| (no subject) |
[Mar. 26th, 2009|03:18 pm] |
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And we passed. Soft opening Sunday starting at 8, then I probably work everyday for the next month or so... |
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| 1022 South |
[Mar. 25th, 2009|11:43 pm] |
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Pre-opening health inspection is tomorrow. If we pass, then we'll be open on Monday. Sunday night will be the soft opening from 8-12. If you read this, then you're invited. I'll know by tomorrow evening... |
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| damn |
[Jan. 12th, 2009|01:52 pm] |
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phone broke this morning. until i get a new one (and maybe after that), i don't have anyone's number. |
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| Hot Damn |
[Jan. 7th, 2009|01:57 am] |
I got the keys to the place today. Spent 8 hours working before I stopped to call my peeps because it was that weird. I took a break to meet my friends next door. Afterwards, we ducked back in and talked concepts and design. So, yeah, this is it I guess. God damn... |
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| Unfortunately |
[Dec. 7th, 2008|04:41 am] |
As a counterpoint to J's vision when hearing Straight to Hell, I go to some sort of Mother Love Bone place where it's all soggy, cold, and nostalgic. It makes me want to smoke, fuck, and fight. It makes me want to listen to The Murder City Devils and make all sorts of hell. It makes me want to break things that were not meant to broken. It makes me want to cast nuclear shadows over the lives of bit players, satellites in decaying orbits. It makes me want to listen to Freedy Johnston and The Magnetic Fields while I fuck some beautiful woman that I'll only vaguely remember. Huh.
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 1st, 2008|08:46 pm] |
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Holy shit! I have a computer again! So much porn, so little time. The timing is perfect because unfortunately my humanity has been returning. Craig's List here I cum! |
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| GOTV |
[Nov. 4th, 2008|08:15 am] |
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Go vote. Everyone. I don't care who you vote for. Get out there. I can't believe I believe (at least for today). Tonight we're having an open house with bread, soup and friends consoling or celebrating. Come over or call if you want in on the action. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 12th, 2008|04:40 am] |
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j, when do you get home? |
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| Two things |
[Sep. 26th, 2008|02:21 pm] |
J, this is for you.
And, Sarah Palin is a terrible mixture of crazy and stupid.
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| Thanks everyone |
[Aug. 11th, 2008|03:57 pm] |
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The birthday was loads of fun despite some drama/weirdness towards the end. Shots of Sriracha and vodka at 3AM? Yes, please. You people are awesome and I couldn't ask for a better group of friends. |
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| How I spent my summer i.e., unemployment is this year's black |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|12:11 pm] |
I'll return to work in a couple of weeks and I feel a sense of urgency w/r/t a few projects that I've started. While I'm happy about some of the preparations I've made for the apocalypse and my brief Mexico excursion, I am still disappointed that I haven't accomplished more. So, without further ado, here's where I am at so far:
- Volunteer at 2nd Cycle bicycle collective. This has been a great experience. I get to work with my hands on one of the most efficient engines ever created and learn about something that I use everyday that I didn't really know anything about a few months ago. The practical experience has been gratifying; I'm curious whether the administrative will prove to be equally so. We are doing something that is good for the community as well.
- Gardening. I've been teaching myself to garden by working in the community space down the street and in my own yard. Yesterday I built to 6'x6' garden boxes from cedar planks and salvaged wood from an old couch and a box spring, both of which contained a remarkable amount of easily salvaged pine. My goal is to grow most of my produce by next year. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to work on building a removable green house and a compost bin. Maybe soon a chicken coop as well...if not, then maybe a dog house.
- Writing. I've made my return to fiction. I've been writing everyday and excitedly researching a number of projects. I probably have the publication of an old story in PICTURE|STORY|SONG to thank for this. The bulk of my fiction will probably end up being graphic novels. Rob agreed to help me with 3 book proposals that I hope to have done soon.
-Sewing. I've started mending my clothes and I'm hoping to make panniers before the end of the summer. I have a feeling that this project is probably bigger than I realize.
-We've been brainstorming ways to make our house "green." We recycle significantly more than we throw out, but we still need to compost (the last attempt ended, er, badly), and I would like to reclaim graywater. Along the same lines, I need to build/salvage rain barrels. Any advice for this or any other project that promotes self-reliance or living locally, send my way.
I've got more projects on the horizon as well. I'm really excited and happy, not only because it's my birthday. Did I mention it's my birthday? Yea, so, no big deal or anything, but you know, it's my birthday. K got me awesome presents and there's going to be a party here on Saturday.
