I NEED SUMMER HOUSING

Don't watch th!s

Watch th!s

Amer!can Apparel

NEWEST STYLE:




How is this not porn?

And who would wear this?

Ex!stence Weekend

Wow. This weekend was definitely jam-packed..I hope I can remember each part...
This sounds so silly and I'm totally not one for feely feelingszsz &such but I must say that I have amazing friends here. To everyone that was with me all weekend I enjoyed every moment of it. It was such a feeling of support and community and you all added beautiful elements to the whole experience. Okay enough.
Friesdaiez: I spent most of the afternoon writing my FUCKING RELIGION PAPER - Laura, U f33L Mi, gUrL - but it was all hell. It was due on SATURDAY AT 5 and that was absolutely not gonna fly. After I finished that [thank god] I hung out at Zach's and experienced my first zombie movie [don't judge me] and I was really surprised but I actually liked it. It was also just too funny.
Satusdae: Nover and I went to Panera in Friendship Heights for breakfast - the best detail - we brought Scrabble along. She whooped my ass. This like 4 year old kid kept coming to us and Nover's an education major so she was all for it..helping him sound out words and the whole time I couldn't help but think "I hate children I hate children I hate children!". It's a shame ain't it. I mean clearly it was funny, how couldn't it be, but as far as I'm concerned..well..yeah.
I hope you're [whoever the fuck I'm "talking" to on this thing] not easily offended by the next part of my day. Jessica's assignment for her film class was to do a contemporary recreation of a famous painting - she chose Da Vinci's Last Supper. She set up a long table on the stage of the amphitheater and had wine and liquor bottles filled with water and sparkling cider. There were knives (both real and fake), cigarettes, hookah, cigars, flour (coke - hah), shot glasses, broken glass and bottles everywhere. There were about 10 of us and we were to act just extremely badass and fucked up. We were pretty much all making out, acting really drunk and strung out, doing shots, smoking, doing coke, whatever was on there, we did it. Jessica assigned my character as Jesus Christ (hah.) so I was in the center of the table and as we were all doing our shit for about a minute Jess would count the last 10 seconds of the shoot (we did about 5 takes) which would give us time to get into our final positions of actually recreating the painting. It was so much fun to act it out with everyone, Jess did a great job of working it all out. The best part was that multiple tours viewing AU were walking around and saw the whole thing [that was the best part in my opinion].
After the shoot was over we went to Satay Club for dinner which somehow turned into my birthday dinner because Louise and Jessica made Malina Moon Pie [brownie mix, bananas, strawberries, marshmallows - sounds weird but it's absolutely delicious] and brought it out with candles and the whole shebang which was ADORABLE I totally didn't expect it. Afterwards fucking GIRL TALK came to AU and I honestly don't like him [yeah it's impressive that he can mix a lot of shit together but I just think a lot of people can do that - they just didn't think to go above and beyond 2 or 3 songs. Call me ignorant if you must but that's just what I think - all it is really is some pitch shifting and tempo changes...] Nevertheless, it was a great show because a shit ton of people were PACKED into the Tavern, like..to a point where I just had no control over which direction I was moving and everyone was so drunk so nobody was stable. It was one giant sweaty mass of hormones but extremely entertaining. I wasn't really paying attention to the actual music, mainly because I didn't know any of the songs that were being mixed. The giant sweaty mess began to disperse as the show really got started because it came to a point where just no one could breathe. The lights were awesome, the volume was actually good, everyone was drunk and dressed appropriately [in the Greg Gillis sense, that is]. By the way - this is what he used to look like:

And this is what he looks like now:

Pretty crazy how drastic an image change can be - especially since it's a lot harder for guys than girls to change their looks over a short period of time. I can't even imagine that difference though - that's like..seeing your teacher from high school like just a regular guy and then suddenly seeing him ripping his shirt off behind a DJ set - and he actually looks good doing it..
Here's what the show looked like through the ize of my iPhone:


After the show I went to Katzen to play in the drum studio - Jordan Brown came to join me which was awesome because we actually got to "jam", as the kids like to say, through amps - which are not easy to find/move/be in an alright place to play them. Twas refreshing. At 12:00 on the dot Jessica, Ky, Cody, and Jill all came in carrying a BEAUTIFUL [Norwegian hazelnut] cake, turned off the lights and had sang & such. Again, I didn't expect THAT either! The cake was beyond delicious I can't even believe they made it themselves - it was sincerely orgasmic.

