Blue Monday

If a waiter stopped by right now to take your order, what cocktail or drink are you having?

some earl grey tea, and then a goddamned screwdriver.

This is my favorite brand of earl grey. I'm not too choosy though, but if I have a choice I'll always pick this. It's a lot more bergamot-y than other kinds.

now for the screwdriver, I don't really give a shit, as long as the orange juice isn't rotten. the vodka should of course be alcoholic.

apparently I AM going to california. I really don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but this whole affair has been fucking ridiculous. I am glad to be getting out of here though. 

What is (or would be) your DJ name?

DJ Elliott Smith Will Rise From The Dead Like Elvis and 2Pac

heh, I'd rather be called Cement Shoes.

I apparently am not going to California for a very stupid reason, but it's kind of my fault so I guess I can't complain.
I do have a job interview next week, so that's nice. They don't seem like they have thier shit together but they apparently didn't mind my sad resume so whatever. I'm not asking too much, it's just a part time temporary job so if it sucks I can just quit.
I found out why I hate Washington's tax system, because I had budgeted out 20% of my last paycheck to savings since I'm living at home and can save more, but I forgot about fucking sales tax here (8.9%) so I didn't get to save all that I could. I'm just used to living in Oregon where there isn't any sales tax, which is really nice. They take income tax but I don't make shit so I don't lose as much as I do with Washington sales tax. Washington, by contrast, lacks income tax.
I thought a friend of mine was dead but she isn't. She looks like death since she's taken to wearing godawful makeup but she's very much alive, which is nice, since she has an extensive liquor collection at the moment, and since she's glad to share to share it my summer has been brightened considerably.

meh.

Do you know any war veterans?
Submitted by Fightin' 6th Marines.

My dad! He served in Vietnam and spent time in places like Midway Island, The Philippines, Antarctica, and Somalia, among other places I can't think of. He also turned 60 yesterday.

I'm going to California on the 9th, on my boyfriend's birthday! I'm also enrolled in a course at the University of Washington for the summer, The History of the Korean Empire. That starts next month.

I saw Marie Antoinette last night. I understood Coppola's premise, in working modern elements into the story to make it sympathetic to modern audiences, I wasn't really taken with the outcome. Visually, it was stunning and it was a sight to see the Baroque work with the 80's soundtrack. But the story itself was kind of stupid. Coppola based the story off a biography of Marie Antoinette written by Antonia Fraiser, and since I haven't read that I can't pass judgement, but the movie script seemed like a vapid Mary-Sue type fanfic. Marie was not presented as perfect, but her actions are not shown to have real consequences, i.e., there weren't enough scenes devoted to the suffering of the country. The focus is all on Marie wears these shoes, Marie in this dress, Marie at the "farm", etc. There's litte focus on her political errors, for instance. They're less enticing to look at but also very important. It's interesting how while the story tries to be sympathetic, it fails at this by not giving the Queen enough credit. From what I know of the Queen, she did mature into a devoted mother and wife, and she was probably not out cavorting with Swedish eye candy at that time in her life. There's little personal growth portrayed. While the Queen sticks by her husband and then leaves Versailles, it's no affecting or deep than when she first left Vienna. And if it's going to be two hours long, it should be more than that. I wasn't bored, because I like history and was enchanted by the scenery, but I could see how someone less interested in costumes and 80's music would probably be bored. In addition, there were some unexplained historical bits mentioned that would fly over the head and maybe confuse someone who didn't know about Marie and her time beforehand.In short, while the movie is dazzling and pretty, it's also shallow.

Anyway, it is terrible fun to see an 18th century party set to Hong Kong Garden. I'd recommend pirating it or borrowing the DVD off a friend, just to see how the music works with the film. You shouldn't be disappointed if you don't expect too much from the film in other areas.

story here

Officials scanned the 18-wheel truck, which was heading to California, with X-ray technology and noticed "shading" in the tail doors, he said. They found 49 packages of the drug, or about 262,000 pills, inside.

The last time I had a musician crush was in 2003, when Interpol dropped Turn on the Bright Lights and I saw them live and I pretty much fell in love with Paul Banks. The sound was inimitable and perfect(The Stills? they wish...) and I'm a sucker for three piece suits. When Slow Hands came out I swooned again. I've cooled on them, mainly because they've disappeared for a while and I found a real boyfriend, but I'm definitely waiting on thier new disc. I may not want to fuck Mr. Banks anymore but I want to hear where they go next.

But I've been reading a lot of music articles lately, and they've kind of cemented my love for Michael Mayer, the head of Kompakt, the German techno label that makes most of the great tunes worth dancing or tripping to these days. His mix Immer, is a MUST, even though it came out a long time ago. And there's a sequel to that which I haven't gotten around to finding yet. His own work outside of Immer, is sparse but really great too. I mean, he IS running a label, after all. Dig this Gui Boratto remix he did with Superpitcher.

Amazing. Did I also mention that I lost my bank account by buying a song from Kompakt online? But that's another story, and not thier fault. DO check out thier online store if you dig this sort of music, even if you're American and the euro will bite you in the ass, because there's no other place to get it online.

So like I've said, I've been reading a lot of articles lately. And this quote really killed it, because people ask me what I like to listen to, and while I tell them "oh, everything" I do end up declaring my love for techno at some point. And then it's like, "oh yes, you're a music nerd," which is true, but I'm not THAT kind of loser music nerd who would skip a club night to watch VH1. "For some strange reason, people have always though that we are nerdy young scientists who only love to listen to this music at home, but actually, we have always loved to party. Techno for us is the body. It’s sex, dance and sweat — not science." Oh, yes, oh dear God yes.

Unfortunately, I live in America.
(While good clubs here *are* fun, they do not offer what I want in this department.)

This means of course, that I must get myself to Cologne or Berlin one of these days. I actually DID get to Berlin at one point, but I couldn't hit up clubs at all due to various issues. However, a chronic lack of money is a serious problem. And did I mention Michael Mayer is fucking fine? google image him, seriously.

Okay. So he's not that good looking, but he'll do. Thanks a lot dude. Now I sound like a goddamn teenager.  

for my boyfriend's birthday, I'm sending him a red lollipop. When I visted his house, I saw a rather amusing picture of him at the age of four or five, in a wedding photo, in the worst red costume ever, with a wide smile and a red lollipop. This was also when he had red hair, so you had this ridiculous corner of color in this otherwise lovely photograph of people I don't know. So I've since teased him about this photo, and about how he was probably bribed into wearing such a thing with the candy, and also about just getting him a red tootsie pop for his birthday. He's not going to believe me but I was serious!

This trucker's cap would be more fun, but he'd probably hate me forever for it.
Now for his birthday card, I took an unused christmas card with a photo slot and put in upside down this random picture of a 70's car I found in my dad's photo box. and then I wrote bizarre birthday greetings in the card, also scratching out the "christmas" bit so it says:

May every joy of this birthday season be yours to share with those you love.