2 of 5

I really don't like being interrupted when I speak. To me, its a sign of disrespect, as if what I have to say doesn't matter. I can't remember which book I read it in, but someone said that most people aren't really listening, they're just waiting for their chance to speak. I'm starting to notice this more and more, and strangely enough, even in myself. It's funny how something can be annoying when it's done to you, but completely acceptable when you do it to someone else. I'm working on changing this habit in myself. I'm definitely better at it than I used to be, but I could still use some polishing.

Part 1 of 5

Today I’m going to start a five-part series on one of my favorite topics; my pet peeves. If you know me at all you’ll realize I’m OCD in some areas and therefore have a lot of pet peeves. The five that I’m going to touch on in this series though aren’t just little annoyances; these are five of things that annoy me the most.

This will be a completely selfish series of rants, void of any compositional value, but my hope is that getting the thoughts down on paper will at least help me not hate these things so much.

I also hope you’ll be able to find some sort of humor in my insanity.

Pet Peeve #1 (Ladies, this is one you probably won’t have to deal with so be thankful.)

I HATE it when men feel that they must spit while urinating.

Guys always seem to end up side by side in the restrooms and it’s inevitable that at least 2 or 3 of them will be spitters.

What’s the point? What do you accomplish? Does it make you feel manly?

I was next to a guy the other day that spit 4 times in one standing. 4 times!!! Why on earth would a person need to spit 4 times in 60 seconds? Is there some sort of spit quota that needs to be met everyday and the bathroom is the only place it can be done? Is there some sort of salivary disease that 60% of men have contracted but to which I am somehow immune?

Maybe I just don’t understand. Honestly I don’t want to. All I know is that I’m not a violent person, but today someone came in and spit immediately and it took all my strength not to punch them in the side of the head.

In the future, if you happen to read on cnn.com that some poor schmuck in Omaha, was viciously attacked in the bathroom, you’ll know who the prime suspect is.

Death to PC!!!

Hopefully this will be the last post I ever write from a PC.

I finally decided to get with the program and ordered an Apple Computer this week. This has been a move I've been looking forward to for quite some time now. I wasn't able to order the brand spanking new Macbook Pro that Apple just released, but thanks to that release, the Pro I ordered was discounted quite a bit. (I'm ok not having the latest and greatest if it saves me $600. Besides, Apple will just come out with another latest and greatest in another 6 months.)

When I talk about hating PC though, I'm not just talking about the guy with glasses or the personal computer he represents. Recently, I've come to realize how much I hate Political Correctness. Don't get me wrong, I don't think racist, sexist or other offensive speech should be tolerated, but the level to which political correctness has been taken is ridiculous. PC has gone beyond censoring what we say and is now trying to censor what we think and believe.

For example, if I were to look at the world through the PC lens, in order to be "tolerant" of my friend who is a Jehovah’s Witness, I would have to agree that both of our views is equally valid. This is impossible. For me to believe what I believe, I cannot think his beliefs are equal to mine.

If it were up to PC, I think John 6:14 would read something like this:

Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” *

* Keywords “I”, “Father”, and “me” as found in line 6 of chapter 14 in the book of John are subject to interpretation based upon individual preference and/or sentiment. Furthermore, “Jesus” as established in the aforementioned passage is the topic of elucidation and is considered interchangeable with such figures as Allah, Confucius, or Chuck Norris (any figures not mentioned are similarly viable). Moreover, it is the conclusion of the board that the statement “no one” as found in the text, is insensitive and, if inclined, one can replace the word “no” with whatever adjective one deems acceptable.

I haven’t read any other holy books, but my guess is that few are this vague.

According to PC, my friend and I shouldn’t be able to get along, but somehow we do. I’m not surprised. I respect him as a person and he feels the same about me, even though our beliefs are vastly different. I’d love it if he believed what I believe because I think I'm right, but that doesn't mean we can't coexist peacefully and even beneficially.

Maybe I'm just extra sensitive these days, but it seems that anyone with an agenda can make a little noise and force the rest of society to bend to their will. If this is the case it's time for me to to get noisy about mine.

For sake of the pun, let's replace PC with Mac; The Mutual Agreement of Consciousness.

Mac users will be conscious of the cultural, ethnic and religious differences inherent in the world, but won’t feel pressured to adopt a “universal” mindset. We won’t be afraid to hold fast to our beliefs and share them with others, but won’t expect a conversion to extend our friendship and respect.

Besides, if PC gets his way, 1984 will only be about 30 years behind schedule.

The Next Big Adventure

So I'll be taking off for Columbus, Ohio this weekend to record a couple songs with the band. It should be pretty awesome. Once this trip is done I'll have officially traveled through 13 states so far in 2008. Not bad for a month and a half. I remember the days when a trip to Kansas City was a big deal and was the only time I got out of Omaha for 6 months or more. I much prefer these days to those days.

