Warped Summer Extravaganza (Major Excellent)

when i woke up in hawthorne,
i took ocean down to the fairground to see everyone
so beautiful that i drown in the waves of the haircuts
spin kicks and jumps
well i got my bottled water and my nachos,
it came in under twenty bucks
i got this bad taste in the back of my mouth
from my time on the back of a bus

this summer vacation, it's cheap and it's true
it's ideals are intact, it's the best we can do
this time you turn into your own enemy
not sell outs but dictated economies

So if the name doesn't point it out, I guess I will have to. This post is about the Warped Tour. Most specifically why I didn't go this year, and why I prolly won't go next year. And now that some people have hit the comment button already to write something stupid, im gonna start writing.
I chose not to go to the Warped Tour quite a while before it even rolled around. At first, I was excited, like always, to see who was on the bill. Only then was I a bit distraught over the fact that the only band I would want to see was Against Me! and The Bouncing Souls. That was my first push away from it.
As summer came and progressed, I came to fall in love with a new band, The Lawrence Arms. And the possibility of ever seeing them play the warped tour was pretty much impossible as they were kicked off and banned from the tour in 2004 for talking shit about how absurd the idea of the Warped Tour is. Brenden Kelley, bassist/vocalist for The Lawrence Arms said this...

Warped Tour, it’s destroying the economy of DIY; and it’s doing it very methodically and very successfully in that [the] summer touring season used to involve a bunch of bands, like Alkaline Trio for example, jumping on buses and taking smaller bands, like us and The Black Maria for example, on tour. There would be all these bands that would do that, so all these support bands would have great tours to go on. Kids in every town would have a bunch of different shows to go see, like over the summer. Small clubs would have big, good shows at least once a week if not twice a week, three times a week; and kids would have stuff to do. Now, all those big bands go on the Warped Tour. When they come to town, it’s for one day. It’s in a band shell, small clubs all across the US are closing down, they can’t afford to be open. Bands like us have to tour against the Warped Tour, which sucks; or tour on the Warped Tour, which sucks even more.

Now, I am an intelligent human being and I know not to form my own opinions based on what other people say or thing. But upon seeing a different view of it, it made me start thinking about it, and the whole notion of punk rock as well. I find it all to be very hypocritical.
Now, there are two ways I could go with this, I could sound like the punk rock idealist and say that everyone is a poser and fuck everything OR the crazy punk rocker who just says fuck everything and then tries to pick a fight with you. I am going to do neither, but I do want to do one thing, convince people that I do not want to be associated with the punk rock mentality, I have grown past that.
Now, this doesn't mean that I no longer enjoy punk music, that is nowhere near true. I just think that having a mentality that says that all corporations and capitalism is a bad thing doesn't make sense to me anymore,especially when these same people are buying their clothes at Hot Topic (which is owned by Abercrombie and Fitch), smoking cigarettes (which are some of the most evil of corporations out there), and going to the Warped Tour which is sponsored by such "evil" corporations (Ticketmaster/Clear Channel anyone???).
Now, for those people who do like the music on the Warped Tour, good riddance, you have one up on me, pay your $40 and go see the bands you like, have a great time, but please don't bug me about it, I really don't want anything to do with it anymore.

Ever get the feeling you are being watched?

Security systems have been around for quite some time now. The are a very important element for the safety of schools, office buildings, parking lots, etc. They have significantly evolved in the computer age. The image of an oscillating camera with a red blinking light has changed to a little black dome hanging from a drop ceiling. Soon enough, there will be security cameras that are made to look like sprinkler heads. With the increasing numbers of cameras and equipment being put in, who knows who is looking in on the other side of the lens.
Most modern security systems use cameras coupled with dvr's (digital video recorders, kinda like your tivo) to collect video streams. Most of the time, these dvr's are connected to some sort of network where administrators and security officers can view the footage in case of an incident. But what about systems that include live monitors along with the dvr's (picture any cliche security office in any movie)? What's to stop someone from spying on what you are doing while you are in the view of the camera? Most people would think that ethics are what stop this, but in a world where I have come to distrust the ethics of many people, I can't help but feel like I am being constantly monitored under surveillance cameras.
I guess this fear comes from my job as a maintenance worker at a high school, where I am, in fact, monitored by my boss. I guess it is his management style, or it is the way he doesn't trust any one of us, I don't know, but I think its kinda ridiculous.
So what now? For me, its lasted all summer, and summer is almost over, so I have only 4 more days to deal with it but the precedent has been set, I will never be able to trust security cameras again.