Edit: I added to the list. Low blood sugar a gallon of coffee = crazy birthday dood. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 6th, 2008|02:08 am] |
how can you describe me? it can't be romantic or have the possibility of romanticization. it can't be cancer, a leech, any epithet that points towards something that can be somehow sexy (like if some nietzschean ungrad started talking about the master/slave nonsense). so, maybe like a tapeworm or a VD after a really regrettable sexual encounter. preferably non-consensual. that's me, i'm contagious cancer, a tapeworm-like VD after a really, really regrettable (for whatever reason) sexual encounter. or maybe i'm something far worse. maybe i am mediocrity and laziness under a very thin veneer of arrogance. that sounds about right.
i'm going to go listen to joni mitchell and then shoot myself in the face. not with a gun. piece out homos. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 3rd, 2008|10:37 pm] |
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Got it. K is my personal laxative. |
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| Ugh |
[Aug. 2nd, 2008|12:54 am] |
14960 words and now I'm stuck. WTF, dood?!? I keep getting all of these ideas, but rea...
that's where it left when my favorite veteran interrupted. So, where that was going is our best guess. Either way, I'm stuck. Holocaust? Zombie Apocalypse? Yada Yada aka Seinfeldian Pomo Nightmare? Yea, ugh. It's kinda ironic that my characters get stuck mid-narrative just south of Bremerton. We get what we pay for. |
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| What's the Matter with all of the United States? |
[Jul. 14th, 2008|02:55 pm] |
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Since it is an election year, I thought that this is worth reposting. I think that the criticism of the media, McCain, and the echo chamber that is US political punditry that is forthcoming will function as a nice counterpoint to the pro-McCain/anti-Obama posts that I am working on here. All of the work that I put into being obnoxious and perpetuating the insane, doublethink rumor mill needs to be balanced by honest analysis. |
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| Welcome to the Machine |
[Jul. 1st, 2008|10:25 am] |
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We do not need any of DARPA's gadgets, FISA's allowance for dubious activities, or the umbrella of the PATRIOT ACT to keep us safe. All we need is to make sure that we watch out for each other. To that end, the US government has created a Terrorism Liaison Officer where civilians like you and me can do there part by watching other civilians like you and me. Suspicious activities include, but are not limited to, overheard threats, graffiti of a man holding a gun, the legal purchase of something that has a very quotidian use, but can also be used to inspire terror, and taking pictures or shooting video that has no apparent aesthetic value. I have always thought that crappy photography and ill-conceived video installations were not with us, but against us. Every third Thursday when I go to the local galleries during Art Walk, I am always thinking to myself, "wouldn't the world be better served with this asshole getting waterboarded at Gitmo?" Well, now I too can make the world a better place. |
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| Slow Motion Armaggedon (reprinted w/o permission from J's lj) |
[Jun. 26th, 2008|12:53 pm] |
Because I think it's interesting and worth reprinting w/o permission. From 4/24/08:
-Apparently the food crisis is real. Last night on NPR's Marketplace, they interviewed an economist from the FDA who confirmed that globally the price of staples is rapidly beginning to evade the ability of the poorest to afford it. This has led to several SE asian nations to shut down exports of rice in an attempt to stabilize local prices. This of course will have a chilling effect on domestic production which will lead to further scarcity and shortages.
-Gasoline will probably top 4 dollars a barrel for regular unleaded by the summer, and there's really nothing we can do about it. This is even though according to several studies, demand for gasoline has in fact been reduced. As Gasoline, and particularly diesel fuel, continue to rise in price, everything anyone in the first world buys will begin to cost more money. Add to this the fact that we're nearing a recession and the continual decline of real wages for the middle and working classes in north america, combined with the fact that the EU's freight infrastructure is much less robust than North America's, and we're looking at a pan first world crisis within the next couple of years. And unfortunately, it looks like it will only get worse.
-Climate Change is increasingly leading to bizarre weather all over the place. In seattle, we had snow in April, which is unheard of, and our daily weather fluctuations are strange and ugly and provide a sort of Natural Born Killers backdrop to daily life.
-The Bush administration continues its course of sabre rattling in dealing with Iran and Syria, the two nations with whom we should be attempting to diplomatically engage in much more real terms and also begin to distance ourselves from the Saudis.
-Still no legitimate replacements for fossil fuels have been found and what fossil fuels are still available are apparently rapidly approaching peak supply. As soon as peak supply is reached, the only way to reduce prices on them will be to reduce demand. with maybe a couple billion cars, trucks, airplanes, and ships reliant on fossil fuels just to move and an increasingly globalized supply chain for agricultural and industrial products, that demand is not likely to abate and as a result the prices on everything will continue to rise.
-China owns close to a trillion dollars of the US national debt, putting us a in a precarious position of being at the mercy of another state for our continued fiscal solvency. Granted that even if China did elect to dump their dollars it would be disastrous for them as well as us, and it's not likely to happen as a result, if things continue to get worse in Asia, it becomes more and more of a real possibility as a way for them to leverage assistance.
-John "The Disaster Waiting To Happen" McCain is starting to look a little too teflon thanks to the hyperfocus of the mainstream media on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's campaign gaffes. McCain's image as a Maverick Independent, carefully crafted since the early nineties when he was nearly arrested on criminal charges for his involvment in the S&L scandals, is being bantered about uninterrogated by the same people who will unashamedly attempt to tie Barack Obama to the Weather Underground, and who have more or less decided that Hillary Clinton has no chance of becoming the Democratic nominee for the presidency. This Teflonacy of McCain's makes him a more viable candidate, and given recent revelations about the nature of the Iranian and Syrian nuclear weapons programs, there is now good reason to fear that McCain might do something truly crazy in the middle east should he be elected.
