A Case of the Mondays

I've had this overwhelming feeling of dread today, for some reason.

But Monday's almost over and nothing bad's happened. My day's been just fine.

Am I missing something?

But then how come my shoes are so light?

Yesterday was the senior trip to the Kalahari. Mmm, indoor water park-y goodness.

That's really it.

Tomorrow I'll be down in Madison watching the UW band do their thing, so I won't be around. Lo siento.

I'm pretty inconsistent with this blog, aren't I?

I spent 20 minutes at work tonight discussing tape with Britt. Tape's pretty awesome, when you come down to it. Duct tape, electric tape, scotch tape, masking tape, double-sided tape, medical tape...there's a lot of it out there and we always use it. Stickers are just tape with pictures on them.
Yeah, we get [i]really[/i] bored at Burnstad's. Luckily, Saturday should be my last day. I'm supposed to be switching to the garden center, but the manager-or-whatever of that department hates me for some reason, and frankly, I don't care much for her. I'm looking for a new job but in this area a summer job that doesn't suck is hard to come by.

You know what's funny? There's a girl in my class that I've seen two times this entire week, for roughly a total of one minute conversation time. I have no classes with her, and I'm always at work when she's off and she's always at work when I'm off. Our schedules overlap perfectly to almost forget the other exists. Every guy she's ever dated has been the dumb jock type. (I'm not stereotyping--it's true.) She likes music I've sworn against. We have very little in common.

And yet for some reason, I keep thinking about her. I've dreamed about her twice in the last week. [Not one of those dreams, sicko.]

Isn't that just weird?

The really funny thing is that since I never see her, I've got absolutely nothing to lose by confronting her. The worst I could do is lose a friend I see about six minutes a month.

The truly halarious thing? For once, I'm not at all afraid of doing so--it's just that I literally never get the chance [and likely never will].

Ahh, you crazy universe. Always coming up with new ways to make me laugh at myself.

So enough of that topic. This isn't a LiveJournal, for cripes sake. [Note that I've never said 'for cripes sakes' before and I plan never to again.] Heard of a band called Closure? Maybe. But probably not the one I'm listening to.

Back in the day of a free MP3.com, I found a band called Closure. Days later, I found -another- band called Closure. The two weren't the same, but I liked them both. The more popular of the two has a better-known song called "Look Out Below" that I was absolutely hooked on for months after hearing it. Likewise, the unpopular [and presumed broken-up] Closure had an equally addictive song called "My Fate". If -anyone- happens to know about the Closure with the album "Gilded" let me know. I always wondered what happened to them.

Do people laugh when they read this? People tell me they do sometimes, but I'll never know for sure. I don't laugh when I write this. Some of the funniest things I've said were typed and I had an expression of absolute mediocrity on my face. I hardly even crack a smile when I'm typing, except for those rare halarious moments over instant messanger when somethings just too damn funny to keep in. Some nights there are a lot of moments like that, and some nights there aren't any.

I'm not really making a point here, if that's what you were thinking. Really, I'm just seeing how long I can make this post before I get bored and click Publish.

Good news! This morning all traces of that ring in my ears were gone. I can hear again!

Here's something else that's funny. I know I'm a decent writer. Not in a snobbish way, but in a realistic way. Granted, I don't usually -like- many of the things I like, but whether or not I admit it, I can write things worth reading. For -other- people.

So why do I always feel like an idiot when I'm actually doing the writing? [[Comments about how I should -always- feel like an idiot will be ignored, thankyouverymuch.]]

I need to buy a cool guitar strap. Any suggestions?

April 22nd, UW Band.
April 23rd, [hopefully] Last day working at Burnstad's ev-ar.
April 26th, Brookwood Band Concert.
April 27th, Brookwood Large Group Contest.
April 29th, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
April 30th, State Solo-Ensemble.
April 30th [night], Prom?
May 1st, Lauren/John's choir concert.
May 1st [right after!], Dawn's band concert.

When did I get to be a person who could actually [i]use[/i] a day planner? I don't think I've ever been as busy as this April. Can't decide if I like it or not.

But May looks nice and relaxing. Mmm, graduation...

Silence - Blindside
High of 75 - Relient K
1000 Miles Per Hour - OK Go
No Choice - Closure [[the lesser known one =)]]
Push - Matchbox 20
Best of Me - The Starting Line
These Exiled Years - Flogging Molly
Strange Condition (Rock Version) - Pete Yorn

I Bet You've Missed These

The longest survey you'll ever fill out! Answer all the questions honestly, no lying to
avoid stuff.
[i doubt this is the longest survey ive ever filled out. but whatever]

Time started: 9:30 pm.

