Brooklyn Zoologist

The best videos of random Japanese girls dancing to intensly choreographed songs that i've seen all year

2009-03-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

I admire these girls for their stamina! Not their cute knee high socks and fetish eye patch/dust mask combos!

But seriously, the amount of memorization and leg muscles needed for this are awe-inspiring.

Alright fine! It's just super fuckin' cute! I admit it...

Excuses are like assholes

2009-03-09T16:09:00.001-07:00

3 REASONS WHY I HAVEN'T BLOGGED IN A MONTH:

1. I got food poisoning from a halal gyro cart on king's highway at 3:00 in the morning. I got a lamb & chicken gyro. What a bad idea eating at one of those fuckin' carts at that hour! That meaty concoction had probably been sitting there for 9 hours.

I was doubled over in pain for a good two days afterwards. The bathroom was my home. I felt like I was dying. Alanna had some of the tainted gyro too. She was sick but not as bad as me.

2. I caught her cough right after that. I've been coughing up all night for about a week and medicine and teas aren't working. I think this might just be my life from now on. Coughing like a braying donkey any time I talk for more than a sentence at a time or try to laugh.

3. My mom and brother came to town for a week. I spent alot of time sitting on the couch being tortured by my mom's spanish judge judy shows. But I did get some good dinner out of it and lots of leftovers. I might be killing my diet but fuck it, I have to take advantage of free food when I get a chance!

On top of that, Ben sent me a box of homemade dainty little cookies to make up for being a dickhead to me at Bay's birthday party and Alanna made me a HUGE box of cupcakes with the frosting in a seperate container so i've been stuffing myself with sweets for weeks now.

OTHER THINGS:

I've been killin' it at wordscraper. Come challenge me if you dare.

I finished a truly shitty rotation at Methodist hospital. My third time there and hopefully my last. They just really don't appreciate us as students and don't trust us enough to give us a chance to do our own thing. I'm back at SUNY Downstate now which is great as far as the people I work with but sadly they never let us out earlier than four. After a year and a half of this shit i'm ready to just fuck around and take half days. I don't even know what's going on in class half the time. All our classes just melt into one and I find myself taking maybe half an hour to study on the day of tests and still passing. Talk about senior-itis!

A gang of my non-school friends (what an oxymoron) and I went snow tubing in the park again the night of New york's first snow day in 5 years. It was great fun! And hopefully the last snow i'll be seeing for the rest of the year.

I also attended two seperate taco night parties thrown by Greg and Jaygee. I like this taco trend! Delicious and interactive!

(I realized a moment too late that the word "tacos" doesn't have an apostrophe. Also, not me in the picture. But like Brent, I ALSO heart taco's)

Other than that, it's just been the usual. well, not exactly THE USUAL, but if you want to know more just give me a call. My blog hand is tired. Here, have some redgrass... shit is awesome...

Fuckin' bananannana's

2009-02-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

The diet is going great! I think....

I haven't weighed myself since superbowl weekend. But after about 2 weeks of a consistent regiment of :

(I have yet to find this amazing flavor)

Breakfast - 1 Nutrament shake
Lunch - fruit, and/or a six inch tuna on wheat subway sandwich
Dinner - More fuckin' apples and bananas or just sleep

I imagine that I MUST have lost some weight by now! I haven't even been indulging that much on the weekend.

This week has been freakin' exhausting though. Eating well has certainly not made me feel healthier or regulated my sleep cycle. The weather is improving drastically though and I plan to stab my S.A.D. in the face with a rusty spork soon.

And hey! It's valentines weekend coming up! Fuckin' hell! Romance is in the air for some folks, right? It's a time to celebrate. Right? Maybe i'll use my weekend binge privilages to get something deep fried at a nice all you can drink brunch somewhere..

Report Card: Semester 3

2009-02-03T15:11:00.000-08:00

Principles of Radiographic exposure II - 91

Pathology - 90

Radiobiology and advanced protection - 90

Image analysis - Pass

Cross-sectional anatomy - 90

Radiographic positioning III - 89

They go on to say... "Patrick has developed into a fine, competent technologist. Keep up the good work!"

Yup. I be gettin' my learn on.

S.A.D.?

2009-02-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, I think I have to admit it...I might have seasonal affective disorder. It's not like i'm Captain happy the other 3 seasons of the year, but I find my gloom and doom mentality to be especially pronounced this winter. Wiki explains it as...

" a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter or, less frequently, in the summer,[1] repeatedly, year after year. The US National Library of Medicine notes that "some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and crave sweets and starchy foods."

Sounds about right to me. I blame it on the cold dark snowy days. Days where I don't get one second of natural light and the fact that my house is completely boxed in and gets barely any light even on nice days.

I can't stand when it gets dark at 5pm! Stupid farmers with their daylight savings time! What the hell is that all about anyway?!? Hmm...i'll Wiki it, why not?

Oh forget it...too many words...

Anyways, another downside to this depressive state is the "sweet and starchy foods" as described above. I think i've put on about ten pounds of winter weight and my means of getting rid of it are quite limited. I decided a long time ago that a gym was impractical and never going to happen. So i've taken to doing about 30-60 sit-ups a day. That wasn't doing much so I figured a diet of my own creation was in order.

So yesterday I actually braved the outdoors for a purpose other than getting drunk or going to school. I went to the local 24 hour produce market which is actually pretty clean and well laid out. I decided to steal the banana aspect of the "japanese banana diet" and just buy a shitload of bananas. I figure I could survive eating those 24/7.

