It's Football Season!

It's hard not to get nostalgic for undergrad when college football season rolls around. I don't really give a shit about the NFL until playoffs, but when it comes to Penn State football, I'm there from the first game until the last one. Even if it doesn't happen to be a bowl game. Even if watching the games makes me sick to my stomach because we're doing so poorly. Even though JoePa is getting older and older and that fact is getting more and more obvious. Because I've been in those stands many of those days.

I watched JoePa win the game that made him the most winning-est coach in college football. I wasn't there when Adam Taliaferro broke a vertebrae and bruised his spinal cord while playing against Ohio State (at Ohio) - an injury that left him with only a 3% chance of walking again. But I was there when he walked onto the field at Beaver Stadium less than a year later. I still get chills thinking about it. I've stood on those bleachers at times when I was so hungover or so tired that I hardly even knew what was going on. But I was still there.

I have an emotional connection with college football - well, really only Penn State football - that I just don't get from any other sport. I've only been back to Penn State twice since I graduated, but somehow, those players always seem familiar. I feel every adrenaline rush and every depressing letdown just as if I were still in those stands, surrounded by fans wearing blue and white and screaming "WE ARE...PENN STATE," and watching the Nittany Lion do pushups every time we put points on the board. Which is why I'll be at Skybox with the rest of the alumni association this Saturday at the extremely early time of 9AM to watch the game. Me being anywhere at 9AM on a Saturday is proof of dedication. And I hear they have $2 mimosas starting at 11AM.

Penn State photos, taken during a daytrip up there while I was home this past May:

Show Review: The Swedish Models @ Belly Up, 8/29/2007

Photos: The Swedish Models w/Marc Ford

I've said pretty much all I can say on the subject of The Swedish Models already. I think they're a great band composed of a group of really talented, really good guys, and they fully deserve the buzz they've been getting around town. Their music is extremely variable from song to song, so it's really impossible to pigeonhole them into a certain genre. And their live sets are full of energy and a spectacle to behold. Ryan sticks to guitar and vocals and Mark sticks to bass, but the other 3 members juggle drum, keyboard, and guitar duties during the show. They've got an EP out with 5 songs, but they've written two more songs since then. One of them was debuted at the Roxy two weeks ago, but was played for the first time during a San Diego show at the Belly Up. And like all of their songs so far, it sounded great.













Notice that I got a new wide-angle lens? It arrived on my doorstep that day, so I tried it out at the show. I definitely like it, but I need to get a better lens hood to combat that crazy lens flare.

I stuck around to get a few shots of Marc Ford, but didn't stay long enough into his set to properly review it. I had work the next day, and a full day at that, so I was glad to get home early and get some rest.

Slow Morning

Apparently I'm incapable of getting water to boil, but it's a moot point since someone else is borrowing my power supply so I can't run my SDS-PAGE (that's Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate-PolyAcrylamide Gel Electrophoresis to you) gel for another hour or so anyway. I should have stayed in bed a little longer this morning, but I had vague ideas of getting shit started sooner. I feel like I've just been in a daze this week, whether from the stress of my major proposal being suddenly lifted, or Saturday's mind-blowing Flaming Lips show, I don't know.

I haven't been sleeping that well, which ironically is due to my air conditioning. I run it because I can't sleep for shit when it's hot in my apartment. But I don't have a power drill, so I never really properly installed the thing. It's basically held on my windowsill solely by the weight of the window resting on it. And somehow, since I'm moving to SF in June, it seems like wasted effort to install it properly now. But the thing is, every once in awhile it kicks into high gear and shifts a bit, which makes the window rattle. Loudly. I can't tell if it's this, or when it abruptly shuts up and leaves total silence in its wake that is waking me up in a total panic every two hours or so.

