I Don't Like Photographs...

...'cause pictures only show me what I cannot have anymore."
--nineteen94

So, I'm not really liking the semester change anymore. The only class that I really like right now is Economics, the class that I figured I'd hate. Strange how those things work, eh? Oh well. Maybe it'll get better.

So, I got emails from four bands today asking about playing here. Only one of them sucked! Out of the other three, two were mediocre and one was amazing. I'm helping all of them. So much music is coming through here, and so few people are hearing it. It's unfortunate, but I honestly don't know what else to do. Oh well. It'll be over in a few months. I'm glad that at least a few people (out of like...80) have had good experiences here.

So, I've got a few releases coming out soon on Bonfire Club. First is our Spring Sampler, which is coming out mid-late next month. I should have buttons and new stickers by then too, which is cool. I might even have shirts then too. Who knows. I'm thinking about running a deal, for 10bucks you get a shirt, CD, button, and sticker. What a bargain. Anyway, after that is probably either the Matt K EP, which is shaping up really well, the Snorklewacker Bering Sea 7" PICTURE DISC, or the When Good Things Die / The Ef'd split CD. Should be epic! Lemme know if you want anything.

I got 9 CDs in the mail the other day and they all weren't so great. Magical.

Oh, my external hard drive came in yesterday. It was supposed to be 500gb, but it's really only like 475. Oh well. Basically, I'll have room for everything ever on that thing. Woohoo.

Berry's Presidential Scholarship competition is in a little over two weeks. I'm kinda scared. That's understandable, though, right? I mean, I'm competing for like $125,000, and on top of that doing a music audition on an instrument I haven't seriously sat down and played for nearly four years. Jeepers. I really, really hope I get one (they give out five), but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I'm really not that smart.

Sometimes I hate having a computer in my room. My brother is in here watching music videos. I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't anime videos with Godsmack and Disturbed dubbed over them. Oh, and he never shuts up. In fact, he's talking right now. Yargh.

Well this sucks. One of my only good friends up here is moving in about a month. Oh how I'm ready to get out of here.

So, I think I'm gonna run for the worst blog ever award. Think I'll win?

I Got Doubts That I Can't Count...

So today went from bad to worse to surprisingly good. Here's the scoop:

I wake up praying that it hasn't starting snowing yet, and of course, it has. I get a call from Krieger about an hour later. We don't know what to do about this show. This is about noon.

Well, at about one, I call up Josh Fletcher to tell him that there's a possibility that the show might get canceled. He's already in Blairsville. This show can't get canceled. If they can make it from Fayetteville to here fine, people can make it from Young Harris.

We wind up starting the show around 3:45. Something around 45 people showed up! Woohoo! Waaaaay better than I expected considering the weather. All was fun and grand, and I am in the process of burning DVDs. All of the videos would be up on YouTube right now, but it crashed halfway through WAOF's set. So they may or may not all be up when you see this:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd

And that's about it. If for some reason you missed this one, there will probably be another one in late April! Woohoo!

Although I wanted to say a bit more, it's 3 in the morning and I think I have to go to work in a few hours. Toodles.

EDIT: Here's the "bit more."

So, after the show I went to Rib Country with Josh Fletcher and friends. If you go into Rib Country and look right behind the counter and see an American flag that says "GIVE ME BARBEQUE OR GIVE ME DEATH," that was Josh. Josh also flipped over the entire container of toothpicks and a baby ran in to grab some and rammed his head into the wall. It was hilarious.

When I get home, I have mail. One of the packages is a couple CDs I ordered from a friend in Chicago, and the other is something I had actually ordered about a year ago and forgotten about. The guy had a note apologizing and gave me 2 free vinyls! Woohoo!

My Heart Broke On the Night That You Left...

...and there are a few pieces I still haven't found. ~Paul Baribeau

Well, we have yet another snowday tomorrow and probably Friday. I didn't really want them, as I believe we're gonna start taking away from Spring Break soon? I actually have semi-plans for this Spring Break and I don't want them to get canceled! What are my plans, you ask? Go to Chicago and be with friends. Yes.

So anyway, here's some stuff:

The book I ordered awhile back has finally arrived. The book is called Junior, and it is by Macaulay Culkin. I read it early last year and absolutely loved it, so I figured, eh, why not? If anyone wants to borrow it, lemme know. It's one of my favorite books ever.

