Malaise and apathy...

Aargh. I just feel so blah and apathetic today. I don't want to be at work and the patients are grating on my nerves. I have the chance to go out tonight but part of me just wants to sit on my ass instead. I should go to the gym after work but I don't want to. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's pms. Who the hell knows. All I know is that I'd really love a nap right about now.

There's also this person who's really getting on my nerves. I "bumped" into her on mySpace relatively recently. Anyways, it seems like EVERY OTHER FREAKING THING she writes is about her boyfriend. I mean, get a life! Ok, so you love him, but this is bordering on obsessive stalker. I really wonder how he feels about her proclaiming her undying love for him every other line for the whole mySpace world to see. It's almost creepy but it's definitely annoying.

The other shitty thing about it is it makes me feel like even more of a loser for not having a boyfriend. I've been fairly ok about it lately, not really thinking about it too much, but every so often the whole thought rears its ugly head and I get all depressed. I guess this is one of those times. Ugh. I really think I'm going to be alone the rest of my life. Where the hell would I meet anyone? I'm the invisible girl, no one even notices me.

Ugh. Before I make myself even more depressed, I'm out.
Ciao,
S

A few quick recs...

Ok, a few things I wanted to share:

Damone fucking rules! Check 'em out! Seriously!

Also,check out the We Are Scientists video for "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt." It cracks me up...threeish minutes of the band being chased around by a guy in a bear suit. It's so weird it works.

I've decided I luurrvve the song "Monsters" by Matchbook Romance. Download it at Download it here.

Tweak's song "End My Days With You" which samples MCR's "Demolition Lovers." Normally I'm not a huge rap fan, but I gotta give this credit. Dowload it here.

Work is going SO slowly today. Ugh. Good news is, I might have another freelancing gig for a mag out of Detroit. Yay! Also some possibility of a job with a mag from the East Coast. For the moment, life is good.
Ciao,
Sasha

The Oohlas

Ok, that wasn't so bad:) Ollie was totally cool and nice and it went really well! Yay! I'm psyched too because she said they'd be touring soon and I told her they need to come to Michigan, particularly Ann Arbor (heh heh, yes, me trying to use my meager influence). She said that when I see them (not if!) to let her know I'm going to be there ahead of time and she'll get me on the list. The List! Sweet!
I can't wait till their album comes out, their EP is awesome so I'm sure the album will be fantastic. Not to mention, I love her hair:) Yes, I'm a bit star-struck but I can't help it. This is very exciting. If you'd asked me this time last year if I thought I'd be trying to get into music journalism I'd probably have laughed in your face. This is SO much more fun and exciting than the doctoral program I was in! Maybe leaving DC and not getting a teaching job was really a good thing...guess I'll have to wait and see...
Ciao,
S

Very Nervous

Aargh...I'm so excited but so nervous. In a few minutes I'm doing my interview with Ollie Tamale of The Oohlas. My first big music interview and I'm totally scared. I'm sure it'll be fine, but crikey, I hope I don't make an ass of myself!

Kee-razy, man...

I can't believe I'm doing this. I hate reality tv. So, it astonishes even me that I'm going through with applying for the MTV/Rolling Stone reality show. I'll never get picked in a million years, but I still can't believe I'm even trying. I must be mentally insane. Luckily, Ben is awesome and has agreed to help me make the video portion of my application. I'm going to feel like a complete moron doing that but, oh well. Who'd have thought I'd ever try to be on a reality show? A summer at Rolling Stone is good incentive though...

On a different note, I'm quite impressed with myself and forgot to mention this the other day. I have this little music addiction. I can deal with it if I want to (heh heh)...but I beg, buy and "steal" (mySpace music, i don't illegally download! i heart iTunes!) music whenever I can. So, the fact that I went into no less than three cool indie music stores this weekend to do interviews and managed to go home only having bought two used cds, is somewhat amazing. It wasn't easy, let me tell you;) All for the story, all for the story.