Blogging plans

So it seems that I havent been updating this poor blog as much as i have hoped. And this is something that makes me a sad panda. I really want to keep a decent blog but have always gotten sidetracked for some reason or another.
So, in another attempt, I am hoping that I can rejuvenate my blogging by moving my blog away from blogger and going to my own host and working off of wordpress. Currently, I do have access to a host, and I plan on installing and customizing wordpress in the near future. I do, however, have many other things going on in my life that are taking priority right now. But I also plan on buying a domain name for my blog. That is where I would want some help. I dont know what name to get. Should it be something simple like my name? Or should it be something that I have used for just about everything else (lambchop4prez.com???). I really dont know, I would have to research this more.
So other than that, my life is quite busy. Aside from helping with my sister's wedding to work to my side jobs to my band, I haven't had the time to work on this blog like I would want to.
So lets hope that some time in the near future I will organize a smooth transition over to a nice new wordpress installation and a more consistantly updated blog.

Heck yea summer!

In the winter all we have is summer to look forward to,
and in the summer all we're granted is a sunburn face with nothing to do.

So its summer time now. I made it through another year of school. How great is that, I didn't do the best with school, but I at least tried. I have grown quite a bit since the beginning of last year, and a whole lot more since the beginning of college.
So its summer now, now what?
The last few weeks of school, all I heard was how excited everyone was to be able to get out of school, but for me, I hated that thought. I don't like summer at all, and there are a few reasons for that. I could go into them all, but I really don't feel like it. I might feel like going into a few reasons though.
I guess it could all start with the fact that the past few years, my summers have been busy, full of drama, and extremely lonely for me. Most people have themselves a summer fling. I sometimes did, but this summer fling quickly turns into complete and utter rejection for me.
I now have a girlfriend, and I don't think she will be leaving me any time soon. This is why I think this. Most of my "flings" or whatever you would call them, they usually fall apart for one of two reasons. First, the person at fault is me, I can sometimes be the kind of person who will give up very easily. This time, I am not giving up. Second, some of the girls I had gone after were not at a close enough maturity level as me. Not to sound conceited or anything, but some people grow up faster than others, and I happen to have grown up a little faster. And my girlfriend now, she seems to be at a high enough maturity level for me and her to be compatible.
So now, besides girl problems, which have been occurring with me ever since I was old enough to become interested in girls, another reason I don't favor summer is how I always feel stagnant. Nothing is usually going on, there is nothing to look forward to, nothing to be anxious about. Maybe that's one of the things I liked about going to school, there is usually something to have to look forward to, something to sometimes get anxious about, like a test or a project or something. During the summer, all I do is work, come home, shower, sit around, and sometimes I do stuff with my friends. On the weekend, I usually just sit around the house unless there is something else to do.
Now, my summer job, it is very hard, but I am not going to complain about that. It is a maintenance job, and it is a real good learning experience for me. Just the past two summers, I have learned to frame walls, soldier pipes, fix toilets, fix floors, mix and spread concrete, and so many other things. So thanks to this job, I have become a bit of a handyman, which is great for when I get my own place and eventually get married.
So, when the summer eventually winds down, I will be going back to Bowling Green for my life of something I have become a little more used to, not to mention a pretty lady who will live right next door to me. When the summer is over, I will get back into my life of learning about programming and other things of interest to me.

