Billy Blanks and Cancer can Bite Me

"And I know when things get kind of rough/you've got to keep together, keep together, keep together" - Brand New Heavies, Keep Together (Jay Kincaid Version) (Excursions)

It hurts when I do this. *ow* And by this, I mean pretty much anything that involves my chest cavity expanding, contracting, turning or anything else. It hurts when I sit. It hurts when I stand. It hurts when I lay down. And then, sometimes, I get this sensation of cold in the lower left portion of my back for no good reason. The muscle is so tight right there that my diaphragm appears to have trouble collecting air and so every once in a while, I unexpectedly take a deep breath.

Plus, I have the belches and a little bit gas in the digestive track. During Monday morning Taebo I either ruptured a disc, pinched a nerve or I'm dying. Hopefully the doctor will know more tomorrow.

Speaking of death, can we just say Fuck Cancer?

Go on a vacation, Cancer, I need a break. In the past 18 months, I've been left with the visions of a 79 year old man I love cry for his father; a 29 year old woman I love do the same and, now, as of yesterday, a 9 year old girl who has lost both of her parents to the disease before she's even lived a decade.

Man, Cancer, quit taking our shit and leaving us with loss. For at least a minute so I can get over some of this.

Fuck Cancer.

In the Goat ass.*

*Thanks for that Courtney

imbibed embellishments

"Tonight everything is over...I feel too young" - Phoenix, Too Young (Lost in Translation)

Friday Night: TWOpointFIVE (now, officially, TWOpointSIX) had a birthday extravaganza at The Dime featuring DJ Hoov on the ones and twos and Austin from Days of Our Lives as the door man. I ran into an old friend, El Jefe, but mostly chilled in the corner with The Lovely Miss Anna Baby explaining who was who and what drama was going on and laughing with the very drunk birthday girl as she relayed tales of her current boy dilemmas. Two boys, best friends, one TWOpointSIX. Oh, the hilarity. I think I was getting hit on by a blast from the past but I was kind of not about it. And, come to think of it, I think she might have had a boob job in the past 8 months. That hug was a lot, uh, firmer than I remember.

Sunday Morning: On three hours of sleep and with a wicked nice pseudo hangover (a little grogginess but no real ill-effects), we ran 6 miles. I could've done the eight but a certain redhead is lagging. I'm just saying. Lovely breakfast, though, at Babalu with special guest stars Coconut Mango French Toast, discussions of Venereal Disease, and Lisa Breckenridge from FOX 11 news. She's cute. I like her so much more than the insufferable Dorothy Lucey. I'm still heckuv hungry despite the big meal but that has more to do with my not eating Saturday night. Oh wait, Saturday...

altered states

"You'd left me waiting here...a long long time ago." - The Beatles, Long and Winding Road (Let it Be...Naked)

The State of the Union
It's a completely different experience listening to the State of the Union vs. watching it. I sat in my car after I got home after work yesterday and was able to focus on the words. It was a weird speech. I thought the listing of the countries who have committed troops to Iraq was a nice touch (and was done much better than Dean's creepy speech of listing the states the night before in Iowa...and maybe I shouldn't call it creepy anymore. The more I see that video, the more I like it and like him. Sure he's a little unhinged but he's fun.) and that most of the rest of it was kind of crazy and didn't really say anything.

And the President cares about Steroids in Sports? Now, I still haven't seen any of the footage but you can tell me...did like 70% of the audience go, "What the fuck?"

Keith provides his list of lies in the speech. Natalie provides the commentary.

My recent answering of Selectsmart's Presidential Selector (via George. Note that Jessica's trying to Vote Smart as well) tells me I should be voting for Reverend Al Sharpton (because, apparently, I've gone über-progressive in my old age) but most of the democratic candidates bunch up pretty close together as far as their policy claims and my sensibilities are concerned. I might jump on the Dean bandwagon just because I dig crazy and think it would be a shame if we couldn't see more of his gutteral yelps, his inability to smile like a normal human being, and his reporter-bashing beyond this year.

The State of my Mixed Media
This really should be at Time Wastin' but I have other stuff that needs to go there. Michelle thinks we should have a book club. She even provided some of the possible reading material. I'm more than happy to host the online discussion if anyone's interested. Let me know. I'm currently reading the Best American Non-Required Reading of 2003 but I don't know what's going to come next (I have some ideas but...) if we Book Club it, though, I don't have to decide on my own (okay, I will because I'm sure I'll be reading two books at the same time because I'll think of the Book Club book as homework and then will want a second book for "fun" no matter how "fun" the book club book actually is.) Maybe the Natalie Wood biography? That's the 4th or 5th black and white pic I've seen of her in the past 2 weeks. She's ridiculously attractive. But back to them thangs...

I'm going to be writing about the goodness that is Prefuse 73 as well as the goodness that is the California garage band, The Thrills, at Time Wastin' soon. I'm going to have a headset and Top Spin for the Xbox by the end of the week if anyone wants to challenge me on Xbox Live. Trust me...I suck. I've never been good at video game tennis but we can still play. Diddy told me that it's good to play together.

Coachella is going to kick your ass. The Cure is going to headline the 2nd night. Radiohead and The Pixies are on the main stage on Day 1. I'm going to be there. It will be delicious.

Air will be there, too. Check out the new video. Talkie Walkie drops next week. This year, I'm going to put together a list of my favorite tracks for each month. Essentially, make a CD's worth of songs for every 30 days of 2004. That way, by the end of the year, I'll really know what I loved. Sadly, this month, there's very little rap infused hip hop that I'm loving. Encore off of Jay-Z's Black Album is nice and I loved Slow Jamz early, but it's getting stale now. There's a lot of New Edition, some Alicia Keys, the Lost in Translation soundtrack and sprinklings of Kelis but not much else has my attention. What's hot to death for you this month? I'll be posting my monthly mix cd on the 31st.

State of ME
It's been a good work week and I can't tell you about any of it.