Get Your War On

Just revisted the GYWO guys today after a year and they are still amazing.

Here is the latest one...







Also, these guy are now on tour with a GYWO play. Wish I was stateside so I could check it out.
Here is more info on that...

Gold Lion Gonna Show me Where the light is...

I totally forgot to mention this last week. But just recently The Redonklulous Linker has fullfilled 2 major steps in leaving us irresposnible children behind and becoming an adult. He purchased his very own house and also got engaged. Congratulations man!
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Last week a few of my friends from the Masters of Art program had some of their work exhibited in a show titled Dissonance. Didn't get any shots of the work or the exhibition... but here are some pics from the drunken celebration that followed.

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Now that the The RL is gonna be domesticized... a Wi-Fi Washer and Dryer might be a great investment so he can multitask while updating his blog for us.

Washers and dryers that link wirelessly to internet-connected home networks are being tested by consumers who are receiving updates on their dirty laundry by cell phone, computer and TV set.

Messages not only indicate when a wash is complete but also can warn that a lint filter is clogged or a load is too large. Users can remotely command the machines to fluff dry clothes or start a load from a distance after being told -- oops -- they forgot to start the wash.

(full artcle here)

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The adventures of Professor Awesome-O are still continuing. Me and the Lead professor had are first grading session last Tuesday. This is when all the kids pinup there work and give a us a brief presentation/explanation of what they are trying to communicate and why. Then I had to critique and comment on each one with the kids looking at me.... wow that was tough. A lot of the times I just wanted to say "look, save your parents money and just drop out of this program now because your work makes my eyes bleed" but instead i had to say, " I like the direction you're going in, try to focus a little more on blank and blank, but good work". Bollocks !

Grading art is a lot harder than I thought. I have a lot more respect for all the professors that graded my crap in the past and actually gave me positive feedback.

But as the grading went on ( for 2 hours ) there was a consistent pattern where I was bad cop and the other professor was good cop. I think we made for a good team, and hopefully this will help the kids prepare for the next assessment.

Get on The Grind Like Clockwork

Alright, it's been 4 months !

Things done changed... so I'll get right into it.

I am 4 weeks into my final semester of the Master of Design program at UNSW. Yup, that's right. I'll have Masters degree by mid-November. I'm awesome ! Last semester went well, I had some great work through my classes and my grades ( marks ) were pretty damn good.

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I went home after last semester, and it was solid. Good to see everyone, and realize things really aren't that different in a year. Except all my friends are progessively getting older and more responsible while I'm regressing in that area of life. Oh well, someone's gotta do it. The whole month back home was a big blur, long nights drinking and even longre days recovering while consuming as much cable TV as I possibly could. Lot's of reality shows and ESPN.

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Last time you guys tuned in, I was working for Slushie King Australia. Yeah, that's not happening anymore. I graciously bowed out of the Slushie industry, even though I am brown it just wasn't for me. This leads me to one of my new jobs. I am currently the "Assistant Lecturer" at my University, the College of Fine Arts. I am teaching freshman design studio. So I am a member of Acedemia with a Staff card and priveledges along with a parking spot in the staff lot. I'm Awesome !

The other day I told a kid to call me Professor Awesome ! He looked at me and said "Are you serious ?" then I laughed and said "no, I'm just kidding.... but seriously... if you want to you can call me that."

This is gonna be amazing !

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Now on to job number 2. I just started this job last week. I am the new "Design Consultant" for Directflights.com.au. It's a pretty good gig. I get to help improve the user interface and user experience for the company site before its full B2C launch in a few months. It's kinda weird to be back in the corporate world again after a year, but hey, it's a resume builder. Even though I am back in an office, I am not conforming to the rules. For my interview I wore a dirty t-shirt and my AIIIR Force Ones ! WOrd. I keep it Gangsta in corporate Sydney. Yesterday, we had a meeting with the site developer, and I was one of 5 people in the meeting. The difference, they all had on nice expensive suits and shiny shoes while I was rocking a blue hoody with Converse. Word ! Gangsta. Keepin' it real !

