transmission3000 has been updated, yet again. i've added an at the drive-in set that we recorded back in 1999. it's one of the best quality recordings we've ever done, so if you're into that type of stuff, you should check it out. i also added a donate button to see if we can try to offset some of the expense of doing the site. some idiot somewhere said it best: "bandwidth isn't free."

the girlfriend and i went to my old roommate's wedding, yesterday. it was a beautiful sunny day, and everyone had a good time. we ended up getting a little drunk, which was fun. that's what they get for having an open bar. at the end of the whole reception thing, the old roommate was just hanging out (they didn't have a honeymoon to get off to, right away) and then she started handing out the leftover booze. we ended up with 2 bottles of merlot, 3 bottles of champagne, 1 or 2 bottles of white zinfandel and 2 24-packs of coke. yeah…we have enough to get drunk for at least the next night or three…

nothing much else happened. we passed out shortly after getting home from the wedding, then i woke up and did the previously mentioned update to transmission3000.

back to work, i guess…

it's a sad day when you realize transmission3000 is getting updated more often than my side of bipolar. i've been getting a whole slew of new shows, so i'm trying to keep it updated, over there. since i took the time to get it moved over to movable type, i figure i should make use of it and update the thing. expect shows from hot snakes, trans am, drive like jehu and jawbreaker soon.

now, back to my actual life…

i was sitting around, working on transmission3000, and my little sister called. she informed me that there were a bunch of pro skaters down at the skatepark and told me she wanted me to come down and hang out. so i cruised down there to chill for a while and ended up not finding my sister. i also forgot my camera, which proved to be a big mistake when ed templeton started doing insane disaster slides on the lip of the 13 foot bowl, right in front of me. damn.

anyhowways, i was hanging out after they got done skating, talking to the guy that's been filming them (the toy machine team) on this tour. turns out we have a mutual friend from kansas city, so we talked about that and whatever else. while we were standing there bullshitting, ed kept taking pictures of my profile. the team was hungry, so we all ended up cruising down to kashmir to get some dinner. ed ended up declaring it a "toy machine dinner," since it was the last tour stop and they were all headed home, and he ended up covering my dinner, as well. they were all really nice guys, and i ended up getting a couple of email addresses to swap some photo prints (and live radiohead shows) with ed.

the girlfriend is coming home tomorrow. she should be back before i have to leave for work, which is nice. jess (the ex-roommate/ex-girlfriend/still good friend) is getting married on sunday, so we'll be going to that.

and as of right now, i'm still sitting at work, wondering what i'm gonna end up doing when i get out of here in an hour and a half…

sara & I, and a couple of her friends, are taking a little four day vacation to Washington, D.C. this weekend. i have been to D.C. before, but only when i was a kid, probably somewhere in between 7th, 8th, or 9th grades. pretty much the only thing i'm interested in site-seeing-wise is a visit to the Air & Space Museum. i do believe i went there before, but like i said, it was a long time ago. no matter what we do end up doing, i'm sure we're going to have a great time. and, i'm going to try to take an assload of photos with the hope of putting them up online here sometime after my return.

you'll notice that row of pictures over there on the right… well, it's all thanks to my lovely girlfriend who got me an early birthday and christmas present.—that's right, a brand spankin new fancy-ass digital camera . so, now i'm trying to get back into the habit of carrying a camera around with me everywhere and taking pictures whenever i see something good. we'll see how that works out, but rest assured, this weblog isn't going to devolve into *just* a fotolog.

a good friend is getting married this weekend (and like a dumbass, i forgot this fact until after we'd bought the plane tickets to D.C.), so we're going to have to fly back early early on Sunday to get to the wedding on time. especially imperative since i'm in the damn thing. would be in bad form for one of the "men of honor" to be late. hopefully the tux will fit, 'cause i won't get to pick it up until 12:00PM on Sunday. talk about cutting it close…

and to top all that fun stuff off with some really excellent news, lucifigous prick has been invited to play at the mom's music festival this year! so, we'll be taking the stage at some point on the 26th or 27th of July, along with about 140 other bands. it should be an awesome time, as we don't expect to fit in with the other bands, or even necessarily the crowd at all, so we're going to try to have as much fun as we can with it. there was even some talk of jim wearing a mini-skirt, though i think his wife put the kibbosh on that idea. nevertheless, it's going to fucking rock.

and speaking of fucking rocking, we've got another show lined up two weeks later with three other bands, all of whom have one or more members who work at Ear-X-tacy. we don't know for sure if the owner is going to let us use the store's name while promoting the show, but that was our original plan. promote it as some kind of Ear-X-tacy employee's show. Check the site for more info on the other bands playing, though i'm sure i'll post a link to the flyer once that's been put together.