My mom and dad come home on Thursday and I'm actually looking forward to it. The house is really quiet when it's just me rattling around in it. I think I've done my fair share of sowing some wild oats while they've been gone (dyed my hair purple which I still love, got a tattoo, threw a party, yada yada yada), so I think I can cope with them being back. For a while at least;) Until they make me nuts again that is.

Ok, two photos from the party. The first is the pile of iPods from the contest, if somebody had a nano we'd have covered almost all the iPods out there:) Then there's Husband and Thomas. Husband looks either irritated or vaguely amused, I'm not sure which. I think Thomas is attempting to throw gang signs. Heh, yeah...I've also come to the conclusion that Husband didn't get sick after the party from antibiotics and alcohol. I blame the synthetic cheese and alcohol. Damn nacho cheese!

Ciao,
~Sasha

Recovery

Aargh...so tired. Well, I think the party went quite well and I'd say I successfully cooked for 13 people without going crazy or accidentally poisoning everyone.

It was a lot of fun. Tons of food, no one left hungry that was for sure. We did the playlist contest (I'm psyched to say Wife won with a pretty damn good playlist) and it was fun to see what music people brought. It was pretty funny though when Husband and his friend Thomas decided there was "us" and "them" when it came to music (I like to hope I'm included in the "us" group...). Hmm, maybe you had to be there for that one.

Drinking Jenga followed, there was some stripping, a wine glass full of tequila, and general hilarity. Unfortch, Husband discovered that antibiotics and alcohol don't mix well and his night ended less than stellar-ly (yeah, i know it isn't a word).

Nonetheless, there were some damn good quotes, which, after about 17 Coronas, it seemed like a good idea to write down (ok, i didn't have that many beers, you get the picture though). I think most of these are courtesy of Thomas who amuses me to no end:

• The end is very fucking nigh.
• Friends don't let friends rock lint.
• Fight Club you asshole!
• Now I have to go to Best Buy to buy my Swedish fucking deathmetal shit.
• Now I fucking know why there was prohibition.

Mmm, yeah, maybe you had to be there for some of those too. I had a great time though and I hope everyone else did too.

Spent most of the day fighting off a headache (not fair, I didn't even feel buzzed after all I drank last night but I still have to suffer with the headache today!) and running around Ann Arbor from indie record store to indie record store "getting the story." All I could think of was this bit from Hunter S. Thompson's Generation of Swine:

"Did you have fun?" asked the bell captain, as he opened the driverside door for me.
"Are you crazy?" I said. "I have a serious deadline to meet. We've been at the tattoo parlor all night. It was the only way to do it."
"What?" he said. "You got yourself tattooed?"
"Oh no," I told him. "Not me." I pointed to Maria, who was already far into the lobby. "She's the one who got the tattoo," I said. "A huge red and black panther between her shoulder blades."
He nodded slowly, but I could see that his face was tense. "What do you mean?" he said. "You made that poor girl get tattooed? Just for a newspaper story?"
"It was the right thing to do," I said. "We had no choice. We are, after all, professionals."


Well, I had no choice and I got the story, so it's all good. I also scored an interview with Ollie Tamale from The Oohlas. I'm going to speak with her this week and I'm psyched. I am, after all, a professional ;)
Ciao,
~S

The Fun Continues...

Wow, things just keep getting better! I emailed Ultragrrrl about The Oohlas to see if I could get a press release or some additional info on the band and she offered (I didn't even ask!) to help arrange an interview with them. How cool is that?! So, I may get to do my first band interview which would be super sweet (and, it's pretty damn cool that she got back to me so fast, I didn't think I'd hear so quickly). Wow, cool.

I may also be able to slay three classes this summer and that way I'd only have to take two in the fall. Best of all, two of the classes are these intense, one week classes, so I'd be done with them really quickly. It would definitely help cut down on all the driving back and forth to MSU. I hope that works out...