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Just finished watching the first season of Ricky Gervais' new show Extras. It is hilarious. In the past few months I have become obsessed with Gervais. His podcast is brilliant as well, definitely check that out. Also, he wrote and starred in a Simpsons episode as well where he played his character from the Office. The guy is high-larious.

I am the Decider !

Just caught this off of The Huffington Post.

Great song ! He is the Decider... Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo !

Sumo Styles

Last wednesday Sydney hosted the 2nd annual MTV Video Music Awards at the Super Dome in Olympic Park. Guess who had front row seats and after party passes.... this guy. Thanks to my roommate J-dizzle. It was pretty cool, but I was expecting MTV NY style show but it wasn't. It was kinda bush league. The place holds about 21,000 people and it was very empty. That should say alot. Here were the people I saw.. Snoop, Ashlee Simpsons ( host), the Veronicas, the Darkness, Bernard Fanning, James Blunt, End of Fashion and Kiwi Hip-Hoppers Scribe and Savage. But the hightlight was the after party, 10:30 to 3 am open bar with everything. The greatest thing to watch was the all the hip-hop entourages that were on ass patrol during the after party and the chicks that were lining up to give humm jobs.

You guys should check out Bernard Fanning and Scribe. Good music.

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J-dizzle spent the entire week leading up to the awards babysitting Ashlee and Jessica Simpsons. Apparently JS is a bitch and a porker that eats all the time, and AS is cool and down to earth. The father loves scooby snacks.

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My visit back to the motherland is official. I will be back in MD/DC/VA on June 15th.

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One of the services my company has is renting out Sumo Suits. The giant palstic fat suits you put on and wrestle each other with. When we rent these suits out to parties, one of us has to be there to make sure everything is strapped on tight and no one dies. Last night I was on Sumo Suit duty and had to go to a party in Penrith. It was a young ladies 21st birthday and they decided to get Sumo Suits. When I show up the usual shit happens I set everything up and people start wrestling and it's pretty boring. However, last night a few of the guests at this party were professional Rugby players that play for the Penrith Panthers. BIG DUDES ! So the whole time when the girls and the grandmas are wrestling I keep trying to get the dudes to go at it and do some crazy stuff so I get some entertainment. Finally, one of the dudes puts on a suit and werestles some older family member. Pretty boring, then all the sudden things get turned up a notch... the other 2 player come charging out of no where and begin drop kicking and flying arm tackling the guy in the suit. Shit went crazy as these three dudes starting murdering each other. There were a few busted noses and a few busted lips. All in all the best Sumo Suit duty yet.

Squats Till We Poop

Since my last post I have found a job. I know, it's so out of character, Mr. " I quit my job to travel the world and be a bum" has a job. But wait let me explain. Can I help it that it is my predetermined genetic destiny to work in the job that I have. Can I help it that I have tried my whole life to avoid this job that I have. Can I help it that I moved to another continent to get a masters degree to avoid this job that I have. No... I can't ! Genetic predispositon: 1. Me: 0.

What's this job. I am a Slushie machine guy. I work for a small party hire company called Cocktail King located in Edgecliff. I am the guy that prepares the slushie mixes ( alcoholic and non) , prepares the machines, and delivers them to functions and peoples houses. In actuality, it is an amazing job. I work with 3 other guys including the owner and it is a laid back gig where I get to drive a big ass van full of slushie mixes and machines around all of sydney making peoples parties better. And it pays good.

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I can't get enough of the Peter Rosenberg Show. Podcasts are amazing and I am glad the RL introduced me to them. I get a little slice of home automatically updated in my iTunes every morning. Pretty cool. Speaking of RL, check out his blizzog... that jounx is getting better and better every post.... and its blowing up.

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The Footy just started here. It's a fun time, Autumn has arrived and NRL, AFL and Rugby Union are all starting. It's good for me because all my local teams from back home are useless. However, the Wests Tigers wont the NRL Premiership last season and the Sydney Swans won the AFL Premiership. So all local teams here are defending champs and since I watched them win last year, I look forward to watching them defend their titles.

Oh yeah, I have been trying to get into the NBL as well. But it is not the same. The only reason I will support it is because there is a team called the Brisbane Bullets. Oh thats gonna be jersey purchase for sure !

