I like to keep little lists, lately. It keeps me organized, sort of. If anyone has heard of or used the GTD (getting things done) system, they know what I am talking about. Anyhow, I am sick of forgetting bands that I find online that I really like, and would like to keep a wish list of albums to buy, so they are fresh in my mind and I can refer to the list if I get any disposable income.

So I wrote this script:

Basically it allows you to add a line to a text file easily and quickly, and if you just call the program up without wanting to add anything, it organizes the list and shows it to you prettily. This doesn’t have to be used for an album wish list (yet)..I could see someone modifying it for any sort of list…upcoming birthdays, baby names (haha babies), to-do list, videogame wishlist, etc. This is a super simple, but well-commented script that might be a good tutorial for anyone who wonders what good a shellscript can do, or wants to learn.

when I don’t have a proper job:

Because I don’t really give a shit.

UPDATE: apparently i give a shit!

It’s a photoblog again!

So my brother got a very nice digital camera. I got some studio gear. None of which, I just noticed, is showing in that particular picture. The other one is my cat.

near-industrial noise type music and ambient, highly orchestrated stuff lately. I blame the latter on Do Make Say Think and the weird things I’ve been noticing in my daily life. I blame the former on a place to bury strangers and girls.

It was really cool that Flaunt fell on thanksgiving night because there’s only so much of your family (and tryptophan) that you can take. I was really REALLY broke but I still got myself good and tanked, and saw a bunch of people I don’t usually see! It was great.

It’s a really strange time right now…one of those pivotal moments, where (in the movies) they show the main character looking oh so thoughtful and pensive….maybe show a quick snippet of a memory or two… the next scene will be a montage of him working very hard and doing mundane things to save up to accomplish his goal (in my case…get the hell out of here, move to either NYC or ATL). The scene after that is the next big, entertaining part of the movie. Stranger in a strange land, romance, intrigue. New beginnings. Old endings. Blah blah. Heartbreak. Smart decisions in the name of justice and poor decisions in the name of love.

It’ll be like the grittier, bloodier sequel to garden state.

Here is something that I started working on accidentally. It’s really early and there’s not much there and what is there is rough. I am not even sure why I post them before they are done. It’s like the sculptor looking at the block of marble and seeing, i dunno, a naked greek dude I guess.

was a success and now i am so drunk so i just want to say. thankst ot all particilpants it was great.

if you are not friends with my myspace you missed the awesome flyer so here it is

next time make the flight

holy dubvkfuck

This is what I do instead of sleeping, when I don’t go to Flaunt.

wtf

and there are stories that one doesn’t want to tell.

I wanted to tell you about the concert I went to last week, so I did! I obviously didn’t want to tell you about my ex spitting on and punching me repeatedly in the face until my contact lens fell out and she had to be forcefully removed from my presence. But the two votes it got, haha, win. So here we go:

Well, there’s not really much to say, considering in the last paragraph I told you what happened, kind of. I’ll fill in the blanks. We broke up, like, way back in feb. or mar., things were going kinda badly and then she cheated on me. Of course she lied about it and tried to get me to be with her anyhow, somehow trying to be with both of us at once but I am not that type of guy. So we broke up, and after a period of being hurt I got pretty damned happy. I’m usually happy by default.

So now you must be thinking “geez, that happened a long time ago, why would she attack this cactus man?” and I would say to you “that’s a damn fine question! But why did you call me cactus man?”. Well, it was a thursday night, where I am always found at the same club, week after week. You see, my friends DJ there, and I make the flyers, so I get free vodka, and hang out with my friends. This is a fine deal. The ex stops by, here and there, I’m either nice or I ignore her because I am having fun. Apparently, on that particular night, she did not like it that I was happy and having fun. She did not think I should be talking with other girls. She wanted me to be a sad fellow and want her back, 8 months after the fact.

Yes, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her pointing at me and talking shit to random people, I even saw her pop out from around the corner, like a cartoon, and glare at me. I even ignored her when she ‘accidentally’ bumped into me, whereupon she hit ‘rewind’ and bumped into me AGAIN as if she hadn’t just done it. I kinda smiled, because it was entertaining and ludicrous.