The waking up every two hours is nothing new, my sleep cycle sucks (which is why I'm such a napper). But the startled waking is really messing with me. Usually when I wake up I just roll over, look at the clock to confirm that I don't have to wake up, and then I fall back asleep. Right now, I've been waking up by sitting up violently, going to the window to fiddle with the AC, fidgeting around, and then finally falling back asleep. I could really do without the extra adrenaline in my bloodstream - it's making it really hard to get work done during the day.

Gogol Bordello @ House of Blues, 8/27/2007

Gogol Bordello photosest

British Joe has a story about how, the last time he went to a Gogol Bordello show, he ended up with somebody else's blood on his shirt. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as story-telling cred goes), my experience was a bit less hardcore - although I did end up with somebody else's beer in my hair.

While most people I knew enjoyed a much mellower evening at the Open Air Theater with Wilco, I ended up at possibly one of the more raucous shows that the House of Blues has probably ever seen.

The opener was DJ Scratchy, who played a lot of Russian gypsy-esque music. It was...interesting. DJ sets aren't really my thing, but there were some people dancing. I took the opportunity to grab a few beers before Gogol Bordello's set. We also wandered over to the FM94.9 table, were they had just about the smartest giveaway ever - earplugs, which came in their own convenient keychain case. Pete took two pairs. Me, I've got my musician's earplugs (thanks, hearing aide specialist Mom!), and trust me, they're worth the price.

As the band was setting up, I worked my way up near the photo pit so I could jump in as soon as they started. Strangely enough, I also saw the girl from the SoCo Music Experience who got pulled out of the crowd twice by security guards during DJ Z-Trip's set. Obviously not learning anything from Saturday, it appeared that she was going to try to sidle into a spot right up against the barrier at the last minute. There was also a girl in full-out gypsy/go-go dancer outfit, complete with finger cymbals. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the people watching was just amazing.

As soon as Gogol Bordello started playing, it felt like the temperature in the room had risen 10 degrees and the humidity shot straight to 100%. Which was fortunate, because then you couldn't tell if the moisture on your arms and face was your own sweat, or somebody else's sweat, spit, or beer. And yes, there was beer flying everywhere - it was like being at a college football game when the home team makes an outstanding play. I'm telling you, I was more concerned about the crowd at this show than I was at the Hold Steady show - and at the Hold Steady show, I didn't have a barrier between myself and the crowd.







The singer was all over the stage, holding the microphone stand out to the crowd, straddling the space between the stage and the crowd barrier, and hauling crowd surfers up on stage to dance.
The violinist and accordian player (accordianist?) were also quite animated, with the guitarist and bassist hanging out a little more in the background. The band quickly ripped through an hour-long set, while crowd surfers went up every few minutes. The scene in the middle of the dance floor was chaotic and I was not brave enough to even try to get anywhere near it (plus I had the camera to think about). So P and I just hung out on the outskirts, alternately people watching and enjoying the band's antics.







After their regular set, the band came back for at least two encore sets. We left during the beginning of the second encore though, because P is leaving for New York today and had yet to pack anything.







This show definitely goes up there with The Polyphonic Spree and The Flaming Lips as being one of the more energetic and interactive shows I've ever been to. I was worried that a whole set of their crazy gypsy punk music would start to wear thin after awhile, but it didn't. Gogol Bordello is a band that I will probably never listen to on CD, but will try to catch whenever they play in town. The energy of their live show is so great that it could never be replicated on CD - I think listening to them recorded would just ruin it for me.

The Flaming Lips @ SoCo Music Experience, 8/25/2007

Photoset from the SoCo Music Experience

I feel like a Flaming Lips show is sort of like Fight Club. You don't talk about it, you just experience it. Words just fail, so I'll leave you with the visual remnants from that night. Let's just say my mind was definitively blown.




Testing the megaphone


Confetti and streamers


Waiting in the wings


Wayne in the bubble


The only way I'd ever crowdsurf






This guy had a skeleton twin that day




Confetti!


Probably my favorite photo from the whole day




This man is the definition of charisma













And just for the record, it pays to go all out if you want to be on stage with the Flaming Lips. The guy in the skeleton suit here showed up prior to 2:30:



Also, notice the blond woman without a hat in this photo:



Look familiar?