Josh

Not indie enough :*(

I am not feeling very indie today. I just realized I own nothing from "To Write Love On Her Arms" or "Invisible Children."

Spacebook?

Today I had some free time at work and decided to browse some of my friends myspace pages. I like doing this every so often so I know what to talk about the next time I see them in person. But instead of being greeted by all their latest news, my myspace friends served me only a sobering moment. Of the 30 or so friends whose accounts I browsed through, a good 70% haven't even logged into their myspace page for at least a month, some of them even longer. Have they all grown up and no longer feel the need to log in and update their profile? Am I a loser because I log into my account multiple times a day without fail to check for messages or comments? Or maybe it's something altogether different. Maybe they've simply migrated to the newer, trendier Facebook.

Recently, several of my friends have been hounding me to get a Facebook account, but even after I spent all last week on my couch, sick, with nothing to do, I couldn't bring myself to do it. As it is, I consistently log into 4 separate social networking accounts on a regular basis. My personal myspace page, the band's myspace page, the band's private myspace fan page, and the old band myspace page (Nobody seems capable of reading the notes I plastered on every inch of the page stating that the band's name has changed and "The Livingstons" no longer exist. I still get booking requests weekly, and though most are fruitless, I don't want to miss any opportunities.) This isn't even including the band's purevolume page, Bebo page, Oaktree page or any of the other 13 pages we've set up that I never log into. One more social networking site to log into just might drive me insane.

Let's say I do sign up for a Facebook account, what do I do next? Well I have to go out and find all my friends that I'm already friends with on myspace and add them to my Facebook account. Then I've got to pimp out a completely new profile (you do that on Facebook too don't you) so all my friends (or whatever they're called on Facebook) don't think I'm a nerd. Then I've got to upload all the same pictures that I uploaded on myspace and type a whole new description of the same me that has an account on myspace. Where does it end? Do I need to set up a Facebook for the band? A private facebook fan page? A Facebook page for "The Livingstons" just in case someone comes looking for the old band?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my friends and want to keep in touch with them, but how much time should in invest in maintaining the perfect online medium?

I suppose I should just accept the fact that myspace is slowly fading away considering I predicted it would happen in a blog a couple years ago (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=5689225, entited "What I Really Think of Myspace"). Never-the- less I didn't think it would just fade away to make room for another different, but basically the same social network.

So where do I go from here? Is knowing the latest, up to the second info on all my friends important enough to double my online social networking accountage and bow to the throne of mighty Facebook? When I think about it, the times I do eventually run across a long lost "friend," it's a really good feeling. I get to see their latest pictures, catch up on all I've missed out through the years, and shoot them an email telling them how much I've been thinking of them. But then, once that minute and a half has passed, I understand why it is we fell out of touch in the first place. I care about them, but not enough to maintain a chain of more than 2 or 3 emails a year.

For now, I vote "no" to Facebook. I've got nothing against it, but I've probably got better things to spend my time doing then chasing down a bunch of people just to fall out of touch with again once the new latest and greatest network appears. I can do that on myspace for the time being, at least until their "most recent log in" prove that they really are long and lost again.


On a different note, John and Anthony are blogging again. Check their stuff out while it lasts!

101 and rising

My day started around 5:00 am at 99.5 degrees. I wish I could say that was the temperature outside, but that was measuring in at 9 degrees. I am warm in my bed and my skin aches. I'm sick? I think. I haven't been "sick" for years. Yes there's been days I've called in sick because I didn't feel good, but I haven't had a temperature in over 2 years, and I haven't had to go to the doctor for about 6. Today is an exception the the rule. I drag myself out of bed after an hour of hitting the snooze button and get ready for work. I'm going to tough it out I think to myself.

2 hours later I'm a collapsed puddle of human on my desk. I'm not going to be any good to anyone today.

I call the boss and get bundled up to go back home. My head is throbbing and I can't stop coughing. By noon my temperature is 101. This is groundbreaking. The last temperature I had (2 years ago) never reached 100. I've heard that the flu has yet to make it to the United States and am wondering if I'm the carrier of the next pandemic. I put on my pjs and melt into the couch. My faithful dog Henry falls asleep on top of me. This would be a perfect day if I wasn't infected with Ebola.

I do not feel like writing right now. I'm crabby and tired and smell bad (even though I took a shower this morning). My dog is still cuddled up on top of me and it's starting to get annoying. Art at the expense of my well being I tell myself.

If I die, give my guitars to at risk kids, my record collection to the cast of "High School Musical" and bury me with my limited edition Neil Diamond scented candles.