Redonkulous Linker and McDonkerton: Check this out.

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Most of you probably don't know this, but along with being an artist/designer/superhero I am a huge graffiti fan. Turns out I moved to the right country for that. Graffiti culture is very recognized in OZ and is everywhere. There are a huge number of galleries in Sydney and the eastern suburbs designated to street art. Actually, Melbourne ( mel-burn) is the "Stencil Graffiti Capital". There is a Stencil Festival being held there in a few weeks, I will defintiely try to make that. Will keep you posted ( as if you really want me to).

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Best use of Alcohol and email goes to my little Brown Buddy K-dizzle ( half of the Brown Guy Express had a guest blog back in June of 2005). Please read below.

Subj: BWEEEFCAKE!!

I AM SOO DRUKNK

LETS TO SQUATS TILL WE POOP

YEAAAAAH!!!!

YOU NEED TO COME BACK TO WEEK CAN TACKLE WHITE PEOPLWE!!

Keep up the good work man !

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Check out this website. One of the best, most intense, interactive sites I have ever seen. Makes me want to just give up... why bother when this is being done. Amazing. Litfuse Designs

Mardi Gras is Gay

Yesterday was Sydney's Mardi Gras. I have never seen that many tranies and gay people in my entire life. It was pretty bizzare. Apparently it's the second biggest gay pride/mardi gras thing in the world, behind SF. Rather than take part in the gay festivities some of our friends had a Mardi Gras party. In this country all parties have a theme. You can't just show up and drink. Most people have dress up parties ( simialr to our Halloween). Me being too cool for school and playing the "I didn't know, I'm American" card again got by with out too much harassment. The party was awesome. The dudes throwing the party were all dressed up in pink hot pants and small tight shirts. Prett gay... pretty Mardi Gras... pretty funny. The party was BYOB, which means that if you show up, late like we did, everyone will drink your stash of beer from the tub because they've already drank all theirs. This happens all the time, so me being the alcoholic that I am brought along a fifth of JB as back up. Sure enough the beer was gone... and I starting swilling back the JB. I also proceeded to pour it down peoples throats and then yelling at them for being pussies and not thinking about bring their own back up plan.

This is the most unorganized post in the history of the world. That's what happens when you drink til 5 am. I'm a bit out of it. Sorry. To make up for this awful post I give you pics...

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Went to TropFest last Sunday. It's a huge outdoor short film festival. We got there about 5, it started raining at 7, the films started at 8, we left at 8:45, and there was a huge thunderstorm by 8:47. No cabs were stopping for us cause we were soaking wet so we walked a couple miles back to the house in pouring rain. That was one of the worst storms ever, a person died because there car got swept of the road due to massive flooding. Nuts.

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This is the coolest thing ever. Simpsons live action opening sequence.

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I put some more picks up on Flickr. Check 'em out.

Youlikedags...youknowdags ?

So school is about to start ( I know I have been saying that for a while but seriously this time - 10 days), but I just got back from my vacation from vacation. Is it really necessary for me to take a vacation from the city (with 5 beaches within 10 minutes) to a place 12 hours north with 3 huge beaches.

The answer: Yes !

Byron Bay could quite possibly be the greatest place on earth. JJ and I drove up there for a few day, I got up there in a straight 10 hour shot. I was driving solo because she doesn't have a license. What ? 24 year old with out a license ?

It was a great time met lots of people and got drunk with strangers, which is always fun. Met a group of Irish dudes who were high-larious. They spoke just like Brad Pitt from Snatch ! And it never got old, the drunker I got the cooler it sounded. And after a while I even understood a 1/4 of what they were saying. Wish I had subtitles though.

Byron Bay is famous for a little hippie town called Nimbin that's about 35 mins out west from the bay. Needless to stay we stopped by there on our way back. Bought some "goods" from an old grandma slangin' on the streets. Actually everyone was slanging on the streets. It was quite weird . Coming from a non-hippy part of the world, I always associate street slangers with trouble or fiends. Well, they were definitely doped out people slanging, but they were genuinely nice.

Now I'm actually trying to focus on being a designer again, have some projects in the works... 2 websites and a catalog thingy. More on that as it unfolds.

