034; 12-9-04|1:32a music | Portraits of Past Okay, so shit has gotten really out of hand in the last few days. The lack of communication, the falsified rumours, the shittalking, backstabbing, the lies need to fucking stop. If any of you kids have a problem, have heard some shit, just want to talk--whatever--you know how to reach me: klutzonbroadway. I'm so fucking sick of people just acting on the bullshit they hear from some lying cunt. If you hear a fucking rumour, try asking the person it's about. I can't deal with this shit anymore. ( Two Sides ) $5350 loser ♥ bullyrag

033; 6-9-04|6:44p music | Jawbreaker - In Sadding Around Camping was pretty awesome. My dad picked me up around 12:45 on Friday, and we headed off to Badrak, getting there at about 5:00 or so. The first night we didn't do much; talked to John and the other guys across the street, hung out with Bruce around the fire pit, etc. Larry came around at about 11:30. Saturday we helped with some construction around the property, went into Traverse City where we got lunch, and I picked up Jawbreaker's Twenty-Four Hour Revenge Therapy LP and Dear You 2xLP on blue marble vinyl. They're both awesome! I've felt like such a jackass for so long because I love them, but didn't own a single record. They had the Bivouac LP, too, as well as The Get-Up Kids' "A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts" 7", Good Clean Fun / Throwdown "Christmas" 7", Jimmy Eat World / Mineral / Sense Field 7" on ice blue and the Joshua Fit for Battle / Neil Perry split LP on pink vinyl. Some other crucial stuff, too, but I wanted to save my money. I wish I'd picked up Jawbreaker's Unfun LP when I was there in July...I didn't know how hard it was to get that on vinyl nowadays. After hanging out in Traverse City for a while, we went back to camp, got the Jet Ski and went over to Starvation Lake to jet around for a while. After that, we went the Blue Lake. When we got back to camp a little later, just after we made dinner, a tree fell down and landed about three feet away from my dad. Scary shit. Sunday we didn't do much. Helped more with construction and the like, went Jet Skiing at Fife Lake, but my dad's shoulder was hurting him too bad, so it was just Larry and I out on the water. Came back to camp, made some dinner, then dragged the tree that fell down over to the fire pit, and made a massive, massive fire. Later that night we made an even bigger one using a bunch of witchhazel that Bruce had pulled down around the property. This morning we woke up around 8:00 and broke camp; got home around 1:00 and took a much needed shower. Jammed my purchases (they all sound great), packaged up some records for trade, and did a load of laundry. Looking forward to school tomorrow, for some reason. Mostly Drawing and Film. $350 loser ♥ bullyrag