But then I remembered that they make my tongue tingle and that the texture gets kinda' gross after awhile. So luckily, along with my 16 bananas, I also purchased 10 apples, a bushel of grapes and 24 eggs (for when I need something hot and cooked)

Let's see if this works out. I still plan on eating and drinking whatever I want when I go out on the weekends. But c'mon I can't be expected to be perfect. And if I don't enjoy my weekends to the fullest then the terrorists have TRULY won. For some reason I had a craving last night for a tin of sardines in tomato sauce at Bay's house for dinner. I was dipping Utz bbq chips in it. Gross... I almost yacked. Could hardly finish my Pabst!

We also watched "True stories" with his neighbors. That old David Byrne movie from the 80's that no one has ever seen. It's a pretty bizarre look at a fictitious small town in Texas. It raises some interesting points about consumerism and the human condition. I would reccomend it. And David Byrne is amazing!

Weekender in the Jers

2009-02-01T23:00:00.000-08:00

Went to New Jersey this weekend. Saturday day to Sunday night. Why do I love it so much?? I really don't know. Living vicariously through my wealthy and happily married friend Kuau? The greasy spoon diner food? Getting fucked up with his wife, watching cheesy MTV shows and playing Rock Band all night?

All of the above I guess. It's like going to some fancy bed and breakfast in the country that one of your best friends owns.

Like a polar bear's toenail

2009-01-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, wow...where to begin...

I hate when real life and responsibilities pull me away from the computer. It's SO hard to start blogging again! :)

But yeah, seriously. I guess i'll try and get through this update as painlessly as possible. Long story short, this past month has been a whirlwind, no fuck that, a CYCLONE of amazingness and not-so amazingness.

I had close to the best 2 weeks of my life over christmas break when I went home to see my friends. Me, my best friend and his girlfriend from Boston all flew out to the bay area and house sat for a couple we found on Craigslist. It was amazingly convenient. I had an insane first night back party where dozens of old friends crept out of the woodwork to see us. I went to lake Tahoe over Christmas day where I frolicked in the snow and got hammered in the cabin with 2 of my oldest friends and their family.

I performed at a concert in San Francisco where I reunited with some of my esteemed hip-hop associates to blow everyone's mind with my scratchtastic skills :) We played at a pretty big respectable venue and made a pretty good deal of money. Afterwards we got burritos in the mission and drank E&J in a hotel room like real rap stars.

I also DJ'd a warehouse party in Emeryville on new year's eve. It wasn't the biggest turnout but it was nice to play a few records just for my friends and ring in the new with people I care about. And yes, it's always extra nice to get a midnight kiss from your special someone ;)

Speaking of special someones, It was insanely hard to tear myself away as I walked into the boarding gate at SFO and kissed her goodbye one last time. Ahhh the bittersweet end to a beautiful trip. And now here I am. Torn from happiness and 75 degree weather into a frozen tundra and the soul crushing return to xray school.

I have finals next week and then I begin my last semester. We've been taking review quizzes for the national registry test that we have to take to get our licenses and i've been doing really, really...poorly... it's a little distressing. But i'm confident that i'll pull my shit together as usual and escape new york in one piece.

And that's that. I plan to document some of the silliness that's been taking place since my return here in depth but that will have to wait. I need to go re-up on fluoroscopy units and dose absorption tissue weighting factors. (shoot me)

Escape from New York

2008-12-15T17:27:00.000-08:00

What a long strange month it's been...

I have to say that this has been an emotionally trying time for me. Coming to grips with the reality of certain relationships in my life and really buckling down for school again like I haven't done since my program started.

I think it's all paying off though. I've blasted my depression in the face with a shotgun called booze and my grades are the best they've ever been. I've had only one thing keeping me going really. And that would be my 16 day vacation where I get to fly back home to California and forget all i've learned and reconnect with my east bay gang.

A break is sorely needed. Enough said.

I think the most fun i've had this past month was ice skating in Bryant park.

That was nice. Aside from that it's been a series of headaches and hard work. And now in just 48 hours i'll be maxin' and relaxin' and eating a goddamn decent burrito again finally!!

Probably the most exciting part of my trip home is a reunion hip-hop show in San Francisco where me and my oldest and bestest friend, Mister Salty, will be reprising our role as the super duo called "Semi-Tuff". I've been out of practice for about 2 years but i'm ready to get back behind some turntables. We've got a couple amazing acts joining us on stage and I think it's going to be a fuckin' party. I'll be sure to post the video on here as soon as I can as long as someone is nice enough to film it.

Speaking of video...here's a great timelapse movie that my homey C. Bay made of a mexican x-mas party we went to on Saturday. The results are pretty epic. I'm glad we were all able to put up with the blinding flash going off every 30 seconds.

And that's that. I'm looking forward to spending time with some very important people back home and hopefully setting the ground work for what my life will be like in 7 months when I finally finish school and move back to reality. I'll be sure to post the results for all to read. Until then, merry ludachristmas ya'll...

The Big Chill

2008-11-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

I have to blame my recent lack of posts on the fact that the heating system in my house is on the fritz and the mere act of exposing my fingers to the keyboard for an extended period of time is quite painful. Not to mention the fact that the numbness in my hands causes quite a few gramattical errors.

I think it's pretty clear now that my aunt has completely stopped giving a shit. Not to sound like a baby but i'm really painfully poor, cold and hungry. I know i'm an adult and all, but she's a WEALTHY adult with a JOB who could easily send the heat fixer guy over here and drop me off some groceries before she goes to work. I don't know what I did to garner such indifference?

