This is in response to Jeff's post since you asked for things that cannot be put into a comment.

    First things first, I'm gonna assume that the normal Time/Breathe Reprise was playing and not the 8-bit one in the Record store. However, I really hope the 8-bit one was playing (I listened to it all just in case). If you are looking for some sweet renditions have a listen to some of these, haha. I don't really have your musical prowess so I can't really can't generate discussion on that huge block of your post; what I do know is that I really can't stand Cursive (maybe you need to give me a few You Tube's and an explanation).

• I think you need to make a full post about from your last San Diego almost to be entry. That is something I really would love to talk about for hours.
• Your G.I. Jeep is gone, so thanks for helping out my brother with his sale.
• I really need to help out people at your work with some EE stuff, that would be a great opportunity since Computer Engineering is basically Electrical Engineering with an Emphasis on Computer Science. Maybe I can fill in that other side of the gap.

This is my newest rendition of my Circuit painting I was working on a while back. I just wanted to make a piece that looked like a sloppy mess of math and circuitry because that is what is beautiful to me (mostly because I don't understand it).

There are many more things I want to say but I will just leave you here for now with a last image of a man who changed my life. I am trying trying to live as he does, for I want to live life to the fullest. He is known only as Tommy D.

That was the beginning of an entry that I started to write while sitting in Cosmos last time I was in San Diego… never really got too far. I feel completely removed from everything that has happened in San Diego since that point. And I suppose before that point too.

So you guys don’t feel (respectively) the same, I thought I would update you on some small things in my life.

I have recently fallen in love with the drumbeat in Grizzly Bear’s Two Weeks. It totally makes up for the clipping piano and over exaggerated vocals. I think this admiration may be due to its similarities to Sigur Ros’ drumbeat for Untitled 2, though I haven’t really taken the time to map them out side by side. Maybe Sigur Ros and Grizzly Bear are two bands that I should have never compared.

People seem to draw strange relationships between musical artists. And when I say people, I mean iTunes. Because I “liked” Ok Bear (Jeremy Enigk’s newest humdrum solo CD), Steve’s jukebox recommends that I purchase OX by Coalesce, a metalcore outfit that sounds like a C- Norma Jean. I have only come to one conclusion about how iTunes could have related these two acts.

Coalesce are from Lawrence, Kansas – the same hometown as fellow emo-rockers The Appleseed Cast (who oft got criticized for their earlier work which sounded too much like Sunny Day Real Estate)¹. Interestingly, The Appleseed Cast’s first band, December’s Tragic Drive, got their namesake from a Sunny Day Real Estate lyric, which Jeremy Enigk of course composed.

So the glue that holds these two bands together happens to be one of my favorite bands. Maybe this robot is smarter than I had originally thought?

No, I don’t think so. Even if the algorithm did play Six Degrees of Separation with Midwest rockers, it just isn’t helpful at all. I would much prefer if they gave me cliche comparisons like Lupe Fiasco and B.O.B, Cursive and Modest Mouse, Animal Collective and Atlas Sound or even – gasp- The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. You know, one really first-class group and its not-all-together talented replica.

I actually participated in one of these arguments last Friday when someone playing Rock Band chose to further mutilate Modest Mouse’s Float On. I made a comment saying that whenever I listen to Modest Mouse I realize that I should be listening to Cursive instead. It is these kinds of arguments that break up relationships, build two party political systems and, eventually, start wars.

But let’s be honest, Cursive could do dissonant harmonics way better than Modest Mouse. Hell, Mark Kozelek could do Modest Mouse better than Modest Mouse.

John Cage vs. Pre-Discovery Daft Punk, who is better!?

Speaking of The Appleseed Cast, I picked up Two Conversations on vinyl yesterday. I am not a huge fan of the new album art but it is such a great album that I could not pass it up. Also on my receipt was Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place by Explosions, Field Studies by This Will Destroy you, Hospice by The Antlers and Holy Ground by Mono, which is an absolutely beautiful 3,000 press run of a four disk box set + a DVD of their live performance with an orchestra. Score! I also picked up Remain in Light by the Talking Heads for Annie, it is by far their best effort. Oh and Chris, when I walked into the record store, this was playing.

In a completely unrelated to topic (unless you are iTunes), I have no idea how Urban Outfitters got their dirty hands on the Radiohead In Rainbows t_o    u/r sh ir\t_s, but they fit very well with the pre-packaged Beer Pong kits and mugs that read “Guido.” ANYWAYS, while browsing the general hipster ephemera with Peter, I spotted a beautiful jacket and an even prettier chair. If I ever get it, I will post pictures of how it looks in my apartment.

