Sox sign Japanese pitcher!

Alas, not the one you're thinking of ...

Hideki Okajima.
"If we can't have Mike Myers, we'll import our own!"

Apparently, no one has ever taken a picture of Okajima, so I can't post one.
Instead, I posted the first image to come up on Google Images when you search for "LOOGY".
Enjoy!

Sporadic

My postings might become a little sporadic for the next couple weeks because of this:


(My favorite thing about the source of this image is the instruction to "note the nice cleavage". He he.)

Let's keep this brief

After a few rambling, long, introspective posts recently, let's pull the throttle back a little.

Anyway, if you want to read me ramble, enjoy another TIG review: Various Artists - Plague Songs. It's a fun album about biblical plagues! Woo!

The 4 Lessons

So, after an odd weekend of mood swings, frisbee, High Fidelity and records, I've come to a number of important conclusions:

(1) I am not assertive enough (or at all).
(2) I am too available to people I have a romantic interest.
(3) I don't follow my instinct enough.
(4) My life was altered in junior high when I decided that the epitome of life of Kerry Kuokannen, a senior who was the soccer goalkeeper, anindie rocker (before indie rock) with a hottie alt/indie girlfriend. Since then, subconsciously (or consciously) that is what I've aspired to accomplish.

Now, 1-3 can be remedied. 4 is more of a "huh, well I'll be." sort of thing. So, today, I am attempting to be more assertive. Sometimes this is difficult when the person you're trying to be assertive to looks like death warmed over. However, I have decided that I deserve more from my current flame than having to deal with her being down and dour about everything. Where is the fun in that? Now, the question is, how do I make that clear when she's being all gloomy? That will be the fun part, eh?

Anyway ... it is time to be a champion and not a chump. Champions do what is right because they know its right, even if others might not. Make sense, eh?

Here is a new TIG review for you to enjoy:The Black Keys - Magic Potion

Yet again with the Riley

I'd have to say, Riley Finn from BtVS has, over the course of the last year, gone from a character that I was strongly indifferent towards to one I wholly connect with. It is very odd, but I constantly feel like I play the role of Riley to all my Buffys. Oh lordy, that was an odd sentence. Sorry ...

Anyway, I was watching some Buffy, as you do, and this stretch of dialogue just reinforced my belief of my own Riley-ism...

Buffy: It's just... different, you know? A picnic. First of all, daylight ... kind of a new venue, Buffywise. And the best part: he said he would bring all the food, so all I have to do was to show up and eat. Those are two things I'm really good at.
Willow: So he's nice?
Buffy: Very, very.
Willow: And there's sparkage?
Buffy: Yeah. He's ... have you seen his arms? Those are good arms to have. I really like him. I do.
Willow: But...?
Buffy: I don't know. I really like being around him, you know? And I think he cares about me... but... I just... feel like something's missing.
Willow: He's not making you miserable?
Buffy: Exactly. Riley seems so solid. Like he wouldn't cause me heartache.
Willow: Get out. Get out while there's still time!

Wait Erik, thats not bad, right? Yes and no. However, it proves the point: girls don't get as fiery about guys who are stable and won't cause heartache.

Buffy goes on to say...
I can’t help thinking, isn’t that where the fire comes from? Can a nice, safe relationship be that intense? I know it’s nuts but, part of me believes that real love and passion have to go hand in hand with pain and fighting.

Bah! Drama, you suck!

Wild Misinterpretation

Sometimes I wish I made any forward progress in my dealings with the opposite sex. I still just have the same reactions and feelings that I had when I was in high school, yet here I am, 29 and still acting the fool. What exactly is it about relationships that cause me to act so oddly/dumbly/insanely? Not really sure beyond my lack of any true confidence that I can keep a lady interested in me (possibly based on the fact that I, well, can't, as my track record proves). Do I just make things too complicated for myself - getting worried about things I shouldn't be? Or is Lauren right in the sense that most modern women these days don't want a "relationship guy", so I can just scare them. What is the point of dating then? Or is Ashley right and I need to be more of a jerk? Not in my nature I'm afraid. Did I just miss that day of the seminar? Am I doomed? Honestly, I would love any advice on this matter? I have plenty of friends who are happily married and all - is there a secret? Can I get a hint? Anything? Sigh. Again, this post in itself is probably ridiculously out of proportion, but these days, I just feel like in my current situation, I'm living out Riley Finn's comments about Buffy: Hey, I'm well aware of how lucky I am. Like, lottery lucky. Buffy's like nobody else in the world. When I'm with her, it's like... it's like I'm split in two. Half of me is just on fire, going crazy if I'm not touching her. The other half is so still and peaceful, just perfectly content... just knows: this is the one. But she doesn't love me. *sigh*.

