Self checklist for this summer:
1.) Destory summer school
2.) Climb a solid V7 by september
3.) Lead a solid .12A by september
4.) Put together my Kilo TT and don’t die on the streets
5.) Cut down to 120
6.) Learn more about music production
7.) Only things you buy can this summer:
RAPE TIME!
-Rroyd
5 months ago • 0 notesBecause it’s been a sufficient amount of time since my last post, I know all of my faithful (hack) readers have stopped checking this thing day-to-day. Hence, I am safe. Haphazard checkpoints of my life that I feel are safe for public knowledge.
1.) Wow. TV is fascinatingly good this season. I am impressed with the any number of shows that I watch.
2.) Who would have thought that I can float 4’s now…? My shoes stink and I’d give half my brain away for longer arms.
3.) Looking beyond the fact that I got suckered into buying a pair of halfcabs today, keds and a pair of TOM’s are going to be gracing my feet soon. I swear, if I see anyone close to me wear TOM’s before I do, I will be very, very cranky.
4.) Yeah, whatever. I have four midterms in five days. I like my odds.
5.) So, I got a REAL job. Here is my workspace:
Ridiculous? Yes. Please ask so I can proceed to gloat.
6.) Forget touchscreens and XX-megapixel cameras; the real winner in the phone supremacy wars is the company that can build a phone where a person can’t tell if he or she is on speakerphone. Because honestly, my neck can’t stay bent that long. Never again.
7.) Rekindle rekindle rekindle. AHHHHHawoidjiaowjdiawjdioapod.
1 year ago • 0 notesShe hates me because I don’t post. So here’s a post: I hate Naomi.
By the way, I just bought a baseball mitt, so if you’re in berkeley, let’s toss a ball around. :)
COOOOOL.
1 year ago • 0 notesIt feels weird to keep up with three blogs at once. True, they all serve their own purposes, but the OCD in me just can’t but help but wonder how alone one of them feels when the other two get their dose of love…and the other remains untouched. Sad. Sad. Sad. Such is the case for this post, as I have nothing really notable to write, but I feel as though I must write.
Things currently on my mind:
V4 Stupid lock-off move that I can pull maybe once every 5 tries. I suck.
I want to buy a t-shirt.
I really like my LG Dare
My fingers are calloused…and I’m starting to wish for smoothed hands again.
I really don’t want to wake up for physics.
Must go buy more cheesecake at Nations. MUST DO THIS.
I have a gash on my right Latissimus Dorsi. (Basically my right side.) It hurts, but whenever I shower, I pretend like I just got into an epic fight with a polar bear and he managed to get in a good swipe at me, but not before I slew him and mounted his head as a trophy. I also wear his pelt on cold winter nights. No really, there was a screw sticking out of the side of the wall and I got owned. Talk about buzz kill…? Did I mention the polar bear’s name was Sam? No? Fuck.
Berkeley weather needs to make up its fucking mind. Either stay foggy so I can wear a scarf and a sweater and look somewhat manageable or stay warm so I can just wear a tshirt. Damn.
Guitar Hero world tour comes out real soon. Woooooooo.
1 year ago • 0 notes
As I’m sitting here in the lounge listening to “Sexual Eruption” and waiting for the ‘critical’ update for Word 2008 to install (I’ve been neglecting to do it for several months due to lack of hard drive space), I decided to blog a bit because I’ve forgotten about this poor little dude while I’ve been dealing with life. Midterms are almost over (last one tomorrow!), and life is just about to get pretty groovy again. I have no real motives for this post, hence I apologize in advance for the haphazardness of the post that is about to ensue.
Cal is finally starting to look decent in football again..and by decent, I REALLY mean ‘decent’. Our defense has won us the past few games with an abundance of forced fumbles, interceptions, and beastly plays. Sucks that we lost Rulon Davis for at least five weeks, but Cameron Jordan has taken his place nicely and earned the title of Pac-10’s defensive player of the week, with Bryan Anger taking his side as the Pac-10’s special teams player of the week. I remember the growing pains of last year’s defense, where it’d be ANOTHER converted 3rd and long….again. But no longer! Our pass rush is looking really good, and our corners are shaping to be the hottest in the Pac-10. Big ups to SQT, Darian Hagan, and Chris Conte, who just got his first career interception! (Better known as CHRIST, CONTE; LEARN TO FUCKING READ A PLAY, YOU DIP SHIT.)
