At this moment...
03.31.07:
And so March ends. 31 days into being 33. I will say that this past week has been a great running week. On Monday I ran seven miles at a nine minute per mile pace. Then, on Thursday I ran four miles at an eight minute mile pace. Yesterday, to prove to myself that I could still run fast, I ran three miles at a seven minute pace. This morning I backed off and did four miles at about a ninute minute per mile pace. My legs feel a bit exhausted, but as long as the weather tomorrow cooperates I'd like to run seven or eight miles.
03.25.07:
Lambs! Lambs! Lambs!... And other assorted photos from the weekend spent in Wisconsin.
Additional photos can be found here (may take a while to load).
03.24.07:
Last night while at Bad Dog, jm was enquiring as to why no photos from the acoustic rehearsal on Monday night never made it to the site. So, here are a couple...
Thank you kk.com for the tacos and the entertainment, and thank you djbv for the t-shirt and for playing a couple of Zerostars songs in your dj set.
03.22.07:
Some of my coworkers caught a moth and decided to keep him as a pet. They named him Todecko. His home is now a clear plastic cup with a bit of water on the bottom, a leaf, and a white platic coffee cup top. The lighting at work is crap and since I don't have a tripod at work I did my best at taking a close-up photo to prove his existence.
I went for a great three mile run after work. Somehow I managed to run at a 7:30 pace. Felt great. Then it was some chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. Now I'm watching an amazing Nick Cave concert DVD. The Bad Seeds have to be one of the best backing bands ever. I've seen Nick Cave perform a few times, and I highly encourage anyone to go to one of his concerts.
03.18.07:
Taken last night with my Powershot A95 @ 10:30 PM while waiting for the train...
Taken with the Xti 100mm macro...
Song:
I Love How You Love Me - Bobby Vinton via Camera Obscura (Quite pretty. The Jeff Magnum version is pretty great too.)
03.17.07:
One of these days I'll get around to building some proper dioramas for Moped Man. I also need to work on lighting Moped Man properly. My apartment doesn't have the best lighting, so I need to correct that problem. I took the below photos, including the shots of Enid last night, rather hastily using my new Canon 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens. The auto focus isn't as great as it is on the 50 mm, so it's best to just use manual with this lens. I bought the 100mm macro because the 50 mm f1.4 that I have won't let me do macro work. The 100 mm macro can also function as a medium telephoto and it's takes pretty nice portraits as well (althought I think the 50 mm is better for portraits). Looking forward to warmer weather, when flowers and other things nature related start to dot the landscape.
Went for a four mile tempo run. Felt great to get out and run a bit faster than I've been running. Now I'm a bit sleepy.
Listening to:
Damaged - Lambchop
Witching Hour - Ladytron
Multiples - Keith Fullerton Whitman
Tower of Love - Jim Noir
Ys - Joanna Newsom
World Waits - Jeremy Enigk
First Narrows - Loscil
The Life Pursuit - Belle and Sebastian
03.16.07:
A series of Enid...
Driving into work I kept repeating the phrase, "Cement is not pretty." I then started thinking about all the technological advances that man has made since he started walking on the Earth, cement being one of those advances. And I had to wonder if these advances are really worth it. Strange how we are self aware of the damage that we're doing to the planet (I typed "our planet" but it's not ours) and yet we keep on destroying it every day.
Song:
Pretend It's a Race and I'm On Your Side - James Figurine
03.14.07:
Winter is back, or at least trying to make a brief appearance before Spring decides to stay.
Not like any drummers visit my website (very few people visit the site, which is okay by me -- seriously, who the hell works at Diamond Cluster?), but, Zerostars are still looking for a drummer. So, if you're a drummer, or know of a good drummer in search of a band, send me an email and we'll see what happens. You can hear us at our myspace page. Give Like the Daylights a listen as it's a damn good song.
Listening to:
The World is Saved - Stina Nordenstam
03.13.07:
Diamond Cluster? Odd.
This unseasonably warm weather seems to be bringing up my spirit. Or maybe it's the wine?... After work I went for a three mile run. Felt amazing. So it's not the wine. Although, tonight's pick, an inexpensive 2003 Syrah (Fusee - French for Rocket -- great label design) is quite good.
Song(s):
Lost - The Mary Onettes
Empty City Lights - Hearts of Black Science
Our Velocity - Maximo Park
To Go Home - M. Ward
03.11.07:
My weekend turned out exactly how I wanted it to turn out. Yesterday I ran five miles and today I ran eight miles. I finished rereading The Sun Also Rises and read another short nonfiction book about Pet Sounds. I listened to a whole bunch of records and watched Stranger Than Fiction.
This warmer weather can only mean one thing, the local AH homeless are starting to hang out at the train station. Good times.
Song:
Pearl - Chapterhouse
03.07.07:
Today specbebop.com turns four years old. In other unrelated news, I somehow managed to turn 33 on the same day.
03.05.07:
Looking back on this time three years ago I must have been strangely optimistic. Here's what I wrote:
...That means about one third of my life is behind me, but two thirds is still ahead of me, and I think that the best will be in those upcoming two thirds.
But lately I wake up singing Everyone Else is Evolving by Chappaquiddick Skyline. It's really a bummer of a song. I don't think I'm as down as the protagonist of the song is, but I'm not very cheery either. Last night I watched The Science of Sleep and it kind of hit home. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. More often than not, I'd rather live in my dreams. Then, after only an hour of sleep I woke up terrified. I jumped out of my bed and turned the light on and stood in my bedroom not knowing what was going on. I recall nothing of the nightmare, and only when I woke up did I remember racing out of my bed in a panic. Maybe it was the wine? Not like yesterday was a stressful day. I mean, everything that I wanted to accomplish yesterday was accomplished. Just look at the below list and you'll see it was a packed day.
Was I optimistic because I was turning 30? Is turning 33 causing some sort of anxiety? I keep repeating that age as if there's some significance to it? The sun is roughly 4.5 billion years old. It has enough hydogen to last another five billion years. Neil Armstrong was 36 when he walked on the moon, so maybe there's still time for me to accomplish something grand.. Yes, I'm trying to be optimistic.
At least I went for a run after work.
Listening to:
Happy in Grey - Damero
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? - Of Montreal
Reality - David Bowie
Dear Catastrophe Waitress - Belle and Sebastian (I still feel awful for talking crap about this album. Now I love it.)
03.04.07:
I woke up way too early for a Sunday. Unable to fall back asleep I decided to just get out of bed and start my day. Things I did today:
-- Did laundry
-- Bought a new DVD player (the old one broke about a month ago)
Bought The Science of Sleep and Stranger Than Fiction on DVD
-- Cleaned the apartment
-- Went for a run (Took a pretty bad spill at around a mile and a half into my run. So, a big thanks to the asshole who doesn't feel it necessary to shovel the sidewalk. Luckily I had my super cold weather running pants on. I flew through the air and came crashing down on my hands and right knee. The knee is all scraped up and I'm sure it's going to bruise and hurt like hell tomorrow. Tonight I'll apply some ice.)
-- Baked cinnamon scones
-- Made penne with a vodka cream sauce
-- Found a 2001
Hill of Content Grenache Shiraz buried in my wine rack
Listening to:
Heathen - David Bowie