032; 2-9-04|2:38p music | The Broadways School is going pretty good so far. There's a new girl in my Drawing I class that looks and acts so much like Alison (Ally Sheedy) from The Breakfast Club...ow. I noticed her kind of awkwardly glancing at me a couple times... I'm probably just imagining things. Maybe not. Stupid inferiority complex! I think she's a ninth grader, though. Anyway, uh....my English III class also sucks less now that my friend Dan is in it. Crucial. Chemistry is still pretty boring. It's definitely better than Biology, but that's not saying much. AP US History and Film/Writing seem like frontrunners for my favourite classes this year. Today was my last day of the week, and we go back on Tuesday. I'm going camping for the whole break, and really looking forward to hitting up D&D Records in Traverse City to help thicken up my Born Against collection. If I have the money, I plan on getting the original press of Jawbreaker's Twenty-Four Hour Revenge Therapy 12", too. Actually, I think I'll take that over the Born Against stuff they have, unless they've got a copy of the split 8" with Man is the Bastard or either of the bootlegged 7"s. Failing those, they've got some Godspeed You! Black Emperor vinyl that is mildly tempting, as well as some good Youth Crew stuff. Or, I could just save my money to see Shaun of the Dead when it comes out. My Film/Writing class was so awesome on Tuesday. We made index cards with some basic information, plus one good movie and one bad movie, with reasons why. Bad: Dawn of the Dead (Paul W. S. Anderson, 2004) - Why? Modernised attempt to make money off of a famous brand. Massive budget, completely over-the-top action and a plot (or lack thereof) which strayed completely from the original. It's basically a poor, bastardised excuse for the original. Good: Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978) - Why? Set the standard for cult horror classics. Managed to be scary, adventurous, funny and fun, all in the same scene. I also named Taxi Driver as a favourite, and I think at that point the teacher fell in love with me. She talked about it for fifteen minutes. Some kids in the class had terrible picks for good and bad, and some terrible reasons why. One girl said Evil Dead for a bad movie, because it was cheesy, and I couldn't help but burst out with "What?! That's an independent cult CLASSIC!" She also said The Blair Witch Project, which I agree with completely, but for different reasons. She said it was because the camera never showed what was chasing them around...do people even understand suspense? Another person said O Brother, Where Art Thou? because it apparently had no plot. Many others thought movies were bad simply because they "didn't like them" and had no reason whatsoever. Some people's favourites included American Wedding and Scarface, because it's "gangsta." I have a feeling most of the people in the class simply took it because they figured it was easy. Tuesday we start Cool Hand Luke, and we're supposed to watch Princess Mononoke and Bowling For Columbine sometime during the year. I'm going to see how the teacher feels about The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles as a possibility. Who knows, maybe even Night of the Living Dead? Goddamn, I can't get that girl from Drawing out of my head. Fuck. bullyrag

031; 30-8-04|6:07p music | Second Story Window Ah, first day back. It was good. All of my classes excluding English III are awesome. Or so it seems so far. Drawing I looks like it'll be fun; we're basically just learning to draw shapes for the first bit. I don't know anyone in my Math III class...at least, not very well. It still seems like it'll be okay. I actually don't think I'm going to switch to Mr Ike's class. AP US History is going to rule, I can tell already. I've got Mason, Greg, Adam and Shawn in the class, so that's great. Chemistry seems kind of so-so. A lot of it is Math, so I should do better than I did in Biology. I've got Ian in the class. Film/Writing is going to be a blast. I know two or three kids in the class from Programming II last year. English is a pretty big letdown. It just looks like it's going to blow. I know some kids in the class, but I can't say I'm friends with any of them. That's all for now. bullyrag

030; 25-8-04|8:15p music | Gorilla Biscuits School starts in five days. I'm pretty excited to go back. I'm nearly done with my AP US History stuff...I've got to do one more sub-section of chapter four (which is only about ten minutes of work), then all of chapter five, which I can hopefully get done before Saturday night. Bryan and I are supposed to go to the theatre after he gets off work to see Collateral, then I'm spending the night over his house. I've had a lot of free time over the past few days, so I've been ( sewing a bit. ) I'm getting a His Hero is Gone patch soon, but I'm not sure where to put it...I might bring back the ULTRAKRUST jacket. Also making a tote-bag soon. Probably take it record shopping, or to shows or something. I still need a place to put my Die, Emperor! Die! and Born Against backpatches. I have some records coming in the mail soon, and I'm pretty excited about them: Bleed / Portraits of Past 7", Born Against - Battle Hymns of the Race War 10" (original press), Die, Emperor! Die! / Toru Okada 7" (if Charlie ever gets off his ass), La Quiete / The Pine 7" (if Ronald ever sends out the pre-order versions) and the Portraits of Past LP, which I should've had long ago. Born Against records have been hitting my turntable the most lately. Can't get enough of the shit. Really glad Sam found a bunch of copies of the original 10" version of Battle Hymns. It's their worst record, undoubtably, but still crucial to any self-respecting Hardcore kid. Did some more back-to-school shopping recently, too. Picked up some nice jeans to replace the pair I've been wearing everyday since February, a pair of Dickies and a really nice flannel button-up shirt. I might get a haircut really soon...I'm really on the fence about it. It looks okay as it is, but I don't want to risk messing it up by trimming some. Oh well. The beard is coming in slowly but surely. Right now it's just a sad excuse for a neckbeard, but by mid-September is should be pretty crew. Oh, yeah, I scanned in my ( ID card for this year. ) It turned out pretty okay...I can only hope that my school photos look better than last year's. Up the Punx. bullyrag

