4.12.2006

It's called the '80s. Ford was president, Nixon was in the White House, and FDR was running this country into the ground.

go see benchwarmers. turn your brain off, find a friend who can handle a movie without a story and go enjoy.

so i've done about a dozen things today in between the time i intended to write this and actually started this post. it's just one of those days where i don't have anything planned, so i'm kind of going from one thing to another, getting a lot of stuff done, but not really chalking up a long list of accomplishments. i spent most of today reading and writing encouragement notes, which always makes for a good afternoon. i went through myspace and decided to write at least 25 people an encouraging line, or just say hola.

on to the reason for the melancholy... i broke up with mucho risas chica last night. my first real break up. i kinda feel like a jerk, but i don't really regret my decision. when you know someone is not 'the one', it's time to let go. better a little pain now then a lot of pain later. that, and with everything that's happening with my dad, i just think it's a dangerous time to try and start something, esp when you're not 100% sure where you want it to go. either way, today has been a surreal day, my first in a while. it's too sunny outside to listen to pink floyd, and i'm too tired to listen anything really mellow. so i'm kind of in a weird spot. going back to her though, i never wanted to be one of those 'it's not you, it's me...' or 'let's be friends' people, but as of today, i feel like i am. oh well. better now than later. at least it wasn't over a fight, which now that i think of it may have been easier. nope, it was good for me to have to do something tough but necessary, i'm thinking back to my rocky post from last week...

in other more fun news, i went snowboarding yesterday at mt. high and did awesome. i actually made it all the way down the run w/o falling down once. snowboarding is much more fun when you aren't embarrassing yourself all the way down the hill. by the end of the day i was actually carving around the people falling down in the middle of the run, as opposed to causing others to swerve to avoid me, as i had been doing earlier that day. next time i go i think i should be ready for some bigger runs, and hopefully get a jump or two in as well. actually, check that, i think i'm going to get where i can cruise comfortably and call it a day. yeah, after all the snowboarding injuries i've been around in the past few months, and the fact that my body isn't exactly 16 anymore, i may relax on trying to win any big air competitions. whatever, i had fun, and i didn't need dantheman to persuade me to go. (sidenote: i just sneezed really hard and my whole body now aches. i don't like being this kind of sore.) the best part of yesterday was that i really feel like i conquered a major personal goal. i've actually wanted to learn how to snowboard for a long time, but have always been to chicken to try. i'm not one to give myself props, but today i feel like i accomplished something big. for those of you that know me well though, i do have to talk about my best crash from yesterday. so i can handle going down the hill pretty well, but getting off of the lift is still a 50/50 kinda thing. my first time off yesterday my board caught and edge and i ended up doing a somersault and the chair hit my board, which hit me in the back of the head. the ski school that was watching nearby got a good laugh after they came over to see if i was okay, which would be pretty cool if they weren't five year olds. oh well, i'm laughing now too, and i'm really glad no one had a camera around.

on monday i got to hang out with valleygirl all day which was a blast. needless to say any female that is going to laugh at movies like benchwarmers is going to have huge potential for best friend material. the fact that we both broke out into the robot at the same time when 'safety dance' came on the radio also makes her a nominee. needless to say, we had a good day, and having someone to bounce my thoughts off of is really a blessing to me right now. now if only she weren't so busy eating sunscreen... (a little inside, i know).

so the past few weekends i've been to several plays, productions, musicals... that sort of thing, and i'm realizing now that i really need to go to a baseball game. so anyone that reads this that feels like catching a dodgers or angels game in the next few days please give me a call. actually, anytime anyone feels like going to a baseball game please give me a call.

going back to previous debates, going snowboarding reminds me of a debate that me and some of the fellas had last year, snowbunnies vs. surf chicas. tough call.

so a friend of mine asked me to put together a cd to 'remind her of california', which is much harder than you would expect. me being in a high fidelity mood and all, i put together a few guidelines for making this particular cd mix:

every band should be from california, or at least be associated primarily with california.
phantom planet's 'california' is disqualified for it's association with the tv show 'the oc', and it's just too easy.
so is the red hot chili peppers' 'californication'.
one cd isn't going to be enough, so this will have to be a two cd mix.
i'm really liking having an ipod right now for reasons just like this, i can add or remove songs at will from a playlist.

so here's the rough draft of the songs that remind me of california and any comments i felt necessary:

311/ amber - the most california-esqe of their songs.
bad religion' los angeles is burning - these guys sell out shows weeks at a time in l.a.
beach boys/ california girls - we all wish
ben harper/ diamonds on the inside- i needed some ben, this seemed to fit somehow
blink 182/ josie - before they broke big, this song was all over socal
bob marley/ three little birds - marley is still on the radio here, and this def captures a sunny day in socal
chris murray/ 4th of july - a local guy who started out playing at the beach
coolio/ 1,2,3,4 - we still know how to jam
distillers/ city of angels - this reminds me of waling down sunset ave and seeing the disparity between the different things you see.
donovan frankenrieter/ whatcha know about - surfer, songwriter, good times
dr dre and tupac' california love - i think this is our official state anthem.
escape club/ wild wild west - i don't know if there are words to explain...
eve 6/ anytime - i associate this song with snowboarding which i associate with california. sorry colorado.
g love/ honor and harmony - i could skip the cd mix and just make her a copy of the thicker than water soundtrack.
guns n roses/ welcome to the jungle - this was required by law to be in the soundtrack to any movie about l.a. in the 80's.
incubus/ warning - the whole album was written from a mansion overlooking malibu.
jack johnson/ rainbow - ladies and gentlemen, our next governor.
jane's addiction/ stop - the socal contribution to the grunge era.
jurassic 5/ quality control - the best of l.a. hip hop
long beach dub all stars/ sunny hours - this is like adding a third sublime song to the list
no doubt/ spiderwebs - ladies and gentlemen, our next lt. governor.
offspring/ come out and play
ozomatli/ super bowl sundae - the only song to be number one on the rock, hip hop and latin radio stations here.
p.o.d./ rock the party - one of our best kept secrets that got leaked to the rest of the world.
paul wright/ resurrection - this song gets put in the mix for it's references to mexican food.
pennywise/ surfin usa - one of the biggest bands in socal covering one of the biggest songs by the biggest socal band ever.
rancid/ruby soho - they may have started out in the east bay, but they live here now.
red hot chili peppers/ around the world - another one of socal's finest.
reel big fish/ sell out - one of the bigger ska songs to hit the airwaves.
reeve oliver/ i want burns - our current best kept secret.
screeching weasel/ cool kids - it's hard for me to leave this off of any mix.
slightly stoopid/ sweet honey - one of the better sublime sounding bands.
social distortion/ story of my life - orange county punk rock at it's greatest.
strung out/ matchbook - had to throw in some san diego bands
sublime/ waiting for my ruca - this song gets put in simply for it's references to selling oranges on the freeway.
sublime/ badfish - my favorite song from one of socals most influential bands.
switchfoot/ dare you to move - another well guarded secret that exploded on mainstream.
transplants/ california babylon - captures the energy of socal.
unwritten law/ close your eyes - big around here, never heard of outside of socal.
weezer/ surf wax america - the anthem for san diego.

well, since i'm in a high fidelity mood and it's getting to that point where i need to eat again i guess i'm out. more to come soon.

one love, one heart.

1 comment:

Tabs said...

Hey DJ, that is an awesome song selection. I've got some idea's for my own ipod music mix now. Thanks for the tips, even though that wasn't quite what you were going for. You should do something like this more often for those musically challenged like myself.

By the way, I love reading your blog, you have great things to say. Keep up the great job! So glad to hear that things are going well for you in Cali.