Party time tomorrow! I'm such a bad host though, I still haven't gone grocery shopping for the party, still haven't cleaned, haven't put together my playlist...god, I'm so lazy. I also need to finish my story on Schoolkids Records for Monday. Aargh, aargh, aarrgh. Too much to do, not enough time. So, with all this on my plate (and an interview I have to do tomorrow morning) should I even be considering going to a show at the Blind Pig tonight? Of course not. Am I? yeeess. I'm so dumb sometimes.
Ok, time to go Meijering, at least I can cross one thing off my to-do list then.
Ciao,
S

The Oohlas

Dude, I'm fucking stoked! Just got my assignments for the May issue of The Crutch and I get to do a profile piece on The Oohlas! Woo hoo! Not only are they a sweet band, they just signed to Ultragrrrl's label, Stolen Transmission AND I pitched the idea to my editor and he liked it, so, I get to do a story on a band I'm psyched about. Too cool:)

Wife gave me a heads up to a new reality show that Rolling Stone and MTV are doing. Basically, the people that get chosen will compete for a writing job at RS. I'd never get chosen and the application is about 100 pages long, but who knows, maybe I'll give it a try. Nothing ventured, right?

Psyched about my soiree/fiesta this weekend. It looks like my dinner party has grown to ginormous proportions. I've never cooked for 13 people before. This will be interesting...Heh, I'm asking people to bring their iPods or Mp3 players and I want to do a DJ party thingy--everyone gets to do a 15 minute setlist and we'll vote on who has the best set. I have to figure out a prize for the winner. I hope people try it, I think it could be totally fun.

Right, enough bitching. Ok, some musical recommendations:

• We Are Scientists: They rock my socks. For fans of Nightmare of You and The Killers (so, Husband, you will hate them. Don't even bother). I'm also very amused by their cover art. Three exceedingly nerdy looking guys holding kittens. WTF??
• The Hush Sound: Download "Momentum" from their myspace page.

Ciao, ~S

Drool...

Ok, allow me this totally teenie moment. The RIAA honored a bunch of Grammy winners and legends at a private ceremony yesterday and MCR was asked to play a tribute to Green Day. Of course the media was there so photos were taken...can I just say having Green Day and MCR in one photo is enough to make me swoon?:)

Er, yeah, I'll try to control myself now, sorry about that.

On a related note, MCR just released a DVD/CD set called "Life on the Murder Scene" and it is totally awesome. Lots of concert footage, videos and all sorts of goodies. If you like MCR, you'll definitely want to check it out.

Ugh, I really don't want to go to class tonight. I have to give a presentation on journalism during the Civil War...I don't waaannnt to give a preeessennntation... (whine, whine, whine). Damn, I hate Tuesdays.
At least it was brightened a bit by seeing MCR and Green Day all together;)
Ciao,
~S

Let's try this again

Ok, now that I've switched sites and all, let's try this again. I finally got the courage to get a tattoo over the weekend and am super happy with how it came out. My tattooist (is that a word??), Mike Emmett over at Name Brand in Ann Arbor, did an awesome job.

Here it is:
It came out exactly like I wanted and though it was kinda sore yesterday, doesn't really bother me at all today, so that's a good thing. I'll explain the significance of it some other day when I don't have homework to finish for tomorrow!!
Ciao,
~S

Update

Ok,
In a fit of total paranoia I removed some content. It isn't a problem with blogger, just me being, well, paranoid.
Google yourself sometime and you'll see what I mean.
Yikes.
~S

Warped here I come...

Werd,
Happy, happy, joy, joy:) I got tix to Warped and I'm PSYCHED. I'm hoping I can drag Husband along if he isn't too busy that weekend:) I figure if he's busy I can always find someone else to drag with me.

Also, my hair now has purple streaks. It's so cool. My mom will hate it.

