i was screwed by legos growing up

friday i went to toys r us to find a nerf gun for my 8 year old neighbor, oisin. he picked up my leaves while i was gone in asia, so i think i owe him something awesome. the biggest gun is always the prefered gun of choice to purchase, but there's a problem: it takes 6 - SIX!!! - 1.5v batteries to operate. that's fucked up, and who knows how long they'll last in a nerf gun that shoots out three darts a second! but i feel bad buying a nerf gun that requires a ridiculous amount of batteries, but aren't included of course, requiring in return this kid (or his parents) to buy batteries every time they go out. i think i'll get the second largest nerf gun; it's still kickass, and apparently shoots farther than any other nerf gun. also let me just say that nerf guns are awesome now, and i wished they had the cool ones now when i was a kid.

but that's not the only cool shit i saw at toys r us. actually, if you have time one of these days, i highly recommend going into that store; the nostalgia will almost choke you to death. lego owns the toy world. seriously, they have the coolest shit in that store. star wars legos.. you know i just missed the star wars period growing up. the first movies came out pretty much before i was born (definitely before i started playing with legos), and episode one didn't come out til my lego phase was over. but it kicks ass; they have ty fighter legos, and death star legos. haha i actually saw a darth vader mr. potato head. that shit was hilarious. but back to the legos... what legos has come out with these days makes me wish they did similar things when i was growing up. okay, example. they have limited edition sponge bob squarepants lego characters. tell me that's not awesome, and i'll call you crazy. i feel sponge bob is kinda in the same genre (though not quite as gross) as ren n' stimpy; legos could've created limited edition ren and stimpy lego characters! or powdered toast man, or the talking horse -- can't remember his name, the one from the rubber nipples episode. or even another show, like doug, or rocco's modern life. *sigh* oh well i guess, but it would've been really cool.

while reading the warnings on the gigantic nerf gun, it stated "do not aim nerf gun at the face," to which i laughed and said out loud, "yeah right, you have to aim for the face, otherwise what's the fun." this woman standing next to me promptly put the nerf gun package in her hands back, and left the aisle. priceless.

manic depression is touching my soul

in the 8th grade, i played in a band with travis lilley and andrew brown, and for the talent show we played purple haze by jimi hendrix. it was fantastic, and this is due to a couple reasons. playing good is not one of the reasons, because we honestly only played alright. first, playing music, specifically rock n' roll, in front of peers (girls) when you're 14 immediately makes you cool. we weren't playing trumpet, or alto sax, or the trombone, even though i think the trombone is a super cool instrument. nope. we were playing cool instruments, instruments that didn't require planning out breaths, instruments that were loud and in your face. second, we were playing purple haze, a super dope song that is disputedly about, well, a drug trip. the teachers were either a) shitting their pants hoping nobody understood what i was singing about-- that's right, i sang.. not too bad either -- because we were such innocent 14 year olds, or b) were smiling ear to ear loving the fact that we decided to play an incredibly popular song by arguably the greatest guitarist, and one of the best classic rock bands, in existence, instead of guns n' roses, stone temple pilots, or *gasp!* nirvana.

let me quickly say that any of those choices would've also been alright. nirvana would've been crazy cool, because nirvana were ridiculously popular then (cobain had only killed himself two years prior. quite sad, really). but we all loved hendrix more, probably because our parents beat it into our heads. and why not? jimi hendrix was an unbelievable guitarist, noel redding pumped out some seriously awesome grooves on the bass, and mitch mitchell, well, he just about did it for me. i remember listening to classic rock growing up; between the licks of mitchell, keith moon, and john bonham, it was at an early age when i decided i wanted to play the drums. purple haze was the first hendrix songs i learned, because it had probably the easiest beat. mitch mitchell is a freak when it comes to creating awesome beats. hey joe is a great beat; fire is fantastic; manic depression is absolutely fucking stellar, and probably my favorite beat of mitchell's. it was the perfect combination of oddities with a 3/4 time and triplet groove between the snare, hi tom, and bass drum. and of course the song itself grooved. truly magnificent.

mitch mitchell, the group's last surviving member, died this morning; he was found in a hotel room in portland, oregon. he was 61. i'm really sad right now. i've never been in the position where an influence in my life has passed. this is not to say a joke or two weren't influenced by mitch hedberg, or that my grandparents weren't a positive influence on me. what i mean is i've been playing percussion for 14 years, and the drums for almost 13. i started with jazz, and slowly incoporated rock/funk into my style; mitch mitchell constantly came out with awesome licks that meshed rock with jazz, and he opened my eyes to the limitless possibilities of using multiple styles to create beautiful drumbeat compositions. i mean, shit, my drumset is set up the same way his is.



rest in peace, mitch mitchell, and may your awesome drum style live on forever in those you influenced most. i for one am going down to my basement right now to groove on your manic depression and hey joe beats.

kerry and i broke up today. i'm sad; i wish it didn't have to end this way. but if your heart isn't into it, you can't lie to yourself, and you certainly can't lie to her. so i guess honesty prevails?

wow this is difficult. i feel like shit.