On a plane, I can see the tiny lights below.

So much of my summer has been spent on not vacation that I'm planning vacations back to back so I can show summer what's what.

First a week jaunt to Cape Cod (from space and not from space). It will be a nice reprieve from the city life if only for a week. We will dine on nothing but seafood, including lobster, which I've never ventured to have. I've been perusing to see what the best way to cook the things.

Just realized that most of my Pandora stations play Modest Mouse.

Other summer destinations for the masses:

Don't say the electric chair's not good enough for king-lazy-bones like myself

Slow Saturday.

With the whole wave of MJ's death, still, we've all been pondering our favorite MJ songs. For me, it's always been The Way You Make Me Feel. "I feel your fever from miles around" is a great.

My good friend/editor/bartender Matt D. was let go from HUGS but continues to tend bar at The Abbey. So if I told you to go to HUGS for an awesome Bloody Mary, now go to The Abbey.

Speaking of him being my editor, my story "Signal Hill" will be in an upcoming collection titled "We Live For Blood and Glory". It will be at Spoonbill and Sugartown in the next few months.

Been really digging Discovery, total side project of Rostam Batmanglij and Wes Miles. I really like R&B, not going to lie, but it has to be really cheesy. Like K-Ci and JoJo cheesy.

All My Life... I've prayed for someone like you

I care about you in a way that will never ever matter.

Considering either buying 1,000 Citronella candles for the apartment or buying yards and yards of mosquito netting.
Mosquito bites= they don't itch, but it's just red welts all over.

Independance Day rocked too much, ending with an amazing fist fight. Why would a guy, apparently drunk on shitty beer (these things you can just tell, really) climb four flights of stairs just to wail on party goers?
Because he loves America too much.
We had some of our British friends over to celebrated the Fourth. Braised some pineapple chunks on the grill, added some Prosciutto and shot hell of tons of fireworks.
We have a great view from the roof of the skyline, and got a great view of watching that lumber warehouse on Whythe and 9th burn, which was not cool.

But bottom line, our British friends got beat up and the guy kept shouting "This is our holiday! This is our holiday!"


Great photo of Woody and Gareth from that night. Yes, he was getting pummeled and laughing the whole time. Took it like a champ.

Sunday was quiet, K's parents came in for brunch. O and N drove to St. Louis for the week, so we're kicking it relatively low making Watermelon and Feta Salad and sipping white wine. Plus Season One of Deadliest Catch on the projector. You haven't seen anything unless it's 8ft by 10ft.

I promised Alice I'd get her little girl into preschool, and I haven't had any luck. I ate a cheesecake, I took a nap, what more can one man do?

We're gassing up for Fourth of July weekend at 405. K has to work Saturday, so it's up to O and I to get things done. Probably a run to BJ's Wholesale to get meat and whatever else we plan to grill. It's completely B.Y.O.B, but we're still going to grab a few cases of Yuengling.

I realized today that I don't post a single photo on Flickr any more, I just wait for O and to see if I'm in any of them. He posted the Coney Island Mermaid Day Parade 09 photos... see above.

Went back to Bone Lick Park for brunch on Saturday with Jarrod and O and N (K went surfing in Long Beach). I'm starting to realize I'm either becoming a brunch snob (I can't take more watery mimosas, even if they are unlimited) but since TONY came out with the all inclusive brunch issues, I feel less bad.
Speaking of that, K and I walked around the neighborhood and ended up in Wombat on Grand. I had the duck hash, which was pretty badass, and she had the salt cod scramble. Apparently they have lobster like crazy there, so I'm going to get practice in before we take our vacation to Cape Cod.

Work is steady, work is good. I begged to go back to an 8-4 shift instead of 9-5. It's a lot better since I wake up early, I prefer to get off early. It's an adult dilemma, I know.

For her, all seven deadly sins!

Last night headed to a going away party for a friend at Washington Commons. A great bar with a decent backyard.

