Today I celebrate another successful revolution around the sun. This birthday is already turning out better than last year's, which consisted of going to work, being dragged to some Mexican joint for a bit and then coming home to watch the presidential debates. Today I've already gotten a free doughnut from the Krispy Kreme and a present from the new job. I get to cookout with the volleyball team before our game tonight. I believe that there will be time spent kissing pretty girls.

A spanking machine would also be nice.

There's also the people I've been hanging/talking with recently. The volleyball team is a hoopy bunch of peeps and the kickball teams are winning. Jeff is coming in to town for the Badger game tomorrow, I just had a long talk with my friend Al and I've heard Bert's voice for the first time in forever. Granted, it was just on my voicemail, but it was still good to hear.

And one of the biggest reasons I might be enjoying this birthday more than last year's is that fact that I've just been generally happier the past month or so. Last year I was working at a job I hated, for a bad manager and feeling miserable. Today I have a new job with some nice people, even if it is a bit quiet. I'm out of here at 3:30 everyday which means when the snow flies I'll be able to head to the hills for a few hours on the snowboard. In the summer that means better seats at Jazz in the Park or more time with my friends who aren't the 9 to 5'ers. There's all this good stuff flowing around.

I just feel good. There's no other way to say it. And I'm digging it.

So, to all y'all figments of my imagination out there, celebrate the fact that 32 years ago I created you. Happy Anniversary!

And a Happy Birthday to me!

I keep a lot of random pictures around of my odd hair choices. I've been carrying around the mullet picture for a long time now, and I'm never afraid to show it to people. Keeps me humble.

I was talking with someone the other day about the odd hair choices and I mentioned my "pretty boy" hair. It was during one of my senior years, don't remember which one though.

I was living with the guys on Randall and I started to grow it out. I then parted it in the middle and did all the crazy stuff with mousse and gel to make it nice. My friend Paul was making a student film for one of his classes and I conned him in to giving me a part. The other guys were just some people who auditioned and got the part. And then I showed up, with my hair all styled and nice and the other guys started calling it "pretty boy" hair. The name stuck. I don't really have very many pictures of it, but there is the entire 10 minute run of that movie, starring my hair.

Then the other day I get a cd full of pictures for the video I'm making for my brother's wedding. I searched and no pictures of the pretty boy hair, but there is one where I'm well on the way.

Damn, I love the song "Everyone Has A summer" by Lovage. Using an uncomplicated beat, strings and some superb scratching from Kid Koala, it weaves spoken samples into a tale of love lost, regret, wistfulness, melancholy, nostalgia and eventually the hint of future happiness. Because everyone has a summer they want to remember, right? One where you did nothing but hang out and have fun and fall in love. But that summer came to an end, so now we hope we might have another one.

Quite unexpectedly, the most interesting of the samples come from the movie
Airplane! and the song "Otha Fish" by The Pharcyde. Out of context, and mixed with the other samples, they present a much different story. Who would have thought that the Zucker brothers and Fatlip and the boys could be so poetic and sad?

It just fits with the rest of the album too, which spends the whole time riffing on love and sex and people and how they mix. This is one of my favorite albums and if I ever meet the Automator, Mike Patton or Jennifer Charles I'm going to kiss them on the mouth. Especially Jennifer, who still melts my headphones everytime I listen to "Sex (I'm A)". Freeeow!

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!