DJ Z-Trip @ Southern Comfort Music Experience, 8/25/2007

I've always been kind of skeptical of live DJ sets being billed as "shows." The truth of the matter is, most DJ sets that I've seen are fairly boring. But I guess there are new standards in place, with mash-up artists like Girl Talk garnering rave reviews for their live sets.

Of course, Z-Trip is sort of the godfather of acts like Girl Talk, so it would make sense that he'd also have a fairly energetic live set. Photographing it was kind of boring, at least until live drummer Pete came out and joined him on stage. At that point, it was well past the three-song limit and I was knee-deep in the audience, two people from the front, and two people away from the mosh pit that broke out when he played Rage Against the Machine. Seriously. A mosh pit during a DJ set. Motherfuckin' insane. The crowd loved him, as did I. During most of his set, they played videos from the songs that he was mashing up. He also did a collaborative song with one of the guys from Galactic on harmonica and Mr. Lif (I think, although it was hard to tell with the cape).

We also saw some girl get pulled out of the crowd and over the barrier twice by security guards. No kidding - she got pulled out the first time because apparantly she was "throwing punches" and forcing her way up to the front. No more than 5-10 minutes later, she was back, in exactly the same spot, and got pulled out again. Ridiculous.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ SoCo Music Experience, 8/25/2007

While I definitely don't enjoy the taste of Southern Comfort, I definitely enjoy their taste in music. Saturday's lineup was nothing if not eclectic. After the Americana rock of Delta Spirit and the funk of Galactic (with a little hip hop thrown in for good measure), they brought out Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on the mainstage. Now, this is a band I have meant to check out for a long time, but I just never really got around to it. Thank you, SoCo, for doing the work for me.

They played a rather long-ish set of extremely guitar-driven flat-out rock. And they dressed the part too, wearing all black and, in the case of the bassist, a black leather jacket. Pretty tough.

Galactic @ SoCo Music Festival, 8/25/2007

The second band on the mainstage was Galactic. Before they played, I ran into Tim Pyles, who dropped the news that Boots Riley (of The Coup) was backstage and was going to be making a guest appearance with Galactic. But he didn't say a thing about Mr. Lif!

Now, I'm not the biggest hip hop fan - mostly because I'm too lazy to wade through the crap that's out there to get to the actual good stuff. But I like my political discourse, and if it's given with rhythm and rhyme, so much the better. And if it's set to the funky beats of a New Orleans roots band, well, you really can't go wrong. I was hooked on their music, as was much of the audience. Which made for a lot of awkward crowd dancing, but hey, at least it was dancing. And I'm pretty awkward myself, when it comes to it. I'll just say that I spent some time yesterday investigating both The Coup and Mr. Lif, just on the strength of the tracks they did with Galactic on Saturday.























Unfortunately, the rest of the posts are going to have to wait until tomorrow. I just got back from the Gogol Bordello show at the House of Blues, and any energy I had left I lost while showering off the beer that someone pegged me in the back of the neck with. I don't understand why someone would just throw away a beer that they paid $5 for. Seriously, if you really don't want it, give it to me - I'll drink it.

Delta Spirit @ SoCo Music Experience, 8/25/2007

When a local band plays the mainstage in their hometown, do you consider them a "local" band still? Especially when they've been on tours with Cold War Kids and Tokyo Police Club, and are embarking on tours with Dr. Dog and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah this fall? Needless to say, the boys of Delta Spirit are doing well, and good for them. I really like their version of gospel and soul-infused Americana folk music - it makes you dance, and it makes you want to sing along. This was my second time seeing them, and they really owned the big stage. Quite a step up from the stage at the Casbah opening for Dr. Dog, I'd say. They drew a decent crowd, even though there still weren't that many people at the festival at that point. I'm really looking forward to their album, which should be coming out soon.