While our defense is starting to look solid, our offense continues to sputter and frustrate. Yeah, not having a single first down in like the last 22 minutes of the game will do that to you. It’s readily apparent that Tedford loves Longshore far too much for his own good (a post for another time), but whatever gets the team the W is what’s most important, I guess. Once Best is healthy again, i’m sure our ultimate RB tandem will be incroyable again. Our WR corp still needs to step up! Boateng is turning into a bonafide receiver and blocker. (Call him IHOP; he’s serving up pancakes everywhere. …Ok, fuck you, I thought it was funny. :( ) Michael Calvin still needs to live up to his hype, and Sean Young hasn’t been getting many catches lately.
Overall though, we’re 4-1, and I’ll take that. AP: 28 and USA: 25 is good; we’re still flying under the radar and hopefully a few solid wins in the next few weeks will propel us in the top 15.
In other news, classes are going well. I can’t say I’m really excited about what I’m learning these days, but such is the life of a medical school-hopeful. I really, really, really, am considering adding another major/minor of some sort that actually suit my interests (Psychology, soc..yeah lame.), but we’ll see. It’s been a good month a half since school has started, and things are going ahead fullspeed. It’s easy to lose sight of things, but remember, life is just too darn good to you to care about the little crap that piles up. Live and let learn, and just laugh in between, yeah?
Climbing sucks balls. Yeah, you heard it here first. I’m making my solid transition to 4’s, and my arms/ego hurt all the time. One of the FEW times I’ve wished that I were 2-3 inches taller (and by FEW, I mean FIRST) are when I’m trying to bump up to a pinch that’s no more than 4-5 inches away, but GUESS WHAT??????? I HAVE NO MORE ARM TO GIVE! I then have to settle for some awkward dyno that I can hit maybe 20% of the time and get “Oooh’s” from random people watching, while the other 80% of the time I dejectedly walk away and go do cartwheels in th corner with tears streaming down my face. Yeah, so climbing sucks balls. No, really.
Because I have no evident control over money, the only things I will permit myself to buy until the end of the year:
1.) Food
2.) Parts for a fixie
3.) A pair of Keds
4.) A pair of mittens
5.) A pair of chinos
6.) Christmas Presents
7.) A resole for my Preds, and maybe splurge on a second pair of Optimus Primes
8.) Some fucking pepto bismol, because my stomach feels like trash!!!!!!!!!!
Last and most importantly: Albert and I have finally launched our fledgling music blog! Go read it at www.spacetoasters.tumblr.com. You don’t have to read the words because they probably suck and make no sense, but at least download the music because there’ll be a lot of dope tracks. But Miktrebla is a nazi and will only let me upload a track a day, so I’ll still be uploading a lot of crap here, too. Cool.
Hot tracks I’ve been listening to as of late:
Lady Ga Ga - Just Dance (RAC Edit!)
Arcade Fire - Brazil (really cute!)
Ok, updates after I finish my lab. BYE.
UPDATE: FUCK WORD 2008. AN HOUR AND IT STILL HASN’T FINISHED.
1 year ago • 0 notesApparently, even the internet in this place doesn’t like me. After spending the last twenty minutes blogging about how much I hate Berkeley, it promptly deleted my post. So here I am, writing it again…although thinking about it, I realize how petty this post’s subject matter really is.
School is pretty hard now. I have more labs than I have….nostrils (clever?) due, as well as a midterm in psych, chem, and physics in the next 10 days. Awesome? Awesome. I am so freaking stoked.
This about sums about schoolwork nicely:
It won’t even let me input an answer. SYSTEM FAIL. Mastering Physics is seriously the singlehandedly most retarded program that I have had the misfortune of using. (It’s ironic though, as I’ve spent the last 20 minutes writing this post while making George do my physics problem set.) Sweet. SWEEEEEEEET.
Oh, what. Music? New Killers single. It’s good, too.
1 year ago • 0 notesToday has been hectic — 25% raw, 25% excruciating, and 50% just plain ridiculous (a good or bad ridiculous, I don’t know) In case you haven’t heard, this weekend is the second annual “Treasure Island Music Festival,” named because it takes place on an island off the San Francisco Bay called Treasure Island, and because….yeah, it’s a freaking music festival. Hosted by Noise Pop/Another Planet Entertainment, TI has been one of the responses to the rest of the world’s calling of a NorCal version of Coachella (Outside Lands, etc). Simply put, this festival fails in many more ways than it succeeds in meeting the hype of being a Coachella-killer.