g'damn. i think that's about it for today. i wanted to make sure i got a new post up before i took off for four days. i'll post more crap and probably go on about how great the trip was, once i return. so, you've got something to look forward to now, right? right.

i spent tuesday night in owensboro with the girlfriend and her family. it was nice to be able to spend time with her, but it really makes me hate the situation we're stuck in. things didn't work out with the school she was trying to get into, so hopefully she'll be able to move back into town soon. on one hand i'm upset that she didn't get into the school she wanted, but on the other i'm glad she'll be back soon. selfish, huh?

i was up at the asscrack of dawn on monday and tuesday. i had to be in at work by 8:30am for orientation. i've completed that and now i'm a full-fledged employee of the company. no more of that temp silliness.

transmission3000 has been updated with a few new (old) tracks and the opening of the forums. go over there and bitch about new shows not getting posted fast enough.

since i was out of town on wednesday, the bought and thought got delayed a bit, but here's what I've read so far:

Dark Days #1:
I was a little late on the 30 Days of Night bandwagon. It might have had something to do with the first issue coming out while I had a comics buying embargo going. Either way, I heard all the hype about it and I was lucky enough to get a signed first printing of the trade. Well…Dark Days starts off with a bang. It moves the action to LA and a whole new realm of nightlife. I can't believe I've ignored Steve Niles, up to this point. Templesmith's art is beautiful and his vampires menacing. I expected a weak sequel, but I feel like I'm getting something just as good as the original.

Superman Red Son #2:
Millar continues kicking out the brilliance and the art is still top knotch. I like how it's a sudden surge forward, so it's just understood what the Batman and Lex Luthor (separately) have been doing. I'm looking forward to the finale of the mini and Millar's inevitable run on one of the main Superman books. With this thing selling out like it is, DC would be retarded to not let him take a stab at the character, in continuity.

HERO #5:
I was wondering how it would be possible to top the first arc, but the creative team showed me how it's done. Telling what appears, on the surface, to be a quick one issue story, they boil down the process and make the destruction of someone's life look so easy. This is seriously a book to watch.

More later as I read 'em.

note: if anyone was a bit excited when burger king announced the bk veggie, yet hadn't really gotten a chance to get one…save yourself the trouble. it tastes like dog shit. i'm not kidding. i took one bite and threw it away. it was one of the nastiest things i've ever made an attempt to eat.

i repeat: do not try to eat one. you will thank me for this, someday. you really will.

it's 5:30 in the morning. i'm sitting up, waiting to see if my cousin gives me a call, needing me to take him home. he just wandered off, trying to find some of his friends…

i had just turned in to get some sleep about an hour ago. the lights were off, i think i may have even been asleep. the phone rang. i thought it was the girlfriend calling back, for one reason or another, since i hadn't talked to her that long before. nope. my cousin. he's ridiculing me for being asleep. i can't figure out what his deal is, then he tells me he's down front. and drunk. so i go down to see what the big deal is. he was hanging with some friends and they were bringing him down. since he was in the neighborhood, he decided to wander over to my place.

he was a little upset with life. upset that he's not doing what he feels like he wants to do with his life. it hit really close to home, considering i was sitting in the car thinking exactly the same thing, the other day. i have a decent job. i have a wonderful girlfriend. yet…i don't feel like i'm doing what i want to do.

we talked about this and the fact that it's so hard to find what you really want to do in the world, these days. it's so easy to lock yourself into playing a role that might not necessarily be yours. talent and the application of those talents are two different worlds, it seems. would the world's greatest painter worry about how he would go down in history? would he fret about how to coast through life on his painting ability? or would he just paint?

my cousin hasn't called, but i think i'll still be up for a while, yet.

i added comments to transmission3000. this could be a good thing, this could be a bad thing. either way, you can now comment over there.

i had to move desks, here at work. i'm all the way on the other side of the office, right up next to the cable tv people. that whole department is staffed by fat women. the floor shakes whenever they walk. i am not kdding. i keep thinking that i've got the shakes or something, but then i look up to see one of those beasts lumbering about.

the bought and thought for this week's comics:

Exiles #28:
One of the most godawful comics I hae ever read. I will say no more.

100 Bullets #45:
Great issue. Azz and Risso amaze me every month. I'm looking forward to their run on Batman. It should kick some serious ass. Loop is finally starting to learn that chess and life are one and the same…

Alias #23:
The continuation of Jessica's origin. I like her throwing up on Thor. It was a nice touch. As long as Bendis keeps cranking out the enjoyable books, I'll keep buying them.