Had to cut everything short due to the beginning of my Dr. appointments in the city. Spent nearly two hours in an MRI tube that looked like something out of THX 1138 and then onto a series of CATscans. A fun morning!

Tomorrow K's brother is returning from basic training, so there is a thing down at Down The Hatch.

I'm always trying to brighten your Mondays!

Discomfort is very much part of my master plan.

This week flew by again.
K and I went and saw Apostle of Hustle and Brian Bonz at the Bowery Ballroom. Drank $1 beers and fell back in love with shoestring fries at Epsteins (corner of Allen and Stanton).
Thursday we went and saw The Hangover. Great. Great. Great. One person that's never really mentioned to be part of the whole pack of new comedians is Kim Jeong (the doctor in Knocked Up...Pineapple Express... Role Models)
Last night we went drinking on a ship, The Frying Pan. Awesome. The boat did pitch a bit early in the night though, but they have a DJ down in the quarters. Rock.
Brunch at Bone Lick Park in Greenwich. Turkey Sausage with Gravy Biscuits and unlimited Bloody Marys. I've had a lot better drinks at Teddy's (still singing the praises of that place) but the food was good.
Tomorrow we're doing a sunrise Coney Island trip to take photos, and then back to my old apartment in Kensington to wrap some things up and then the Big Apple BBQ Fest at Bryant Park.

He's gonna give away a thousand dollars! Someone's gonna get a thousand dollars! Who d'ya think's gonna get a thousand dollars?

I visit The Strand at least twice a week. My friend Samantha had always told me how she hated working there while at Borders, and I've never had the heart to tell her that it's the place where I get the majority of my books.

Tonight was Adriane Tomine and Seth as panel speakers as a precursor to the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art Festival 2009.
This weekend brings a lot of backyard BBQ's including one from this lady, Ms. Emily Nemens. I'm told that I will learn Bocci Ball as well as the finer things of submitting articles to McSweeney's, which I still wait with bated breathe on notice.

Michael you would fall and turn the white snow red as strawberries

I'm insanely proud of myself for reading Less Than Zero in one day.
I re-read it because of, naturally, the correlation between novel and song of Elvis Costello. And Elvis Costello is having a show in NYC where in which there are no tickets: only a secret handshake and code word will allow you to get to see one of the greatest artist of our times.
The first time I heard Elvis Costello was Allison where I had left the bar with a friend who continually explained that she was named after the Elvis Costello song.
I've finally got everything moved into the loft in Bushwick, and am happy to say it's been great thus far. I like being back in north Brooklyn as opposed to south Brooklyn. I will miss Prospect Park being right outside my window, I will miss Park Slope, I'll miss being able to stop by Rocketship on the way home from work, but c'mon, it's Bushwick.

To take a point and turn it, Soju. I fell in love with Soju sometime before, and now have a steady supply of it in the fridge. Chum-Churum in fact. The potato based concoction has a lot of great history to it.

Registering for the Mermaid Parade. I think I may go as Neptune.

Don't waste your precious breath explaining that you are worthwhile

Outside of the angry men yelling in French beside my window, Memorial Day has been another success.
Hell, the entire weekend went off like gangbusters.

We finished staining and laying down the new wood for our veranda (can it be called that? A fire escape that doubles as a large patio) in time for us to grill. Finally made the trip to BJ's in Queens- I've only ever been to the one in New Jersey.
Sunday was spent at HUGS.
Finished reading Shortcomings and A Drifting Life. I'm slowly working on building up my Adrian Tomine collection.
Last week submitted an article to McSweeney's.Planning on more in the future.

I also banged my wrist up pretty bad (I have to wear a brace to keep it steady.) A friend of ours asked if I had carpal tunnel.
I'm ashamed to admit it's hurt from punching someone and I just manned it up. See what wanton violence gets you?
Still planning the Costa Rica trip. We've got... countdown...seven months to get this together. This is including our October trip to Texas again.
Tomorrow I have to drive to NJ for the day, so I count that as another day off work.
Huzzah!

