Catch Up

I've been avoiding writing anything down about my family. But I assure you, thoughts are swirling around my head. Mostly I can't wait till they leave, even though I'll miss Jacquie's laugh and Kyla's crazy voices. I find myself escaping to my cypress scented room, just to get a break. Now that I'm older my family doesn't seem as funny as they used to be. It's like I've out grown them in a certain way. It's horrible to say, but I can't help myself. It's like we bring out the worst in each other when we are around each other. I'm still the youngest, I'm still excluded, bossed around, and babied.

I'm excited to go back to work, but know it will be boring and not busy. I need the structure, fuck I really need the money.

I'm not excited about New Years. I'm more excited to pick up Jordan's kitty on New Years Eve. Jordan can go out and party, while I get the little guy settled in. I'm worried for him, but he has the easy going personality we'd been in search of for months. I think he'll adapt, and I don't know why I'm worried, it's a cat. No fuss.

I forgot to apply for Elite status renewal by Dec 16 on yelp. Oh well. I never really took advantage of it, and really I was always more about the writing then the social networking. I honestly am not really upset about it.

I gave in and started reading Water For Elephants. I hate reading main stream literature, I feel like I'm being groomed to like a certain type of book, and leave no room for anything obscure. I never find books on my own, that no one else has read that are important to me. I rely on the easy 'best sellers', big name authors, and recommendations. Books that are obscure are hard for me to get into, hard to read, because its usually the spectacular stories and/or beautifully written books that make it to the top of the lists. One's that are hard to read for the average schmoe but are gems, I can't see to get through. That's what I mean by groomed.

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KROQ Almost Acoustic XMAS

First of all, I hate the name of this annual concert. The damn thing was over two nights of Hanukkah and it's not acoustic at all. I guess back in the day it was some dumb radio joke, but now it's so old it's out of context.

I have desperately wanted to see Muse for about 6 years, before they were famous, before they sold out. And when I learned that they were headlining, I commanded Jordan to get tickets, and we did! Sitting in the 2nd to last row on the balcony wasn't bad either, in fact I rather liked it.

I was actually surprised to find I at least enjoyed every band I heard. At the Weenie Roast this summer, I didn't like quite a few of the people that played, and not just because I didn't like their music, but their live performances also sucked. No one at acoustic xmas had a poor stage presence, and everyone seemed a lot more musically talented and original then most people out there these days.

White Rabbits
I had never heard of before. This is going to sound terrible, but I can hardly remember what genre of rock, but there was a piano involved, and although I cant remember I know I enjoyed them at the time. There was also heavy drumming which I tend to be attracted to.

Metric
I'd been aware of who Metric was but couldn't really place any of their songs until they played "Help I'm Alive". Before that though I really got into them. The lead singer looks like Madonna and Uma Thurman's love-child. She was awesome, not in the obnoxious rocker chick way either.

Cage the Elephant
We'd seen these guys at Weenie Roast...and it seems the lead singer still doesn't understand that he needs to not have an epileptic fit if he wants us to hear the lyrics. I swear, I can't believe no one's told him yet. Even so I really like this band, and his psycho passion for his music. But really just keep your head still dude.

Phoenix
I mean I like phoenix, but they're not that exciting...they're kinda girly, in a way I don't find appealing. And it seemed the stadium swelled with girls while they played, as if many of them came just for Phoenix. I got food at this point, and only watched their last song, in which the lead singer got out into the audience and seemed to be staring at himself on the big screen.

Vampire Weekend
They were certainly different. They had that surfer guitar thing going on, reminiscent of 60s. They weren't as fun to watch, but I did like their music. What an unfortunate name, I kept thinking, where is Edward? Is this some kind of nod to these Twi-hards?

Slightly Stoopid
I liked a lot! I <3 reggae beats, ska, and rock, and these guys definitely fit in that genre. They had a horn and a sax which made me happy. I thought of Humboldt and that made me happy too. This is the type of band I'd like to dance to.

The Bravery
Awesome performers. Although I have a problem with some of their songs since they sound strangely too close to The Killers, and I don't know who came first but oh well. They were pretty cool, I went pee during some of their set. But what I did hear I enjoyed.

