gobble f'n gobble

i am bruised and battered from the annual post-thanksgiving tackle football game. no broken bones on me, just bumps, but we did send 2 of 20 players to the hospital. there was one torn ACL and one lip busted to the point of needing stitches. the ACL in question was already sprained, so i don't know if that should really count.

it is so good to be out of LA for a minute, experiencing actual weather and a city with greenspace and no freeways, to see all my people and gorge myself on turkey.

tonight i'm going to a young alumni billiards party. i went last year, and it was possibly the most awkward 3 hours of my life. I spent 20 minutes of one 30 minute conversation trying to remember this girls name -- the sad part is that i had dated her for a few months in 8th grade. everyone looks weird and is fat or has beards and wack jobs and the tension is so thick that everyone gets plastered. somehow i talked most of the kids who were too cool to go last year into showing up so maybe we can at least have a safe corner this year.

idea for a 'novel'

so the last few nights I've been kicking around an idea in my head for a project I'd like to do within the next 2 years. I want to do 7 days of intense interviews (8 hours a day at least) of one of my friends. someone I know well, but not well enough that I would know the answers to many/most of the questions I would ask. record the conversations, then type them up with minimal editing for a book. these would be days spent away from anything and anyone in a cabin or similar secluded spot somewhere. I'm not sure what would end up being more interesting: the depth of insight into the subject, or the changing relationship/power struggle in a closed system between interviewer and interviewed.

any ideas?

any volunteers?

i am serious about this.

I got a new cell phone & number. 213-268-5685. old one won't work. this means that I need to fill up my new phone with numbers. please e-mail me yours. this is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and be one of the first names I see every time i scroll through my phone book to make a call. even if you are SURE that i have your number, e-mail me again. thanks. more later when It's less busy at work.

i was on the news

anyone who was listening to L.A. radio between 6:45 and 7:30 or so last night might have heard, during the traffic segment, reports of an accident on the 10 eastbound before the vermont exit. traffic clogged all the way to santa monica, and delays on the 10 West to the 110.

that was me.

some kid had just finished midterms that day and was bringing flowers home to mom (it was her birthday) when he fell asleep at the wheel. traffic had been moving at 35-45 mph, and was slowing due to congestion ahead. he had no chance to apply his breaks, however, as he was asleep. he ran into the car in front of him. BLAOW! that was my car (the one run into).

no apparent body damage to my car, but the imact threw me backwards hard enough to rip my seat from one of it's anchors so it's got a natural pimp-lean, which is kinda fly but probably also somewhat dangerous. his car was fucked. front end damage and leaking fluids. I think I'll be fine. I'm stiff, but it's hard to tell whether it's something serious or just that "i was in a car accident" feeling.

it felt great hearing about the accident on the news, though. I feel like I am always driving and always listening for traffic reports that could affect me (not because there are alternate routes i could take or anything, i just want to know when it's going to take an hour plus to drive home). and here's one that not only affects me, it is me. it was like losing my virginity.

I went home, drank a beer, and ate a sandwich.

**a quick program note: previously scheduled post about particularly vivid high school-era memories and how they relate, in a somewhat zen fashion, to the nature of existance, has been postponed till a later date. sorry.**

i will begin to read huntington's clash of civilizations today. it is time to prepare for the conservative future.

election thoughts (italics = late edits and aditions):

2 and out: the republicans will fuck everything up enough domestically that they will be out in 04, including W. no excuses, they must produce, as they control it all. but enough centrist gop'ers in congress will flip on each issue that they won't get too much through. but arguing that some of them have morals and that's why their agenda didn't push through won't cut it at the polls.

that's contingent upon a complete gutting and rebuilding of the democratic party. mcauliffe is out of there. within the week. and who can/will stand up to the challenge? i think it's got to be one of the clintonites, panetta maybe?

how politically genius was pulling harvey pitt at the exact moment that his resignation could not command any attention? it got buried last night in the first returns, after polls closed in the east and with only an hour or two left in the west, and it won't trump analysis these next few days. wow. well done.

how long till the first supreme court retirement?

shashi: you got your SF city pot. happy now, hippy?

i fell bad for old connie mo. from MD-8th.

go manzullo. (IL - 16th).

thank god there's no secession. (although, the valley and hollywood are two of the grimiest parts of LA).

voting for davis or simon felt like votting for saddam or saddam. but i voted green. i didn't throw my vote away, i recycled it.

affordable justice

i voted, did you?

Googlism :

derek is....according to google. some of my favorites:
derek is not god
derek is never going to hell
derek is unstoppable on thursday date
derek is evil
derek is the little one
derek is teaching me all derek is teaching me all
derek is hired on the spot to run a secret gambling tent
derek is in demand across the country
derek is just an obese loser who dresses up like anime characters
derek is no longer the tightly coiled knot of anger he once was
derek is on his way to australia for a couple of billy idol performances

some punks pulled a jack move

so there was a great haloween party on friday, great costumes, much drunken dancing and hilarity...good times, you know? pictures to come. then the next morning I head back to the spot to pick up my equipment (turntables, mixer, records) and it seems someone had beaten me to it. luckily they left one of the two crates that I had taken, so i didn't lose all my super-party hits, and some other bits and pieces of my setup, including my speakers. the party was in a garage behind a house and it didn't get locked up well enough and some fools must have come back after the party and taken my gear. i've gotten bummed out about it on and off since then, but a)the folks who live there are helping to replace the stuff and b) I've lost people and i've lost stuff, and it's a hell of a lot better to lose stuff than it is to lose people.

in other news, the skins are coming together and i see a playoff bid, and after having knocked off the only remaining undefeated team in my fantasy football league, the Buck Wheaton Bees are looking like a sure fantasy super bowl contender.

if you put that "doo-daa-dee" tone from the beginning of "this number is no longer in service" messages at the beginning of your answering machine message, telemarketers will stop calling you. do a google search for "sit.wav" to find that sound.

the difference in lifestyle between someone making $15k a year and someone making $25k a year is remarkable. i spent an hour at a friend's house last night, and I will give out no names or details, but BLING!!! I mean, it was like a fucking nelly video compared to my life. most of my calories come from the bagels and granola bars they have at work for free.

to my nyc peeps: i will be in the city around new years 2k3 and we will catch up, get down, make out, etc. it will be fucking great.

i might be mario or luigi for haloween. this comes in the wake of kerri pulling out of the ms. pac man and the 4 ghosts group costume. which sucks cause that would have been great. I haven't really come up with a great muttonchops-themed costume, although i now have great muttonchops. it's a trade-off i guess. pics will come.

a word of advice: if you're going out on saturday night, and you will be drinking, remember to eat dinner.

i need a new job. i'm bored and broke at this one.

What kind of punk kid are you?
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