and one fine morning…
Music
your boldness stands alone among the wreck
Jun 10th
Recently, I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon with how I think about decisions. Basically, if it’s after 10 or 11 P.M. I’m a bit more melancholy about things. I find myself missing people that I care about but haven’t seen in a long time. Normally, I would write this off, but it’s been relatively consistent recently. The result though is that I consider the plans that I have made for the upcoming days, and start to reconsider all of them. I start to feel lonely and wonder if the plans that I have made are just empty emollients.
Here is the thing I can’t figure out: which of my persistent mindsets is more accurate to reality? Is it the sleepy and somewhat contemplative emotional mindset? Or is it the face-to-the-sun headstrong and sanguine mindset? How does one find out?
Hot Dude Party is on a break for the summer, and Chaos is in a serious MCAT study zone and therefore not very much fun to be around because MCAT is all that’s on his mind. But on May 26, we played a show at Herman’s Hideaway and my brother took photos, for example the one above. Meanwhile, in real life, closer and closer to finishing my first paper for submission.
Gabby is out here for two days for a conference, and it’s awesome to see him. He seems to work his ass off, and I really admire him. He’s staying at the St. Julien hotel, and it’s seriously posh inside. I haven’t been in a nicer hotel since staying at 21c in Louisville, KY.
I can’t stop listening to this song: Little Lion Man, by Mumford and Sons. It’s so good. Their whole album is good. A million thanks to Mike Larremore for the recommendation on these guys.
consequence
Mar 28th
I bought new wheels for my bike today. Ultegra, tubeless. Should be fast, and a lot stiffer than my old wheels. Taking them for a spin tomorrow. Played some good pool yesterday. Haven’t done that in a while. I still remember how to play. How about that? Went out and stayed out late last night. Today I have been a bit of a zombie. But there are a lot of good things going on:
I’m on my way to being in shape again. I have been getting exercise 5-6 days a week, which is a nice adjustment back toward being healthy. My leg feels so much better without screws.
Math has been going really well. I have given 2 talks this month, and will give another one (hour long…eesh) this Thursday. Barry and I were talking, and agreed that you should probably give every talk you have the opportunity to. I have another poster for an upcoming conference too, NTD10, at College Park. After that, I think we will write the paper.
Music has been going well. HDP has gotten some radio play, which is nuts. We recorded a demo. Download it or listen here if you want. I worked on the website for a little bit today. Here is what I am thinking.Finally, my dad and I worked on a bookcase the other day. Going to put an ad up on craigslist and get a roommate or two in the house. I think that will be nice, especially this summer and in the fall.
Bri and I broke up last week. I have been thinking about her a lot. Feels weird to say this, but I really hope she is not out of my life for good.
where the skies are always blue
Oct 7th
Today I made some significant updates to the blog. Check it out at tomorrowiwillrunfaster.com . Interesting bits: sync with twitter, changed themes, added more options for users as well.
Tonight, we’re playing a show at Herman’s Hideaway in Denver. Call me if you’d like a free ticket. We’ve got two new songs that I think are our best yet.
…and we filled our arms, carried all we could
Sep 28th
Sigur Ros and Parachutes played at Red Rocks last night. I really don’t know if I have the right words for the show.
I spent the day studying Analysis at a shop in the Highlands, and buried my mind in the pure logic of math. A weak breakfast and two cups of coffee spread me pretty thinly over reality, and after a nap from 4-5 I woke up feeling lucid, but still thinned to patina-consciousness. This was a good setup for the show.
It was about 65°F out, and mildly windy at Red Rocks. Our general admission seats turned into row 16. I am not sure how much more there is to say that could do the show justice. Seeing Sigur Ros play in the wind, with smoke billowing around them, was entrancing. I haven’t been to a show before where all I wanted to do was stand still, and stare, taking in all I could.
Some bands project energy to the crowd, and receive energy from the crowd; they use an energetic correspondence to create a concert. I think last night, both bands just played, and the crowd watched (nearly) silently. It doesn’t take that much to get a 10,000 people cheering, but it takes a lot to get 10,000 people completely silent—I could hear people coughing from across Red Rocks in between songs in the beginning.
Sigur Ros and Parachutes were just making music, and taking in the night, and we were just there to watch and be included, while they did something deeply personal.
Completely unrelated, here is an interesting blog, where a married couple chose to subject themselves to a $1.00 per day diet, on which the world’s poor are forced to live. Check it out: http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com/
where are your friends tonight?