To name a few, the size of the venue is incredibly small; I imagine it covers no more than 1/5 the area of Empire Polo Grounds in Indio. Granted, it hosts a considerably less amount of people (70,000 vs ~15,000), there are only two stages (shoddily built, I might add), both within earshot distance of each other. While this does hamper the setlist of a festival that runs only two days and ends early, attendees can take a few positive things out of this. Coachella is way too freaking big; trying to crawl from the Sahara tent to the Mojave tent to the main stage to the second stage back to the Mojave Tent and back to the main stage back to the Sahara tent (all in 100+ heat, I might add) certainly saps the energy of casual concert goers. TI, on the other hand, has two really close venues, and the lineup was staggered such that as soon as one act was over, the next one would start. None of this: “Dude…I really want to watch the Teenagers, Justice, Chromeo, Death Cab, and ________ insert cool indie band name…but shit! They’re all playing at the same time! If only I could split myself into five different parts to watch them all! But alas, I am not Dr. Manhattan… (Har..har..har.) This means that it was possible to watch every act in its entirety without a problem. Cool…but wait! But I DON’T want to watch every act because some of them seem like they suck! (Will get into the setlist in a bit.) I may be biased because to each his own, but I feel as though the setlist for TI was not as good as it could have been..at least for the first day. Tomorrow should be a redux of Coachella, what with Vampire Weekend, Tegan and Sara, and The Raconteurs headlining. On the whole, however, I wasn’t that fired up for any of the acts other than Justice. Next, the crowd was pretty freaking lame. Way to have enthusiasm for these artists that come out to play for you…NOT. (I’m very guilty of this) Finally, what’s with the random shit, dude? I get it: this is a “hipster,” “indie” music festival. You need to have creative and weird things to show people how unconventional and cool this festival is. So out of all the “hip” and “unconventional” things you could have picked, why these?
Many a gay black pirate.
Imagine these cool angel wings. Then imagine these “cool” angel wings in the middle of the ground surrounded by nothing and with no apparent relevance to an island full of treasure or pirates, the supposed image they were going for.
A fucking ferris wheel. Come on, really? Did you really need to take up all that room to set up a ferrish wheel WHILE charging people ten dollars for a ride? REALLY? Sneaky ass pirates.
+ 
Imagine the scariest creature that’s ever haunted you in your dreams and splice it with Patrick from Spongebob. The resulting monstrosities would be the things that were romaing around the island all day. They looked like shit; they danced like shit; hell, the only thing going for them were their neon green pumas that they were forced to wear. That didn’t even match with their aforementioned “costumes.”
Please try harder next year.
Anyway, I’ve wasted enough time talking about how dumb TI is, but let’s talk music. The following is a totally biased account of what I heard and saw today. (Pictures/links to samples to be added later)
1. Aesop Rock
So this white rapping dynamic trio (Two rappers, one DJ) opened up the day for us on the main stage. These guys have been underground for sometime, but had their breakthrough album None Shall Pass get picked up by our favorite MTV. Both lyrically and musically nothing special, it was too hot to really get into any type of music at the start of the day, much less rap. It did seem like they were really off though. Beats didn’t match rhymes, their setlist seemed random (they asked the crowd to pick a song for their closing), and they just didn’t seem that pumped to be there. C-
2. Nortec Collective
A group of guys dressed like cowboys playing hard bass drum patterns along with what sounds like Mariachi music. Mexican influences could clearly be heard throughout the set, and it was a pretty interesting listen. They really do like the trumpet and harmonica, as those instruments usually dominated the melody lines. Still really damn hot part of the day, but interesting, nonetheless. B
3. Antibalas
Mexico meets antiflag meets more Mariaci music. Saw this one from afar, but they did not impress. For a band that rolls twelve deep, you’d expect some KIND of music to churn out from these guys. Instead, you get repetitive lines of the same dull music coupled with constant shouts for indictments for the entire Bush administration. Next time I want some indoctrination, I’ll do some article reading on Digg, thanks. Die. D+
4. Foals
Oooh, perhaps the surprise of the day for me. This a band that hails from London, I believe. I didn’t think they were going to be that good, but they hit HARD as a rock band. The best comparison I can come up with is a little bit more aggressive version of Minus the Bear + Win Butler from the Arcade Fire on vocals. Yes, that good. I’ve heard that their album stuff isn’t that good, and I believe it. But these guys are really good live and a fun time to listen to. A-
5. Hot Chip
Whatever. Hot Chip sucks. Charles fell asleep standing up. I went to go pee and bought a tank top to climb in and talked on the phone for half an hour at the Boost Mobile tent. I think that’s self-explanatory. (Don’t hate me, I was tired at this point.) Grade: N/A
6. Amon Tobin
Ugh. I hadn’t really heard much of this guy’s stuff before listening to his set, but I fell asleep halfway through it if that means anything to you. (See previous group) He started off with these really weird ambiance that rivaled Boards of Canada but infinitely times more depressing and dark. Halfway through, he broke into drum/bass beats mixed in with industrial noises like large smacks and stuff. Cool for about five minutes, then i fell asleep in the grass. Not really my thing as far as electronica music goes. C+
