04.01.07 7:27pm

This cold is kicking my ass. I can’t shake it. I’ve missed three days at the gym. I’m going to a doctor tomorrow. I think this might by bronchitis or something similar.

Today is the one year anniversary of Machinery of Expression.

04.02.07 3:33pm

Stayed home from work today. I’m really fucking sick. I went to the doctor and it turns out I have a viral infection in my lungs. I’m on antibiotics and bed rest for the most part. I’ll most likely be home tomorrow too. I’m getting some reading and writing done so I guess that’s good. I just hate being home and I hate being sick. It makes me feel weak and useless.

04.04.07 2:27pm

I’m still down. Haven’t gone to work at all this week. I’m feeling a little better today. Tomorrow is D-Day. If I’m not feeling noticeably better by tomorrow I have to go back to the doc and may end up in the hospital. There is a fear of this lung thing taking a turn for the worse and becoming pneumonia. Fun times.

04.08.07 11:21am

Yesterday was a great day. It was the first time in a week I could get up and actually be active. I went down to the Holland Project and donated a ton of books from my folk’s house. I went to Guitar Center and picked up my Les Paul BFG which is the baddest guitar I’ve ever played. It’s a totally stripped down tone monster. Completely function before fashion. No frills, no fancy finish, just raw power and great sound. I love it. It’s the least amount of money I’ve ever spent on a guitar and it’s the best sounding guitar I own. Later on I went to the first show at Holland Project. Love Songs played and they are so much fun. No matter how bad your feeling if you go see Love Songs live, you leave happy.

04.09.07 7:45am

I’m back at work for the first time in a week. I’m still not feeling 100% but I do feel a lot better. I lost about ten pounds over the course of my illness. I’m going back to the gym starting tonight, here’s hoping I can keep that weight off and lose twenty to thirty more pounds. I can actually see a difference in my gut which is nice.

04.10.07 7:12am

After being home for a week and sleeping all the time trying to heal and get well, I find myself with a wicked case of insomnia. I guess my body wants to make up for lost time. I’m in that weird insomniac haze this morning. It’s like everything is happening around me but I’m not part of it.

I didn’t make to the gym last night. My legs are really weak and sore for some reason. I’ll go tonight after band practice. I’m looking forward to playing my new Les Paul with NameMeNoone. It has such a beefy tone I think it’ll sound great with those songs.

Listening to Fugazi’s 13 Songs this morning and there is nothing wrong with that.

04.11.07 9:50am

I finally finished reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I’d left it at work while I was home sick all last week. While I was bedridden I read a ton of Bukowski so that worked out pretty well. I’m starting Saul Bellow’s It All Adds Up, today. It’s a nonfiction collection of essays and letters. Should be a fun ride. I love to read Saul Bellow because he writes well beyond my vocabulary. I learn new words on almost every page. It takes me awhile to get through his stuff. I have to stop and look words up in the dictionary. Even then I have to read and re-read some passages to understand them. I always walk away from a Bellow novel knowing something I didn’t know before I started.

The new guitar sounded great at band practice last night. It plays great and is a little lighter than my SG which is nice on the lower back.

I’m listening to Grinderman and loving it. Nick Cave, ‘nuff said.

04.15.07 1:14pm

It’s been a busy couple days. Tony (ex-twice guitarist) came over yesterday and we started working on some music. I think we’re going to fuse the project I was going to start with Clint (Think in French, short hair) with the Tony/Jim project. That gives us everyone we need but the drummer. In talking with Clint and Tony I’ve found we’re all on the same page musically. I think it will be an interesting project and can’t wait to see what we come up with. We need to track down a drummer and place to practice and get the ball rolling. I’d love to play a show before the end of summer.

04.17.07 7:37am

I weighed myself at the gym last night and I have lost a total of 20 pounds since I started to diet and exercise regularly. I’ve lost almost 2 inches from my waist and gained just over an inch in my chest. That’s pretty good if you ask me.I found out today that Morrissey is coming to Reno for two nights (April 28th and 29th). As far as I know this is the first time he’s played Reno. I have always wanted to see him live and I’ll be in Pismo Beach while he’s in Reno. Life’s funny that way.

Listening to Morrissey, Your Arsenal and thinking I’ll see him on the next tour.