Not much else right now, things are pretty quiet. Looks like it'll be a pretty dull St. Paddy's day. Oh well, that's ok. If you're really Irish, you don't need to buy into all that:)
Ciao,
~S

Young for Eternity

Oh. My. God. The Subways fucking rawk. Went down to the Magic Stick last night to check them out and they were amazing. The Virgin Millionaires and The Shys opened--I liked The Shys best of the two, but both were good, definitely better than the opening bands for Hard-Fi.

But then The Subways came out and blew me away. They just ripped into their set, and were all over the place. I swear, Charlotte Cooper is so fucking cute I can hardly stand it. She was just this blur of bass, black sequins and blonde hair--I have no idea how she can play the bass and be bouncing all over the place like that, but she manages to do it all and just rock at the same time. Billy Lunn and Josh Morgan were totally great too (I couldn't really see Josh v. well--I was standing kinda far back and I'm too short, oh well). They ended with Rock & Roll Queen and the crowd went totally insane, mosh pit forming and all.

God, what a great show. I'd see them again in a second. They're going to be big. I'm telling you, it's the British Invasion all over again.
I got a few pics, they aren't great (again, I was kinda far back), but you get the idea.
Now I've got to go catch up on my sleep:)
Ciao,
S

The Crutch & this week's recommendations

Hey,
So, woo hoo, the March issue of The Crutch is out and I've got a piece in it! Download your issue here (it's a pdf, so you'll need Adobe or Mac's Preview to view it).

Ok, onto the recommendations for this week:

• K.T. Tunstall "Suddenly I See" Tunstall is a Scottish singer/songwriter. She's quite popular in England right now...I confess I haven't heard any of her other stuff, but I really like this song.
• Lady Sovereign "Random V. Teen Spirit" Now, I don't know if this is sacrilege or just brilliant...v. cool smash-up of Lady Sov's "Random" and Nirvana's "Teen Spirit". Download it at her myspace site.
• Garbage's "Boys Wanna Fight". Fun song, v. dance-y, so if you like their older stuff, you might not like it. Great for working out to. Listen to it here.
• As predicted, Arctic Monkey mania has hit the US. Check out "A Certain Romance" before they get overplayed on the radio.

Party tonight:) Yay. So glad it's Friday! ~S

PS-I had more recommendations but a few accidentally got deleted and I'm too lazy to rewrite them right now:(

New Favorite Site

My new favorite waste-your-time, satisfy-your-desire-for-celeb-gossip is ohnotheydidn't! It isn't quite as fun as Pink, but still quite amusing:)

"The days go by oh so slow..."

Geeze, do they ever. Work has been boring as hell this week. Sure, I've still had my share of idiots, but I guess most of them must be in hiding because the phones haven't been ringing off the hook. It's weird because the idiots make me crazy, but at the same time they at least make the days go by fast. Not a lot of idiots=days go by sooooo slooooow. I can't believe it's only Wednesday too. Two more days of this. Aargh.

It should be fun weekend though--Ben is have a b-day bash on Friday night and I'm pretty sure Husband and Wife will be there (will they? I dunno, Husband hasn't emailed me back...must be nuts at work;) Then on Sunday night I'm going to see The Subways at the Magic Stick with Jim. I'm quite psyched and love the Magic Stick. Too bad it's on a Sunday night and I've got school the next day. Oh well, I'll live. I guess I'll be recuperating on Saturday (and doing homework, boo, hiss).

My parents leave for Italy soon...house to myself~yay! Woo hoo! I know I'll manage to freak myself out at night with my overactive imagination, but at least I've got my ferocious attack cat, the G!ck (yes, it's spelled right) to protect me. Heh, if you know the G!ck, you'll realize that if I'm depending on him, I'm in BIG trouble:) I love him to death, but he's afraid of everything. I'd be better off relying on Cosette. She'll take a limb off. Seriously.