Add to that, the fact that there hasn't really been too much to update lately. I've really been immersed in school and hospital work. I haven't missed a day in weeks and i'm really trying to keep up these good grades i've got going. Mid-terms are right around the corner!

Last weekend's respite came in the form of heading to damn near the Bronx to help my friend Vicky learn how to use her new turntables. She got a super good deal and is a quick learner. I was teaching her how to scratch and juggle and beat match a little. I still remember how excited I was to get my first tables when I was 16. Nothing like it. Luckily I had a great advisor in the form of DJ Platurn (www.djplaturn.com/)

That training session was followed by a $4 six-pack of King Cobra tall cans and a delicious torta from her neighborhood truck. Then me and my friend Oi Yin trekked back to Brooklyn where we got hammered at Bay's and crashed out. Only to be lovingly woken up by chocolate chip pancakes made from scratch. (I love you Bay)

Following that amazing morning a gang of us theatre hopped and caught "Quantum of Solace" and "Role Models" back to back. Both were surprisingly good and it was a perfect way to spend a hungover lazy afternoon...

And now i'm finishing off a week of hepatobilliary and gastrointestinal system testing. Advanced lower extremity positioning labs and patients who can't speak english flashing me their boobies.

This weekend I return to Boston with Casey to celebrate Leile and Kuau's birthdays. Watch Casey play in a volleyball tournament, and possibly get super high off of bottles and bottles of Robitussin :) TGIF!!

Past blastin'

2008-11-10T16:37:00.001-08:00

I decided to search for an old blog I attempted to start over 2 years ago. Back when not everyone and their grammy had a blog. I found it too! I had called it "The drunken everyone" The title is an homage to one of the funniest and truest things my friend Abdul ever said. Allow me to regail you with the story...

Back when I was living in El Cerrito and DJ'ing on a semi-regular basis. I came home one night drunk with my two equally drunk friends Abdul and Leile. I had all my equipment to bring back in the house so I asked them to help me. I handed Leile an expensive reciever that I was planning on returning to Guitar center the next day. Leile proceeded to do the drunken, obvious thing and drop it on the pavement hard and cause dents and scratches all over it. I was fairly pissed and as I was yelling at Leile as to how he could do such a thing, Abdul interjects with, "Hey man...the drunken everyone makes a bad choice for all..."

Truer words were never spoken...my drunk ass should have known better than to trust Leile's even drunker ass with such a pricy piece of hardware. A group of drunkards will do nothing but make bad choices for each other. It's science FACT.

So anyway, I dunno, I was bored and thought i'd start a blog back then I guess. As you can tell it never got off the ground. But here today, seen for the first time ever i'm sure, I will reprint the only 2 funny posts out of 4 total. This should give you a nice picture of my life 2 years ago... Enjoy...

Pie-man strikes
September 28, 2006, 5:56 am
Filed under: first down beer
I drove up and down solano ave. today looking for a bakery to get a decent chocolate chip cookie at. No luck. You know what the best fuckin’ cookie ever was? The ones they gave us at lunch time in high school that were super huge and crunchy around the edges but soft on the inside. Oh man! I’ve been hella hungry lately, what the hell? I ate like 6 slices of pizza at work last night. That shit was gross too. It was Laval’s. That shit has a burnt crust and no sauce but it was free so I ate the shit out of it. Long story short: not drinking equals more eating. I took a 3 day drinking hiatus after a BBQ/80’s party super smash session helped me decide to end a 14 month bender to see if my head would become any clearer, and if I might be a little more cheery and active. It didn’t work. I’ve been eating junk food to keep myself busy, sleeping in later and i’ve been quite depressed today. I think i’ve reached the perfect balance in my body where as long as I keep eating just one shitty meal a day and about six beers then i’ll stay perfectly healthy forever. No need to stop drinking, right??

Swansons
October 1, 2006, 7:46 pm
Filed under: first down beer
I chugged an entire can of beef broth last night on a drunken dare for $15. Needless to say, it was a fun night. People aren’t down enough to do dumb spontaneous shit anymore. I felt I was making a stand for childish drunken antics. Oh yeah, my jerk ass friend payed me in dimes, adding insult to injury.

So yeah, there you have it. Have I changed much since then. No, I don't think so. I still don't think my friends are reckless and wild enough sometimes. And I would still probably drink a can of broth for ten dollars in dimes. That was Abdul's fault again by the way! :) It's great to have a snapshot of your ridiculous life to look back on. I'm glad I have a shit ton of old photo albums and diaries in storage.

Your mission today is to go do something totally spontaneous and possibly dangerous. If drugs, booze, or a moving car are involved you get double points.

CHEERS!

and DOUBLE CHEERS!!

Flux capacitating

2008-11-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight my sober self from the past was kind enough to leave the porch light on for my drunk self from the future. Thanks past self!! You made it very easy to find my keys and the knob hole. It's good to know that SOMEONE has my back out there.

Also, I was out drinking with Bay and Casey tonight and I came really close to getting all emotional and admitting to both of them my undying love and the fact that if they weren't here with me, I would have dropped out of school and moved back home about 11 months ago.

I'll tell them some day...

Hotsaucesoysauce?

2008-10-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

It's fuckin' COLD in New York already! What the hell man! I thought I had at least until late November to break out the winter wear. Sheesh!

