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.