So, she eventually, hours later, came up to me and just said “Ryan, fuck you!”, and ran off as fast as she could. Eh, I was bored with being nice, so I got up, spun her around, and said “no, fuck you!”, and she ran off even faster, with one of those “ohhh, I’m telling!” looks in her eyes. You know, the kind you haven’t seen since pre-school. Who was she telling? Apparently she was telling her fat friend to run over and push me around a bit. I kinda laughed again, and this is when the ex began to punch me in the face.

Luckily, the vodka was being kind to me and I felt nothing, but I did see huge purple stars shooting across my peripheral vision. To try to not cause a scene, and save some embarassment for the both of us, and get that little girl kicked out of my favorite club once and for all, I grabbed her by the arm and led her off of the dance floor. The manager of the club saw what was up and began the lengthy process of separating her from me. This is when she kept running back and spitting on my face. At some point, they say, she threw a glass at me.

A report from my friend later on said that she was crying in the parking lot after this fiasco, asking “why doesn’t he like me?”. Well, where shall we begin?

You might be wondering why I am airing my dirty laundry like this….I’m wondering it, too. For one thing, you asked! For another thing, what the fuck? I try to live an honest and responsible life, I don’t burn bridges if I can help it, I treat others the way I’d like to be treated. I went over 25 years without being spit on by anyone, let alone an angry ex girlfriend.

So there’s my terrible story . Let’s try to stick to music and weird dreams from now on, ok?

I know I was supposed to write about one of those stories from my last post, and I will, but it’ll have to wait.

Tonight we went and saw do make say think and broken social scene, two bands from canada that I’d never ever in my wildest imagination assume would come all the way to south florida. Living down here, you eventually start to theorize your own excuses as to why so few bands come down here…and I guess it’s easy to understand once you’ve driven through this long, dangly state. It’s a simple matter of diminishing returns, if you come down here….sooner or later, you have to drive back up. And it sucks. Harshly.

So anyhow, do make say think. So good…so good! The first thing i noticed was that they had a wonderful violin player…ever since Skyscraper, I’ve been really interested in cello and violin so it was great to hear that. There was also various brass which accented things nicely. The song structure also reminded me a lot of Skyscraper…I found myself closing my eyes quite a bit to soak in the layered sounds. I probably had a big stupid grin plastered to my face as well.

Broken social scene came on promptly afterwards and I realized that they share quite a few more musicians with their opening band than I had thought. A lot of my comments about do make say think are applicable here as well, with the violin,trumpets, and large, orchestrated songs. Near the beginning of the show, Drew commented on the (sizable) crowd and support…. “man…ft lauderdale, I never realized…” and later during the show quipped that we were like a much-needed blood transfusion on their tour…and they said they’d be back! It was really, really great to know that they appreciated the crowd and were pleasantly surprised by their fans here. It obviously showed in the music: songs became more drawn out and bigger…even playing a song they “said” they weren’t otherwise going to play (‘almost crimes’, the song that turned me onto them in the first place). They seemed to be having an absolute blast and it warmed my heart. I just realized that I am not very good at writing about live shows.

So anyhow, I had a good time.

and people probably hate me for it.

Nah, that is not what I mean. I mean, if you don’t blog often enough, people will not work your blog into their daily routine and will eventually never come back. That, in turn, depresses you and makes you forget about your blog. Or, at least you consider it a useless outlet.

I’m just going to give you a straight up list for now. I can go into the details later.

It’s going to be like a game, I will only give 2 sentence descriptions of everything. If you want to hear more you have to post the number of the thing you want to hear more about in the comments. If no one votes I will fade into obscurity and stick to myspace quizzes and webcam/mirror shots. Go!

1. My ex got really drunk and attacked me FOR REAL. It’s been a long fucking time since we broke up so it’s super silly of her but makes for a great story.
2. I was asked to move to NYC again, but this time in a much more serious manner. I’m considering it but need to start over, kinda.
3. I’m entering a song contest, and have to write, record, and master three songs by Nov. 15th. I’m really giddy, as the prizes are very worthwhile.
4. I got a silkscreen kit for fabric. I have no clue what I am doing (don’t vote for this, there is no story)
5. I installed an imageboard on this server but I am debating handing the link out to just anyone. I think the server could handle it, though.

Yeah, whatever..I can’t think of any more…my head hurts.