After I got back to my dorm Sarah and I just dug into the cake straight up and made some tea and accompanied our feast with some Family Guy.
Suhndy [b!gDae!]: There were SO MANY things that were supposed to go on today - but most of them didn't work out as planned becauase A) I decided to sleep in later than 9:00 [for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to do that. Clearly I was wrong] and B) because every form of mass transit was a being a BITCH - this is why I'm working my ass off to be able to convince my parents to allow me to bring my car to DC. I feel like such a child. Well anyway this post is pretty long as it is so I'm not going to say what the original plans were, but what ended up happening was Jessica and I going to Metro Center and getting breakfast at Borders Books. Then Keith picked us up [in his C.A.R.] and even though I could have easily thrown up the whole time [no offense, Keith], driving was the best part of the day. Music as loud as it can be, sunny day, windows down; nothing better. We drove to the Guitar Center in Maryland and I ended up getting another cable and a LOOP STATION! BAAHHHH! We somehow ended up thinking getting McDonald's for lunch was a good idea.

Once we got back to campus I just spent a good hour or so just laying on the grass, talking to various folks who had called me for the occasion. A bunch of children joined me for TDR dinner [with birthday hats, naturally] and it was just as good as going out anywhere.

I'm 19?? The last of my "teen" years. Fuck! Well..I can buy cigarettes in NY..

Wesley

L!k!ngzgzs L!st

Created while in my Forms of the Sacred class...

-chai&milk
-concepts of buddhism
-when I overhear a conversation that I actually know something about
-making an awkward situation hilarious and relieving
-smell of spring
-opening a door publicly
-the moment right after changing/tuning guitar strings
-being right in the middle of an addicting book
-the moments leading up to someone opening a gift you made them
-cherry blossoms
-shower of the perfect temperature
-quenching thirst
-discovering a new food that's always been around
-nutella
-waking up naturally
-finding Helvetica in public
-finishing a paper
-crossing off things on a to-do list
-coincidentally running into a bunch of friends simultaneously
-soundtracks that evoke emotion
-films that momentarily change your personality
-a mindful deep breath
-orangina
-discovering a great artist who's album you can't stop listening to
-blanket of sun
-a fresh piece of gum
-daylight savings (spring)
-family dinners
-good listeners
-scrabble
-fireplaces
-the den couch
-spending hours writing a song
-spending all day out in the city
-hair that cooperates on a given day
-waking up early, naturally
-eye contact
-reverb

Today

I did this:






Anyway, some crazy pictures that I got in an e-mail...:

Buy me th!s

Too much...or !s !t?

Oh it's been quite a weekend thus far..
Friday afternoon I went to Whole Foods with Kyoko & Jessica (so that now I can enjoy my multigrain bread and strawberry jam...which I am)
That night I went to Patrick's band (Ra Ra Rasputin)'s show at the Rock and Roll Hotel with Jessica. Now, this is a pretty cool place BUT it's kind of a bitch and a half to get there. Somehow - when we got to the Chinatown Metro stop there was some magical free shuttle that picked us up and took us to H street. It was rainy and cold and Chinatown's pretty shady at night so I'd say we got quite lucky.
Ra Ra put on a good show, they looked like they were having a shit ton of fun on stage, but they were having a bit of difficulty with sound, and the drummer's kick kept running away from him. The lead guy sounds like James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem. We had a great view at the front until two drunk bears practically mauled us. We moved, naturally, but it was silly nonetheless.
On the way back we waited for that free shuttle but we couldn't find the actual stop. It was raining pretty hard and I wasn't wearing great shoes (or any socks, for that matter). We figured we'd walk along H street and see if we could catch the shuttle or X2 bus when it passed. We eventually spotted the bus but we couldn't run fast enough. This was pretty much our trek (because we somehow missed the Chinatown stop)
*I just spent a shit ton of time trying to circle the locations via Seashore so that I can just show you where we were but apparently I'm not tech savvy enough and Blogger doesn't feel like letting me upload the image. SO with that find H & 14th (left) and then the Union Station Metro stop (right).*