04.18.07 8:14am

NameMeNoone practiced last night. We’re working on a new song that’s tough for me to get my head around. It’s good, but there are a lot of changes and odd riffs going on. I think it could be one of our best songs once we tighten it up.
I started (and finished) Two Trains Running by Andrew Vachess this week. I really dig his writing. He’s got a very clipped but descriptive style of narration that I enjoy. I’m still mucking my through Saul Bellow’s It All Adds Up. It’s a tough read but I’m learning something new with every essay. I started reading Porno, by Irvine Welsh this morning. It’s the sequel to Trainspotting.

I forgot to bring my MP3 player to work today. It’s gonna be a long day.

04.20.07 7:23am

I feel like I’m getting sick again. I missed a whole week of work last time, and I don’t have any sick leave left. Last night after band practice I was supposed to go to see the Velvet Underground tribute show at the museum. I got home from practice, sat on the couch to relax for a few minutes and next thing knew it was 11:30 at night. This morning I feel like shit. I can feel it in my chest again just like before.

04.22.07 7:42pm

Well I’ve had it with my Toshiba MP3 player. That thing is so fucking unreliable. I have joined the iPod nation as of today. I picked up an 80GB iPod and can't wait to get to using it.

04.23.07 12:53pm

I’m already much more satisfied with the iPod than the Toshiba MP3 player. I listen to at least seven hours of music everyday just at work, then another hour and half to two hours at the gym. With the Toshiba by two o’clock the battery would be dead or at the very least warning me that it would be dead soon. I’d have to charge it up to take it the gym. The iPod has only used a quarter of its battery and I’ve been listening to it all day and because it’s new, messing with the buttons, turning the backlight on and off which drains the battery faster than if I just let it play and didn’t touch it. The other cool thing is I put all the music I had in the 60GB MP3 player (which was full) plus about twelve or fifteen more CD’s, and it’s still got about 12GB of space left. So what did I learn from this? When one device owns 70% of the market, there is a reason for it. It was an expensive lesson, but now I know better.

04.24.07 8:05am

This week is dragging on and on. Des and I leave Friday for Pismo Beach and I can’t wait. The ocean sounds like a great place to spend four days. Anticipation always makes the clock move a little slower.

I’m having some trouble booking a benefit show for a local guy with brain cancer. Bands keep dropping off the bill. I need to find one more band now and I’ll be set.

04.27.07 8:10pm Pismo Beach CA.

Sitting in our room in Pismo Beach, CA listening to Television, Marquee Moon. Today we drove past the intersection where James Dean died. They named it after him. Nice gesture. Looking at the intersection I wondered how many other people lost their lives there whose names didn’t end up on a road sign.

We tried to do some record shopping today but there is only one record store here and it wasn’t very good. I have a list and will have to hit The Beat in Sacramento on the way home. I could hold out one more week till I get to San Francisco. Des and I are going to see her childhood friend before he heads off to Baghdad to protect military convoys.

04.29.07 12:45am Pismo Beach CA.

This is technically my entry for 04.28.07. We’re back in Pismo after a long day. We drove to LA and back today. I don’t much care for LA but I’d never been to Hollywood so we went. We parked near Hollywood Blvd and saw the walk of fame and the Chinese theater. I saw Thelonious Monk’s star which was cool mostly because I didn’t know he had one. It seems they give those to just about anyone, Brittney Spears and Eric Estrada have them. I wasn’t too impressed with the whole thing.

We walked down La Brea to Wilshire (about 15 blocks) and then up Wilshire to the famous tar pits. It was cool I guess. Now I can say I’ve seen the La Brea Tar Pits at least.

On the way back to the car we hit the Hollywood Amoeba Records. It’s in the old Hollywood Tower records building. I got my CD shopping fix so stopping at The Beat is out for the way home. We’re going to spend Sunday (well the rest of Sunday, after some sleep) here in Pismo playing in the ocean.

10:41pm

I spent my 35th rotation around the sun kayaking on the Pacific Ocean. I’d never been kayaking on the ocean or anywhere else before. It was a lot of work but very fun. Des got a little sea sick so we cut it short and spent the rest of the day on the beach. I swam in the ocean which was great, later we ate a fantastic meal on the pier. All in all it’s been a great B-day. We head home tomorrow and back to the grind.

It’s been a good trip and I learned a lot about myself this weekend. On the drive to LA we went past miles of farm land on highway one. Even on a Saturday there were workers picking lettuce, tomatoes and grapes. The fields were full of hard working men and women. It really made me think about where my food comes from and how many people perform back breaking labor to get it to me. It made me think about how much we as consumers take for granted.

Being out on the ocean today got me thinking how small and insignificant we are. It made me want to do more for other people. We may as well help someone while were here right?