311
Another band I've been dying to see live for years. I came for Muse, but 311 was like the icing on a great cake. They're old pros and you can tell. They love their fans, and they're also awesome on stage. I thought it was smokey after Slighty Stoopid but boy oh boy was it skunky during this set. They also did a big percussion section since their set was 50 minutes rather then the 30 everyone else had been delegated. The percussion set started with an amazing drum solo by the drummer, and while he was raging on his drums, they set up four other drums for the rest of the band who came out and played too. Again reminded me of Humboldt, I used to go to percussion ensemble performances all the time.

MUSE MUSE MUSE MUSE MUSE MUSE
Although they came out 10 minutes late due to some mysterious issue, they fulfilled my Muse fantasies. Like I said I've been listening to them for like years now, before they became famous. They're a band dear to my heart, and someone I can never get sick of (although I think they rushed their most recent album). It's strange cause their rather hard core drum and guitar wise, but the classical piano and operatic vocals pull it back from being too hard. And live they do each aspect to the max. I love them, I just don't know how to explain it. I feel like their music really makes up for most of the performance, because it's so dramatic on it's own, but for only 3 guys you'd think there were 10 cause they killed it!

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Rain Tweets

I could sit in my bed and watch the rain outside all day! It makes me so happy, strangely happy, like a cute guy smiling at me. I know I'm obsessing, I keep writing about the rain, and how much I love it. Maybe that's why people twitter, for all the small thoughts that don't really need expansion or blog posts of their own. But I don't really like the idea of getting addicted to something else on the internet, and hearing about people's minute details every single minute. Nor do I think anyone wants to really hear about mine...I don't know it's something to seriously consider. I've found over the past few weeks that I have had many of those micro-blog thoughts, that don't deserve expanded posts. After all, now I can hook up my regular blog with reading and displaying the feed from my twitter, so it can all end up in the same place, here.

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Mud

I have no life in down here in LA, everything I care about is inconvenient. And to make it convenient seems impossible. Search results fail me everyday. I'm never going to get out. The longer it goes, the worse it gets. It might not be so bad if I had something going for me here. But like I said I have no life in LA.

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Rain

My heart ached for the rain, and now it's coming! And it will blow in and out all week, just like real Northern California storms! Chilly bruised clouds rushing through crispy air, the only interruption I could stand for is rain, and it will. And the earth will gargle it up. When it's all over I'll feel empty again, stuck in mud, burning under the sun.

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Holiday Taxidermified Coins

Coins
I discovered a 100 yen coin in my wallet. Later I found 1 Canadian penny. Someone in LA is handing out foreign money. I keep a small green piggy bank on my shelf for foreign change. Whenever I get new ones, I unplug the belly and pour them out to look. Today I discovered that the slot on the pigs back is bigger his belly opening, so a $2 Canadian coin is stuck in there! Well that's what you get for buying a small piggy bank for a buck from the $1 section of target. Oh well, it's not like I'm going to China, Jamaica, India, or even to Britain anytime soon. Better save them for when the America finally drowns. Seems to be going that way.

Turkey Taxidermy
Today I processed a claim attempting to gain monetary reparation for his damaged Turkeys. A client of ours, a sports warehouse chain, apparently had $45,000 worth of this guys trophies, he had both hunted and taxidermeified himself on displays in a branch. But they did not take care of the specimens according to his contract, and thus deteriorated, then the company files for bankruptcy and that's it. I wonder if he will get the money.
It's definitely one of the strangest claims I've processed. I could tell you about a dozen others. We've gotten hate mail "fuck this company they are evil". We've gotten "I am Jesus, Obama is Evil, Kennedy is an Alien" scribbled all over Claims. Claims from the elderly, saddened by the loss of a dear magazine company they were subscribers to for 50 years. Claims for life insurance, claims for medical bills, claims for chemical damage from pesticides...really anything you could imagine.

Corporate Holiday Parties
It's like Prom all over again. Girls at work keep asking me who I'm bringing as a date and what I'm wearing. Even Jordan wanted to buy a suit for his companies holiday party. These annual events are talked about for years to come. Who got drunk, who flirted with who, who wore a revealing dress etc. I'm showing up to mine for the raffle, chance to win a free vacation. They can waste thousands of dollars on renting out the Long Beach Aquarium for a party, with raffle prizes, but won't offer us benefits, or raises. If I win a vacation I can get away no expense, if I win a TV I can sell it and get away no expense.

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