It’s not noodly like STEVE VAI or whatever — just, well, nevermind. Maybe noodly isn’t the right word. May you all be soothed. I’m outta here.

I’ve wanted to hear the Disintegration Loops for a while now, too.

“Meditative” is probably the word I want.

One of my coworkers just asked if I’d be passing by any mailboxes after work to mail her personal bill. I just stared at her. I mean, sure, I’ll be riding around in the car to go to the grocery store, but how is it any easier for me to find a mailbox for her mail? Riddle me that, batman.

I’m pumped for grocery shopping. FOOD!

Btw, if anyone’s bored tonight, CANOOOOSTA* is playing The Note at approx. 9:30 PM.

*what we’re called by this gentleman:

I kind of doubt I’ll be there, but I’m really curious to hear how it goes. We had a show at the Note fall through (or did we turn it down? hmm... no, the other band cancelled their tour) but I’ve noticed lots of bigger (hey! ‘Nasta!) bands playing there lately.

Yeah, Br1an Peters0n started booking there.

Is he mpsh0wz?

Ha. I just got a myspace event for another show at the note this week.

xpost Yes.

I only say I doubt it because it’s a school night (haha) and Nick has been feeling sick and sleepy all day, but Mmaaaaayyybbbeee. Also, I like B0und Stems alot. I hadn’t heard of the middle band. I just don’t want to get your hopes up because I am often crushed when people say they’re coming to my shows and then don’t, you know?

I’m sorry, Sarah. I have done that to you a lot.

xpost Yes. I was just bringing it up to fulfill my promo obligations, so do what you need to do. :)

WHOA. Alert for realz:

Northbound Loop Red Line Service Interrupted — Update 4:24 p.m.

Due to defective rail equipment at the Jackson Red Line subway station, northbound Red Line trains are being rerouted onto the elevated structure between the Roosevelt and Fullerton stations. Northbound Red Line trains will make station stops as follows:

Roosevelt (elevated/Green, Orange lines);

All stations along Wabash and Lake; and

Merchandise Mart (Brown Line), then trains will run express to Fullerton (Red/Brown lines) to resume regular northbound routing to Howard (Red/Purple/Yellow lines).

Customers are encouraged to use alternate service in the area. Please allow extra travel time.

Southbound Red Line service is not affected.

Um, go Blue?

That sucks, ya’ll. Less for me because I’ll be at the library until 9 pm or so and can just take a bus without worrying about traffic or whatever but still. What a flipping mess.

I’m taking the Blue Line to Damen. Haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to dine at Earwax or Sultan’s for din-din.

Really, come to think of it, the Blue line is the only train that’s NOT going to be affected. This is going to be a cluster fuck!

Yeah aside from maybe some extra people in Clark/Lake... the Jackson St. transfer will be a bitch, too.

This sucks a big one.

I wish I didn’t have to study. I would advocate a spontaneous Thirsty Tuesday to kill time while the CTA sorts this shit out.

I think I’ll trot up to Mich Ave and jump on one of the express busses that stops at the Berwyn station. I think if I’m not mistaken that I can get on the 144, 146, or 147.

Hi guys!

I’m coming to Chicago between XMAS and New Year’s.

Alright! I have the whole week off. We’ll spend every minute together, I’m sure.

I’ll be in town Dec. 22—24

WELL Jeff and I will be out of town from 12/22—12/26. Imagine that.

Jon Williams, I’ll hang out with you.

Yay Jon! I have missed you the last couple times I’ve been in NYC.

I would be a fool not to meet Jon Williams.

I want to meet Jess, too. His girlfriend just moved here.

I don’t know if I will be here, but I probably will be. Thirsty Thursday Holiday Edition in fuckin’ full effect.

i just bought a ticket that will have me back in chicago jan 19th—24th and then on to NYC for a few days.

I can only handle one cat at a time, I have decided. Maybe if I got two kittens at the same time, the dynamics would be different, but Jessa’s cat and mine are not getting along well at all. And they even lived together for YEARS. That’s irrelevant, it seems — it’s all about territory. My kitty is terrorizing Jessa’s kitty. Her territory is marked, and the hissing and snarling begin every time she sees the other cat walking in her path. Most of the time, Jessa’s cat sits on top on the kitchen cabinets, which is a fine high perch for a cat, but only today did I realize that she’s sitting up there because she’s scared of a cat who has already marked all the other territory in the apartment. This is *exactly* the way Jesse’s (not Jessa’s) behaved when I brought my cat in. At the time I blamed Jesse’s cat, because I didn’t know any better, I guess. And sure, my cay was being victimized somewhat. But that’s just what cats do.