Name: Chris
Nickname: toaster-chris, chrisamite, among others less desirable
Single or Taken: single [shocker]
Sex: guy.
Birthday: july 30
Sign: Leo
Siblings: not one
Hair colour: brown
Eye colour: blue
Shoe size: 9
Height: 5' 9"
Innie or Outie: Innie
What are you wearing right now: faded jeans, dark blue La Crosse Tribune t-shirt
Where do you live: across from a corn field
Righty or lefty: righty
Can you make a dollar change right now: in nickels, dimes, and/or quarters!
-----------------------------------------
Relationships
---------------------------------------
Do you have a bf or gf?: no...
Best place to go for a date?: ...
------------------------------------------
Fashion Stuff
------------------------------------------
Where is your fav place to shop?: ebay? =)
Do you have any tattoos or piercings?: nope
--------------------------------------
Faves
------------------------------------------
Colour: black
Number: 13
Food: >.>; i'm not sure.
Boys name: uhhhh..
Girls name: uhhh..
Subject in school: currently, creative writing
Animal: wolf
Drink: lemonade
Celebrity: nada
Sport: [american] football, probably
Veggie: ewww, veggies.
Fruit: mmm, fruit...
Fast food place: mcdonalds >.>;
Place to visit: i haven't really visited many places...
Month: june
Show: i don't have one at present
Juice: i had this orange/mango or something juice that was really good.
Finger: the one without any injuries. wait...
Ice Cream: chocolate chip cookie dough
Breakfast: omelette! =9
Perfume: something that doesn't linger in the room for six hours would be nice...
Favorite cartoon character: don't have one
-----------------------------------------
Have You Ever
-----------------------------------------
Given anyone a bath: not to my knowledge
smoked: nope
Bungee jumped: no
Broken the law: mmhmm
Made yourself throw-up: nope
Gone skinny dipping: nope
Been in the opposite sex's washroom: haha, yes
Eaten a dog biscuit: nope
Put your tongue on a frozen pole: nope
Ever loved someone that made you cry?: nope
Broken a bone: nope
Played truth or dare: well, yeah...who hasn't?
Been in a physical fight: not really
Been in a police car: i don't think so
Been on a plane: yep
Been in a sauna: Yes
Been in a hot tub: Yes
Swam in the ocean: yes
Fallen asleep in school: yes >.>;
Kissed your cousin: nope
Pictured your crush naked: i don't have a crush =p
Ever had a sex dream: no person over 12 could answer no to that
Broken someone's heart: unfortunately
Cried when someone died: mmhmm
Flashed someone: nope
Lied: of course
Sat by the phone all night waiting for a call: nope
Saved MSN conversations: on trillian, yes
saved e-mails: if they're good
Wished you were someone else: sometimes
Wished you were a member of the opposite sex: nope
Made out with JUST a friend?: nope
Been rejected?: well duh.
Been in love?: nope.
Been cheated on?: not that i know of...
Done something you regret?: of course..
-----------------------------------------
First Thing That Comes to Mind
-----------------------------------------
Red: hot
Blue: azul
Happy: feliz [my brain's in spanish mode apparantly]
Autumn: fall
Cow: truck. o_O
Greenland: Iceland
------------------------------------------
What Is
-----------------------------------------
Your good luck charm: well, the one day i didn't wear my cross necklace, martin wrecked his mom's car with me in it. so...
Stupidest thing you have ever done: i don't even know
Whats your room like: cluttered but nice =)
Your crush: i don't have one. i don't think so, anyway...
Your most prized possession: i don't know...
Last thing you said: 'ugh?' to kel on msn. ^^;
What is beside you: to my left, my tv and lots of wires. to my right, my guitar and cd case.
Last thing you ate: peanut butter crackers
Fave song: there's not just one
What kind of shampoo do you use: no clue !
Worst thing that has happened to you this year: tami's suicide
-----------------------------------------
Have You Ever Had
-----------------------------------------
Chicken pox: yes
Sore Throat: yes [sort of do now, thanks to less than jake. totally worth it.]
Cold: Yes
stiches: when i was 6 months old
Bloody nose: yep
------------------------------------------
Do you
-----------------------------------------
Believe in love at first sight: not really
Enjoy parks: i suppose
Like picnics: sure
Like school: except for the homework and classes, yes =)
What schools have you gone to: st. paul, norwalk elementary, brookwood
Hate anyone: nearly
-----------------------------------------
Would You
-----------------------------------------
Eat a live hamster for $1,000,000: a live hamster? no. fried, maybe...
Go to a hanson concert if you had a free ticket: sure, why not. it could be entertaining [meaning i could laugh at hanson fans]
Kill someone you didn’t know for 15 billion dollars: if they had nothing to live for
If you were stuck on an island, what person would you want with you: good question
If you loved someone and you were keeping something from them and it would hurt them if they found out, would ou tell them: probably not
------------------------------------------
Who
------------------------------------------
Who is the last person that called you: merril
Who was the last person you slow danced with: beats me, its been a long time
Makes you laugh the most: depends
Makes you smile: depends
Can make you feel better no matter what: again, it kind of depends
Was the last person you touched?: lacy
You talked to last: amy [online]
You hugged?: i think lacy
You Kissed?: ...
You yelled at: i yelled at everyone last night because i couldn't hear myself =)
broke your heart?: ...
told you they loved you: a handful of people
Is your loudest friend: it varies
------------------------------------------
Do You/Are You
------------------------------------------
Do you like filling these out: sometimes
Do you like yourself: sometimes
Do you get along with your family: ...sometimes
Do you do drugs: nope
Color your hair?: nope
Have piercings below the waist?: no
Habla espanol?: si
Stolen anything over £50? nope
Smoke: no
Obsessive? about some things
Compulsive? no
Anorexic? no
Depressed? everyone is sometimes
Suicidal? nope
Final Questions
-----------------------------------------
Girls Fill Out
-----------------------------------------
Boxers or briefs:
Older, younger, same age:
Tall or short:
Good or bad guy:
Stubble or neatly shaved:
Studley or cute:
Dark or blonde hair:
Dark or light eyes:
Hat or no hat:
Long or short hair:
Tan or fair:
Freckles:
accent or not:
What do you notice first about guys:
Shy or outgoing:
indoor or outdoor:
six pack:
muscular arms:
Jewelery or none:
What do you like the most in a guy:
------------------------------------------
Boys fill out.....
------------------------------------------
Regular underwear or thong: there are situations where thongs are just -wrong-
Painted nails or not: not
Older, younger, same age: same age
Bra or sports bra: doesn't matter
Cute and mysterious or wild and sexy: cute and mysterious
Dressy or casual: casual
Dark or blonde hair: a little dark
Long or short hair: long
Curly or straight hair: straight
Dark or light eyes: depends
Long or short nails: medium
Hat or no hat: no hat
Good or bad girl?: good
Jewelery or none: some
Tall or short: shorter than me
Pants or dress: pants
Tan or fair: depends
Freckles or none: none
Accent or not: depends on the accent
What do you notice first about girls: face, hair
Shy or outgoing: shy
dimples: nah
What do you like the most in a girl: hmm...