-Should that truly crazy something happen, it is unlikely that we will be able to continue as we have with a completely volunteer army. Our Military Readiness is already sorely taxed by the ongoing debacle in Iraq and the escalating problems in Afghanistan and on the Pakistani border. Fighting in Iran or Syria alone would possibly push us past the breaking point, never mind what might happen if violence broke out in south asia or china due to food shortages.
-What can we do to prepare?
As I see it, there are a number of things the average person can do to prepare for the collapse of western civilization as we know it.
1.) Buy Chickens: Eggs are an excellent source of protein and get a good return on investment from chicken feed. If you have a reasonably sized yard, then four or five chickens are cheap, easy to care for, and will produce eggs.
2.) Plant a vegetable garden and learn how to cultivate seeds from plants. Depending on where you live, there are any number of high input to output vegetables that can be grown. Also worth considering are fruit trees and berry bushes.
3.) Learn how to make electricity. One of the biggest challenges we may start to face as the energy markets destabilize is insufficient supply. We in the pacific northwest are likely to be spared this so long as our hydroelectric infrastructure remains intact, but people living in the southwest in particular need to look into how to construct small scarel windfarms and photoelectric panels and keep them working.
4.) buy a fishing pole, a hunting rifle, and a shotgun and learn how to use them. also learn how to skin and clean a large animal. this goes for vegetarians too. I look at hunting as a sort of last resort survival skill, but if things get truly bad to the point that the food transportation mechanisms break down, it will be a useful skill.
5.) read up on anarcho-syndicalism. In small groups, anarcho syndicalism is the most workable ad hoc system of governance. should there be a widescale breakdown of law and order, we will still need communities in order to live, and communities need a way to keep order internally. most people understand the principle of direct democracy, but in the absence of any sort of authority in times of stress, direct democracy can also be fragmentary. An anarcho syndicalist group functioning on an internal gift economy and an external barter economy will be able to function well and maintain it's internal cohesion.
6.) go to health insurance websites and find the names of young doctors in your area. if health care breaks, you will need to know who to go to to treat the sick, and younger people will have a less established group of patients demanding their attention in times of crisis.
7.) Buy a road bicycle with some sort of trailer. Bicycle travel is the most energy efficient means of transportation ever invented. it takes a lot longer to travel long distances by bike, but it will always work. Also worth your time would be to stock up on a few extra inner tubes, replacement brakes, tires, seat posts, chains, and gears. also, buy an extra helmet in case you get into a crash with your main helmet and they've become cost prohibitive.
8.) learn as much first aid as you can and if you can, invest in a home defibrulator and a top notch first aid kit.
9.) learn how to build a fire and fire pit. you never know when that might come in handy. |
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| Eno is funny courtesy of Boing Boing |
[Jun. 19th, 2008|03:11 pm] |
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Fifteen years ago in Whole Earth Review, Kevin Kelly and Brian Eno ran a list of outrageous future scenarios. Kevin says it was "a small game Brian Eno and I played to loosen up our expectations of what might happen in the near future." Kevin republished the list on his blog, Conceptual Trends and Current Topics. Here are the first few from the list: * A new plague seizes the world. As fatal as AIDS, but transmitted on a sneeze, and spread by airplane travelers, the virus touches billions within a year. * Computer power plateaus. The expected doubling of power and halving of chip size slacks off. More computer power can be had, but it costs. * Computer screens (both CRT and flat screens) are found to be dangerous to the health. Working at a computer is viewed as a toxic job. * Alcohol is so severely restricted that people need "licenses" to drink it. Tobacco is, of course, prohibited from being sold. You can grow your own, though, and some do. The underworld moves to North Carolina as cigarets become contraband. * American education works. Revived by vouchers, a longer school year, private schools and for-profit schools, the majority of Americans (though not the most disadvantaged) get the best education in the world. * Japan is eclipsed by the Asian tigers. The success of Japan subverts itself: women rebel, the young drop out, the workers play, and the system declines. * Catalog direct marketing dies. Inherently private electronic money and stricter privacy laws kill the hopes of bar-code dreams and direct marketing in general. * Nobody wants to be a doctor. It becomes an over-whelming bureaucratic job with low status. Women and minorities become working doctors; men do medical research. * The human genome project is halted by activists. Placards at demonstrations say: "Our DNA, Our Selves." * Third World nukes become commonplace. Everybody has one, because everyone has nuclear power plants. * Mass advertising is restricted. Billboards are categorically banned; advertising in subways, buses, removed. Towns take up "Advertising-Free Zones." * People begin leaving the U.S. Many arrivals to the US keep resident status but choose not to adopt citizenship. The world sees more people without allegiance. * It costs half a day's pay to drive your car into the downtown area of a big city, and a day's wages to park. |
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