Won’t anyone invite me to a halloween party?

Back in the day, I was in an unfortunate predicament: I really liked hair metal. I got over that — and this is probably why I have such impatience with people who listen to crap. However, hair metal aside, I still have a fondness for guitar-shred virtuoso, California style. In fact, when it comes to punk, while I dig the whole old-skool UK and NY scenes, it’s always a riff from somewhere out in Southern California that catches my ear.

Anyway… for the past few nights in the truck, I’ve been jammin’ out to what I consider one of the great rock bands of all time, Tesla, and their album Five Man Acoustical Jam. Unfortunately, they pretty much got wiped off the map, swept under the rug with all the hair metal bands, when the Seattle scene came racing into the world. God bless record companies :-P. And while Tesla had their fair share of pop hooks, they were an all-out rock band. They weren’t worried about aqua-net, or spandex, or women in studded leather bras.

Tesla was all about hard-rockin’, blues-tinged jams. Black Crows-meet-Van Halen. Influenced by Aerosmith — and while I immensely respect Joe Perry — I’m still damn near convinced that Hannon and Skeoch were the best 1-2 guitar duo ever. If you can find a jam session better than that found on “Don’t De-Rock Me” (discounting “projects” or “special guest appearances”), I’d love to hear it.

1990′s Five Man Acoustical Jam, while not their best album, produced their biggest hit (their cover of the song “Signs”), and was most certainly the precursor to any of MTV’s wildly-successful “Unplugged” sets.

If you want good rock, great driving music, and some wonderful nostalgia, do yourself a favour, go out and buy a Tesla album.

Am I a masochist?

I just signed up for the “Write a Novel in A Month” contest at “http://www.nanowrimo.com/”. The only rule is that it has to be 50,000 words. Well, that, and the fact that it has to be done w/in 1 month.

Whew!

Sign up ends today — check out the site for more info.

In the past 3 days or so, I’ve been to Barnes and Noble twice, and have proceeded to spend about $75 on four different books. What’s more, they’re all socio-political and/or corporate. The first time, I bought the aformentioned title, The Lexus and the Olive Tree in addition to another, the amusingly named Why Americans Hate Politics. Yay for current events!

Tonight, had the crazy urge to climb the corporate ladder. Don’t ask me why, I dunno. But because of that, I felt irresistably drawn to buy John C. Maxwell’s The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork and Simon Smith’s Inner Leadership, off the “Business” rack.

What is up with me? Man…

While I was reading my book, the TV was on, but muted. I happened to glance up and see a large crowd around a fallen horse. Apparently my TV was on the channel showing a race at Belmont Park.

One of the favoured horses, Exogenous, caught her hoof in the gate entering the course, and flipped over, got injured. There’s a lot going on.

Now…
This event, in absolute terms, is bad. Yes. I don’t know a lot about equestrian stuff, but for all the participants, observers, people involved, I’m sure it’s tragic. They showed the assistant trainer, who was in hysterical, in utter misery.

This said…
Considering all the recent events in the world, is it a bad thing to see people so worked up over this catastrophe at a horse race? Or is it a good thing, an indication that people are getting back to their normally scheduled lives?

I’m wondering if my populist worldview causes me to look cynically at things like horse races.

“…no two countries that both have McDonald’s have ever fought a war against each other since they each got their McDonald’s.” — Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and The Olive Tree (Foreword, p. ix)

This is going to be an interesting read.

When little kids aren’t getting enough of a given vitamin or mineral in their diet, they’ll subconciously, unknowingly shift their eating habits to get more of what they need. You can feed them sweets, and they’ll willingly eat candy until they turn into SweetTARTS… at which point they’ll start eating their leafy greens and their tuna casserole. Hey, I’m even the same way, I think… there will be times where I want to eat nothing but salad for days on end.

I think this behaviour is visible elsewhere in my life, though, too.

For a few months after college, I casually considered seminary. This ponderance came to surface again, about a year and a half later. All the while, I’d been having problems leading any sort of what I would call a quality “spritual life” around here… all the while, I kept reading my theology, writing down thoughts, in a scholarly manner. I was seriously studying this stuff.