As in the book, I wound up inventing people. Kind of curious.

Internet liberation? Can we be fully free of the electronic synapses that ties us all together?

The weekend proved very fruitful, at least in a sense where everything seems satisfying and no one was hurt.

Walked from brunch at Lodge (which I say no more, I'll stick with Teddy's , thanks) to Fred Flare in Greenpoint. The walk was good, the skies parted and it became a beautiful day.
Later, parting ways, I ended up at Night of No BS at Parkside Lounge while everyone else headed to BJ's in Queens to grab stuff for the the glory that is cooking outside on the patio. All of Bushwick is spread before us on a Spring day.
One of many videos that forces my brain into spring/summer mode:

Can you give me directions...to your heart?

Matt and Kim... I still need a new pair of glasses. After that errant crowd surfer decided to kick me in the face...

So yesterday I think, was the first hot day of forever. Winter never seemed so good.
Our trip down to PA wasn't bad until we turned onto the New Jersey Turnpike. 3 hours of stifling traffic due to a wreck... 3 hours stuck on the New Jersey Turnpike. It boded well for me as I finished the New School Lit Magazine I had picked up and started The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. So far so good. I didn't really give it a chance the first time I picked it up, but I think there's something that Junot Diaz has, in the same vein why Nicholson Baker is so popular.

- I need to start packing for the move back to Bushwick, t-minus one month.
- Costa Rica trip plan. Gotta get planning.
- GRE Studying still going in full force.

Cause tonight Im gonna take that ride, across the river to the Jersey side...

I find myself a lot more in New Jersey these days.

The stigma behind New Jersey reminds me of the stigma between Texas and Oklahoma. Analogy: New York is to New Jersey as Texas is to Oklahoma.

I remember a time when I drove to see Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers show in Norman, OK. Making the 2 1/2 drive you don't really notice much- there's not much difference between one highway to the next. The landscape doesn't really change much either, still mostly flat, the occasional gathering of rolling hills, real Zane Grey stuff if you catch my drift.

But for numerous reasons, Oklahoma and Texas are worlds apart, just as New Jersey and New York are worlds apart. A simple imaginary line, just an etching on some 200 year old map and now you have a cultural clash you can equate with the Britons and the Gauls.
True, neither is as picturesque as the other wants it to be: New York is the place of high rise apartments, crowded streets and the exercise in opportunity where New Jersey is treated as a bastard step-child of modern America. Which I feel is not so. This isn't denying the half-baked New Yorker in me (I say half-baked because it will only be a full two years come August), but New Jersey, you don't deserve it. You got all the best parts that New York lacks, and you're closer to us than any Westchester or Orange Counties burg may be. Plus, you're the epitome of American youth culture.
Forget the big cities, you want youth culture, you have to look at Orange County, California or Livingston, New Jersey. You're not going to hit the middle of the mark any more than these two places. They scream Hollister. They scream American Apparel. They scream bands like 3oh!3 and The Metro. It's Valley Girl-mallesque all over.
Yes, Tom Petty, Free Fallin' at it's best.

So, New Jersey, don't take it so hard. You're all right by me.

Abstract expressionism is so mid-to-late eighties.

I haven't updated since my birthday- age 28 is a busy time in one's life.

- L Magazine Reading- I attended the first in a series of L Magazine readings Thursday at The Slipper Room. It's been a long time since I've gone to any readings or any part of any reading series so it was good. Really helps getting into the swing of things. I'm not going to be critcal of the stories themselves- sorry. I'm not in that mindframe right now (that equals not enough coffee).

- The dreaded GRE- This is what you take when you're unhappy with your job and you need to get out. It sort of feels like a get rich quick scheme, like this is the test to prove that your ready to actually have a life and not just stew in the post-undergraduate world until you climb the corporate ladder. I'm applying to a few schools outside of NYC, on in NYC, and hopefully get into Toulouse, which is back in Denton. So, Anomaly, equivocal, erudite, lucid, opaque, precipitate, prodigal, enigma, fervid, placate,zeal, and assuage. These are only 12 of the words I need to incorporate into my vocabulary.

