I love you weekend….

Posted on 12/04/2009 by Severe

This wasn’t supposed to be that busy of a weekend, but a lot happened…

The pop/rock band I’ve been playing with had a gig in Fairfax, California. I got really excited when I saw a big theatre marquee w. “FAIRFAX” in large red letters (I’m from Fairfax, Virginia). The bar, Peri’s, was actually a pretty nice scene – it got a lot of foot traffic, drinks were on the house, and everyone was super friendly. Funny enough, we had been concerned about nawt havin enuff songs, so our singer did two on his own. Because of this, we had to skip one of them, hah!

Then Saturday my house tackled more of our backyard – and we even had one willing pair of hands stop by and dig some shit up, awesome! Here we are before:

And this is after:

If this doesn’t look like much, it’s because you can’t see the stretch behind the shed, which was completely overgrown with all sorts of stuff, adn has been laid mostly to waste by now. I was hoping that was pure dirt, but it’s concrete as well so the plans to put in a veggie garden there have to be modified. Likely I’ll still put some veggies and herbs there, but will have to put them in containers.

Finally, Willie T, singer of The Mysterious Odors was in town w. his friend’s Beatnik Jr (who actually feature Odors drummer Andrews) promoting their show next week. Willie and I had a lot of catching up to do – since the Odors broke up he has traveled the world as tech guy with bands like NIN, Alanis Morisette, Incubus, and more. Fuck that guy. Here we are in the SOMA:

The next item on my agenda for the day is one I’m not especially looking forward to, but it’s best to just get it ovah w. Catch ya latah interwebs!

Posted in anutha gig, backyard, mysterious odors, out of towners, pop rock | Leave a comment

Ah wore a tux!

Posted on 10/04/2009 by Severe

Ahm pretty sure this is tha first time evah….n it will prolly be quite a while until tha next. So enjoy!

Posted in dressed up, tuxedo, weddins | 1 Comment

Ch-ch-ch-Ch-ch-ch-Changes

Posted on 05/04/2009 by Severe

Just a few general updates:

1)Ahve found myself playing in a pop/rock band (What’s w. all tha pop these days Severe?) and it’s not too bad of a time. Thars a long complicated history behind this band that ah won’t gae intae now), but ah was originally asked to fill in on a festival gig they landed, which ahm pretty sure isn’t happenin now (tha festival that is). Tha main singah/songwriter is a cat ah know from Berklee, n tha otha two dudes are really good players, so it’s holdin my interest fer now. We apparently need ta have 8 songs togetha by next Friday fer a show out in Fairfax. We have 4 that are decent, 2 we’ve heard, n thars supposed ta be two more. Tah only time ahm practicin w. them between now n then is Monday nite. Ahll let ya know how it gaes….

2)Ahm fazin out my beard – tha plan is every week er so ta slightly cut away at it, gaein thru various stages of different facial hair. Tha only one ahll definitely be avoidin is tha “ironic moustache” as thars too many fawkin hipstahs sportin that in this city. Here’s a pic of step 1:

3)Ahm gittin tha gawdamm motivation ta werk my backyard intae somethang passable! Ah spent 3 very VERY productive hours back thar fixin up some of tha worse spots. Tha thang that bothas me is how similar it looks to tha pic of it 10 months ago when ah moved in. Ah fergawt ta git a “before” photo, but rest assured thar was a TON of growth since last June that gawt chopped down!

It’s time fer a fawkin showah now!

Posted in backyard, beards, berklee, musick, shows, yardwork | 2 Comments

Tech Support Quote of the Week:

Posted on 03/04/2009 by Severe

*drumroll*
“That seems to be one of my biggest problems with computers – there’s too many choices.”

– A good natured volunteer in Alabama.

Happy Friday – Wee the Band gits it’s acoustic on in Oakland tonight!

Posted in old people, tech support, weetheband | 1 Comment

Last weekend….

Posted on 21/03/2009 by Severe

Ah trekked across tha continental 48 in an aeroplane to attend tha weddin of one of my best n oldest friends, Crazy Paul. It was a momentus occasion – who tha hell thought Paul would evah snag a lady? Lets just say he owes tha internet BIG TIME fer putting Erin in his life.

Ah was the “best man” fer tha event, meanin my job duties were very specific: 1)Stopping everyone from freaking Paul out; 2)Stopping Paul’s mom from freaking his bride out; 3)Organizing a night on tha town in Charleston; 4)Making a toast; and 5)Bringing “California Brownies” to tha event (please see a future post for how to make said “California Brownies” as ahm startin ta git tha hang of it finally).

