Qualificafied

My coworker Dayna and I were chatting the other day when she asked me what type of store I would open if I had the chance. It didn't take long for me to respond with a bookstore, she quickly added that it should be a used bookstore. Of course, that works. After thinking for a bit she decided that the store would also need to have hookahs. Brilliant. After coming up with a clever name [which will not be revealed until we get it trademarked] we decided that we would be business partners in this endeavor someday.

Today we were discussing how the hiring process would differ from that of our current place of employment. We decided that to work at our used book and hookah store you would have to pass a common sense test. The following is one question you may find on the test: "If the outgoing mail is taken away at four-fifty on Monday afternoon, four-fifty on Tuesday afternoon, and four-fifty on Wednesday afternoon, at what time does the outgoing mail get taken away on Thursday?" See, it would make sense that if a certain task is done everyday at the same time, on any given day that task will be performed at the time that it normal occurs. Seriously, this is what I have to deal with every day. Everyday, it's a gettin' closer.. you have my love.
















Dead birds - another common occurence. Much easier to deal with than people with no common sense.

Movies in my blood

Wow, it's been a busy few weeks, I can't believe it has taken me this long to post. Okay, so many things to write about, but I better just pick a few. This weekend, beginning on Thursday, I went up to the Britchers for a little vaca from the world of law firm warehouses. It was a very good time. On Saturday me and Brandon's day consisted of the following: running five miles, showering [not together], watching a movie, getting more movies from the library, getting some pizza, watching two more movies [including "A Scanner Darkly," which I really liked], playing some tennis, then watching two more movies before going to bed [again, not together]. Yeah, so five movies in one day, I'm pretty sure that's a record for me. Plus we watched a Bond flick the night before. Anyway, it provides a smooth transition...

One film I watched the other week was "The Battle for Algiers". I can't possibly communicate how relevant this film is to today's world. It is a documentary-styled, historically accurate film depicting some of the Algerians rebelion against the French colonization. Though the film does not necessarily present one side over the other I felt that most people would sympathize more for the Algerians. But clearly the Algerians act in the manner of a terrorist organization [structured as cells, using women to plant bombs, guerilla warfare in general]. As a quasi-pacifist I can't agree with the actions taken, but I certainly wonder what would work in the face of an oppressive state. The Algerians attempted a strike, but the French practically enslaved them back into work. All that to say that it's an excellent film to create discussion. Plus I really liked the score. Another film I watched last week was "All Quiet on the Western Front". This film from the Thirties is a pretty straight forward antiwar film. An excellent and sad film; a testament to the lost generation that came out of World War One.

Okay, so there are a few movies for you to go watch and discuss amongst... ourselves. Anyway, a much appreciated public thank you to the Britchers for a wonderful weekend and all they did. Good people they are. One semi-funny story: Brandon and I went to a tobacco shop where I smoked a cigar while watching the Cubs win on Friday and felt like I was going to puke for an hour afterwards [end preface]. Brandon is a up and coming cigar aficionado and we went to the store because he was invited by a CAO rep. Before we went in Brandon said something along the lines of, "if it's one of these buy three get one free deals, I'll be pissed." We walk in and the rep says to Brandon, "Hey, I'm from CAO, you ever heard of us? [mistake one] We got a special deal here, buy three get the fourth free [mistake two]." I smiled to myself, knowing that Brandon would not be buying a CAO today. I was absolutely right. It's also humorous that the guy who I go to regarding questions of personal health encourages me to smoke cigars. Oh well. you have my love.

Don't stop believin'

The greatest part of a road trip can sometimes the destination, and sometimes it's the [ahem] journey, but last night for Katie, Chris and me it was both. In our road trip to Davenport [road trips can be short too, you don't necessarily have to travel Route Sixty-Six, right?] to see Wilco play at the Adler Theatre, we experienced the fullness of life: joy, sorrow, laughter, pain, anxiety, hope and gaseousness. I started off the trip by examining Katie's iPod only to find the Journey power ballad, "Don't Stop Believin'", an idea, if you will, which would inevitably turn into the very essence of the trip.

