I'm sorry to say that this will likely be my last livejournal post. Livejournal used to be so much fun...and full of life. Now I feel as if it's time to move onto bigger and better things. Things that will infuse the soul and refresh the spirit. These things are mainly included in...a new blog of mine.

I've started a blog on wordpress.com. I've given many years to Livejournal, I realize, but this new format on a new site seems a bit more sophisticated (?). I suppose. Really it comes down to the fact that livejournal seems to be more of, just that, a journal. In my own deluded world, I fancy myself a humorist. I'd like to write things and have people read them, and then...ideally...have them laugh at those things. I know that  there are a few people who read this feed on facebook, but I doubt it's many, since, to be honest, I never read anyone's notes on facebook.
The new blog's address is http://charlestonphilosopher.wordpress.com/ ; I've tried to keep this one confined to more serious writing, by which I mean longer posts. With livejournal you're only likely to read my posts on a friend's page, and if you do, then you're never likely to read the longer ones.

I hope you'll check out my new site (http://charlestonphilosopher.wordpress.com/) because I also like that it's got a counter on it so I can see exactly how popular it may get.  If you liked my greyhound posts...or my political photos post (of which I did another on the new blog), then I think you'll like the new site and format.

Again, there's not much point to this entry, since I know that there's probably 5 of you who are actually reading it, but maybe you could tell your friends...

whyyyy, Cubs, why! you had bases loaded in the 5th, one out. Hernandez was about to walk in run, and you hit into a double play. 4 double plays total!? Cubs, come on! Sigh.

my revised playoff desires are as follows:
Cleveland
Phillies (yeah, like that'll happen)
Red Sox
Rockies
Angels
Diamondbacks

Pretty much, it's just Cleveland followed by any team that is not the Yankees. Hopefully, Cleveland can shut them out tomorrow, and assuage all those fears.

Well there's always next year.

location: Living Room mood: disheartened

I've noticed that one thing CNN does on their site is have pictures of the candidates that are the least flattering. Most are just still frames while they are talking. Not all of them are silly, though most are. Whether or not it shows bias...I don't know. but I'm going to go ahead and post them here, with analysis...of sorts.

location: Room

get excited...cuz here it goes!

- Ron Paul campaign raised 5,080,000 dollars for the third quarter. Edwards raised 7million, McCain raised about the same, and Romney raised some too 8.5 of which was his own money. Maybe the congressman has a shot.. (Edit, McCain raised 11)
- Work continues to go well. I have this weekend off, which is unexpected and good news.
- I did not know that season 2 of 30 Rock would begin tonight until this afternoon. (before this afternoon I had no idea about when season 2 would begin). Anyways, I watched it. Jerry Seinfeld guest starred. It. was. hilarious. It might have been one of the funniest things I've ever seen on TV.
- Yankees lose 12-3 to Indians. YES!
- Cubs lost game one, losing game two 6-2. NO!
- I made a 100 on my Law and Ethics test. Hooray for knowing what Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances are.
- I'm going to find a cheap way to Alaska next summer...and it's gotta take 2 weeks...no more, should be fun. We'll see how that all works out.
- The Corolla is back in working order. New tires. New Fender. New bumper cover. same soooul....Ok, so my car didn't have soooul, but what did it have? It had...um...places on the hood, where the paint has started chipping away...and that's still there! oooh yeah.
- Looking forward to HFOL...yes he is.

location: My room music: Blue Turning Grey- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

This is probably one of the cooler things I've seen. Ron Paul2008 It's a live counter of how much money is being donated to Ron Paul's campaign. The goal was to raise $500,000 by sept 30 starting on sept 24th. Well that has long past, and they're now shooting for a million bucks. The campaign is at about 610,000, which is pretty impressive. It's not a lot compared to the other candidates, but I've got to hope somehow that maybe the volume of grassroots support could be enough to give that money some real power. I do plan to contribute to the campaign, once my paycheck is deposited (stupid direct deposit processing time). I fully realize that there's about as good a chance of Ron Paul becoming president as the Braves not choking in the postseason. Still, I'm going to do what I can, so I can say that I did my best, while shaking my head as President Rodham/Giuliani is sworn in. I'm not going to use this blog to tell you why I think Ron Paul is the best candidate. Go to his site, if you agree with him, you should support him, if you don't, you shouldn't. He won't win because he's not playing the political game of "winning or buying" votes. He's put his message out there, and said, "Hey, if this is what you think a president should do, vote for me." A lot of people find this sufficient, but even more aren't even going to look twice, because they're just going to see Mrs. Clinton, America's "Mayor," Distric Attorney Arthur Grant, or Obama (for lack of a pithy nickname). Obama's losing steam, which is the lesser of all those evils, but I truly feel that Paul isn't a lesser of evils...but a good positive candidate. Anywho, check out the link. He's raised $3,000 since I started writing this post.http://www.ronpaul2008.com