I got my birthday package from Leile 1 today. Including his brand new CD "Tobacco Road" which you all need to cop right over here... http://cdbaby.com/cd/mistersalty2 It tells the tale of a twentysomething hip hop songwriter exploring issues including American guilt, adversity to the workplace, communicating with aliens, and drinking by yourself. The beats are pretty good too. (I stole that description from the site)

ALSO in my awesome bday package were the new Tobacco, Restiform Bodies and CRAC knuckles cd's. Not to mention a book of short stories by Charles Bukowski. Leile got me hooked on Bukowski after we watched a documentary on his life last time I was in the bean. I think all troubled young men like myself can relate to this guys life of perpetual lust, alcoholism and as Leile himself put it, EXTREME adversity to the workplace.. His poetry is fantastic...see for yourself.

I'm watching "Dune" in the background as I type this. I feel like it's one of those movies that alot of people haven't seen and if I were to quote something from it and someone told me that they hadn't seen it I would just have to hang my head and cry. I once had a girlfriend who had never even seen the original Star Wars trilogy for fucks sake! Granted, she grew up in Iran, but STILL!! :)

Funny how movies fall under the radar like that. I used to be quite the film buff a few years back having worked at an art house movie theatre and then at a video store that prided itself on an extensive collection of rarities. Adding to that numerous film classes I took in college. I don't really know where i'm going with this, but I guess one point of it is that we should all find time for more movie watching. Anything, Buster Keaton, Takashi Miike, Werner Herzog, Flight of the navigator, Irma Vep....oh and Anime too...go watch somea' that...

...I'm still cold...and the heating system in these rusty old pipes is so loud that I can't sleep through it. Gotta' be able to sleep for my 5am wakeup tomorrow. Thankfully only 4 more of those for now. Shit is unbearable! Got me drinking coffee again...

I'm still debating whether to reply to my dad or not. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've never been one to forgive wrong doers easily so I don't know why I should start now. It seems like 1 out of every 2 families nowadays is torn up by divorce so I don't think it has the social stigma of being some life shattering event that scars you forever anymore. I think I might just have to leave it alone.

I'm going to go scurry off to the kitchen now and make a chicken ramen with just a liiiitle bit of water and crack and egg in it for dinner. Top THAT! :>/

Another chance at a year

2008-10-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

I've become 27 since I last posted. Hooray for me! I made it! When comparing my life at this point to my friends and families, I think i'm doing okay. Going back to school was really a lifesaver for me, (if I graduate, that is) And when i'm done i'll finally have the financial freedom that has eluded me my whole life.

It makes me understand how one of my best friends, Kuau, was able to turn his life around from drinking 40's and doing drugs everyday to graduating with a quadruple major and going on to manage a hedge fund. It just comes to a point where you realize that you can't and you WON'T ever work in customer service again! I DO plan to continue drinking and partying though ;-) I met that point a long ass time ago but lacked any motivation to do anything about it simply because my life was pretty comfortable. I was making just enough to live with roomates and get drunk and have fun as often as I wanted.

I kept the thought in the back of my head that I would someday graduate from community college and get a real job. Meanwhile the truth was that I was taking 2 or 3 classes a semester tops and for that matter, skipping a semester here and there if I got too lazy. At that pace nothing would have ever happened for me. I guess I owe it to my aunt for dragging me out to the east coast kicking and screaming.

Funny thing about me being 27 and actually being on a career path is that years ago, maybe 5, my mom went to go see a psychic in California. My mom is a big believer of paranormal bullshit like that. She saw this woman who was supposed to be the real deal in most circles. And the woman told her among other things that her son Patrick (me) would be involved in his lifelong career that would make him happy and wealthy by the time he was 27...

Now, I don't know how much I really go in for this sort of stuff. It seems to me that 27 could be an age where alot of people get their shit together. Nobody wants to be 30 years old and working at a Trader Joe's. But stll, it feels good to think that maybe in some cosmic, destined, whatever the fuck kinda' way that i'm maybe doing the right thing here.

I've celebrated this new year of mine so far with a couple interesting developments. The craziest of them being that my dad, yes, my dear old dissapeared dad has contacted me. The funny thing is that he contacted me through...MYSPACE!...

WTF!?!

I checked my messages the day before i turned 27 and there was a random one from a girl with the headline "I am looking for my son". I opened it and it read like this...

Were you born 10/19/81 in Houston, TX??? If so, please call me at 731-xxx-5xx7.. I love you son. Kevin M.

Fucking CRAZY! I looked more closely at the picture of the girl whose account it was sent from and she was clearly my half sister. A girl i've never met but whose features are so similar to my dad's that there's no other way. My dad used his daughter's account to hunt me down. For what? I don't know. Regret? Guilt? Love?

He left me and my mom and half brother (different dad) when I was only 9. He cheated on my mom with another woman. My mom found out. I was once forced to endure a car ride in which me, my mom, dad, and the woman he was having an affair with were all riding together to some forgotten destination. My mom had already correctly guessed that this was the housebreaking woman unbeknownst to my dad. This led to one of the most horrific memories of my childhood. My mom and dad and this woman fighting and yelling and throwing things in the car for hours. The uncomfortable tension before it erupted, trying to just put my head down and sleep but finding that the trip from hell had not yet ended, the aftermath where their marriage finally, painfully ended.

It's memories like this that make me not want to talk to this man. Aside from that, I have never felt like I missed out on having a dad. I never felt cheated or longed for him. I had my older brother to take his place and my friends to act as my extended family once I moved to the east bay. I knew he fucked up and I saw no reason to forgive him. He chose not to pay any child support and he got no visitation rights. My family moved from state to state. Not staying anywhere more than a year till' I was 13. Partially avoiding him and also following my brother from college to grad school. It was tumultuous to say the least. So when I settled in California and finally relaxed I never wanted to leave. I finally had a family.

