Replacement

Since I'm taking a bit of a break from social networking, I'm making an attempt to blog more often (since basically no one reads it anyway, so I know no one is going to make it into a fucking joke).

Yesterday was brutal, as was the day before. Today's been a little better, although I did wake up at 1:30 in the afternoon, so there hasn't been much time for things to get fucked up yet. Last night, I did get a bit of a pick-me-up. I hung out with Corina, Kc, Nick (Glamour Tronic), and his friend Matt in River Park. We played Uno with a random little black kid who talked a lot of shit hah. Good times. Speaking of which, watch out for our new skinhead crew, Burrito Skins. We don't fuck around.

Since I'm in one of those places where I'm pretty susceptible to new things (as well as emotions, apparently), I decided to download Jets To Brazil's discography. It's the only band Blake Schwarzenbach has been in that I haven't been able to get into, and I'm not entirely sure why. It lacks the aggression Jawbreaker had, but then again, so have Blake's newer bands, to some extent. It's either too clean or too... soft? in its angstiness, I guess. I assume it's only a matter of time (and repetition) before I get into it, especially since (thanks mostly, I'm sure, to EmoGame 2) I'm on a bit of a classic emo kick. I wish I hadn't been so anxious to cast off the emo thing when I was younger and all of these great bands were still around or relevant heh. I remember getting a Jets sampler with some magazine and listening to it once or twice, then giving it away. I thought it was cool, but evidently, not cool enough. I also remember people talking about Piebald all the fucking time, and now, I'm pretty sure most people don't give a shit about them. It's crazy how emo became what it is today heh. Late '90s/early '00s emo is nothing like current emo. Weird shit.

I have business to attend to now. (After I play some EmoGame 2.)

SXR

In which I feel like shit.

I have so very much to say right now about certain people and certain things they've said.

However, all I'm going to say is that I've been depressed enough that I've resorted to listening to Jets To Brazil (who I'm not even into) and playing Emogame 2. I beat level one in less than ten minutes.

Depressing.

SXR

Pointless Post

I just really feel the need to list all of the bizarre things that I'm really strangely interested in and which would surprise most people who haven't known me for most of my life. (These are often things I look up on Youtube; I have no time for viral videos.)

• Soundscapes (by which I mean primarily nature sounds). My favorite site for this is soundsleeping.com.
• The call of the loon.
• Native American music.
• Celtic music.
• Spillways and dams. Arguably my most bizarre interests. I don't care about how they work or whether or not they're beneficial; I just like the way they look when they're flowing.
• Indian and other assorted eastern music.
• Occasional fantasy novels, such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I was way too into that for a while.
• Gregorian chant.
• Religious symbolism. (I'm not religious at all; I just think the symbols and imagery are incredibly interesting and gorgeous.)
• Rustic decor.
• Dead languages (despite the fact that I've never learned any).
• Old churches.

That'll suffice for now. I just felt the need to list this shit somewhere. I sometimes forget just how many off-the-wall things I get really into from time to time.

SXR

Bay Area Weekend

I went up to San Francisco last Thursday with a friend who attended the Femme Conference in Oakland, which sounded like an amazing experience. As for myself, I hung out with my friends Ralph and Josh, who moved up there a few months ago. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were comprised of vegan food, tattoos, and hanging out in San Francisco, then on Sunday, I went over to Berkeley to hang out with my friend Gabby on her birthday. She got her first tattoo, which is always fun to see.

I'm ecstatic about my own new tattoo, so I had to blog about it and do a really shity edit of it to use as the header for the blog, which you may or may not have noticed. I got it done at Double Crossed Tattoo in the Mission District in San Francisco. If you're in the area and looking for a tattoo, stop by! The shop is nice and the guys there were great. Greg was my artist, and holy shit, we seriously lucked out heh. We'd been to a couple shops who didn't have time for us, but when we got to Double Crossed, they were totally down to work on us. I'm so glad I ended up with an artist who likes Jawbreaker. This tattoo is currently my favorite thing ever. I would post a picture, but that seems redundant, seeing as it's in the header.

I started at Fresno State today, by the way. Could be worse.