Drowning Men @ SoCo Music Experience, 8/25/2007

Drowning Men was the first band to play at the festival, and as such, there wasn't much of a crowd to see them. They sounded good, but I was running all over the place, trying to meet up with people, so I only stuck around for a few songs. They'd be worth checking out another time around town, though.

SoCo Music Experience, 8/25/2007 - Post 1 of many

For the record, this is probably going to be the post that has the most writing in it. Saturday was mostly about the visual stimulation for me - that's what having a media pass will do to a girl. That's not saying that my ears weren't busy soaking it all in - just that I didn't really even try to juggle the camera and the notepad at the same time.

I got to the Petco parking lot where the festival was taking place around 2:30. Wandered around for a bit, ran into Owen from FM 94.9, and made my way over to the Citybeat local stage just in time to catch the Drowning Men. Unfortunately, that was the only band that I saw on the local stage the entire day. The stages were coordinated enough so that there wasn't any overlap between sets, but the main stage sets ended up leaving me so exhausted that the local sets were reserved for getting food, drinks, going to the bathroom, or trying to meet up with people. It was definitely a whirlwind of a day, made easier due to the VIP passes that Marco gave us, which allowed for two free drinks at a full bar inside the VIP area. Definitely a life-saver, since the last time I drank SoCo I ended up puking and lodging a piece of filet mignon in my nasal cavity for a few mintues. True story - just ask my college boyfriend.

All the bands that I was paying attention to sounded great, and I'll write a bit about them on the individual photo posts. But I just wanted to take the space here to post a few photos that wouldn't really fit in with any of the band posts.

Here's Marco. He did a great job introducing all the bands and pulling things together. Can't thank him enough for the VIP passes, or for pushing to have Rosey and I get media passes in the first place. He's an incredibly nice guy, and I feel like this won't be the last time I run into him.



It being a festival in San Diego, of course there were beads:



Towards the end of the night, you could see the Petco Park sign through the SoCo banner at the back of the mainstage, which I thought was pretty neat:



And finally, this is a photo of me before seeing the Flaming Lips, taken by the lovely Andrea:


For some reason, this is my standard "I've been drinking and now someone's taking a photo of me" pose. Whatevs.

Hitting a Photo Milestone

Without me noticing it (until now), I snapped my 10,000th photo on my Canon Rebel XT while shooting The Burning of Rome at Soma last Wednesday.

In actuality, I probably hit that mark a little before then, because at first I was using a different system to name my photos. But still. That's kind of a big deal. Especially since I've only had the camera since mid-January, and only been taking concert photos since about March.

And after the SoCo Music Experience (photos soon, I promise), I'm well on my way to 11,000...

In The Works...

606 total photos taken at the SoCo Music Experience yesterday. That accounts for the 5 bands playing the main stage, and 1 band that played the local stage. Would have shown more love for the locals, but my iPod was freaking out and refusing to let me store photos on it. I didn't want to run out of space on my compact flash cards while shooting the freakin' Flaming Lips, you know?

I pared them down to 405 photos that made it through post-processing. They're now being exported into JPEG files (a process which could take awhile). Once that's done, I'll pick out the best ones for Flickr and then post the cream of the crop here. And oh, there are some good ones. But you kids will probably have to wait until tomorrow to see them...

Just wanted to give a big shoutout to Brent and Natalie from McFarlane Productions for hooking me with the media pass, and to Marco for finding some extra VIP tickets for Rosey and I. When you're at an outdoor (and especially a parking lot) festival for 8.5 hours, scoring free drinks and free food helps a lot.

To Do List

1) Get Decemberists tickets for their shows in December (how fitting).

2)


Oh good God I am so excited to be photographing a Flaming Lips show...it's almost as cool as being in the show! I'm taking my ipod and CF card reader for it so I can store all my extra photos on it throughout the day...

Done and Done

It's over!

My committee loves me, everyone is totally on board with my project, and I only had to stand outside the room for about a minute and a half while they talked after my presentation.