All in all, thangs went pretty well actually. They gawt married in a swamp (a NICE swamp – Cypress Gardens), thar was good food, good people, brownies, alligators, hilariously un-paul-and-erin-like musick (with a couple awesome exceptions), and dramadramadrama. But they gawt married n nae one gawt hurt. Altho we all had a WTF-moment….

Oh yeah, ah had ta wear a tux too. Friday was my birthday n they brought out a cake at tha rehearsal dinnah fer me, which was sweet. Ahll also let you know this was tha first time ahd evah gawten a professional beard trim, n it was pretty decent!

Aftah all tha to-doin, ah spent Sunday on Daniel Island w. a bunch of family ah rarely see. These are tha folks who don’t live in Buffalo so ah was especially glad ta catch up w. them, n meet a few additions ta our family. My cousin Dennis (formerly known as Little Den) is a plastic surgeon in South Carolina and recently bought a humungous house fer him, his wife, n his four (four!) kids. My cousins Ron, Kathy, and their daughter Erica, drove up from Florida so we could all be exhausted by tha chitlins. Here we are – almost 3 complete families (just a portion of my Buffalo based relatives)

Let me try to go through all of em, left to right:
Dennis, Ron, My dad, Lori, Emma, Isaac, Abbey, Julianna, me, Kathy (behind me), My mom, Erica (behind my mom), Uncle Norman.

While my family is weird w. tha whole aunts/uncles actually bein cousins thang, Uncle Norman is EVERYONE’s uncle norman.

Then ah gawt stuck in layovah-hell, made only bearable by my “California Brownies”. N now it’s back ta stupid work. BOO!

Thanks fer all tha b-day wishes!

Posted in birfday, brownies, kids are kerazzy, south carolina, tha fam, weddins, wtf | Leave a comment

It happened again….

Posted on 13/03/2009 by Severe

I turned another year older. Past the “age of wisdom”, and into my definite late-20s, ahm now 28 fricken years old!


BINGO!

How am ah celebratin? Ahm in South Carolina fer Crazy Paul’s weddin. Ahm tha best man – shows you tha types of scum CP hangs out with, eh? My rents n Uncle will be thar as well, n then ahm meetin up w. some cousins on Sunday who ah haven’t seen in years. N then – lucky me, ah git ta fly back ta tha West Coast n have a busy week of yoga, band practice, n a gig. SCORE!

Posted in 28, birfday, oldah, south carolina, weddins | 1 Comment

quittin….

Posted on 04/03/2009 by Severe

Ah didn’t gae ta yoga today. Ah really haven’t been enjoyin tha last week er so of gaein everyday, n it’s started ta feel like an obligation instead of somethang ah dae fer myself. In ordah ta dae tha 30 class challenge, ahd need ta gae nawt only every day through next Wednesday but also gae twice on both Saturday and Sunday (tha only days ah could afford it schedule wise). This also meant on Thursday ahd hafta gae ta 8 am, take tha bus (w. my bass and gig stuffs) to work, work until 6 pm, and then head over to the gig (10 minute walk from work), and be there until relatively late. Then work as normal on Friday – it just isn’t all feasible. The only external kind of incentive was if ah could dae tha studio’s 30 days (instead of just my personal 28) is ahd be entered in a raffle ta win prizes. N ah refuse ta kill myself just fer some prizes – yoga is about me.

Actually gaein n takin class wasn’t all that hard necessarily. But, ah realized ah was startin ta dislike gaein ta class, n that ah was intentionally takin it easy so ah could save my energy (instead of take tha yoga as deep as ah could ta really push myself) because ah wasn’t enjoyin class. N it wasn’t about gaein fer me – it was about gaein fer some amount of time ta see what it was like, n ta see if ah could dae it. Ah think ah could dae it – maybe ahll try again. But ah didn’t want ta – ah didn’t like it, it was makin life harder, n ah missed lookin FORWARD ta yoga class.

Tha hardest part fer me was actually quittin. Ah don’t quit thangs very often – ah quit tha cello in 4th grade n ah still wish ah hadn’t. Ah quit algebra in 8th grade. Ah dropped a few courses at Berklee n ah quit my job at Great Bay. Ah know thars some otha stuff in thar as well, but in general, ah don’t quit just cuz shit is hard – er even cuz ah don’t like it. Ah’ve tolerated wrestling in high school, years of shitty waitin jobs, livin at home fer way too long, n a bunch of otha thangs ah didn’t like w.o quittin. Ah like finishin thangs, sometimes just fer tha sake of finishin thangs. But last nite tryin ta pass out at 1 am (aftah a day of work, yoga class, n 3 hours of jammin w. some new folks – more ta come on that if it manifests) ah realized ah just didn’t want ta gae ta yoga anymore – fer me. N while ah took my clothes ta werk today, ah have forced myself ta quit tha concept of 30 classes – n that ah dont really care if ah dae 28 in a row eitha. Life’s just too busy, especially w. Crazy Paul’s weddin next week, a WTB gig on Thursday, n practicin w. some new folks.