SXR

The Soapy Smell of Failure

I'm into activism. That doesn't mean I'm going to throw myself in front of vehicles or stop eating for a week. I consider myself a bit of a feminist. That doesn't mean I don't believe in shaving or dating men, so long as they're respectful. I often feel like there's really no "scene" I belong to. If nothing else, I suppose I belong to the Fresno/Central Valley DIY scene, if such a thing really, truly exists. It isn't much of a scene; it's just a few disjointed individuals and groups who rarely come together all at once, especially from different cities. I don't consider myself a punk, a hardcore kid, a hipster, an activist... Sometimes it's insane how people try to keep all of these groups seperate. It's like a plate of delicious food has been served to the city of Fresno, but Fresno (or the people in it) won't let any of the items touch. Now and then you'll see hardcore kids and punks at the same show, but you almost never see all of these "subcultures" at the same time and in the same place. There's very little unity here, and it seems to go against everything the punk and hardcore communities stand for.

I wasn't quite going anywhere with that, in case you were wondering. Just saying.

I recently started making soap (melt and pour, since I don't have easy access to all of the supplies I'd need to make it from scratch right now) in hopes of pulling in a little cash. So far, nothing. I listed some stuff on eBay and have seen some considerable interest, so I may be able to afford a couple more shows; I'm getting really low on cash and have no job, so driving to and from Fresno all the time and going to shows is going to get really difficult. I'll find a way, though; it's all I really have heh. 3SN is all but done, otherXcore zine may never happen... It's disappointing to see so many of my ideas kind of crash and burn. I'm a creative person, but that creativity tends to be a bit unfocused, so it rarely goes anywhere or does anything for me. I'm supposed to start doing shows in Madera soon (which is something I've always wanted to do), but we'll see how that goes. I can either be ridiculously DIY and break into semi-abandoned buildings (which is quite risky, since I'd rather go to college than jail), or I can shell out a ton of money to rent a space. I hate to say it, but the second option sounds slightly more favorable. We'll see how that goes. In the future, I'd love to do some kind of fest, sort of like Madstock and Fresno Fest, but I don't see myself having the money, time, or connections anytime soon. Ideally, it'd be a couple days long, have a bunch of bands from all over the area, and maybe from elsewhere, have workshops, and be a really cool unifying experience for everyone, but eh. Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Side note: I'm pretty sure absolutely no one reads this blog, but I bet that if I had a tumblr, people would suddenly be interested. (Blogspot is for real bloggers. Unlike myself. I'm not bad enough for tumblr, though.)

SXR

Excitement and Apathy

I don't know why I don't blog more often; I always have so many things I need to share with no one. Let's get down to business.

Weekend before last (I believe), I accompanied several other members of MYL to the Kern family farm, located around North Fork. I'm not entirely interested in farming, but I am interested in DIY, and because of that, I found it incredibly interesting and inspiring. Everything the family grows on their 82 (if I remember correctly) acres is organic, and the farm is almost entirely self-sustainable. Not only that, but the entire farm was built from the ground up by the family. It's quite incredible how much time, money, and energy has gone into it. My hand got a little fucked up from clipping and peeling garlic, but I had a great time.

Now, on to less exciting and interesting things.

I don't know if you care, but I'll let you know what my life has become: I drive all the way to CYC a minimum of two or three times a week, stand off by myself, then usually go to Denny's with Chris until 6 or 7 in the morning. I do this stuff so often that it's sad. Almost every Denny's employee in Fresno (the ones who work nights, that is) must know all about me and Chris and our late-night Denny's escapades. Surprisingly, it is entirely possible to just talk to one person for six or seven hours in one night and not really get sick of it.

Other than that, my obsession with pop punk continues. I've finally gotten into "Dear You," which was, I'm sure, inevitable, and as I type this, I'm pre-ordering the long-awaited forgetters 7", which comes out in September. I still haven't gotten that into Jets to Brazil, but I'm sure that'll happen before long. I can't help it; Blake Schwarzenbach knows how to get to me. He's the poet I wish I could be.

Also, I now make soap. If ever you need glycerin soap with lavendar, honey, green tea, oatmeal, or rose, hit me up; I need money for college. I paid my Fall fees today: a whopping $2,439.50. That's gonna take a lot of soap to pay off.

SXR

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