We were blazing down iEighty, about forty minutes from DPort, messing around with the various fun frames on our camera phones when traffic stopped. And I mean, stopped. As we approach the nearest off-ramp at a glacial pace we see that a firetruck has blocked off the interstate and is diverting traffic onto the highway, beyond said firetruck, no accident, fire or otherwise traffic worthy stopping events could be seen. Just two empty lanes of pavement. After a brief thought of just gunning it down an empty interstate, we thought better and followed the detour convoy. We still have no idea what was beyond that firetruck.

The first town we came to was Tipton. While Katie and Chris taunted small town Iowa, I wished upon them God's calling to small villages in the Midwest. It appeared that the people of Tipton, Iowa thought that a parade had entered into their midst. They gawked at the long line of traffic that was passing through their tiny town. We noticed how appropriately named the Stoplight Cafe was [note the singular form]. Somewhere in between Tipton and New Liberty Katie discovered that her phone could also take short movies. She would attempt to sneakily capture our words and faces as we drove along the Herbert Hoover Highway. I would be talking along and turn around to find her phone inches away from my face. There was a lot of laughter on the HHH. In New Liberty I yelled out the window, a la "Slayering", at a boy that "Old Liberty rules!!" He waved back.

It was at this point that Journey's power ballad came and brought us the strength we needed to persevere. The show started at seven-thirty, and by this point it was twenty or more minutes past said time. We were more than worried that we would miss any part of the Wilco set. Thankfully there was an opening band, Low, to provide a buffer. As we traveled along the HHH we would blurt out lyrics to the ballad, hoping that we would not be the ones who stopped believing. It was also at this point when we started to question the song's lyrics [don't stop believin' - hold on to the feelin' - streetlight - people]. There was a quiet few moments when, I believe, we all started to think about what would happen if we didn't make it to the show on time, but then the light of day broke through and iEighty broke through the fields and we drew near to it.

I was giddy with anticipation as we strode towards the Theatre. We reminded ourselves that we hadn't stopped believing and would thus be rewarded. As we rounded the corner and entered the doors we knew that our entrance coincided with the break between Low and Wilco. Perfect. My giddiness continued as we made our way to our seats and was told by my seat-neighbors that Low had been "boring", so maybe we didn't miss much at all.

Darkness fell, music began. It was glorious. They opened with "A Shot in the Arm" and played through most of the great songs off of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost is Born and their latest, Sky Blue Sky. The only other addition was "Via Chicago" [of course]. I honestly don't believe that I will ever experience as good of musicians [outside of classical and elite jazz] as I did last night. They were amazing. Nels Cline is absolutely incredible, and really fun to watch. What blows me away is that they are able to play all of the YHF deconstruct-rock live. And not only live, but to play it with such precision. To build up this huge wall of sound and come out of it perfectly into a chorus... just amazing.

They played through the first five or six songs without talking in between playing. But eventually Jeff warmed up to the crowd and began to chat with the people sitting in front of him. For one song he sang without hiding behind a guitar and shook the front rower's hands like a politician [Tweedy/Kotche in Oh-Eight? They already have my vote]. Luckily the songs were so loud that Jeff, or anyone else, couldn't hear if any members of the audience were talking. And there were only a few yellers; a guy several rows behind me was probably pretty bummed that they didn't play "She's a Jar". At one point during the curfew-shortened [BOO DPort!!!] encore there was a fight on the other side of the auditorium which caused for Jeff to call for security, then the band stood on the edge of the stage to make sure that everything was taken care of. "Never let the bastards win," Jeff reminded us as one young man was lead away with the crowd booing him. And then they launched in the sprawling closer, "Spiders (Kidsmoke)".