edit - 615k as of 11:33

location: my room mood: optimistic music: spoon - The infinite pet

What happened to you Livejournal? you used to be cool. people used to read you. i used to feel a need to use proper capitalization. Seriously though, it seems like Livejournal just died and no one cared. I'm willing to bet that facebook has a lot to do with it. Odd, I would say, since all of my livejournal posts are fed directly to facebook...so I guess I win on all counts.

With this in mind, the fact that a)no one reads lj anymore or b)those that do never read long posts (myself included), I will use the tried and true "quick-list" method which seems to be an adequate means for posting neat little facts about what's going on with me.

- I just got back from doing Karaoke the second night in a row. It was awesome. I got a crazy/mostly drunk ovation for singing Jet's "Are you gonna be my girl" as well as "Come on Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners. (thanks VH1's countdown of the top one hit wonders)
- Work is going very well at James Island. I definitely think I'll do alright there.
- I got my tickets to see the Decemberists in D.C. on the 9-10 of November. Get excited!
- Saw the Charleston Battery play the Puerto Rico Islanders in the season ender the other night. There were fireworks. It was awesome.
- I obtained Rilo Kiley's new album. I didn't like it at first, but it has grown on me sufficienly where it is all that I'm listening to right now.
- This is my first weekend off with no obligations or plans in a long long time. I don't like it. That is sad. Yes it is.
- I got to see both Erin and Clay this weekend, whom I've not seen in a while. I miss my friends...silly graduating, and people having lives (myself included...stupid job)

I think this is long enough that your attention span shouldn't be too strained. If anything you just didn't make it to this last line, which, in the grand scheme of things isn't that important.

location: Summerville, SC mood: calm music: Rilo Kiley- Dreamworld

Well well well, we meet again.

I just finished watching Casablanca. I don't know how many times I've seen it, it's amazing every time. Nothing compares to the scene where Victor Laszlo leads the restaurant in La Marseillaise, or Rick alone in the restaurant after seeing Ilsa again. If there is anyway that you have not seen this movie, you need to see it now. It's not too late. Anyways, that is out of the way.

The title of this post would indicate that I have some big news. If you are reading this on facebook, there is no doubt that you also noticed my employment updates. I had applied for a full time, salaried job at James Island County Park last week. I found out monday that I was chosen from among the other applicants. This is big news, since now I can start saving up money and stuff to actually start my life eventually, but more importantly, pay off some of my debt that I'm currently in. Luckily it's not too bad, so I can take care of it pretty easily. And hopefully I'll save up enough to not have to be in this situation again. Either way it's good news. I feel like an adult now. The job itself seems like it'll be a bit of a challenge, not in actually doing it. I have no doubt that I'm going to do really well at JICP. The challenge is going to be leaving Wannamaker. I really do feel like part of a family there. But the odds of me coming back to wannamaker, if the employment trend of those who leave wannamaker to be full time is any indication, are pretty good.

I start at James Island sometime soon, as soon as they no longer need me at Wannamaker. That shouldn't be too far off. I start classes at Trident on Monday. I am definitely looking forward to it. Paralegaling should be fun! no? we'll see, I suppose.