My dad tried to send a sporadic letter here and there or contact me through my aunt. But I just never had the desire to reopen that chapter of my life. And I still don't. But I suppose i'll give it some thought. At the very least i'm interested in seeing how many half siblings I have lurking about!

So yeah, that happened, threw me for a loop. But i was still ready to party and get wasted and have an awesome birthday month. Prior to the whole myspace thing I went to Boston for 5 days to cool out. I went apple picking in Stowe with friends. Beautiful, relaxing, and my mom made a pie out of my pickin's! I felt like a real farm land motherfucker. I drove back down to NY with another friend from home who just moved to the east coast. He's been staying with me the past week. Nice to have more company in this shitty old house. I think having him be the sober driver everywhere we go is spoiling me a bit too much though :)

The day before my bday I gathered the whole NY crew and headed to a beer garden in Williamsburg. The hipster hub of Brooklyn. It was great getting everyone into one place to celebrate. Even most of my manhattanite friends who cringe at the thought of trekking into BK showed up. It was just dandy. I think I consumed at least 13 pints in liter form throughout the night.

http://www.cbaymilin.com/

Being surrounded by all these great new friends i've made here really made me appreciate my situation. They might not be as willing to go crazy and party with me at the drop of a hat as my Cali friends, (Except for Casey and Bay!) but we do have alot of fun and i'm really going to miss them when I go back. Strange to think I won't be spending any more birthdays in New York...

And now here we are. The weather is getting colder and windier. I'm in the midst of enjoying another 5 day weekend with Ben here. I have an important letter to write and a trip home in december to look forward to. I plan to make the most of this whole year and hopefully return to the bay in one piece with my life in order and the future waiting.

Wanna know what to get for my birthday??

2008-10-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

Well shucks man, look no further!!

http://gizmodo.com/5064523/endless-banana-enjoy-the-soothing-banana+peeling-experience-forever

Like the Mugen PeriPeri before it, the Endless Banana' from Epoch is the latest in the growing Japanese market for "infinite toys"—devices that allow users to enjoy mundane, but strangely thrilling experiences over and over again. In addition to simulating the feel of a banana as it is peeled, the toy also features the voice of an actress named Saki Fujita. Apparently, her task was to make the "sound" of a peeling banana—whatever the hell that is. Unfortunately, finding out is not going to be an easy task. As far as anyone can tell these are a Japan-only release. [kilian-nakamura]

It just looks so satsifyingly awesome that I yearn for it to be in my hands...
If anyone feels like going to Japan and hunting it down for me that would just be keen.

This is the type of shit I have to deal with at school...

2008-10-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna' let my Facebook status and resulting comments tell this story for me...

Patrick 's phone was thrown into coffee filled trash by his insane classmate as a joke. HAHAHAH! $120 later, I have a shitty new phone. Fuckin' great... 3:13pm

8 Comments
Emily at 3:28pm October 7
shit! man that sucks. two tests and a coffee-fried phone. this is what we call a bad. effing. tuesday. i'm sorry!

Julian at 3:29pm October 7
omg funnay joaks lol

Brent at 3:37pm October 7
what!? are you fucking kidding me? that asshole didn't pay for it???

Sonja at 3:40pm October 7
Do you go to school with teenagers?! They pay for that phone, buddy. Thems the breaks. That's what you tell that retard. I'm sorry.

Patrick at 3:50pm October 7
Yeah, she's a fuckin' child. Said my phone was old and shouldn't cost that much. And I have school grants so I can pay it myself...
These are the type of people I deal with, my friends...

Julian at 4:06pm October 7
whites lol

Ashley at 4:22pm October 7
are you serious? thats what she said?

Jorge at 5:34pm October 7
UNREAL!

So there you have it. Say goodbye to our little friendship Olga. Thanks for showing me what a bitch you are before I got too attached :)

Ain't seen a fall since last autumn

2008-10-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a good job of staying (somewhat) positive lately. I've taken a couple mental health days off of school and that alone is enough to turn a whole week around. Also, I just got a 94 on my first test so I feel like i'm off to a good start this semester. And as usual, my friday and saturday nights remain full of booze, intrigue and excitement.

I've almost completely gotten over my cold but I still have the occasional cough attack. Once I get sick it's insanely hard for me to get over it. I remember going entire winters where I stayed sick growing up.

I'm completely loving the beginning of Fall. This is my favorite season of the year. The perfect transition from hot to cold. I can wear all my hoodies and jackets and there's always a nice cool breeze in the air. In northern Cali it sort of feels like this all year, but in NY it's an all too brief respite between the hellish summer and the frozen tundra of winter. October is my birthday month also so I get to plan out my festivities and get all my friends together to celebrate. (http://www.radegasthall.com) I've never understood people who don't want to party for their birthday. But then again, i'm alot more socially needy than most people so i'll take any chance I can to gather a crowd for drinking and debauchery.

Not to jinx myself or anything, but the year is going by pretty quickly over here. I came back from my summer break home in mid-August and it's already been 2 months. And in another 2 months i'll be back home AGAIN for winter break (hooray!) After that it's just another 7 months or so till' I graduate. I think I just might make it!! My brother wants to take me globe trekking for a few weeks when I finish. I'm excited for the opportunity but part of me just wants to hop on the first flight back home and get back to reality. But no, i'm sure we'll have fun. So far i'm thinking of Denmark, Milan, Amsterdam and London. I'll have friends to visit in 3 out of 4 of those places so that should be interesting. But yeah, that's still a long ways away.