Oh, you are totally underestimating the never-say-die scrappiness of a survivor.

Returning from the success of my brother's wedding (it was nothing short of Cowboys boots made of pure chocolate and champagne dreams)I realized that the week sped past to my birthday today.
Everyone knows that people like Rodney King and Dr. Demento were born today, but did you know that the Club Alpin Francais was founded today? If you don't believe me find someone who does believe me (or you can simply look it up).
So, pop a cork, cut into a nice Pittsburgh rare, and remember that I am two years away from being 30.

Mortal motivations, looking for the perfect beat.

My flirt with this side of Brooklyn is soon to come to a halt.

It was probably a warm day in 1899 when Dean Alvord, sans coat and hat doffed from the harsh winter months behind him, spread his arms wide and said "Let this be a testament to all of New York."

And with a urban developers mind, he was to have a rus in urbe, a rustic countryside in the middle of an up an coming bustling neighborhood of mixed ethnicities. The challenge that lay before the new residents was the same: bringing some air of apple farms and long after dinner walks where there were no apple farms and no places to walk? Every home was required to plant a certain number of trees, and the sidewalks wind and wind around the neighborhood, snaking their way into intersections and ending abruptly, if not friendly, at neighbors doorsteps. With a click of Red Mike's heels, the ground was dug, parasols were opened and some people were still supposedly cured by getting sand poured in their ears.

I know that I'll move on resting assured that this part of Brooklyn will still be here.

In other news, the grill on the backporch has been cleaned, there are many imported beers being had (I'm sure even as I type this) and lists of restaurants featuring patios are being accumulated.

I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults.

I was reminded today that in exactly a month I'll be back in the Lone Star State.
Troy Aikmen+Willie Nelson+NASA+The Bush Twins+Pantera+Blue Bell+Bill Parcells +Lawrence Whittaker+Mike Judge+Debbie Allen+Larry Hagman+Audie Murphy+The Alamo+Beyonce+Enron+The Dallas Cowboys+Bob Wills+Barry White+Kelly Clarkson+The Rangers+Don Henley+The Polyphonic Spree+Lyndon Johnson+DRI+Sparta+Mars Volta+Dangerous Toys+ZZ Top+The Dallas Morning News+The Fort Worth Star Telegram+The Branch Dividians+Dallas Texas+The Aggies+Gary Busey+Walter Cronkite+Judge Roy Bean+Tim Duncan+Patrick Swayze

Just a few things great about Texas. Call it an obsession? I don't know. I don't think you can truly appreciate something until you can see it from a certain distance.

High school is such a shared experience in North American culture.

... my 10 year high school reunion is coming up.
The good thing is that I feel younger the older I get. That photo there is the 1999 Senior prom photo, and yes, that is everyone in my graduating class. I remember going home that night and vowing just to forget that these things exist.

I recently finished this book, Nowhere Man. It was a recommended read. It really touched upon a lot of ideas of identity (and the lack there of). I really liked it, I was thinking of reading it again just to really let it sink in. There were parts that I wanted to underline, but I didn't want to ruin the integrity of the book.

It really made me think about my life, and my writing. I started to read all the books that I had read before that really influenced me, that made me want to be a silly man with a typewriter and a clean, well lighted place. I've been re-reading Microserfs and Jesus' Son. Black Hole. Maybe I'm trying to identify myself through the books I've read?

I don't think there's necessarily a story, but there's definitely a theme here.

This is probably one of most aesthetically pleasing videos I have ever seen. It's filmed in Shanghai, China, and I simply can't put it into words the feelings that it brings up in me.

The sounds of my roommate playing his ukulele in the living room is an odd sense of comfort.

In two weeks I'll be going into the studio to help record an album and I have only the slightest clue about what's going on. Our drummer is probably going back to Florida to play for his first band, Against Me!.
We did finally settle on the studio though, which is good. Night Owl Studios. John has a good rapport with the guys because the first album was recorded here as well.