At least I've got a guitar lesson this afternoon, so that's fun. I think I'm making pretty decent progress and I'm just about finished with my first book, so that's cool. Right now my teacher has me working on "Losing My Religion" by REM and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. I'm crap at power chords though, so Teen Spirit sounds less than great. Oh well, I'll keep at it. I'm also dinking around with a few Good Charlotte songs and some other Green Day stuff. I'm irritated though because I had this big stack of tabs and chords for songs but I think I accidentally threw it out. Grr. I wish I could find the chords for "I Want to be Buried in Your Backyard" by Nightmare of You-so far I've only found the tabs and I'm kinda crap at reading tabs right now.

Anywho, almost quitting time (thank god!)
Ciao,
Sasha

We're Falling Apart to Half Time

What are you supposed to do when someone you thought was your friend seems to be avoiding you? This whole situation is so sixth-grade or maybe I'm imagining things. I'm not sure...

I've known E since we were juniors in college. We worked together and just started hanging out over time. I guess we kind of bonded over the fact we were both going into teaching because, when I think about it, I'm not sure how much else we really have in common. Anyways, I've known her for about 8 years now. We got in one totally stupid girl fight a few years ago (over a guy, of course) and after that I was never stupid enough to tell her what I really thought about her taste in men. I have some difficulties with the guy she's seeing right now (mostly because I don't think he treats her very well, I think she could do a lot better and he just seems to make her upset most of the time) but I will NOT, under ANY circumstances, say anything like that to her. I learned from the last time around.

So, since I moved back to Ann Arbor, we've been hanging out again, but not very much. I understand that she has her own circle of friends, but it seems like the times we do actually hang out, all she does is talk about the guy--either how great he is (if they're together at that moment) or how miserable she is because they broke up for the 700th time. When they're together she's spending all of her time with him or planning for when she will be with him and thus too busy to hang out. When they've broken up she's too miserable to hang out. So, it gets a little frustrating, but again, I'm not getting into that fight again, so I don't say anything.

Here's the other thing that bothers me though, I feel like this friendship has become totally one-sided. She never calls, never wants to hang out and on the rare occasions I do get her out, she usually takes off early, claims she's tired but I can't quite believe her all the time. It's so shitty of me, but I really think she's running off to be with him. It sucks because I thought we were better friends than that.

So, I've dealt with not hanging out much. Lately she's been totally uncommunicative though. I mean SILENT. I called last weekend, she said she was sick and would call me back (she really did sound sick, so no problem there). Thing is, she never called back. I tried calling again in the middle of the week to see how she was doing. She said she was feeling somewhat better, couldn't talk and would call me back. No call. I tried again this weekend, she didn't answer, I left a message and haven't gotten a call back. Maybe she's still sick. I'd really like to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I'm getting annoyed. No, I"m getting pissed. I thought we were friends. I'm beginning to get the feeling that she's screening her calls and the only reason she picked up in the middle of the week was because she didn't recognize the number I was calling from. I don't know what's going on and I obviously won't find out since she appears to be avoiding me.

Maybe I'm making more out of this than I should. Maybe she's just been feeling under the weather. I know she hasn't been up to her ears with schoolwork because she was on vacation all week. Maybe she's just had other things going on, but I thought she was enough of a friend that she could at least give me a quick call back. I'm really pretty hurt by this. That's it. The proverbial ball is in her court. I'm not calling anymore. If she wants to talk, she knows where to find me, but I'm not running after her anymore.
~S

Kind of amusing

I found this game (? not sure what to call it) at a friends mySpace page and thought it would be kind of fun to try. Pick a musician or a band and answer the questions using only song titles... let me know if you decide to try it!