Yeah.
BUT Jess has this attitude where she can pretty much make light of everything so as long as she had a good time then I guess we're all cool haha.

After that we went to a Porter House party which, although pretty much all of our friends were there, wasn't that great. It must have been the music or something. We didn't feel like waiting for the shuttle so we walked from Porter to the Metro stop to Tenley campus and then back to main campus. Too much unprepared walking for one rainy night...

Saturday morning Keith Jessica and Kyoko woke me up to go to Unique thrift. Everyone got a decent amount of stuff (I only got a handkerchief, which I lost! hahah) and then from there we went to the Japanese market next door. They had all these crazy snacks, of which I bought Pocky, wasabi peas, some crazy kiwi gummy candies and this RIDICULOUS soda where you need to push a marble from the top for no other reason except it's awesomeness factor, and it was delicious!


After that we headed to Tyson's Corner mall in Virginia (you know, sometimes I still can't believe I'm hanging out around the VIRGINIA area - who would've thought) which was pretty much the equivalent to the Roosevelt Field in Long Island (except Tyson's has Dippin Dots =] ) and I bought really sleek "Thanksgiving pants" for TEN BUCKS. They sound really ridiculous, but trust me, they're sexier than you'd think. Oh and I had the pleasure of running into this:


Capitol Punishment started at 7 in Kay, and PONYTAIL was the headliner (!!!!!) There were a lot of people that actually came in from the city - it was so crowded, I don't think I've experienced a Capitol Punishment with so many beards (not like that's a bad thing =] )I haven't heard of Mittenfields or Screaming Females but I only saw the later who were AMAZING. There's a drummer, bassist, and then this chick who, I couldn't even tell you how old she is, but she's quite tiny. This is most definitely unrelated to her musical abilities (she was the designated screaming female, I suppose). She was the guitarist as well, and when I say she played guitar, she fucking PLAYED guitar. She was absolutely mind-blowing. She played with a lot of pedals as well. Hopefully someday I'll be able to work those as well.. ALSO she was on key and there were no effects on her vocals or anything and she had a great voice - which is really a breath of fresh air (nowadays, that is hah). Here's the best thing I could find on YouTube. You can check out their website which is pretty cool as well.



Thanks to the encouragement of Kyoko/Jess/Jill I was able to grow some balls and approach the lovely screaming female.
OH and all of True Womanhood was there! (who I saw a few weeks ago at DC9 opening for Women)

Ponytail was (clearly) great as well, but the singer this time was just as tiny, just as sweaty, and just as loud (and the same color/length hair..hmm..) as the screaming female. I've been listening to Ponytail's Myspace which had always gotten me pumped, but the live show was more chaotic and their songs were less structured than I had been used to. Nevertheless it was still extremely energy-filled and we were all sweatdancing. The drummer was an absolute ANIMAL (we've come to the conclusion that he, in fact, IS Animal) during his breaks he had to put his head on the snare haha. As as side note - photographers, you're pretty ok, but when you push your way in front of those who are enjoying the actual moments of the show and then blind them with your blinding flash, you suddenly become pretty not okay. Just saying. Anyway, the singer didn't really do much for the majority of the songs except for get everyone extremely excited with some yelps every now and then (which DID sound good..but they definitely would sound exactly the same without her). I recommend you give their musicscsscs a listen


After that a bunch of us hung around in various Letts/Anderson rooms and then Adam picked me up and brought me to Zach's place with a new bunch of people where I played Kings for the first time (I've been sheltered).