7. Gold Frapp
Yeah yeah, kinda skimmed over her set, too. Went to go buy food and just tuned her out as background noise. She’s good when you’re in the mood to be cheered up by a siren-esque voice with happy lyrics. Some people really like her, but I think she’s unique…and…yeah, just unique. Grade: N/A
8. Mike Relm
EHHHHH. Disappointment of the day! I was really eager to see Mike Relm perform again, having been surprised by him at last year’s Coachella with his really unique style of mashing music/video. I was supposed to see him at BFD, but he bailed, much like the rest of BFD’s spirit. So here he was…..and great. No video. “Today I am going to try something a little bit different and give a party DJ set.” NO MIKE RELM, DON’T DO IT. YOU NEED TO KEEP THE GIMMICK, MAN. He’s a decent DJ, don’t get me wrong, but the video act was too cool! Instead, he showed off a bit of his scratching prowess with his usual tunes (RJD2, Peanuts, etc), and also showed off an incredible incompetancy of transitioning out of anything. Terrible synch — he’d literally stop the music and start a new track seconds later….with the basic premise of DJ’ing of keeping the music going without any pauses. Anyone can push the left or right button on their Sony Walkman to listen to their tunes. It got so bad that he went up to the mic during a song to say “God, I don’t know how I’m going to mix myself out of this one..” Whatever dude. You’re cool, and way to represent the Bay, but seriously, get your act together! C
8.5 The Sideshow
YAWN. During the middle of Mike Relm’s performance, he introduces these two DJ’s who are starting off with their first live show. They’re called the Sideshow, and that’s pretty much all they really are. They chose to take the path of the iconic DJ electronica scene these days: a ridiculous mask (See MSTRKRFT, The Bloody Beetroots), but they didn’t have that much to show for it. They were solid DJ’s, I guess, but their choice of mainstream Hip Hop wasn’t that good. Whatever, it was entertaining. I’m just being an asshole right now. B-
9. TV on the Radio
I’ve heard that these guys are epic live, but I wasn’t really feeling them at all. Their music sounded strangely normal (woo, loved that oxymoron? I am clever.). The singer, who is renowned for going crazy on stage, didn’t really go crazy at all and his voice was really muddled. I might just have been tired, but I left twenty minutes early to go check out the indie merch shops and pee again. Grade: B
10. CSS
LOL, conflict of interest. In hopes of securing a frontrow spot for Justice, I skipped CSS. I love CSS, and they sounded really really good…I just couldn’t bear to lose my spot for Justice. In any case, I remained loyal to my habits: (2006 CSS was playing at BFD, thought they were shitty and left after one song. 2007 Played at Coachella but skipped altogether because I thought they were shitty) Good stuff though. I don’t like their new album, Donkey, that much, but it’s always good homework music. Grade: N/A
11. Finally, Justice. I’m going to be writing an extensive post about them later, but they were definitely the highlight of my day. I was itching to see them all day, and boy they didn’t disappoint. I won’t go into details or else I’ll ruin my next post, but these guys are really sick. Hurray for French people who dress in leather garb and chainsmoke while spinning a set. Hurray. Grade: A
So that about concludes my first day of Treasure Island. I’ll add more stuff later, but I’m really really really tired and I have another day ahead of me. So, TBE,H (To be edited, HOPEFULLY.) Until tomorrow, then. Happy weekend everyone. :)
I’m usually too busy writing in my other blog to really give this one any thought at substance, but I’m tired of drafting all my entries and reading them a week later and bagging on myself for sounding so ridiculously emo. That being said, I’m not going to guarantee at all that this post is going to be any less shallow than any of the previous ones.
It’s a little before 4 AM and it JUST seems like the city of Berkeley has decided to calm down and finally take a break. I might just have a skewed perspective on things, seeing as though I get practically no time alone in my room, or anywhere for that matter. (Not that that’s a bad thing! I love everyone that comes in and entertains me.) It’s just that I tend to be sort of a recluse and I like spending time by myself and getting to know myself better. No matter how exciting a day has been, I really don’t think anything can beat sitting here and looking through the window at the glittering lights of San Francisco that sparkle across the bay as my fingers type more on impulse rather than by calculated thought. It’s days like these of remote silence which sound the loudest to me — only in darkness can you really see the lights that shine brightest in your life. Metaphorically, I need this to remind myself how good life really is to me. I’m blessed to be put in such a position where I can make the choices in my life that I do. I’m surrounded by such amazing people and I feel like I occasionally lose sight of that. Fortunately, I’m human like the rest of you who waste enough time to read this blog, so second chances come aplenty. I’m going to be a better person. (Hey you. :))
There’s not really a unifying point to this, per sé, (nor any point at all…) but to anyone who cares: be happy with the choices that you make. You’re born to get hurt, to love, to gain, to lose, to smile, to cry, whatever. We’re all part of a process; just enjoy the damn ride because you’ll feel alive at the very least. Live and let learn, because life is too good for any of us to complain about unrequited love or a failed midterm.