My cat is locked in the bedroom, and Jessa’s cat has suddenly decided to eat, shit, and let me pet her for the first time since she got here. This does not bode well for the next month. UNLESS, maybe, Jessa’s cat can mark enough territory while my cat is locked away that they’ll have some equal ground. I’m going to leave her in there until bed tonight and see if this helps the situation any.

My shoulder kind of hurts from Wii Tennis. But Wii Tennis is REALLY FUN.

I should be in bed but I have to shower first...and that seems like too much work. So I’m just sitting here, instead.

Oh god I feel like shit. So tired, sneezy, achy and my feet hurt. And I have an ingrown toenail. And I need a haircut.

Kenan, you should let Brenda come over for a while and see what that yields.

Kenan, you should let Brenda come over for a while and see what that yields.

Really, thanks, but I can’t imagine that would help.

My shoulder kind of hurts from Wii Tennis. But Wii Tennis is REALLY FUN.

Oh shit you have to hook me up.

Who do you know? Would he like me? Would he sell me weed?

COULD I BE ANY MORE OBNOXIOUS?

ok, bed.

speaking of new year’s does anyone have any concrete plans? i know jeff was talking about some show (at the bottle maybe?) but anyone have any set in stone plans?

last year i went to a party with a bunch of early 20 somethings in suits and wound up leaving before midnight when my date’s sinus meds made her loopy after her 3rd drink. the year before that me and jen sat in our apartment in bitter silence as we’d broken up days before but were still living together. i’d like to have fun this year for a change.

So, I was watching Capote before falling asleep and then I dreamed I was hanging out with Nick, Sarah, and I think Dan at the Green M1ll. This dude was annoying Sarah but she was packing heat and decided to SHOOT him (in cold blood). She also skinned her elbow but we managed to get out of there before the cops showed up and rendezvous at some other bar. Then we were all on the lam Franke Machine-style and some other stuff happened and I woke.

Honestly, kinda disturbing.

the next time i’m heading south on ashland i’m totally going to take a detour to ashland & maypole and see if there is a bar or a building that may have once house a club like the one frankie took refuge in while on the lam.

Man, that makes me love Sarah. I will just pretend she actually carries, and enjoy the dissonance.

That’s just awesome.

Nick and I were watching Big Love last night on dvd, and there’s this scene where a little girl is in her living room at night and turns on the porch light and a creepy dude is standing RIGHT THERE. Anyway, of course that gave me nightmares because everything does. So I had one in which people kept breaking in the windows to our apartment like zombies, except really tall and strong zombies. It was not fun. I didn’t shoot anyone, but I think I tried to punch them to no avail.

Shoot their heads off next time!

Ok, Laurel. I’ll just think about guns as I fall asleep every night to remind myself.

Nickelbags & I will be out of town 12/22–12/30, but ready to party after that.

Otto, I don’t have any plans for New Years yet. Last year, we played a show at the Icefac0rial which was a blast, but we haven’t been invited to play any new years shows this go-round. What to do? What to do? I like getting dressed up but don’t have much mula for party cover charges.

i had a dream that i was on the el going through the loop. it was a crowded train and i couldn’t get to the doors in time at my stop so i rode the train around the loop and everytime i tried to get where i was going something would block me. it was frustrating.

more manifestations of unattainable goals.

Joooohhhhnnnn, HOW WAS THE SHOW?

On a promo kick...

Who made the call to break it up “sho-pping” instead of the hugely more obvious “shop-ping”??? Assuming it was intentional, that’s pretty funny.

I generally don’t like going out on New Years. Everything is crowded and it’s the original “amateur night” and even though about this time of the year I’m thinking it might be fun to do something elaborate that involves dressing up and getting all glittery, by the time the holiday rolls around, I’m usually so tired from the holidays that I just want to stay in the house and hide. And it seems like most of the NYEs that I’ve tried to do something elaborate have failed in whimpering ways similar to Kevin’s date’s sinus med loopiness.