My semester so far hasn't been too bad. AP Lit, Economics, Multimedia, Band. I think Economics is actually gonna be a really fun class. Despite hitting my car, Coach Hussion is pretty cool, and he explains things in ways we can understand. Woohoo. AP Lit is AP Lit. Multimedia should be better this semester, as I'm going to be working alone most of the time. As of now, Kellie and I are having to do 11 videos. We've already finished 4 1/2 of them. Woohoo. Band sucks. I kinda wanna take Spanish III, but I don't wanna learn Mrs. Pestiana's teaching style, and I kinda feel like I should take band.

Saturday! Key Club show! I'm psyched. I think I'm gonna record the whole thing too, as I found a killer deal on miniDV tapes (less than 3 bucks each? Yes!) yesterday.

Oh, my phone got washed the other day. Another reason I always do my own laundry. My dad was just trying to be helpful by doing my laundry though, so oh well. I should be getting a new phone tomorrow or Friday, but I'm kind of doubting I will. At least that's how it usually goes.

Well, anyway, back to reading Junior again. After I finish this, I'm gonna start on the book of short stories Ed gave me, then that Twilight book. Robert said it was good, so if it sucks, I'm kicking him in the head.

Word.

It's Not What You Remember...

...It’s not what you can count on just one hand,
It’s not how you can fly the flag of definitive action,
Or play the link in a chain reaction,
“I clocked you going 40 in a 30 mile zone.”
“Officer, I’m sorry I’m so far away from home.”

It’s every inclination,
It’s every time you wanna stop and turn around.
It’s just how you can dive head first in a pool of water
Without even giving just a single thought to
The monsters that lie waiting at the bottom of the pool,
Like a child at the bus stop on his first day of school.

It’s how we say “Let me out of here!”
But we don’t have the foggiest idea of what it means
To be left cold and slowly dying.
And the freezing man that I met tonight,
Well he grabbed my wrist and he held it tight,
He said “Soon you’ll sing your freedom song,
But come along into the alley first.
You look so young and I’m dying of thirst.”

Sometime we’re bound to lose for our pretense and misdirection.
But if the whole world does come crashing down
Who’ll bend their knees and kiss the ground with me?"
--The Max Levine Ensemble

So, this year has surprisingly started out fairly well. If things keep going this way (heh, right), it'll be a waaaaay better year than last year. I mean, last year wasn't awful, but it wasn't awesome either. It was either extremely awesome or extremely terrible at any given point.

So anyway, here's some awesome stuff that I know is gonna happen this year. Unless I die in a car wreck or something? But even in that case, most of it will still probably happen.

-- RECORD LABEL! As of this second, I already have 11 releases lined up to come out on Bonfire Club Records, including 2 7" records and possibly a book! I'm also in the process of making shirts (waiting on the design), buttons, and new stickers. As always, things will be sold at cost. Unless I decide to change this. Which I might. Because sales are slow. If I do change it, it won't be by much (shirts from like $4 to $5-6, CD-rs from $1 to $2-3, CDs from $2 to $4-5, 7" from $2 to $3, but as always, stickers are free, and buttons will be free with purchase). Sorry for ripping you off if I change them. And even if I do change them, I'll probably still give you the at-cost price. The mark ups are only really for online orders and people I don't know. Cause I'm a jerk.

-- SHOWS! Lots of cool shows coming up, and one amazing one that already passed. Here's some upcoming stuff: foreverdown, We Are Only Fiction, Joshua Fletcher & the Six-Shot Romance, The K-Macks Endeavor, Ghost Mice, Adam Tanksley, HighFlightSociety, imadethismistake (fullband!), Social Medicine, Jon Crocker, Matt K, I Am Only Your Side Effect...How much more awesome does it get? One thing about shows, though...People in Hayesville are much cooler than people in Blairsville when it comes to them. At least as of late. Hayesville is why I still do shows. Blairsville kids: I'm begging you to show me otherwise.


-- NEW MUSIC! Awesome bands releasing new albums. The first one that comes to mind? Anathallo. Sweet Lord, that album will be amazing.

-- COLLEGE! / MOVING OUT! I am ready to get away from you people.
















...really.

-- MEETING NEW PEOPLE! This goes with getting away from you. And pretty much everyone else I know. And I still probably won't meet too many people I like.

-- JOINING / STARTING A NEW BAND! If I do indeed wind up going to Berry, a friend has already asked me to be in his band, which is cool because he recently toured the US with a fairly large band (aka, a they-had-a-video-on-MTV2 band). Woohoo.

