My girlfriend...

...is driving me to drink! It would be pretty awesome if after hanging in there for the long distance thing for like 8 months and then moving up here just for her, we broke up after being together for just a few weeks. That would be so awesome.

Everything hits at once, Part 1

A whole bunch has changed for me in the last couple of weeks... I haven't really been updating this here web log (or 'blog') too often as of late, so I guess before I get too far behind here I should update this thing on what's going on. I'm going to do it in parts A) because there's a bunch of new stuff and I need to run some errands in a second here, and B) because no one is going to read all this at once. And by 'no one' I mean my brother Michael, who I think is the only person who reads this blog. Anyway:

New City: After months of planning on moving to Chattanooga to further pursue things with Carla and all the doubt toward the end there wondering if it was the right thing, I finally made the move at the beginning of this month. I guess in the grand scheme of things it wasn't really that big of a move - just two hours southeast of where I was - but I think it ended up becoming a pretty big deal to me because I really liked Nashville a lot and at the time, things with Carla were not great. Coming out here was a bit of a leap of faith... Basically, I've just had to come to terms with the fact that although Nashville is basically my dream city and was the type of place I'd always wanted to live, it's not the place where I'm suppossed to be and living out there was coming at the expense of some relationships that were very important to me. Anyway, Chattanooga's cool and I'm excited now about settling in here.

Scientology is weird

Good luck Katie!

Goodbye, sweet prince

I just got back from Nashville Used Music, where I sold my old Oscar Schmidt acoustic/electric guitar. It was my first guitar, and for its time, I loved it. Me and the old Oscar Schmidt have spent many hours together, but I barely ever pulled it out out anymore since I got an electric guitar about a year ago. I figured rather than lug it back to Chattanooga with me so it can just sit in my closet there, I'd see what I could get for it.

The pickup in the back had been ripped out and the action on the neck was really high and would probably have to be lowered a bit, so I wasn't expecting too much for it, and my low expectations were were pretty much met: $40 in trade for the guitar and the case together. If you would have told me back in 1997 after I paid $450 for both of them together that one day I would trade them in for $40, I would have wept. I ended up getting a Danelectro Fab-Tone pedal, some cables, and a few picks for the trade (I couldn't quite talk myself into using the trade toward an Epiphone Casino). Also, I'm selling my Boss DS-1 (distortion) and OC-2 (octave) and I got a Digitech Whammy pedal, so now my setup looks like this:



Anyway, parting with my old Oscar Schmidt was pretty sad, but I guess that's the way of things. In a way, selling that guitar was like selling a son of mine that I used to love, but had recently had a cooler son, so I didn't love or need the first one anymore.

Happy anniversary!

Today I walk into work and one of my managers tells me that today is my two-year anniversary with the Olive Garden. Good, because I get a check equal to a week's pay; bad, because I've now been working at the Olive Garden for two years. Holy smokes, where does the time go?

Oh, crap.

I'm finally getting around to doing my taxes... I just downloaded my W-2, and I'll just say that if I by chance get audited this year, I'll be in some pretty serious trouble, like I'd probably have to spend the rest of my life in a concentration camp or something. I won't tell you what my total 'wages, tips, and other compensation' figure for this year is, but it's a really low number. I really thought that I had been claiming a decent amount of my tips last year, but aparently not. If I do get audited, you will be able to find me in Mexico.

Mr. Myagi fun facts

While watching the Oscars last night, I learned that A) Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (who played Mr. Myagi in the Karate Kid movies) died in November last year, and on imdb just now I learned that B) Mr. Myagi's first name was Kesuke.

Also, just for fun, check out what Ralph Macchio looks like now:


While I'm on the subject of the Oscars:

-I thought Jon Stewart did an OK job hosting. I like the Daily Show quite a bit so I'm definitely a fan of his... I thought he got off to a pretty slow start and for awhile looked really uncomfortable, but I guess he relaxed more as the night went on.

-For me, Jennifer Garner almost busting her ass while walking out to the podium was the most noteworthy moment. It looked like she just barely hung on. If she would have actually fallen, I'd probably still be laughing.

-I thought Ben Stiller's green suit thing was pretty funny, although it did go on for just a beat too long. I didn't catch the bit with Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell...

That's about it. Oh yeah, I was really surprised that 'Crash' ended up winning Best Picture... that was the only one of the nominees that I've seen, so you can discount my opinion accordingly, but I really didn't think it was that good. Anyway, yeah, Mr. Myagi died.

Ready to feel old?

Aparently, the old Nintendo Entertainment System turned 20 years old recently. I stumbled across this article/video last night and it was a nice little trip down memory lane. The NES that my brother Michael and I got for Christmas in 1986 still ranks as the best Christmas present I've ever received.