So I skipped work today, because… well, why not really? But to justify it out loud, I wasn’t really feeling all that great, and I didn’t have any really important meetings… and I really needed to clean my apartment. So thpthpthtp.

So I went out to buy some supplies, namely bulletin boards & pushpins so I can have a place to put all my scraps of paper. Of course as soon as I hung them, I decided – damn they need memorabilia. So I found my ol’ MTV bag o’ history. Its got a bunch of stuff in it from my glory days at the channel. So I started finding all this stuff that brought back all these memories. A ton of laminates, a bunch of 8×10 glossies I stole from the press cabinet… a bunch of really cool artwork I found at the office from back before I even worked there – a lot of conceptual stuff for the first website and even the AOL site (before there was an MTV.com). So now my board is filled with stuff… no scaps of paper, but a lot of stuff with a lot of memories. Fuck, I loved that job. I mean it sucks there now… there’s no heart of soul going on. Just a bunch of hipsters & wanna-be’s making twice what I was when I started and only doing a quarter of the work. But fuck it was fun then. It sucked too, but it was rad. Quake or N64 for half the day, then shove 8 hours of work in at the end of the day. Miss working with all my friends from back then. We’re all scattered around now – still a ton of us floating around the Viacom machine.

My job now is good, and the people are really great, but that was a special time back then. I want to love a job again. But for right now the autographed pictures of Debbie Gibson & AJ Langer looking down on me will have to suffice.

Speaking of My So-Called Life, I went to a focus group the other day for the show, where they showed a bunch of 15 yo girls a couple of episodes. They all thought it was from the 80’s. WTF. I feel old.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Poster Children – “Western Springs”

The 11th
Johnny Cash
Harry Goz (Sealab 2021 – Captain Murphy)
Panic attacks
Insomnia
A girl that leads you on
Hurricane
Sickness
Good people quitting their jobs and moving away
Insert your gripe here: _____________

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Nine Inch Nails – “The Fragile”

Actually, I count myself lucky. I wasn’t in a subway or an elevator. Did you see me on TV? We were the crowd of 35,000 people waving at the helicopters as we waited for ferries to NJ. You know, suprisingly most people were pretty chill, and I met some really nice folks, that still had their senses of humor entact the seven hours after we started waiting. So standing for 7 hours, then walking a couple of miles on the Jersey side – not a bad deal really. I’d like to give a couple of shout-outs:

• Poland Spring – diseased or not, I really like your water. Plus you deliver cheap to my office. I grabbed several bottles of your refreshing H20 on my way out the door and myself and the people that were passing out in the line next to me appreciated it.
• The English Mum – thank god for the Brits and their fucked up sense of humour. I’m so glad I was standing next to you. There’s a reason wit rhymes with Brit
• The Cute Couple on the Ferry – you two were nice subsititues for the Brit when we got separated.
• PSEG – for turning on my electricity at 3am in the morning exactly when I was thinking to myself, “if I sweat anymore, this normal mattress will become one of those waveless waterbed mattresses, and while kinda cool, that would suck.”
• Parents in another part of the country – who were more than happy to relay news from CNN to me and 35,000 of my closest frineds.
• NYPD, FDNY, PAPD, NJ State Police, Weehawken PD, Hoboken PD, Red Cross – yeah. In case you guys didn’t know this already, you all rock.

And now the list of those now on the shitlist:

• cell phone companies – yeah, i know, lack of power… capacity… but it’s been 2 years, you haven’t upgraded yet?
• NY Waterways – thanks for the free trip but it would have been nice if you could have at least secured a bullhorn from someone and let us know what the plan was, that would have been great.
• Loud bitchy lady – you’re the only person I heard complain loudly all day, and considering it was about the fact that we were letting a little girl having an asthma attack up to the wrong of the line ahead of you… yeah, we know you’re tired. So are we. Go on a diet and shut the fuck up.
• me – for only having perishable food in the house.

blah.