I've been toying with the idea of nerding out and buying some anime and some comic books and never leaving my bed, but I don't think I have the time for all that. As a matter of fact I should be studying for advanced positioning and cross sectional anatomy right this second. 2 big tests tomorrow. I took the day off from the hospital and all i've done is lay around and dork out. I guess I just answered my own question....I had probably not buy any new distractions if I want to keep passing tests! But damnit, I really wanted to watch the entire series of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya! Hmm...but if any of my loyal 3 or 4 readers wants to buy me a birthday present though, I wouldn't object... ;-)

https://www.sundevildvd.com/store/product.php?productid=17692&cat=0&page=1

Alright...that's it. I need to go to the supermarket, I need to wash clothes, I need to open a book...I HAVE TO GET OUT OF BED!! Blargh!

Before I forget.....here's some rap!

2008-09-29T15:17:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to post these videos from my first ever hip-hop show in New York (can you believe that??) Anyway, it was at the knitting factory a few weekends ago and featured 4 of my favorite indie-alt-art-hop acts from back in the day...

Alias, Buck 65, Jel and Dose-one. Buck 65 is one of the greatest of all time, I swear. And he's Canadian to boot. These guys all represent a crew called Anticon that I used to think was the hottest shit around the bay area until they all got bored with plain old rapping and had to get all ultra avant-garde on me.

I still have love for them though. Dose-one is an old buddy of mine from back in the day when he was a hip-hop buyer at Amoeba records in Berkeley and I would sell him my janksy little mix-tapes. I was super pumped that they were coming to NY.

But anyway, some fella was kind enough to film Buck 65's performance that night and I would like to share some of it with you here. I highly reccomend you buy all his albums ever right now...

"Bandits"

"Enter Governor Bolts"
He hadn't played this song in so long that he had to read the lyrics off an airplane sick bag...

And as a super special bonus, here's a link to an album he just released for free along with his press release for it. Go listen to some real music folks. It'll make your heart smile and your brain cry...

From Buck:
"Lovers, I’ve been doing some woodshedding. I’ve been making beats and collecting them from some friends. I put together this thing called Dirtbike. Actually - at the risk of sounding nuts or esoteric or pretentious - the project is called Dirtbike (I figure it will be an on-going endeavor) and the first piece of it is called Lettersongs (Different Kinds of Dirt). I don’t really even understand it myself. Anyhow, it’s a new project. It’s kind of an album. It’s one very long piece and in many ways it’s a lot like the original versions of Vertex and Man Overboard. It’s an hour and ten minutes long and is very lo-fi (sounds like crap). This is just something I did on my own time for fun - like I said: woodshedding. But I didn’t work alone. My old friend and collaborator Jorun contributed an amazing beat that Moka Only raps on. Moka also contributed a beat for a part that was inspired by Vivienne Westwood’s Active Resistance Manifesto. There’s a “hook” in the song that goes “take action…”. I also had input and added production or instrumentation from: Buddy Peace, Emily Wells, Tom Inhaler, D-Styles, Skratch Bastid, Andrew Glencross and Serafina Steer. Oh yeah, and Doseone raps on a part - yes, raps. There’s a “song” about Fatty Arbuckle, one about St. Anthony the Great, one about La Golue who was featured in many Toulouse Lautrec paintings. There’s also a cover of a weird French song (in English) from the late ‘70’s (maybe 1980). Anyhow, it’s a very strange, experimental, un-commercial project. I made it for my own perverted pleasures and never considered for a second that it might be a proper release. I gave a few copies to friends and that’s all I ever planned for it. Well, I tell you about all this because it’s out there. If you’re interested in hearing it, I don’t think you’d have to search on the internet very long or hard to find it. The key word is Dirtbike1/3. Before I put it together I felt as though I was sitting on around four hours worth or material of the same sort that I now plan to complete before the end of October. So there may be more of this kind of thing to come - soon. I’m also working on the “proper” follow-up to “Situation” and the Bike For Three! album will be out in January. That’s all. Hope you’re good. Buck"

www.zshare.net/audio/17691744a94f4663

After the show, Casey, Leile, Mary and I wandered into a mystical little absinthe lounge in the middle of nowhere and drank for a thousand years. I managed to fall UP a flight of stairs...

Sick and Tired

2008-09-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

I think I have the flu. I woke up at 5am today to trek my ass to staten island. But the coughing, sore throat, raspy thick chest noises and general aches and pains told me that i had better lay the fuck back down. This is just the cherry on top of my shit flavored sundae.

I know I tried to promote a more positive outlook in my past couple posts but I have just not been having a good week.

LAST week was fine. It was great actually. One of my best friends back home, Parisa sent her cousin to come stay with me during her visit to America from Italy. I was a little unsure as to how I could entertain some perfect stranger who didn't even speak english that well. But it turned out to be really nice.

She was so friendly and genuine and curious about all things American. It was her first time to NY so every little thing was amazing to her. It really changes your perspective on your own life when you have someone around who is so fascinated and entertained by the things you take for granted everyday. And it helped me to understand myself a little better when her and I would have discussions about politics or evolution or any random thing and I would really have to stop and figure out how to explain myself and why I actually feel the way I do about things.

I actually really really missed her when she left and I still do. Aside from being a really fun and kind person she also just reminded me so much of my old friend Parisa that it hurt worse to see her go. She left Friday and then on Saturday I went on a big Park Slope pub crawl with Bay and Casey. Then I went into the city with Casey for a party and some more bar hopping till 4am. I was amazed that I could still function at that hour. I hadn't had a break all week.

