You spin me right round, like a record baby

I'm beginning to think I have almost too much punk rock on my iTunes. For the first time I hit the random button and every song but one has been some kind of punk. Admittedly punk is a big part of my musical heritage and I still enjoy it but as I've gotten mellower. Or as one of my friends says, "you listen to old guy music". I can't help the fact that I've mellowed out. It's not as though I pulling out Enya or something like that (although if I remember, Enya is good sleeping music). I guess I'm just surprised that I had so much of that stuff in there. Of course, since I started writing this the punk seems to have stopped.

As I've said before, I'm always looking for new music. Now that I've returned to the mountains, I've been relying on Internet radio for newer bands to check out. I don't know that many people up here that are keeping up with what is going on in the genres that I tend to listen to.

The truth is I've been in a phase of discovering or rediscovering older bands that I seemed to have missed the first time around. Maybe my age is starting to take it's toll. That and many of the bands that I've enjoyed for years are broken up or soon will be. There is just so much out there new and old to keep up and catch up with.

So what is in rotation for me these days? Right now the Surly Mayfly has Belle & Sebastian's "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" in the CD player. Earlier today I had Husker Du's "New Day Rising" (1984, now I feel really old) on while I was taking a shower. Ride "Nowhere" is up there along with "The Further Adventures of Lord Quas" by Quasimodo. I know there is some other stuff but I can't place it.

I think it's time for some more music trading.

Colder and lonelier

The nights of cruising around on bicycles are quickly coming to an end. It's just getting to be a bit too cold. It can still be done but it requires proper layering at this point. Hoodies are just not warm enough. Bummer, this just means I'm going to have to walk when coming home from the bar. Although soon the free bus will be running later again.

As the nights grow colder, it seems my sense of loneliness grows as well. Not loneliness as in the lack of friends. I have plenty of those. But the lack of a warmer body next to mine while I'm sleeping. Of all the things that I miss about dating that may be one of the parts I miss the most. There is just something about sharing a bed and waking up next to someone that is wonderful. Truly it's been too long for me.

In a matter of days I'll be hitting the two year mark of celibacy (or is it abstinence? I always get those two confused). I really don't know what to think about it. Is it a good thing for me? In a way it is, I hadn't really wanted to get involved with anyone for most of the last two years and I'm too poor to date. Furthermore the thought of a one night stand just doesn't appeal to me that much so I don't even bother trying. I think at this point I'm just confused; on one hand I'm fine being on my own and yet on the other I truly desire the companionship that comes from a relationship. Oh, to be younger and wiser.

Tonight, the thing I think I want the most is just to crawl into bed next to someone and feel their warmth.

200 Already?!

Tonight when signing in to Blogger, I noticed that this is my 200th post. Yay for me! I'm actually surprised I lasted this long. If it wasn't so late I might just get drunk or something. This may be one of the first things other than a job that I've kept doing on a regular basis (oh yeah, snowboarding). I've never even kept a journal this long as far as I can remember.

Of course, I do it for you, my nine or so loyal readers. And I thank you for reading my silly little rants and raves. Those of you that leave comments (except for the spammers), thanks again. I do read them and take them to heart.

Oh wait, maybe I do this for myself? I'm not sure.

I'd add some kind of cool picture but I'm not near my camera. Having the steel trap memory that I do, somehow I managed to leave my camera at work. Lord knows that's the first time anything like that has ever happened.

Anyway, thank you all for reading my silly little thing here.

Live long and prosper.

Buy the Sky and sell the Sky

Someone told me the other day that there needs to be a little more controversy here. Or at least on my part. Unfortunately, I generally have a hard time sharing my harsher opinions.

There was a time when there were enough of the dregs of society coming into my place of my employment that I had plenty to say. But now most of the people are pretty cool that frequent my workspace. Of course there are the jerks but they are mostly confined to on particular industry: Real Estate. Compared to real estate agents and developers, even most of the lawyers some across as cool. I think part of the problem I have with real estate types is that they are directly responsible for the sharp increase in the cost of property, the decline of our working community and the horrific suburbanization in this area (yeah, yeah I know all about the whole supply and demand thing but still). Not only that, but most of them are insufferable jerks. They drive gaudy gas guzzling vehicles that have four wheel drive but never leave the pavement. Really, does that Cadillac Esclade serve any real purpose? They walk around like they own the town, when in fact all they have ever done is sold the town (and some would say, sold it out). And they expect us to be mind readers.

