Sarah Dandelles and Eric Ziegenhagen

Jason Toth and Sarah Dandelles

Not pictured: The elusive Geoff Buesing…

Guess what… not that anybody cares but me, I realize that, but guess what?  My foot’s a lot better now, it’s been getting noticeably better every day THANK GOD!!  How long has it been, like two months already?  Well I’m walking almost completely normally again if I’m careful not to wear it out too much.  I think the trick was to stop wearing my Blundstones every day and start wearing comfy sneakers.  Duhhh.  The top part of my foot is the part that’s been hurting, so I just leave the laces real loose on that foot.  I’m not blaming my Blunnies for hurting my foot ‘cuz I’ve been wearing the same style for like six years now, but they weren’t helping it get better, that’s for sure.  It was pressing down on exactly the wrong place and just making it worse I think.  So I’m giving those ol’ boots a rest and using some ugly-ass sneakers that I think I bought in the Eighties, ha ha.  Whatever works, I don’t care.

OH that reminds me, guess what?  (Yes, another "guess what".) SARAH JOINED MY GYM!!  YAYYYYY!!!  I’m so psyched.  We probably won’t be going there *together* very often if at all, but it’s just great that we can kick each other’s asses to go at all.  And I just like my gym, so I’m psyched that there’s any possibility that I’ll bump into someone I know there.

Pitchfork gave my new album a kinda shitty review today (=yesterday), but fuck it, oh well.  They do make a valid point that the lyrics on this record are mostly on the very morose side, I would agree with that.  But I don’t think that makes it a bad record or anything, so that’s where we disagree.  Lots of people make breakup records all the time… hell, I guess I’m just lucky the reviewer doesn’t seem to have heard any of my other albums, ‘cuz they’re all the same way, they’re all breakup records just as much as this one is!  What can I say, it’s just my specialty, whining about my love life.  It’s what I do best, love it or leave it.  At least they reviewed it, I guess if they really wanted to dismiss it they wouldn’t have posted that at all.  I’m really not a fan of most of the stuff they rave about, so I guess our tastes are vastly different to begin with.  I happen to think sad songs can be kinda pretty!  Whatever.  I guess I’m just sooo uncool, and I don’t really care.

Speaking of CDs I finally got around to selling a bunch of old CDs at Reckless the other day.  I had two crates full that I’d been hauling around in the back of my van for literally two years straight!!  I was just too lazy, but I found myself parked right in front of there and went in and asked if they’d look at them.  They did, and of course a lot of it was crap they didn’t want (which I knew) but they took a good lil’ pile and I got eighty bucks.  Sweet!  I still have a crate and a half now, still in my van, so I guess I’ll be hauling those around for another two years… maybe they’ll come back in style by then and be Reckless-worthy, heheh.  Or maybe I should just throw ‘em in the alley, it’ll probably save me money in the long run via better gas mileage.

So what’s my OkCupid news of the day?  Well, I made the acquaintance of another musician who’s been really fun to talk to.  He’s a bit older and a whoooole lot more experienced in the business than I am, so it’s just been fun to compare notes and trade stories.  He’s the only other working musician I’ve met on there, and I think he got spooked away from there already so I guess it’s lucky I met him at all.  We’re just e-mailing a little now.  He’s really funny and has a great attitude.  He called me an ASSHOLE right to my virtual face, for starting to smoke again.  He’s right!!  I am an asshole for doing that, an asshole and a dumbshit.  So by saying that, he’s being a friend, and I probably wouldn’t tolerate being called that by anybody else for some reason.  I know damn well it’s going to kill me if I don’t stop fuckin’ around… it’s the only thing I do that really will kill me for sure, barring any unforeseen accidents or whatever, god forbid.  I have to quit, I have to! have to! have to quit right now!!!  It’s gonna kill me if I don’t, I know this.

Time to go to bed, I’ve got rehearsal in the morning!  Fun.  I have to remember to bring my notebook this time so I’ll know what the fuck to work on.  We were a little aimless about it last week but this time we have to buckle down for that show on Sunday.  It’s gonna be good, too.  My pals Grimble Grumble got added to the bill so that’s yet another reason y’all should attend.  It’s a bit of a steep cover for a Hideout show but man, it’s for Gary and we gotta take care of our own.

Words I already knew, but wanted to hear the official definition and/or spelling: livable vs liveable; it’s vs its; apostrophe; hyperbole*; itinerant; prerogative; perquisite; respite; treatise; ostensibly

* When I tagged along with Sheila and Sarah to visit Gary in the hospital, we were joking with him about his hyperbaric chamber treatments, replacing the word "hyperbaric" with "hyperbolic".  It was pretty funny in a very gallows-humor kinda way.

What movies did I see?  OK: I’m not good at giving movie reviews but I think I can do the thumbs up – thumbs down routine here.

1) The Machinist – Thumbs up.  Saw it with Sarah and already talked about it here so I won’t rehash.

2) I Heart Huckabees – Eh.  Thumbs down.  Saw it last Sunday with my other Eric(k) pal, Erick B.  We agreed that it was too dumb, too feel-good, not a complete waste of time but in the end, pretty much just a buncha nothin’.  I’m sure it was a lot of fun to BE in that movie, and I guess it’d be great as an airplane movie or something, but I wouldn’t recommend seeing it in the theater.  But hey, it was a cheap matinee at the Davis, so I’m not really complaining.

3) Sideways – Thumbs up!  Saw a preview of it with Eric Z.  Came in with no expectations and really liked it.  It’s about two old college buddies on a wine-tasting excursion through California.  And I don’t know a damn thing about wine so if somebody like me can enjoy that movie, you’ll like it too I’m sure.

4) Primer – Thumbs up!  Oh yeah!!!  I saw it today (=yesterday) with Erick B. and we both dug it.  It’s not for everyone though, you gotta be a pretty much of a geek to appreciate this fully.  It’s a hardcore techie science fiction thing, my favorite, favorite kind of movie on earth.  But unlike most sci-fi movies it uses no special effects to speak of but just relies on great dialogue and a really imaginative, fucked-up storyline.  Loved it.  I would see it again two or three more times to try to figure out the stuff I missed the first time.  Erick and I both agreed, however, that in terms of fucked-up movies that might require repeat viewings, Memento had a better payoff.  But then, Memento cost a lot more than $7000 to make…!!  The fact that I’m even comparing those two movies says a lot about how great Primer is.

OK, I’m falling asleep now.  Thanks so much to all the pals mentioned above for being so good to go and fun to hang out with.  Not-A-Dates are where it’s at!!  (grin)