My ankle, for what it's worth, miraculously healed itself. Dr. Olga, the only Dr. I'll ever see (see the last post) said I should probably go to the Ryan Center so a medical doctor could check it out, but it feels fine. A little tender here and there.

Tomorrow I have to get fitted for a tuxedo for my brother's wedding. More on that later.

This will affect many Americans.

25 Things About Me:

1. À la recherche du temps perdu- I have a horrible memory coupled with time loss. Things sort of get jumbled in my mind regarding time and and exactly what happened. But on the other side, I can remember things clearly like how many tire treads or road trip mix tapes, in order of song. But I don't remember where we were going or why.

2. I read on a daily basis: Cracked, The Huffington Post, Google News, Wikipedia, The Onion, McSweeney's and The Christian Science Monitor. This is where I gather all my information and still feel uninformed about the world at large.

3. In third grade I was forced to have my first abstract thought: China. I can't touch, taste or feel China, but I had to know China.

4. I refuse to see a doctor or go to the hospital. This has been ingrained in me for most of my life that if I can't fix it myself just leave it broken until I can.

5. Back to #2- I read the recent deaths section of Wikipedia every day and tally up the ages.

6. Although I studied English and Creative Writing in University, I've worked in the mental health field for 10 years come February. And although I do plan on going to grad school next year, I still want to work in with this population.

7. When I was young I wanted to be and Archaeologist. My grandmother would get up early and go bury things in her back yard in Abilene. After breakfast she would give me a trowel and a box and I'd spend all day digging.

8. I had an unhealthy obsession with Mongolia. Mostly because they were nomadic and lived in Yurts. Now I have an unhealthy obsession with Iceland. Mostly because it's far away and now they have no government. I think I just want to be far away from things.

9. The first song I learned how to play on the guitar was House of The Rising Sun, The Animals version. The second song I learned was Santa Monica by Everclear. Sparkle and Fade is still one of my favorite albums.

10. Bodega Sandwiches are my lifeforce.

11. That being said when I working I forget to eat and have to get a phonecall to remind me to eat. This happens several times a week, and I have a rainlender calendar on my desktop that reminds me to eat at 3 every day.

12. I was a member of the Young Communist League. Key word here is 'young' because I think we were all too young to really realize what being aligned with such a strong form of politics. I maybe confused about politics, but I know that I can't really stand behind Communism anymore.

13. Graphic Novels. I can spend the rest of my life writing and creating graphic novels, and It'd be an ideal job. That's my lying on the beach drinking a mimosa kind of job.

14. Getting my English degree was an exercise in defiance to the utmost degree.

15. I'm deathly afraid of getting type II Diabetes. When my Dad and my Grandmother were both diagnosed in the same week last year, I didn't sleep for at least three days and threw away a box of unopened Hot Pockets.

16. I've had many great days in a row. Things get better.

17. I talk about Denton as this city in the clouds. I remember it being that way, and then I remember days where I never left my room because I was so bored.

18. I don't like rude humor. I don't like toilet jokes. Or fart sounds.

19. I'm always encouraging people to not get tattoos.

20. I have really bad phone manners. I just don't like talking on the phone, so I make it miserable for everyone. Plus, if it's more than 2 minutes I consider that talking to you all afternoon. This is something I desperately need to work on.

21. I've read most of Dean Koontz's books in High School. Why? Why? Why? I don't know why. I think I was so against Stephen King at the time I wanted to read what no one else was reading.

22. I love cooking. I love reading about cooking. I love watching people cook. I can slice a bell pepper like it no one other.

23. I can't wear t-shirts out in public, but I have dreams of wearing t-shirts out in public. These are vivid dreams, and I'm always happy.

24. I'm afraid of becoming washed up, but I don't believe in the American Dream.

25. I miss watching Mr. Show and Kids in The Hall. Those were my favorite shows, and I just can't bear to watch them without feeling a great wave of sadness.