I just got a weird desire to be on the bus...going somewhere. The where doesn't matter, but I just got this weird feeling of seeing down the aisle of the bus, all the legs and arms breeching the walkspace as everyone tries to get comfortable enough to sleep. I also got the feeling of being rocked back and forth to sleep while sitting up, my legs joining in the tangled web of limbs making anyone's trek to the bathroom that much more perilous (as if going to the bathroom on the bus itself wasn't perilous enough). I think that 11 days spent on the bus in the last few months has actually messed with my head. Ha. I think I found so much peace on the bus, personally, that I will always associate that with everything, good and bad, about riding greyhound. It doesn't matter if it's something as simple as stopping at a McDonald's for a quick breakfast, or missing a transfer and ending up in Atlanta for 4 extra hours. I honestly don't know if I can recommend this to anyone, but if you're like me, you should definitely try it.

That's it for now. It is time for bed.

location: room mood: calm music: have a day - polyphonic spree

I've been really lazy lately...in updating that is. I'm not sorry. You don't care...or read this thing, so I won't sweat it. Pretending like I'm typing for more that just my need to keep my fingers moving on a keyboard, I'll post an entry on this Livejournal.

Helped Heather move into St. Louis. Some notes about the trip and St. Louis:

- It is a long-ass drive to St. Louis.
- Due to a slip of my own tongue, St. Louis is to be referred to as Sweet Louis.
- Southern Illinois is in no way part of the north.
- Heather's new house is ridiculous.
- St. Louis is CRAZY hot- due mostly to the lack of any breeze. Dry heat, my butt.
- St. Louis' metro system is intense, and manageable. I helped Heather figure it out, since I'm so good with buses.
- I took the bus back to Summerville from St. Louis.
- It was supposed to be a 19 hour trip...due to delays in Nashville and Atlanta, it became a 27 hour trip.
- This is not a bad thing, since I got to read all of "Love in the time of Cholera" by Marquez - given to me by Heather.

That's a basic summary, more stuff happened, but you're already bored out of your mind...or have just stopped reading anyways. Oh well.

I've also acquired the following albums recently:

So Jealous, The Con - Tegan and Sara
Alligator, The Boxer - The National
Furnace Room Lullaby - Neko Case and Her Boyfriends
Separation Sunday - The Hold Steady
A Bunch of Albums by Okkervil River
All three albums by The Polyphonic Spree
The new White Stripes album - Icky Thump (Didn't like it at first, but it has already grown on me - check it out...and then listen to it three more times. You'll like it.)

I interviewed for a full time job at James Island County Park today... crossing my fingers that I get it. I'm confident that I kicked total ass at the interview...but that's not always the way you get hired... so I'm learning.

That's it for this post, before it becomes insanely long.

location: My Room mood: blah music: Where does the good go - Tegan and Sara

Well I'm back in Charleston. The trip was great. Came home to several items of bad news, but other than that, it's great to be back. I am going to write up a more comprehensive account of the trip and post it on here. Don't worry, I'll use an LJ cut. For those of you who read this on Facebook, I'm sorry, there is no cut feature, and it will probably just be a huge post. I'll try and embed pictures and such too, so that should be fun. It's mostly for me, and those of you brave (read: bored) enough to read it. No promises on when that's gonna happen. Maybe never.

but here's a good ole fashioned update about things:

-classes at Trident start on the 20th of August. I am taking:
Introduction to Law and Ethics (I tried to get out of this by saying that I took 300 level Law and Society, and am a philosophy major, but that didn't fly.)
Civil Litigation I
Property Law

I'm excited about it, all things considered.

-I have a job interview tomorrow. I am very optimistic and confident going into it. All in all I haven't failed at too many things. lol. So I figure I've got a decent shot. Plus I just read Atlas Shrugged again by Ayn Rand. Don't know what that has to do with anything. Hopefully some of Francisco D'Anconia rubbed off on me. (One of my favourite characters in all of literature)

-I developed a gnarly cough, that I can hopefully get under control by my interview tomorrow.

-Life is moving too fast for my liking. I'm keeping up all right, but it's odd to come back from vacation and be thrown back into life full speed, without warning. That's life, I suppose. Better get used to it. :)

location: Living Room mood: blank music: Ceiling Fan noise

Well this will probably be my last post from the road. I know, I know, you're devastated...and possibly, just possibly...relieved. I'm going to try and keep the same format for the last post, which I thought was pretty easy to read, so without further ado, I begin...

