Archive for June, 2002

Well, I had no one to go with, so I made the trek to the Heritage Fest alone. Dan made good on his word to call me and said they’d be in the beer garden. After i grabbed something to eat from one of the booths, I went over and found him as he was getting in line for another round. We walked back to hang with the rest of his cohorts. I haven’t hung out with these people in ages, but I really had a good time. Dan introduced me to a girl who was a music teacher at some school in a town I never heard of and I chatted with her for a bit, then I was talking to Dan’s girlfriend for awhile. We went to the same high school and were like 2-3 years apart. I met her like once or twice but she didn’t remember me. After the fest closed we all went over to Founder’s Hill, a bar that almost made me embarassed to live in DG. While Chrissy was looking for her friend, a woman stopped Dan and started commenting on his hair and nose ring. Dan and I bet on how old she was, he won but we were both wrong, This broad was 42 but she didn’t look that old. That was a dollar I was out. When we collected everyone we went back to clown manor and hung out. I only knew a couple people there and everyone was drinking or drunk and since I am mostly semi-retired I felt a little out of place. They played me a few songs they recently recorded and they were pretty damn good I must say. I then said my goodbyes and split cuz I have a lunch date tomorrow (er, technically it is later today now) so I need some sleep. I was really glad I decided to go out as I don’t get out all that much and it was fun to see the few people I did know again and also fun meeting a couple new people. They invited me to come back and hang out again and I think I’ll take them up on that offer more often than I have in the past.

Now this is just evil:
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,53534,00.html?tw=wn_ascii

Have you ever noticed how music can be an instant trigger for memories? I don’t know if this happens to everyone or not but it sure is for me. Maybe it is because music has been such a big part of my life since I was 13 years old, but certain bands/songs will just trigger such strong memories, it is akin to a flasback sequence you’d see in a movie, it is pretty strange. Certain songs or bands will remind me of ex-girlfriends (the most common of flashbacks), skateboarding, certain jobs I’ve had, friends, etc. These are not always welcome memories, but there is no controlling that I suppose. I guess since a good percentage of my life revolves around always acquiring records and I listen to music pretty much whereever I am, it is natural for these things to happen. I wonder if they have tried music to trigger memories in amnesia patients. I am sure they have. Scrolling thru my mp3’s at work in search of something I felt like listening to is what got me thinking about this.

Tonite I plan on going to the Heritage Fest in downtown D.G. It used to be a lot of fun in my more care-free punk youth days, I havent’ gone in a few years. Thor has to work so he won’t be able to go with unfortunately. I called Dan S. last nite to see if he and his cohorts were going. He said they were, hopefully he’ll call so I can meet up with them and have some people to hang out with. I was gonna walk there, but i’m not sure i’ll be able to make it back as between that and all the walking I’ll be doing there, I’d likely collapse, but I will park real far away so I will get some exercise.

Current music: Einsturzende Neubauten

It seems such an odd concept, buying your name, but that is what I just did. I now am the proud owner of vinikour.com. My dad has his own company called Vinikour Communications and I am actually half amazed that someone didnt’ talk him into buying that domain years ago. The first thing I did was set up an email account for him, followed by one for myself and my sister. I joked on the phone with him that i was gonna buy every type of vinikour domain there is and charge the family a licensing fee to use them. Many thanks go to Thor for showing me the way and being the gracious host for 2 of my 3 domains (the other is punkvinyl.com). When my mom retired and sold the family business, after sufficiently running it into the ground, the guy who bought it, sold what basically just amounted to my family’s name (on mom’s side) to one of their old competitors. I found that disturbing somehow that some guy would buy the name just as some sort of conquest.

Tonite my vow is to finish putting my kitchen stuff away and finish that list of questions for John Stabb of GI. That and watch smackdown of course.

Tomorrow the DG Heritage Fest is on. I will probably go in hopes of running into any old friends that may show up. Every year though the odds of that are less and less as more people move away, but at least I can get some tasty junk food.

Current music: The Damned (the black album)

You never realize how much you use a kitchen sink or counter tops until you don’t have any! It is gonna be a long couple of weeks until that stuff comes in. After I drove home in the usual crap traffic (during which a promised phone call never came), I spent nearly an hour cutting down the empty boxes from the cabinets so i can put them out for the recycling pick up with my trash in the morning. I still have to figure out how to dispose of my old cabinets and countertops, half of which are in the garage (with my old appliaces still) and half of which are in the driveway. Nextdoor Dave said they are gonna have a dumpster soon for some carpet job they are having done, so if i can hold out I might be able to dump it all in there. After that I walked down to the store for some milk and a salad for dinner and then watched the NWA TNA ppv. Except for the women’s lingerie battle royal, it was pretty boring.

Never got around to finishing the questions for the GI interview, hopefully I can do that tomorrow nite.

Current book: “We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of LA Punk”

Ever have one of those days where nothing at all seems to go right? This morning before leaving for work, I had to spend 15 minutes on the phone with ATT to get my internet working again, when that was finally done, I had to go to the post office to mail out a bunch of stuff I sold on ebay. The D.G. post office must be the slowest one in the known universe. There is always a line and it barely moves. The people who work there are nice, but man, can’t they go any quicker?! After that, I realized I forgot my cell phone so I had to stop home again to pick it up, then the traffic on the 290 was it’s usual shitty self. That has to be the world’s worst highway. They should expand the damn thing to 10 lanes on EACH SIDE! When I finally made it in the city, it took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot! I was seriously ready to just turn around and go back home. I stormed into work to find that a meeting was going on that I was to be a part of! Doh! I’m sure that didn’t look too good for me!

Tonite I hope to put everything back in my cabinets in the kitchen to restore a bit of order to the place and then finish up compiling the list of interview questions for John Stabb of Government Issue for the SC website.

Postage goes up AGAIN on 6/30! I hope the extra money they are squeezing out of me per stamp is going to help speed up the service at my PO, but I know it won’t.

Current music: The Damned