Now if you will excuse me, I must go wash my dishes.

Mr Dan Deacon, h!mself, lad!es and gentlemen

Major major major major major props to Celine for telling me to friend him on Facebook.


Unfortunately I don't know how to retrieve earlier history in the Facebook chat BUT I sent him a message and then HE sent ME an iM thanking me for the nice email.
This is what I have left of it:

[I was asking him if he gets "fan mail" like this all the time]

2:41amDan
more ims than emails
i used to get a lot of emails
but not much anymore
2:42amDara
Part of me feels silly
Thinking that this is The Dan Deacon
2:44amDan
there is no the
2:45amDara
What about all the people in Baltimore & the DC area?
Don't they go "bonkers" as the kids say?
2:45amDan
what do you mean?
2:45amDara
I feel like just because they're located so close..
I guess it's really just me going bonkers because I'm in DC
And although you're not..it's much closer than New York
2:46amDan
thats true
2:48amDara
I know the moment I sign off I'll think of 40,000 questions to ask you
HEY do you know anyone at NPR?
2:48amDan
not well
but yes
why?
2:48amDara
I applied for an internship for All Songs Considered
2:48amDan
oh cool
2:48amDara
Almost
They didn't get back to me. The deadline is quite belated, but I plan on going in (as soon as Bob Boilen gets back from SXSW) every day to see if I can talk to him
2:50amDara
Do you think that's silly?
2:51amDan
nope
2:52amDara
I don't want to pester them. But the first time I went in they didn't even let me past the front desk!
But it's cool to be so close to their headquarters
2:52amDan
yikes
my friends future islands played dc tonight
2:53amDara
With my friend's band, Exactly
2:53amDan
did you go?
do they have a myspace?
2:54amDara
I didn't...
No they're "too cool" for myspace
2:55amDan
do they have any internet thing?
2:56amDara
No!
Next time I play with them I'll secretly bring a tape recorder
2:56amDan
are you in a band?
i guess your profile picture shows you are
2:56amDara
It's funny. I'm always almost in a band.
Haha that was just a show at University
2:57amDan
what was it?
2:57amDara
Earlier this year. Just an open mic
Another one is this Friday too!
That's actually why I'm up - I'm working on something for it..
2:58amDan
oh awesom
e
sorry for distracting you
2:58amDara
Hahaha it's CLEARLY okay I'm just finishing it up
What other instruments do you play
2:59amDan
not anything well
bass
tuba
trombone
nontraditional guitar
3:00amDara
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1042848842810&subj=1518929
Can you see that?
3:01amDan
yes
3:01amDara
That's Exactly
3:01amDan
oh cool
thanks
3:02amDara
I don' tthink I know who the guitar player is
3:03amDan
i should go
it is 3am
3:03amDara
Then I shall as well
I hope to talk to you soon Dan!
3:04amDan
me too
talk to you later
3:05amDara
Oh, wait!
Are YOu actually playing trumpet in Slow WithHorns then?
trombone*. Any of those
3:07amDan
yes
trombone
my friend connor on trombone

Empt!ness

Yesterday in my Religions of the East class we were discussing the book 'The Heart of Understanding' by the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He discusses how not only all things, but we as humans are all empty. This is because we are essentially made up of non-"us" things, and each thing cannot exist independently.

With that being said, this can (and cannot) be related to AU's campus. Which, if you couldn't guess, is empty.
And when I say empty - I mean...empty. The people at the front desk aren't even there and the lights are off! TDR/Eagle's Nest - closed. Fuck - how am I supposed to eat??