But now i'm alone again in this big ol' house. The studies are piling up and I sure as hell don't have the concentration to open a book. I'm sick and lazy and bored and lonely and basically just FULL of complaints. I have friends telling me to stop being such a pussy. I have dreams day and night of my life one year from now. When Hopefully, if I play my cards right, i'll be with a special someone...enjoying my well paying career...and living back where things make sense. I know, I know, New York is great, it's amazing, it's fun, I have amazing friends here...

But damn, sometimes friday and saturday night can't make up for everything else I have to deal with all week!

Saturdays were made for...

2008-09-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Bloody mary brunches with an awesome girl...

Running through a Brooklyn rainshower with her on a search for socks...

Beers and bowling with your homies and getting dry again...

Getting off at the wrong train stop and finding an unexpectedly delicious dinner there...

A rooftop penthouse party with $9 beers... (okay, that last part sucked)

Working my way uptown with Casey for various bars and frolics...

Passing out at her place fully clothed and fully drunk. Having made the most of a day and without a care in the world... (Until sunday, that is.)

Tonight I saw...

2008-09-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

1. Tropic Thunder.
Kinda' good. kinda' not so good. Jack Black kicking heroin and RDJ being a black guy saved it.

2. A clearly european man on the subway wearing a pair of those big dumb Ugg boots. He seemed to not realize that everyone was staring and laughing. I aaalmost felt bad.

3. A cat in a bodega with a dead mouse in it's mouth. It came towards me like it was delivering a gift of frankincensce and mihrr.

4. An unexpected and boisterous rainshower that forced me to buy a tallcan of tecate and wait for the bus in order to get home.

5. The fact that I need to start seperating what I want from what I could possibly have...

I'm fuggin' psychic!

2008-09-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight I ventured out into the hot cruel world to wish my pal and longtime acquaintance Medwards off as he returns to the bay. I was tired and pissed off from a long last day of summer interning but I felt like I owed him some face time since I haven't seen him more than thrice the whole time we've lived here.

Anyway, the moral of this story is that I correctly predicted tonight that,

A. The only person that was going to remain on the train ALL the way back to my neighborhood from Manhattan was the russian girl in front of me. The entire full train was gone by Church st. No white or black people live in my 2 mile radius.

And...

B. As I stopped to get a delicious halal cart chicken platter dinner I was wishing and hoping that the friendly vendor would offer to throw in some fries and maybe a falafel ball. I could just tell that he liked me. And sure enough, he said, "Hey, you want some fries too?" As in, free? "Oh sure!" I said. Then came that lovely fried ol' falafel ball as well.

It was really good. Not as good as the chicken platter in front of SUNY Downstate hospital, but pretty darn good. And that's my story.

Do I ramble when i'm drunk? I guess i'll find out tomorrow...

I've turned the corner on bullshit lane and have entered high hopes avenue

2008-09-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

After 4 months of torture, my cousin is GONE!!! My aunt finally put her foot down and that's that. I don't even want to get into it. I'm just going to put it behind me and focus on getting this senior year of mine off to a good start...

I've been subletting at Bay's place in Park slope for the last week. Mostly to avoid the troubles of home, but also to enjoy his awesome neighborhood and close proximity to even more awesomeness. His roommate Jaygee is great too. She's an actor who does shows for disney and off broadway and USO tours and stuff. I love their roof more than anything...

Took my friend Emily up there for a couple Yuenglings Thursday night to kick off my 5 day weekend. Then we went to 4th ave. pub and watched the big Obama speech. I must admit, I was moved. Up until that point I had never heard him speak but standing at the bar half drunk with a mob of equally buzzed and enthralled young liberals all cheering was sorta' exciting. Obama has a bunch of big ideas and I like to pretend that he'll be able to follow through on them without falling into the usual presidential puppet role.

Also spent a lot of time with Casey this labor day weekend. She just came back from Spain. I accompanied her to Ikea for bed shopping and hot dog eating. Went to a really awesome Japanese yakitori style place in times square called "Hagi" apparently as close to authentic japanese as you can get in the US. Quite delish. Anthony Bourdain loves it so it's good enough for me!

Unfortunately I fell asleep on the train that night and didn't get home till' 4am. LAME!

Other highlights include sangria brunch and a riverside walk on sunday with Casey followed by beers "to-go" at McCarren park with Emily and her friends :) It was rad...you go to this bar directly across from the park and they sell you a giant Bud in a to-go styrofoam cup complete with straw. Then you walk on over to a grassy field and get tanked while watching hipsters play kickball. It's my new thing.

I went to a wild party in Williamsburg that night with Emily and her friends also...it was quite the night...needless to say I was up drinking whiskey and white wine till the sun rose. And then crumbled out of bed at 4pm the next day. Yikes!

I played tour guide a couple weekends ago when this girl, Sydney, that I met at Beerlympics came out to NY for vacation. It was fun doing the touristy thing again. We went to the David Byrne art project called "Playing the building". Basically there's a big organ set up in the middle of a warehouse and hitting the keys triggers all these different clangs and bangs and air horns throughout the walls of the place. Pretty nifty.

Then we hit the staten island ferry and back up to Chinatown for delicious ice cream and miles of Central park. All photographed beautifully by C. Bay...

www.cbaymilin.com

Which basically brings us up to date. I'm fuckin' sick and tired of my summer internship. The classmates i'm with have all formed a secret gang that i'm not apart of and their little condescending additudes and retardoid conversations have become infuriating. This is my last week there in Far rockaway. After this i'm in a small clinic in Staten island with a girl that i'm actually friends with. She's a complainer though, and not exactly the best worker. I hope we can get along after the next 2 months of just me and her in each others face 3 days a week.