Ultimate Spider-Man #42:
Peter and Geldoff try to have a heart to heart. Peter realizes he hates talking to idiots. Bendis' characterization is right on.

New X-Men #142:
I bought this issue solely for the Bachalo art. Morrison's stories still don't really grab me. I thought the exchange between Sabertooth and Wolverine was just…ridiculous.

Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #2:
Ryan Sook. That's all I have to say. I really like the "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" vibe of this issue.

Wildcats Version 3.0 #10:
Dolby's first night out as the new Grifter goes a little south. I really took notice of Joe Casey during his run on Wildcats Vol. 2. Version 3.0 continues to consistently impress me.

I forgot to buy Wolverine: Snikt! #2.

now i have to figure out what i want for lunch…

i spent the afternoon converting transmission3000 over to movable type. this will make it a lot easier for me to update the main news page, since i was doing it all by hand, before. i moved it to blogger a long time ago, but apparently it didn't get along with the server. oh well. shit happens. expect a new show within the week.

the led zeppelin dvd still kicks a ton of ass.

sebastian asked me seven questions and i answered them. the results are posted over at new artillery.

sunday night my cousin and i went out to try to pretend we're not old yet. we climbed around on top of buildings downtown and just generally ran amok. let's just say people should never leave skyscrapers that are under construction unlocked where any ol' person can just walk up in there and monkey around, 13 floors up.

well well well. can anyone here say "old habits die hard"? i sure can.

the biggest news since the last "real newsworthy" post is that sharon finally got herself hitched up. the ever-lovely sara and i went down to Princeton for another visit with my family and to go to the wedding. the visit with the family was very nice and laid back, as all good visits to family should be.

saturday evening was the wedding, and sara & i drove down to LBL, specifically Patti's 1880's Settlement, where the ceremony was to take place.

I'd never been to Patti's before, but heard about it quite a bit growing up (though even then the references were vague, as everyone pretty much assumed i'd know what they were talking about… it's the way of things in a rural community.) As you might imagine, Patti's is an approximation of a (significantly romanticized) old-time settlement… bunch of log cabins, flowers growing everywhere, streams flowing, waterfalls falling; pigs, chickens, and turkeys (all in pens, of course); and lots and lots of "antique" crafts and similar merchandise.

the ceremony itself took place in a large gazebo in the center of the "settlement", very elaborately decorated, very beautiful. unfortunately for some, the gazebo was not quite large enough for the assembled guests. i suppose though, that this was probably just a good indicator of how well sharon was loved by the people of the town. sometimes i feel i'll be lucky to get more than 50 (family & friends) at my eventual betrothal.

of course, as some of us know, i'm a complete and total sap, so it should come as no surprise that a couple times during the ceremony i came very near tears. it was very touching, and considering the past, i think i could hardly be happier for anyone than i was for sharon. of course, the most difficult moment was when, while attempting to recite her vows, her voice broke and you could literally hear the weight of her emotions in her voice. that was nearly the end of me. thankfully, sara was there and she managed to hush me up without resorting to pinching, hitting, or dragging me out by my ear.

after the ceremony, we waited for a chance to personally greet & congratulate the bride & groom, and the look of surprise (and happiness) on sharon's face when she finally saw me standing there was very gratifying. it was a very happy moment, to see her again, and to get to introduce her and sara. unfortunately, there were many guests for them to greet still, so we made our way to the back and out. on the way out, we stopped to say hello to the parents, and i have to say… the look of utter surprise on sharon's mother's face was quite entertaining. not only had she not seen me in years, but i'm sure i'm one of, if not the last person she expected to see there that day.

as i said though, the ceremony was lovely, and i'm incredibly glad i got to be there.

afterwards, the reception was held at the KY Dam Village Convention Center. it was an enjoyable time, highlighted by: a 15 minute (or so) slide presentation of sharon and grant growing up and meeting each other; and some crazy dance performed by the groom himself. we had a great time, and managed to get a least a few pictures that i'll hopefully be able to get online here soon.

the rest of the weekend was a bit compressed, as we had to get back to Louisville early in the afternoon on Sunday to get my sister to the airport for her trip back to France. as always it was good to get to see my sister, and to finally get to spend more than just a day with her before she headed back. especially considering that this may've been my only chance to meet the nephew (or niece) before s/he's born. nevertheless, on a least a couple of occasions, the baby gave me a hearty kick of greeting, perhaps to thank me before-hand for all the spoiling it's going to get under my generous uncleship.

this is too long. more later.