Last night Love Apple had a show here in Columbia. It was a good show. Annaray opened and The Kerouacs headlined. I spent an hour or so chatting with the bass player (Jen) from The Keroaucs. She is one of the nicest people I have ever talked to. I had a few drinks over the course of our conversation and then made my way to the stage after the Athens, GA band Annaray finished rocking the stage. I escorted a beer on stage with me where I was soon greeted with another from the club’s booking guy. Our drummer never drinks so I also received his beer. Then, Jen brought me one, I assume out of gratitude for our conversation and possible as a nod to an equal understanding of bass playing. Either way, I now had 4 beers on stage. Don’t worry; I didn’t drink them all right away. After some pacing post set, I had completed my gifts and was having a good time. No, “good time” is not synonymous with drunk in this situation. I was honestly having a blast…which brings me to my point. Every time I drink or have a fun time, it seems that everyone wants to think I am sauced. Yes, I have felt the effects of alcohol before, but never been drunk. I pace my self so that I may remember what a good time I had. I also don’t want any demons to expose themselves to the wrong person(s), and quite frankly I don’t want to kill anyone or myself when I am driving. I do appreciate that people are concerned enough to ask me if I am alright, or if they should drive. I just don’t appreciate being labeled a drunk for having a good time. Next time I go out, maybe I will sit in the corner and have a thought. Personally, I like smiling better.

Well holy cow…it’s been seven whole days since the last post. I am a bad blogger…oh well. Been working a whole lot… All apologies to anyone if I have seemed irritable. It’s been one of those moments where you drive somewhere and forget where you have been, except it has been like that for days. Tomorrow is the last day for NetGen, but I am thinking there will be some trickle over of work to be completed following the official axe day. That’s fine, I need the money. Anyhow, I know the picture link says coming soon. This host says I have enough space to upload the slideshow I put together of my trip, but when I try to upload it I get a no-go. I am searching for other space to host the slideshow from. Until then I may just put a few up.

Last night and in the past couple of days I have been thinking about energy and religion…well not so much religion as much as those people that push it on you. You know whom I am speaking of. Those youths with the intimidated look in their eye, or maybe the older guy that won’t stop pushing you, or maybe a combination of both. The first question is usually something like, “have you accepted the lord Jesus Christ as your lord and savior”? If the reply is yes, then the next question is somehow meant to intimidate you into an outcry of “I need you to give me a tiny bible right now and show me to your crazy church that sent you out talking to strangers at 11:00PM”! I am grilled on the sins of college life, alcohol, porn, masturbation, you name it… But the aggressor swears that God and more importantly Jesus Christ will extinguish any flame that ensues upon his life, because of his acceptance of Jesus Christ as his lord and savior. After a mull over with my roommate, I come to this conclusion. The aggressor bought it. He doesn’t believe it. If he really had no doubt at all about his acceptance, then he would put down his books and his timecard and let God take care of him. Doubt is okay. I doubt the existence of God and Jesus at least once every two weeks, but it is faith that keeps me saying that I am a Christian. I believe that there is a God and Jesus Christ is his son, but I do not buy it. I don’t need to tell someone that they are a lesser person than I if they drink beer. What happened to the WWJD marketing campaign or at least the thought behind it? When I think, “What would Jesus do?” I don’t think hounding someone on a peaceful night is it. I think maybe he would do something cool like walk up and say, “I know you think carnal thoughts and that is okay because you are not perfect and I love you no matter what…I forgive you.” Then he’d probably turn that gross water in front of the Russell House into wine and throw a party. You know, rejoice in the name of his father or something. Why is there no rejoicing? All they do is push the bible, but only the scary parts. Then they don’t even think for a moment about the fact that Jesus didn’t write the bible. Yes, the book has withstood the test of time, and yes it is a wonderful supplemental aid to the Christian religion, but it is a book written by men. It is flawed. Hoorah! The energy ramble comes later.

Feeling a bit under the weather after a short vacation to Southport, NC. It was a good trip. Got to spend time with my nephews and family. Got some sun, went out in the boat, even worked. Took a lot of pics.

Image is everything. When I wake up, I take a shower and massage my head with an expensive conditioner that takes several minutes to set. This is to keep my wildly bad hair from looking too crapola. At least for the first hour after the shower. Then, I decide what to wear…dilemma… I am a web-designer so I can get away with a little more of a casual look at the office, but I still need to leave the ripped jeans at home. That’s fine by me, but then am I lying to the (dare I say) fans? If I go to eat at emo burrito, am I to be mocked for my golf shirt when I am expected to be in my obscure-band-black-tee with duct-taped shoes and some hip-ass rockstar sunglasses to boot? Lets hope not. Who cares? One may ask. I do, you do, we all do, even when we think we don’t. There is a reason I often wear my Rilo Kiley tee…I like the fit. I have increasingly found the band not to my liking, but the shirt…oh that possum clad black tee shirt. The one that says, “yeah, I know about this child-star band. I know about Jenny and Blake. I like foul language riddled female/hippie angst.” …what? I mean the shirt fits well. Point is, I am judged; when all I wanted to do was wear a comfy shirt. I am realizing that I don’t want to be a walking advertisement for something that is liable to make my mother uncomfortable if she hears it. No, bad mouths do not make them a bad band. Their live show is good. Full of energy…what one looks for in a live show.

Think about the way you present yourself in public. Think about who is watching, or who is in the dark. Your freedom of speech only gets you to the point of denying other people’s freedoms. Don’t mislead someone to a false image of your character. I will continue to wear my Rilo Kiley tee, but I will be on the lookout for a comfy tee with no text and more importantly no sub-text. It’s a small world and somebody you’ve forgotten about sees what you do. Make sure you are okay with that.