It was a long ride home. Chris and I intermingled the silence with brief conversations about our top three concert events ever. The iPod was nearly dead, but it had enough juice to play one last encore of "Don't Stop Believin'", as we crawled into Des Moines around one-thirty in the morning. It was a good trip, even the five or six hours of driving. It was worth it; the laughs, the music, the frustration, the entire experience. If this is any sign of what this summer is to be like, I'm ready for it, and you know that I won't stop believin'. you have my love.


songs played [not necessarily in order]:
A Shot in the Arm [opener]
Side with the Seeds
Kamera
You are my Face
I am Trying to Break Your Heart
Handshake Drugs
War on War
I'm the Man who Loves You
Jesus, etc.
Hummingbird
Theologians
Late Greats
Via Chicago
Impossible Germany
Sky Blue Sky
Shake it Off
Hate it Here
Walken
Spiders (Kidsmoke) [closer]

Nelson, Otis, Lefty, Charlie and Lucky

Back in the day in which music was listened to via cassette tapes I had just a few tapes that I held dear to my heart. Metallica, "Metallica" [the "black" album], Nirvana, "Nevermind", and The Traveling Wilburys "Greatest Hits". The first time I heard this "Greatest Hits" compilation, I'm fairly certain that I didn't realize that it was a supergroup. To be honest, since I was seven, I probably didn't know who George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison of Jeff Lynne were. I'm still not entirely certain on who Jeff Lynne is [although he was also in ELO]. By the time I realized who [most of] the members were, I didn't get the concept of a supergroup. The critic within me wants to not really support the concept of supergroups, but with the Traveling Wilburys, I don't really care.

When my tapes were slowly replaced with compact discs I still held on to that Wilburys' tape. Somewhere in between high school and college I lost it, then found it, and by the time I was out of college I had lost it for good. I waited in anticipation for the day that it would be rereleased on cd. A couple of months ago this thought crossed my mind, so I looked in a place that I knew would satisfy my query, Wikipedia. Sure enough, Petty had announced that they were indeed releasing the Wilburys' box set on June twelfth. I may be on a tightened budget so that I can have money for my lists and the coming autumn, but I had to go get the Traveling Wilburys' Collection today. Stuff like this makes me happy; these songs and singers that remind me of why I love music. It's good, and probably not safe.

On a few personal notes. I have indeed purchased a ticket to visit that pretentious place that is the west coast during the hottest month ever [August]. My running has been going really well, I've been doing more speedwork and longer distances, but also more cross training, so I don't injure myself by running too much, too hard. I'm kicking off the beginning of Travis' [not-so] Official Summer of Oh-Seven tomorrow evening by heading to Davenport to see the kickoff of Wilco's North American tour in support of "Sky Blue Sky". Yeah, eat it pretension! Otherwise life is good, full of upcoming decisions that could drastically change my existence and whatnot. Cup or bowl? Bag, feedbag: just, justice, David Justice. It's gonna be alright, it's gonna be okay. you have my love.

A circle gets crossed out

As I lay in my dark bedroom waiting for sleep to engulf me, I spend my last waking moments of the day thinking of everything that had been and what is to come, that is, today and tomorrow. Quite often I recall something that needs to be remembered: a task, a meeting, something to be looked up on Wikipedia, a movie I wanted to watch, etc. So just to the South of my sleepy head there is a post-it note sticking to the bed frame, and a pen is nearby, waiting for me to add to my list. Or lists.

Right now there is a few things on my list: something about the Pai's, cleaning my room, and something about getting people's birthdays written down. It isn't that interesting of a list. Sometimes the list is of things to pick up at the store [not Ernie's] or what books/cds to look at when I go shopping. On occasion I find an old list and it causes me to laugh. Today at the warehouse I found a supply list from several years ago, when we first started destroying files. It starts off okay: staplers, staples, pens, etc. Then out of left field comes a few more suggestions: a mini-fridge and some beer. I know that this must've been a joke, because at the time I didn't really drink a whole lot [...not that I do now].

There are other lists though. Like the lists of songs that I want played at my wedding [someday], or vacations I'd like to take with my family [someday], races I'd like to run [someday], cities I'd enjoying living in and so on. These are the big lists, the lists that truly impact my life [except maybe the wedding songs one]. These lists are internal ones. I don't have to write down what I've spent so much time thinking about, they're engraved on my brain somewhere. All this is to say that I think, for me, this is going to be a summer of crossing some things off of the big lists [nothing to do with romance.. sorry]. There will be some overdue vacations, some weight loss, and.. well, I don't want to ruin any surprises. It has the makings of a good summer, and that would be really nice for my heart, for my soul, and for my beard. Here's to lists, may they burn in our hands and in our hearts. you have my love.