I'm trying to keep the ol' hopes up. I've got interesting things happening and i've been squeezing in alot of good times with good people. I can't really complain at the moment. Positivety is the motto as Jaygee has told me. And with my cousin gone I can enjoy my home base relaxation again at least.

Here's to the beginning of my last year in New York!! Cheers, Motherclucker!

Worser still

2008-08-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hey remember my dumb ass inconsiderate possibly mildly retarded cousin from a couple posts down?

Well instead of moving back in with her dad she has now invited her boyfriend who she met ONLINE to come stay with us for 2 WEEKS!!!

My aunt of course told her no, but he FLEW IN anyway. She plans to hide him if my aunt or her dad comes home. I told my aunt about this of course. But aside from being furious she hasn't done a thing about it yet. WHAT THE FUCK!?!?

I got to hear them having sex as I was waking up for class at 6:30 am the other day. That's it...i'm moving out. I quit...

It's like the shining...but funnier...

2008-08-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Petur, one of my best friends has returned to his home of Iceland to work in a hotel. I'm assuming it's all abandoned and scary like the Shining. That would explain his cabin fever and copious amounts of free time for acting and editing :) He's also an amazing drummer and one of the funniest people I know. I just had to share this video of him enjoying his one year drumming anniversary...

Damn, I miss you!!

I am not a family man

2008-08-10T10:55:00.001-07:00

The passive aggressive tension in my house has reached a boiling point.

I'm living in my aunt's house while here at school. It's a large 3 bedroom place in Brooklyn. My aunt and I keep very different schedules and in fact she doesn't even come home most nights. Which is fine with me. I basically feel like I live here on my own. Which aside from being a bit lonely during the week is also pretty great. Sometimes I won't see her for 3 or 4 weeks at a time.

I enjoyed my privacy and freedom until my cousin moved in that is....

About 3 months ago around memorial day my aunt informed me that my cousin needed to stay with us for a "couple weeks" because there was some family trouble that she couldn't get into over the phone. Now, I have a very small family. And i'm certainly not used to being around any of them but my mom, brother and aunt. So this was very unsettling news.

I knew that my cousin was odd. She's sort of like a 12 year old trapped in a 21 year old's body. My uncle has been so protective of her and not allowed her to socialize her entire life so now the poor girl can barely hold a conversation. It's like talking to a goldfish. I knew this was going to suck.

The first few days I felt a need to be sociable with her. Offering her dinner and sitting around with her. But that quickly wore off. Her dad started to come around the house also. Bringing her food and just hanging out. So that killed my theory that the two of them had gotten into a big fight or something. It turned out that she was staying with us for a much stranger reason...

Her brother, my other cousin had gone crazy apparently. He threatened his whole family and ended up in a mental hospital which he quickly released himself from after refusing meds. He scared my uncle and his kids so badly that they moved out of the family house with nowhere to go and all split up to stay with different friends and family until finding a new place. That's the story I was told anyway.

Which leaves my cousin here indefinetely. For what was supposed to be 2 weeks and is now 3 months. It would have been one thing if he admitted that he had no plan for a new house and that her stay was going to be this long. But my uncle always made it sound like it would be just a short while. There's nothing I hate more than house guests who lie about their intentions.

Even more pissed off about this than me is my aunt. She's furious about her brother dumping his kid on us. And the fact that my uncle and his son will come over here and barbeque and hang out while neither me or my aunt is around makes her crazy. But sadly, my aunt is being a giant baby about the whole thing and won't confront the situation head on. Instead she has just been avoiding the house more than ever and shuffling all the problems onto me.

The other week all the electricity upstairs went out thanks to 3 air conditioners being run nonstop. Not having AC on a sweltering hot night is torturous. But then, to add onto that, the upstairs toilet broke and began leaking into the walls. A couple days after that the water started spilling down and leaking from the upstairs ceiling. When I told my aunt about these problems via text message she informed me that she was "starting to feel like a landlord" and that I should tell my cousin to have her dad get things fixed.

Needless to say, I was pissed. How did this become my responsibility?? I'm busy too, y'know? And suddenly i'm the middle man for the whole situation? My aunt blames my cousin for the problems here and blames my uncle even more for creating the problem. It's crazy.

So after a week of having to constantly switch out towels and change the buckets catching the ceiling leakage things seem to be fixed. The plumber came today, (I say "plumber" but it's just an illegal immigrant my aunt pays peanuts to do everything around the house) So hopefully that problem is fixed. And the upstairs power was rewired from the basement by some guy my uncle hired. It's a real makeshift job that I doubt will last too long. It's all just ridiculous.

Now the walls are all filthy and dripping from under the bathroom. I'm sure that my aunt's unwillingness to fix the problem earlier caused thousands of dollars in damage to the walls. And above all else, my cousin still remains. Giggling like a moron on the phone all night (Literally. I've woken up for school at 6:30 and she's still been on the phone!) Sitting around watching Spongebob squarepants. And just today...leaving me a present of what I can only assume was period blood on the chair in front of the computer....

Yes...I said it...

It's awful...

My house used to be a sanctuary after school and work but now I find myself having to escape to Bay's or Casey's all weekend. I usually leave friday afternoon and come back home sunday night. I can't deal with this much longer. Am I overreacting?? How would you deal with this situation? Comments are welcome. Here's a little gift for having made it through this whole rant...

Arcade Fire in an elevator...