Okay… this is just great… I almost wish I lived in California…

25th Annual Mooning of Amtrak (Silver Anniversary)

[ mood | tired ]
[ music | Nine Inch Nails – “Where Is Everybody” ]

Finally went through the rest of the 4th pix. Some of them came out quite nice… those are posted HERE [link redacted].

Had an interesting night hanging out with drunk strangers on my roof. They collectively thought I was a “good man” that is until I told them, “no thanks, I don’t want to go to the strip club with you” then one of them called me a pussy. Somehow going to a strip club with drunk, sunburned strangers doesn’t seem like a patriotic outing… Did get some interesting pix though.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: “Kick Out The Jams” – MC5

woo.

I really love my new apartment. I love my new hood. I’m a very content Mr. Pants tonight. Of course Verizon is fucking me on the DSL front… but that should sort itself out soon. Also very excited – many new albums are headed my way this week… and GTA Vice City for PC finally. Let the decapitating of the virtual assholes begin.

Okay, LJ was being a bitch for a while, so now I’m finally finishing this entry…

Anyways, symphoNYspace is also having a bunch of Sci-Fi double features the next few weekends – Clockwork Orange, 2001, Forbidden Planet, etc. Just gotta remember to get tix.

I just saved myself a whole dollar! I saw an errant one dollar charge on my Visa bill. Just out of curiosity – and boredom, I called the bank and said, “Couldn’t figure out what the deal is with the dollar. Any ideas?” The guy said, “Sure.. you see… um… paid in full, paid in full, paid in full, paid in full — you always pay in full.” “Yep.” “Okay then sir, we’ll take that dollar off there. Is there anything else I can do for you?” “No – thanks.”

Woo – I rock.

I also talked my landlord into letting me stay 3 extra days so I don’t have to move during the week.

Tomorrow I’m going to start taking in my bags of change to the bank and open a savings account. Yes – I’m a pain in the ass.

[ mood | exhausted ]
[ music | Fun Lovin’ Criminals – “View Belongs to Everyone” ]

why the fuck do we have to relaunch the site big every year. blah. it’s 9:30pm – i’m still at work. and they decide to hand me an assignment yesterday, due today, to write up all our web entries for an award show conference that everyone in the group is going to, except me because i wasn’t budgeted. fuckwads. and like these awards are annual, so why the hell did they wait till yesterday to hand me this shit to write… not like they didn’t know it was coming. so did it get done? fuck no. on the plus side, the band i was doing a fan site for is dumping their old site, and making mine the official one… no money, but it’s not much work, and maybe i’ll get swag – it’s actually kind of fun. for now. and now i’ve got some wack-ass freelance gig this weekend that, if i actually get paid, will be almost three’s weeks salary for two days worth of work. but i’m soooo fucking tired.

[ mood | uncomfortable ]
[ music | Division Of Laura Lee – “Need To Get Some” ]

Ugh. What a buzzkill. I come home from a fun evening out drinking to find a note under my door from a neighbor in the building. He was robbed yesterday, and apparently there have been other burglaries recently too. Blah. He’s moving out as soon as he can. Ugh. Now I find myself looking at apartments too. Blah. Blah. Blah.

[ mood | hungry ]
[ music | The Soundtrack of Our Lives – “Sister Surround” ]

Not a bad show. My feet were sore, I was hungry, I was hot, and my shoulder starting bugging out, but I really enjoyed them. NYC sucks though. It’s fucking embarrassing, no one makes any noise during concerts till like 3 or 4 songs in. It’s like we’re all asleep and can’t be bothered. I guess it’s all the Kool Kids too busy posturing, or the pseudo-lesbians pretending to be dreaming of damp beaver. I yelped and hollered and clapped when I wasn’t in pain. Any other fucking town goes nuts 10 minutes before a band hits the stage, and by the first note whether it’s off-key or not, goes apeshit till the third encore. NYC just politely claps till we get good and ready to enjoy ourselves. Eh. Fuckers. The lads from Sweden put on a nice poppy show, with some juicy little rock elements. At one point, the lead singer dood said “man, it’s quiet. well, we like it quiet, you can hear the music.” Hope he meant it Anyway, towards the end most of the people in the front were bouncing so that’s good. And now I’m recalling a conversation I heard while getting in the door, something along the lines of, “yeah, only 90 tickets were let out to the public” which if true, might explain the quietness. The place was probably packed with Kool Kid Industry Folx on plus-ones. Eh. Fuckers.