029; 21-8-04|9:35p music | Jawbreaker folkpunk Join up. $150 loser ♥ bullyrag

028; 18-8-04|12:52a music | The Apostles Okay, first real entry in a month. Summer has been kind of okay, I guess. I really haven't seen as many people as often as I wanted to. I ended up seeing John for the first time since May last week. We went out for a late-night snack on Tuesday, and on Thursday we were going to see Defiance, Ohio in Ann Arbor with Aaron, Andy, Dave and Gabe, and perhaps a few other people, but Andy couldn't make it because one of his friends got kicked out, and Gabe couldn't drive because the back axle of his SUV got fucked or something. He was pretty bummed about that. So John and I just ended up walking to the video store, renting Kill Bill Volume II and watching that. It was a fun time. I'm hoping to see Bryan again the weekend that vacation ends...says he wants to go see Collateral for the second time. I've heard it's pretty good. So school is starting up again in two weeks. Not really sure what to think about this. It's good to be up and doing something for a change, but at the same time I'm going to miss going to bed at five in the morning and waking up at two, and just listening to records and watching TLC all day. Oh well...I'm sure it's a change for the better. I'll get to see all the crucial kids I love...but on the same page, all the lame dudes and ladies I don't like so much. But I won't let that shit bother me. Hopefully I'll end up having a bunch of classes with awesome people. So far I know I've got Mason in my AP US History class. It's going to be a challege, but I think I'll enjoy it. I've decided that it's what I want to do when I grow up. Well, sort of; I'd rather teach World History instead of US. I've almost got the Summer assignment for the class finished. I need a haircut really, really bad. ( Right now it looks quite terrible. ) Also, since I shaved the sideburns, I've decided to grow a neck beard, or perhaps even a proper full beard. Who knows? I'll wait until the beginning of school, and if it hasn't grown to my liking by then, I'll shave it off. I think I'm going to buy some new pants, too. I bought some nice boot-cut jeans a few days ago, but they're about an inch too long. Also found some nice, old black jeans at the thrift store about three weeks ago that are around three or four sizes too big in the waist that I need to get a belt for. Need to head to the thrift again to get some grandpa pants. Might snag a pair of mocassins if I can find some that aren't leather, too. Oh, yeah. I sorta maybe kinda started a band thing with Mason and Evan. Mason on Silvertone acoustic guitar, Evan on Banjo. I was originally going to play washtub bass and find a lady to play snare drum, but now it looks like I'm going to be doing the drumming, and we're going to keep it a three piece. Perhaps eventually a two-piece; Evan has two AP classes, so he might not have the time to contribute. Either way, I need to get about $50 together to pick up a snare. It should be a fun time. Oh, obviously it's Folk stuff, but I kinda want it to have a more Folk Punk edge, similar to Rosa and the like. Hopefully we'll be able to be practicing regularly by Christmas time...but most likely not, since I probably won't be able to get a snare before then. Well, that's all for now. Oh! I really need to get the tape trading thing going again. This town really needs a crucial tape trade to happen. Someone? Anyone? bullyrag

027; 17-8-04|4:55p music | Books Lie 01. Drawing I - Mack 02. Math III - Shelton 03. AP US History - Vanhull 04. Chemistry I - Randall 05. Film & Writing - Pursell 06. Language Arts III - Valentine I'm switching my Math class so I have Ike. Hopefully I'll end up with it being fourth hour, since he teaches it fifth hour, but my fifth hour class is only during that hour. Bah. Oh well. If I can't get Film & Writing, I'll take Sociology or Networking I or something. bullyrag