-Went to Mass at the Cathedral in Seattle on Sunday. Church in the round, you might say. The altar is in the center, with pews facing it from all sides...bizarre to say the least, totally effin confusing to say the most. Sean is ushered into the communion line, indicates to the priest, with a subtle "I'm unbaptized," that he's not Catholic. The priest sends him away with a blessing.

-Sunday is fairly uneventful. We walk around after mass, and just do some more exploring around the city. Again, I cannot stress enough, I freaking love this whole city.

-Well, it's uneventful until 8:00, when the doors open for the Polyphonic Spree concert.

-We wait for the Polyphonic Spree at the Green Room, a bar connected with the Showbox (the venue itself). The special of the night is 3 dollar drafts. I have two. (Guiness and a Pyramid Hefe Veisen).

-The show begins. The opening act, Jesca Hoop, is the best opening act ever. The show itself is beyond description. Just try and picture 27 people on one small club stage playing different instruments and going crazy. One of the best shows I've ever seen.

-I am singled out several times by the lead singer for being generally awesome, singing, and dancing/jumping the whole time. After, when he was signing things, he thanked me for singing and getting so into the show.

-This morning I get up early, while Sean slept in, since we got in so late, and went to the Seattle Center. This is where the Space Needle is, which was my first destination.

-After the space needle, I went to the Science Fiction Museum and the Experience Music Project. Freakin A, it was awesome. Every nerd who reads this has an obligation to himself/herself, to come to Seattle and go to this Museum. Well maybe not, but it's super cool.

-Took the monorail back, and then met up with Lori to go to Alki beach for some pizza. It was delicious.
(though not as good as Dave's Pizza, I would have to say.)

That's about all I have to say. I'm sad to be leaving Seattle, but I'm looking forward to sleeping in a bed again. It's bittersweet, I suppose.

For those of you tracking our progress at home on your handy map of the United States, our itinerary for the remainder of the trip is as follows:
(major cities only or states alone, if major cities are in want)
Oregon
Boise, ID
Salt Lake City, UT
Denver, CO
Amarillo, TX
-various number of cities in Texas amounting, I believe, to a s*** ton-
Dallas, TX
Shreveport, LA
Mississipi
Birmingham, AL
Atlanta, GA
Columbia, SC
and home - Summerville.

Sounds like fun, I know. You're insanely jealous, but it's ok, maybe someday, when you're less of a wimp, you'll take the bus cross country. Yeah, I said it.

location: Seattle mood: excited music: none

Well, we're in Seattle. I don't have much time to post another elaborate (read:boring) post about our journey thus far, so I'll just do a quick bullet point type update:

- Went to Wallace's Oasis Bordello and Museum. Was an old brothel that closed down in 1988, now it's a museum with tours. Everything left EXACTLY as it was when the girls were there, since they left all their stuff. Very interesting

- Couer D'Alene bus station is NOT open at 10:00PM like the woman in Billings told us, so we get a ride to Spokane, thankfully. The Bus leaving Spokane is an hour and a half late. This means that we don't get too much time to sleep. We get into Seattle at 7:30am.

- My Cousin Lori might be one of the coolest relatives I have.

- Seattle might just be one of the coolest cities I've ever been to. I am seriously considering moving here eventually.

- We went to the Benaroya Music Hall, for a tour on Friday, for a concert on Saturday - Carmina Burana. Both are fantastic. The latter moreso.

- We get tix to see the Polyphonic Spree on Sunday. That should be good, I hope.

- Went to Bainbridge Island via Ferry. - also an intersting thing to do.

- Had really really really good Sushi.

- Went throughout all of Pike's Market, which puts the Charleston Market to a thousand shames.

That's all. I know, I know, it's still really long, but hopefully the format makes it easier and more fun to read. Who knows. I doubt anyone is even reading this. :P Well I'm off to my room for bed. And by bed I mean sleeping bag, and by room, I mean tent in my cousin's backyard.

location: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON mood: Loving Seattle music: Man V Wild on TV

Thanks for tuning back in, if this is your first time, you should probably go back and read the last post, just to catch up...go ahead, I'll wait. 


Hey, you're back. That was quick...too quick. I don't really think you read the whole thing, but I'll continue as if you did. It's your loss buddy.