Maybe it's the residual anarchist in me but I still question the concept of owning land (even I, myself would like to own some, just not here). It seems the phrase "property is theft" still holds some weight in my puny little brain. I think I grasp it on a theoretical level and seeing in action disturbs me somewhat. I'll accept the fact that I'm a hypocrite, I have material goods that I consider mine and would be less than willing to give up. But there could be that moment where I give it all up and walk away.

The balance of materialism can be a delicate one, if overthought. Over the years I've collected a lot of stuff and certain items have memories or functions attached to them. I'd be hard pressed to give them up. My computer is an excellent example. It functions as my connection to the outside world to a degree. And I think I would be just a bit lost without that connection it provides me. Or Trusty Stead (my bike) without which I'd have been arrested for DUIs too may times. There are possessions that while not entirely necessary are quite handy and useful to have. Yet some things are just not useful to have.

Who am I to say? I am a hypocrite. I am a packrat, I have magazines from years ago and an overabundance of books and music. In my possession there are boxes of pictures, letters and various other miscellaneous items. Must I have these? No. And yet I carry them from house to house and occasionally look at them.

All of this materalism has thrown me off track. I think all I wanted to say was that I thought some of the real estate types can be...

Sunday

Earlier last week I made a quiet promise to myself that I would keep it mellow for the next few weeks or so. Damn am I good at lying to myself. Of course it was nothing like last weekend. There was no rock star behavior or associated baccanalia. Although there were spirits consumed, the amount was nothing like recent memory.

There was an employee party over the weekend and I was able to make today's portion of the festivities. The party itself started sometime last night but I wasn't able to go. Today was enough of an adventure for me. It all started off with the pineapple. From there it was just pure entertainment. We set off on a pontoon boat ride around the lake with an eventual goal of finding the cows and making fun of them. You know, because they are cows and all. After the pineapple was emptied is when are trip took on shades of the USS Minnow. The first sign was when the boat did a bit of a nose dive (if pontoon boats can do that) and we took on water. Thankfully it all drained. Then John (the shipping guy and The Man) ran out of fishing line, it flew right off the spool. But the real incident is when the boat ran out of gas. Now the prospect of getting stranded on a lake in a boat with no gas might be disturbing to some but it seems we just laughed at it. Long story short, after floating, getting tugged around the island by some crew members we finally got gas and headed back to shore. What fun!

Anyway I'm just ready to sleep now.

(not) up all night

When I first started working in the gas station racket I was hired to work the graveyard shift three nights a week including the weekend. In hindsight, this is the job that truly taught me how to be surly if need be. Some nights it felt like I was defending the store from drunken hordes (at one point I put that on my resume). On the same hands I met some really cool people working that shift. People I still see around and a few that I'm still friends with (even though I don't call them as much as I should). Of course there were the ones that needed firm treatment, there were even a few that I 86'd from my shift. The one solace is that there are just a few out there that have pulled that shift off with the amount of surliness and humor that is needed to be a true graveyard master. I'd like to think that I pulled it off.

It is one of those jobs where you have to provide yourself with your own entertainment. So I did. There were some nights where I played a game called "Sing for your Cigarettes". This game consisted of one criteria: if I thought you did a sufficient rendition of a song of my own choosing then you got a free pack of cigarettes. It was amazing what songs people could recall for the anticipation of free smokes. I still remember the three girls singing "Like a Virgin" one night. Of course there was also the question of the night, which I heavily borrowed from a graveyard clerk in Boulder. Usually it consisted of a question that posed a moral quandary to the poor confused customer.

Truth be told, I don't miss those days as fun they were. I doubt if I could bring myself to do it anymore. Where I'm at is better. But it is one of those things like shooting a gun or riding Greyhound that every American should do at least once.

Fast Approaching

According to the weathermen, we are in a monsoon pattern up here in the mountains. This doesn't necessarily mean that it rains the entire day. What it does mean is that there are ominous dark clouds floating over us most of the day. These clouds can make for some quite striking mountainscapes. Sometimes the clouds will just linger over the tops of the mountains, almost like something on the cover of a Led Zepplin album or Tolkien novel. And with the foliage starting to change, the plants themselves provide some color to the otherwise gray backdrop.