You know the one thing worse than B. O.? A shit load of flowery perfume on a girl that’s standing between you and the vent in a club. It could’ve been Shower to Shower or some similar shit. It smelled powdery whatever it was. Maybe she was having a not-so-fresh kind of day. I should probably lay off.

Fucking one of my discount CDs from Virgin last night was trashed… big ass split in the CD… had to exchange it today, but they were super cool about it. Laid receipt down on the counter with the broken CD and a replacement and the guy was like “Cool. Thanks. Here ya go.” A helpful customer service dood… who woulda thunk it.

Personal day tomorrow to receive some “freight” at the old homestead. I told one previous boss at the channel that, “oh yeah, not in tomorrow” and she’s like “why didn’t you tell me sooner” and I just pointed down the hall to the VP, my new boss and said “I told her a while back.” I wonder if my old boss knows she’s my old boss yet? Our company is whacked.

[ mood | amused ]
[ music | Johnston, Freedy – “The Lucky One” ]

So I went to my lonely little PO Box this morning to see if there was any mail. There hasn’t been since I “purchased” it… basically because nothing has had time to be rerouted to it… but what awaited me this morning? What was the first thing to grace the insides of my first PO Box ever? TICKETS!!! Tickets to my favoritist band ever… it’s the little things…

Went out after work today with my friend Starky. We had some food, and then went over to a variety show at Surf Reality. One of my buds from the office was performing a a solo sketch. It was fucking hilarious. Many of the other acts were good too… and weird… very weird. Starky and I decided to use our inner weirdness for evil now, and produce more VIDEOS and evil things.

I also picked up some CDs and DVDs at Virgin with my fat-ass coupon book (10 bucks off 50 buck purchase, among others!). Now I’m going to eat crackers and watch the Oz I Tivoed last night.

[ mood | happy ]
[ music | Camper Van Beethoven – “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” ]

Saw Camper Van Beethoven tonight with the chainsaw. Excellent show. I wasn’t a huge CVB band – liked ’em, but didn’t own anything, but I thorougly enjoyed myself there. There were a couple of idiots there moshing to slow songs… you think you’d get the point when you and your friend are the only ones acting like jackasses, that maybe you should shut the fuck up and sit down… but alas. Later we saw them standing in line at coat check. I didn’t think punks would take the time or pay the money for coat check. It was very confusing.

Other than the young, dumb punks, Chainsaw and I were the youngest ones there… and oddly enough the shortest. I’m 6’0″ and I still couldn’t see the stage… we were in the land of giants. We moved for the second set, and were upfront which was very enjoyable.

Next week I’m gonna check out Bona Roba with Courtney, and then Soundtrack of Our Lives & Division of Laura Lee by my lonesome.

[ mood | tired ]
[ music | Interpol – “Stella was a diver and she was always down” ]

So I had this really surreal experience tonight. My friend was kind enough to get me on the guestlist for Interpol at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Great show, save for some morons shouting out dumb lines you know they’ve been practicing for weeks, but the lads were in fine form… very tight. Much more enjoyable than the last time I saw them. Anyway, afterwards everyone split for a nearby hotel to watch their performance on Letterman recorded that afternoon. So there I am in a crowed hotel room in Weehawken, staring at a shitty TV watching a band I’d just seen live, performing on Letterman, and clapping at the TV, while the lead singer was hiding out in the bathroom. I would’ve been hiding out in the bathroom too… I’d hate to see myself on TV.

