Goings on

Last Thursday, I finally had my gallbladder removed. Miraculously, I made it out of the hospital (where I was forced to stay for approximately 30 hours) having had only two doses of demerol, and I never took any of the vicodin I was prescribed. I'm still sort of in the recovery process, but I'm doing well, aside from some itching in my incisions. I've already been to two shows since the surgery, so I'm doing quite well. I even drove there, despite my doctor's orders not to drive.

Last week, I also became examiner.com's Fresno straight edge culture writer, so I'm sort of employed as a freelance writer! I hear the pay is terrible (and since it's based primarily on page views, I'm sure it is), and I'm bound to run out of topics in no time, but in my current state of unemployment, it's better than nothing. If you've got any ideas for articles, please feel free to let me know. They have to be relevant to Fresno's straight edge scene or something I can tie into the local scene.

In other news, I'm trying to start a zine for the third or fourth time. This September will be the second anniversary of the 3SN zine that never happened! (Thanks, Kelly hah.) I'm thinking that this one will be a mix of my own assorted shitty work, including collages, fiction, nonfiction, and terrible drawings. Hopefully I can give it some sort of relevance that will make people actually want to read an issue or two. Wish me luck.

SXR

Crazy how things change.

I believe I was twelve years old when I declared AFI my favorite band of all time and swore they always would be (hence the really bad AFI prison-style tattoo on my ankle hah). While I still love them, I'm finally swallowing my pride and admitting to myself that I've been wrong all these years. (It's already been probably close to seven years now. So crazy.)

I can now say, with some certainty, that Jawbreaker is my favorite band. Who'd have seen that one coming when I was the little fat girl with the faux devillock and the eyeliner halfway down her face?

Luckily, I haven't gotten to the sad level of obsession I had over AFI with Jawbreaker. I think I'm past the fangirl stage of my life now. However, pop punk (particularly that which came out of the nineties) is taking over my life. I guess that's a good thing, considering my cynicism (which Jawbreaker adresses quite well); I need a little more posi in my life. It's also kind of fun to talk about all the bands I've been listening to lately and have everyone give me a blank stare in return. Listening to bands your friends have never heard of is so punx. Plus, since I'm starting college this fall, I'll finally get to be that former semi-stereotype of a middle class, white, vegetarian college student who listens to pop punk, is into activism, makes shirts, and majors in English. So psyched.

I think it's time to make a fun mix-CD (consisting mostly of Jawbreaker and Latterman) for my frequent drives to Fresno.

SXR