Very soon, it will be time to break out the tripod and try to capture some of the changes once again. It's not quite to the point where I'm missing shots yet.

This is the time of year that my thoughts usually turn towards the Midwest. Fall has always had this call for me. The colors here are quite nice but there is nothing that compares to fall east of the Mississippi River. There are just so many more kinds of trees to provide an explosion of fall color. Unfortunately this is the first fall in a long time I'm not able to be back in the Midwest to enjoy the colors. I was blessed to be there during the peak last year.

There really is no autumn up here. It goes straight from summer to fall and then to winter. Which is fine as long as the winter is your focus. The Hoosier in me misses the autumn greatly though.

They were right (and FEMA is not good)

As I've said before, conspiracy theories are a bit of an indulgence of mine so when I see what appears to be parts of these theories coming reality I feel a little odd. For years I've been hearing how FEMA is the mechanism in which a totalitarian regime (or one world government) would use to subdue the masses in this country. Much of this centered on Relocation (Prison) Camps. For various theorist these camps were to be used for numerous kinds of dissenters and the like, most of them being on the right side of the American political spectrum (surprisingly when I googled for FEMA +camps +liberals I seemed to stumbled across a lot of 404 Errors, hmmmm).

It seems that those that were shouting about the dangers of FEMA weren't so far off the mark. Whether it's keeping firemen from doing the job they were trained for (and not speaking to the press!), utter incompetence (we all knew by this point!) by the head of FEMA or that no one can come into or leave the camps makes that much more scary and disturbing. Not only that, it's happening three hours away from me.

It disturbs me when these so-called theories bust through the fabric of implausiblity and into reality. Although in the last five years or so I've become less and less surprise and more terrified. The thing that saddens me is that it's not external forces that terrify me, it's my own government.

So it'll all be mud

Originally uploaded by surly monkey.

Well, I may be slow but here are some photos from the previous weekend. Just in time for the upcoming weekend! Of course, other than the photos I think I said everything I wanted to about that weekend earlier this week.

I feel myself slacking this week, it could just be because the pace here in town has slowed down a bit. Gone are the hordes of softball team attired tourists and their soap painted windows. The kids are back in school so the streets and sidewalks seem a touch less crowded (although I could pull the old "I remember when..."). Actually the streets don't seem that less crowded during the day, it's the evening where you can really notice it.

In not too many days there will be snow on the ground one morning when I wake up. As this could easily be my last winter here I need to take advantage of it as much as I can. I'm looking forward to it whatever the case.

For the next few weeks I'm going to just enjoy the slowed down pace. Yeah, I know that the pace here is always slow compared to almost any city but at least cities seem to flow better with a faster pace. I could complain about how this town isn't really built for all of these people and their cars (actually it's all the cars that bother me so much) but in fact there is plenty of empty beds for them. And really without them none of us would be here. So as long as they stay away for a few seeks or months I'm OK with that.

it all ties together

It seems that I've accidentally stumbled into conspiracy world tonight. Conspiracies are an indulgence that I don't often allow myself to sample. I find I'm a little to prone to accept or even create conspiracies. But tonight, it seems I dove in. Of course what lead to this really can't be labeled a conspiracy. It is a story of a game show who, with enough help and observance figured out a way to win the game. Of course with an index page name like this, I just couldn't resist. I've read just a few and from what I see by the titles there are one or two of the classics missing but it's a fairly expansive list. Included are a a few that I've never heard or that are plausible and somewhat documented. Thankfully it's time to go to bed and I can't look at that page anymore.

Newer Music (maybe)

Oh man, I'm so happy when I catch a song from a band I've never heard before off of Indie Pop Rocks on Soma FM. Tonight what caught my ear was a song from the band The Jane Anchor the song was called "Skyline". And then I discovered you can buy songs directly off iTunes through Soma FM's playlists. How cool is that? And as I listen to this song, it is a rocker.

Sometimes when I'm sitting here late at night I'm torn between whether I listen to Internet radio or things I already own. Usually I opt for the radio because after living in a radio wasteland for the last ten years I am quite happy to hear things I don't already have. And yes the real radio up here still sucks. That is, unless you have satellite or Internet radio.

Yeah, and I keep hearing telegraph on this station. I'm going to have to check them out now. Damn.