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The Winter Oly's started. Pretty cool I guess, not gonna say much because The Redonkulous Linker pretty much has my opinion covered. But we did watch the snowboarding at my house because my roommate and her boyfriend are into it ( apparently so is the rest of the OZ). I enjoyed it, glad to see the US of A spanked everyone. That dude Shawn White is pretty sick.

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The VP shot someone... pretty cool ! What's even funnier is that the guy has a lead pellet lodged in the wall of his heart and will probably die... hahahahaha.....uuuhhh.... Seriously? What the Fark ?

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I got approached by a guy at the gym today, and no not the normal "what's your sign" and "wanna meet for a coffee later" way, about competitive powerlifting. Damn, just when I thought I was out... it pulls me back in ! Knowing my history of being prone to huge injuries leading to massive surgeries and tons of rehab... I shouldn't even consider it. But then I saw this....

Holy Hell that is amazing ! I would tear both pecs and get a hernia at the same to be able to earn a jacket with that logo on the back ! huh...huh... who is with me ?
Anyway, we'll see what happens. I'll check it out... but honestly I am so weak right now because of the pec surgery I had and the booze. But mostly the pec injury and not the constant state of drunkness I have been in for the last 7 months. I mean a good workout is a good workout... even if your hungover during it and have to take breaks in between sets to go vomit.
Plus I am exploring new avenues now... like yoga and pilates and spin classes. I heard pilates and yoga really help increase bone density and flexibility. Isn't that fascinating ! Who knew !

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Oh yeah, and I cut all my hair off. It's all gone. I was done with it.. too hot in this place for luscious locks like mine. Fresh start.

Scooby Doo Can Doo Doo... But Jimmy Carter is Smarter

Oh man, I finally got Mongo back. I felt so incomplete without him but now I am back to reading/writing my blogs, dl'ing music and pron, and just surfing the rumors on the internets.

There will be more frequent posts now

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I just bought Wedding Crashers yesterday and have already watched it 3 times ( once with commentary). That movie is HIGH-larious. Another stellar addition to that camps collection of classics.

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Went on a dl'ing rampage. Finally got my hands on the new Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins album Rabbit Furcoat. I like it. Don't love it yet, but I am sure as I keep it on repeat on my iTunes I will love it. Her vocals are AMAZING ! I think I am in love with Jenny Lewis.

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Good news for all you Jay-Z fans. Just read this from the kids over at ughh.com :

The ol' rumor mill is churning out some goodness these days. A source close to UGHH.com who works for Dr. Dre's production team out in L.A. has announced that the good doctor is going to be producing a majority of Jay-Z's upcoming LP. Yep, you read right; Jay-Z's upcoming LP. Rumors of Jay's return to the game have been rampant since the moment he announced his retirement, but the source confirms that Jay-Z has already laid down at least two Dr. Dre laced tracks for the LP, and states that the tracks are molten lava! Of course, nothing has been confirmed officially from either camp. If the rumor proves true, prepare for the Jiggaman to shut down the game in the oh-six.

Can't wait, sounds delightful.

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You guys have to check out the Post Show. It's from the My Blog is Poop guys. The shorts are amazing !

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So my summer holidays are coming to a close in a few weeks. I have actually been on break since Nov. 9th and school doesn't start back up until Feb 27th. I know it sounds great, going to the beach all day and drinking at night. Days blurring together, having no concept of date or time. Well let me tell you... it's not great... it's fan-fucking-tastic ! God bless being a student.

What a SUCK !

Alright it's been forever. Reason- My laptop died ! Hard drive crashed.

Had a good new years. Short dog and Ahsen were here. A blast ! Lot's of drunk shenanigans.

Will report more once/if I get my laptop back.

Word

End of an Era.

Me, Beer, and meat !

Life is good. Summer is in full bloom and I am still jobless and on break from school. Wheich means all I do is BBQ and drink.



Went up north last weekend and had a weekend with nature. Learn more about that here.

Martin causing havoc on the dance floor

My Swiss flatmate Martin "the Cheese" Bueler has left 27 Ridge St. It was a sad day. He is spending the next 2 months driving down the east coast of OZ and then heading home to Swiss-land. I will be visiting him there in 2007, so if you wanna roll to Swiss-Land hit me up.