It just struck me; no one knows what my apartment looks like! Are there ICP posters adorning the walls? Do my over-priced knick-knacks worth? Is my furniture covered in peepee stains? Yes to all of the above.

Onto more minor details, after making bomb baked pasta (not to be confused with bong baked pasta) last night with Annie, she cut my hair FOR FREE. I figured if Raya could do it, Annie could do it. After all, Annie doesn’t have a Hitler tattoo². This may not sound like a big deal to you guys but my last haircut in SF cost 70 bones. So staring at Annie’s chest while I sit on the toilet for an hour was a pretty good deal. Hmm, maybe I should buy her another record… SHE MIGHT LIKE COALESCE.

Oh Chris, let me tell you about my experience being an Electric Engineer. Every Friday we have a “Learning Group” at work, which is when one employee talks to all the others for an hour about any topic. The week before last was how to home-brew your own beer and this past week was about Microcontrollers.

A bunch of people bought Arduino kits and patched together an LED light that was then programmed with C and Python. It was entertaining to watch all these CS majors get frazzled by putting the basic circuitry together; a lot of them mentioned that they took ECE and EE classes in college but it was still difficult. Eh, circuitry still blows my mind.

This blog is getting ridiculous and I know that if it gets any longer, no one will read it so I should just stop now. So now it is your turn. Joe, I want to see your pictures of Shep. Mark, I want to know how your full-time job is going. Chris, I want to know if you sold my G.I. Jeep. I miss you guys so I want to hear what you have been up to. Pictures to share?
 

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1) Also note that these two bands have both had members from Reggie  and the Full Effect, which is (as we all know) The Get Up Kids’ post-break up act.
2) Although she has had her eye on Mussolini recently...

First off, why is the second half of Hawaii SOOOOOOOO good? I never really listened to it until this week or so– it just blows me away every time. And I am sure you like it twice as more as me.

Hey nerds, it's me, Gina. 

I haven't written anything on here in so, so long, so I thought "hey, everyone is probably all torn up inside, wondering what you've been up to in the past two months!  Why don't you just give them some bullet points, throw them a bone!"  So beloved friends, here you go:

• I graduated college.  I don't think I've been on here since before that happened.  WOOOH!
• I hate that I graduated college.  I have panic attacks on the daily because I ain't gots much going for me in terms of building a career or anything really.
• Annie moved. 
  
• Janine moves midway through next month.  I cannot imagine what the next two years of my life will be like because I literally have no memory of my life pre-Szafranskis.
• I've been quickly developing and slowly crossing books off of a Book List.  It's very good--so far I've burned through A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers is my soul mate); The Bluest Eye; Twilight and am halfway through New Moon.  I know it may appear that I've finally crossed the line from hate-loving to purely love-loving this series, but that is not so!  The writing is worse than the acting (Stephenie Meyer really needs to come up with a new way of describing Edward besides looking like a "gorgeous angel"), and the story lines are all so, so transparent and flimsy.  I hate most everything about them, so why do I keep seeing the films and reading the books?  I think it has something to do with masochism.
• speaking of Twilight, I just got back from seeing Eclipse
• I enjoyed July 4th by drinking margaritas poolside.  La di da
• we had our annual Sista Sista Disney Trip.  Year 5 was fruitful--we even got smart this time and decided to take a nap break during out 3 o'clock slump.  Smart thinkin' girls!

That's all the interesting stuff, I believe.
I'm done. 
C ya.

The weekend was great, I got to go up to San Francisco and visit Jeff, while looking for an apartment with Juan. Were we successful? NOPE. We got the perfect place snatched from us, which is unfortunate, because I was really happy with the idea of calling the landlord Mr. Rogers. But we both learned to take apply right away, rather than waiting to see what else is out there. Which could end up being terrible at the same time.

Looking for places to live is quite the challenge, especially when links expire. I need to be more organized the way I approach the situation, which is partially what I did tonight. I dug though my e-mail, and searched for all the people I had contacted. So far, I have to appointments set in stone. I still have to call four people right before my flight to San Francisco, and figure out a time, because that is what they told me to do. And then that leaves me with two more numbers to call for places that have not responded to me yet. Although, those probably will not be promising.