I’m at a bit of a disadvantage because I’ve heard a lot of the material is similar to CVOICE. I’ve never done the CVOICE cert, so now I’m reading through the 700+ page book this week. Wish me luck for Friday. I’ve already failed this stupid test twice (by a razor thin margin) and I’m REALLY hoping I won’t have to go through that again. I can’t stand being less than excellent in my field of excellence. This was the one thing I was still good at

ANYWAY – I was studying and this Bayside song came on that I’ve probably posted before.

Do you ever wake up to realize
that your life is meaningless?
Does it give you strength or lead
you to your grave at a young age?

I have an easy answer for this. Every time I’ve woken up and gone “Why the fuck am I doing this again? It doesn’t mean anything.” I’m able to say “Fuck it – do whatever you want. Do what makes you happy. You’re doing it because you want to.”

It’s empowering.

Maybe I’m spoiled because I’m responsible to no one but myself. It doesn’t hurt that the job pays the bills pretty well. At any point I could quit, move across the country (or ride my motorcycle there), and start all over again. I probably won’t, but I could.

Maybe I should search for something to give my life meaning, purpose, some greater goal. For now though, I’m pretty happy with being financially stable, able to take epic vacations, ride or drive anything that’s dangerously powerful, and drink my face off once in a while with friends. Is there more to it than that? I don’t care. Ask me in a few years.

Sometimes I go back and read old blog posts. I’m WAY happier now.

It’s smart, funny, depressing, joyful.. all of the things I like…

Anyway, this song came on and I really liked it

Every weekend of mine is planned out until March 16th. I have either Saturday change windows, Friday windows, or on March 11th a full on 14 hour session starting at midnight and going all day Sunday.

Maybe the worst part is I chose this schedule myself to hit optimistic deadlines.

At least I usually only work 6 days a week.

When my March windows are done with I’m going to take some serious time off from work.

It decided to spit out one amazing song after another! I’ve heard this one before and wish there was a bigger Thumbs Up button that I could hit. If this song were a married girl I would hit on it inappropriately.

Time aint gonna cure you honey. Time dont give a shit.

So is that what you call a getaway?
Well tell me what you got away with
Cause I’ve seen more spine on jellyfish
I’ve seen more guts in eleven-year-old kids
Have another drink and drive yourself home
I hope there’s ice on all the roads
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt
then again when your head goes through the windshield

Brand New – Seventy Times 7

Of course I’m not that angry anymore, but I still love the line.

I went to see all of those shows in the previous post and they were awesome. Especially Menomena and The Thermals. Say Anything was pretty sweet too.

I finished a simple Android app that can be used at work. I don’t use it. I’m trying to find time to get some more training.

Lately there has been some serious downtown condo / house hunting. There are a few places down by Moore’s Sq I’m seriously considering, but this requires further concentrated thought. It’s apparently a lot of money to spend all in one place for something you CAN’T EVEN DRIVE!

I have a camera full of pictures of things I’ve done that I haven’t posted. Like my motorcycle trip to Florida for Thanksgiving. 1200 miles of motorcycling awesomeness.

Last weekend I went snowboarding in Snowshoe, WV. My skills are developing there. It’s always amazing to first suck at something, and then get better with practice. I’m not used to being good at anything besides computers. At the end of Jan we’re heading out to Tahoe to get some more boarding in at Squaw. Should be an excellent time. I hope I don’t get injured too badly.

This weekend I’m taking DC Heather (I don’t know what I’ll call her if she ever moves) out to the Mountains. We’re going to drive through some snowy trails in the Jeep and try not to die, or get stuck. I’ll finally have an excuse to go visit the Biltmore Mansion too, since Heather will be coming along

Anyway – more updates once the weekend is finished and I empty my camera’s contents. For now – time to drive out through the crappy weather to Mountain City, TN.

Menomena – Thursday, October 7th @ 8PM @ Cat’s Cradle.

Menomena is phenomenal. They thrive on an interesting sound that is very emotionally invocative.

Take a look at the first Menomena song that drew me into the band: (You’re required to crank the volume)

Here is another great Menomena video:

After seeing those, and hearing how awesome it is, how could you not want to come to Cat’s Cradle with me next Thursday.

The Thermals – Saturday, October 16th @ 8:30PM @ King’s Barcade

I first heard of this band in the closing credits of Weeds. Damn they were good. Here is an example:

Muse and Metric, Tuesday, October 26th @ 7:30PM @ RBC Center

Muse, I don’t even need to show you why these guys are awesome. If you don’t know already you’re not invited.