Now I'm just waiting in lab to discuss a few things with my boss before heading to Porter's Pub to grab a drink with some fellow students. Then it's home, dinner somewhere, and the House Party tonight. If I do or say anything completely stupid tonight, blame on the alcohol and the fact that all my brain power in the last three weeks was directed toward this meeting. I deserve to be an idiot for at least a night...

The Zero Hour Aproaches...

T-minus 1 hour until my talk starts. I should be looking over my presentation, and the truth is, I will as soon as I'm done with this post.

Why is it that I have a totally cool head about things like this, right up until about an hour beforehand? And then I start to get all those classic stage fright symptoms - sweaty palms, sweaty armpits, nervous stomach, shaky hands. If I could just fast-forward through this hour I'd be fine. Once I start talking (or at least by the time I get a few slides into the talk), I'm golden. The talk will rush by in a blur and then I'll look back on it and wonder where all of it came from. I come up with answers to questions that just pop into my head by sound so smart that I don't know where they come from. I rarely stumble. So then why am I fucking nervous as all hell now?

Decemberists Fall Tour

And according to their newsletter, it's their last-tour-for-a-bit. Sad news, but make sure you see them while you can.

Here's the info, ripped straight from their myspace blog:

Hey Everyone

We here at Decemberists HQ are pleased to announce our fall US tour, "The Long and Short of It" Tour, which will find your humble Decemberists playing multiple runs in each city -- performing 2 different programs: one, "The Long of It" will be made up of our longer, more epic-in-inclination songs, and the second, "The Short of It" will be made up of songs which, while not being entirely peppy in tone, are quite a bit more succinct and, well, short. A limited number of two-night passes will be available at a $10 discount this Saturday, the 25th of August at noon, via http://www.decemberists.tickets.musictoday.com . On top of the discount, those buying tickets for both nights will recieve a Carson Ellis-drawn custom ticket and a poster.

Dates should be up shortly on the 'Live' Page , but for your immediate gratification, here they are again:

10/28 Chicago, IL Vic Theater ("Long of It")
10/29 Chicago, IL Vic Theater ("Short of It")
11/1 New York, NY Terminal 5 ("Long of It")
11/2 New York, NY Terminal 5 ("Short of It")
11/3 Boston, MA Orpheum ("Long of It")
11/4 Boston, MA Orpheum ("Short of It")
11/6 Winston-Salem, NC Millennium Center ("Long of It")
11/7 Winston-Salem, NC Millennium Center ("Short of It")
11/9 Washington, DC 9:30 Club ("Long of It")
11/10 Washington, DC 9:30 Club ("Short of It")
11/11 Washington, DC 9:30 Club ("Long of It")
11/12 Washington, DC 9:30 Club ("Short of It")
11/15 Columbus, OH Lifestyle Communities Pavilion ("Long of It")
11/16 Columbus, OH Lifestyle Communities Pavilion ("Short of It")
11/18 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater ("Long of It")
11/19 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater ("Short of It")
11/23 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore ("Long of It")
11/24 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore ("Short of It")
11/25 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore ("Long of It")
11/26 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore ("Short of It")
11/29 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern ("Long of It")
11/30 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern ("Short of It")
12/1 San Diego, CA Spreckels Theatre ("Long of It")
12/2 San Diego, CA Spreckels Theatre ("Short of It")
12/5 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom ("Long of It")
12/6 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom ("Short of It")
12/7 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
12/8 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre ("Long of It")
12/9 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre ("Short of It")

Pre-sale tix go onsale at noon EST tomorrow, and if you buy tix for both nights, you get $10 off, custom designed tickets, and a poster.

Timing

First complete run-through of my talk = ~45 minutes.

Not bad - this means subsequent run-throughs will take less time, as there will be less "ummms" and "errrs." But of course, the actual presentation will take longer, as I will have to answer any questions thrown at me, plus wait through my boss and other committee members going off on random tangents. I'm looking to keep in to an hour and a half max. That gives me enough time to get to Porters for a celebratory drink, then home for food and a nap before hitting up the House Party tomorrow night.

