fear of loneliness or love

friday night i ran to a person that i had once shared a brief romantic relationship. we've crossed paths off and on in the two years since the split. no hard feelings between us, but we've never really reestablished a friendship. i guess that might have changed after friday night. we spent most of the evening together talking, not about the past, just talking. i guess alcohol has the tendency to bust down the barriers between people. defenses were dropped. it'll be interesting to see how our renewed friendship develops. i'm not the same person i was before. as far as i can tell, she hasn't changed all that much. time will tell if that is good thing or not.

cheers.

posted by paul 9:06:04 PM

how long must we sing this song

it has begun. one of the things i have feared since this tragedy hit our country: the racial backlash. i saw on tv this morning that the arab-american anti-discrimination committee has been receiving threats. reports of cab drivers being pulled from their cars and beaten. store owners shot at. bullets through the windows of mosques. insanity. people who have been here for generations, americans just like you and me, victimized.

even locally, ignorance shines brightly. countless times i heard the phrases "bomb them all" and "dirty arabs". apparently, anyone of the same race and/or religion should be held accountable for the actions of a group of evil militants. myself and others even confronted some these assholes by asking, "bomb who?" and blindly the response was "the middle east". white, christian america pisses me off. i'm white and a recovering catholic, but apparently i (and many others i know) have the ability to empathize with the pain and suffering of people who come from different backgrounds.

hey, let's not forget that one of the last major terrorist attacks on u.s. soil was performed by a white guy in oklahoma.

and the term foreigner really, really pisses me off. how the fuck do these people think this goddamn country got started. a shitload of people got on boats came over here and raped, killed, infested, and stole their way across the continent! somehow it has become justified.

america the country was attacked, not white christians. america was attacked by a group of terrorist; not a country, not a religion, not a race.

i want whoever is responsible caught. i want the responsible parties punished. i do not want to see blind attacks generated by speculation. i want to see the end of hate.
posted by paul 7:50:37 PM

armageddon days are here (again)

kinda strange that broke out the the: mind bomb last night. sort of a prelude to today's tragic events. those familiar with the album will know what i'm talking about. i'm not trying to make light of what happened, it's just... strange.

people are still in shock and speculations are running high about the hijacked airplanes that were forced into the world trade center and the pentagon (not to mention the one downed outside pittsburgh). you look at photos of manhattan and something is missing from the skyline. it's just crazy. transcontinental passenger jets used as bombs. i'm very scared of how our president is going to react. i don't have any faith in him or his abilities. i'm very scared of the racial ramifications this incident will have on our citizens. people like to lump the muslims into one tight group they can point a finger at. my heart goes out to the families and friends of anyone injured or killed today.

posted by paul 5:25:30 PM

time moves slowly through these walls

i neglected to mention a cd i purchased recently. after seeing the video for sometimes countless times, as well as getting the song stuck in my head, i decided to pick up the ours:distorted lullabiesdisk a couple weeks back. i've come to the conclusion that i'm quite fond of it, actually. jimmy gnecco has a tremendous voice; very jeff buckley with a dash of bono-meets-thom, with a smidge of morrissey. instrumentally, the songs are in the same vein as older u2 and bends era radiohead (if you've heard kent or remy zero you're even closer). their site has clips of almost all of the songs, so if you're curious, go take a peek. unfortunately, they were in town recently and i missed the fucking show.

speaking of remy zero, they have new album coming out september 18th. the last one, villa elaine, was simply great, a big part of my 1999 listening. i got a chance to see them open for travis last year, freakin' awesome! there are a few mp3s at their site, enjoy.

and speaking of kent, fuck rca/bmg for not releasing their last album in the u.s.!! erg!!

cheers.
posted by paul 6:33:52 PM

i'm no victim, i'm just a clerk

well, it's official, the musical project now has a name. matt was there to witness the blessed event (he's practicing his speech for the behind the music special that should air ten years from now). we've decided to call ourselves old man. why, you may ask? because it just sounds right. so, even though we won't have a bass player or drummer by the time we play jim's birthday party, we'll at least have a name and a healthy helping songs we're proud to play.

cheers.
posted by paul 6:02:39 PM

into the sea, you and me

there have been two additions to our happy household. me and the 'mates have acquired two adorable kittens which we've named zoe and harriet. amazingly, they've taken to us and the house with complete ease. litterbox training was quick and painless, thankfully, and they don't seem bent on destroying anything. batteries were not included.

neil and i are progressing smashingly with the music writing. the hits keep on coming. it's great to work with someone who gives as much to the idea as you do. we never fail to surprise each other with what one brings to the table or with what one is adds to the other's song. not that we weren't having fun before, but now there is a sincere feeling of faith in what we are doing. we're still waiting for a rhythm section to fall out of the sky, though.

cheers.
posted by paul 11:08:00 PM

outside looking in

here's something that will waste fifteen minutes of your time and give you a little insight about yourself at the same time. this star trek personality test is based on the myers-briggs personality test and will determine which character(s) from all four shows you are the most like. it says that dr. mccoy (bones) is the most like me, which is cool because deforest kelly and i have the same birthday. the test also tells you the type personality you have; extrovert, sensor, feeler, judger- that sort of thing. the questions are geared more towards people with some working knowledge of star trek, so it can be confusing for some. nothing like harmless geeky fun.

cheers.
posted by paul 6:17:33 PM