Well we're in Bemidji, Minnesota, and I don't have my bag with me, which also had the tent we were going to use for the KOA in Bemidji. Logistics of getting to the KOA, and then the forced situation of not having a tent, resulted in us staying in the Midway Motel, which was double the price of a KOA, and right next to the bus stop. A win win. We head into town and see Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox. And when i say this I mean an 18 foot representation of each. They're ridiculous. I get a picture in front of both, and we continue on to see the city. We head to Dave's Pizza to investigate Pete Fenson's absence and to see if he'll be in later. The restaurant doesn't open till 5 pm, so we head to a Maid-Rite Diner. For those of you not in "the know" Maid Rite was a chain along Route 66. For those of you who don't know what Route 66 was, go watch Disney's Cars. Anyways, it's an old timey diner, and they had Fresh Homemade Rhubarb Pie. This is probably the most delicious pie ever. We then head for dinner at Dave's Pizza. Pete Fenson is still not there but we learn that he MIGHT be in at 12:30 the next day. We have some pizza, which is delicious, and head out. Both of us are out by 9:00 PM. I get up early to go to church, and the previously beautiful day has turned into a 54 degree, rainy, 30 mph winds nightmare. We do go to Dave's Pizza, and wait for Mr. Fenson. He DOES show up, and we talk with him for a while. He is probably the nicest guy I've ever met. We get some pictures and make the walk back to the bus stop. Luckly my bags were on the bus that came in, much to my relief. We get on the bus to St. Cloud transfering to Fargo, Billings and Finally, Couer D'Alene. Sadly I don't get REAL confirmation that my bags are on the bus with my until Billings, MT. They were on the bus, however. At Billings Sean and I do not get to sit next to one another, so I get to meet a guy named Will, with whome I talk until Couer D'Alene. Before I talk about Will, I'd like to make a note of the Montana landscape. 

It is freaking gorgeous. It starts off slightly boring, and flat, and then the elevation increases slightly until you're in some of the most fantastic mountains ever. Truly I could not get enough of the scenery. Beautiful

Will is an interesting character. My first impression of him is as follows. He's got blond hair, his head shaved all along sides, leaving only the top. Another key feature of will is some of tattoos. Namely the Nazi cross and the stormtrooper symbols he has tatooed on his wrists. Great, I say to myself, I get to spend the next 10 hours with a Nazi. Turns out he's actually a really nice guy. He went to prison when he was 17, for stealing a truck, and beating up it's owner. The reason he gives is that this guy tried to rape a friend of his he'd known since Kindergarten. He claims that it was just a matter of which one of his other friends got to him first. He paid his time, 7 years, in a Texas prison, and then proceeded to wander about he country getting jobs here and there. Ranging from Alaskan Cannery worker, to Amateur Boxer in Missoula, to Montana Lottery Winner- $28,000. I saw another one of his tattoes which was a square with a cross in it, like a window you would draw on a house when you're in the 2nd grade. I realize that it was a swastika, but he had it altered to be otherwise. He expressed his disgust with white supremacists in the area, and in general, and proved to be an interesting guy all around. He was continueing on to Seattle, so we wished him well, and got off in Couer D'Alene, where my Nana's friend picked us up, and we spent the night at my nana's house. 

I didn't win the Beauty Pageant in Minnesota, however.  

location: Same old timey arcade/soda fountain in Idaho music: More 50

This post will probably be split up, if only to keep it from being too crazy long. Part 1 will detail our trip from Lexington to Bemidji. Part 2 will be about Bemidji itself and subsequent trip to Couer D'alene, ID. Let's begin...Shaaaalll we?