Metric, here is why I love this band:

Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack, and Saves The Day – Saturday, November 13th @ 7PM @ Somewhere in Charlotte.

Say Anything rocks my socks off. Let’s see if I can find a decent example:

ANYWAY – you should clearly come with me to see these bands. Whoever you are.

You know you want to.

I guess I’ll start with links to albums in chronological order, just to document things. I have such a backlog of stuff that I can’t really write it all out in detail. Instead, we’ll skip straight to the pics, and brief blurbs.

Pete and I took our motorcycles down to the beach one random day for lunch. We ate, walked around looking at girls in bikini’s then we turned around for Easter Dinner.

I went to Ward’s wedding and met up with a whole bunch of RIT and Cisco folks. It was incredible to have everyone together again. There was a lot of bittersweet talk about how this was the first and maybe last large reunion of so many RIT grads in one place.

There was camping and Jeeping after that.

Brendan and I took a random Thursday after that and went up to Richmond, VA to see Flogging Molly and Big D and the Kid’s table. They added ridiculously hot dancers. I was immediately in love. We also met up with Esther and her friend that night. It made for a long night. I eventually wound up riding my motorcycle at home from the Cisco parking lot at 3AM. Heated grips are AMAZING!

The next night we went out for Sasha’s birthday party. Raleigh was in full blown skirt season. It was excellent.

The first week of May is a Blur. Brendan’s friend Daniel had a grad party

I saw Steve’s band Idiom play at The Berkely. We met a cute Brunette that worked at an Animal Hospital

Aric had a house warming party where it was decided that everyone loved this girl

We also ran into another short Brunette who had opinions on whether or not Earth should be keeping a backup planet in the works for disaster recovery. Awesome.

Shapess, Andy and I had a random day out at Uwharrie. I had time to dial in the scope on my 22, AND spent some time shooting Shapess’ AK-47. Too much fun there.

On May 12th Kenneth, Pete, and I drove down to Charlotte to see Say Anything and Angels and Airwaves. Say Anything put on a good show but the set was too short unfortunately. It was nice to know that the girls belt out the lyrics to “Every Man Has a Molly” even louder than the guys.

You god damned kids had best be gracious with the Merch money you spend.
Cause for you I won’t ever have rough sex with Molly Connolly again.

I met a beautiful girl with so many awesome traits it’s hard to believe she actually exists.
1. Bartender
2. Graduated Culinary School
3. Loves the music scene
4. Gorgeous
5. Incredibly friendly / nice
6. Brunette
7. Tiny
8. Likes jeeps and motorcycles, knows how to replace a radiator.

Doubtful that said girl will actually get in touch with me – but it was a good night regardless. Another weeknight of getting home around 3AM. Energy drinks are my savior.

Just last night I went to a Skinny Tie Party at Justin Tiexera’s place.

I proceeded to introduce myself to a girl so forcefully that she immediately notified me she was someone elses wife. I need to do a better job looking for rings.
I also met another beautiful brunette who can bust out the quadratic equation at the drop of a ‘hat’. Math teachers for the win. There was Rock Band. People rocked out to Coheed and Cambria, and I sang my heart out to NIN – The Hand That Feeds. I don’t even need the scrolling words to sing this one:

And finally – today I went on an awesome motorcycle ride out to Wilson NC with my motorcycle gang. We hit up Parker’s BBQ and it was delicious. There was some really beautiful back country and great roads between here and Wilson if you avoid the highway.

After riding around NC I went over to Andy’s house and helped him tinker on his new front axle. We removed the diff cover and took out the locker, getting it ready for the new axle. We also greased up his lower control arms, and I drilled some holes for his new bump stops.

I am now VERY tired just thinking about all of that.

The future holds a trip to DC to see the air and space museum, and hopefully a trip out to the mountains with my Mom to check out the roads there.

In other non fun related matters, I’ve REALLY got to recertify my CCIE

This happened with the Gay Blades CD and I just tossed it up to me turning off the Jeep the night before on the same some “Dog Day Afternoon”

Then the very next day I’m listening to The Strokes – 12:51 and humming it along while in the shower. We can go and get 40s. Fuck going to that party.

I hop into the Z, hit start, and lo and behold what do I hear coming from AltNation:

It’s been ridiculous. What song will tomorrow bring? Will I have a three day streak? We’ll find out.