Matt: November 2006 Archives
The last few days have been a weird mix of the best and worst life has been offering me lately. The best: camping with good friends, smashing pennies on the railroad tracks, getting blind stinking drunk in the great outdoors. The worst: the next morning, and other miscellaneous things not associated with camping that we won't talk about right now.
Music:
In addition to the music being the perfect kind of beautiful/sad accompaniment for my mood, the lyrics are beach related!
we found a precious place in the sand, right out in the wind
we lied under a blanket and heard the furious sound
of roaring waves
the pounding surf
two bodies on the earth
I want Alela Diane to make me chicken soup right now.
Unlike some people I did my patriotic duty today and voted. Last night when I finally cracked my sample ballot I was dismayed to learn about how little I had prepared myself for this election. I hadn't heard of several of the propositions, so I tried to educate myself on a couple, but mostly just played it safe by voting no on all but a couple. Keeping the status quo is better than rushing headlong into something I have no idea what the consequences will actually be. As for the major races, Arnold was always going to win and so was Diane Feinstein so my vote on those two matters seems inconsequential.
The new voting machines are interesting. This time around they have a visible paper trail, in the form of a receipt that prints out behind glass, lets you verify your vote and then rolls out of sight before the machine resets itself for the next voter. I thought it was ingenious, and actually did inspire a bit of confidence in the electronic voting machines. Of course I realize that the paper trail will never be accessed except in the case of some kind of blatant discrepency but it was superficially reassuring at least.
Also I went to see Modest Mouse play tonight at the Grove of Anaheim, which I had never been to before. It was a somewhat large venue, though not quite Wiltern sized, but was pleasantly uncrowded. Seems it was a last minute show and despite being promoted by KROQ word didn't get out quickly enough so the venue was at less than half capacity. I hear they were event giving steep discounts on tickets for voters. Maybe they'll be doing that at Thursday's show too.
At the risk of embarassing myself in a couple of months when their new album comes out, I thought the new material was pretty great. About half the show was new songs and 49 percent was Good News For People Who Love Bad News and The Moon and Antarctica material. At the very very end of the show, the second encore to be exact, they threw us old time fans a bone and played Dramamine. A very good show, but I really want to hear more "Interstate 8" and less goddamn "Black Cadillacs", please.
Scene: BJ's in West Covina.
Hostess: Jimmy, party of five!
No response.
Hostess: Jimmy, party of five!
Matt: I can be Jimmy.
Hostess: I can't believe I got my college degree for this.
She goes back inside.
Monica: I wonder what her degree was in.
Aarika: Probably Communications.
Matt: It's so true.
Monica and Aarika: Haha.
Matt: That's what my degree is in.
A split second awkward silence follows.
Monica: Oh. Heh...
Matt: (hastily) But it's with an emphasis in journalism so I'll have an actual career after I'm done.
Matt: I hope.