026; 10-8-04|5:57p music | Defiance, Ohio I shaved my sideburns. bullyrag

025; 19-7-04|12:00a music | Assfactor4 - Self-Titled 12" This weekend was pretty enjoyable. Friday I just sat around...listened to records, talked to people, et al. Saturday my mum woke me up with, "You're going to the Hospital." I went and got a tetanus shot, and I was told I should've gotten some stitches for my head. After that I layed around...watched some TV, listened to Plunger records. Mary showed up around 9:00 to go see Napoleon Dynamite. We drove out to AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights and saw it...really great movie. She took me home and I went to bed around 4:30. Today I went to my dad's...we saw I, Robot, which had little to do with the Asimov book or the Hardcore band. It was still good, though. We went shopping, and he bought me a minijack to 1/4" headphone converter so I can plug my headphones into my stereo. Now I'm just sitting around...hoping the money people are sending me for some records comes before Thursday so I can actually buy some stuff at the show. $450 loser ♥ bullyrag

024; 16-7-04|3:23a music | Life at These Speeds 12" Today was random. I called Colin around 3:30 to see if he wanted to hang out, and he said sure. So I got stuff I wanted to bring, and right before leaving, he called up and asked if I wanted to go to a show. Two bucks, five bands...I figure why not. So I show up there, and we hang out for a few, then Greg and Colin start looking for bottles for gas money. I gave Greg a fiver for the tank, and we headed off to return bottles. Picked up Nick and his girlfriend...they seemed cool. We get to the place, and it's a neat little theatre sorta thing on the second floor of some shitty Detroit building. First band was my friend Gabe's...Burning Orchestra. Pretty loose, frenzied...weird kinda stuff; good, though. Valley of Ashes was pretty awesome when they were playing instead of making noise. The third band was pretty typical rock group on tour. Fourth was the Yarbles, who were great/funny/weird...we left after them. After Valley of Ashes' set, I was climbing up to the top of the rows of seats, and when I was hoisting myself up onto the top level, I ( busted my head open ) on a pipe and fell down a couple rows of seats. It didn't hurt or anything, but I bled A LOT. Got some blood on my Swing Kids shirt and shorts. On the way out of the theatre, I found a nice pair of jeans in the middle of the street. They're kind of shitty (literally), but really nice, so I think I'll keep them. Crusty, eh? Tomorrow I'm seeing Anchorman with Bryan...should be good. $150 loser ♥ bullyrag

023; 14-7-04|1:28p music | Plunger - Self-Titled 12" Camping was pretty fun. It was nice, temperature wise, everyday, but it rained a lot. We only went out on the Jet Ski twice. Other than that, I just read a lot. On the 4th we went into Traverse City, and I picked up Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, which is my new second favourite Murakami book, and After the Quake, which was also splendid. Much better than the other short story book of his that I've read. When I was done reading those, I re-read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Anyway, that night, we went to Fife Lake for the fireworks, but they were cancelled on account of a light rain. The next day, we went into Traverse again, and I went to my sister's ex-boyfriend's friends' store, D&D Vinyl. It was awesome. I tiny, tiny little section of the store was completed, and they only had about 200 records, but what they had was awesome! Both Born Against LPs, every Godspeed You Black Emperor! LP/2XLP, the first two His Hero is Gone LPs, Jawbox 7"s, two original Jawbreaker LPs, et al. I ended up getting Born Against - Industrial Relations Department 7" and a Project X 7" bootleg. Great finds. That night we went back to Fife Lake and watched their shitty fireworks. The rest of the trip was spent reading. I read the two books I purchased in three days, and spent the rest reading my favourite. Other than that, we didn't do much. It was still fun, though. We got back in the middle of Saturday for my Grandma's 70th birthday. That was pretty fun...I met some people I'd never met before. Sunday my dad and I rode his motorcycle over to her house for a barbeque, which was also fun. I came back here Sunday night, and I'd only gotten one record while I was gone!!! But it's the Plunger LP, which is fucking amazing. Monday, mum wanted me to get a new printer, so I got a nice printer/scanner/copier for $100. Good deal...been messing with it ever since. Last night I made an awesome trade: my Anasarca 7", Calvary 7" and Pine "Days Slipping By" tour CD-R #/100 for Second Story Window - Self-Titled 7" and Union of Uranus - Self-Titled 2x7". Crazy good deal, for me. This weekend I'm doing something with my sister, and next Thursday her and I are going to the last Diaper show. Woo. $250 loser ♥ bullyrag