We stayed the night in Lexington with Jessie, which was very much needed. We ate at a gumbo place in the city and then saw the lab where Jessie works, growing cells and such. Pretty fancy. This was Saturday, we spent the night and got up early to leave for the bus station, since the bus leaves at 9:00 for Cincinnati where we would then catch the bus to Chicago, and on to Minneapolis, and on to Bemidji.  We got there at 8:00 in the  morning, giving us plenty of time to get our ticket. We get our ticket, and Jessie leaves to go to Kings Island Theme park. When the bus arrives, we learn that there are only 4 spaces available on the bus, and we are not among the first four people in line. This means for those slower among you, that we cannot get on this bus. This normally would not be devastating news, we would just get on the next bus. Sadly, the next bus leaves at 9:00 the next morning. This is just GREAT news. We give Jessie a call, and then she offers to take us to Cincinnati, where she is already, because she left her ticket to Kings Island, and had to print a new one. She drives back to Lexington, an hour and a half drive, and then back to Cincinnati, so we can catch the bus there, since we were going to transfer buses there to Chicago. Pretty much, Jessie earns mega ultra super bonus points. The bus is late coming in to and leaving Cincinnati, so when we get to Chicago, it's barely in time to catch the bus to Minneapolis. We make it, thankfully, and no further setbacks are experienced. We did meet one girl on the bus, her name was Theresa. She works for Disney as a recruiter for the internship program there. She did the same program and hated it; she does not feel guilty about duping other college students into a program she despised. Lots of cool stories from her and her Disney/Greyhound Adventures. 

The bus to Minneapolis is pretty nice. I sleep the whole way, until we get to Milwaukee, where we learn that there's a problem with the steering on our bus, and we have to get a new one. We change buses, get back on schedule, and I go back to sleep. I sleep the whole way, until about sunrise in Wisconsin. At this time, I wake up, fully refreshed, and look out the window to see the sun just about to peek over the horizon. The entire sky exploded in color at one time, and then proceded to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The panoramic windows on the bus make it even more impressive. The transfer in Minneapolis goes without a hitch, and the rest of the ride is really nice. Minneapolis is a super cool city by the way, as are all the cities in the midwest, since they just come out of nowhere. We transfer in Wadena, MN. We are no longer on Greyhound buses, we are now on Jefferson Lines. The transfer point is a McDonalds and a Dairy Queen. We are told that if we are going to Bemidji, we need to switch buses. So those of us not going to Fargo get off the bus. They assure us that they'll transfer our luggage. I trust them. We then are told not to switch buses, but to get back on the bus we were on, again, not to worry about our luggage. We get into Bemidji to learn that my bags did not make the re-transfer back to my bus, and are now on their way to Grand Forks, ND. I spend the next few days wearing Sean's shirts and not shaving. I then call Dave's Pizza to see if Pete Fenson is there...and he isn't. He had just left, since our bus was late and the hassle for my bag pushed meeting this Curling Legend to be back of my mind.

TUNE IN TO THE NEXT POST TO SEE IF...

....I am ever reunited with my bag containing my clothes, shaving kit, tent, peanut butter, and change of shoes. 

....We ever get a chance to meet Pete Fenson. 

....I win the Miss Minnesota Beauty Pageant. 

....We meet an old gypsy woman on the bus who places a hex on us forcing every bus we get on to be 1 hour late. 

....That curse goes into effect retroactively.

All these questions and more will be answered...in moments.

location: Wallace, Idaho - in an old timey arcade music: 50's Jukebox music

well I just worked out the routes for our trip to Seattle, with all the bus routes and such. Here are the possibilities:

	Arrive	Depart	Date
Charleston		03:45 PM	07/06/07
Lexington	08:55 AM	10:30 PM	07/07/07
Chicago	05:15 AM	09:15 PM	07/08/07
Bemidji	01:15 PM		07/09/07
Bemidji		01:20 PM	07/10/07
Winnipeg	06:45 PM		07/10/07
Winnipeg		07:00 PM	07/11/07
Calgary	11:50 AM	11:15 PM	07/12/07
Vancouver	02:45 PM		07/13/07
Vancouver		11:20 AM	07/15/07
Seattle	03:30 PM		07/15/07
Seattle		08:50 PM	07/16/07
Salt Lake City	06:10 PM		07/18/07
Salt Lake City		01:00 PM	07/19/07
Charleston	02:35 PM		07/21/07
	Arrive	Depart	Date
Charleston		03:45 PM	07/06/07
Lexington	08:55 AM	10:30 PM	07/07/07
Chicago	05:15 AM	09:15 PM	07/08/07
Winnipeg	06:45 PM		07/09/07
Winnipeg		07:00 PM	07/10/07
Calgary	11:50 AM	11:15 PM	07/11/07
Vancouver	02:45 PM		07/12/07
Vancouver		11:20 AM	07/14/07
Seattle	03:30 PM		07/14/07
Seattle		08:50 PM	07/16/07
Salt Lake City	06:10 PM		07/17/07
Salt Lake City		01:00 PM	07/18/07
Charleston	02:35 PM		07/20/07
Note about this schedule, we have the flexibility
of one day to spend in any place.
	Arrive	Depart	Date
Charleston		03:45 PM	07/06/07
Lexington	08:55 AM	10:30 PM	07/07/07
Chicago	05:15 AM	09:15 PM	07/08/07
Winnipeg	06:45 PM		07/09/07
Winnipeg		07:00 PM	07/10/07
Calgary	11:50 AM		07/11/07
Calgary		01:15 PM	07/12/07
Vancouver	05:15 AM		07/13/07
Vancouver		11:20 AM	07/15/07
Seattle	03:30 PM		07/15/07
Seattle		08:50 PM	07/17/07
Salt Lake City	06:10 PM		07/18/07
Salt Lake City		01:00 PM	07/19/07
Charleston	02:35 PM		07/21/07
This schedule is what it might look like if we stayed
in Calgary for the night. We could just use that
time for vancouver or Seattle, i figure.
Vacouver to Seattle Alternative times (same dates)
Leave Vancouver		Arrive in Seattle
06:15 AM		10:20 AM
08:45 AM		12:20 PM
02:45 PM		06:55 PM
06:55 PM		10:50 PM

