one lonely success

I have seven short minutes of spring break left, and I’m going to spend them….

talking

to

you.

Yes, you. The valued and treasured visitor.

I had an interesting last couple of days. Spending time back home will do that for you, I guess. Friday night, Misty and I met up with our old friend Josh. Josh was one of our closest friends in college and it had been way too long since we had last seen him. In the four years since our visit, Misty has earned her doctorate and I had started my own business, earned a Master’s degree in Anatomy and started dent school. He had spent his time doing nothing less than meeting someone, falling in love, getting married and living the American dream. We had a great time reminiscing about old times, old professors and old friends. We seemed to pickup right where we had left off four long years ago.

Unlike a few of our [quote]friends[/quote] in college, Josh didn’t turn out to be a tool. (For the aformentioned tools that might be reading this post, you know who you are.)

The night came to an all too sudden end and we left with promises of staying in touch and visiting more often. And. I hope we do.

On the way out of town, we stopped by a store to pickup a few “back-to-school” essentials and while waiting through a winding check-out line, I ran into an old acquaintance. Well, that’s actually not appropriate. This guy was more of a mentor than an acquaintance. You know the grandfatherly/mentor type, complete with white beard and endless words of wisdom? It was very strange seeing him and talking to him again. It had been so long since we last spoke that we had to catch up with each other with broad strokes.

For example, “I went to grad school and now am working towards my dent degree!” For him it was, “I’ve left my life-long position and started something totally new!”

Very strange.

The entire time I was growing up, I pictured him having an influence on my life. I never questioned that he would officiate my wedding, offer blessings to my newborn children and provide me with counsel into adulthood. Needless to say none of that has or ever will happen. And you know what? I can’t think of a bigger dissapointment in my life.

Damn.

The whole weekend really was a large social experiment, really. I went “home again”, which I hear you can never do, and while there was confronted with so much of my past. And tonight it hits me, reliving the past and longing for it to answer the questions you have today is kind of pointless.

You’re just not fooling anyone. Do you hear what I’m saying? You never fool anyone…

…kind of like plagiarizing a riff from Stairway to Heaven.

Goodbye Spring Break ‘04.

Just saw an infomercial for the “Best of Guns ‘n Roses”…and for a second thought about buying it. Anyone else feeling remniscent for junior high?

This little entry is serving as a test-of-sorts for Stonebraker. He’s cookin’ up some nasty little MT plugins that will hopefully be appearing on this site soon. Head on over to jsdc and check out the news section…in its fresh beta form.

“Dude, you started studying nutrition yet?”

“No man, just gettin’ started.”

“Cool, I’m comin’ over.”

“Sweet, I’ll put some coffee on.”

One lone final exam stands between myself and spring break. It’s just after 1am and my test is a distant 9 hours away. I’m gonna dust off the old nutrition notes (that have been in hibernation since the midterm) and watch the sun rise. Chris is on his way and the party’s about to get started.

Now, where’d I put those handouts…

Just wanted to let readers know that The Stone is back on the blog scene. Stone’s got a nice little site that recently underwent a facelift–of digital sorts. Surf over to jeffstonebraker.com and see what he’s got under his hat. While there you can check out his moblog and his side-project, sodo-mojo.com

This week’s offering is none other than Vendetta Red. If you’ve spent some time following the Seatlle indy scene, then chances are you’re already a fan.

Vendetta Red offers a very unique blend of subtle verses and sky-hooking choruses on there major label debut, Between the Never and the Now. There first single, Shatterday, is driven by catchy punk chants and draws you in with its anthemic pop hooks. Solid in it’s own right, Shatterday, in no way prepares you for the mastery of the rest of the album. Lead singer Zach Davidson provides lead vocals that will have you introspective one moment and destructive the next. Drummer, Joseph Childress used to provide lead vocals and guitar to Only You a Bakersfield local band that grew in local popularity in the late 90’s. Having worked with the guys from Only You, it’s interesting to hear Joseph’s influences on “…the Never and the Now”.

When you combine artistic talent with bullet-proof production you get an album worthy of significant play time.

Without further delay, here’s the links for Vendetta Red on the iTunes Music Store…

Vendetta Red: Between the Never and the Now

It’s overcast and windy outside and I’m staring at a blank word processor screen. Thankfully, the heat has been fixed, so a nice warm draft is making its way from the hallway and into the den. Perched at the dining room table, I have no words for the ominous Nutrition paper which is due tomorrow.

I’m a dent student, we don’t practice good nutrition and frankly, who can afford to eat healthy?

Maybe some espresso will kick me into high gear. More to come soon…

UPDATE: Nutrition is over! The paper finally started to come into it’s own after a couple of hours. Now, I need to find all of this quarter’s assignments and print them out, get a few patient signatures and this one’s in the bag. In other Nutrition-related news, I got credited 4% on my midterm! Seems there was a scoring error of somekind. Reminds me of drawing the “Bank Error in Your Favor, Collect $50″ card in monopoly. Sweet.