Love is an algorithm

So im sure its difficult to not notice the plethora of social dating commercials that are airing lately. Its inevitable, no matter what you watch, chances are, you'll hear that song, i dont remember what its called, but there is a couple standing there in front of a white background talking about how much in love they are, and how it was all because of finding each other on eharmony. Then there is match.com, which seems like the eharmony rejects club, but i dont want to get into that.
What i really want to talk about is how it doesn't make sense to me that these site do match you based on a profile of sorts, but that matching has to be done somehow, and it sure isn't a human doing the matching, its a computer.
So this makes no sense to me, a computer programmer, I am fairly competent on how algorithms work. I'm no expert on relationships and love or whatnot, but i like to think that what i think i know is somewhat correct. The question i ask myself is "Is there a real calculable value of compatibility, and how can you measure that using some sort of algorithm?"
What i really think is that the people behind these sites are abusing the mass publics trust of the way that the internet can make you anonymous, thus making it easier to express yourself, yet, it also causes you to rely on it for a source of communication, and eventually lose valuable communication skills because of it. I am an obvious victim of this. Not being taken advantage of by social dating sites, but by allowing the internet to destroy my communication skills. I find it difficult to talk about my problems in a normal social setting without feeling anxious. I'm sure i am not the only one affected by this. This is a most unfortunate side effect of the information age.
So back to the social dating sites, I used to think that they were just stupid and basically made up my mind by thinking that they would just tell people that the only way to be happy is to be with that "someone special" Eventually, through a bit of an awakening, i noticed that happiness can come from meeting a certain "someone special" and it can unfortunately make you lose sense of judgement, but it still does give you a very nice euphoric feeling, something i haven't experienced in years. So i have changed my opinion to say that these sites are pointless because of the fact that my logical, computer driven mind cannot grasp the idea of making love into a simple algorithm that can be applied to just anyone.

They don't call it the sunshine state for nothing.

So i have been in florida for a little over a week now, and it has by far been one of the most interesting experiences i have had in the past couple of months. It all started normal, with a plane ride, those are fun, free pretzels (i would prefer peanuts tho, but people are allergic). When we get there, it was actually warm outside, i was able to walk around outside without wearing a coat, havent done that in a while. The first day we went to daytona beach, that sucked, it was bike week, and i hate the beach, and the people who inhabit it.
We went do Disney's Hollywood studios the next day from what i can remember. It was an interesting experience because i have a real strange love/hate relationship with disney. I hate them for fucking up many generations and giving them a skewed sense of love and also by subliminally taking away our innocence at such a young age. There was, however, the brighter side of the trip. It allowed me to escape, it allowed me to escape my worrysome life, and everything that was on my mind. This happened about the time we got in line for the Star Wars ride, hm, maybe the Star Wars had something to do with it, who knows.
There were some Indians games thrown in there, i only had to go to one, it was boring, stupid old people. It was weird tho, the way people act in the stands. They talk to the players, they dont yell, they talk, and they do so as if the players can hear them. Case in point, the particular game i went to, the indians were playing terribly and the guy behind me kept saying "Come on guys, lets get some hits" as if he were talking to a friend. I dont know, baseball isn't my thing, so maybe thats why i dont understand.
We went to downtown disney, i wanted to go to the Virgin records store to see if i could find the Fake Problem's album, but much to my anticipation, they didn't have it. I did buy Unicornography by The Falcon, still havent gotten a chance to listen to that yet, im listening to Circa Survive now, havent listened to them in a little while. But when we were at the Virgin store, they kept coming on the PA saying that if you bought the new Flogging Molly album that you will be able to meet the band and get it signed. Since my dad was there, i kinda nudged him into doing it. He got the wristband and kinda seemed like he wanted to give it to me, but i wouldn't let him, he'd done enough for me this week, i figured he deserved it. He seemed excited to meet them. Unfortunately their show at the House of Blues was sold out, it would have been awesome to see them live again.
Other than that, the rest of the week we went to random places to shop, some liquor stores, nothing too profound.
On friday my mother was glued to the weather channel because of the apparent winter storm that was destroying the north, especially Ohio. Our flight was on saturday, the day the snow was supposed to be the worst. And it was, our flight got cancelled.
We were right at the place where you check your bags and asked the guy what we could do about the canceled flight, and he said that the next available flight that could hold my family (5 members of us) wasn't leaving till TUESDAY, right then i had a strange feeling, and then he said that the flight wasn't until 6:30 PM, thats when i got pissed, i was going to miss two days of class and work, because of the snow. Yes it might be selfish, but i just wanted to get the hell out of there, i wanted things to be different, so that i would be able to get home, and get back to the rest of my life, but now, i cant, i am stuck, trapped in this state, for three more days.
So the rest of that day sucked, we went to margarittaville, walked around some shopping place, and i was kinda frustrated and was texting the entire time.
At the end of the day, i'd had enough, i was frustrated about a lot of things, i kinda lost it. We were turning around away from our hotel to get something to eat and i just snapped, i said something along the lines of "I hate this god damn car, its so uncomfortable, and these fucking drivers in this state are fucking morons, they can never decide which lane they want to be in and change their mind at the last second, and we have to deal with this for three more fucking days!" It wasn't pretty, but after that we all had a good laugh at my outburst and were pretty much slap happy the rest of the night.
We went to some liquor store, and the people there didn't even question my age, that made my happy, even though the only thing i consumed from that place was a monster, it pretty much was all because of my beard.
So now i am right here, right now i am calm, earlier i was stricken with anxiety over the fact that i cant go home, Katy helped me with that a bit, so did David Cross and Jason Bateman (Arrested Development).
So i have two more days, no idea what we are going to do, i think maybe some more indians games, the shuttle launch, i dont know, i dont care, i just want to go home.