4 days away

location: Room mood: excited music: Vintage Clothes - Paul McCartney

I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet, since I know the attention span of LJ readers is pretty short - I know mine is. So here it is:

Smashing Pumpkins sold out show in Asheville Sunday night= freaking awesome; HARDEST rocking show I've ever seen or will see... ever.

Entire front right fender of my lovely toyota corolla mysteriously and completely wrecked on way to Asheville - state troopers puzzled, AAA guy not puzzled; yet no explanation, only conjectures.

MP3 player now working on Ubuntu for music transfer + Soulseek now working on Ubuntu for music download + Podcasts now working on Ubuntu for radio show listening = fewer reasons for me to even keep windows on my laptop.  Go Linux.

9 days until my cross country bus trek begins which will either change my life, allowing myself to discover...myself, or make me realize that getting to know myself is way overrated.

Also - I obtained a copy of the NEW new pornographers album, Challengers, and am totally in love with it.

location: my room mood: awake music: Mutiny, I promise you - New Pornographers

Really I don't like Apple, just because it's so "cool" and "hip," and I'm hesitant to jump onto such bandwagons.

- aside: Letterman has different Turkey Gobblers on the show to demonstrate their Turkey Gobbling skills -

But now I've discovered the world of podcasting on Itunes. The fact that almost all are free definitely makes a big difference. Anywho, I've subscribed to a bunch of really cool NPR podcasts, a couple of the Onion podcasts, some political podcasts, as well as a couple of really cool music podcasts. Even if you hate Itunes and what it stands for, it might be worth it to have access to some really cool podcasts.

- now Letterman's going to have John Cusack on the show...that should be really boring -

that's about it, now I'm gonna go to bed.

mood: chipper

I purchased the pre-release of They Might Be Giants' new album, The Else. I really really like it. It doesn't have any one track that stands out (Damn Good Times, Experimental Film - The Spine, or Cyclops Rock, Man It's So Loud in Here - Mink Car) but all the tracks are solid. There's no "Bastard Wants to Hit Me" on this album, which might be one of my least favourite songs of all time. I'm definitely looking forward to the cd release in July, since it will have a full length bonus disc of studio recorded and cd-quality versions of some of their podcast songs. Here is the track listing with my own review of each song:

I'm Impressed (2:39)           

The first track on the album, and it's a good opener. It's clear at the outset that the dust brothers have had a hand in this cd. It's catchy, well written, and a solid track. It may not grab you at first, but give it some time, you'll find yourself humming it to yourself.
  
Take Out The Trash (3:14)

This seems to be already one of the more popular songs from the album. And it's pretty easy to see why. It sounds like it might have easily been on Factory Showroom or John Henry. Musically it's reminiscent of TMBG of old, but my only critique is that the song, lyrically, is kind of tired. Fun nonetheless.

Upside Down Frown (2:17)

This is a so so song. Not one of my favourites on the album, but I don't skip it when it comes up, which is true for all the songs. There isn't a single song where I'd rather not listen to it when it comes on.