So ah quit. Doesn’t feel good, but ah ken also live w. myself fer daein as much. Ahm still gaein ta gae as many times as ah ken – which will be 25 classes in 28, a numbah ahm pretty happy with. N if latah on down tha line ahm still really dissappointed w. myself, ahll try it again. Which ah wish ah could say about tha cello….

Posted in ah like ta finish shit in general, bikram yoga, disappointments, quittin | 1 Comment

Bikram Challenge continues….

Posted on 27/02/2009 by Severe

So this morning I did something really weird (for me): Ah woke up early fer yoga! Yes, ah forced myself outta bed at 7:30 am so ah could gae git hawt n sweaty.

This means of kerse, that ahm on pretty good track ta hit my goal – altho in ordah ta git credit at tha studio, ah need ta dae 30 classes in 28 days. This mornin was #15 – halfway thar. Ah don’t know if its gawna git easier er hardah from here on out, altho my schedule is gittin busier n busier. BUT, ahm also committed ta daein this cuz ah said ah would – doesn’t sound like me at all does it?

Ta recap:
1st class = awesome!
Next 3 classes = sucktastic!
Next 5 classes = awesome!
Next 4 classes = less then awesome!
Yesterday = pretty good
Today = damn ahm sore!

Posted in bikram yoga, challengin myself, yoga hurt | Leave a comment

Updates abound

Posted on 17/02/2009 by Severe

Don’t know what it is, but February has me writin a lawt of blog entries thus far. Don’t git used ta it necessarily…

Yoga – Day 5 was AWESOME. Strongest class probably evah – felt like a champ pretty much tha whole time through, breathin was steady n intentional, n went pretty fawkin deep on some poses (rawked triangle too, hell yeah!). Ah think part of this had ta dae w. more then 24 hours between classes in addition ta otha circumstances (this time ah went ta tha noon n then tha 4:30). Howevah, ahm concerned once ah throw my 8 hours of werk back on top (as well as tha bike ride ta n from werk) tomorrow n tha rest of tha week will come back n hurt.

Pillow Fight – Laughing Squid (a blog I read pretty regularly about fun stuff, specially in SF) compiled pretty much anythang werth lookin at regardin tha pillow fight on Sunday -> It’s all right here. Also, San Francisco is so weird.

Finally, ahve recently listened ta both this and this via myspace recently n have enjoyed both artist a lawt – hip hop typed stuff w. guest stars. Altho ah realize tha first one has a lame deal gaein on w. Target.

Posted in bikram yoga, mad updates eh, pillow fight, what ahm listenin ta | Leave a comment

Yoga Update – 4 out of 28….

Posted on 16/02/2009 by Severe

Ah don’t know if thars a point in time when thangs are supposed ta even out, but my last 3 classes have really kicked my ass. Friday tha heat was higher then its been in weeks – ah actually really love tha hawt classes, but ahve been gittin used ta 102-104 degree temperatures, and Friday was more like 105 – 109 (my favorite spot is up near tha instructor podium, whar tha heat indicator is). Saturday was even hawter – gawt up ta 111 fer tha second half but tha humidifier wasn’t on (n fancy this – ah didn’t remind tha teacha ta turn it on this time!). Also, Friday ah took 6:30 and then Saturday ah took tha noon – ahve only done two classes in less then 24 hours once before. Today was tha opposite of my usual problem – usually my flesh is willin but tha mind is weak, but today ah was daein really well w. maintainin my composure but damn every pose hurt n ah even left a few of them early (Ah hate when ah dae that). But, ahm still determined – altho ah hafta admit thar were moments today when ah started wonderin if ah actually hated bikram yoga, n had just convinced myself ah enjoy it. I also biked about 17 miles yestahday w. errands n shit, did a class n went to tha pillow fight, which was freakin AWESOME, but surprisingly tiring on my arms.

Here’s a pretty blurry pic of my own (my camera is low on batteries so the night setting is kind of whack), I’ll try to link to some better ones as they become available on the web:

I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day, but it still beat the livin crap out of last year’s V-Day.

In other news, I’ve been listening to a lot of Murder By Death recently and am very much looking forward to their show next Saturday. Check em out – Americana/indie rock w. cello – that doesn’t suck (most americana/indie ah could take er leave, but these folks dae it rite).

Posted in lawtsa yoga, pillow fight, this time last year, valentines day, yoga hurt | 1 Comment