TIME FINISHED: 9:53 pm.

Speak Up...

I posted on this blog, roughly a year ago, that I thought seeing Less Than Jake in concert would be pretty cool.

Little did I know.

So I just got home from the concert a few minutes ago. I should be sleeping but I felt the urge to blog this all now 'fore I forget it all. =)

We would have been on time to see Kane Hodder open, but we were hungry and we stopped at Subway. So we got to the Rave halfway through Hidden in Plain View's set. They were pretty good, and I got to hear the one song by them I actually knew, so that was pretty cool. But we were just standing by the back for them.

Then came Allister. I only heard a few of their songs before this concert, so I figured they'd be pretty decent. Actually, they rocked. Afterwards we went upstairs and I bought a copy of their CD, Last Stop Suburbia. Haven't listened just yet. Nick got LTJ's Pezcore and Anthem because we wanted those CDs and they were selling them. =) His brother got an Allister t-shirt. Merril was cheap, and bought nothing. And we all snagged a free tour CD with a bunch of Drive-Thru Records and Fueled By Ramen bands, a pretty good 20 song mix.

And then back downstairs to wait for Less Than Jake themselves.

The lights went down, and the introduction to Monday Night Football rang out. You know...DUN DUN DUN DUN...dun dun...dun dun....DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN.....And we all cheered 'n whatever else as they came on stage and started playing.

They completely rocked. I knew almost all the songs they played--2 were knew and I think 2 I hadn't heard before. I've never gotten that into a concert before [even at Blindside--sorry Angela =)]. I found myself yelling out the lyrics whenever I knew them just like everyone else and jumping whenever the opportunity presented itself. I don't think I've ever been so loud in my life. They put on a fantastic show. Nick took some pictures, I'll post them when he gets me copies.

One little downside. During LTJ, I kept slinking closer to the stage--and the huge speakers. By the end, I was about five feet away from them and now my right ear is being obnoxious and ringing as loud as it can.

This makes up for Skillet last year when it was my left ear. =)

Unlike every other concert I've been to, I actually didn't end up to anyone really tall that blocked my view and threatend to smash me when they jumped. I was surrounded by short girls almost the entire time. =)

One more downside. It's almost 3 AM and I have school tomorrow, which I'll be getting up for in abouuut four hours. So I think I'm going to try to go to sleep now--although I don't know if I'll be able to with this deafening ring keeping me up.

