(SP) "You said, 'I gotta wake up so fucking early,' and I said, 'Maybe the director's turned on us.' "

Hey Guys, (and here I'm making a big assumption that anybody actually reads this thing anymore)

This will be more or less of a life-update post which will chronicle the last couple months (briefly) since my last post. I've been readjusting to a new post-graduate life and I have been unforgivably neglecting this blog. I hope to be posting on a more regular basis these months, so you can move this page back to the top of your bookmark list (yeah, right). In any event, I think the reason I stopped posting was that I was working on a post one night (which still might make its way up here, in one form or another) about abortion. The problem that I found was this: it wouldn't end. It was just about the point that I reached 7 single spaced typed pages I decided to give it up and save it for another day. Well, that day has still not come. But I still have the document saved and maybe one lonely night when I've got nothing better to do (*cough*), I'll resurrect that particular monster. The main problem with it, aside from covering (in insufficient depth) a staggering amount of intellectual territory, was that I kept going back to passages and reordering arguments and sharpening points. The unfortunate side effect of which was that the piece as a whole lost rhythm and the flow of a coherent analytical piece. Rather, it began to seem more like a rambling high school op-ed piece (that happened to be a little long on vocabulary and a little short on clarity). I mean, the points are still there, but I sorta lost track of what was going on where, and when I can't even puzzle out my own train of thought I should not ask that anybody else do it. (even if it is just Evan, Val and Ryan)

Anyway, what the hell else have I been up to, you ask...I finally graduated college in June. I could not have asked for a better ceremony. Even if the keynote speach had not included a blues-based rock song (written for us grads) that the dean of the music deparment (who emceed the affair) had played on guitar, I would have still been very pleased with it. I was presented by the chair of the Philosophy Department who is probably the oddest-yet-coolest professor I have ever had. Suffice it to say he is the worlds foremost expert on midieval philosophy, he has a large elfish beard, an earing (because he loves pirates) and he lives in a trailer with his wife and two daughters. Also, there was often innuendo about illicit drug use, but none of that had ever been confirmed (or denied) by him.

After graduation I moved back home. The experience of living at home again has been unexpectedly pleasant. My parents are glad to have me home, I'm glad to not be paying rent, they're not kicking me out anytime soon, and they also have been very accepting of the fact that my life plan (by my own devices) has become blurrier since I left college. I'm no longer sure that I want to apply directly to law school (for september '06), and right now I'm having a fine time working for my dad and just relaxing. I'm in no rush, but I'm glad that no one else (yet) feels like they need to be in a rush for me.

The other rather major development in my life is that I have joined a new band. We are called Setoff (we agonized over this and decided better to stick with this name despite the fact that there is a japanese thrash band called, "Set Off" rather that name ourselves something we didn't like as much - some possible options were ZeroDecibel, The ZeroDecible, Make Amends and YesFX [well, the last one was a joke..but, you know...]) Right now we are playing the kind of music that I have wanted to play ever since I started playing guitar, and so I hope that recent drama issues (which might make it into another post one of these days) do not drive us apart before we garner the respect/fanbase that I think we deserve.

In any event, I will be going to Yosemite for the second time in as many months next weekend and I am really excited about it, not just because (this time) I will be going with friends, but because we are going to try to tackle Half Dome (which I have been wanting to do again since the first time I did it).

There's certainly plenty more to say. But honestly I'm not feeling like packing this post with any more detail, it's long enough as it is. I know that state-of-the-union e-mails/posts are never the most interresting to read anyway, but I just felt like I had to dispense with it before I could move to more engaging sorts of posts. Tune in next week (or whenever) kids for my review of both the Setoff show at the Pound (on 8/19) and the trip to Yosemite...for now...keep watching the skees...uh...skies.