I really can't wait for this to be over.

Upcoming Events

I'm quickly closing in on the 24-hour countdown to my major prop defense. After I clear this hurdle, the only remaining hoop to jump through is my thesis defense - oh, and getting all that data in between.

But even as I'm readying for an afternoon spent repeating a 45 minute talk over and over, I can't help but think of the fun shit coming up after the defense.

Friday night it's the San Diego House Party with Kill Me Tomorrow and The Sess (and Mario's B-Day, so naturally the Skullz are DJing). It's going to be a great night that I plan on remembering only slightly and completely out of order.

Saturday is the SoCo Music Experience. I've got a photo pass, so I'm not sure how much drinking will be done, but I'm pretty sure shooting the Flaming Lips is going to be at least as fun as doing 3 shots of tequila. In a row. Or maybe I should make that 3 shots of SoCo?

Sunday night is Au Revoir Simone and Oh No! Oh My! at the Casbah. Pretty, pretty pop music.

Monday is the Gogol Bordello show at HOB. Once again, I've got a photo pass, so I'm really really looking forward to it. The lighting at HOB is exceptionally good, and it's been awhile since I've had the pleasure of shooting a show there. Plus, it's freaking Gogol Bordello - even if the lighting sucked it would be a great photo opportunity! Here's hoping the wide-angle lens I just bought off of Ebay comes in by then...Sigma 20mm f1.8 holla!

Ephemera

I stumbled upon this Yeats poem the other night, titled "Ephemera," and felt like it should be shared. To paraphrase John Irving in a line from A Widow for a Year, reading Yeats makes you want to cry. Not because his writing is sad, but because you know instantly and with complete assurance once you read his work, that you will never write anything nearly as beautiful.

'Your eyes that once were never weary of mine
Are bowed in sorrow under pendulous lids,
Because our love is waning.'
And then she:
'Although our love is waning, let us stand
By the lone border of the lake once more,
Together in that hour of gentleness
When the poor tired child, Passion, falls asleep:
How far away the stars seem, and how far
Is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart!'

Pensive they paced along the faded leaves,
While slowly he whose hand held hers replied:
'Passion has often worn our wandering hearts.'

The woods were round them, and the yellow leaves
Fell like faint meteors in the gloom, and once
A rabbit old and lame limped down the path;
Autumn was over him: and now they stood
On the lone border of the lake once more:
Turning, he saw that she had thrust dead leaves
Gathered in silence, dewy as her eyes,
In bosom and hair.
'Ah, do not mourn,' he said,
'That we are tired, for other loves await us;
Hate on and love through unrepining hours.
Before us lies eternity; our souls
Are love, and a continual farewell.'

Show Review: The Infants @ Casbah, 8/19/2007

Photoset here.

I know what you're thinking - "Finally! A fucking concert photo post!" Sorry for the delay and general lack of these posts in the last month, but hey, grad school comes first. It's what's barely paying the bills these days, which is also what's motivating me to work my butt off to get the degree and get a decent paying job.

That being said, I made a special exception to my "no local band shows until the presentation is done" rule last Sunday night. The last couple of times the Infants played around town, I was either not feeling up to going out, not feeling up to sticking around for their set, or I was a dumbass and left my ID in my pants at home (serves me right for wearing a dress out in public, I suppose).

So Sunday night I headed to the Casbah with the intention of catching them and possibly one or two other bands on a four-band bill. It was difficult to motivate myself to go out, as all my usual concert buddies were taking the night off for various reasons. And when I got to the Casbah, it became evident that a lot of people were taking the night off. A mere 15-20 people in the entire place by 9:45...weak sauce. But at least it gave me free range of the dance floor to take photos.