Good NYEs of the past: GBV show, drinking wine and playing trivial pursuit and watching Cirque du Soleil on TV w/ Jeff and my old roommie in Atlanta, and 1999/2000 wherein a bunch of my friends rented two houses in the Pocono Mtns and partied like it was, well, you know.

i think the last time i wasn’t in bed at midnight was 4 years ago. this year started out with a bang and is definitely ending with a whimper.

I remember New Years 2000. This rich guy I knew rented out a swanky bar and the drinks were free. He also operated the music. He played “Footloose” 3 times. I guess he thought that was the most fun song ever of something. And then he started playing Footloose again, and some other friends and I straight up bumrushed the dj booth and bodily dragged him out of there, and kicked him and kicked him.

12/26–1/6 D and I will be in UK. We will celebrate NYE in Edinburgh, which is just about the MOST EXCITING thing I have ever done on NYE. I’ve had some fun times, but NYE is not my jam.

Nick designed that flier using a pic he took at the FAST factory in Wisconsin.

xpost—That’s exciting, Amanda! Will you be going there for any other reason than vacation?

new years 2000 was when i quit smoking for a year and a half. i had my last smoke at about quarter to midnight and that was it for a while.

xp—Well, 12/29 is our 3rd wedding anniversary, and we always wanted to go to UK but could never afford it. So we saved and saved and saved and now we’re going. Yay! The flight into Manchester was cheaper than some flights to CA, so we had to jump on that shit when we could.

Next we start saving up for Mexico—I want to see AZTEC RUINS.

NYE last year was amazing, I was in Minneapolis and it was the best party I can remember. Year before was that cabin up north, which was a protracted good/bad experience. Year before that, I don’t know, it might have been when we gigged in Milwaukee and played 5 sets, and got to the hotel two hours before we had to check out.

Just seeing that Yacht Rock picture put the song “Heart to Heart” in my head.

Amanda, I am SO EXCITED about your trip! You inspire me to believe that we, too, can live the dream of going somewhere on a real vacation on day. Also for some reason I love that you got married on Dec. 29.

Me too! My parents were also married around then (um, not together any more but I always thought it was neat). The church was still decorated for Christmas.

I’m all flemmy today. :-(

I am also SO EXCITED about trip, although we are having some serious problems buying train/megabus tickets online. It’ll get figured out, but man — what a pain. There’s something about US credit cards that the websites don’t like.

Zombie wedding photo, taken on Dec. 29 2003

Happy wedding photo:

those photos are great. oh wait...

The best NYE was the one spent in Washington Sq Park declaiming poetry from the middle of the empty fountain, with friends who are all now elsewhere. And then I went to Motherfucker and made out with cute younger guy. That kicked off a pretty good year, all things considered.

Which airport do you need to get to, Amanda?

We’re going nonstop from O’Hare to Manchester, but it’s the getting from city to city that is causing us problems. I am going to try to buy tickets over the phone.

For the past five NYEs, friends of mine have rented out a bar to party at. First it was Bar San Miguel (RIP), then we relocated to Leadway for a couple years, and then last year (because of a misunderstanding at Leadway) we did K’s Dugout. This year it looks like we’re going to a place called The Driftwood, on Montrose/Sheffield.

The only thing is that it’s going to cost $50/person. Open bar all night, plus appetizers/snacks/champagne, so I guess it’s worth it, but I’m used to paying like a $10 cover and then doing the cash bar, which even if you have like 5 beers still works out to only $35.

If anyone feels like shelling out that much money, you’re welcome to come. As per tradition, I’m probably going to be making a couple of iPod playlists — a Best of ’06 mix and an all-time awesome dance mix.

Also for some reason I love that you got married on Dec. 29.

I was just thinking that. You REBELS. NOBODY gets married on December 29!

We will celebrate NYE in Edinburgh

That rules. Edinburgh on NYE is supposed to be awesome. My dad and I traveled around England and Scotland for a few days around New Year’s ’98, but we lacked the foresight to do NYE in Edinburgh. Instead, we stayed at an inn in York and watched a Frasier marathon. The next day we took a train to Edinburgh and marveled at all the detritus on the ground from the previous night’s festivities.