Caroline, my other flatmate, has left for the next three months to intern for the UN in Singapore. She's over there fighting the good fight. She is subletting her room until her return next year. However, I have a strong feeling she will move in with her boyfriend when she returns.

Also, all the Canadian friends I had made when I met Nadine are all gone now. She is the last one left in Sydney. You can keep up with their adventures here and here.

So it's been a good 6 months, I made tons of friends and plan on seeing them all through out my travels.

The new era will begin this Tuesday when Ass-man gets here. He will be here for about a month, and Short-Dog will be joining us around New Years time. So let the good times keep rolling.

Sorry for the lack of pics, my laptop decided it doesn't want to read my camera's SD card. But it will be fixed soon.

***RIP to Richard Pryor***

Good Music in 2005

Ryan Adams was a busy beaver this year... making my list twice

Alright boys and girls. Here it is... a list of all the music I loved this year.

Like SR over at Redonkulous Links, I have a top 15 along with some misc categories I thought were quite important.

Like to hear it... well, here it goes.

Top 15 of 2005

1. Common – BE
2. Ryan Adams – Jacksonville Nights
3. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
4. Beck – Guero
5. M.I.A. – Arular
6. Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow
7. Kanye West – Late Registration
8. Foo Fighters – In Your Honor
9. Ryan Adams – Jacksonville Nights
10. Gorillaz - Demon Days
11. Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
12. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
13. Jack Johnson – In Between Dreams
14. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
15. Cage – Hell’s Winter

----Misc. Categories----

Most Played Track of the Year:

Evil - Interpol off the Antics album
( I know it's from 2004 but the playcount on this song was so high I had to mention it )

Best Hip-Hop Diss Song:

Jadakiss / Fat Joe - Checkmate VSL ( Fuck 50 Cent Campaign )

Most Anticipated Album That Wasn't Released:

Jenny Lewis – Rabbit Fur Coat
(Solo project from Rilo Kiley's lead singer also child star of the movie The Wizard)

Most Anticipated Album Just Announced:

Nas and DJ Premier collabo project.

New Album I Didn’t Get Around to Playing Enough to Add to the List:

Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have it So Much Better

Best New Music I was introduced to while in OZ:

Old Man River

George Byrne

Grand Fatal

Minus the Bear (From Seattle)

There it is kids.

PS. RSJ get yours up.

My First Sensai

Yesterday the world lost a great icon who impacted so many lives across the globe, Pat "Mr. Miyagi" Morita.

Mr. Miyagi was the reason I wanted to take up martial arts, eventhough I never did. Mr. Miyagi taught me that discipline and honor are a key part of life. They are also useful to have when waxing a car, painting a fence, playing a monkey drum, nurturing a bonsai tree and catching flies with chop sticks.

Also, Mr. Miyagi showed the world that a creepy,old Asian man can befriend a strapping, teenage lad without there being (much) sexual tension. Later he went on to prove to us that the same is true with blossoming, teenage girl who he trained with the same respect that he would a male.

Tonight I will feast and drink in your honor... and I hope you get a nice place in that giant dojo in the sky. You will truly be missed.

Musical orgy

Apparently Wilco, The Shins, The Walkmen and Polyphonic Spree got together had a few drinks and gave birth to Old Man River. I wish somebody had told me earlier so I could have watched.

Anyway, I saw this guy last night at the Houpetoun and it was awesome. At first it's him just strumming his gee-taur on stage for a few songs. Then he invites one of the guys that opened for him, George Byrnes, and they belt out some sick songs. Finally, he calls over his drummer and bassist and things took off. These guys fucking rocked ! I think at one point people from the audience were coming up on stage and strapping on guitars. Craziness. You guys shoud check him out.