022; 2-7-04|10:20p music | A Silver Mt. Zion Tomorrow morning I leave to go camping until Saturday or Sunday. It should be fun...even if the only music I'll be able to listen to is recordings of my Silver Mt. Zion vinyl and whatever my dad decides to bring. I don't really mind not having a CD player, but one is kind of needed for camping. Maybe I could burn some Mountain Goats stuff? My dad might be into that, perhaps. Oh well. I've decided I'm just going to reread The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami during the trip. I never went to the library to pick up any other books. Well, I'll be back Sunday latest. Take care, all. bullyrag

021; 29-6-04|11:56p music | Moss Icon - It Disappears 12" So far, Summer has been pretty shite. I haven't done much of anything. The shows I've planned to go to, I never have rides to. The only person I've seen so far is Bryan, which was cool. I was planning on going to a show tomorrow, but, of course, no ride. I also could see Spiderman 2 with Colin...even though I would hate the movie...but I gave my mum the last four dollars I had so she could get gas. Having no money really sucks. I've just listened lots of Moss Icon and sat around. Fuck, I need to meet some more people my age...preferably some into the same stuff I am. It really sucks living in a town where the people that make up "the scene" just listen to shitty Metal and smoke pot. Friday I leave to go camping. It's not going to be as good as previous times since I don't own a portable CD player, and therefore won't have any music to listen to. Also, I don't have any books to read. I've gotten some suggestions, though...going to check my library for these: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, Stranger than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk, Onyx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski and Goodbye Tsugami by Bananna Yoshimoto. I'm also going to grab Murakami's "After the Quake," despite the fact that I don't really like his short stories. bullyrag

020; 27-6-04|3:17p music | From Ashes Rise This weekend was pretty rad. Friday I just sat around, listened to records (Born Against!!!) and played Final Fantasy VII like a fuck. Saturday I met Bryan at the theatre, and we saw Fahrenheit 9/11. No matter how much people call him a liar, no matter how much people discredit him, the man has balls and there are facts behind his movies. If everything were blatant lies, he would be sued for slander, and his movies would not be released. Anyway, the movie was pretty awesome. I'm hoping it'll swing a few votes away from the 'Pubs. Afterwards, we went to Quizno's for subs. It's been so long since I've had my regular. Then we went to my apartment and sat around until about two in the morning. Woke up, took him home, and now I'm here. Just going to play FFVII and maybe do some laundry. See if there's anything I can do over the week...I'm hopefully seeing Kaospilot on Wednesday if my sister wants to go. I'll finally get to attend a show at the Diaper, and I'll get a chance to hang out with Josh, Dave & Co again. Good times. $250 loser ♥ bullyrag