Stupid Internets

The text and image based realm that blogs inhabit have a few drawbacks. Most obvious is the lack of facial expression and vocal intonation. Until there is a sarcasm (or at least tongue in cheek) tag in HTML it's tough to know what just kind of tone something is written.

The other day a friend thought I had been offended by something he said. I wasn't. He had a valid point and I needed a reminder of what the truly important things in this world are. But I was using his mild criticism as a device to show that I was a little insensitive to what was really going on.

I welcome criticism, there really is no way to improve as a person and what not without it. So when I get slightly scolded here, whether it's about my lack of seeing the bigger picture or even just sloppy grammar, I take it to heart. If you readers and commenters could hear they way my friends talk about me, you'd know that it takes a lot to offend me.

Rock-n-Roll Weekend

Wow. What a weekend, I think past weekend would go into the rock-n-roll weekend category. Sheesh. I just hope I didn't reset my sleep schedule again. I guess tonight will me the night I find out. I didn't even get home until six in the morning one night. I'll just thankful Trusty Stead came through for me once again. I'll have a few photos up as the next few days go on.

It was a night and a day of rock-n-roll show and way to much alcohol. Saturday night was The Plagiarists and American Relay along with DJ Also Starring. Quite fun and there was much (perhaps too much) flowing of the spirits. After the show Trusty Stead and I rode down to a party where Battleship had their debut, of which I seem to be a part of. As the singer. Thank god for distortion pedals and the like. I couldn't even tell you how long we played for and at some point I switched over to playing guitar. What you need to know here is that I have no idea how to play guitar (or any instrument for that matter) so once again delay and distortion pedals came in quite handy.

Sunday was the Labor Day festivies in Oak Creek (a nearby town). Again The Plagiarists and American Relay played. I have to say that both bands sounded a lot better at this performance. Maybe it was the fact that the vocals weren't muffled but I think there was more to it than that. Both bands were just on.

After returning to Steamboat and resting it was time to go and try and win the PBR cruiser that Mazolla's was giving away. None of us won but it was still fun none the less.

Today I did nothing but drink coffee and eat sporadically. Dang, I needed to do laundry.

It's getting bad

After having been slightly scolded by Jackass Jimmy(I could try and defend myself but not tonight), I have to say the situation in New Orleans blows me away. This photo says a lot to me. I'd show it here but I'm not that smart. Not to denigrate the suffering that is happening in New Orleans but it reminds me of the horror of the "Dawn of the Dead" remake. Truthfully that movie scares the hell out of me and what I am seeing and reading from there reminds me of the no-mans land feeling that movie left me with. Of course I realize there are no zombies down in the Big Easy but the sheer devastation of an entire city just leaves me with this otherwordly feeling. I couldn't even imagine being there and going through what suffering these people are experiencing.

After just a few days the descent into total anarchy fascinates and repels me at the same time. That people are firing bullets at those are trying to save them and cops are tuning in their badges is just a sign of the chaos that is happening there. I know that this is where I am drawing the comparison to the movie from. The desperation of these people is unfathomable. And my heart goes out to the survivors and especially those who survived and lost more than just their possessions. Those are truly the ones who lost everything. God bless their souls.

Justice

Well court wasn't as successful as I hoped it would be today. Apparently today was just the first hearing and as I didn't want to continue driving to Hot Sulpher Springs on a monthly basis, I just plead out. "Improper Mountain Driving" was my plead down ticket. At least it is only three points off my license. My one victory is that I got a laugh and a chuckle out of the judge. And to be honest that was almost worth the $70. Of course her honor was rather flippant about the whole traffic court thing anyway.

The really sad thing was waiting for court to start. It seems in Grand County divorce court happens before traffic court. Talking about eavesdropping on some of the most depressing conversations/moments ever witnessed by me. Across from me was a soon to be former couple who was doing what appeared to me a do-it-yourself divorce, the wife was crying her eyes out begging to make it work and the husband was just there stoic as much as he could be. As far as I could tell he was the one that initiated the divorce. I tried not to listen as I was listening but I couldn't help it. The other former couple could only communicate through lawyers. And from what I could hear the wife at poured beer all over his elk mount and shattered his golf clubs. All he wanted was his grandmothers octagonal table with the marble top. Of course he could have been a total ass to her for all I know.

All I can say it seems another nail has been hammered into the coffin of marriage for me. Which is sad because I wouldn't mind if I found the right one.