Well...it was pretty much like this yesterday too, but here's what I did:

Friday:
=Tried out a vegan bakery, Sticky Fingers, in Columbia Heights (quite overpriced, if you ask me)
=People-watched
=Spent TOO much time on the metro....again, good people-watching, but still. I don't think any of us realize how much time is taken out of our day on the metro.
=Went to Rock Creek Park for the first time. And what a shitty park it is! The walk was pretty cool but the entrance is so extremely hidden. And the parkway runs right through it, as does a "river" full of sewage. It was the first nice day out in a while though so I couldn't really complain too much at the time.
=Yoga with Louise! ...invigorating.

Saturday:
=Went to CVS to get my pictures AND I told them to develop ALL of the negatives and they only gave me 23/27! WTF?
=Dupont Circle - got a yogurt parfeit (parfiet? par-fay?) and sat out by the fountain. So many people were out there, it was kind of crazy. It was almost like an advanced version of a high school cafeteria. There was just a large circle with benches around the perimeter with limited space. Some people in groups, some couples, some alone. Kinda crazy. Again - people-watching central.
=Bought my father a birthday gift
=Went to Urban Outfitters [shudders]
=Katzen


I'm eating a McFlurry. M&M flavored. Never buy this.

And now, for a fail:

Th!s needs

to end. Especially since mother nature has been teasing us with 70 degree days and then suddenly fucking us in the ass with a blizzard. Well - I guess it looks kinda cool (especially taken from my phone)







I also found my own fail...a real live fail! A grammar fail, that is!

I love it when...[American U Edition]

=TDR is a win. Nom nom.

=The vending machines decide to start taking swipes again


=The Eagle's Nest is taking Eagle Bucks AND the lady at Subway isn't being a bitch

=When you wake up in the morning freezing and you walk in to the bathroom prayyying that there's hot water in the showers...and there is!


=Walking outside and realizing that you don't need the heavy coat you thought you did, and you should probably grab some sunglasses too


=Realizing that you haven't started working on your paper yet but find out later that day that it's not due until next week.

=Getting THAT E-MAIL in the morning that class has been cancelled

=When you misplace your ID and the front desk people don't make you go through that whole identity process

=When you're on your way to destination X listening to your iPod and when you finally get there, the song ends right at that moment.

=When you meet someone, and then the time after that when you pass them on campus they actually say hi to you and don't act as if they're not sure what to do


=Getting the perfect milk to cereal ratio


=Having a fridge full of food



=Realizing that you actually have money (somehow) and can finally get off campus for a bit!

=People do shit like this:


Oh, life.

Product!on

Allllriiiigght. I'm officially an Audio Production major =]

A Great E-Mail

Subject: bush ice cream flavors from ben & jerry]



>>>> Ben & Jerry created the "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for Obama.

>>>> For George W. they asked for suggestions from the public.

>>>> Here are some of their favorite responses:

>>>> - Grape Depression

>>>> - The Housing Crunch

>>>> - Abu Grape

>>>> - Cluster Fudge

>>>> - Nut'n Accomplished

>>>> - Good Riddance You Lousy Motherfucker... Swirl

>>>> - Iraqi Road

>>>> - Chock 'n Awe


>>>> - WireTapioca

>>>> - Impeach Cobbler

>>>> - Guantanmallow

>>>> - imPeachmint

>>>> - Heck of a Job, Brownie!

>>>> - Neocon Politan

>>>> - RockyRoad to Fascism

>>>> - The Reese's-cession

>>>> - Cookie D'oh!

>>>> - Nougalar Proliferation

>>>> - Death by Chocolate... and Torture

>>>> - Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream

>>>> - Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder

>>>> - Credit Crunch

>>>> - Mission Pecanplished

>>>> - Country Pumpkin

>>>> - Chunky Monkey in Chief

>>>> - WMDelicious

>>>> - Chocolate Chimp

>>>> - Bloody Sundae

>>>> - Caramel Preemptive Stripe

Uneth!cal?

I say yes.