My Chemical Romance! (Of course)

1.) Are you a male or female? The Ghost of You

2.) Describe yourself: I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

3.) How do you feel about yourself? Bury Me in Black

4.) Describe where you currently live: Cubicles

5.) If you could go anywhere, where would you go? To the End

6.) Your best friend is...Helena

7.) Your favorite color is...Early Sunsets Over Monroeville

8.) You know...What they Do to Guys Like Us In Prison

9.) What's the weather like? This is the Best Day Ever

10.) If your life was a TV show, what would it be called? Demolition Lovers

11.) What is life to you? It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish

12.) What is the best advice you have to give? Vampires Will Never Hurt You

13.) If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Our Lady of Sorrows

14.) What's the worst situation you could be in? Drowning Lessons

15.) What's the best situation you could be in? I Never Told You What I do for A Living

16.) What do you want most right now? Give 'Em Hell, Kid


**( The picture above was a "prayer card" created by MCR. It's St. Orpheia, the patron saint of broken guitar strings, heh heh. I just really liked the illustration, very cool.)

My name is trouble

Wow, hard to believe how much things can change in just a week. My old Subaru Impreza is no longer mine, I had to bid it farewell on Saturday and it was a little sad...it's so stupid, but last time I drove it, I didn't realize that would be the last time ever. I know it's dumb to get so sentimental over a car, but oh well. I can' t help it:)

Don't worry, I'm not up all night crying over my car, mostly because I am now the incredibly proud owner of a lovely blue Subaru Impreza WRX Limited. It is the nicest car I have ever, ever had. I will probably be paying for it the rest of my life, but I absolutely adore it. It's freaking loaded, turbo charged, spoiler, the whole nine yards. Best of all, it's a manual which makes me very happy. I learned to drive on a manual, my first car was a manual and then the last Impreza was an automatic (not my choice but it was the best available used car at the time I needed a car). I missed having a manual-it's way better for driving in the snow and, hell, let's face it, it's pretty damn cool to be a girl who can drive a manual transmission car. Of course I park miles from anyone else, I don't want anything happening to this car (heh, it's going to have to last me for aeons!) Ok, enough gushing. Forgive me, I've just never had a new-new car, so this is really exciting.

Ok, in music news...I'm going to see Alkaline Trio in April with Jim which I'm very excited about. I saw them open for My Chemical Romance back in September and they were great. I can't wait to see them again! That'll be a busy week music-wise, I see Fall Out Boy on April 20 and then AT on April 23. It's all good though:) I'm seeing The Subways in two weeks too, they'll be at the Magic Stick which is a totally cool small venue in Detroit. I was there for the first time when I saw Hard-Fi and it's just a great intimate space, very much like the Blind Pig. So, yay, music outings:)

A few recommendations:

• "Cosmopolitan" by Nine Black Alps: This is the free download this week on iTunes. Good song and did I mention it was free??
• "New English" by Ambulance Ltd. They kind of remind me of Idlewild, you can hear more of their stuff on their mySpace page.
• Speaking of Idlewild...Their album Warnings/Promises is amazing! Of course it's on iTunes, but if you aren't sure about downloading the whole album, do yourself the favor and at least get "As If I Hadn't Slept," "I Want a Warning", and "Love Steals Us from Loneliness". You'll thank me.
• The Oohlas: This group is going to be big. They just signed with Stolen Transmission and if you want to get some of their stuff before everyone jumps on the bandwagon, go to their website and download "Gone", "The Cahuenga Shuffle" and "The Rapid". Lead singer Ollie Tamale has this totally ethereal voice. They also just got a write-up in Alternative Press magazine, so check 'em out!
• Nightmare of You: Oh. My. God. This band is amazing. The more I listen to them, the more I am falling in love. Seriously. They're getting quite a cult following, and it's easy to see why. Go download their album at iTunes or, at least, "In the Bathroom Is Where I Want You," "I Want to be Buried in Your Backyard," and "My Name is Trouble." If you're from Ann Arbor, buy "The Heaven Studded Cinctures." Ann Arbor is mentioned in the song:) Heck, just buy the whole album, it's so good you won't regret it.

I could totally recommend tons more but I'll try and restrain myself. This post has gotten away from me as it is.
Ciao!
~Sasha