-- CALMING DOWN? / RELAXING? Doesn't happen too often as is, and the new year probably won't fix this, but we can hope, right? Anytime you see me, I am probably stressed out over something. I'm weirded out right now as I type this. Weirded out about what? I have no idea. I just am. And pretty much always am. If you see me in the hall, in class, falling down the stairs, I probably have other things on my mind. I'm also not as happy and social as everyone seems to think I am. I really don't like talking much at all. Especially not to random people. And if I'm smiling, it's probably fake. Yargh.

-- GETTING MY CAR BACK FROM RANDY "RETARD" ZIMMERMAN! Oh wait. This is never gonna happen.

-- FINISHING THIS POST BECAUSE I'M TIRED OF TYPING AND IT'S ALMOST TWO IN THE MORNING! Word.

I Saw You Hanging Around the Corner...

"... I think you wrote something about it,
it was a metaphor.
it was something about an ice cream shop.
you remembered how your friends said you knew how to have fun,
so you went to their party,
and watched them all get drunk.

you went dancing at a show,
and you stayed out pretty late,
and you wrote a song about it,
and someone put it on a mix tape.
what they didn’t know was how hard you could take it,
your heart slowly eroded before you let them break it.

and the part of me that gets sad saw you,
feeling alone and was confused.
how you knew that you were loved,
but couldn’t find someone to love you.

you spent a week in California, and they said it made a difference.
your friend came down from Boston, just to see you off.
and that's what he said, and it was partially true.
he said, "would you write me a letter,"
you said, "that's the one thing that I can't do." (do do do do)

and I would love to get to know you. everybody seems to miss you."
--The Max Levine Ensemble

They say in the lyric booklet for their new CD, "OK, Smartypants," "Welcome to our record. Here you'll find a story about the heartbreak of living in a post-modern capitalist world and all the confusion that could possibly result. You'll find our protagonist alternating between first, second, and third person, and each time we read the word 'I' it can be safely read as 'you,' 'me,' someone you know, someone you don't, or someone who is entirely fiction. The same can be said about the words 'you,' 'me,' 'he,' 'she,' or 'they.'" It says a bit more, but I could definitely substitute some names for all those "you"s. Maybe you can figure out who?

Anyway, it's been awhile so here's what has happened since Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve -- sleep.

Christmas Day -- Gave stuff, opened stuff, ate breakfast, went and hung out with Johnny and Trey. What "stuff" did I get, you ask? A violin, speaker stands, and money. All extremely useful. Woo!

Day After Christmas -- Went to Helen with Johnny and his girlfriend. We got bored so we came back and decided to go to Helton Creek Falls then The Cliffs. Exciting.

Day After That -- Johnny and girlfriend left. I did nothing all day that I can recall.

Friday, Saturday -- Work. Great fun! ...Right.

Between Then and New Year's Eve -- Nothing, work. Got my ACT scores back. My composite score was a 29, making me eligible for Berry's Presidential scholarship. It also upped my grant by $500 a year if I don't get the scholarship. I hope I get it (who wouldn't?). I have to go down for an interview sometime in February so we'll see! I think I might do my music audition then too if it's possible.

New Year's Eve -- Work. Got invited to a party, but I'm not much of a partier. I didn't feel too grand either. So how did I spend my New Year? Alone, sick, and at home.

New Year's Day -- Started my Shakespeare play, but other than that absolutely nothing.

Day After That -- We were supposta be back in school, but it snowed like an inch overnight. Yay, snowday.

Day After That, Part II -- School is still recovering from the blizzard.

Day After That, Part III -- In the words of my friend Kane, "school got pwned." Then I went to work.

Saturday, the 5th (aka, yesterday) -- The Max Levine Ensemble and Doomhawk came and played in Hayesville. 2 / 3 of TMLE had bronchitis, but it was still one of the best live shows I've ever seen. Doomhawk killed it too. And I got it all recorded. Woo! Oh, and I made them vegan lasagna and they loved it, which is good because it was the first time I'd ever made one! Anyway back to the show, the local bands were pretty crappy, as expected. And one of the members of The Pack got drunk towards the end and started making anti-gay / white power / anti-semantic comments and gestures. Did I lose most of my respect for him? Absolutely. All of the good and some of the bad will be up on YouTube whenever I find some firewire to steal (probably tomorrow night).

Today -- I was gonna go to church, but I wound up sleeping 'til like 1. My dad got home and we went and got Chinese, which was good, but I didn't have much of an appetite; I think I'm getting sick. Hopefully it's not bronchitis! I don't think it is, because the symptoms are similar, but nowhere near as severe. I think / hope it's just a cold. Anyway, the snowdays were nice, but it's back to the ol' grindstone tomorrow. Can't say I'm thrilled in the least, but oh well. Time to go finish The Merchant of Venice. Adios.