A while later, I found something. It was pretty good. I thought I’d found what I was looking for. And slowly, my “studies” lessened a bit. But rather than succeeding in pulling in a younger crowd, which was this church’s focus, they instead were slowly absorbed into a community and became your typical dime-a-dozen community church — either that, or this was their eventual goal anyway, under the guise of attracting more GenX segment. Don’t get me wrong, the people were nice enough. But it was no longer what attracted me to it in the first place. Once the founding vicar and her husband left, I sorta just faded away.

Here I am, several months later… and I find myself getting involved in all sorts of theological and spiritually-related discussions, enquiries. Just today, a friend asked me about seminaries, and though I hadn’t researched them in quite a while, I was most happy to help him get some information.

Maybe we all have this reflex… I have a feeling that the Sept. 11 events have caused a lot of people to start listening to their souls.

Now I’m not saying that all the sudden everyone just picked up a Bible and started reciting Psalms and Lamentations. Everyone has their own spiritual walk and their own spiritual faith for guidance… and I think the recent tragedy caused a lot of people to dust off their hiking boots and find that path, realizing they are spiritually malnourished.

But I wonder how many are starving and don’t realize it — or want to, but can’t find a way to satiate their souls.

I know I’m starting to get a little empty around here. All the signs are there. I’m just tired of snacking.

Cooked some great dinner last night. Actually, altogether, we cooked up a storm. My housemate made up some jiao zi (yum!), some bitter melon (yuk!), and some rice. Using the George Foreman Grill, I cooked up some homestyle porkchops with sliced apple:

3 Tbsp butter/margarine
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 C maple syrup
[Makes enough for 4 chops]

Melt all those together; cut up an apple or two, thinly. If desired, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on apples. Brush the aformentioned sauce all over the porkchops, and on apples. throw the stuff on the grill for 8-10 minutes.

The chops came out ok… they tasted ok, but I couldn’t sear them as nicely as if I’d used a real grill, so they didn’t look exciting. I might have to resort to my “liquid smoke” next time, again, too :-P.

Also — if you’ve got any leftover sauce, and assuming you didn’t stick the basting brush repeatedly into it (thus getting raw meat juices in it), it’s pretty tasty to just dip straight-up raw apples in it.

However, last night’s pork chops are by no means the end of the story. We had some leftover salmon steaks in the freezer; my housemate wanted to use ‘em up. I don’t eat much seafood at all, but I’m willing to try cooking it. I think that’s something like a blind man directing traffic… I basically have to experiment, read books and figure out how to cook it, but I almost never actually eat it — so I have to trust the opinions of those actually doing so. Apparently last night’s were exquisite…

In any case, I found a recipe that I didn’t quite follow. Mostly because I don’t have a food processor to make the garlic sauce. So I just brushed the stuff on, instead.

1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine
5 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp cumin powder
Handful of almonds.
Salt, pepper
[Makes enough for 2-3 steaks]

Chop almonds; Bake on pan in 350 degree oven for 10+ minutes.

Chop garlic really small (Hint: Garlic presses are great). Mix garlic w/ cumin and the rest of the wet ingredients, in a bowl. It looks kinda ugly ;). Brush mix onto both sides of salmon steaks. Add salt and pepper to taste. Grill until salmon is cooked to desired levels (probably about 12 minutes on GFG). Cover the top with toasted almonds. Serve and enjoy.

It was a delicious night. Too bad I didn’t have any wine to go with it. But I still have a pork chop for lunch today.

FUCK MICROSOFT

November, we hardly knew ye.

My coming month:

+ Nov 2 – Nov 4: Toronto, Ontario
+ Nov 9 – Nov 11: Johnson City, Tennessee (Maybe)
+ Nov 15: DC — Bob Dylan
+ Nov 16: Raleigh, North Carolina
+ Nov 17 – Nov 23: Outer Banks, North Carolina.