Joooohhhhnnnn, HOW WAS THE SHOW?

It was good! It felt a little sloppy at times, but everyone who came said we sounded great. The sound guy was super-nice, too. I wanted to stick around for Bound Stems, but Kr wasn’t feeling well, so we jetted early.

Wow. This is a nice storm!

Nice unless you’re about to walk outside in it HELLO

my date’s sinus meds made her loopy after her 3rd drink.

Sounds like my Thanksgiving this year.

Jess, you had a date??

Oh, I forgot that I spent NYE’02/’03 in NYC, but I was with my family, so we just had dinner at a Moroccan restaurant in Greenwich Village and then retired to our B&B.

Sounds like my Thanksgiving this year.

I thought you were going to say “prom night.”

Jess, you had a date??

No, I had a Courtney who took Benadryl with her wine. (Thanks for the incredulity of 2 question marks!)

Is there anything that “sounds like my prom night” doesn’t work with?

Nah, I just couldn’t believe that you hadn’t told us about it, that’s all.

my date’s sinus meds made her loopy after her 3rd drink.
Sounds like my Thanksgiving this year.

she was fine for a couple hours then literally in mid sentence she grabbed her haid and “I need to sit down.” then she started slurring her words and told me to take her home. we went back to my place and danced in the living room and made out under the comforter. that was a great night.

I have lost 3 lbs in the last month, even with holiday eating!

“It’s not a date, it’s just a do. Come on, let’s go do eath other.”

kenan, once you start listening for it you’ll be surprised at how all-encompassing it’s appropriateness (is that a word?) is.

that’s so awesome that you’re going to the UK, amanda!

xp sounds like uh every time i try to drink.

i haven’t had a good NYE for a while. the last one was probably staying in manhattan with my sis and bro in law, going out for a really fancy dinner and then getting drunk at home and playing scrabble (i only had a few sips, but wooo am i a lightweight). i beat them at scrabble (naturally), but then they got into a discussion of something political/racial and i wanted to argue with them, but was too woozy to articulate much of anything.

“And then she killed everybody! Everybody in the whole building!”

“Sounds like my prom night.”

So I just found what’s going to be in the $tylu$ Top 50 Singles, although I don’t know the order yet, and I can’t reveal anything to you. Except I think Jenny will be pleased.

everybody run, the homecoming queen’s got a gun...

the thunder is literally shaking the windows here in the western ‘burbs.

http://teenadvice.about.com/cs/promnight/bb/blpromprep.htm

My favorite part:

Prom night romance and sex are not a package deal—prom is more than a three letter word.

Duh. It’s a four-letter word. As in, “anal.”

um my xp was in response to otto’s NYE post.

How was the other band? So the sound was good then?

How do I shot Excel? Specifically, how do I make a column or two ‘fixed’ (so that they stay in view while the others scroll horizontally)?

I have a lot of nightmares lately.

I dreamed that there was a highrise condo for X-Men mutants, and on top was a football arena—with 5 fields atop one another—that would be the launching point for a “week-long, world-wide, air, land, and water” Mutant Superbowl.

The team leaders included The Terrorist, 1 of two cute little twin girls with pancake makeup who had a pet hyaena, some guy who used a lot of kinves, and some guy who could fly.

The twin girl who was not the leader had the hyaena eat the other girl so she could lead, but it would only do so after she stabbed her sister with pointy scissors. Then the hyaena smeared the blood of the team mascot—a plush pink bunny—on the windows.

Other band was fine, though not really my thing. And re sound, it was another one of those cases where it sounded horrible during sound-check — all big and wet and rock-ish — but by the time we went on stage the sound-guy had figured it out. That happens to us a lot. People don’t get that everything has to be balanced, and that we’re not a big guitar-rock band.

From the anonymous-to-you IUD emailer:

I have to play an elf at Macy’s Sun morning at 9....I’m not fucking kidding

jordan, go to WINDOW then FREEZE PANES.

THANK YOU OTTOMAN

I was elf photographer during Christmas break at the mall all through college. I was dating this guy one year, and he needed a job, so I got him job as Santa. Then we broke up. Then I had to look at him through a fence of screaming children every day for almost a month. It sucked.