perpetual night and the increasing oddness of my bus rides

i'm in chicago.  in case you didn't know this, chicago lies directly on the easternmost edge of the CST time zone.  

this isn't a problem at all during the summer, but after the fall equinox and daylight savings time sets in, dusk falls around 4:30 every day.  now, if i were a morning person, this would be lovely.  i'd wake up at 6 am, enjoy the sunshine for three hours before i have to go to work, and be a happy, vitamin d satisfied human being.

however, this is not the current situation.  i frequently wake up past 9am (i don't work until 10am at either of my internships) and go to sleep around 2am.  also, i work in a building where i have access to one window three days a week and no windows two days a week.  so i've been living like a bat for a week now.

artist's interpretation

i wish i was batman.  how sweet would that be?  i mean, even if i just had his utility belt, i would go places in life.  namely, places requiring grappling hooks or vials of acid for entry.  bruce wayne had it all right.  it's like a swiss army knife that keeps your pants up.  and was made by Dr Emmett Brown.  if you have some time, you should look at this wiki page, it's intense:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman's_utility_belt#Contents

so, the title i gave this entry alludes to odd bus rides.  i should probably talk about that.  my recent experiences on the CTA buses have been nothing short of outstanding.  here is a list of some scenes i've witnessed on the #50 CTA bus:

• methheads tweaking, of course
• a cross-eyed girl with corrective tinted glasses playing ukulele
• a bum who talked to ukulele girl about jack benny, how jack benny was the greatest violin player of all time, how jack benny wasn't racist at all, and listed several other entertainers from the 40s and 50s that were and weren't racist in his honest opinion
• a bum playing harmonica
• a guy in a slayer tshirt, sporting van dyke facial hair, asymmetrical piercings, and long unkempt hair, reading a junior novel
• a huge middle eastern guy who insisted on leaning on me while we were both standing on the crowded bus
• and my personal favorite, a guy in his early forties holding a sheathed fencing foil with a plastic bag over the hilt.  the guy looked like he was somebody's dad, and was wearing a wedding ring.  he's got to be at least a cool uncle.  i refuse to believe that there isn't some impressionable child looking up to his or her sword-wielding uncle in the chicago metro area.  maybe he was the highlander.  that would make a lot of sense.  usually highlanders have their own cars though.

i'm trying to think of a good way to end this.  here is the hastiest ending i can think of.

i lied.  i forgot to log what's happened in the past few days.

tuesday, i went to work.  had a pretty shitty day, now that i think of it.  people have been changing pipes in my apartment building, and they forgot to hook up one of the pipes or something.  as of now, i still do not have water in my kitchen sink.  this gives me a very valid excuse for not doing dishes, but has resulted in my dehydration for the past few days.

wednesday, i went to work again.  drew up a diagram of my band's recording setup for when we move our equipment into my basement in columbus.  here it is, for your viewing enjoyment:

yes, i realize no one cares about this but me and possibly three other people.  but look at the COLORS!

thursday, still working on it.  at work right now, awaiting the boss's evaluation of my latest promotional video.  planning on seeing Cheap Girls at the Beat Kitchen tonight.  i should be working on my research.  i'll go do that now.  catch ya later, alligators.

Chicken, Hot Dogs, and Research

i'm a vegetarian, have been one for about 2 1/2 years now.  i still crave meat from time to time, though.  i usually think about the animal it's made from to stop craving it.  it's not like having been away from meat that long diminishes any cravings for it, it's sort of like me craving butter beans or something else i haven't had for years.  i thought about fried chicken yesterday and hot dogs today.  i might get some tofu dogs the next time i go grocery shopping.

another odd thing about being vegetarian, when people realize that you don't eat meat, they say "oh, you can't eat jello?" and stuff like that.  "can't", not "don't" or "won't".  semantics, maybe, but it still makes me drift off into imagining vegetarians bursting into flame if they eat meat, and things like that.

i wrote a song a few days ago, sent it to joey, zack and adrian.  joey and i had the following conversation:

i like your song

good

now what's wrong with it?

its sucks

good

it pretty much sums up how we look at our music.

saturday i saw the Morning Benders at Lincoln Hall.  they put on a good show, much better than when i saw them open for The Black Keys.

sunday i started drafting my exploratory research questionnaire.

monday i finished it.

tuesday i probably did something.

wednesday too.

thursday i forget.  "call me on thursday, if you will.  call me on wednesday, better still."  listening to a ton of The Replacements these days.  i love the lyric that follows that line, too, it goes "ain't lost yet, so i gotta be a winner;  fingernails and cigarettes are a lousy dinner."  oh, i remember.  i stayed at Eventric till 630 so i could leave early on friday.

friday, i left work early so i could make it to The King's Jetfighters' late show in columbus.  The King's Jetfighters is all of Alien Orders except me.  Joey, Zack and Adrian started playing together around the same time i started playing with Operation America (the pop punk band that Danny, Adrian and i started, wrote ten songs, played two shows, and then disbanded).  Joey and i had been jamming together for a while, writing songs here and there, and eventually Zack and Adrian joined in.  the way i explained it to some short kid at the show on friday, it's sort of like Bob Dylan and The Band, where The King's Jetfighters is The Band and i'm Bob Dylan.  we each have material that stands on its own, but when we come together, it's much better.  also sort of like the Constructicons from Transformers.

Alien Orders:  just like the Constructicons

in case you were wondering, i'm Quickmix, Joey is Bonecrusher, Zack is Hightower, and Adrian is Buckethead.  the other two Decepticons are just placeholders for when we decide to form Devastator (aka Alien Orders).  Adrian and i somehow independently ended up at a mobile taco stand outside of a gas station.  they were good, not as good as Junior's Tacos though.

saturday, i went to the parents' house in amanda, then to a vinyl release party at the Monster House in columbus.  it's a diy house that's been around for 3-4 years now.  anyway, American War was releasing their (his?) album on vinyl, and Tin Armor and Asinine were playing too.  it was good fun.  American War played in full band format, complete with Richard on sax, and played Rhetoric all the way through. good seeing friends i haven't seen in months, too.  Joey and i ate Buckeye Donuts afterwards.

sunday, had Alien Orders practice sans Zack.  he had studying to do.  Adrian, Joey and i had a good practice though.  also met up with ex roommates Andrew and Tyler.  ate Donatos pizza, drank Great Lakes Christmas Ale, played Nazi Zombies.  good night.

monday, met with my research advisor.  research is coming along nicely, should be starting the first phase in exactly a week.  then applied for a new passport, ate at Qdoba with ex roommate Andrew, left for chicago.  listened to The Clash's Vanilla Tapes (demo tapes for London Calling), The Replacements, The Thermals, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and a mix cd or two.