This is probably going to be quick

So ive been in a sort of funk for the past few days, if anyone hasnt noticed, there is too much on my mind right now and i dont like it, almost as if i am overwhelmed. And i have been thinking, probably too much, but i have been thinking about how my life has become boring. I do the same thing week after week. I get up, go to class, go to work, come back to my room, eat, and possibly do stuff with my friends. It goes like that every day until the weekend, and during the weekend, i basically stay up too late, and do nothing of any particular productiveness. I WANT A BREAK.
I want to do something different. I want to do something reckless. I want to do something unpredictable. I dont know, i just want some sort of change, swift and drastic. But what? I have no idea, i'm not very creative. I just know i want something different.
I know this almost sounds like me complaining, and maybe i am, im far past caring, i just want to write it down. If anyone has any suggestions for making my life any more interesting, please leave me a comment, but please note that if you write something stupid, ignorant, or something that will go against my beliefs, rest assured that i will delete your comment.

Can someone help me make sense of this.

Ok, so after this whole social networking thing has come to a sort of culmination. There are still a lot of sites popping up, but its already apparent who the main contenders are in the market are. Facebook and Myspace. (I do understand that there are others such as YouTube, Last.fm, Digg, and so on, but my main concern right now is with the top two)
I had a myspace, and i have a facebook (evidently if you scroll down and look to the right). I have noticed something, something that has become more and more prevailant with the introduction of the facebook development platform (which i thought was a terrible idea from the begining). But what i have been noticing is how people want more and more ways to categorize their friends, and even worse, rank them. I dont really seem to understand this concept. I realize how we all have those friends who are either part of a group of close friends and those who are more or less casual acquaintances, but honestly, by showing it visually, its almost like saying that you cherish one's friendship over another's.
So now, as for the facebook development platform, this is what my opinion is. It allows shitty programmers to make shit applications for a website and make said site a whole lot less stable. I have come across it time and time again, applications that try to force themselves to be viral, and it never seems to work. And even worse, people get these applications, put them on their profile and then they just eat up valuable screen real estate (yes, that is a correct computer term). And the majority of them serve little to no purpose.
Now with that said, i will say that i do have some applications on my profile. But i doubt that many of them are the kind that are viral, pointless, or annoying. I have one for my digg.com account, another for last.fm, that stupid bumper sticker one that i will probably be removing, and then a few others. I do like to see my facebook profile as a way to bring together all of my other social networking adventures. I use it with digg, last.fm, and this blog. I am not stupid about what i post because i know that once you put information on the site, its not going anywhere.
So wow, two posts in two days, how bout that, its like a record for me, maybe i should say something that will piss people off and make them all make stupid comments that have nothing to do with what my point is.

I really can't think of a title right now.