Soundtrack to War

Today I visited the Museum of Contemporary Art. The current exhibit at the MCA is Interesting Times, which focuses on contemporary artists from OZ. I enjoyed most of the pieces and installations at the gallery, but one really stood out. It was a movie by George Gittoes, an Australian artist, called Soundtrack To War. The movie documents music and war. Gittoes interviews various US soldiers in Iraq asking them what music they listen to during war. Wether driving in the tanks, getting ready to leave for a mission, or just to get by in the hellish situation they are in. Some of the clips even show the soldiers performing there own music in the form of rapping, strumming gore metal riffs, or singing patriotic Toby Keith-esque country songs. It really shows how young and silly most the troops "protecting" our liberties really are.

You should check it out.

Drunk Dials

I made SOOOO many drunk dials last night. If you got a drunken, slurred message... I apologize. If you didn't, email me your cell phone number and I will.

PS. I drank for 16 hours straight yesterday!

and now... this.

Lovefest 2005

So as of last Firday my first semester of the Masters program is over. I am 1/3 of the way there. Also, I am on summer vacation until February ! School is like constantly hitting yourself in the head with a hammer. It hurts like hell when your doing it, but it feels so damn good when it stops.

To celebrate, a bunch of us attended the Lovefest in Newtown on Sunday. It was a huge outdoor music festival with 4 stages and tons of booths. I got there around 3 and was compeletley hungover but downed a 40 and was right back in it. From there we went to the Towny to grab a few brews. We ended the night at a party in Newtown where I met lots of interesting people.

Let me tell you a little about Newtown. Newtown is a very artsy, hippie, I'm too cool for school type fo area. There is an ongoing battle between Newtown and Surry Hills ( my neighborhood) over which part is cooler to live in. Obviously I think its Surry Hills, not just because I live there, because it is more central to the city, my school, and has a pretty solid nighlife and art scene. Anyways, the only real difference that stood out to me was the abundance of 20 something, white males, with dreadlocks. Geeez. We get it, white people can have dreads too.

Harlan McCraney

Being over here in the OZ, I don't get to watch the brilliantly amazing Comedy Central anymore. However, I do surf the internets... a lot !

I just came across a Comedy Central movie called "Harlan McRaney, Presidential Speechalist"

I only saw a bit of it but it looks HIGH-larious. Check it out here, and let me know if it has or hasn't already aired on Comedy Central. If anyone has the whole thing let me know so I can grab it from you.

(Source: Fabrica.it )

Hot in heeerrrre

It's Halloween and it's hot as monkey balls here. Being a big, hairy, dumpy guy is not cool (no pun intended) when a majority of the ozone layer has depelted in the country you live in. The sun is so F*ing hot here. Even though its only about 80-85, it feels like a 100. The other day I saw a guy melt, it was awkward. He was all like " help me" and I was all like "dude, I don't know what to do." I hope I can take the heat a lot better by the time summer gets here.

Also, the heat is breaking out some crazy creatures in the city. The arts campus where I spend most of my time is crawling with gigantic roaches and spiders. I saw a flying roach the other day at least 4" long. I had to get out of its way. And the bats here are crazy too. They are huge and you can hear their wings flapping when they fly around.

Last Friday I hung out with the lead singer of The Used. He was cool guy.**backstory** The girl who used to live in my room before I moved in is best friends with Jade, my roomate. Her and Jade both worked in the music industry. They are always attending shows and press conferences. At one of these press conferences, her and the lead singer of the used met and fell madly in love with eachother. A month later, she moves back to LA with him and they are now engaged. **end backstory** So they are back here touring and she stopped by with him to hang at the house. We all went to dinner and then came back to my place to drink afterwards. About 50 people were there and I didn't know 75% of them. A lot of friends of friends who just came to hang out with a rockstar. All in all it was a crazy night, we drank til about 7-7:30 and a good time was had by all. There was some drama but nothing out of the ordinary.

**sidenote** RSJ: I plugged [velvet] a few times, don't think anything came out of it. Sorry, I tried **end sidenote**

I am pissed I missed the Donkies annual Halloween party. There were some solid costumes this year.

NEWS FLASH !

This morninng at 7:30 am I caught an Underpants Gnome in my room. It's trapped under a pint glass. It's half Kangaroo and half Gnome. When I rattled it, it ate the evidence ( my unerpants ).

( I know most people will think that the more unbelievable part of this story will be the time I woke up today.... FU because it's finals week )

More as it breaks.....