As If You Didn't Know

I'm having an emo moment, I think. The line for smacking me until I'm normal will start over there. Take a number. =)

Anyway, I really don't have much to say. Friday night was state forensics (speaking, not science). Our group got a bronze for group interp. Honestly, we got ripped off. The judge was completely set in her ways, so any variation from the rules and she marked off. Since our piece was written more as a drama, she took of points for not doing it "group" enough. And she took off more points because we didn't turn our pages at the same time--which works for some groups, but for ours, it would be stupid and distracting. Page turning is a personal preference of every judge, and she was one that was against what we did. So there wasn't anything we could do about it.

Eh, whatever. It makes no difference to me. As far as I'm concerned, we earned a silver.

And hey. If nothing else, we made it to state doing a piece that didn't even qualify for our category. So there. =)

So I got bored and looked into my archives, and I did this nearly a year ago. So I'm doing it again. Here goes.

On your current playlist, hit shuffle and pick the first twenty songs on the list (no matter how cheesy or embarrassing), and write down your favorite line of the song. Try to avoid putting the song title in the line. (Instrumentals and repeated artists may be skipped) Then, have your friends comment and see if they know the songs.

1) It's Friday night and she's all alone, he's a million miles away...

2) Your future's no future...

3) Place your hand in mine, I'll leave when I wanna...

4) From now to infinity, let icons be bygones...

5) A world you created, set to explode, you lie through your teeth and everyone knows...

6) I don't don't don't believe I fell asleep, talk's a waste of time....

7) You want to know the differences between us, you want to know why these things have changed...

8) I been hurting since I bought the gimmick about something called love...

9) If I put my fingers here and if I say I love you dear and if I play the same three chords will you just yawn and say 'ah, I hate it'...

10) All I ever think about is this, all the tiring times between and how trying to put my trust in you just takes so much out of me...

11) She said that I'm not the one that she thinks about and, she said it stopped being fun, I just bring her down...

12) I'm part of the problem, I confess, but I gotta get this off my chest, let's extinguish the anguish for which we're to blame...

13) Searching for the answers, some say I'm not alone...

14) It feeds the rich while it buries the poor, your power hungry sellin' soldiers in a human grocery store...

15) Something in me just won't give me a chance, I think it's that I feel more confused by the deal love has shown me...

16) I wish I could know if the directions that I take and all the choices that I make won't end up all for nothing...

17) I can't stand this indecision, married with a lack of vision

18) Hey, don't take your life away, I think you'd rather stay with me...

19) It's so loud, it feels like heaven, crank these amps up to eleven...

20) I found myself still thinking of you, and I felt so empty, and now I found that still it's burning, when will you be mine?

Mystery Music

So a while back I decided to download lots of random music from Pure Volume and Download.com and cram it onto my mp3 player to listen to at a later date. Then I sort of forgot it, until the other day. I started cleaning out the plum trees [[see also "mess of dead branches, vines, and other scratchy things"]] and I grabbed the mp3 player so I'd have something to listen to.

Turns out I downloaded quite a few political songs, most of which were surprisingly decent. My favorite went something like, "What kind of asshole would profit off war?" I don't know what song it was yet.

So I'm tossing branches into a pile [[which is now bigger than the actual trees, i swear]] and listening to a bunch of new music, when suddenly this gem catches my ear: "I didn't care that you left and abandoned me--what hurts more is that I would still die for you."

Cheesy? A little. But I'm hooked on that line. My crappy mp3 player wasn't telling me who wrote this little ditty, so I had to find it the hard way. Earlier I discovered the song is "Underwater Car" by Armor For Sleep. Look 'em up. They're nothing groundbreaking, but they're pretty good, from what I've heard.

"Only an asshole would make money off this war!" I found it. ^^;; "Idiots at Large" by Sorry About Your Couch. I think they're a local band, actually, I found them looking for shows within 100 miles of me. They're small so the quality isn't great, but once you adapt to that [and their voices being just a little off key at times] it's pretty catchy. [Besides, there are bands getting paid millions that go offkey sometimes...]

Kel! Angela!

The two of you are going to spend my entire blank CD collection, dammit. >.>;;

Speaking of music. I'm going to state for my sax solo. I screwed it up majorly and still went on. I'm -that- good.

Seriously. Solo-Ensemble for me was like one of those episodes of American Idol where the judges say something like "You screwed that up majorly, but I think you've got some talent. We'll give you one more chance." Except you know, Hollywood is just Platteville for me.

I need to listen to some more MxPx to decide whether or not I'm going to stick their sticker onto my car....