019; 15-6-04|1:21a music | Casiotone for the Painfully Alone This weekend was pretty good. Friday night I watched American Splendor, which was very good. Saturday my dad picked me up and we went out for breakfast. I found out that he has diabetes...this isn't very surprising. Mostly everyone on his side of the family has it, and I have a form of it. Anyway, after breakfast we went to Record Time in Ferndale and I tried to return my defective Stop It!! LP, but found out I'd have to wait until they got another shipment in so I could exchange it for a fixed version. This isn't a problem, since it's coming in on Friday, and I plan to be at the Wilmot Proviso & Bruté Medium show then, anyway. Also ordered the Life at These Speeds LP. Then, we had to head to Kohls because my dad wanted to get some stuff, and wanted me to check out some shorts for the summer. On the way, we stopped by the other Record Time, in Roseville, and I picked up Anasarca's self-titled 7", a first press of the Circle Takes the Square / Page Ninetynine split 7" (which tonight, I traded for A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone... 12") and a copy of the Amnesia 12" compilation with Ordination of Aaron, Silence Equals, Three Studies for a Crucifixion and a bunch of other bands. Then we went to Kohls and I got two pairs of shorts, and my dad got a bunch of stuff. After this, we went to my cousin's first birthday party. It was pretty cool. When we got back, I cut the lawn (front and back) and did some cleaning, then went to bed. Sunday we woke up too late to go to church (oh, what a pity!), so we went out for breakfast and saw The Chronicles of Riddick, which, of course, was attrocious. Following this, we went to my Grandma's, where I cut her lawn front and back. We went out for Chinese food, but I only had two spring rolls. Came home, watched Twenty-One Grams: pretty good, but didn't really live up to the hype. Fell asleep shortly after. Today I woke up around two or three in the afternoon, played some Final Fantasy VII, and lounged around. At nine my sister IMed me and said she wanted to go see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. So she picked me up, and we were fifteen minutes late for the ten show. No worries. On the way in, some girl called my name and waved at me, but I have no idea who it was. Oh well. The film was pretty good. I'm really tired right now. Tomorrow, I want to see if I can do something with Gabe, Andy or Colin. And I still need to find a way to the show and barbeque on Friday. bullyrag

018; 11-6-04|11:54p music | Jawbreaker Today was my last day of school. I took my Programming II exam (I did enough to pass the class with a C) and got a B+ on my History final. Eighty-eight percent. Not so bad. This means I keep my 4.0 throughout History for the entire year. After coming home, I listened to a bunch of records, made a tape, sat around and ate Panera bread for dinner. Afterwards, I went to the video store and rented Twenty-One Grams and American Splendor. Haven't watched either yet. Stopped over at the thrift store and I picked up some shirts. Came home, got bored and ( patched them up. ) I can't sew for shit, I know. The first one is a Born Again$t patch, and the second is a Die, Emperor! Die! design. I'm thinking of putting the DED! backpatch I have on my hoodie or something. I found out that The Bruté Medium (aka Marc Anthony) and Wilmot Proviso are playing a free show next Friday at Record Time in Ferndale. Anyone up for this? Afterwards, Josh Quinn is having a barbeque, and the bands might play a bit in his basement, too. $450 loser ♥ bullyrag

017; 10-6-04|11:36a music | The Kossabone Red Yesterday my friend Jordan came over to help me study for my Japanese final. It worked...I think I got an A or B on it. My Math final wasn't so easy...C, maybe? I dunno. I've got an A in the class, so it can't have that huge of an impact. I think my Honours exam brought me out of the failing range. I know I got an A or B on it. Tomorrow I have to turn in my take-home portion of the Programming II final...it's extremely fucking hard. History after that; nothing to worry about. Then, vacation. Oh yeah. $250 loser ♥ bullyrag

017; 8-6-04|9:41p music | His Hero is Gone Some more info on upcoming shows that look good... Sunday, June 20 THE PAPER CHASE / DAKOTA/DAKOTA / FRED THOMAS / AndyDickTracyMorganFreemen at www.otherwisegallery.org 1207 Turner St. Lansing. Michigan 48906 7PM $8 [I think I know some of the dudes from AndyDickTracyMoranFreemen] Saturday, June 26 Mannequin / Sail / HIGH ON CRIME / THE CONQUEROR WORM at the TRUMBULPLEX 7:00 $5ive Wednesday, June 30 Kaospilot / Van Johnson / Zombie Zombie / Turn Around Norman THE DIAPER 2728 E. KALAMAZOO ST. LANSING, MI 48912 DOORS AT 8PM, BANDS AT 9PM $5 Thursday, July 22 THE LAST DIAPER SHOW EVER! Books Lie / Gospel / The Setup / North Lincoln / The Fiction / Hugs / Sheryl's Magnetic Aura / Baby Teeth / The Gibbons / Rosa at THE DIAPER 2729 E. KALAMAZOO ST. LANSING, MI 48912 DOORS AT 7PM, BANDS AT 8PM $5 Wednesday, July 28 Growing / Mammal at Detroit Art Space 101 e. Baltimore 9pm $6 Thursday, July 29 Xiu Xiu at Detroit Art Space 101 e. Baltimore 9pm $5 Thursday, August 26 Victims / Kylesa / Uprising / Random Axe of Terror / +1 TBA at TBA I absolutely must go to the underlined show. It's extremely important. bullyrag