Jul 12th
Well. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but about 80% of my html pages got rewritten as just two scripts…so when I tried to go to those pages, I just got blank white, and nothing happened. I discovered the scripts upon viewing source. One of the scripts is the google analytics urchin.js. The other script, I have no idea. I did some searching, but found nothing. Also, all the permissions for those files were 644, so I am pretty sure that it was something funky serverside. But what? The hosting company, of course, has no idea, and asks me to fix my scripts…which I don’t have. Interesting
I finished and published the Recycle Bicycles website. I also finally donated my bicycle to them, which was long overdue. Basically, I wanted to donate a bike weeks ago, and got put in touch with Bruce at Recycle Bicycles, but I realized that they could use a newer, nicer site much more than they could use my crummy bike. So I made their site. Comments are always welcome…especially critical ones. That’s my first work using a template. Thanks to BK for helping me find the graphic for the header. :3
Last night I went to Girl Talk at the Fox in Boulder. The show was so much fun. The dudes were all busy or out of the country, so I was going to go with Boulder people, but they all forgot to get tickets… Anyway, I ended up going with Mikey’s high school bff’s sister and her friend, which was awesome. They are hilarious. We all danced onstage. Maybe I’ll have pictures. I almost considered driving to Aspen to see them again tonight. ALSO, my friend’s band, Team Awesome, opened, and they were solid.
The evening ended really nicely when I got a phone call from Jay Kamath, who was out in Denver. He’ll be here until Tuesday. Sweet!
festival
Jul 8th
Here’s a funny one, thank to SF, regarding Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest film: Bruno Pranks it Up
Also, another thing that I’ve been talking about, but finally got a link for: Inventor Trains Crows to Find Money
Jesus. The lols keep coming. Here’s an interesting one from EB: Dave Eggers Interviews High School Interns About Beck’s Odelay
Meanwhile, Barry and Helen were in town just overnight, and it was awesome to hang out with them. Their arrival coincided with my convalescence from some sort of stomach flu, so I had two good reasons to ask Kaslovsky to take my classes for me today. As a result, I will have a ton of grading to do, but that’s fine with me. I feel much better today than yesterday.
ALSO. Please note that new RATATAT, Beck, and Sigur Ros are all sweet.
if you were a slalom, i’d ski you without shinguards
Jul 5th
because my legs should feel the pain when I knife your curves
A lot of people use national holidays to get drunk. I don’t like this approach. Most Americans can get drunk on the weekends. Use the holidays for something more interesting, I say. BK spent the evening with Naomi, who was one of his English professors, and is now his friend. They set up camp in the foothills overlooking Boulder, talked with other former students, and watched the fireworks. My life was invaded by Moinesters (Arielle, David, and Susan) with whom I shared dinner and funny conversations. Somehow, David and I got onto the topic of eugenics again, after 15 minutes this time, compared with 5 last time…
and let’s skip your inspection, and just have one
The new Sigur Rós album is wonderful. Download the free 320kbps title track here. Who wants to drive to Salt Lake City this fall for their show at Saltair?
and have fun, let them run, swing click, swing click:
This summer has been pretty amazing so far. KM and I rode our bikes 40 miles earlier this week, which is the farthest I’ve ever ridden at once. Slowly but surely. Soon, I will have those sweet/gross calves that look like they’re made of steel cables! My aunt and I rode lookout mountain earlier in the week, which was also fun, but way too short. On July 3, my class played DK’s class in Patriot Kickball, which was wonderful. My team won, of course, because I am a much better teacher (haha) but I think it was fun for everyone. I like organized sports, and I like the feel of summer classes. I’m nearing a point where I’m going to try stepping it up another notch in all aspects of life, which will be fun. I’m going to team up with DC this time, which should be particularly fruitful, as he is the man.
slayfest
HRC
Apr 11th
Tonight I saw Hot Rod Circuit, my favorite band in the world. I drank a beer with the guys before they played and they complimented me on my mustache. I hadn’t seen them since 2002 in St. Louis with Further Seems Forever and Brand New, so tonight was excellent.
I will fall asleep tonight smiling.
I know you
Mar 26th
Brand New last night. Pretty much was awesome. The other bands were really sweet too. I can’t remember what they were called. I want to say… Kevin Divine and Manchester Orchestra?
Anyway, freakin’ sweet!