Cassette

M!randa July

Is not just a performance artist, not just an author, not just a director. She's amazing. Her collection of short stories titled 'No One Belongs Here More Than You' and her self-directed film, 'Me and You and Everyone We Know' has just taken my breath away. She has inspired me to write like no one else has before. I ordered the soundtrack to MY&EWK off of Amazon last night...it should come in a few days. I'm surprised she didn't write that herself as well - but it is by Michael Andrews and unfortunately, bit torrent doesn't offer any of his works.

The way that the soundtrack coincides with the film is phenomenal. It made me think about audio files and how they completely change the perspective of the viewer, despite what is on the screen. I wanted to see what I could do with it myself. So this is what I did with it..myself.
[Keep in mind I've never made a movie before nor do I have any intention of actually turning this into something. It's just an experiment]

Wah-Wah

So many great epic fails!
Great laughs and self-esteem boost.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch a-check it out

http://failblog.org/

ADVENTURE TIME

Oh mah gah:

http://www.buenothebear.com/

Soma

(I've recently discovered) is not just a Brave New World shindig.

It's a Vedic "hallucinogenic beverage"
"The consumption of soma was permitted only during sacrifices, and it evidently produced vivid hallucinations, such as having a sense of growing to gigantic size and possessing superhuman strength or experiencing visions of the gods come down to join the worshippers on the sacrificial site."

Thanks A.L. Basham

A hymn from the same book (The Origins & Development of Classical Hinduism)

Like wild winds
the draughts have raised me up. Have I been drinking soma?

The draughts have borne me up,
as swift steeds a chariot. Have I been drinking soma?

Frenzy has come upon me,
as a cow to her dear calf. Have I been drinking soma?

As a carpenter bends the seat of a chariot
I bend this frenzy round my heart. Have I been drinking soma?

Not even as a mote in my eye
do the five tribes count with me. Have I been drinking soma?

The heavens above
do not equal one half of me. Have I been drinking soma?

In my glory I have passed beyond the sky
and the great earth. Have I been drinking soma?

I will pick up the earth,
and put it here or put it there. Have I been drinking soma?

M!nd

Things I have discovered today that may or may not intrigue your person:
=The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are releasing a new album in the spring...I believe it's called either 'It's bliss' or 'Blitz' but this is all they gave us YYY fans:



=Brian Chase is a vegetarian? Apparently he's really enthused about it. I'm quite jealous actually. Too bad I'd disappear if I stopped eating meat...
"Since becoming a vegetarian I've felt a new openness and lightness. Channels have been cleared and obstacles have been removed; energy is flowing more freely from top to bottom. An elimination of obstructions, both physical and spiritual. And with this I've discovered a new sensitivity. How do you know what it's like to not have something when you've had it all of your life? I've eaten meat for 29 years and I never knew what it was like to not eat meat. Sometimes the best way to know what you have is to take it away. I took meat out of my diet, out of my body, and I was able to see what was underneath and able to experience what I was putting on top. I became more sensitive, sensitive to the quality of food, the character of food, and the impact of what I ate. I developed a new awareness of my body as an organic being, realizing it's made of the same material as Earth and Nature. It seemed so simple and made perfect sense, a new understanding of what it means to live in accordance with the world around me. "
...Dayyuumm

=When dropping off your disposable camera at CVS...ask for ALL the prints...cause they can come out pretty fucking rad

See Exhibit A & Exhibit B



[And Just for kicks, Exhibit C]




=I'm hoping for an internship at NPR but the way that my career advisor is "advising" me...it's not looking too promising. The deadline is February 15th! She's telling me to get my own radio show and I've had to tell her like 300 times that I don't want to be a DJ...I pretty much just want to give the DJs their material. You know, the A&R type of deal. The description for one of the positions I'm going for says
"Helps produce Second Stage...audditions CD for possible review; contacts labels for CD acquisition; acts as liaison with Secon Stage artists; helps secure clearances for use of material on site; researches and fact checks for artist reviews."
Bam.

=It snows in DC after all...