thing. They do their own thing well. They’re just not American Idol material. David A for sure is, but he is getting boring. He needs to liven it up somehow.

———-
From: JM
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:30 AM
To: Susan M

Yeah, I would agree with you on all counts. David A. is just trying to not get beat by his daddy every week!

———-
From: Susan M
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:37 AM
To: JM

Neil Diamond night wasn’t the trainwreck I was hoping for, but it definitely wasn’t a stellar night, either.