And on that note, a few things to entertain rather than bewilder you:
New TIG review, for Stephin Merritt's latest outing Gothic Archies - The Tragic Treasury
A grand, semi-new version of one of my alltime favorite songs "It's a Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys

EDITOR'S NOTE (11/22, 3PM): the author might be a little loopy today for no good reason. Please take his rants with a grain of salt the size of a small asteroid.

Oddly enough ...

All I have to say today is ...

F&%k you, Derek Jeter...Ha ha!

Oh yeah, here's a new TIG review too: Xiu Xiu - The Air Force (soooo good).

Blogging about blogs

Yes, indeed. I do not have much to say today beyond...

(1) I apparently destroyed by jaw & ribcage playing soccer yesterday. Nothing as anti-satisfying as getting hurt in a losing effort, but I could take consolation in the fact that we played the whole game 2 players-down.
(2) When did the airlines decide it should cost 75% more to fly from the west coast to the east coast than this time last year?
(3) I find it a little odd to blog about a blog, but if you want to read a blog that is both entertaining and full of good (free) mp3s, check out the daily (well, M-F) blog of Tullycraft, the truly excellent Seattle band. Good stuff almost every day.

Thats it ... At least its a short week, right?

Almost made it

Well, I've almost survived the week (knock on wood). That, in itself, is quiet an accomplishment.

Maybe, someday, when my head is less muddled, I will detail it all in a great short story. Or something. Won't that be fun?

Here's my iPod top 10
10 My Slumbering Heart - Rilo Kiley
9 Devil's Pie - Rhymefest
8 Easy/Lucky/Free - Bright Eyes
7 Rut! - B for Brontosaurus
6 No Rest for the Weary - Blue Scholars
5 This is That New Song - Badly Drawn Boy
4 I Think We're Alone Now (Live) - the Pipettes
3 Blood - Klashnekoff
2 Hope There's Someone - Antony & the Johnsons
1 True Affection - the Blow

Oh yeah, and a little Billy Bragg for the weekend.

Easy/Lucky/Free

This is all for today

Easy/Lucky/Free

you met me at a very strange time in my life

People who talk to me frequently know my apprehension about how I will be turning 30 in about 2 months. It feels like I should have more things sorted out by the time the big ol' bell of 30 rings. However, at the same time, my 20's (and many people's 20's) have been so unsettled and chaotic, I can't imagine that it can continue. Well, at least I hope that. I mean, I'm not expecting some sort of magic enlightment when 30 hits or to feel that different, but whatever ...

Last night I watched Fight Club with my friend Marie and I noticed a few things: (1) Ed Norton/Tyler/Narrator is supposedly 30. Woo. (2) It is a vaguely uplifting movie to me; (3) He does remarkably well for receiving a gunshot wound to the head. The highlight of the evening was, though, getting a fortune in my cookie that was something like "Your current plans will come to fruitation within a year". Of course, I'm not sure what my plan is, so that might make things more difficult. I hope the PTB know what they're doing.

Anyway, I need to stop listening to so much Weezer and Badly Drawn Boy. Nothing like these gems for a melancholy mood.

I seem to always play the role of Riley

Ok, the title is a little melodramatic, but it was another odd weekend for me. Not necessarily bad, but complicated. It prompted me to watch Moulin Rouge, which is still love. Speaking of, it also made me feel like a hopeless romantic in the sense that even after all the bad things that I've experienced in relationships (being mislead, being cheated on, being dumped, etc.) I still have this odd belief in love. Maybe I would have worked out well in the Bohemian lifestyle like Christian and its odd that I can even say that Moulin Rouge isn't a sad movie to me. It is just melancholy thats all. Now, I just need to batten down the hatches and weather this one. I'm actually oddly optimistic ... I think.

I wish I had more to say today, but I don't.

I wish I had $45 million for a pitcher

According to Buster Olney, whom I trust about as much as I trust Tony Snow, the Red Sox may have made a $45 million bid for the right to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka, the 26 year old Japanese phenom pitcher. Now, if this is true, well, I'm excited. With Beckett, Papelbon, Matsuzaka and Schill, the rotation looks pretty darn good. However, if the assumption is that to sign Daisuke it might take 6 years/$80M, then when you add the bid, thats like $125M for a pitcher. Yowch! Can anyone say Mike Hampton? We'll see. In other Red Sox news, the man who threw the final pitch of the 2004 World Series became a free agent today. Keith Foulke turned down his $3.75M option and now will try to milk the weak free agent closer market. We'll see if he has any takers. My guess: Tampa? San Fran?

Wow. A baseball post? Go figure.