Climbing The Walls (3:15)

Easily my favourite song on the album - possibly one of my top 10 TMBG songs.  Classic Giants with a clear influence by the Dust Bros production team. There's a song this reminds me of, but I can't think of it. If you download just one song off the album from itunes, make it this one. I don't see how you couldn't like it (if you're a TMBG fan at least, if you don't like TMBG in general, then you can probably forget about this whole album).

Careful What You Pack (2:40)

I really like this song. Another one of my favourites from the album. It sounds like a slight blend of They Might Be Giants and Death Cab for Cutie. And by slight blend I mean 4 parts TMBG 1 part DCFC. If you like both of those bands then I would download this one, or if you like DCFC and haven't really heard and TMBG you like, then check this one out.

The Cap'm (3:11)

This is a fun song. Classic TMBG wordplay. Risks being fun for fun's sake- whatever that might mean. I see this song as being annoying later, possibly.

With The Dark (3:17)

Another clearly Dust Bros. influenced song. Not a bad song, not a great song, it's a good song though, especially after the first 2 minutes.

The Shadow Government (2:37)

Flansburg's required semi-political song of the album. But it's defnitely better than some of his other ones. Overall it's clear that this was more Flansburg written then Linnel, since Linnel's songs are clearly much better. (See the Mesopotamians)

Bee Of The Bird Of The Moth (3:31)

I really can't follow this song. Sounds like it belongs on No!, which I did like. This song just seems a little out of place. Reminds me of The House At The Top Of The Tree (2:31), which I liked a lot better.

Withered Hope (2:54)

The best clearly influenced by the Dust Bros. song. The song really kicks it up around the 0:50 mark. One of the songs on the album that I bet would be really cool live.

Contrecoup (3:11)

I liked this song when it was released in one of their podcasts. I still like it. "Hi we're They Might Be Giants and we can write a song about anything we want, even on a dare.


Feign Amnesia (2:29)

The jury is still out on this one. I can't get into it as much as the other songs. It sounds as if it might belong just as well on Mink Car - my least favourite Album of theirs. This and the Cap'm are the two least impressive tracks.

The Mesopotamians (2:57)

Clearly one of the best tracks on the album. This and Climbing the walls are my favourites. I'd say this could even have been on Apollo 18, or even Flood, at least quality-wise. Stylisitically it's still a new sound for TMBG and the album. Download this one!


My only complaint of the album is it's length. Like The Spine, it's just too short. What happened to 19+ track albums like Flood, Lincoln, Apollo 18, and They Might Be Giants. I guess that's how it goes. I can't wait for them to come back to Charleston though to perform this album.

So far my summer has been pretty uneventful. I'm working at the park, as usual, and keeping an eye out for full time jobs within the county parks system. There's word of one possibly opening up at James Island, which would be perfect, as long as it waited until after mid-July to open up. The reason for this is that for the first two weeks of July I will be on a bus.

For those of you who still don't know, I am taking a bus cross country this summer to Seattle and back. Sean and Joel are coming along so it should definitely be a fun trip. The way it's going to work is that we're going to purchase the discovery pass. It's a pass that you get for Greyhound and it's affiliates that allows you to take any bus, anywhere, for as far as you want to go, within the time span of the pass that you purchase. We will be getting the 15day pass which is 400 dollars, and gives us unlimited use of the bus for 15 days through the US and Canada. Our itenerary right now is as follows:

Leave from Summerville - pick up Joel in Columbia - visit Jessie in Lexington - go to Chicago, spend the day there, take the night bus to - Bemidji, MN, home of the US Olympic curling teams, and Pete's Pizza, the pizza place owned and operated by Pete Fenson, skip of the Men's Olympic Curling team - from Bemidji we head north to Winnipeg, then on to Saskatoon, Edmonton, and then - Vancouver, where we plan to spend a day or two - The same goes for our next stop - Seattle - From there we head back, this time heading south, through Idaho to Salt Lake City - The on to Omaha, Kansas City, and back home again. We're anticipating being slightly sick of the bus by the last half, and may just take a straight shot back home from Salt lake. Such is the plan. We'll see what happens though.