Take into account that I’m also doing:
+ Dec 7 – 11: Toronto, Ontario (Again)

… I’ve got quite the social schedule going on, all the sudden.

Disney Channel cartoon portrays music downloads as evil

Monday October 22, 01:09 PM EDT
- by Tina Gasperson -
The Disney Channel cartoon series The Proud Family (Flash plugin helpful), aired an episode on Oct. 5 entitled EZ Jackster . In the storyline, EZ Jackster is a Napster-like site, and the show’s little heroines get addicted to the service and play a part in the downfall of the music industry. Disney is one of the backers of the SSSCA proposed legislation that is scheduled for a hearing before Congress Oct. 25….

Read the entire article that talks all about Disney’s little ploy.

A while back, carrie recommended two things to me: A great website, Alibris, where you can find just about any out-of print book for which you may be looking. She also recommended a book, found at said site. The book is called Vagabonding in America, by Ed Buryn.

Now that I finished my last book or two, I’ve been able to get into Vagabonding. It’s curious. A lot of sociopolitical commentary in the beginning. While thus far bordering a bit on the anti-establishment (I’m sure the focus shifts a bit), it has some great statements.

Both of these are from page 26:

On Disney World Rides:

Here was the ultimate tourist trip: You spend money and go nowhere. Nothing happens to you. It has no value as an experience. You just rock gently and watch a million dollars worth of dolls do mechanical tricks in the name of the brotherhood of man. Ah man, ah me. An American Classic!

On Television:

With the set on, all conversation becomes superficial, often to everyone’s relief. No one has to speak, but if they do, no one has to listen — an ideal situation for handling company, or eating dinner with the family. Used this way, TV becomes and impediment to communication, an easy way out of social responsibility.

…I especially like the latter one.

6:41pm up 3 days, 4:58, 11 users, load average: 17.45, 9.03, 6.15

…I bet my friends page would make you think otherwise, eh? Every time I look at my list, it’s just about ALL women. Whutupwitdat?

However…
* I’m sure there are a lot more women than men who post in LJ
* And then most of the interesting journals I’ve found were owned by women.
* And then most of the guys on my friends list aren’t regular posters.

Hm.

I just ate a can of chicken noodle soup. cold. without adding water. I am such a bachelor.

At least I didn’t eat it out of the can… this time.

Last night I had a strange dream. Now, people always have those weird, “look, I’m naked in public” dreams. I had one of those last night. But usually, in those dreams, people are scared, nervous, etc. Completely frightened that they are butt-nekkid in public.

I wasn’t, though, in this dream. Instead, I was walking around town like that on purpose. I had some reason to do it — whether it be political, or what — I can’t remember now, why I did it, exactly. But sure enough, I walked around town, wearing nothing but a little beech leaf ¹. Eventually, near the end of the dream, some secretary at a high school gave me a gym suit to put on.

There were some other parts to the dream, like these two sisters (whom I don’t like very much), who were asking me if I wanted to rent a room in their place. This probably has something to do with my friend, and his search for an apartment. But really, that stuff is inconsequential.

¹ – That leaf was hardly suitable. I’m just sayin’… a beech leaf is really small, y’know?

Amusing, and yet thought-provoking.

I don’t know what to fucking think. I think I’m too pissed off.

From CNN:

Ninety offices of Planned Parenthood and at least 80 clinics of the National Abortion Federation across the United States have received envelopes containing unidentified powdery substances and letters with threatening language, according to spokesmen for the groups.

Grr.

You know, I’d heard that some of the people with whom I work were a little scared… first you had the American Airlines planes involved in the hijackings. Then you had the anthrax incident at American Media, Inc.. That’s two corporations with “America” in the name.

And then we had the anthrax exposure at NBC. So suddenly we have two media corporations in the mix.

America Online. A media company — with ‘America’ in the name. And somehow, I still wasn’t too awful scared.

And now what? Someone at ABC — American Broadcasting Corporation — was diagnosed with anthrax.

I can’t say I’m awful comfortable anymore.