Anyway, here is my iPod top 10. I need to spend this weekend working considering my "distractions" are not out & about. Indeed.

10 My Slumbering Heart - Rilo Kiley
9 La La La Lisa - Math & Physics Club
8 Jeane, If You're Ever in Portland - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
7 Compliments (Shibuyaka Remix by Nick Zinner) - Bloc Party
6 Rut! - B for Brontosaurus
5 No Rest for the Weary - Blue Scholars
4 Seems to be on My Mind - Suburban Kids with Biblical Names
3 I Think We're Alone Now (Live) - the Pipettes
2 True Affection - The Blow
1 Hope There's Someone - Antony & the Johnsons

Nothing like Thursdays

They always bring surprises!

My surprise to you? My favorite song in a long long time.
Enjoy it at your leisure!

The Blow - True Affection.

Unnhhnhhnnhhh
(that's supposed to be a drooling noise).

Late Night Politics

Alright, well, it looks like the Democrats have won back the House and look like they're headed for a tie in the Senate (well, not really with the Darth Cheney tiebreaker). Good for the Democrats, it is about time. Hopefully they can not f&%k up too bad before the 2008 Presidential Election.

So, thats enough for politics. Right now I'm not really feeling like partying because I'm kind of melancholy again. It has been a very up & down week for me, and I really don't know what the overall trend is for this whole situation. It's probably dumb of me to think what I think, but I wish I could meet someone who just wants to be with me. No complications, no hesitation, no nothing. Maybe I'm just insane for thinking this is possible. Who knows. Maybe I just don't know how to find people like that for me, but its really kind of getting me down lately. Not that I don't have someone who likes me ... I do, but there are of course, complications, and I just wish that it could all be easier. Maybe I'm impatient about it all. Jeez, what is my problem lately?

Election Day

Today is Election Day. Did you vote? You better have.

Remember, a vote for the Democrats is a vote for the Terrorists!

Let's get my head back on straight

Sometimes, well, most of the time, I wish life could be simple. OK, maybe not simple, because that would probably be pretty dull, however, it would be unbelievably fabulous if life wasn't always so, well, bizarre. I mean, sometimes it feels like its one of those guy-meets-girl-and-new-girl-gets-cold-feet-but-then-other-girl-who-guy-already-knows-makes-move-then-has-complications-involving-another-guy type stories. You know, those. Everybody has 'em, right? Are you with me people? (A hushed silence). I guess I just feel like life has got to be simpler, I mean if we're just going to appeal to Occham's Razor, but if this is what the "simplest explanation" really ends up being, thus somebody has lost of lot of blood getting ready for work in the morning.

On that note, I did enjoy a fun evening in San Francisco with a friend of mine from Seattle. Always odd to hang out with people out of context. I do, however, wish to file a complaint with the city of San Francisco for their surface streets that MAKE NO SENSE. Sure, great, you have a grid that has a massive kink in the middle that destroys it. It's like Boston without the sanity.

I will offer a link to a "musical fun band" called Brontosaurus that I recommend. They're from Boston and the song "Rut!" tends to get stuck in my head.


Enjoy a new TIG review ... it even references a lathe! Damien Jurado - And Now That I'm In Your Shadow

And here is a late iPod Top 10 ... enjoy!
10 Scream and Run Away - the Gothic Archies
9 Lost Blues - Palace
8 Heartbeats - the Knife
7 Jeane, If You're Ever in Portland - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
6 True Affection - the Blow
5 No Rest for the Weary - Blue Scholars
4 Compliments (Shibuyaka Remix by Nick Zinner) - Bloc Party
3 My Slumbering Heart - Rilo Kiley
2 Seems To Be On My Mind - Suburban Kids with Biblical Names
1 Hope There's Someone - Antony & the Johnsons

Oh yes, and for Big Lou and Marie
(my interpretation of the results is that all the Finns relatives in Massachusetts altered me towards that North Central accent. Damn them. At least Boston is a close second, eh?)

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central   "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
Boston
The West
The Midland
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Northeast
The South
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Thursdays indeed

So, my enthusiasm has quicky converted to ambivalence. I think the reaction is something like this ...

optimism + enthusiasm + 2*unrealistic expectations + hidden problems <-> ambivalent + angst + resigned failure + 2*uncomfortable situations

Not sure if it balances, but hey, its close ...

Today, it has rained. A lot. First time since I moved here in early August. I had a good run, but now its done. Ah well.
I think instead of going out tonight I want to sit at home and regroup... Yeah, thats it.

In honor of the rain, here is a picture of Andrew WK. I still think I Get Wet was a darn fine album.
I am also a big fan of his demeanor in this picture, especially today.