016; 6-6-04|9:40p mood | Extremely Happy music | Moss Icon This weekend was amazing. Friday Colin came over, and my mum took us to Record Time in Ferndale. I sold an old LP and picked up Stop It!!'s "Self-Made Maps" LP. Too bad only the b-side plays...Perpetual Motion Machine records will send me a new one, though. Anyway, Colin and I got home, and we watched Bubba Ho-Tep which was awesome. Bruce Campbell plays an elderly Elvis (who never died; the "Elvis" who died was an impersonator) who lives in a nursing home in Texas. When patients start dying, he teams up with a black man who believes he is JFK (his death was all a government plot) to investigate the cause. It's more than just old age, that much is apparent...it's a mummy come back from the dead sucking the souls of the elderly. So anyway, typical Evil Dead fashion. Acting was superb, though. Saturday Colin left in the morning, and I went to a garage sale and found a new sound system (equaliser, tuner, tape deck) for twelve bucks. Also got a Miles Davis LP for fifty cents. The system is in really good shape...I took the oportunity to record my Die, Emperor! Die! and Burned Out Bright tapes to .mp3 form. At night I watched TV for the first time in six months...an episode of Trading Spaces. Afterwards I worked on my science project...I hope I can get it finished before Tuesday. It's worth a lot of points, and I've got a C in the class...doing bad on it could push me down to a D or something. Today was the best. I went to my dad's, got free speakers (nice ones) for my new system, bought some speaker wire, and sold some records for cash...and, fucking get this...found Moss Icon's "It Disappears" LP for THREE DOLLARS. Three dollars. I'm totally not kidding. I'm so happy right now. I also picked up His Hero is Gone's "Monuments to Theives" LP for the same price. Had Korean food for dinner and got home. Set up my speakers and listened to my new records. So amazing. I love Moss Icon to death...and this LP is probably their best work. I regret not looking through the 7"s they had, but oh well. I'm sure if there's anything like Indian Summer or Shotmaker or Embassy, no one will take interests because every person I've ever seen shop at that store in the Indie vinyl section was looking for bad Indie-Pop or something. This week I have to take my finals. The only one I really have to worry about is Japanese...and I have to worry about it a lot. Math should be a B or better. Honours is an easy B. Japanese...I dunno. Without studying I'd surely fail. Science will be a B or A. Programming...last year I got an easy A on my final, but Programming II is a lot harder than Programming I was last year. History is an A, no doubt. It'd be the first test/quiz/exam in that class I didn't get an A on. I've also got another mission to accomplish during the week...but that's a secret. After this week, I'll arrive at summer. And man does this summer look good...really looking forward to hanging out with certain kids some more, mainly Colin, Gabe, Andy and Josh. I haven't seen John in a long while...I have a feeling he's too busy doing drugs and hanging out with scenesters to see one of his best friends for the last five years. Oh well. There are a bunch of shows I want to go to, also: Braid/Minus the Bear (June 21st), The Conqueror Worm (June 26th), Kaospilot (June 30th), THE LAST DIAPER SHOW EVER (July 22nd), Xiu Xiu (July 29th). The last Diaper Show and the Xiu Xiu show matter most, though. It's kind of strange that I've grown to like Xiu Xiu. I always liked them as kind of a joke...but lately the new album has actually been sounding really good. Yes, it's pretentious as hell, and utterly laughable in content...but beyond all that it's a solid record. bullyrag

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