How is it that we can live in a world where we are constantly suffering. Life is never easy, and yet, we get through it, day after day. But just how do we do it. Sometimes it feels like a miracle that we can get through one day where people are constantly pointing out your deficiencies or telling you that your way of life is wrong. There must be a way to escape it all. I remember during my one class in high school where we learned about the different ways people become sadists or masochists in order to escape their unfortunate existance. But sometimes it can be hard to see where people are using it. Or even worse, you can see people using it and it is hard to tell them because of how it could jeopardize a relationship. So, when faced with a problem, what do we do. Look for advice, a lot of people do that. Don't say anything and just go along, yet a lot of other people do that as well. If given advice, what are the chances that this advice will still be used, what are the chances that this advice will either help or hinder the specified situation. There is no way of telling. That is the unfortunate thing. And sometimes, when this happens, something very dear could be on the line.
I really dont know what im talking about, i have been thinking about this for a very long time. Its been up in my head everywhere i go and ive never had a chance to write it down. Maybe i read too deeply into things. Maybe i dont think enough about things. I really dont know, there is no way to tell. So now i should go to bed, as i am sure to have confused someone, because i am almost confusing myself.

So I've come to notice this...

I have recently made the decision to become a vegetarian. I know, some people (those of you who are reading this and don't already know) might think that it's crazy or something. But yes, I have made the conscious decision to no longer eat meat. There are a few simple reasons for it, as anyone might guess, killing animals, health reasons etc. This is all godo and well. But the thing I have been noticing more and more is the way people react when I tell them.
People are real assholes about it. That's all I really have to say (of course there are the few of you who are cool about it, and you know who you are). But there is the majority of people who when i tell them, they are almost thrown aback by it. They start questioning why. And even worse, they treat it like it doesn't matter. They stick it in my face that they eat meat and that they kill animals, and it almost seems like they are trying to convert me back to eating meat. I haven't yet told my parents about this decision, but I'm sure to be met with the same hostility, if not more.
This all leads me to wonder why people react this way. Who knows, maybe if I were in their situation I would react the same way as them. But then again, I have a sort of view where I don't care what other people do if it doesn't directly affect me. I don't know, it all seems petty and childish. I am making a decision, and people don't seem to want to deal with it, so they criticize it. That kind of shit happens all the time, and frankly, it's annoying as hell. Why are people like this, is it all that hard to cope with change. Change is a part of life, deal with it.

Sometimes a title reflects a subject, this time it doesnt apply

So i have been a lazy blogger recently. It doesn't seem to be any fault of my own, from what i gather, ive been quite busy, this past week at least. My class schedule itself doesnt seem that difficult, especially on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but even on those days, its been non-stop for me. The sad thing thought, when im going through my daily business, i am constantly thinking, constantly observing, and i do come up with some ideas for blogs that i could write that would be just excellent given the time and effort. I guess that is my fault.
So maybe i could just use this post to bring whoever reads this up to terms with what ive been doing the past few weeks.
Well, winter break ended, and it ended in a way which i was ready for it to be over, but i felt like i hadn't accomplished everything that i was hoping to accomplish. Take it as you will, i had some big plans laid out, and i seemed to have flaked out on almost all of them. I got back to work to a feeling of uncertainty regarding my working arrangements for next year, something which i was counting on because i am getting an apartment next year (we signed the lease this past Friday). I have been working, not very hard, but i have been working, and no, i am not slacking off, i am doing as much as i need right now. I figure its best to take it slow in the begining of the semester, and from there i will do more. My social life is very much alive (much to some people's disbelief) I spend time with friends, and its just like most encounters with friends. Disagreements can complicate things and make everything frustrating, and i don't like being frustrated, because it makes me think more than i already do. And no, i am not writing about any one situation, i am writing about a general observation ive made while being in a social situation.
One thing i seem to write about a lot (i don't even know why) is relationships. This is always an interesting subject for me, I like to be somewhat vague about it as to not reveal too much and make certain people uncomfortable if they happen to stumble upon this blog. So ill just leave it at this. I do like someone. I have no idea what will become of this. I am hopeful, i always am. The only thing that dampens my spirits is the fact that i have very little experience with the whole "dating scene" and how to pursue a potential relationship. I dont know, i guess everyone goes through it, and it doesnt really help being as shy as i am. People do offer advice (which i am always eternally greatful for) but it ultimately comes down to me and my decisions.
So now that ive gone into my "I'm a lonely loser" part of this, i guess i should bring this to a conclusion somehow. This entry didn't have much of a specific subject matter, so i cant think of any witty way to close this all, so i will just end it like i end every other sentence i write, with a period.