Hi, let’s be friends again! :) Hopefully I’ve built enough positive karma over this past week to hit that v4 tomorrow. JEEEEEEEEEEEEZ.
Songs that have been stuck in my head as of late: (As precursors to my Friday music sharing post and a massive post about Apple and their ridiculously effective advertising gimmick for budding artists.)
1 year ago • 0 notesJust to spite Steph because I realize that I’m not lame enough to come up with a shit list this late at night…
Current things in life that I find really really sweet: (In no particular order or relevance)
1.) Salads with a LOT of baby carrots and spinach leaves
2.) Ascending your daily project with a clean run on the crux while knowing that it’s clearly the last attempt of the day since you can barely feel your fingers.
3.) Girls who climb
4.) Girls who wear leggings
5.) Rockband 2 and the “authentic” bass pedal constructed by my floor
6.) Emails that are longer than four paragraphs and end in “P.S.: Per usual, I think you’re really stupid but I love you anyway.”
7.) Mothers whom you’ve just met a few hours prior and are already judo-chopping you in the chest as a sign of unconditional affection
8.) Sunflowers
9.) Mixing alone and pretending that I’m a rockstar
10.) The following artists: Justin Faust, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, The Teenagers, Justice (Treasure Island..!), Stars, Panda Riot, Little Red, Motley Crue (Ashin, love me, please.)
11.) Utilizing the cellular phone, specifically for texting. Texting is sweet. 10 cents for the ultimate flirt, baby.
12.) Constantly rubbing all of my floormates and telling them how hunky they’ve become over the past few months and secretly wishing for some compliments of my own.
13.) Showboating of any kind; especially when I’m a part of it.
14.) Birthdays
15.) Rekindling relationships
16.) Setting your alarm 20 minutes too early so that when you wake up, you realize you have twenty minutes of sleep left and go back to sleep with a stupid and sheepish grin on your face.
17.) ….Girls….who climb…and wear leggings..at the same time?
To be edited/removed at any given moment in time. Today was an amazing day. :)
1 year ago • 0 notes
Despite having a chem lab (which I’ve neglected to touch for the past week) sitting here on my desktop urging to be finished, I sit here on a breezy Tuesday afternoon lounging and listening to music. Productive, I know, but the 503B hostel is currently as empty as it will ever get, with both other inhabitants currently napping. Granted, this is probably the best situation to get some work done, but I need this to maintain some sanity.
One of the greatest things about music is that no matter how fast or slow your life seems to be moving, music remains as one of the few finite constants. However shitty/great you’re feeling at the moment won’t change the notes that you hear or feel. It doesn’t discriminate, it just begs to be listened to.
The rest of the post deviates and sort of contradicts from that very ideal, but whatever. The main reason I wanted to write this post was because Jenny Lewis drops her newest album in a little more than a week. If you don’t know who Jenny Lewis is, she’s the lead singer of the ever increasingly popular Rilo Kiley. She’s immensely talented/beautiful/super/awesome/amazing/marry me and also one of the few former child stars that hasn’t been ruined by early fame.
I’m a pretty big fan of Rilo Kiley (a sucker for Blake Sennett’s work, too), but you can’t help but have mixed feelings about their latest album Under the Blacklight (released last fall). I’ll admit, as much as I like jamming out to “Silver Lining” and “Close Call”, I can’t help but notice the deviation of sound from their former albums. What used to be an excellent hint of country/earthiness to their albums have been replaced by the sort of droll poppy beats and chords that have become all too familiar in popular music today. (Professor Rahaim would be proud of that sentence.) I’ve been aching for some of that original sound, and while Rabbit Fur Coat was a good start, I’ve never been completely satiated. Hopefully her new album will be just what I’ve been looking for, and this leaked single is a pretty good start. :)
Ok, so music changes. Therefore, how can it be a finite constant? Yeah, it’s blatantly contradictory. Yeah? Yeah? Yeah?
Fuck you.
Rilo Kiley - Science vs. Romance
1 year ago • 1 note
Sometimes life is terribly complicated even when the only things that surround it are the simplest of things like chalk, sore muscles, and really oddly shaped holds.
1 year ago • 0 notes