The Infants ripped through a tight but altogether too short set. I'm telling you, if you like any sort of blues music, you will like this band. That being said, they don't play straight-up blues. It's not rockabilly either. It's some sort of hybrid sound, and for the life of me I can't think of any other band comparisons that would do them justice.



Their band is composed of merely three people - guitarist/vocalist, bassist, and drummer. Scott, the singer, doesn't really have those frontman qualities that I usually look for, but he doesn't need them to grab the audience's attention. His voice is powerful enough. You'd never believe it to look at him, but the kid can wail! I'm talking best male vocalist that I've heard around these parts. Ever. Which comes as quite a change to the current trend in male indie vocalists these days - thin, wispy voices that can barely stay on key. Sometimes those voices work, and sometimes they don't. But no one will ever say that a powerful voice with actual vocal talent is out of place.



They started off with my favorite song of their's, "Rattleshake Blues." I feel like they didn't really hit their stride until their fourth song, "Holdin' On," which was almost halfway through their setlist. Their songs could be a bit tighter, but what can you do when one of your band members still lives in LA and is trying to finish up school? Every time I see them live, they've shown improvement in their set. They ended with the somewhat traditional set-closer/cover of "Helter Skelter," which had a bit more of a bass melody than the last time they played it. I really like how their bassist almost serves as a lead instrument, while the guitar is mostly rhythm with a few solos. Definitely an interesting changeup from most bands.



Anyway, after their set I was lagging a bit (did I mention I almost didn't make it out to their show?), so I took off and didn't stay for the last two bands. The loss is probably mine, but at that point a good night's sleep seemed like a good idea.

Hyperfocus

I have this weird ability to go into a sort of hyperfocus mode when I'm really concentrating on something. I first noticed it in college - I would sit at my desk, studying for hours on end, then when I finally stopped and stood up, I'd realize that a) one of my legs was completely numb because it had been curled up underneath me on my chair for at least an hour and b) I hadn't gone to the bathroom in hours.

I've also been doing this recently while working on my presentation for my major proposal defense on Friday. Last night, I was working on my laptop while lying stomach-down on my bed, with my head propped up by my left arm. After awhile, I got up to do other things, and I realized that something was wrong with a muscle in my shoulder. Specifically, something was twinging midway down my subscapularis muscle.



Usually these things have a tendency to go away after awhile, but it has been hurting all day today. Fortunately, it's only when I put it in a certain position, but when I do, it fricking kills. It feels almost as though I pulled something. I'm going to have to get a massage when this defense is over, I swear. I'll have earned it at that point.

My eyes are going batshit right now from staring at the computer all day. For whatever reason, I get really involved in making figures for powerpoint presentations - I've just seen so many shitty presentations where the figures were obviously drawn in Paint. It just looks so...unprofessional. I'm not talking about adding weird Powerpoint animations in or anything - that stuff drives me crazy too. I'm just talking about nice, clean figures drawn up in Macromedia Flash or something similar. Sooo much better.

Anyway, it's naptime now. Hopefully when I wake up my shoulder will be fixed and so will my eyes. At any rate, I'm just glad to be out of lab, because someone decided it would be a good idea to do a phenol/chloroform DNA extraction and didn't make use of the hood. Can you say headache?

Got Plans for Friday?

The San Diego House Party girls are at it again. Party this Friday with Kill Me Tomorrow and The Sess, and my favorite Skullz boys spinning great records. Officially, it's Mario's birthday bash, but I'm calling it my unofficial advancement to candidacy party...I might even wear a lab coat as a "costume"...

I obviously won't be taking photos at this one, seeing as how I should be "celebratory drunk" by the time I get there. So I'm relying on the other folks (Rosey, this means you!) to pick up my slack and get some blackmail worthy photos of my PhD candidate-ness.

Hold Steady returning to San Diego

November 8th @ Cane's. With Art Brut. I'm so fucking there, and yes, I'll be braving the mosh pit again with my camera. It's an honor to have had Craig Finn spill beer (even just a few drops) on my camera. Can you say indie rock cred?