Anyway, great live show. Fine appearance on Letterman. Very odd evening.

[ mood | content ]
[ music | Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus and Lucy” ]

So one of my New Year’s resolutions is holding… being more social & going to shows… so that’s decent. I handed over some money to both Ticketweb & Ticketmaster today… of course Ticketweb is the lesser evil of the two, but they both suck.

I finally finished revamping [REDACTED]. Not much has changed, just interface & layout. Still have a shitload of pictures to shove up there.

It’s kind of funky-looking outside right now. It’s like my apartment building has been enveloped by a marshmallow.

I got sick of my mail disappearing so I finally got a PO Box.. now I can start being anonymous and having naughty thinkg sent to me in the mail. Woo hoo! Of course now I’m knee-deep in updating my addresses with all my bills and such… I’m gonna do one of those formal address changes, but I want to notify all the major places before I do it. Already got one weird response from my bank… I have to fill out a big ass form to have my statement address changed… sup with that?

Little tip… call your local phone company and have them institute a 3rd party call block on your line. Got burned by some phone h4x0rs. Basically they call some place from someplace else and bill it to your home phone. The operator is suppose to get verbal permission before she does the call, but sometimes they don’t. The first AT&T customer service rep I talked to was an ass… but the second one was cool, and the Verizon lady had a pretty hot voice, and she wanted to woo me into switching to their long distance… and I agreed… too bad for Sprint… suckers.

I grouted my shower this weekend. That’s right. I’m a fucking loser. But soon I’ll be a loser losing my hearing and suffering from lack of sleep.

[ mood | sore ]
[ music | Ty Tabor – “Better To Be On Hold” ]

So I had a wonderful last week, but this week hasn’t been that great. I guess that’s life just balancing itself out

Observations:
– I miss 120 Minutes. The new one just isn’t the same.
– “My So-Called Life” was a wonderful series. I’m watching it again on DVD and I’m almost glad it didn’t get picked up, because we have this perfect little season. It didn’t get a chance to dilute itself like most dramas.
– I’m sick of being sick.

[ mood | accomplished ]
[ music | Nick Drake – “Road” ]

So I ran into my landlord today outside… No pets, but on the plus side, the available parking space is only 60/mo. Now if only I had a car. A cat would be much cheaper though.

[ mood | hyper ]
[ music | Jeff Buckley – “Last Goodbye” ]

oh my god oh my god oh my god…

I just had the first real caffeine dose since I quit in January… wanted a frappacino so I went for it, and now I’m like fucking bouncing off the walls… oh my. No more coffee for Bippy. Oy! I’m insane, all giggly and bouncy and shite…

[ mood | blah ]
[ music | Fugazi – “Styrofoam” ]

So I’m walking down Avenue of the Americas Monday around 7pm. I get to some intersection, and the the *don’t walk* light is on, and cars are starting to cross. The pedestrians stop walking, as we’re supposed to… I mean sheesh cars are coming… except for this family who continues talking to each other, and walks into traffic without looking. Now if it’s just a man and his wife, I chalk them up to being momentarily lost in each other’s eyes or some other bullshit, but this family is made up of a pregnant mother, a father, and 3 other kids. Nice lesson for the kids, walk blindly into traffic. People who walk around with their kids and don’t do the whole, “stop and look before you cross” lesson are jackasses, and are precisely the people that shouldn’t be having kids in the first place. That’s why I’m going to run for president some day on the sterlization platform. If you don’t pass a certain base-level IQ/competency test, you’re immediately sterlized before you hit puberty. What do you think? Too harsh? But I’m gonna have cool t-shirts — on the front a tied fallopian tube, and on the back a snipped testicle, with the message “vote bippy – keep the dumbasses from reproducing.”

Just a thought.

The family survived. And when an old guy behind them was saying “what the hell were you thinking” they were just laughing. Meanwhile this intersection is super close to that same intersection were all those people were wiped out a few months back.